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CNN Saturday Morning News

Polls Show Americans Divided on Same-Sex Marriage; Romney At Liberty U; More Charges In Adam Mayes Kidnapping; Bird Deaths In South America; John Edwards Trial; Romney's Pitch to Conservative Christians; Taking a Bite Out of Obesity; Waterbeds for Cows; Let Go of That Gumball

Aired May 12, 2012 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR(voice-over): From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anyone that was directly involved with Adam pretty much lived in fear.

KAYE: That from the brother of Adam Mayes, the man suspected of kidnapping two girls and killing their mother and sister, who is now dead.

And today we put same-sex marriage in focus. What President Obama's new stance on the issue means for his campaign and what critics are saying.

And we have Reed Alexander, the Nickelodeon star, who is using his fame to fight childhood obesity with a new mission and a new website.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. It's 8:00. Thanks for waking up with us. Let's get you caught up on some morning headlines.

President Obama's support of same-sex marriage is paying off big for his re-election hopes, literally. A Democratic source telling CNN that the president raised $2 million in the first 24 hours after making his remarks. That comes as a new" USA Today"/Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans, 51 percent, approve of the president's position.

Let's bring in Athena Jones. She's in Silver Spring, Maryland this morning where a law allowing same-sex marriage is due to take effect next January but opponents hope to stop it from becoming reality.

Athena, good morning to you. Give us a little bit more about the voter reaction there to President Obama's comments. What are you hearing?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Randi. We're here early. There's going to be a farmers' market later today so we're hoping to do our sort of informal polling on some of the voter reaction here in Maryland. But Gallup and "USA Today" have put out the first national poll since the president made his remarks on Wednesday and that poll shows that 51 percent of people approve of the president's position on same-sex marriage, 45 percent disapprove so that's still fairly close, fairly evenly divided that people are.

But if you look at it by party, you'll find that 71 percent of Democrats approve while only 23 percent of Republicans approve and independents are a little more evenly split at 53 percent.

Now, there's been a lot of discussion this week about whether this will impact the president politically, whether it will help him or hurt him, whether it will help Romney or hurt Romney, the fact that Romney is against same-sex marriage.

The Gallup people asked that question as well. They found that when asked if the president's position on same-sex marriage makes people more likely to support him or less likely, just 13 percent said it made them more likely to vote for President Obama, 26 percent said less likely. But 60 percent, which is of course the majority, said it would make no difference.

So we're hoping today, as you mentioned, here in Maryland, Governor O'Malley signed a law in March that would legalize same-sex marriage starting in January, but there are people trying to get a measure on the ballot to get people to be able to vote down that law and keep it from taking effect. Hopefully, today, we'll get a chance to talk to some people out and about on their Saturday morning and see how they feel.

KAYE: We know it's early but there's also Athena been a lot of talk about the impact of President Obama's decision on black voters and now as you know several black leaders have sent this open letter to the president. Have you had a chance to review that letter and what it said?

JONES: I have. It's really interesting. This came from the Reverend Al Sharpton and also Julian Bond, who's the chairman of the NAACP and several others. They are really calling for unity in the black community. They understand that this is an issue that many have said can cause division in the black community and I'll just highlight one of the paragraphs. They said as leaders in today's civil rights movement, we stand behind the president - behind President Obama's belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to join in civil marriages.

But they also go on to say in this letter that people can disagree about this but we can still have a civil debate about this and we can still work together on other issues facing the black community, such as unemployment, education, those matters.

Interestingly enough, I interviewed a black couple yesterday for a story tomorrow who talked about the fact that there's a lot of talk about whether blacks will punish the president or abandon the president. But they say that maybe it takes President Obama himself, as the first black president, to be the one to voice this opinion and to maybe get more people in the black community to begin to look at this more closely and to be a little understanding so there won't be as much -- many people against it. So he'll help to bring people together in the black community around this issue. We'll see what happens, Randi.

KAYE: That is an interesting perspective. Athena Jones, thank you very much.

Mitt Romney travels into the heart of Christian conservatism today. He's giving the commencement speech sat Liberty University. That is the school founded by television evangelist Jerry Falwell. Romney's camp says the speech will focus on personal responsibility and hard work and that the issue of same-sex marriage will come up. We'll bring you that speech live in our 10:00 hour here on CNN.

Newt Gingrich will be among friends when he makes his first campaign pitch for Mitt Romney. The former candidate will speak on Romney's behalf at the Georgia state GOP convention next week. Gingrich of course was a long-time congressman from Georgia and won that state's primary earlier this year.

JPMorgan Chase scrambling in the wake of a massive $2 billion trading loss. The big bank now faces a credit downgrade much like the one that this country got last year. The bank's CEO Jamie Dimon admitted it was a major mistake by the bank. Many expected a harsh reaction from Wall Street. Shares for JPMorgan dropped around 10 percent but the market as a whole was pretty quiet, actually.

Three more people have been taken into custody for allegedly helping Adam Mayes evade police. Mayes killed himself in the woods near Alpine, Mississippi earlier this week as soon as police were starting to close in on him. Next to him at the time were the two sisters that he had kidnapped after killing their mother and older sister. Authorities say the girls are still shaken. Mayes' wife has been charged with two counts of murder in the case as well.

It's been a rough year for birds in South America. More than 7,000 birds, 7,000, have turned up dead in Chile and Peru, 5,000 alone in Peru and at least 2300 along beaches between Cartagena and Playa de Santo Domingo, Chile.

We're waiting for Reynolds Wolf, who's supposed to be joining me to talk a little bit about this. Reynolds, are you coming?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, I am here. Kind of an unusual event to see there. Bird kills do happen. That's the weird thing about the situation. In fact there was a bird kill back in 2011 in Arkansas. After they did some studies on the bodies of the birds, they found out that many of them actually had died from concussion. They believe actually concussion due to noise. Still a big mystery as to how they may have perished along parts of Peru and the Chilean coast.

KAYE: So what can be done about it? Are the numbers just going to keep going up? WOLF: What's interesting about it, a lot of this remains a mystery. What they're going to have to do is take the bodies of these birds. Many of them they say show the signs of death actually due to damage from net, which is kind of unusual.

Birds do often die in nets. The sea-faring birds go down. They of course eat some of the anchovy off the coast of South America and it's not unusual to have them die. However, this number, this many, over 5,000, that's a little bit extreme so really it's going to be interesting to see what pans out over the next couple of days and perhaps at least a week to get some results back on some of the autopsies they'll perform on these birds. But very unusual to say the least to see this madness, very unusual.

KAYE: And last year, I mean who knows if this is related, but 3,000 dead birds were found in Arkansas.

WOLF: That's right.

KAYE: Is there possibly -- could there be a connection?

WOLF: The ones that died in Arkansas many people believed, it got really crazy for a while. There were some people blaming UFOs. There were people saying, perhaps thunderstorms. Actually they think it was caused by concussions due to fireworks.

Now, in this case kind of similar, the location is very different. But in terms of what the autopsies will show on these birds, who knows. I would say the number one thing to really check out is basically what they're eating.

This is the time of the year where you normally have (INAUDIBLE) you have a lot of the fish that live and really flourish in those cold currents along the coast. They tend to leave the area. The fish go down. They pick them up. They eat them. It could be some contamination there. That's something that really remains to be seen for the time being.

KAYE: Reynolds, thank you for the update. Appreciate it.

Some critics say President Obama could lose support after his support for same-sex marriage, but could he actually gain some from the other side of the aisle? Next I'm talking to a gay Republican for his take on the president's historic announcement.

First, we want to wish a very good Saturday morning to all of our viewers, folks in Washington, DC. It looks like not a bit of wind there. The flag just laying low.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you did a good job in supporting same-sex marriage. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't need to be talking about same-sex marriage. We need to be fixing America to be back to where it was years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dear Mr. President, I am so proud of you today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for taking a stance, for not wavering, for not being neutral and trying to play both sides of the fence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: All morning long we're focusing on the evolution of gay marriage. You'll recall when President Obama came out in support of same-sex marriage this week on ABC News, he said his position had evolved over time.

According to recent polling, the nation's views, well, they're evolving as well. In 1996 just 27 percent of Americans supported gay marriage. That number has now risen to 50 percent. The president's endorsement this week was historic, but some political experts say it is a huge gamble as well. They say it could cost him support from Catholics and southern Democrats. But here's a question, will it win him any support across party lines?

Clarke Cooper is the executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, a group of Republicans who support same-sex marriage. Clarke, good morning to you.

CLARKE COOPER, EXEC. DIR., LOG CABIN REPUBLICANS: Good morning, Randi.

KAYE: So you had a negative reaction to President Obama's support of gay marriage calling it cold comfort, offensive and callous. Those were just some of the words. The presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney doesn't even support civil unions, much less marriage. Is that not offensive to you as a gay man as well?

COOPER: Oh, it certainly is an issue. By the way, the president did say the right thing. Looking at context to when that rollout occurred was also on the heels of what happened in North Carolina with the passage of amendment 1, the constitutional amendment that's going to take place down that that would preclude any recognition of same-sex relationship in that state. There's a lot at play here. There's also the factor, look what happened this week. Was there a pink washing of the president's economic record? Probably. You had stimulus and Hollywood this week with the fundraising that he did, but at the end of the day, yes, same-sex marriage is an issue that is moving forward.

You showed those polling numbers. The trajectory shows that regardless of people's party affiliation, some sort of official relationship recognition is being more and more accepted across party lines, be it civil unions, which Governor Chris Christie supports in New Jersey, all the way up to full marriage equality as what the president just came out for.

So, yes, it is an issue. Of course, we have advised Republicans regardless if it's Mitt Romney running for president or a congressional candidate or a gubernatorial candidate that running on marriage or running against marriage is probably not a wise strategy at this point.

KAYE: Let me ask you about North Carolina because you mentioned it. You say that Obama's announcement was calculated because it came after North Carolina, the amendment won vote there. But if he had endorsed gay marriage before the election last week, wouldn't Republicans then have said that was calculated?

COOPER: Possibly. We're looking at what's happening on the macro plane on politics right now. This wasn't an evolution in the sense that it's more of a flip-flop. Come on. Jay Carney is going to use the term flip-flop. He was for it. He's against it. Now he's for it again.

It is the right thing to say, by the way, so I'm not taking away this is the most senior voice we've had on this and for years the most senior voice on marriage equality was Dick Cheney.

So it has raised the needle. It has turned up the dialogue and we're also in a place where if someone is running for office at this point, they do need to figure out where they lie on this. Are they for same- sex marriage or freedom to marry? Are they for civil unions? Are they against it because voters are going to look at that. But it's not what voters are going to the polls for. People are voting for the economy. It is about having a j-o-b.

KAYE: I understand. I'll talk about those polls with you in a second, but I want you to hear this, because Andrew Sullivan, a prominent gay conservative author and commentator, says that he too at first had the cynical view of Obama's announcement but then he said this. He said quote, and then I watched the interview and the tears flooded.

There is something about hearing your president affirm your humanity that you don't know what effect it has until you hear it. I think of all those gay Americans over the centuries who never heard that, never believed it could happen, this president for doing what he did. Are you proud of President Obama or does he being a Democrat just make impossible for you?

COOPER: As I said at the top of the set here, he said the right thing to say.

KAYE: Are you proud of him?

COOPER: Of course. But again, this is only one issue. So if one is just going to look at the lens of the prism of marriage and most Americans don't vote on one issue. Again, let's go back to the polling. It is about the economy.

KAYE: Let's go back to the polling.

COOPER: Everybody needs a job, Randi. I need a job.

KAYE: Let me show you some recent polling on same-sex marriage support by party affiliation. Sixty five percent of Democrats support it, 22 percent, that's less than a quarter of Republicans do. For the millions of gay Americans who don't understand how you can be gay and vote Republican, do me a favor here, help them understand. Do you not feel isolated and ostracized even within your own party?

COOPER: Not at all actually. There are corollaries of importance for voters and if you're a conservative voter, regardless if you happen to be gay or straight, things like a balanced budget amendment may be important to you. Things like a reduction of the size of government spending may be important to you, national security, probably important to you. Having the right to bear arms, your second amendment rights probably important to you, private property rights. These are things that are corollaries for conservatives.

There's a famous phrase that is very applicable for LGBT conservatives within the Republican Party and that's the Reaganism of my 80 percent friend is not my 20 percent enemy. If I can get a fellow Republican, you know, like a Paul Ryan to say I support employment nondiscrimination protection, then I'm not going to walk away from him because he may not see eye to eye with me on the issue of marriage.

Same with repeal of don't ask, don't tell. There are a number of Republicans in that coalition that helped advance the bipartisan passage of repeal of don't ask, don't tell who don't necessarily support marriage equality either.

KAYE: Let me jump in because I want to just share with our viewers at home some of the accomplishments for the LGBT community that occurred under President Obama. He repealed don't ask, don't tell. He signed the Matthew Shepherd and James Baird Jr. hate crimes prevention act. He extended benefits to same-sex partners to Federal employees. He extended domestic violence protections to LGBT victims and his administration has now stopped defending DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act.

So do you think - I'm curious Clarke, do you think that you would see this kind of progress for the LGBT community under a Romney administration or any Republican administration for that matter?

COOPER: I do see that there's progress advancing on both sides of the aisle. One thing that's been recognized not only by this president and by a number of Republicans who have moved to a point on issues would be labeled as freedom issues or equality issues, yes. There is no going backwards, regardless of who the next president is. So in that sense employment nondiscrimination probably a bigger issue that affects more Americans than marriage.

Obviously, I support marriage equality, but again it goes back to the economy and jobs. When it comes to the LGBT portfolio, more gay Americans are affected by their concern, their fear of losing their employment based on their orientation.

So, you know, I think room to grow for someone like Governor Romney or for any other Republican candidate is just that. It's employment, workplace protections. That's something that falls square with the jobs agenda in the House leadership and the Senate leadership for Republicans and it falls squarely within the economic platform as well. KAYE: Just very quickly, yes or no, does the president's now affirmation of gay marriage, does it change how you might vote?

COOPER: Well, no, in the sense that everyone has to look at multiple issues. So on a personal level, there's more than one factor that plays in. Marriage is not the only issue for me. It's not the only issue for many Americans. Again, he did the right thing by saying that marriage and the freedom to marry should be afforded to all Americans. You know, as Dick Cheney said, freedom means freedom for everyone, not just some.

So again, said the right thing. And has Mitch Daniels has said before, good man, good father, doesn't mean he's a good president.

KAYE: Clarke Cooper, appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

COOPER: Thank you Randi.

KAYE: Catching a really, really big wave. We'll show you what probably looked to most people like a tidal wave crashing ashore, but for one guy, well, it just looked like pure fun.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Oh, no. I see a little bit of -- a few little raindrops there possibly on our tower cam with our lovely view of Atlanta this morning. It's still a little gray, but a lovely view nonetheless.

All right, so here's a question for you this morning. What would you consider a big wave, 15 feet, 35 feet high perhaps? How about this, 78-foot wall of water. That is a big wave. Now think about trying to ride that wave.

That's just what surfer Garrett (ph) McNamara did and that got him into the Guinness Book of World Records. The wave popped up off the coast of Portugal late last year. Isn't this amazing to watch? McNamara said the world record wave was actually one of the smaller waves he came across that day. Look at him go. Wow!

We're following the drama in two big legal cases this morning. First the latest on the kidnapping and murder case of Adam Mayes.

Then John Edwards' defense team takes the wheel in his trial. Holly Hughes, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor will be along with us to help us all make sense of it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back, everyone.

Two young girls are back with their dad this morning following a terrifying ordeal. Two weeks after Alexandria and Kyliyah Bain disappeared from their Tennessee home, police found them in Mississippi where their kidnapper had them hiding in the woods. Their rescue ended the nationwide manhunt for Adam Mayes. He's also blamed for killing the girls' mother and older sister. Mayes took his life as police closed in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON FORD, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Mayes pulled a semiautomatic pistol from his waist band and shot himself in the head and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. Other agents moved in to rescue Kyliyah and Alexandria who were lying on the ground nearby. The girls were hungry, thirsty and dehydrated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, Holly Hughes is here with us.

So let's talk about this case. I want to talk about the John Edwards case with you too in a moment. But you have Mayes dead. You have his wife charged with two counts of first degree murder. His mother also charged in this case, conspiracy to commit especially aggravated kidnapping.

Where does this go from here? Does this even get to trial?

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think we'll probably see that the wife, Teresa, will take a plea and the mother may force it all the way to trial. That's Mary, the mother of the dead fellow here, because we know for a fact that the wife, Teresa, is the one who gave statements to the police. Now that she's hired a lawyer, it's after the fact. She's already said what she said, so they're stuck with this confession, as it were, where she admits to participating in these crimes.

KAYE: She said she was actually in the garage when Mayes killed Mrs. Bain and her oldest daughter.

HUGHES: Exactly. And then, not only that, but then where you get the additional charges is she transports these dead bodies and the two little live girls who are still, thank God, we found alive. They all ride together in that vehicle.

And it's important to note, too, I think a lot of people think how do you kidnap a dead body? But interestingly enough, if you force the mother and the older daughter from the kitchen into the garage, that's where the kidnapping lies. If you move anybody the slightest distance against their will, that's the kidnapping. So that's why four kidnapping charges.

KAYE: So what would be her defense, though? If she goes on trial, the wife in this case, because she has admitted to all of this.

HUGHES: She has.

KAYE: She said she was there and she helped.

HUGHES: What she has said also is that she was scared. She was in fear for her life, that Adam Mayes threatened her, threatened to kill her.

KAYE: He can't defend that, obviously.

HUGHES: That's exactly right. We've also heard her sister, Bobbi, had done an interview and said that perhaps intimated maybe she's a little mentally challenged, maybe she suffers from some type of disability, so we might see like a diminished capacity defense as well as a fear. I was in fear, I was under duress because he threatened to kill me if I didn't help him.

KAYE: Let's talk about John Edwards, that's also getting a lot of attention this week. The prosecution rested. The defense is picking it up. Edwards' team is now asking the judge to dismiss the case against him, saying that the prosecution didn't prove anything.

HUGHES: Right.

KAYE: Is that common?

HUGHES: Absolutely.

KAYE: Will they have any luck with that?

HUGHES: No. That's the bottom line right now. It happens in every criminal trial. Basically what you're saying to the judge is the prosecution always has the burden, proof beyond a reasonable doubt. So at that halfway point when the state says, OK, that's all we have, the state rests. That's when you go to the judge and say they didn't give enough to the jury to even have a question about reasonable doubt.

So we're saying, judge, you just need to direct a verdict. You need to say not enough evidence. Reasonable minds couldn't even differ about this, happens in every trial. It's also denied in almost every trial.

KAYE: Rielle Hunter, we've talked about her, the mistress in this case.

HUGHES: Yes.

KAYE: There was a lot being made that she was going to take the stand. The prosecution never called her. Do you think that was a mistake?

HUGHES: No, they don't need her. Basically what they're alleging is that John Edwards did something illegal with the campaign contributions that were given to him, i.e. instead of using them to finance his campaign, he used them to hide his pregnant mistress. They don't need her to testify to anything, because at this point, it's all about the money trail. And quite frankly, based on what we've seen and some of her behaviors of the past, she's a bit of a loose cannon and I don't think the prosecution wanted to take a chance.

KAYE: It might have been risky.

HUGHES: It would have definitely been risky.

KAYE: So if you were heading up his defense team, come Monday what is the top priority? What is the best thing, strongest thing they can come out of the gate with? HUGHES: There's two things they're going to need to do. They're going to need to acknowledge that my client might be a cad. He might have cheated on his wife when she was terminally ill. However, he did not knowingly participate in this scheme to defraud his investors, so to speak.

So they're going to have to bring up witnesses who will say I -- you know, John Edwards didn't know, he didn't participate and that may be Edwards himself. He might take the stand and say, hey, you know what, I didn't deal with the money. I'm the guy in front of the cameras. I hire other people to do that. If they did something with it --

KAYE: It's going to be a tough challenge because the prosecution had all those people saying that he did know, that he was in the room and he heard these conversations.

HUGHES: That's exactly right. Yes, exactly.

KAYE: So it's going to be really interesting to see who the jury believes.

HUGHES: A fine line about knowingly participating.

KAYE: All right. Holly, thank you.

HUGHES: Great, thanks, Randi.

KAYE: Mitt Romney takes his bid for president to one of the nation's largest Christian universities this morning and it is causing some controversy. Will students welcome him or will they walk out? We'll have a live report from the campus of Liberty University.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. Thanks for starting your day with us.

Mitt Romney's attempts to woo conservatives take him to Liberty University where he will give the school's commencement speech in just a few hours, but the appearance is not without controversy. Some argue that Romney, who is a Mormon, isn't the right person to speak at one of the nation's largest evangelical schools.

Shannon Travis is on Liberty's campus for us this morning. Good morning, Shannon. So what -- tell me, what can we expect to hear from Romney today? Will he go there, will he talk gay marriage, do you think?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, I mean we expect for Mitt Romney to not be so political in this speech, the campaign is telling us, Randi. A few thousand people have already filed in.

And we expect for Romney to come up on stage and send these graduates off to the next phase in their lives for many of them obviously the first phase of their careers. But the campaign yesterday, they put out some excerpts of what Romney is expected to say. I just want to read a few quotes to you and then talk about them just a little bit. On the first one he's expected to say quote, "I'm not sure quite why, but lately I found myself thinking about life in four- year stretches. And let's just say that not everybody has filled these past four years with as much achievement as you have."

You'll notice another strain of a -- of taking in these quotes and the next quote that I read here Randi. Quote, "For you and so many young Americans, our current troubles can be discouraging. You are ready for jobs that were supposed to be ready for you. Millions wait on the day when they -- when there are jobs for everyone willing to work and opportunities to match your hopes and goals, but don't lose heart because that day is coming."

Now, you'll notice that there was no mention of his opponent, President Obama, but they were subtle digs about the economy. The campaign telling us, that again, that they will not drill down on -- on -- on attacks, political attacks as much, but a lot of references there -- Randi.

KAYE: Certainly he's -- not everybody is welcoming him to the campus there. I understand that the Facebook page, the commencement Facebook page actually had to be shut down, there were so many objections to -- to him being there.

Are we expecting any protests there today, do you think?

TRAVIS: Yes it's hard to tell whether there will actually be protests here at the commencement itself. I mean, we'll certainly be watching. But you remember, Randi, just last month when this was announced that Mitt Romney would be the commencement speaker, a lot of the students were loudly protesting, taking their Facebook pages and -- and taking their protests public, basically saying that because Mitt Romney is a Mormon that inviting him here to speak at this school -- it goes against the school's own teachings.

Liberty University bills itself as the largest evangelical university in the country, and they teach that Mormonism is not a part of Christianity, so that's not making a lot of students here happy. We'll certainly look out for if -- if some of them show their public displeasure here today.

KAYE: Well, if it's not going to be a big policy speech today, Shannon, is this really then just about making a heart-to-heart connection then with -- with evangelicals?

TRAVIS: Yes, and that's really key what you're saying there, Randi. He does need to make an even stronger connection with these people, with Christian evangelicals. You know that throughout the primaries, there was some -- some consternation, some -- some -- some feelings about Mitt Romney among that group that I think it's fair to say are not quite resolved.

So yes, I mean, he's definitely courting (ph) to these students here. One key thing, gay marriage that obviously a lot of evangelicals are against, the campaign is telling us that he won't really talk about today. And -- and one other key point, Rick Santorum just last night spoke to an Arkansas TV station Randi and he actually said that Mitt Romney needs to use the issue of gay marriage as a, quote, "potent weapon".

So basically Rick Santorum coming out, even though he's endorsed Romney, coming out and say you know what you need to talk about gay marriage more forcefully in this campaign -- Randi.

KAYE: That is a -- that is an interesting comment from him. Shannon Travis, nice to see you. Thank you.

Celebrity food star and actor Reed Alexander is cooking up some recipes for healthier living. He's probably one of the busiest teenagers I know. But he's taking some time to join me live.

But first, as CNN employees, we want to share some of the places that we like to hang out just in case you want to go hang out at them. One of the members on my team Nesta Distin tells us about one of her favorite places to eat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NESTA DISTIN, CNN ASSOCIATE PRODUCER (on camera): Working in a 24-hour Newsroom makes me want to eat at unconventional times. That's why I love coming here to the R. Thomas Deluxe Grill in Atlanta. It's a 24- hour restaurant that serves healthy, organic meals any time of day or night.

(voice-over): Customers come for a unique dining experience. There's a mood-lit canopy and a wide range of organic, vegan and vegetarian dishes. Free range meat options are also on the menu and breakfast is served at any time. At the heart of it is its owner and founder, Richard Thomas. He switched from managing fast-food restaurants 25 years ago.

Now his motto is let your food be your medicine. Outside the restaurant is a mash-up of Thomas's passions. Heating and cooling inside is powered by a water sprinkler on the roof. There is a garden and a collection of artwork. These bricks, debris from the tornados in Alabama, serve as a memorial to the victims.

Thomas has been collecting birds for over 60 years and gets a kick out of showing them off. The kitchen-and-wait staff aren't allowed to play with the birds. The smoothies are a hit on the menu. The chef cooks with fresh ingredients bought locally.

RICHARD THOMAS, R. THOMAS DELUXE GRILL: Enjoy it.

DISTIN (on camera): Here we have one of the healthy dishes served here at R. Thomas Grill. This is the Thai bowl served with tempe, vegetables and quinoa. Time to begin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAYE: Health officials aren't exactly crazy about the numbers now, but America's obesity crisis is expected to get worse in just a few years. About 42 percent of Americans will be obese by 2030. That's according to new numbers released this week at the CDC's Weight of the Nation Conference.

It's also the title of a four-part HBO documentary that premieres Monday night exploring the problem. Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm 5'10" and 242 pounds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always say this is the biggest I'm ever going to be and I said that like 20 pounds ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A third of Americans are obese, another third is overweight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obesity is the biggest threat to the health, welfare and future of this country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have always been overweight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Joining me now is celebrity food star and actor Reed Alexander. You may recognize him from Nickelodeon's popular TV show "I Carly" or perhaps NBC's hit series "Will & Grace." Reed is everywhere. He's also the creator of kewlbites.com -- that's k-e-w-l-bites.com. Reed, good morning to you.

REED ALEXANDER, CREATOR, KEWLBITES.COM: Good morning, Randi, hi.

KAYE: Hi. So let me start with your personal battle with weight because that's -- that's something that I think a lot of kids who might be watching this morning at home with their parents might want to hear about.

You said that you were -- you were a teen eating out of control. So tell me about the moment, if there was one, when you actually realized, hey, I need to change something here.

ALEXANDER: You've got it. Well you know with poor eating habits, I was overweight, I was lethargic. I also have a family history of diabetes and heart disease. So when a family relative actually passed away as a result of complications, I realized I needed to grab the reins. I needed to turn things around for myself before medical issues could pop up down the road that would be unavoidable.

So as a result you know I love cooking. I got in the kitchen realizing that there was just nothing out there with the solutions from a kid's point of view. So I had to create it from myself. So nutritious recipes, swapping out ingredients at the same time finding ways to make exercise less of a stranger; and throughout the process I lost 15 pounds. I gained so much more confidence. And while I was blogging to myself and compiling strategies and tips and notes, I realized that that's what I wanted to share on kewlbites which is the destination for kids and families and it puts a fun spin on this serious topic.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: So -- so what kind of things do you eat now that maybe other kids might like? Because you know you try to talk to kids about healthy eating and vegetables and you know, that -- that's it they lose interest.

ALEXANDER: Yes well some of the recipes that I love that I'm constantly turning to are things like apple pot pie, delicious and decadent minus any butter. Or homemade chicken nuggets that I don't eat fry but instead I sear them in the pan and they're crispy and they're really delicious and tender inside.

In fact I have a recipe today I thought I'd share with you. This is one of my favorite go to snack, these are my cool crunch bars. It's like my homemade version of an energy bar. Take a look at these.

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: Can you hold them up a little higher for us so we can see them?

ALEXANDER: Totally, yes. What do you think? In all their glory here packed with dried fruits and nuts. I use almonds and walnuts and some oats and wheat germ, so they are satisfying, they're delicious, a great snack on the go. And they're easy to make in the oven.

You know, it's just minus the store-bought wrapper.

KAYE: I love it. I love that you have wheat germ in a -- in a snack for teenagers -- incredible.

ALEXANDER: Thank you.

KAYE: So tell me a little bit though about kewlbites.com. As we said you know teens can be pretty stubborn. Eating healthy isn't always the first stop. So how do you actually make it cook, non only healthy, but cool too?

ALEXANDER: Generally well, I make it fun, I make it delicious. So for me the fun comes in having friends and family over. We celebrate movie night or game night together; lots of healthy snacks on the table that don't sacrifice the yum factor. And Kewlbites with more than 100 recipes, that's expanding library as well as tips and information and blogs and constant communication on Twitter and Facebook and e-mail with the global audience, it's a really exciting conversation. And I think it's timely as well especially as you were saying a lot focus on this issue.

KAYE: Do you hear a lot from other kids who you know who might be obese and are struggling with their weight and just don't know what to do? ALEXANDER: Completely. You know it's an issue that I think a lot of people are grappling with. And it runs the gamma I hear from kids who are cooking together with their younger siblings that are asking me what are some easy exercises I can do to work into the day; at the same time I hear a lot from moms and from teachers who are folding Kewlbites into the curriculum when they are teaching kids about nutrition.

And it really is, I think, a collective audience that we need to talk to, to mobilize adults and, of course, kids to be able to find a strategy. To understand how to read a nutritional label, how to cook for themselves, how to have a well-balanced meal -- that's a lot of what I hear.

KAYE: Yes. I also know that you've teamed up with Rachael Ray and Bill Clinton, his foundation for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

ALEXANDER: Yes.

KAYE: What are you doing in terms of your work with him and them?

ALEXANDER: It's a big honor. You know, the president has founded the alliance through his Clinton Foundation in tandem with the American Heart Association. I've been traveling around the country, meeting hundreds of students, having a conversation about health and fitness, seeing amazing changes in the cafeteria.

And we've launched a great new campaign. A special set of my recipes through the Clinton Foundation and our alliance and our tools that we're providing are now available to more than 30 million students being cooked and served in more than 15,000 school cafeterias on a daily basis. So we're really excited about this campaign.

KAYE: Well, Reed, it's great to have you on the show. You and I, we connected recently in an airport. We didn't have time for a meal --

ALEXANDER: Lucky --

KAYE: -- we didn't have time for a meal, but maybe next time I'd like to see what you're eating for lunch if I see you again.

ALEXANDER: I'd love it.

KAYE: Reed, great to have you on.

ALEXANDER: Thanks so much Randi.

KAYE: And once again, it's Kewlbites if you want to check out Reed's Web site. Reed Alexander, thank you.

Waterbeds for cows. It may seem a bit strange, but Reynolds Wolf will tell us why we need them to help bring more milk to the table.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, San Francisco. What an amazing shot you have there, not too far from Pier 39. It's going to be a nice day for you, a few scattered clouds there but temperatures warming up in the 70s. Should be a great day altogether.

I'll tell you many of you might be waking up this morning. You're enjoying maybe some juice, maybe coffee, perhaps even some cereal. But believe it or not, some of the cows that produce some of the milk that goes in your cereal had a very nice night last night, they slept very well. This story will explain why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF (voice-over): Dean Throndsen knows how to keep cows happy. He makes waterbeds for cows.

(on camera): I would imagine that in the beginning you were met with a bit of skepticism.

DEAN THRONDSEN, MAKES WATERBEDS FOR COWS: Yes, they thought I was crazy, literally.

WOLF (voice-over): Throndsen brought the water beds to the U.S. from Europe in 1999 and redesigned them for comfort.

THRONDSEN: Cows are very, very important to the dairymen. It's their livelihood. The more comfort she has, the better health she has, the more she'll produce for them.

WOLF: Cows lay down 12 to 14 hours a day and getting up and down can hurt their joints.

THRONDSEN: Introduced the dual chamber cow waterbed. So we put basically a pillow up in front. We're talking about a 1,500-pound cow. So the front -- boom -- cushions the knees; and then she goes her hips -- boom -- cushions her hips. It elevates her pressure points.

WOLF: Wisconsin farmer Craig Lepple (ph) had the waterbeds installed in his barn just last year.

(on camera): What changes have you seen, Craig, since you've had these new waterbeds for cows?

CRAIG LEPPLE, WISCONSIN FARMER: The comfort, the legs, the hocks, there's no swelling.

WOLF (voice-over): Farmers may still opt for the traditional sand or straw bedding. The idea is that comfortable cows can focus on doing what they do best, making milk.

CRAIG: A healthy cow, a happy cow -- a productive cow.

WOLF: Hundreds of thousands of cow waterbeds have been installed in dairy barns in 19 countries, truly an international bovine luxury.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: You've got to love that, cow waterbeds. "Time" magazine's new cover, have you seen it? It is making some people uncomfortable. It features a mom breastfeeding her 3-year-old son. Doctors say it's fine. Other moms say it's gross. So we would like to know what you think. How old is too old for a mother to breastfeed her child? Tweet me at RandiKayeCNN, send me your comments. We will read some of them on the air as soon as we can.

One kid with a taste for gum -- well, he's not letting anything stop him and he is not alone. We're going in search of small kids in even smaller places.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We are very busy here tweeting all morning. So we've all been told that crime doesn't pay, but it's hard to get mad when little kids try to get away with it, of course. For them, it's not about big money targets. Instead it's about gum balls and stuffed animals. Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This 2-year-old wanted to chew some gum balls. Instead the gum ball machine swallowed his hand, or as his dad put it --

VINCENT JOHNSON, TEXARKANA FIREFIGHTER: I turned my back for one minute. They were trying to get tried to get some gum out of the gum machine and his hand was stuck up in there completely, man.

MOOS: His cheeks were full of tears as the Texarkana Fire Department came to the rescue of Terrell Parks, Jr.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amazingly, we did not have a plan. We were hoping that we would come in and it would be as simple as putting some oil or something on it and sliding it out. It wasn't that simple.

MOOS: Turns out they had to break the plastic and disassemble the mechanism.

You mean there were gum balls all over the floor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All over the floor.

MOOS: All over the floor, not counting the ones in Terrell's hand. At one point during the rescue, the kid got some gum balls in his fist but he refused to open his fist and give up the gum balls.

Firefighters had to coax him so they could get his hand out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open your fist. Open your hand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the gum ball go.

MOOS: Which he finally did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go, buddy. MOOS: No injuries to the hand. But the best kid stuck in a toy machine video ever features a girl who climbs head first into the door where the prize normally comes out in one of those claw machines, like the one in toy story. .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have been chosen. Farewell, my friends. I go on to a better place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got you.

MOOS: Once the girl disappears up the hole, another kid tells mom. As mom goes for help, the little girl pops up amid all the toys. Mom spent some time trying to retrieve her by the feet and knocking on the window but the girl keeps climbing the mound of toys.

Whatever you do, mom, don't try to shake her out.

Actually, this isn't so uncommon. There are other photos of kids trapped in the belly of a toy machine. Eventually this little girl came out exactly the way she went in, exiting feet first with a little help from her mom. It was as if the vending machine gave birth. Did she leave without taking home a prize?

The gum ball kid got to keep a few, to help him chew over the experience.

Jeanne Moos, CNN --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You ready to go home?

MOOS: -- New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" is coming your way in about 30 minutes. Christine Romans has a preview of what's ahead for us. Hi, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE": Hi, Randi. President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage. What will it mean in the fight for economic equality for same-sex couples?

Plus if you think willpower is the key to combating obesity in America, a ground-breaking new report says think again. It's not just your willpower.

And Facebook set to go public. We'll tell you what you need to know before you even think of buying a share of Facebook.

That's all coming up at 9:30 a.m. Eastern -- Randi.