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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
TB Scare; Deadly Lessons: 24 Hours in Chicago; Politics Supersized; California Dreaming
Aired May 31, 2007 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We are in Chicago tonight. You're watching the only live newscast on cable right now.
We're bringing you the stories of kids like these -- eight of the 28 young men and women killed since September around the Chicago public schools on their way or on their way back from school.
About as many murders as the entire city of Portland, Oregon, gets in an entire year.
Tonight we'll hear from some of the students at risk. The parents demanding answers. We'll also talk to the mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley.
We begin though with new details in the TB scare. First, a name, Andrew Speaker. He flew halfway around the world, even though doctors told him not to. He flouted orders to get immediate health care in Italy, then took a strange detour back into America, where a border guard failed to stop him.
Tonight, he's in federally ordered medical isolation at a Denver hospital.
And here, perhaps the strangest new development of all -- his father-in-law makes his living fighting diseases including TB.
Details from CNN's Rusty Dornin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Andrew Speaker's connection with the CDC predates his illness. His new father-in-law works in the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination.
DR. ROBERT COOKSEY, ANDREW SPEAKER'S FATHER-IN-LAW: As part of my job, I am regularly tested for TB.
DORNIN: Dr. Robert Cooksey says he give, quote, "fatherly advice" when he found out the man marrying his daughter had the disease. But he didn't say when he gave it.
COOKSEY: I wasn't involved in any decisions my son-in-law made regarding his travel, nor did I ever act as a CDC official or in an official CDC capacity with respect to any of the events of the past weeks.
DORNIN: Should he have been? He didn't say.
As father of the bride, Cooksey was in Greece for the wedding.
COOKSEY: I would never knowingly put my daughter, friends, or anyone else at risk from such a disease.
DORNIN: Speaker is a personal injury attorney at his father's firm in Atlanta.
Ted Speaker doesn't believe his son acted irresponsibly.
TED SPEAKER, FATHER OF ANDREW SPEAKER: The way he's being shown and spoken about on TV, it's like a terrorist traveling around the -- the world, escaping authorities. This is blown out of proportion immensely.
DORNIN: Speaker's wife visited him in his Denver hospital room Thursday, as this video from ABC News shows.
One of Speaker's friends described him as responsible, caring, and honest. Yet, Speaker was warned not to travel.
And, two days before he took off, he learned he didn't just have TB, but drug-resistant TB.
JASON VIK, FLEW WITH ANDREW SPEAKER: He spent a lot of money and -- and planned his honeymoon and his wedding. I think it was very selfish of him to -- to understand that, you know, you have a disease that is communicable through air, and then to sit on a flight for eight-and-a-half hours with 487 people.
DORNIN: What's more, these students who flew with Speaker from Atlanta to Paris say they never saw anyone wearing a mask, as Speaker had agreed to do, according to doctors here in Atlanta.
The question now, where did Speaker contract TB?
COOKSEY: My son-in-law's TB did not originate from myself or the CDC labs.
DORNIN: Speaker says he may have gotten it on a fundraising trip to hospitals in Southeast Asia. Doctors say Speaker has been globe- trotting for six years, and they still don't know where he contracted it.
Rusty Dornin, CNN Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: More now on the medical dimensions from 360 M.D. Dr. Sanjay Gupta. We spoke earlier tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Sanjay, I mean, we have learned a lot more about Andrew Speaker today. Bizarre coincidence that his father-in-law is this guy Dr. Robert Cooksey, the CDC microbiologist. Is it possible he got it from him?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, that question was asked of Mr. Cooksey, as well.
This is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOKSEY: As part of my job, I am regularly tested for TB. I do not have TB, nor have I ever had TB. My son-in-law's TB did not originate from myself or the CDC labs, which operate under the highest levels of biosecurity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: It really sounds like it's extraordinarily unlikely that he contracted it from his father-in-law, a couple of reasons.
His father-in-law is tested regularly. It sounds like he's negative. And, also, keep in mind that TB bacteria cannot sort of live on your skin. You can't transmit it by shaking hands or casual contact. So, it sounds like that's -- that's probably not where he got it -- Anderson.
COOPER: Doctors are waiting for his radiology results before whether or not they -- to determine whether or not he needs surgery. What does actually surgery entail?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, this is interesting, because a lot of people don't associate surgery and infectious disease together.
But, in fact, there can be an operation that can actually help treat a type of infectious disease, in this case, the tuberculosis. What happens is, if you think about the -- you can see those X-rays there. You see certain areas of the lung are -- sort of just look sort of socked in. And that's where the bacteria sort of clumps together.
I want to show you a little animation of what happens, possibly, in an operation. You actually have the surgeon, first of all, who has to actually wear a mask. Obviously, they're protecting themselves, and they're about to remove a clump of bacteria from the lung.
So, what happens is, typically, this bacterial infection will sort of localize itself to the lung. And, if it's in one specific spot, you can literally take out that lobe of the lung, essentially curing someone of their tuberculosis infection.
Now, if it's more spread throughout the lung, obviously, surgery is not going to be an option. I don't think they know for sure yet whether they're going to be perform an operation. They are still testing out various medications -- Anderson.
COOPER: Well, obviously, his wife was exposed, possibly airline passengers were. How do they go about getting tested?
GUPTA: Well, there's a couple of different ways to -- to get tested.
And one is the skin test, which, Anderson, you probably had, with all the travel that you do. They just literally poke a little bit of the tuberculin bacteria underneath your skin, and then see if you react to it. If you react to it, it means your body has previously seen tuberculosis, to the tuberculin bacteria. And that means you have been exposed at some point.
Another test they do is, they actually test some of your sputum. And what they're looking for is the bacteria. If it's present, that's also a positive test.
The thing that's crucial here, Anderson, is, they may do that test now. It takes about 48 to 72 hours to come back. It needs to be repeated at six months, and then again six months after that. So, it could be about a year before someone knows for sure that they're out of the woods on this.
COOPER: Well, that's going to be a long year.
Sanjay, appreciate it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Some of the signs of TB are common. Some are not. Here's the raw data on it.
The Center for Disease Control says these are some of the general symptoms of a person infected with TB -- weight loss, fever, night sweats as well. Other symptoms can include chest pain and coughing up blood.
Children by the tens of thousands used to die of TB in this country. Now more and more they die of gunshot wounds or they're stabbed. Or in the case of a young woman named Desiree Smith just two days ago, they were strangled.
Desiree is just one of 28 students from the Chicago public schools who have been killed in Chicago since September.
And around the country, juvenile violence is on the rise. People here are shocked by the deaths, outraged. Some are fighting back.
We're here tonight for Desiree and others, to -- to remember their names and their stories and to focus on their lives as well as their deaths. To find out why it's happening.
Others, like the young hero you're about to meet, young men like him, a victim. David Mattingly, he's also a hero. David Mattingly tells us about it now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Blair Holt was a 16-year-old high school student with an eye on college and a talent for rap. Growing up in the rough south side of Chicago, his parents say Blair heard too often of young people falling victim to gang bangers and they warned him frequently to be careful.
ANNETTE NANCE HOLT, BLAIR HOLT'S MOTHER: Always watch your surroundings. Because you can have somebody who's in a gang who's around you, you know, and they can -- they never seem to hit who they're aiming for anyway.
MATTINGLY: But those words of wisdom were not enough to keep Blair Holt alive.
On May 10th, while he was riding home on a city bus after school, an alleged gang member boarded and fired wildly. Blair was killed, and four classmates -- like him, all innocent bystanders, were wounded.
Blair Holt had become shooting victim number 20 in a deadly Chicago school year.
And the community had had enough. Tired of all of the killings, students and parent alike took action.
Most of the victims, so far have been black, students from largely low-income neighborhoods. Even school officials suggested racial attitudes may be at work when they asked, why more hasn't been done to stop the bloodshed?
ARNE DUNCAN, CEO CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS: If there were 20 people killed from the Hinsdale (ph) school system or, you know, Moneca (ph) school system, you know, would that be tolerated? I don't know what the answer to that would be.
MATTINGLY: And this school year of violence promises a summer filled with anger.
Students at Blair Holt's high school walked out of classes demanding more protection outside school property. Protesters also targeted a gun store outside city limits, calling for more stringent background checks and restrictions.
JESSE JACKSON, PUSH COALITION: We have the right to live without fear.
MATTINGLY: Blair Holt's story proved to be particularly inspiring when it was revealed that he died protecting a fellow classmate.
But the killing has not stopped. The latest victim was found just two days ago.
A 16-year-old girl who went to the same high school, was strangled in her home. Another classmate, friend, and teenager lost in Chicago's deadly school year.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Unbelievable.
Tomorrow would be Blair Holt's birthday.
MATTINGLY (on camera): That's right.
So much of the future of this city being lost in all of this violence. And the only thing Blair Holt did wrong was get on a city bus to go to his grandparents like he did every afternoon.
His parents kept very close tabs on him. And this was the one time of day where he was really on his own to travel, and this is what happened.
COOPER: It's just unbelievable.
David Mattingly, thanks for the reporting.
I spoke with four students earlier tonight. All of them have plenty to say about the killings, as well as what's going on in their communities.
Delano Taylor, Jamal Boyd, Corron Dotson and Shatara Burgin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: How many know someone who has been shot?
All of you.
How about someone who has been robbed?
How many of you have been in a gang?
What was the appeal of being in a gang for you?
SHATARA BURGIN, CHICAGO STUDENT: Sometimes it got a lot to do, like what's going on in your household, like you want to -- want to feel like the extra family like. Sometimes you don't always feel like your family understand, but like your peers would.
COOPER: So the gang -- the gang becomes like a family?
BURGIN: Right. Like the extended family, like someone you can always be around.
COOPER: What do you think it is that's -- why have 28 kids been killed this year?
DELANO TAYLOR, CHICAGO STUDENT: Money.
COOPER: Money?
TAYLOR: Respect.
COOPER: Respect? What is it about respect?
TAYLOR: And pride.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: In that desire for respect, that need to show respect, does that lead to violence?
BURGIN: Right.
CORRON DOTSON, CHICAGO STUDENT: Yes. Everybody always got to feel like they got to prove something, prove they tougher than this person. You could be the toughest person in the world, there's going to always be somebody to say, well I'm tougher than you or I'm stronger than you or I deserve more respect. Just all for, like you said, pride or you know, got that mentality. So when you got somebody that got that mentality and two people got it, it's going to cause violence, and it's going to cause conflict.
COOPER: When you walk down the street, are you scared?
JAMAL BOYD, CHICAGO STUDENT: I ain't going to say scared, but you know, I'm just more aware of my surroundings all the time. So, you know, I'm not trying to be a victim again.
COOPER: You just got robbed?
BOYD: Yes. Sunday night.
COOPER: Sunday night you got...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: How easy is it to get guns?
TAYLOR: Real easy.
COOPER: Really?
(CROSSTALK)
If any of you wanted to gun, you think you could?
BURGIN: I wouldn't know.
BOYD: Like I say, money talks. Is money. You know what I'm saying.
(CROSSTALK)
TAYLOR: I can get a gun.
(CROSSTALK)
BOYD: Money is everything basically. It ain't everything, but it's mostly everything.
BURGIN: You don't even have to be a older person to get a gun or get drugs because they don't care. They sell it to young people, they sell it anybody. Just like you said, if you have money -- if you're 10 years old and you got money for a gun, somebody will sell to you.
COOPER: So who's fault is -- is what's happening? I mean, if 28 kids get killed, whose fault is it?
BURGIN: It's all gang-related, to me.
COOPER: All gang related?
BOYD: I think there's going to be good and going to be evil. I think it is life.
COOPER: So it's just the way it is.
BURGIN: Just the way it is. Their life.
COOPER: Head of the school system, Artie Duncan, said that the rest of the country hasn't really paid attention to the 28 deaths here in Chicago. That if the kids who died were white and were in some rich suburb, there would be headlines in all of the papers and on the TV shows and people would be up in arms saying what's go on? What's going on? But the fact that, you know, it's kids, black kids in the inner city, people aren't paying attention.
DOTSON: You hear more about a lot of things in the newspaper more about white people than you hear about black people or Chinese people, you know, like different cultures.
It's just like, it's like we're not there -- it's like sometimes we're invisible. Like you don't hear about it. You -- like you need to be warned about oh yes, it's 28 kids just died of this you know?
COOPER: Do you feel that sometimes like you're invisible?
DOTSON: Sometimes. Yes.
BURGIN: If you never would have told us there were 28 kids...
(CROSSTALK)
DOTSON: I wouldn't have known.
(CROSSTALK)
BURGIN: ... I wouldn't have known that 28 kids got murdered.
COOPER: Is there a problem in the black community in terms of violence? Is there an acceptance of violence? Do people think this is the norm?
BURGIN: Well, you look at a black movie, what do you see? You see drug dealers and you see gang bangers. So how else -- how else can everybody around you in different cultures get idea of you if this is the kind of movie that you make or if this is what they see? You hear what I'm saying? Like if -- if that's all they see us doing in our movies, when we make a movie, why can't we make a regular kind of movie like most of the rap stars.
COOPER: So the message is form movies and from rappers is reinforcing this negativity.
BURGIN: That's right. That's kind of how they portray us. You know what I'm saying? Because we don't always live up to our full potential, you know what I mean?
COOPER: Is it hard to maintain that sense of dignity, that sense of respect?
BURGIN: No, not for me. Because I have my own respect and my own dignity, whether anybody likes it or not.
COOPER: You have a baby, right.
BURGIN: I have a son. He's 7 months.
COOPER: Seven months?
BURGIN: Yes.
COOPER: Do you want to raise him here in Chicago?
BURGIN: No sir, not at all. I feel like by the time -- by the time he get ready to go to school, I don't feel like I want him to be in the city. Not even in the city of Chicago. I feel like I can be somewhere much better. We can have a better environment and better surrounding, you know? I don't want him to be in Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Four young people we talked to here who live in Chicago south side. They said to us that they feel invisible sometimes, that people don't really know what their lives are like. It's one of the reasons we came to Chicago this night.
Just ahead, we'll hear from Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley. We asked him some questions. You'll hear his answers.
Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): He'd seen and done it all in Chicago's hardest streets. Then he did hard time and turned his life around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't care about life then. Now I love life.
COOPER: How and why he left the mean streets behind.
Politics, super sized.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Senator Biden, I'm one of the 800 candidates running for president.
COOPER: So many candidates and Main Street on steroids. What's being lost in the big crowd?
TOM RATH, ROMNEY SENIOR ADVISER: The buzz that turns a candidate from a second-year candidate to a winner comes out of that intimacy.
COOPER: Why small politics matter. Next, on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN GRAPHIC)
In 2004 firearm deaths of children and teens went up more than 10 percent in Michigan, Colorado, Tennessee, Arizona, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and D.C.
(END GRAPHIC)
COOPER (on camera): There's a bit of Chicago urban legend, the windy city so-called not only for the weather in these parts, some say it was first coined as a jab by the city's bag of wind politicians way back in the day.
Whatever the origin of the term, today you can call it a violent city. Its murder rate, through the roof, at least among juveniles.
Twenty-eight young people here killed this school year. Overall, the crime rate is down, even though the murder rate is just slightly up from last year. But overall, violent crime is down in Chicago. That is the irony.
Earlier, I talked with Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley about it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: How do you go about changing this? I mean 28 public high school students killed in this school year alone. It's -- is there something you can do about it?
MAYOR RICHARD DALEY, CHICAGO: Well, there's 30,000 people killed a year in the United States. Does it alarm anyone? I guess it doesn't. Eighty a day. America lives with violence on a daily basis unfortunately. And that's why I firmly believe there has to be more gun control.
COOPER: It goes beyond just guns. A number of these kids were killed -- Desiree Smith was strangled. A number of these kids have been strangled. So it's not just guns. It seems like there is a growing culture of violence, especially among young people.
DALEY: Right. Do you attribute it to -- do you attribute it to society at large? Do you attribute it to movies? To you attribute it to TV? So much violence -- people see so much violence in society, nothing really shocks them anymore. That's the thing I'm frightened about. And I think people should be shocked. People should be marching. People should be looking under the beds, in the closets, of anybody in a home who has a gun and take the gun and say we don't want this gun in this home.
COOPER: So you know, we talked to a bunch of kids who live on the south side, who say, you know, they're afraid to walk on the street, afraid to go to school.
DALEY: They should have their families -- get their families out. Get their fathers and mothers. You have community policing. You get the principals, get the teachers. Let them walk -- let them walk their kids to school.
COOPER: And that's your message to -- to those kids?
DALEY: No, the message to society. Everybody has a responsibility. Parents have to stand up to those that want to take their children away from their home and from their church.
Chicago police has community policing. Our crime rate is going down. Our murder rate is going down. But one murder is one too many. It's unacceptable. And that's what you have to do. It just can't be the police. It can't be somebody else's problem. It's everybody's problem. You do it block by block in the city. That's the only way you can basically rebuild your city is community policing, saying I live here, this is my block, drug dealers and gang bangers don't belong here.
COOPER: So to stop the 29th or 30th child from dying this year, it's not necessarily something law enforcement can do, it's something that communities have to do?
DALEY: Both of them have to do it. Law enforcement and community together have to do it. It isn't one person doing it, it's all together.
COOPER: Thank you very much.
DALEY: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We went into the community to see if we could find signs of hope and see how the citizens of this city are pitching in to turn things around.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): It's 10 p.m. Kids are hanging out on the streets here. In fact, you can find them at all hours.
Listen to their stories. What's perhaps most disturbing is how they're so matter of fact, so hardened.
LEWIS MEYERS, 19 YEARS OLD: Last summer I caught a robbery case, aggravated battery case, got locked up in Cook County Jail.
JULIAN DAGGETT, 19 YEARS OLD: All you thinking about is meeting women, riding on rims, jewelry, smoking weed, drinking liquor, getting money. That's all you think. You don't care about life.
COOPER: Death, witnessing it or fearing it is a way of life here.
DAGGETT: My best friend got shot. As soon as I walked in the store, some guy rode up on a bike, shot him two times in the head. That's it.
COOPER: It's as if violence, either being a violent offender or being a victim of violence or both has overwhelmed how these kids think and act.
DEXTER VOISIN, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: The kids are really symptom bearers of a larger social problem.
COOPER: Here at the University of Chicago, Associate Professor Dexter Voisin recently surveyed 600 Chicago public high school students. Listen to what he learned.
One in four kids said they were victims of a robbery or mugging. Half -- that's right, half -- witnessed a gang-related death.
VOISIN: Violence was linked to multiple youth problems, psychological distress, low school achievement, gang involvement, and risky sexual behaviors.
COOPER: 19-year-old Julian Daggett says he turned to gangs five years ago. He was 14. His single mom worked and he wanted support. He fell in with a violent gang.
DAGGETT: She got tired of people coming to our house looking for me, wanting to kill me. And she just put me out. My lowest point was sleeping in the hallway.
COOPER: Soon he was busted on drug charges, spent a year in jail and he reverted back from a tough guy to a needy child.
DAGGETT: Tough as superman in the streets. But in jail, I was like a little baby. I wanted Mama then.
COOPER: Though Julian rarely attended school, by chance one day he met Harold Davis.
HAROLD DAVIS, AMER-I-CAN ENTERPRIES II: When I saw him and talked to him, I saw some leadership qualities in him.
COOPER: Davis grew up in the projects. He's now a contractor whose company fixes run down school auditoriums, and he hires at-risk kids. A company van picks this group up after school to take them to work.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a lot of gang bangers at our house...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come around our neighborhood. So we just -- he just picked us up so we could be safe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It ain't very safe walking around.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Especially not down 51st.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Getting a job is helping us a lot, you know, keeping us out of trouble.
COOPER: Of the 100 students he's hired, Davis says most are in gangs or affiliated with them. Many have criminal or drug backgrounds. Some are already parents. And all come from broken homes.
DAVIS: What we try to do, along with restoring the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), we try to restore the mindset to thinking right.
COOPER: They earn $10 an hour to start and can get a scholarship to a local trade school.
DAGGETT: They put the stain on it already, but it was too light, so I'm making it a little bit darker.
COOPER: Julian's been employed by Davis for two years. And Davis says since he started hiring at-risk kids three years ago, he's lost only one kid back to the streets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're instilling a work ethnic, you're instilling social and personal responsibility, and they're providing income.
COOPER: As for Julian Daggett, he says, like many other kids trying to survive the streets, he just needed someone to show him the way.
DAGGETT: I didn't care about life then. Now I love life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (on camera): Mr. Davis is trying to raise more money to help more kids. If you're interested in helping out, you can send us an e-mail at the 360 Web site and we'll pass it along to Mr. Davis.
Gary Tuchman, you grew up here. What's go on?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's convenient and easy to try and say it's just one thing, that it's just guns or just gangs, but it's not. It is guns. It is gangs. It's -- but a big thing, and we've been talking to people in this neighborhood who have been coming up to us, very concerned about this, is displacement.
There where were a lot of housing projects in the city, very ugly, huge, gigantic, 30-story, 40-story, 50-story housing projects. They caused a lot of problems. The city decided to tear them down, try to put people in more reasonable attractive housing. But what it's resulted in is a lot of displaced people. And that is another aspect that's created some problems.
But what's interesting, Anderson, is when I was 5 years old and 6 years old, I went to kindergarten and first grade right in the middle of this city. And at the age of 6 -- and I distinctly remember this. At the age of 6, I was allowed to walk with my first grade friends without any adults to school. A half a mile on busy streets every day. And was commonly done. It wasn't like my parents were not paying attention. It was commonly done.
Obviously those days are long gone. Bu the fact is, when you think about that, when I was 6 years old and you think about today, just how different this city has gotten, it's scary.
COOPER: What's also amazing to me is that, you know, you hear 28 deaths and you see individually, you know in small little mentions in the local newspapers. It doesn't make really the national news. And we've almost gotten to a point where you kind of think, oh, you know, this is what is normal. But you've got to stop and remember this is not normal.
Twenty-eight deaths, young people dying, getting shot to death, getting stabbed, getting strangled. This is not -- this should not be normal.
TUCHMAN: And you know what makes it even scarier? The murder rate in this city is down.
COOPER: Right.
TUCHMAN: You know, it's kind of like New York.
COOPER: Right, violent crime is down...
(CROSSTALK)
TUCHMAN: Violent crime is way down, but -- but you've had 28 children who died since September.
COOPER: And juvenile violence around the country is on the rise and that's contributing to a nationwide rise, but in Chicago, that's the irony, that crime is down.
TUCHMAN: And one other thing we keep hearing, Anderson, from the experts, is that they get less respect from young people.
When cops see gang members on the streets 10 years ago, they used to say get off the corner, they would hide. Now they say, we're not getting off the corner, we're staying right here.
COOPER: Right.
Gary Tuchman, appreciate it. Thanks, Gary.
Just ahead on 360, we head to the campaign trail and the biggest challenge in a super-sized race, connecting with voters.
Plus, a California gold rush, searching for the green that leads to the White House. Need a lot of green these days. "Raw Politics" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: You may have noticed, we certainly have, it is not just fast food that is super sized these days. So is politics.
In the race for president, the field is already packed and likely to grow. And some candidates are learning big is not always better. It's easy to get lost in the crowd.
Here's CNN's Candy Crowley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The other day, Barack Obama went to Dartmouth, several thousand people showed up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Hillary.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hi. How are you?
CROWLEY: Tuesday, Hillary Clinton took a stroll down Main Street in Nashua. Really, she's in there.
What, with early intensity on the campaign trail and marquee names on the roster, retail politicking.
CLINTON: Hello.
CROWLEY: The pride and power of New Hampshire ain't always what it used to be, so much so that Obama is planning some spontaneity.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Probably what we're going to be doing is more off the record steps that aren't scheduled, so that I can just hop into a diner and sit down at the counter and start having conversations.
CROWLEY: Others have resorted to invitation-only house parties and private meet the candidate events.
KEVIN LANDRIGAN, NASHUA TELEGRAPH: Candidates and campaigns really have to work to bring an old style New Hampshire feel to it. It can happen, but it doesn't happen automatically anymore.
CROWLEY: Used to be a guy running for president could stop by a place like the Brick Store or Harvey's Bakery and have a bona fide political conversation.
Over the years, it's become a zoo. A photo op of maximum coverage and minimum contact.
So it's a fake quaint?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, a virtual retail event.
CROWLEY: Mitt Romney, the other day, stopped by two restaurants filled mostly with friendly faces. He chatted up the beaches of new market.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what it's about. That's when we can say to him we love your sense of humor.
TOM RATH, ROMNEY SENIOR ADVISER: I think even those with the big crowds are going to find a need at some point in time to get into those kitchens and be in those diners because the buzz that turns a candidate from a second year candidate to a winner comes out of that intimacy.
CROWLEY: Real retail still happens. It can be found most consistently with candidates who don't draw the mega crowds. Jimmy who became President Jimmy Carter through retail campaigning.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It really is a way in which the press can test, the people can test, and we test our metal.
I'm Senator Biden. I'm one of the 800 candidates running for president.
CROWLEY: Retail is where hope lies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Joining us now, Candy Crowley and CNN's Chief National Correspondent John King.
Candy, we just heard Senator Biden say that small gatherings help test his metal. Do most candidates share that point of view? Do they actually wish there could be more time for retail politics?
CROWLEY (on camera): I actually think it's kind of fun for them, yes. But the fact of the matter is, this is sort of out of their hands in some ways. These superstars, as you saw, John McCain as well, even Mitt Romney at times, when before there would be maybe 20 people, 40 people, they're getting 200 people, 400 people. There's intense interest very early on in this campaign.
I do think they miss it. There are some things sort of fun about walking into a diner and sitting down and talking to people. It's becoming really, really hard to do with any genuineness.
COOPER: John, if this retail politics does becomes less important, then do potential dark horse candidates still have a chance to gain traction?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly makes it harder. If you're Governor Mike Huckabee or Senator Sam Brownback on the Republican side, if you're Senator Biden who you just saw in Candy's piece, or Senator Chris Dodd on the Democratic side, it is much harder to break through if the other candidates are getting so much attention because of the big crowds, like Senator Obama gets here, like Senator Clinton gets here. So it is harder for them.
They so, though, that perhaps they can do it under the radar, by having those small events, that they will surprise people come election day.
But it is much harder -- and everybody here concedes that -- the character of New Hampshire still puts a lot of emphasis on retail politics. But even though many here don't like it, it is a simple fact, especially in this campaign, too crowded fields with compelling and celebrity characters in both fields, it is less and less of an emphasis, at least this time -- Anderson.
COOPER: Candy, how much of an impact has the Internet had on these kind of retail politics?
CROWLEY: Well, what's interesting is we did talk to a couple of people who said, listen, I think the Internet's great. I've gotten a lot of stuff on the Internet, but you can't really size up the substance of a person via the Internet.
As you know, Hillary Clinton was among those who announced their exploratory committee on the Internet. It is a place that candidates are going to use over and over again.
Look, it is cheap access to millions of people. They even call it a neighborhood. So, in fact, there is some, quote, "retail politicking" going on there. But it's not the same thing, that people here in New Hampshire will say it's not the same thing as sitting across the table from somebody.
COOPER: John, why has Senator Clinton been doing more of these kind of events than Senator Obama?
KING: Because she has memories of her husband's campaign, first and foremost. Senator Obama's strategy has been to come in -- he has some activists working with him, but in part because Senator Clinton did have a lot of the New Hampshire establishment locked up because of their affinity and their past relationships with President Clinton.
Senator Obama is trying the 5,000 feet campaign, if you will. Come in, draw big crowds. They will have an emphasis on their advertising.
Senator Clinton has a built-in network here, one she inherited from her husband. And he went through this back in 1992. The bottom fell out in his campaign when he had all the character attacks and the draft attacks. And I remember the last 72 hours of that campaign, the last week very well. He campaigned 20 hours a day going into American Legion posts, pizza parlors, the mall, until his staff was exhausted.
So he built a reputation here as an amazing retail candidate, if you will, and he has a network of people that she has largely inherited. So that does give her a bit of an edge.
COOPER: Candy, though, for those who you know are afraid of living in this YouTube world, retail politics is sort of a nightmare. I mean, you're much more exposed than you would be at a larger event.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. And you know we can't -- we don't want to overstate the kind of retail politics that go on because it only really goes on in Iowa and New Hampshire and to a certain extent South Carolina.
So it's always been these early states before you get into the mega states which we're going to get into a lot earlier in this primary season than we have before.
But nonetheless, most states are not retail states. They are the kind where you parachute in, you do maybe an event at an airport hangar to hit all the media markets and you buy a bunch of advertising.
So these are really the only two states left where there is a good deal of retail politicking going on or at least trying to go on.
COOPER: All right, Candy Crowley, John King, thanks.
CNN will be stopping by New Hampshire for the next round of presidential debates. The first one is this Sunday, June 3rd for the Democrats. Next Tuesday, June 5th, for the Republicans. And after the debate, stay with us for some 360 "Raw Politics," our post-debate show.
And just ahead in "Raw Politics" a California gold rush is in the mix and so is a spy story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): First, she lost her cover, then she lost her job in a scandal that led to the White House. Now she's suing the CIA over her new book. Find out why in "Raw Politics."
At the super bowl of spelling facing off. When the competition is this tough and the words this hard...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stephalotomy (ph) not stephletomy (ph).
COOPER: ... you do what it takes to win. Which tricks and ticks work best. Next, on 360.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER (on camera): There's another sign tonight that Fred Thompson, the actor and former Tennessee Senator is about to throw a wild card into the Republican side of the presidential race. It is part of "Raw Politics" which begins tonight, far away from here in Chicago, in California by way of Washington.
Here's CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Anderson, the gold rush is on. Candidates are streaming into the golden state, California, hoping a little sparkle will rub off on them.
(voice-over): Hillary Clinton, working the Hollywood hills. She held a fundraiser that brought out a whole constellation of stars who are giving her money and presumably can share a little fame.
Not sure how Pauly Shore fits into that equation, but he was there anyway.
(on camera): Did somebody say C list?
(voice-over): John Edwards went to Google to search for his support. He was at Googles headquarters in the bay area, talking about high-tech issues.
And Rudy Giuliani signing autographs like a celeb and saying he may be the only Republican who can hold is his own here.
Look for a lot more of the same. Big endorsements, big money, big electoral votes, California has them all.
Tim Griffin has it all and he wants more. The former protege of White House Yoda Karl Rove was given a job as U.S. attorney around that controversial switcheroo at the Justice Department.
Hey, Alberto Gonzales, how'd that happen?
ALBERTO GONZALES, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Senator, I -- I have no -- I have no recollection about that.
FOREMAN: Yes. So we've heard.
Now, five months in, Griffin is quitting. "Wall Street Journal" says he's likely headed for another "Law and Order" job, joining Fred Thompson for his much anticipated presidential campaign.
Ousted CIA insider Valerie Plame is anticipating a few bucks from her book "Fair Game," but she's crying foul, suing the CIA for delaying publication. Spy central has to approve all writings of former officers and there appear to be problems with that.
(on camera): So apparently a cloak and dagger just aren't enough anymore. You also got to have a lawyer in your pocket.
That's "Raw Politics" -- Anderson
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Tom, thanks.
Up after the break, the results are in. The nail-biting finale of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. We'll tell you who won and what the word was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Negus. N-E-G-U-S. Negus.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: That is 13-year-old Evan O'Dorney, the new Scripps National Spelling champ. He aced the word serrefine, to clinch the title, beating out nearly 300 other young word wizards. They all came prepared, but memorizing word lists is just part of it.
Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Why read a dictionary at a spelling bee when you can read faces.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee features words that make contestants squinch. Eye-popping words, words that have kids looking for answers in the back of their heads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Staphylotomy, not stephelotomy (ph), staphylotomy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait, is it didymis (ph) or is it didymous?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tilipod (ph) or tilipod (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that English?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Siphonogamous.
MOOS (on camera): I guess you don't have to be monogamous to spell. Siphonogamous, these words stump even spell check.
(voice-over): And when these talented kids get stumped, they get the dreaded ding.
For some, the writing is on the wall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm going to ding.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For others, the writing is in their imagination. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: B-U-T-I...
MOOS: They wield invisible pens on their arms, on their hands, on their placards, in the air. Though no real pens are allowed, you can actually hear their fingers write what's in their mind's eye.
If they could only doodle words like...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sardoodledumb (ph).
MOOS: Even experienced spellers are sometimes taken aback.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meliodosis (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meli what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Birtharacious (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my gosh.
MOOS: No wonder a handful of demonstrators hovered outside the spelling bee protesting the idiosyncrasies of the English language.
MARSHA BELL, AUTHOR: Get rid of the "I" in friend, all right? And spell it like end and send and lend.
MOOS: When it comes to spelling bee mannerisms, these are a few of our favorite ticks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: P-O-R-D...
MOOS: Contestants know that once they utter a letter, they can't take it back so some shield their lips until they're utterly certain.
And we call this guy the cougher.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: P-T-E...
MOOS: He finally coughed out the word pteridology correctly.
A spelling bee sure can sting. And a spelling bee can be sweet as honey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: N-E-G-U-S.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Amazing kids.
Still to come, our CNN hero. A dentist who patients actually want to see. We'll tell you why. His remarkable story, next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: This year CNN is shining the spotlight on some very special people. Each an example of how a single individual can turn their personal vision for a better world into action.
Tonight we introduce you to a New York dentist who is not afraid to leave behind Madison Avenue to make a difference.
Dr. Trey Wilson is tonight's CNN hero.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to introduce yourself.
DR. TREY WILSON, CNN HERO: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First...
WILSON: Every single one of us has that capacity to be of service to others and I just did something about it.
I'm Trey Wilson. I live in New York City. And I provide free dental care and dental education to Kenyans.
(BEGIN GRAPHIC)
In Kenya there is one dentist for every 60,000 people.
(END GRAPHIC)
WILSON: Dental care in Kenya is virtually nonexistent.
When I arrived in Kenya, routinely I saw my clinic 4-year-olds with 20 teeth that need to be extracted.
I bring a team of dentists and volunteers who provide dental care in two clinics that we've established in Katali (ph), which is the fifth largest city in Kenya.
When we arrive in the morning, there are already 400 or 500 people assembled, ready to be seen.
My organization gives patients the opportunity to have their teeth fixed. We provide dental education and we hand out toothbrushes to people.
There was a woman who waited seven hours to see me because she said I like my smile, and I won't have anything to smile about if they pull my front tooth.
I think that it would be a good idea to try to save that tooth.
She was so happy that her beauty -- I mean, her beauty really came out.
Give me a hug. All right.
(BEGIN GRAPHIC)
Dr. Trey Wilson
"Medical Marvel"
WILSON: My life would have been a Monday through Friday Madison Avenue dentist. Getting in my car and driving out to the country and gardening all weekend.
But I had a revelation that with just a little bit of effort, I could make a huge impact.
(BEGIN GRAPHIC)
Last year Trey's program reported treating more than 1,200 people in Kenya ... free of charge.
(END GRAPHIC)
WILSON: All of us are far more resourceful than we ever think we are. And we have much more to give than we think that we have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: How cool is that? There are a lot more -- there's a lot more about Dr. Trey Wilson and his organization on our Web site. All the details are at CNN.com/heroes.
Just ahead, a monster from the past could be make a return. Is it the fabled loch ness monster? Probably not. See for yourself, next on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Joe Johns joins us with a 360 bulletin -- Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, we begin with Iraq. At the end of the third deadliest month for Americans since the war began. Three more U.S. soldiers killed in the last two days, all by roadside bombs. In May, 122 soldiers died, 3,473 since the war began.
A new threat emerging for workers at the World Trade Center site. The head of the largest program tracking the health of those workers, saying several have developed rare blood cell cancers. That's raising fears that cancer will become a third wave of illnesses among those exposed to toxic dust after 9/11.
And batten down the hatches. The Atlantic hurricane season is upon us. It officially begins tomorrow. Forecasters warning this season could be busier than usual. They predict up to 17 named storms, with as many as 10 of those developing into full -blown hurricanes.
And how about I full blown legend out of Scotland? The loch ness monster making a comeback in photos and new video. An amateur scientist capturing what Nessie watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken. The word in Scotland is that even the biggest skeptics are taking a second look. I don't know about that.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yes, I don't know either.
JOHNS: We have one of those here. You know, the Chesapeake Bay, they call it Chessie. I don't believe in that one either.
COOPER: Oh, is that right?
JOHNS: Yes.
COOPER: I don't think so.
Joe, thanks very much. Thanks for staying up with us.
And thanks very much for watching this special edition of 360, live from Chicago. We came here because 28 young people have been killed this school year alone.
It is happening in cities across the country. The juvenile crime rate is going up, even though crime in many cities like Chicago is actually going down. It's a problem without any easy solutions. We'll continue to try to cover it in the days and weeks and months ahead.
A reminder, be sure to catch "AMERICAN MORNING" for the most news in the morning. That's at 6 a.m. tomorrow.
Thanks very much for watching this special edition.
For our international viewers, "CNN TODAY" is next.
Here in the states, "LARRY KING" is coming up.
We'll see you tomorrow.
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