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CNN Sunday Morning
Hurricane Sandy Battering the Carolinas; States in Play; Senate Candidate's Rape Comment
Aired October 28, 2012 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. DANNEL P. MALLOY, CONNECTICUT: Folks, this could be bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Ten million without power, more than $3 billion in damage, seven to 10 days in the dark -- just some of the threats here as we're looking ahead to hurricane Sandy.
Another number for you this morning: nine -- as many nine days until the election and campaign plans, they're in disarray. How the superstorm could affect the election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD MOURDOCK (R-IN), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The remarks may be sparking outrage, but the policies are also causing frustrations. "New York Times" columnist Nick Kristof on why rape policies are worse than comments.
Good Sunday morning to you. Thanks for being up and at 'em with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin, sitting in for Randi Kaye today. It is 8:00 a.m. on the East, 5:00 a.m. on the west. Thanks so much for starting your Sunday with me.
I want to begin this hour here with hurricane Sandy and the latest update we have here at CNN. Right now, first, some of the pictures. The storm already battering the shores of the Carolinas, even though it centered more than 200 miles off the coast right now. We are seeing tropical storm warnings extending from South Carolina, up towards Virginia. People all along the east coast right now over the weekend are rushing to get sand bags and flashlights and water and all kinds of other supplies.
I want to take you straight to North Carolina, though, right now to George Howell, who is live for us this morning at Kill Devil Hills. This is part of the outer banks here, an area already getting hit, evidenced by all the water and the rain.
George, good morning to you. We can really start seeing those waves behind you.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Brooke, you know, where there was beach yesterday -- I am going to show you what's happening out on the Atlantic. Take a look. The beach is gone right out here, and there's always the concern out here about this beach erosion, the storm surge could get anywhere up from four to six feet. So, that's what they're looking for it on this side of the outer banks.
And then on the south side, there's about three or five feet of flooding in that area as the storm continues to push northward. We are on that eastern side of the storm, a lot of the heavy rain still off shore of it coming in.
What you se happening on the eastern side of North Carolina, and parts of South Carolina, it's a good sign of what's to come as the storm makes the left hook into those metropolitan areas of New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
The winds out here right now, anywhere from 25 -- I would even say 30 miles per hour gusting. So, the winds are strong, vertical rain coming in. Sand where there was beach. You have the sand coming in, Brooke.
And a lot of people decided to ride this storm out here on the island. We know that part of Coastal Highway 12 has been shut down just south of us in the inlet. So, people who are in that area, they will be waiting and watching as this storm passes by us.
BALDWIN: So with regard to that one way in and one way out, as far as damage, have you heard of anything else in and around the outer banks area?
HOWELL: You know, the only damage that I've heard of so far is that Highway 12, the part where there's water over the how. But, again, Brooke, there are parts of this island that people know are prone to flooding. So those people, many of them, have gotten to higher ground.
And the people that decided stay on this island, they know what to do. They've been watching the track of the storm just to find out, you know, exactly what it's going to do to this island. Again, right now flooding is the big thing that people are worrying about.
BALDWIN: And I know you said a moment ago a lot of people still there, you know, business as usual at Kill Devil Hills. A lot of people riding this one out along with George.
Stay safe. We'll come back to you in just a minute here. We appreciate it.
I want to talk, though, as far as the trajectory of this hurricane. And to do that let's go to Bonnie Schneider. She's live with us this morning here in the weather center.
So, Bonnie, good morning.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
BALDWIN: With regard to Sandy, where is it now? When will it really make landfall?
SCHNEIDER: Brooke, we just got this in. This is the 8:00 advisory from the National Hurricane Center. So, we have a brand new position statement on Sandy.
Right now, the storm center is about 395 miles east, excuse me, of New York City and southeast of Cape Hatteras by 260 miles. The storm is getting closer, and we are expecting according to the National Hurricane Center, life-threatening storm surge from the mid- Atlantic coast, including the Long Island sound and New York harbor.
So, it's getting more serious and it's getting more ominous as the storm approaches.
Right now, a category one hurricane. We're not expecting it to intensify to a category two. But we are expecting hurricane force winds at the time of landfall.
Let's take a look at the track. It's slowed down a bit. So, we might be looking at landfall possibly early Tuesday morning.
But in advance of the storm, because it's so wide certainly we'll be feeling those effects of wind and rain already right now as you saw from the report in North Carolina, but in areas further north. You'll feel it later tonight and certainly for tomorrow.
The storm track going inland, that's why it's supper a dangerous point because it will be impacting so many people. That's what I want to show you now, the power outages by 10 million. You're talking about New York City and Philadelphia. Those are the possibilities of people that could be impacted. Cleveland and Pittsburgh all the way to the west as well.
So, tens of millions of people possibly impacted by one storm, one unusual hurricane in late October that actually has snow coming in with it. So, it's really got a multi-facetted effect with strong winds coming in gusts up to 80 miles per hour over a widespread area. Many states impacted.
And that dangerous storm surge, which is not just the heavy rain falling from the sky, but the water coming onshore, especially for the low-lying areas, making it even more dangerous. And storm surge and flooding is actually the leading killer in hurricane. Here's a computer model to show you the interesting, the really fascinating dynamics with this storm, because it's a hurricane.
Look what happens in our models. We have heavy snow, really heavy snow. We're talking about a foot of snow or more in parts of the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia from this one storm. This will be a widespread long-lasting event. If you haven't made your precautions and your preps, I would advise you do so today -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Bonnie, thank you, Bonnie. We'll be talking to you throughout the morning on this hurricane. Thank you.
In terms of just sort of geographically how people are preparing, New York, the Office of Emergency Management, they are preparing for the worst. You have buses and subways and commuter trains may -- let me say that again -- may have to suspend all service if the area is hit hard by Sandy.
Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo did warn the Metro Transportation Authority to prepare immediately. They say a final decision to suspend that service will be made later today. So, heads up for that. They are warning people now that there is no guarantee of service after 7:00 tonight.
To New Jersey, another state absolutely could get hit directly from this hurricane. Homes, businesses along the coast in preparation, they are boarding up. Just yesterday, Governor Chris Christie declared New Jersey in a state of emergency. The governor issued a mandatory evacuation not just for the state's barrier islands, but for the Atlantic City casinos as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: This morning, I formally declared a state of emergency in anticipation of hurricane Sandy, which is expected to be a severe and a potentially devastating storm that will hit New Jersey beginning Sunday night and be in full force by Monday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That's New Jersey.
In Washington, D.C., similar situation. You have store shelves that are quickly clearing out as people who live there, they're heading to the store. They're preparing for the worst. The mayor of Washington, D.C., Vincent Gray, he declared a state of emergency just yesterday, and city workers have already started prepping for clean- up. City leaders say they will maintain contact with people in the area throughout the next couple of days on social media sites, Twitter, Facebook. So, look for that.
In Maryland, also a state of emergency has been declared. In fact, in Annapolis, they're moving sand and sandbags in to place just to protect people who live there, people who work there. City officials hope that these initial precautions will help block any floodwaters from expected storm surge.
And the trucks -- these utility trucks, you see them rolling out here. This is Chicago. What does Chicago have to do with this? They're helping out. Two hundred forty of these trucks headed to the East Coast just to help out with the arrival of hurricane Sandy. ComEd says the trucks and crews will stay as long as they need to, to help with expected power outages caused by this storm.
And Sandy isn't just a dangerous storm. It could have an impact on the election that is just nine days away.
President Obama, he has had to cancel some of his campaign events both tomorrow ands Tuesday, including his final trips to Virginia, Colorado, both crucial swing states. Instead, we're told the president will be spending more time in the White House monitoring this storm.
As for his challenger, similar situation with Mitt Romney. He is having to make some changes as well because of this hurricane. He has canceled all of his campaign events in Virginia, and will now join his running mate, join Paul Ryan on a bus tour through the mother of all swing states, mother of al battlegrounds, in Ohio. The Republican nominee that will also be campaigning in Iowa, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire through Tuesday.
Speaking of Iowa, Mitt Romney is getting a boost from that state. Did you check "The Des Moines Register" just last night? This is just in here. They have now officially endorsed the Republican candidate, writing, Romney has, quote, "a strong record of achievement in both the private and public sectors and ran a successful business that turned around failing companies."
Keep many mind, they endorsed Barack Obama four years ago.
And also in, "The New York Times", they're going with President Obama here. The newspaper published an op-ed just this morning, as much of an endorsement as the president -- as a rebuke of Republicans really. "The Times" writes that "Mr. Obama has impressive achievements despite the implacable wall of refusal provided by congressional Republicans so intent on stopping him that they risked pushing the nation into depression, held its credit rating hostage, and hobbled economic recovery," end quote.
More on politics in just a bit. But to Hawaii now where the islands are under the tsunami advisory. These warnings, they have now been downgraded after the first few tsunami waves hit the coast.
Look at all the people, though. Back to back to back heading inland here, trying to get away from the coastal regions, the low- lying areas in anticipation of potential flooding from the waves.
But I can tell you that the waves in Hawaii were much smaller than feared.
Why are we talking about a tsunami here? It's because of this hurricane. A magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit the western Canadian coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands late Saturday night, generating these initial tsunami warnings. This map shows the energy burst here from the quake. And we're told there have been at least 23 aftershocks. Coming up, we will hear why some college students in a crucial battleground state are supporting one candidate over another, and you seriously might be surprised by some of what you are about to hear.
Plus, "The New York Times" columnist Nick Kristof weighs in on a Senate candidate's insensitive rape comment, but his outrage is aimed at the candidate. You'll hear ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We are now nine days out before Election Day, and I wanted to share some important numbers here on the presidential race just into us here this morning.
We're going to begin in Virginia. You know this is one of the key swing states we've been watching so closely. To this new "Washington Post" poll shows President Obama with a four-point advantage over his challenger, Mitt Romney. This is a change over the one-point lead Romney enjoyed there in a similar poll last week.
But what we want to also, though, to hear directly from you, from the voters in the state of Virginia. So we sent CNN political contributor John Avlon packing. So he hit the road on board the Election Express to ask college students, not just who they're voting for, but why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming from home where I was raised by a single dad, I mean, he in the last three years that I have gone to college has apologized to me over and over again just for what a mess the economy has become, and he takes it very personally, and he says, I'm sorry that you have such a mess to clean up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My opinion is the older folks beyond us they didn't do their job. They didn't manage the economy. They didn't manage things. They just spent, spent, spent. They didn't plan for us, and now, we have to clean up the mess that they made.
And I really believe that in the next 10, 15 years there's going to be a bunch of younger folks running for office to clean up the mess that was made.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that you also se the older generation -- I think they all want Reagan back, right? Everyone invokes Reagan as the idealistic or the ideal Republican candidate. And I don't think necessarily -- I mean, one way or the other, we -- I had never lived under Reagan's presidency, so I can't speak to that.
But I think that you see that our generation sees these other social issues that we really want addressed like gay marriage or gay rights or --
JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: You're in favor of -- are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am.
AVLON: You're a Republican?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, which is a very interesting to try and reconcile and plain to my gay friends.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like I agree with the president on social issues, I really do. And I think a lot of us are free thinking in that way, but it's kind of gotten to the point where it's triage. It's like, OK, economy is most important to me.
In 2008, I supported the president. I even, you know, worked for grassroots organizations, and I was all about him. In this election, it's kind of just been like a bad break-up between me and the president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that for me it comes down a lot to what we're looking for in a president for the next four years. Basically as somebody who we think can accomplish something. Really get some things done.
And I think that Mitt Romney at the beginning was really trying to get across that message that that's what he was going to do. He was going to be the one that came in. He is going to accomplish more than Barack Obama will.
But his problem was is what he was attempting to accomplish. He didn't really sit well with a lot of voters. He was more on the far right, and a lot of us didn't really feel comfortable with that.
His recent shift to the center, I think, has healed some of those wounds, but it's also a little more bittersweet because, you know, there were certain times well I thought if Romney would just shift to the center, I would just be behind him. But it's pretty tough to back track on some of the things that he said.
So I think for that reason, you know, there are certain things that I wish Barack Obama would do better, but there are certain things that I hope Mitt Romney doesn't do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mitt Romney had to say what he had to say to get elected, but he also had to say it to keep Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich from being our nominee, which will be disaster at this point. So, I think we should look at Mitt Romney's record, what he did as a business executive and what he did in Massachusetts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm from Massachusetts, and when he was governor, he did a lot of great things for our state. So I think that's --
AVLON: Like individual mandated health care.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like health care. A lot of people get riled up about the whole discussion, and I don't think that Romney is not for health care and for everybody having health care, which people have said. I think he just think that individual states should get to decide, and I have no problem with that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he becomes president of the United States of America, then he is going to be dealing with the Republicans in the House. And do we really think that he is going to go against them? Is he going to push against them?
And so I think that for some of us who are centrists and more moderate, we're worried if he becomes a president, it's just going to be unleashing the beast on a lot of the things during the primaries that came out that make a lot of us very nervous and a shift in the direction of the country that we don't really want. Yes, I would like to believe that he would do what he did as governor, but we don't have assured anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Those are all students at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, which is where we find our political contributor John Avlon, joining me this morning.
And can I just say that, you know, look, whether you agree with some of the students or not, it is so refreshing hearing such just engaged bright minds just speaking their opinions, clearly quite plugged in. What was your biggest takeaway?
AVLON: I mean, Brooke, first of all, just that. I mean, look, these kids are incredibly engaged with the issues. A lot of political consultants are cynical. They say policy doesn't matter. It's all about the slogan.
And these students clearly push back on that. They've studied the plans. They're thoughtful. They understand the shifts in policy and the implications.
A couple of big takeaways. First of all, all these students economy issue number one, but the deficit and the debt. You heard that. They do feel that it's a form of generational theft.
But they have some real questions. This is a center right campus, and there were some Obama supporters, but overall, I think the edge was to Romney. But there's some real questions both about the authenticity of his re-centering in the general election after campaigning as a severe conservative. You heard some of that.
And also, real questions about the role that social issues and the religious right play in the Republican Party. These students saying -- some of them were very fiscally conservative is saying this doesn't fit me or my generation. So, it's a fascinating wide-ranging conversation of students very engaged in that pivotal battleground state of Virginia.
BALDWIN: So, where have you been? You've been in Florida. You've been in North Carolina. You're in Virginia with Ali Velshi. And is that sort of the theme in talking to some of these voters, John, that, you know, really it's the economy that is clearly the biggest concern, the biggest issue as they're heading to the polls? AVLON: Absolutely. The economy is the biggest issue. You do hear a lot of conversation about deficit and debt, but there is the question about who would be a better steward.
There's a sense the economy is improving. People acknowledge that. The big question mark, has it -- for them is, has it been fast enough? And if Mitt Romney is elected, what does that mean with a Republican Congress versus re-electing President Obama?
So these people -- undecided voters are informed. They are thoughtful. And even the swing voters who are leaning one way or the other, they understand the complexities of the election. They don't want to be talked down to. They want to be offered specifics and solutions.
BALDWIN: Well, safe travels to you and Ali Velshi. Thanks for getting up early. We appreciate. And thanks to the students of W & L, too.
AVLON: Thanks, Brooke. Any time.
Coming up here we're going to talk about controversial comments on rape. Another Senate candidate puts his foot in it here. But "The New York Times'" Nicolas Kristof, columnist, says, let's not focus on that statement. Wait until you hear where he is actually directing his outrage.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Twenty-five minutes past the hour here on a Sunday.
You know, it was the last thing the Republicans needed so close to the November election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD MOURDOCK (R-IN), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Those comments about rape by Indiana's Republican Senate -- candidate for Senate Richard Mourdock, he has since apologized for offending anyone. But in addition to Democrats, the incident caught the attention of "The New York Times" columnist Nick Kristof. He released an op-ed aimed at outrage over political policy versus the politician.
And CNN producer Nadia Bilchik spoke to Kristof about that rape comment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICHOLAS KRISTOF, NEW YORK TIMES: I thought that God should have sued Mr. Mourdock for defamation. And, you know, I was happy to see Democrats jump all over his sort of insensitive remarks by him, earlier by Todd Akin. But I also think that, you know, if we're going to get upset about insensitive comments about rape, and we should, then we should be even more upset about by incredibly insensitive policies on rape.
And on things like that, neither Democrats nor Republicans have been particularly active, and maybe the best example of that is the huge untested backlog of rape kits around the country that are just sitting on evidence shelves and nobody is even looking at them.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: I found that completely shocking in your column. You said there's this backlog of rape kits. How did you find out about that? What are the ramifications of that?
KRISTOF: Well, this is something that, you know, it doesn't really get much attention because it's not something that Republicans and Democrats are yelling at each other about. People agree this is a travesty, and it doesn't get attention, and nothing really much gets done.
I came across this a couple of years ago and, you know, and talked to a woman who had been raped. She had gone to the hospital. This kid had been assembled, and he assumed it was tested, and it wasn't, and that seems to happen routinely.
In Illinois, Human Rights Watch found two years ago that 80 percent of rape kits were going untested at that time. Nationally, there seem to be hundreds of thousands of these rape kits that are just sitting around untested. And it seems to me that the problem -- that the broader problem is the same as the kind that leads to these insensitive remarks by Richard Mourdock, that in many cases, people just don't take rape seriously.
BILCHIK: And your column today really focuses on the broader issues of rape policy and how it's dealt with in this country. So what about the other things that you found so disturbing?
KRISTOF: Well, you know, there are a few. I mean, one is that in 31 states, for example, it seems that a rapist -- where a rape leads to baby, that the rapist can get visitation rights. Conceivably even custody in some cases to a child born of that rape. I mean, in Massachusetts, a convicted rapist is trying to get access to the child born of that rape.
And, again, this just seems unfathomable and if we're going to get upset about candidates making stupid remarks, we should get even more outraged by stupid policies.
BILCHIK: Nick Kristof, as always, a fascinating column, and thank you.
KRISTOF: Thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Coming up here, we want to talk about Hawaii and the tsunami and this earthquake in Canada that triggered this whole thing over the last couple of hours.
The first few waves they have come and gone. Here's the coast of Hawaii. But local officials warn that the danger has not totally passed. We have an update for you coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: And good morning to you and welcome back here to this CNN Sunday Morning. I'm Brooke Baldwin sitting in for Randi Kaye here. Half past the hour now.
Here are some of the stories we are watching for you right now, including Hawaii. The Coast of Hawaii remains under a tsunami advisory where the waves are expected to flood some of the low coastal areas. The waves were generated because of this magnitude 7.7 earthquake. That's what hit at the western Canadian Coast at the Queen Charlotte Islands late Saturday night that then triggered those evacuation orders into coastal areas. Those have now been lifted, but we're watching Hawaii still this morning.
Also, we're watching this. Millions of people all the way from the mid-Atlantic northward through the northeast bracing for Hurricane Sandy; they are stocking up with the essentials, the sand bags, batteries, of course, water in North Carolina. Sandy battered the coast with strong winds and raging surf Saturday. The potential super storm as it's been called could drop as much as a foot of rain, heavy snow and devastating winds on many of the areas with a lot of people here up and down the East Coast.
Now, the impact of Sandy is already being felt on the campaign trail. President Obama has canceled trips to crucial swing states like Virginia and he is headed back to the White House to monitor the storm. And Mitt Romney as well deciding to cancel some of his campaign events in Virginia this week; he instead will be joining his running mate Paul Ryan on a bus tour of Ohio. Romney will also campaign in Iowa, Wisconsin and New Hampshire in the next couple of days.
Now to Sandy and the trajectory here of this super storm -- let's talk to Bonnie Schneider. Bonnie, good morning once again. When is Sandy expected to make landfall?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Sometime late Monday, early Tuesday, but Brooke, it's important to note this is a large storm. The impacts will be felt before the actual land fall occurs. And the latest 8:00 advisory shows the position is now 395 miles east of New York City. That's the first time we're seeing that mentioned in a position statement.
So much to talk about, so little time. Here's a look at the movement you can see to the northeast at 10 miles per hour. A Category One hurricane we're expecting it to come in as a hurricane. Last year during Irene there was a lot of talk that it came in as a strong tropical storm, but this will be a strong storm and a large one and an expansive one that will impact us in so many different ways. Now, one of the ways we're going to be impacted and it was just noted on the last hurricane advisory, a storm surge. And that's not just the rain falling from the sky. And we're going to get a lot of rain, but we're also going to see that piling up of the water in dangerous areas, possibly Long Island Sound or even New York harbor.
And what happens is when the hurricane winds works their way over the open waters of the ocean the storm surge is not a problem but once it starts getting into that shallow coastal area, it has nowhere else to go, Brooke, but up and out and inland.
And storm surge can travel many, many miles. We've seen that before with past hurricanes. So this is a big concern for this system particularly -- amongst many others like power outages.
BALDWIN: Ok. It's sort of like the perfect storm all these conditions coming together. So we'll look for it Monday night into Tuesday. Bonnie, thank you.
Big heads up here on some Supreme Court cases we're going to be watching for this week. It could stop you from getting rid of types of things like in your junk drawer or garage. Wait until you hear the list and why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: If you are thinking about selling your old iPhone or perhaps donating clothes to charity, maybe having a yard sale, hang on a second. Play close attention here to this important court case coming out this week at the U.S. Supreme Court. It might give you some second thoughts.
Here is CNN's crime and justice correspondent Joe Johns. Joe -- good morning.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this started with a student from Thailand who was studying in the United States. To pay for his education his family and friends sent him cheap versions of text books printed overseas which he sold to people in the United States at big discounts. The publisher sued. Now some say the outcome of this case could have a big impact on the economy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): It's a case that could cause trouble for anyone who ever thought about selling an old iPhone or iPad, donating clothes to charity or even unloading junk at a yard sale. The issue about to be argued before the Supreme Court is whether the original copyright holder on U.S. products manufactured or purchased in other countries can control your ability to resell the product once you buy it.
Davis Kiyonaga resells old products at this eBay consignment store.
(on camera): How much of that stuff is foreign manufacturers? DAVIS KIYONAGA, OWNER, DROP & SHIP: I'd probably say 85 percent, 95 percent.
JOHNS: He fears the case could put him out of business.
KIYONAGA: I think it's ridiculous. I mean, I -- I've known about it because it could affect my business so horribly, but I kind of pushed it back because I'm, like, how could this possibly happen? What -- the repercussions would be ridiculous.
JOHNS: Even libraries are worried that a legal defeat could require them to seek the copyright owner's permission before lending books printed overseas. Andrew Shore represents a coalition of interests, including libraries.
ANDREW SHORE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OWNER'S RIGHTS INITIATIVE: The rule we would like to see is very simple. You bought it, you own it, and you can do with it as you please.
JOHNS (voice-over): Otherwise, Shore says copyright owners could demand a fee every time you try to resell almost anything not made in America.
(on camera): Anything I'm wearing, would that apply?
SHORE: It's got a copyright.
JOHNS: Right, DVD's.
SHORE: Yes.
JOHNS: What else, iPhones?
SHORE: iPhones.
JOHNS: Computers?
SHORE: Yes.
JOHNS: Televisions?
SHORE: Yes.
JOHNS: Cars?
SHORE: Yes.
JOHNS: Jewelry?
SHORE: Everything with copyright.
JOHNS: The copyright holders and their lawyers say the rhetoric has gotten a little overheated.
THEODORE OLSON, LAWYER FOR PUBLISHER: You know that you're on the right side of a case when the other side -- the best answer that they can come up with is that the sky is going to fall. Garage sales, museums and that sort of thing, none of that is going to happen.
JOHNS: Powerhouse Attorney Ted Olson says this is mostly about books and movies and other so-called intellectual property and making sure producers of such works have exclusive rights to distribute them in the U.S.
OLSON: It's protecting the integrity of the copyright system in the United States, which was created by the Constitution in order to create an incentive for people to create works that make us all laugh or cry or educate us.
JOHNS: Though truth to tell law Professor Mike Carroll says it's the kind of case a Supreme Court might prefer politicians to resolve because the law is so murky.
MICHAEL CARROLL, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY EXPERT: It would be best if Congress really weighed in. I have to say the court is faced with a really difficult job here because the text of the statute really seems to be hard to reconcile.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: If any of this sounds familiar to you, it may be because the court recently tackled a similar case, but the opinion ended up a tie vote with Justice Elena Kagan recusing herself due to the role she played in it when she was Solicitor General. This time, though, she is expected to participate --Brooke.
BALDWIN: Joe, thank you. Joe Johns for us in Washington.
Coming up here, Candy Crowley, host of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION". We're going to talk to her about Hurricane Sandy and how it's already obviously impacting the presidential race events on the trail. How that may play out.
Also, about some recent key newspaper endorsements and whether they really even matter. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Let me say it again to all of us here: nine days -- nine days until the Presidential election and this hurricane, Hurricane Sandy already affecting events this upcoming week on the trail.
Let me go to Washington. Candy Crowley is standing by. She's the host of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION". Candy Crowley, good morning to you. Let's just first begin with the fact that we know that Mitt Romney and President Obama, they're both having to cancel events in Virginia specifically because of the storm. The President staying back at the White House, monitor this hurricane. In terms of optics in voting, how do you see the storm playing out?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST: Well, the optics are interesting simply because the President was supposed to go to Colorado, and he is canceling that trip -- a state not affected by the storm -- to sort of stay and monitor the East Coast. In other words, you don't want to be the President and be seen out campaigning if something horrific happens along the East Coast. We know that.
Virginia is a huge battleground state, and all of them -- not just the President -- presidential candidates, but wives and surrogates had all planned journeys into Virginia to kind of go and stoke up their bases because it's so close, but you soak a lot of resource that Virginia may not have, looking at the size of this storm. So -- in fact we're having Governor McDonald, the Virginia governor on today, so we'll talk to him about that.
BALDWIN: Ok.
CROWLEY: But it does take away some of the time that they wanted to spend in Virginia because it is so critical to both of them.
BALDWIN: What about also, Candy, we talk about this critical state of Iowa, and I saw the "Des Moines Register" newspaper, they hadn't endorsed a president -- a Republican presidential candidate since Nixon and now they're officially endorsing Romney. What do you make of that, and are newspaper endorsements -- do they really matter?
CROWLEY: I don't know that endorsements in general matter in terms of people's votes. I mean there may be some people that read the "Des Moines Register" this morning and are going to, you know, change their minds or an undecided that says, ah, yes, that's exactly the way I was trying to frame it in my head.
I'm not going to rule out that some people maybe change their minds by either the endorsement of a person or the endorsement of a newspaper, but I think by and large, they don't. But here's what they do, do; it's that they sort of get -- gather attention for the candidate.
And the fact that the "Des Moines Register" hasn't endorsed a Republican since Nixon is huge. I mean, you know, for the "New York Times" to endorse President Obama, for the "Washington Post" to endorse President Obama, that's kind of like, yes, ok.
But I think particularly in a state in Iowa in Des Moines being in Iowa, this can be huge simply because it brings added attention to Mitt Romney in a time when they really would like to put that one in their basket.
BALDWIN: You mentioned coming up, the governor of Virginia. Just quickly, who else is on the show?
CROWLEY: We'll also have the former governor of Ohio, because we want to talk about two swing states and we're talking about the campaigns in general with David Axelrod, as you know, a top advisor to the President as well as Reince Priebus who's head of the Republican Party.
BALDWIN: Candy, thank you. Have a wonderful show. We will be tuning in, as always.
CROWLEY: Thanks Brooke.
Baldwin: "STATE OF THE UNION" starts just about 12 minutes, 11 minutes here if you are watching the clock like I am; 9:00 a.m. Eastern, 6:00 a.m. Pacific right here on CNN.
Are you sick and tired of publicity hounds always seeking the spotlight? Comedian Dean Obeidallah has had enough and has now a theory of how to get rid of them.
And we'll take you live to North Carolina where Hurricane Sandy already really hitting the coast.
Don't go anywhere.
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DONALD TRUMP, REAL ESTATE MAGNATE: If Barack Obama opens up and gives his college records and applications and if he gives his passport applications and records, I will give to a charity of his choice -- Inner City Children of Chicago, American Cancer Society, AIDS research -- anything he wants, a check immediately for $5 million.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: The Donald and his self-proclaimed bombshell announcement this week to the President, which was, let's just say, met by a good amount of criticism and even laughed off by the President himself.
But my next guest says he has just had enough of these stunts. He is comedian Dean Obeidallah, who joins me live. You were so fired up Dean Obeidallah --
DEAN OBEIDALLAH, POLITICAL COMEDIAN: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- that you wrote this op-ed cnn.com, to quote you, the millionaire with the grotesquely inflated ego and the equally grotesque hairstyle that looks as if a Pomeranian has been stapled to his scalp. Who on earth are you talking about?
OBEIDALLAH: I'm talking The Donald. I wouldn't even look at him when he was on. I swear I had my eyes closed. I will not give him the attention he is craving from us. That's my whole point of the article that I wrote, which is entitled "Ignore the media whores", or "Ignore the publicity whores".
But check it out. I mean there really is a way for us to deal with these guys, one -- and their women, too. The king and queens of boredom out there, to me have to be stopped, and there's a way we can do it.
BALDWIN: Ok. So how do we do it, and who else is on your list? Let's start there. OBEIDALLAH: Well, the usual suspects. I call the legion of doom of the publicity villains out there. You have Trump, of course. Rush Limbaugh. Bill Maher, on many occasion swerves from, you know, actually someone constructive to this crazy world. Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter. They're the main ones to me. They're the A-Team of this group.
They're the ones that they say things not to effectuate change for positive good, but to help themselves. To sell books, to get ratings for a TV show, to raise their speaking fee. They don't care about us. They care about themselves only, but they couch it in these terms of I'm trying to help you.
No, you're not. We know you're not. Stop it and move on. Let's support that. Can we do that?
BALDWIN: But dean, the fact that you are writing about them, is that not sort of counter intuitive? That's like giving them oxygen? You're pointing us to read this CNN.com op-ed. What do you say to that?
OBEIDALLAH: I didn't mention any of their names in my article, Brooke. That's why I describe them.
BALDWIN: Very nuanced.
OBEIDALLAH: Exactly. I think I'm very subtle --
BALDWIN: Very subtle.
OBEIDALLAH: -- and sneaky in that way. But anyway, we know who they are. I can't make them disappear, but my point is to ignore them because, let's be honest, the media is a business. The news is a business. Just like entertainment is a business. If someone is not getting ratings and stories about them are not being clicked on, guess what, people stop writing about them.
You reflect -- I say you, Brooke, I don't mean you. I mean the media.
BALDWIN: It's a big you.
OBEIDALLAH: Right.
For example, Ann Coulter is on Piers Morgan earlier this week. If that gets no ratings when people tune up, guess what; she's probably not going to be booked again. So we actually can impact what's on our television sets by turning the channel and not watching them. We can do this.
BALDWIN: We can?
OBEIDALLAH: I think we can. This is my hope and change speech. Let's make America better.
BALDWIN: Dean Obeidallah, preaching on a Sunday morning here on CNN.
OBEIDALLAH: I say wake up America. Stop drinking your coffee. Stop reading the paper. Listen to me, turn them off. Don't turn this off -- turn them off.
BALDWIN: You can read Dean's op-ed. Go to CNN.com/opinion. Dean thank you. Have a wonderful rest of your Sunday.
Obeidallah: Thanks Brooke, you too.
BALDWIN: And now to this. Not only -- speaking of this hurricane now -- not only is Hurricane Sandy expected to cause widespread wind damage and dump a lot of rain, about a foot of rain in the northeast, it could also cause massive snowstorms when it merges with this cold front. So, all these factors here sort of swirling together right now.
Sandy's battering the shores of the Carolinas even though it's centered -- the latest update -- right around 200 miles off the coast. We are seeing tropical storm warning extending from South Carolina to Virginia and we have George Howell smack dab in North Carolina on the coast there at Kill Devil Hills. If you know it, it's just the Outer Banks.
And George, I know you have been hit quite hard with some of the rain. Bring me up to speed. What are you seeing this morning?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, you know, the strong wind, the sideways rain mixed with sand, (inaudible) and you're going to see a lot of rain as it comes in. Right now we are right within that band. That brand that stretches from Wilmington, North Carolina, all the way up to Norfolk, Virginia.
What you see happening right now here along the Outer Banks, a good indication of what is to come as the storm system hooks around us and then goes into those metro areas into Washington D.C., New York, Philadelphia where we understand that they will see those hurricane force winds.
Real quick, want to show you what's happening out here on the Atlantic. Take a look at the very choppy surf out there where there was a beach, Brooke. The beach is gone.
BALDWIN: Oh wow.
HOWELL: We're expecting a storm surge -- yes. Storm surge out here, anywhere from four to six feet on this side of the Outer Banks, and then on the sound side of the Outer Banks they were anywhere from three to five feet of flooding is expected as this storm churns northward. We're on the northwestern side of it getting a lot of rain and strong winds -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: George Howell, thank you. We're going to come back to you, I'm sure. They will throughout the rest of the day as our coverage continues on Hurricane Sandy. George thanks. To Bonnie Schneider here; Bonnie, let's just take a little more about what we were seeing with George. Already those waves whipping on the Outer Banks; and so as far as landfall goes, you were saying that's really not until, what, Monday into Tuesday?
SCHNEIDER: Monday into Tuesday. Remember, this is an unusual hurricane, Brooke. It's a large one. So we're going to feel those hurricane force winds in advance of the storm, and the National Hurricane Center says when it makes landfall it will likely come in as a hurricane, which is interesting. That just came out in the latest position statement.
Let's take a look at the track. Still off to sea. And then the sharp turn comes in -- possibly a landfall somewhere south of New York City, north of Virginia. But it's difficult to pinpoint, and we'll get closer as we get closer to that time.
But notice that the threat of storm surge continues inland. The threat of heavy rain and strong wind will impact millions of people, so this is not just a few people. When you look at the population of New York and Philadelphia just, for example, over ten million, and then head out to Cleveland and Pittsburgh, we're still looking at strong winds as far west as those regions. So potentially this could be a massive disaster when it comes to power outages with very strong winds.
Those wind advisories are in place and not only that, we have storm surge and heavy rain and you saw from George's report, he was kind of dodging the rain because it was coming in sideways. Expect a lot more of that as Sandy comes on shore. Brooke.
BALDWIN: Here we are at the end of October. When is hurricane season officially over?
SCHNEIDER: Well, it's not over until November, but I can tell you it's unusual to see something like this in October --
BALDWIN: It is.
SCHNEIDER: -- make -- something like this making landfall. Even just looking at this model is incredible.
BALDWIN: Bonnie, thank you. Of course, all day long please stay with CNN. They will have the latest, of course, on what's been happening in Hawaii with regard to the tsunami. You have this hurricane that we're watching for and also nine days out, the Presidential election.
Thanks for waking up with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin.
And we're going to take you to Washington. "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley begins right now.
