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Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien
Nor'easter Hits Hurricane Sandy Victims; Interview with Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio, Texas; Obama Win Means Health Care Law Stays; Interview with Austan Goolsbee; Fiscal Cliff Looms for U.S. Economy; Program Works Against Gun Violence in Philadelphia; Funny Moments, Election 2012
Aired November 08, 2012 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching STARTING POINT.
Powerless in the cold. A nor'easter has pummeled communities already struggling to recover from superstorm Sandy. Now more power outages and freezing temperatures and inches of snow, too, are adding to the devastation.
Plus, President Obama back to work this morning after winning re- election, but with a looming fiscal cliff, a divided Congress, can he avert disaster?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The Dow tanks with its worst day of the year, Soledad. Are we in for more trouble in the markets today? I'll look at what stocks took the hardest hit and what it means for you.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And facing her shooter. Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in court today for the sentencing of Jared Lee Loughner and her husband has plans to speak at that hearing.
O'BRIEN: Lots happening this morning. We're going to be talking with Democratic San Antonio Mayor Julio Castro. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be with us. Former member of the Obama administration, Austan Goolsbee, is going to join us, and comedian David Alan Grier.
It's Thursday, November 8th. And STARTING POINT begins right now.
(MUSIC)
O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody.
Our team this morning: Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Everybody keeps tweeting saying I'm saying it with an N and I'm not, Hutchison. She joins us all morning.
It's nice to have you. You joined the Senate in 1993.
SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R), TEXAS: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Now you're getting ready to leave. We'll talk a little bit about more what your future going to hold, straight ahead. HUTCHISON: (INAUDIBLE)
O'BRIEN: We're happy about it.
Richard Socarides is a writer for NewYorker.com. He's also a former adviser to President Clinton.
Ryan Lizza is Washington correspondent for "The New Yorker".
John Berman and Christine Romans sticking around as well.
Let's talk about the storm. This is such bad news for people who are already reeling. Powerless, cold now in the snow, that nor'easter that struck the East Coast just nine days ago after that big hurricane. So, now, they're dealing with this new storm.
So, thousands of super storm Sandy victims in New York and who are in New Jersey had to ride out damaging winds, driving snow, four-foot storm surges, bitter cold temperatures -- big problem. Right now, there are close to 700,000 customers in two states without power. That number has been rising in the wake of this latest storm. More than 1,500 flights had to be scrubbed.
Now, just one service on the Long Island railroad was coming back to normal. It was suspended again last night.
Team coverage this morning of this early winter storm. Susan Candiotti live for us in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and Rob Marciano, who's in Staten Island, New York.
Rob, let's start with you. How's it looking?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Look at this, Soledad. Sunshine. This is something that they certainly are embracing this morning after the night they had just a little over a week after Sandy came through. At that point, the water was up and over my shoulders at that point. So, any car on this road was washed down the road and gone. Matter of fact, the people that live in the house behind us, they lost their cars.
Right here, this is Nick. He has a borrowed truck from his friend. He's about to take one of his four sons to school. So, life goes on even though they spent yet another night in that house, in the cold and in the dark.
More people are without power again today because of the snow and because of the wind.
See you, Nick.
And the wind has been impressive.
Let's go over the snow totals. Jersey and Connecticut, up and over a foot in spots and it's still snowing in Connecticut. Some of the wind gusts, hurricane strength near the cape. That's where the center of this storm is. Snow bands continue to spiral around across eastern Connecticut and Long Island and Massachusetts for the next couple of hours, adding to that snow tally. And this is a heavy, wet snow. So, that's why some trees and tree limbs have come down and power outages have been a problem there.
But obviously, there's some quick clearing behind this. Temperatures should be above freezing today. So, some of this snowfall will melt.
I mean, you know, damage done, Soledad. Certainly a little over a week after Sandy came through, it certainly is not what these folks needed to have to deal with. Back to you.
O'BRIEN: But at least with the sun coming out today, that means people can start working on the lines again and getting that power back, which is really what they need.
All right. Rob Marciano for us -- thank you, Rob.
Turning to New Jersey now. Governor Chris Christie says the nor'easter could send his state's recovery backward.
Let's go right to Susan Candiotti. She's in Asbury Park, New Jersey, for us this morning.
Hey, Susan. How's it looking where you are?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad. Not surprising that he said that, because, yes, as the sun is coming up, utility crews are already back at work. This is the mess people are waking up to -- all the slush from the heavy snow that they got last night.
A lot of workers we ran into this morning say they would the thought maybe they would just get a dusting. Well, far from it. Two to three inches here, but inland as much as 9 1/2 inches in this area.
We know some utility crews as far away from Mississippi are hunkered down in this hotel that was damaged by the storm. Only half the rooms are probably able to be use d at this time because the utility crews are sleeping on cots in the ballroom here. But again today they're already back at it, trying to restore power.
They had made progress yesterday, but utility crews told me. And then by the time they ended the day when that snow was coming down, they already knew that they were losing more power than what they had restored. So, a big mess here.
You know, Governor Christie said yesterday, what's next, locust and pestilence? Well, obviously, they got a lot of hearty people who are working here, living here, and they're trying to get back on their feet as best they can -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: I think the weather forecast is improving over the next couple of days, which will be some good news again, telling people in there to clean up, help on the lines and maybe move in the right direction.
Susan Candiotti for us -- thank you, Susan.
Let's get right to John Berman for an update on other stories making news today.
BERMAN: Hey, thanks, Soledad. No rest after the big race. President Obama back at work, trying to steer the country away from the so- called fiscal cliff. It's set to begin taking effect in January, just 54 days from now.
It includes $7 trillion in tax increases and spending cuts over a decade. Congressional leaders have been hinting at a compromise.
Coming up in a minute, San Antonio mayor and President Obama's big supporter, Julio Castro, he will join us.
CNN projects Arizona's Ann Kirkpatrick will return to Congress, narrowly beating Republican challenger Jonathan Paton.
But seven House races are still up for grabs this morning across the country. In Palm Springs, California, Republican Mary Bono Mack isn't giving up. She trails Democrat Raul Ruiz with all precincts reporting. But he says a large number of ballot have yet to be counted. Her husband, Republican Representative Connie Mack lost his bid for the Senate in Florida to incumbent Senator Bill Nelson.
In another tight race, Tea Party Florida Republican Congressman Allen West is not conceding defeat. He is demanding a partial recount in his reelection bid against Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy. Right now, Murphy has a slim lead of less than 2,500 votes. But that is more than what is needed to trigger an automatic recount.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will pay tribute to slain U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens at an award ceremony tonight in Washington. Stevens was killed in the September attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. He will be posthumously honored with a Common Ground Award honoring outstanding accomplishments in conflict, resolution and negotiation.
Former Arizona Representative Gabby Giffords and husband Mark Kelly will be on hand in a Tucson courtroom when the man who shot Giffords receives his sentence. Kelly is expected to read a statement during that hearing. Twenty-four-year-old Jared Lee Loughner murdered six people during a shooting rampage and a public event staged by Giffords in January 2011. Giffords and 12 others were wounded. Loughner will be sentenced to life in prison as part of a plea deal arranged in August.
That will be an emotional day, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Gosh, that must be terrible.
All right. Still ahead this morning: President Obama looking at the next four years even as the votes in Florida are still being counted. Republicans are examining what went wrong in their bid to win the White House. And many people are pointing to the minority vote.
Senator Lindsey Graham talked about it last night when he was chatting with Anderson Cooper. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Well, I just think the honest truth is that we have a demographic problem. If we had gotten 40 percent of the Hispanic vote, Mitt Romney would be president. You know, 43, Bush 43 got 41 percent, McCain got 31 percent, and Romney got 27 percent. We're going in the wrong direction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Julian Castro is the mayor of San Antonio, Texas. It's nice to see you again. Thank you for talking with us.
Just a minute ago, I was talking with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who's been joining us all morning. And of the things that she said was that she believes ideologically that Latinos might be sort of linked to Republicans than Democrats, that maybe some of these issues around immigration is what's keeping Latinos from becoming Republicans.
Do you think that's true?
MAYOR JULIAN CASTRO (D), SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Well, I think that Latinos are like every other community in the United States. They have the same concerns. And those concerns are several.
And I know that Senator Hutchison, of course, is very familiar with the Latino community, representing Texas. I would say, though, that it's the tone on issues like immigration but it's also the substance, the policies that Republicans have embrace d on health care, on education, on the economy.
On health care, for instance, Republicans are very much against Obamacare. At the same time for the Latino community, up to 9 million more Latinos will be provided with health care because of Obamacare. That's a huge deal in a community that has a high rate of diabetes, of obesity, of hypertension, and where literally for most -- for many folks, the emergency room is their primary care physician.
So having health care is a great thing. So it's not just the tone. It's also the substance of the policies that Republicans have embraced.
O'BRIEN: You know when I find so interesting? You look at the exit polling. I'd just -- I love exit polls. They tell you so much about the electorate.
Let's look at exit polling on Hispanics. In 2004, Latinos made up 8 percent of the electorate. 2008, it was 9 percent of the electorate. 2012, it was 10 percent of the electorate.
If you do any kind of extrapolation of those numbers, you have to say, Latinos not only were the important element of the president's victory, but they're going only to continue to be more. Don't you think?
CASTRO: Yes. There are two problems for the Republican Party that are lessons learned from this election with regard to Latinos. The first is what you mentioned, that Latinos are becoming a larger share, larger portion of the overall vote.
But, secondly, that the percentage that the Democrats are getting is also getting higher. So, you have both of those factors working in -- to the benefit of the Democratic Party. What it means for Republicans is that they have to become a bigger tent party. They can't tow the line of the Tea Party and expect that they're going to be able to appeal to Latinos or to other groups.
RYAN LIZZA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Mayor Castro, it's Ryan Lizza. I have a question about Texas. I understand everything you just said. Texas, if I'm not mistaken, is a majority minority state. It will be a majority Hispanic state pretty soon. In Texas, the Republicans told 27 out of 27 statewide offices, both Senate seats, the state House, the state Senate.
Why haven't Democrats in Texas capitalized on this burgeoning Hispanic population? Why is Texas not a blue state?
CASTRO: That's a great question. And I think there are a couple different reasons for it. First, in Texas, the investment in the ground game has not been made. Also unions are not nearly as strong as they are in California or certainly in the Midwest.
So what that results in, with regard to the Latino community, is that Latinos in California are 10 percent less likely than the mainstream to vote. In Texas, they're 25 percent less likely than the mainstream to vote.
What it means is that there's groundwork that needs to be done in Texas that simply hasn't been done. I think when you have that groundwork and when you have the right candidates to excite folks, then you're starting -- you'll start to se probably progress. Within the next six to eight years, I believe Texas will be at least be a purple state if not a blue state.
O'BRIEN: Let me ask a question of Senator Hutchison who's with us this morning. The mayor just talked about a bigger tent. And I wonder if that's literally possible, because it seems to me that you have some parts of the party who part of the reason for being is to have that tone, for example, take a very tough tone on immigration. It's not like you can just say kumbaya, let's all come together. That is part of what makes up part of the argument of the people they're appealing to in their part of the country.
Is it possible to have the Tea Party in, is it possible to have the folks who believe that the Arizona anti-immigration law is a great idea and also appeal to Latinos?
HUTCHISON: Absolutely. And that's what we do in Texas. We are a Republican state. We definitely are a red state. And we do have an outreach to Latinos.
And we have -- I mean, our next senator from Texas is going to be a Latino Republican. And the reason is we are talking about the issues and we are including them in our leadership as well. But they are the small business people of our state. And that is where they -- Republicans are saying we want to create jobs. We want your business to succeed.
And Latinos are coming to us because we're championing education. We also have a DREAM Act in Texas so that our young Hispanics who have come illegally through no fault of their own are going to our colleges and getting educations.
O'BRIEN: But there are elements of the party nationally who completely are against that. I mean, I guess that's one --
HUTCHISON: The reason -- I'm saying I think Texas is a way forward to show that you can be very conservative and talk about the issues that Hispanics, small business people and people who want their kids to get a good education embrace. And I get a very large percent of Hispanic votes, as did George W. Bush. And I think that it's doable, for sure, at a national level if we kind of follow the Texas model.
LIZZA: I spent last week in Texas when we have a piece about this in "The New Yorker." And they are way ahead of the national party when in terms of reaching out.
O'BRIEN: It's not been as hostile as Arizona.
LIZZA: It was but they recently started to shift.
O'BRIEN: Julian Castro is the mayor of San Antonio, Texas. It's nice to have you with us this morning. We certainly appreciate it. If you ever want to come and join us in person, sir, you know, we have a spot for you.
CASTRO: Certainly. Great to be with you.
O'BRIEN: Tell your people, he just said yes.
All right. We got to take a short break. Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT: the president's health care law is now secure. It hasn't kicked in completely. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will tell us what it will mean for your health plan.
And then take a look at this video -- pint-sized superstar. Take a look at this guy.
BERMAN: It's not a guy.
O'BRIEN: It's a girl. I didn't know that. Look at this young person.
LIZZA: Wow, sexist.
O'BRIEN: It wasn't sexist. I guess it was sexist, wasn't it? LIZZA: You didn't think it could be a girl.
O'BRIEN: We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Now that President Obama has won re-election, it looks like health care reform is here to stay. Some parts of the law haven't yet kicked in. And some deadlines are quickly approaching.
Let's get right to CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. So, Sanjay, what do you expect we'll see coming up?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, I think the best way to think about is starting really primarily in 2014 as more as insurance regulation than even health care regulation.
And we've talked about this before, but there are some specific things that are going to kick in for everybody, for adults and children alike that a lot of it has to do with, you know, not being able to be charged higher premiums for being sick and not being denied coverage for pre-existing condition.
So, I'll point out that most people think of those things as providing insurance for people who can't get it at all right now. But also, there's a lot of people who have insurance that are paying extremely high premiums. So, this may provide some relief for them as well. But again, most of that kicking in, in 2014.
One of the things that this is predicated on is having what are known as these health exchanges within states. Sort of a marketplace where people can buy insurance who haven't had great access to it, so far.
RICHARD SOCARIDES, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT CLINTON: Sanjay, it's Richard.
GUPTA: Hi, Richard.
SOCARIDES: Hi. At what point can regular Americans buy health insurance from these government-sponsored cooperatives? I mean, for instance, my health insurance is expiring at the end of this year. I want to know, can I buy a government-sponsored health insurance program?
GUPTA: In New York, state of New York has said they're going to do this. They're going to create the exchange. It doesn't have to be fully implemented still for another year. So, beginning of 2014. Many states, Richard, have said that they're either not going to do it or it's still under consideration.
So, for example, in your area, New Hampshire, Maine, they're saying no. We're not going to do it. Kentucky says they're going to do it. South Carolina says no. So, by November 16th, these states have to decide. Many of them are probably waiting to see what happened this week, frankly. But they have to decide. And if a state decides not to do it, then the federal government may go into those states and create the exchange themselves. But this is -- again, this competitive marketplace, which is part of the way to drive down costs have these insurance companies compete for business.
O'BRIEN: Sanjay Gupta for us this morning. Thanks, Sanjay. Appreciate it.
GUPTA: You got it. Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, the Dow tanks, worst day of the year. Is there more trouble ahead in the market? We're going to take a look at that with Christine, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to STARTING POINT. I'm Christine Romans, "Minding Your Business" this morning. The Dow had its worst day of the year yesterday, down more than 300 points. It's about 2.3 percent. When you look at the sectors inside the market, you can see, in some of these sectors, a reaction to the re-election of President Obama.
Banks stocks fell sharply. He has, of course, championed more regulation to the banks. The certainty of Obamacare hit insurers and coal stocks, for-profit education companies and dividend-paying stocks, all fell, too. The president has proposed, of course, higher taxes on some investments for some folks. One sector that was up, hospitals. Obamacare seen as safe now, and that's one reason why hospitals were doing better.
Stock futures, by the way, this morning are up a bit. That means at least, at this point, an hour until the opening bell, we're not expecting more big selling like we saw yesterday. Also, new numbers this morning from fidelity show that 401(k) balances are at their highest in at least 12 years.
The average balance now is $75,900. Let me say it again. $75,900. Do you have that much? That's up 18 percent from the third quarter last year. And also rising, employer contributions, those company matches, they're up 19 percent from the third quarter of 2007. They're almost $3,500 now in company matches.
SOCARIDES: Can I ask you, Christine
ROMANS: Sure.
SOCARIDES: Was Wall Street surprised that President Obama won? I mean, because you would think that some of that would have been baked into the stock prices.
ROMANS: No. Part of the big reason for the sell-off yesterday was concerns about Europe and the fiscal cliff and how much short of a time there is to fix it. Also, about the same time as the stock futures started going down yesterday. You have the European Central Bank president, Mario Draghi with some pessimistic comments about Europe.
And that got the ball rolling. And you know, there had been this hope. I would say the slim hope among investors that Mitt Romney would win. They wanted a Romney win, even though they were sort of banking on an Obama win. So, that played out, too.
SOCARIDES: So, maybe a rebound today?
ROMANS: It looks like it. ROMANS: I don't expect two big down days like we saw the last time the president was elected. Two very big down days, but remember, that was a very different world four years ago.
HUTCHISON: How about the energy sector?
ROMANS: They went down, too. They're worried about more regulation.
HUTCHISON: Yes, more regulation and coal.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, we're going to keep talking about this, but we are going to hit our commercial break on time. (LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: We're going to talk about the fiscal cliff when taxes could go up. Austan Goolsbee is the former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and he'll be our guest straight ahead.
And you probably heard of more "Star Wars" movies on the way. Yay. We'll tell you which -- what character could be making a return from a galaxy far, far away. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. We are waiting for those weekly jobless claims. We'll get those numbers to you, or Christine will get those numbers to you as soon as we get them.
Meanwhile, no fiscal honeymoon for President Obama, that's the warning from Fitch ratings, coming hours after his re-election. They've threatened to lower the nation's AAA credit rating. With Congress still divide it could take a while to reach any kind of compromise. Speaker John Boehner told reporters not to expect any long-term solution any time soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) HOUSE SPEAKER: We won't solve the problem of our fiscal balance overnight, and certainly won't do it in a lame duck session of Congress. And it won't be solve d simply by raising taxes or taking a plunge off the fiscal cliff. What we can do is avert the cliff in a manner that serves as a down payment on and catalyst for major solutions enacted in 2013 to begin to solve the problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Austan Goolsbee is a professor at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. He was a former chair of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers. It's nice to have you back with us. Great to see you.
AUSTAN GOOLSBEE, FORMER CHAIRMAN, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Great to see you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Appreciate that. We have a little chart of this. For folks who are trying to figure out what the fiscal cliff really is, here is a look. Automatic spending cuts, $55 billion in defense, $55 billion in nondefense, Bush tax cuts, the AMT, the payroll tax holiday, the federal unemployment benefit extension. This is kind of short version of it.
So now that the election is out of the way, how do you feel about the tone that you're hearing from Harry Reid on one side and from John Boehner on the other side? Do you feel optimistic that there could be a solution from what they're saying?
GOOLSBEE: Well, you know, I revised a little bit -- I thought Speaker Boehner's statement that he gave in the press conference that he had, it appeared that he was opening the door in a way that I hadn't expected.
I think the size of this thing is pretty serious. I mean, whether you -- whatever you think of the stimulus act, the biggest year of the stimulus was about a plus $275 billion. If we go off the fiscal cliff it's about a minus $650 billion in the year 2013. So it's a pretty serious issue, but it can't be looked at on its own. As Speaker Boehner said. It's got to be part of a grand barring with an. And hopefully there will be some room for compromise. I fear there's still one more celebrity death match still left in that old kind of Tea Party viewpoint.
BERMAN: Let's talk about some of the items in that grand bargain here. It's John Berman, Austan. One of the few specifics President Obama ran on is letting the Bush tax expire for those making more than $250,000. That was a hold-up in the last negotiations. Do you think the president will the president budge off of that? Is there a number he would agree to that is north of $250,000?
GOOLSBEE: I'm not sure about that. You know, I'm not party to the negotiations. I do know the -- as you say, the main sticking point in the end -- they almost had a grand bargain deal last year, but the main sticking point was that the critics of the president wouldn't tolerate any revenue. And if they can work out some negotiation on revenue, I think that they will find the president is pretty open to a balanced approach that was like the Bowles-Simpson fiscal approach or like -- there have been several others, that say if you do more cuts than revenue, but have some revenues in there -- maybe they can sort it out. I would be encouraged.
HUTCHISON: You think tax reform here, though, is the issue? That's what John Boehner said we need to see. In reform you get more revenue, but not necessarily by taxing the people who could create the revenue and the jobs.
O'BRIEN: Austan, before he answers, I'm going to interrupt you. I'll let you answer on the other side. Christine?
ROMANS: There were 350,000 jobless claims last week, a drop from 8,000 claims from the week before. And I'm going to go out on a limb and say hurricane Sandy, this is the first number we've seen super storm Sandy mess up, because we're going to start to see -- if you were hunkered down waiting for a hurricane you weren't necessarily going out to file first time unemployment benefits, were you? So I think from here on out, and that's a good question for Austan, too, we'll start to see a lot of noise in the economic reports as we try to figure out if the economy is healing because of sandy.
O'BRIEN: First back to the senator's question of tax reform. Can you answer that?
GOOLSBEE: Therein lies the rub of the statement yesterday. If by raising revenue through tax reform meant let's go in and figure out how we broaden the base and get rid of deductions and exemptions, then I think there's a chance. If by that, when Speaker Boehner meant was we're going to rely on the Laffer curve, only raise revenues by cutting rates and counting on the tax cuts to pay for themselves, that will definitely not work. The evidence does not suggest nor does the Congressional Budget Office give you credit for raising revenue by cutting taxes, because it doesn't work.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about what Timothy Geithner said. He wasn't going to stay long in the second term of President Obama. Ali Velshi was talking to the CEO of PIMCO and basically sort of laughed out loud.
ROMANS: He said no. He said no, I don't want to be treasury to the secretary.
O'BRIEN: He did one of those I'm so, so happy at PIMCO, there's no way I would ever want to do that job. Who do you think it could be?
GOOLSBEE: I don't know. I've known Secretary Geithner for some time. Boy, the poor guy has been through the ringer, financial crisis, debt ceiling, one thing after another. If he wants to go back and be with his family, if anybody deserves it, he has.
I think -- it strikes me that the big issue of 2013 on the economic side is going to be confronting the grand bargain. Whoever is his replacement will need to be totally up to speed on budget tax reform and those kinds of issues, because that's what's going to be what's facing us.
O'BRIEN: Austan Goolsbee, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.
GOOLSBEE: Thank you, guys.
O'BRIEN: John Berman has got a look at some other stories making news.
BERMAN: Thanks, Soledad.
Another crippling blow to the northeast overnight. Just nine days after super storm Sandy, powerful nor'easter leaving well over 600,000 customers without power this morning, being forced to endure damaging winds, bitter cold temperatures. Service on the Long Island Railroad suspended again last night. Here is the outrage story of the morning. New York's emergency management chief fired by the Governor Andrew Cuomo by allegedly sending workers to his own home on long island for clearing a fallen tree.
ROMANS: Good. They should fire him. That's ridiculous.
BERMAN: Jesse Jackson Jr. is holding plea deal talks with the feds over his alleged misuse of campaign funds. Jackson easily won reelection even though he reportedly is undergoing treatment still at the mayo clinic for bipolar disorder and depression. Spokesman for the congressman is refusing to comment.
More follow up on the deadly meningitis outbreak. The director of the Massachusetts Pharmacy Board has been fired and the board's attorney is now on administrative leave. Massachusetts health officials say they ignored a complaint made in July that NECC was sending bulk shipments to Colorado which reportedly violates NECC's Colorado and Massachusetts licenses.
An eight-year-old girl from Utah has become a viral video star thanks to footage of her just tearing it up with the youth football league team. Sam Gordon, wearing number 60, can't miss her because she's awesome. Look at her go. She played soccer in the past but is a big fan of Brigham Young football team and decided to give football a try this year. Brigham Young, keep your eye on her. She is good.
O'BRIEN: I love her. I didn't realize there were coed football teams for young kids. Is that typical?
BERMAN: I don't know.
SOCARIDES: There's a great picture of her, too where she's kind of sitting there.
O'BRIEN: And she's eight.
BERMAN: When you get to the end zone, act like you've been there before. Sam Gordon knows that.
O'BRIEN: Still ahead on starting point this morning, David Alan Grier will join us, and help us look at the lighter side of campaign 2012 as we head into talks about the fiscal cliff for the next couple of months. You're watching STARTING POINT. We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Gun violence is on the rise in many American communities in Philadelphia, which has the worst homicide rate in the nation among big cities. A local educator and trauma surgeon have created an innovative program to try to save the lives of potential victims even before they arrive in the emergency room. Sarah Hoye has this week's "Black in America" report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT CHARLES, CRADLE TO GRAVE: I work with gunshot victims. How many do you know people who have been shot?
SARAH HOYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Philadelphia educator Scott Charles is on a mission to save young lives. Charles and Amy Goldberg, chief trauma surgeon at Temple University Hospital, co-founded the cradle to grave program to help reduce gun violence in the city of brotherly love.
CHARLES: What we're going to do today is take you behind the scenes, pull back the curtain and let you see what we do.
HOYE: The program brings local high school students inside Temple's trauma center to relive the final 15 minutes of life by a teen killed by gun violence.
CHARLES: That young boy stood over Lamont and fired 10 more shots into him.
DR. AMY GOLDBERG, CRADLE TO GRAVE: Gun violence can kill. I think it's really our responsibility to prevent these kids from coming in.
HOYE: Among America's largest cities, Philadelphia's homicide rate is the worst, with African-Americans making up 85 percent of the victims.
CHARLES: Statistics suggest as a young black man you have a greater chance of being shot and killed in Philadelphia than you would have if you were a soldier serving in the conflicts of Afghanistan or Iraq. That's absurd to me.
HOYE: Since 2006 more than 7,000 students have come through the Cradle to Grave program.
CHARLES: I don't want that to happen to me. I want to be able to live, be someone my mom would want me to be.
GOLDBERG: We want to teach them the preciousness of life. That in an instant your life can be changed forever.
HOYE: Change they want for the better.
Sarah Hoye, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So it has been five years since we did our original groundbreaking "Black in America" series. This year is our fifth anniversary. We take a look at colorism and identity with "Who is Black in America?" That's our newest documentary airing on December 9th at 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm eastern time here on CNN.
LIZZA: Fantastic. It couldn't be more timely.
O'BRIEN: Really, really fascinating topic.
Coming up next, fiscal cliff, congressional divide. Could anything be funny in this environment? Comedian David Alan Grier would say yes, it could be. That's ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: Welcome to STARTING POINT, everyone.
Expect your Thanksgiving flight to be stuffed. An airline (inaudible) group expects 150,000 more passengers this year compared to last year. In total, 23.7 million people expected to fly during the industry's 12-day Thanksgiving period.
Now this is news for Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison who was just asking about this. Dust off the Millennium Falcon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARRIE FISHER, ACTRESS: Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy looking nerve herder.
HARRISON FORD, ACTOR: Who's scruffy looking?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Talking about this, "Entertainment Weekly" says 70-year-old Harrison Ford is open to the idea of playing Han Solo again for the just announced "Star Wars" sequel Star Wars episode VII which was announced after Disney acquired Lucas Film in a $4 billion deal. The offer says Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher who played Luke and Lea, brother and sister by the way they are also interested.
That is a major development unfortunately overshadowed I think over the last week by the presidential election.
LIZZA: Spoiler alert. Brother and sister?
O'BRIEN: You need to go back and watch.
All right, so let's not talk about the negative ads for a moment. Thank God those are off the air, by the way. The overall mudslinging in the campaign. When you actually look back at the campaign there was a fair amount to laugh about. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The folks, I can tell you -- and I've known eight presidents, three of them intimately.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Morning you all. I like grits. I love Big Bird.
BIDEN: There's never been a day in the last four years I've been proud to be his vice president, not one single day. BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As some of you may have noticed I had a lot more energy in our second debate. I've been really well rested after the nice, long nap I had in the first debate.
ROMNEY: I'm not familiar precisely with exactly what I said but I stand by what I said whatever it was.
BIDEN: Three-letter word, jobs. J-o-b-s. Jobs.
ROMNEY: Join me in welcoming the next President of the United States, Paul Ryan.
OBAMA: Stamped with three proud words, made in the U.S.A.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Comedian David Alan Grier joins us this morning. There were some funny moments, they are kind of drowned out by a lot of negativity.
DAVID ALAN GRIER, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: Yes there were a lot of them.
O'BRIEN: What do you think, as you look back? What do you think?
GRIER: There were a lot of funny moments. I mean, I liked the Republican debates, in particular. I mean, it's not like I have a pocketful of jokes, but I talk a lot about President Obama. He looked tired in the first debate because he actually has a job, like he's running stuff. And then I was thinking well maybe he already knows their strategy, their ground game that the election's already over. He's going to take Ohio and Florida won't even be you know a question. So maybe that's why he was so relaxed.
O'BRIEN: Do comedians look at things like a presidential election in regards of where they stand ideologically, do they think, boy if so- and-so is elected this is going to be much better for me? Because this person is funny? So who would have been -- I mean, would Romney have been a better candidate funny wise?
(CROSSTALK)
GRIER: Well I mean, you know Mitt Romney would have been -- yes. Because Barack Obama is so cool and calm and reserved. You know, he's not going to have that crazy moment. I was of two minds. I voted for Barack Obama, but my comic funny bone was like, Mitt Romney, that's like two HBO specials.
BERMAN: You have Biden back though.
GRIER: Biden is always --
BERMAN: Not just Biden back, you have Biden seriously hinting that he may run in 2016. What kind of a boon is that for you?
GRIER: Well, let's hope not. Let's hope --
(CROSSTALK)
GRIER: I think, I thought it was Hillary. I thought Hillary was going to run.
O'BRIEN: Chris Christie, ok let's do SNL's clip of Chris Christie. I thought was hysterical. Let's play that and then we'll talk about Governor Christie on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also I would like to give a sincere thanks to President Obama for how he handled the situation. On Election Day, I'm voting for Mitt Romney. But if I had to pick one guy to have my back in a crisis it would be Barack Obama. He has been amazing. You know, he's so kind, he's such a leader, a true inspiration.
Again, I'll be a good soldier. I'll vote for Romney, but I'm going to hate it. Can you hear me? I will hate it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIER: Boy, he really endorsed President Obama, right?
O'BRIEN: Well, I think there are a lot of conservative Republicans who feel that way and are very angry about it.
GRIER: Well, I thought he did, didn't he?
O'BRIEN: He didn't officially endorse him, no.
LIZZA: But he praised his leadership.
GRIER: He did better, yes. He did better.
LIZZA: Which is -- your right. I think in some ways, people don't care about endorsements but when someone from the other party says you're doing great responding to this storm that is bigger than an endorsement.
SOCARIDES: Well he -- he probably did a lot for his own re-election, Governor Christie. I mean, you know he was a pretty -- he did a pretty good job for New Jersey during the storm too but it was -- it was very unusual.
GRIER: Yes but don't you think he's a smart politician, right? He knows that New Jersey's probably going to go to the Democrats, right? His constituency, as it is -- if he knows that -- he probably thought that Obama was probably going to be re-elected. So he was hedging his bets.
O'BRIEN: I don't know that he knew that. But I -- I do think that there was a lot of money on the table to help his state and they were reeling and he would like to get a big chunk of that money.
SOCARIDES: And you know that. You know that.
O'BRIEN: Yes a smidge about --
(CROSSTALK)
SOCARIDES: President Obama says how much.
O'BRIEN: Well, I know that it's definitely -- if you're a governor of a state that needs financial help, you're going to want to figure out how to get that money for your state. No question about that.
LIZZA: Can I go back to this Obama and he's hard to make fun of? This is -- as soon it's like this is going to trend for the late night comedians. What's the vein that you can tap when you -- when you can mock or have some fun with Obama? What's the solid ground that you can get at?
GRIER: Well I mean, I know that -- you know for me, I mean, when I'm touring around the country, first of all, the attitude now is different than four years ago.
(CROSSTALK)
GRIER: Exactly when he was first elected I was making fun of Obama on the chocolate news and live dates and people were actually, we shouldn't be laughing.
LIZZA: Right.
GRIER: Like you know there was a point were like six weeks, oh, yes, because all racism is over now, right? We're just one big happy family. Well we saw that that wasn't true.
O'BRIEN: Let's play a little clip because we have a clip of -- this one area which they're trying to make fun of the President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me, governor. Mr. President?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. Yes, yes. What's up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, Governor Romney has just said that he killed Osama bin Laden. Would you care to respond?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. You two go ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The tone changes this time around.
GRIER: Exactly. Well, everybody knows -- everybody knows what it is. It's not -- some people -- I even heard some pundits say they feel the racial climate is even worse than it was before he got elected. The political climate. I don't know. I know that everybody is a lot looser now and we all know it's going back to normal.
HUTCHISON: The Al Smith dinner, I think, showed that you could make fun of him on -- just look at all this redistribution opportunity out here. And everybody laughs because that's real. And then when Romney says, oh, yes, this is the way Ann and I dress at home, you know, those are the kinds of things that I think are great in a campaign. Those were the finest hours for both of them.
O'BRIEN: Right. They were funny.
GRIER: Absolutely.
O'BRIEN: Thank you for being with us this morning. We certainly appreciate it. We love having you.
GRIER: You're welcome. Welcome.
O'BRIEN: You can catch David Alan Grier at the Stress Factory Comedy Club, the new (inaudible) of New Jersey. That's this weekend.
"End Point's" up next. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Our "End Point" this morning goes to Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. What are you going to do as you wrap it up as you leave the senate?
HUTCHISON: I am going to work right up to the end. We are going to do everything we can to get off this fiscal cliff and then I'm going to turn it over to the next generation that's going to have all that energy to do it right.
O'BRIEN: We appreciate having you this morning. We loved having you. Even when you decide to leave the Senate, you can still come and be a panelist as well.
HUTCHISON: That's a deal.
O'BRIEN: Happy Birthday to Richard Socarides in our last moment.
SOCARIDES: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Carol Costello now with "CNN NEWSROOM". Hey Carol, good morning.
