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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Raw Politics; Britney's Breakdown
Aired January 04, 2008 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER: A big celebrity announce, worldwide superstar, we'll have him later in the program. Tonight the meaning though of momentum and the need for speed. Can Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee ride momentum to victory in New Hampshire? Can Clinton stop it? Can she stop it in just four days? Tonight, the raw politics of Iowa, New Hampshire, and a race that is already making history.
Also ahead tonight, Britney Spears strapped down, taken away in an ambulance under 'round the clock observation in a hospital tonight; in lockdown. We'll look at the long, sad slide of this one-time superstar.
Plus nearly 50 stories up when something goes wrong. How a window washer fell almost 500 feet and lives to talk about it and perhaps one day to walk.
We begin tonight with the all-out sprint for New Hampshire. Just four days till the primary; four days and at least three powerful story lines.
Hillary Clinton reeling from her third place showing in Iowa. Can she come back? Pastor turned politician Mike Huckabee, winning David and Goliath style. Can he repeat? And Barack Obama to many people simply electrifying. He's already made history. Can he do it again?
Tonight, we'll break it all down, focusing on the issues but also on all the other things that matter, even if they can't quite be measured. CNN's John King explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF CORRESPONDENT: The moment is his.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Four days from now, New Hampshire, you have the chance to change America.
KING: And so the woman who thought it's her turn for the history books is urgently trying to rewrite the story line.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush. I think it may take another one to clean up after the second Bush.
KING: Iowa's yearning for change sent New Hampshire a retooled Republican race, too.
MIKE HUCKABEE, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm really proud to be in a state that understands a little bit about liberty and freedom.
KING: There are parallels. Like Obama, Mike Huckabee is seen as new and eager to end Washington gridlock.
HUCKABEE: It's not a matter of you electing me so that somehow I become the ruler of the nation but rather the servant of the nation.
KING: Yet there are differences. Democrats like their choices. And with only marginal differences over Iraq, health care and the economy, Obama is thinking bigger; looking to prove a surge of new, younger voters in Iowa is no fluke.
OBAMA: I believed in the young people of America, even when everybody said that they would not participate. We talked to them about the things that they cared about.
KING: Huckabee's Iowa base was narrower. So his staying power's in question.
ANDREW SMITH, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SURVEY CENTER: Trying to run as a social conservative in the state with very few social conservatives is a difficult thing to do.
KING: Huckabee's challenge now is to expand his base, appealing to rural populism.
HUCKABEE: The average America is more afraid of an audit of the IRS than he or she is of getting mugged.
KING: Rivals concede the appeal.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's a decent human being, and I think Americans are attracted to that, that he's got some genuine authenticity about him.
KING: But that authenticity could be questioned here. Not once did Huckabee mention his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, staples of his Iowa speeches. For those who left Iowa teetering, the challenge is adapting quickly.
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think represent change better than other people in this contest.
KING: Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's appeals to Iowa evangelicals fell flat. Getting things done is his new focus.
ROMNEY: I helped change a state, and I'm going to change Washington.
KING: Romney labels the resurgent John McCain a Washington insider. McCain labeled Romney desperate.
MCCAIN: Those charges are inaccurate just like the charges he made against Governor Huckabee and lost to him out in Iowa.
KING: Senator Clinton's fix-it strategy appears contradictory, desperate to get a second look from younger voters, especially young women.
CLINTON: I'm not someone who just calls for change or demands change but actually produces change. And I'm going to take that message to young people.
KING: Yet she pines for Clinton nostalgia.
CLINTON: In 1992 when Bill and I spent so many wonderful days here.
KING: But that was 16 years ago; more myth than memory for many of the young voters critical to Obama's edge now. And as remarkable a comeback as it was, Bill Clinton clawed his way back to only second place here in 1992. She needs better than that. And time is short.
John King, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COOPER: It is shocking to see those old pictures of them. With us now, CNN senior political analyst, David Gergen, our senior analyst Jeffrey Toobin and CNN contributor Roland Martin who had an exclusive interview with Barack Obama that we'll talk about shortly.
David, as we just heard, Senator Clinton is now tailoring part of her message to younger voters, in particular women. Obviously this democratic in which Obama beat her easily with younger voters. Is this going to be enough?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I don't think so, Anderson. I think she's got to come up with a very different message. I thought that she had to go in over four days and really reveal herself and show her vulnerability and appeal to people emotionally and connect with them as Barack is doing. Or at least try to connect through their hearts instead of just their heads as she has been.
I haven't seen much evidence of that. What I do think she has as a rational argument is, "Keep this going in New Hampshire. Let's not resolve this so quickly the whole country needs to look at both Barack and me to really resolve who's the best one, so why don't you keep it open. Keep it going. Don't shut this down in New Hampshire."
COOPER: Jeffrey, Romney has now altered his stump speech to talk about change. Let's listen to an excerpt from today.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
ROMNEY: I want to go to Washington to bring to Washington the kind of can-do change experience that I've had everywhere I've been. I changed a business. I helped change the Olympics. I helped change a state, and I'm going to change Washington. We're going to take it apart, put it back together again. This time smarter, smaller and simpler.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
COOPER: In one speech today he mentioned change some 20 times. Can he sell himself as an agent of change?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, yes he can because the rule is, the more times you use word "change," that's actually how much change you will bring to the United States. It's actually a rule.
No, I mean, I don't know. You know, I think, you know, how cynical can you be? You know, Romney is a person who -- I mean, you know, the thing is the voters are actually pretty smart about this stuff. He's a corporate executive. He's actually not all that conservative. I think that's a pretty good profile for New Hampshire.
His problem, I think, is John McCain, not Mike Huckabee, at least in New Hampshire. But I think, you know, I think voters can sense inauthenticity. And when you change your appeal overnight, that's tough to do.
COOPER: You spoke to Barack Obama today, Roland. How is he going to try to build on this momentum that he got from Iowa?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: First and foremost, he's laughing at this whole notion that he's not electable. And he says, "Wait a minute. These are the same people I'm running against who I had zero chance 11 months ago who I beat last night? I think I'm electable."
And so he's going to stay on that particular path. He is all about trying to expand the pool of voters. He's saying, "You know what, Clinton and Edwards? You can go to traditional folks. You can go after older voters. You can go after unions, but I'm going to try to create a different sort of momentum, pick some of those people off."
He said, "We can pick off Republicans, independents. But if I'm able to generate the people who have been left out of politics, sort of the people Oprah was talking to, in terms of the people who don't really follow politics, he says that's where he can make a difference.
So he's really trying to elevate himself really above this whole notion of Iraq, the economy. He's saying, "Wait a minute. I can touch the hearts and minds of people, speak to the core, get their passions going. That's what's going to get them excited."
COOPER: David, a lot of independents in New Hampshire, Obama had great success in bringing independents and appealing to independents in Iowa. Will he do it again?
GERGEN: All indications are -- I talked to the Obama campaign today. They think they're going to have a bigger turnout of independents in New Hampshire than they had in Iowa. They're very feisty right now.
And I think it's very, very hard. Let's go back to the fundamentals. What really parallels, these are two political rebellions that took place in both parties yesterday. What voters were turning to were two candidates, Huckabee and Obama, who seemed authentic. They ran grass- roots campaigns. They went after the establishment. And they were inspirational on both sides.
That's what voters were looking to. It's very, very hard for both Hillary Clinton to change into that and very hard for Mitt Romney to change into that with just four days left.
TOOBIN: But there is a way, which is negative campaigning. Negative campaigning works. Barack Obama was one of the most liberal members of the Illinois state senate. He was for gun control. He's flip- flopped on certain issues on Iraq, on Iran to a certain extent, on health care. Too liberal, flip-flopper.
If Hillary Clinton doesn't say it, you can bet the Republicans are going to say it in the fall. So don't think -- I mean, I just think this idea --
ROLAND: If you think about it, Hillary Clinton calls somebody liberal, come on. I mean, that's really going to fly.
TOOBIN: Well, you know, it might.
COOPER: We're going to rejoin our group in just a moment. David Gergen, Roland Martin, Jeffrey Toobin, we'll be right back with them.
Two candidates will not be competing in New Hampshire we should point out; Democrats Chris Dodd and Joe Biden. They dropped out of the race last night after finishing poorly, never really factored highly either in polls or raising money.
Here's the raw data on the amount of cash that they've collected. Senator Dodd raised more than $13 million for his campaign while Senator Biden got $8.2 million from supporters. Most of the cash has already been spent.
What's left over they do not have to return but they cannot keep it for personal use. They have to use the money for a political purpose which is pretty broadly defined. They may be used to pay off campaign debts or fund another campaign or their party; a lot of options for them.
Up next, we try to figure out what will happen in New Hampshire by looking closer at the vote in Iowa.
You saw how people voted. Now find out why. What it means for candidates scrambling to close the deal in New Hampshire. Or simply close the gap.
And later, call a doctor. Britney Spears on a gurney. What triggered her meltdown and what about the kids? Just when you think it can't get any stranger or sadder, stay tuned. Details tonight on "360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
OBAMA: We are choosing hope over fear. We're choosing unity over division and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.
(END VIDEOCLIP) COOPER: The Howard Dean scream of 2004, it was not. What it was, according to one former Republican congressman, was the best political speech he has heard since Bobby Kennedy in 1968; pretty hefty praise.
Clearly both Obama and Huckabee have the gift. Tonight we're looking closer at who the front-runners were reaching in Iowa as they try to do the same now in New Hampshire. The raw numbers and raw politics from CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You've got to hand it to the kids, voters under the age of 30, many saying they just want change here in Washington were pure power for both of the top finishers.
Entrance polls show young Republicans chose Huckabee 2-1 over Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Young Democrats chose Obama 4-1 over Edwards; 5- 1 over Clinton. And here are more keys to each candidate's surge.
Obama said he would bring new voters into the process, and he really did. 41 percent of first-time caucus goers picked him. More Iowans who waited until the last moment to make a choice also went with Obama. And women liked him. 35 percent compared to just 30 percent for Hillary Clinton, and that is critical.
Over on the Republican side, well, women like Mike Huckabee, too. Almost twice as much as they liked Mitt Romney. Born-again and evangelical Christians of course gave Huckabee an enormous boost, 46 percent compared to Romney with less than half of that. And even Republican voters who were just looking for a general sense of shared values, overwhelmingly picked Huckabee.
Now, experience in handling big issues like the war and the economy, well, neither Huckabee nor Obama got high marks, but it didn't matter. They were both trusted more than anyone else to address such issues.
Now, in New Hampshire, it's all a brand-new game. Huckabee will face voters who put less emphasis on religion, more on being fiscally conservative, and tax hikes under his governorship could hurt him. Obama, well, New Hampshire Democrats love outsiders. They love long shots, although after Iowa, neither he nor Huckabee really look like such long shots anymore. Anderson?
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COOPER: Tom, thanks; back with our panelists, David Gergen, Jeffrey Toobin and contributor, Roland Martin. Roland, you had a chance to interview Obama on your radio program. Let's listen to some of that.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
OBAMA: We won among union voters. We won among women. We won among African-Americans and whites. We won among older voters who had, you know, not participated in the caucuses before. We had independents coming in. We had republicans who decided to change party affiliation to caucus for it. And most importantly, we had young people. (END AUDIO CLIP)
COOPER: He did cut across a large demographic. He spent an awful lot of money, it should be said. People think he was running a Mike Huckabee-style campaign, he wasn't. He spent more money on commercials than Hillary Clinton did in Iowa. But how did he get new people into the process?
MARTIN: Well, again, what he did was, he went traditional and nontraditional. He said, "Let me go after nontraditional people with traditional means." They really worked the databases. They were crazy on MySpace and Facebook.
They really took the new technology and worked it incredibly, text messaging as well. They also said, "Wait a minute. These college students, they can vote in the caucuses." In the past people said, "No, we don't think it's really right in Iowa for people who are really not from here." He said, "No, forget that. The law says you can vote, we're going to encourage you guys." They had something like 175 or 200 college chapters. So he really worked them and said, "We're going to maximize our effort there." That's what really did it.
COOPER: It's a little risky there Jeffrey, depending on young people to turn out. Every political election there's always talk about young people turning out, but they don't turn out traditionally.
TOOBIN: It rarely turns out. Four years ago, Howard Dean had very much the same strategy. They all wore their -- was it green or orange hats?
COOPER: Green.
TOOBIN: I can't remember what it was. He finished third. He did not do well. Obviously, Barack Obama is a much more compelling figure. He is -- hit a much more responsive chord than Dean has.
And, you know, we've only gone through one state so far, a very unusual state where they went week after week after week campaigning there. We'll see whether he can generate the same kind of reaction in a more conventional campaign.
COOPER: David, do you see Hillary Clinton then going negative against Barack Obama?
GERGEN: She might, but I don't think she has enough time between now and Tuesday in New Hampshire. And Tuesday's critical for her. She has to win New Hampshire. And I just don't think -- I think it will look totally phony because --
COOPER: If she comes in second or she comes in third, what happens?
GERGEN: I think if she comes in second, she's crippled. That does not mean she's finished, but it's very hard to see because he'll probably then go on to win South Carolina. She'd win Michigan, but it's not a really competitive situation. You know, the momentum is all going -- and all the conversations are going to be about him. It's going to be very, very hard for her.
I want to come back to this. I think Barack Obama benefits greatly from having been a grass-roots organizer. He really knows how to put it together on the ground. He built an excellent organization. So far it's a young organization. It's really good.
COOEPR: That's one of the things he said to you today, Roland, on the radio show. Hillary Clinton says, "I'm ready to lead from day one." Obama says, "Look, we put together this huge organization from nothing to win."
MARTIN: I mean here was a guy, again, who they said, "You have no chance." In fact, he said he is still the underdog. I said, "Do you see yourself as a front runner?" He said, "Look, anybody by the name of Barack Obama running for president is still the underdog."
COOPER: Everyone calls themselves the underdog.
MARTIN: But he also recognizes, though, even though he's won Iowa, he is still somebody who, look, his name, all the different rumors out there, is he Muslim, is he Christian, he is a Christian. He says look, "I'm still an underdog, she is still the big dog." And that is true.
TOOBIN: I don't see how you can say that she is anything but the front-runner. She's the wife of the president of the United States. He's Barack Hussein Obama.
COOPER: And she has got the money --
GERGEN: She is no longer the front-runner. She is no longer the front-runner. I think that is a mistake to think.
COOPER: You really think that, David?
GERGEN: I don't think she's the front-runner. How can you say -- I don't think there is a front-runner necessarily. But he's got the momentum. She is coming into this now in a very awkward situation because there're so many independents in New Hampshire. There's very little time.
He's going to get a bounce out of this. It's going to be very important to wake up Sunday morning and see what the polls say. There's going to be a new wave of polls coming out of Iowa and we'll learn a lot from that.
COOPER: We'll watch it. David Gergen, Jeffrey Toobin, Roland Martin, thanks guys. Erica Hill joins us now with the "360 Bulletin". Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a new twist in the push to free a woman held captive by leftist rebels in Colombia. The country's chief prosecutor revealed today DNA results show that Clara Rojas is the mother of the little boy known as Emmanuel. Officials say he is not being held by ((inaudible)) rebels. Instead, they say the boy has been living with a foster family since 2005. Last week the rebels said they would release Rojas, Emmanuel and another woman but it never happened. Rojas was kidnapped nearly six years ago. One of her captors is the father of that 3-year-old.
In Africa, the annual Dakar rally cancelled due to terror threats from Al Qaeda. It is the first time that the nearly 6,000-mile trek on wheels has been called off in its 30-year history. Organizers said they just couldn't guarantee protection for the remote African desert and savannas.
And Amy fisher back in the headlines. The former Long Island Lolita is now promoting a sex tape of herself and her husband. It's all part of a settlement with the production company that bought the tape from her husband when he was upset that she was considering getting back together with Joey Buttafuoco.
You may recall Fisher shot Joey Buttafuoco's wife back in 1992, served a little time in prison, she's now a mom of two. I don't know, that would almost qualify as a "What Were They Thinking" for me.
COOPER: Let me get this straight, she makes a sex tape with her husband.
HILL: Yes.
COOPER: And then she's thinking getting back with the charming Joey Buttafuoco.
HILL: Correct.
COOPER: The husband gets mad, sells this tape.
HILL: Sells their entire video collection, she says. They had a collection.
COOPER: And then she makes a deal with said production company because she's gotten back together with her husband, and now they're promoting their sex tape.
HILL: Yeah, I think you nailed it right there.
COOPER: Poor choice of terminology, but, yeah. Okay. I didn't even know what to say about that.
HILL: I think we should end it there perhaps.
COOPER: Why do people make sex tapes, though?
HILL: Honestly, I don't get it. I will never understand it especially in this day and age.
COOPER: It's inevitable it's going to end up --
HILL: Somewhere.
COOPER: Clearly, I don't buy the whole they did it when they were mad. This is clearly a desperate bid for publicity.
HILL: Everybody needs a little money, Anderson. There you go.
COOPER: Erica stay right there. Cops say this guy broke into a house. He could have stolen anything. Wait till you hear what they say that he took. There's a lot of outrage over his alleged actions. A lot of people asking, "What Was He Thinking?"
Plus, more in the battle for the White House. Up close tonight Mike Huckabee, does he have the momentum to win in New Hampshire and beyond when "360" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Erica, time now for our segment "What Were They Thinking?" Amy Fisher is not the only charmer in our segment tonight. A Wisconsin man has been charged with stealing from a 2-year-old.
HILL: That's nice.
COOPER: Police say 30-year-old Ryan Miller broke into a home and took a little girl's piggy bank from her bedroom while she was sleeping. There was $20 in cash stolen from that piggy bank right there.
HILL: What? A piggy bank?
COOPER: Could have taken anything in the house, but he chose the little girl's piggy bank.
HILL: Yeah, I'm going to go for the piggy bank because I'm sure there's a lot of cash in there.
COOPER: Well, he's a smart one. He cut himself on the window, the blood was then matched with another burglary eight days later and now Miller is behind bars. They don't treat piggy bank robbers well in prison.
HILL: As well they should not. Stealing from a 2-year-old is just wrong.
COOPER: Yes, Erica thanks. We'll check in with you shortly.
Here's Kiran Chetry with what's coming up Monday on "American Morning.
KIRAN CHETRY: Thanks, Anderson. Monday on American Morning, we're live from the next step of the historic race for president live from New Hampshire for the first in the nation primary.
How will the results from Iowa affect what voters in New Hampshire are hearing? There's a special edition of "American Morning." It all starts Monday and primary day, Tuesday, 6:00 a.m. Eastern. Anderson back to you.
COOPER: Up next, he's coming off a big win in Iowa, but does Governor Mike Huckabee have enough momentum, money and organization to pull off a victory in New Hampshire? We'll go up close from the campaign trail.
Also ahead, the train wreck known as Britney Spears. The story, as if it could not get any sadder, the latest twist in her custody fight involving a stretcher and restraints. What is going on with this young woman? We'll dig deeper with addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky; coming up on "360."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
HUCKABEE: If this were a marathon, we've only run half of it. But we've run it well. And now it's on from here to New Hampshire. And then to the rest of the country, but I'll always be wanting to come back to this place and say, wherever it ends, and we know where that's going to be, it started here in Iowa.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
COOPER: Mike Huckabee after his decisive win in Iowa last night. As we said earlier, evangelicals were expected to play a pivotal role in the Republican caucuses, and they did in Iowa, turning out in droves and putting most of their votes behind Huckabee, some 61 percent of voters. It's a wave that Huckabee's hoping to ride. And as he heads to New Hampshire where the waters will be rougher. Up close tonight, Huckabee's next step.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
COOPER: Fresh off his upstart win last night, Mike Huckabee is looking for a second act.
HUCKABEE: And I'm a person who loves this country because I understand how good it is. But I'm running for office because I know it could be a lot better. Thank you.
COOPER: But a message that won him Iowa --
HUCKABEE: And faith doesn't just influence me, it really defines me.
COOPER: -- won't necessarily fly in New Hampshire with its large libertarian streak and small evangelical population.
BILL SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: They are very suspicious of people who wear their faith on their sleeve because they say, "That guy, that candidate, is going to try to do something to regulate my life." They don't like that in New Hampshire.
COOPER: It's not just the faith factor. New Hampshire Republicans are famously anti-tax folks. And Huckabee raised taxes in Arkansas, not helpful. On the plane from Iowa, the candidate was already lowering expectations.
HUCKABEE: I think it would be a little bold to say we're going to win New Hampshire. Probably not although crazier things can happen. COOPER: On the ground in New Hampshire today, Huckabee hit fresh themes, no mention of abortion or gay marriage, his new emphasis, change; the all-American promise of a grass-roots populist who defeated a well-funded, well-organized political Goliath and is raring to do it again.
HUCKABEE: That in New Hampshire, it's not just about how much money a candidate has raised, it's what kind of future and ideas are going to be raised for the next generation.
COOPER: Still, money isn't incidental. Huckabee's campaign is understaffed and underfinanced. And he'll need more than prayers to score in states with small evangelical populations. But help could be on the way.
SCHNEIDER: Winning has a way of opening the door to a lot of resources. If you start winning, you start raising money fast.
COOPER: Money Huckabee hopes will power him through New Hampshire and on to South Carolina.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COOPER: Clearly Mike Huckabee has some heavy lifting ahead of him in New Hampshire. He's also armed with bragging rights from Iowa.
Joining me now is Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council a Christian group that promotes what it calls pro-family values. Tony, thanks for being with us. What's your reaction to Huckabee's win in Iowa last night?
TONY PERKINS, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: It was a great victory for Mike Huckabee no doubt for him and for value voters across the country. He did very well. As David earlier said, it was a political rebellion against the two-party establishments.
I think it was more like a shootout between the establishments and a large portion of their bases. And I think that message is going to reshape this whole political season.
COOPER: Evangelicals counted for 6 in 10 of GOP caucus goers, voted overwhelmingly for Huckabee over Romney 46 to 19. Why did Huckabee win by such a large margin among them? Romney talks about many of the same values that Huckabee talks about.
PERKINS: Well, it's interesting to watch Huckabee's rise. Beginning in October, he really began to hit these issues hard. The core conservative values, social issues. He began to rise even though Governor Romney had been talking about those issues for some time. But people connected with Governor Huckabee.
COOPER: So it's an authenticity that he has that some believe Romney doesn't have?
PERKINS: Well, it may be, and also he is a former pastor, but he's also very good on the campaign trail. He's a very good campaigner. He is a very good communicator. He connects with people.
I think him, you look at him, and Barack Obama; they both have something in common. They're real. They connect with people, and people like to like the people that they support.
COOPER: It seems like such a tired issue to bring up, and I hate it bring it up, but it is an issue and it's out there. Do you think Mitt Romney's Mormon faith hurt him among evangelicals?
PERKINS: Well, here's what you had. You had Mitt Romney who was strong on the social issues, of course, he finished second. You had Governor Huckabee, strong on the social issues, but he was an evangelical. Who was he appealing to? Evangelicals.
So if they have someone that they relate to who is saying the same thing, I think it's a given they're going to be attracted to that candidate. I think that's what happened.
I still think that Governor Romney is benefited from addressing those same issues. I think he, to some degree, got caught in the crossfire between the base and the establishment last night, which I really think, Anderson, as you see this strong response from social conservatives turning out in unprecedented numbers is a response to what they felt like was the establishment pushing a candidate like Rudy Giuliani as being the perceived Republican candidate who was an anathema to social conservatives.
COOPER: Is Mike Huckabee electable as a president of the United States?
PERKINS: I still believe in the conservative coalition. I believe that what has made Republicans successful is when they bring together social conservatives, fiscal conservatives and defense conservatives.
I think what's happening in the party, there's a lot of disenchantment among social conservatives with the party establishment. And I think they decided to go with a candidate who was right on their issues.
COOPER: A lot of fiscal conservatives that worried about Mike Huckabee.
PERKINS: You're right. That's why I think the social conservatives overlook the fact that he is not acceptable to many fiscal conservatives because he was right dead on on their issues and they're kind of fed up with the party establishment.
COOPER: We're going to leave it there. Tony Perkins it's always good to have you on. Thank you sir.
PERKINS: Thanks Anderson.
COOPER: Straight ahead, a finalist in our search for a celebrity announcer. We do not want NBC to be the only newscaster with a big- name fancy announcer. Tonight, a world-renowned superstar lends us his voice.
Also, Britney Spears back on page 1 for all the wrong reasons.
Somebody call a doctor. Britney Spears on a gurney. What triggered her meltdown and what about those kids? Just when you think it can't get any stranger or sadder. Stay tuned.
Also tonight, two window washers, one medical miracle.
It was hard for me to wrap my mind around just how far the Moreno brothers fell; 500 feet, almost two football fields from all the way up here.
How one brother survived the fall. How modern medicine saved him ahead on "360."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back. As many of you know, NBC News recently hired actor Michael Douglas to be the voice of their broadcasts announcing "The Nightly News" with Brian Williams.
Now we've for months been searching for the right announcer for "360" someone with gravitas and a voice. Tonight we're pleased to announce one of our finalists.
OZZY OSBOURNE: Would you please get on with it? I'm not even getting paid.
Okay, sorry. He has one of the most distinctive voices in the world. He's a global superstar. Ladies and gentlemen, one of our finalists to be the announcer on"360," the prince of darkness himself, Mr. Ozzy Osbourne.
OSBOURNE: Can I do it now?
COOPER: Yes, please.
OSBOURNE: Oh, okay. Live from CNN's Time Warner Center in New York, this is "The Anderson Cooper 360."
COOPER: That was good. Let's just do it, just try your line one more time with a little more clarity perhaps.
OSBOURNE: Okay. Hi, I'm Ozzy Osbourne. Live from CNN's Warner Center in New York, this is "Anderson Cooper 360." And now, yee haw, Anderson!
COOPER: We're going to be auditioning some other finalists. If you think Ozzy should get the gig, tell us about it at cnn.com/360.
You know, NBC has Michael Douglas. We wanted someone with gravitas as well. Who has more gravitas than Ozzy Osbourne?
On to another singer, one we rarely cover on this program. But given the latest developments we though it warranted. Former pop princess Britney Spears has lost visitation rights to her two kids after a bizarre fracas at her house last night that ended with her being restrained and taken to a hospital in an ambulance.
In a moment we'll talk to addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky. But first, Britney Spears long, sad slide. CNN's Randi Kaye reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Britney Spears in restraints. This after she refused to hand over her children to ex-husband Kevin Federline. Paramedics and police rolled her out of her Studio City, California, home tied to a gurney. At one point police said she appeared to be under the influence of some unknown substance.
Celebrity websites report Spears wouldn't come out and locked herself and one son in the closet. Now guess who's on lockdown? She is. A minimum 72-hour hold at L.A.'s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she will undergo psychological testing.
When she arrived, she was sitting up, even smiling, though she appeared dazed. Why such strange behavior? Imagine what life is like for Spears. She can't even walk down the street without tripping over paparazzi. She could never do what I'm doing right now without a photographer snapping her photo and selling it to any tabloid more than willing to write something nasty about her.
Life under the microscope is a lot of pressure. Could you cope with all those people watching and waiting for you to mess up again?
Spears' downward spiral began about two years ago. That's her in February 2006, driving with her baby, Sean Preston, in her lap. A few months later a pregnant Spears nearly dropped him. Two reasons why Britney has earned the nickname "unfit-ney."
GAIL SALTZ, PSYCHIATRIST: If you're told you're an unfit mother, you fail at this identity. It is really very devastating.
KAYE: Still, how can one explain all this, baiting photographers by going pantiless. She shaved her head, checked in and out of rehab, attacked an SUV with an umbrella. And ran over a photographer's foot with her car. Oh, and don't forget her trying on raunchy underwear in the middle of West Hollywood's Hustler store.
SALTZ: To be told that you are failing in your career, you've failed at your marriage, you fail at being a mother, you're currently even failing at being a daughter or a friend, for that matter. I mean, this is a woman who can't really feel good about any arena of her life.
KAYE: Psychiatrist Gail Saltz is especially concerned about the pop star's irrational behavior. She suggests substance abuse or some type of psychological disorder may be behind it.
SALTZ: A lot of impulsive behavior, "I'm jumping into the ocean in my underwear, I'm shaving my head;" very irrational, very self- destructive.
KAYE: Britney's mood swings play out before the cameras. One day she courts the paparazzi. The next day she punishes them.
Listen to this call after Spears allegedly threw a baby bottle at one photographer in Vegas.
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: The paparazzi did suffer head injuries from the bodyguard of the high profile.
KAYE: The best thing may be for Britney Spears to step out of the limelight for a while. Though weekend lockdown may not be what she had in mind. Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
COOPER: It is sad, however you look at it. Up next, we'll dig deeper into the cause of Britney's breakdown with addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky.
Also ahead a survival story even doctors are calling a miracle. A window washer, this guy falls almost 500 feet and survives. He may be able to walk again. How he did it coming up on "360".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: You saw before the break Britney Spears is in the headlines again. Last night she was taken to a hospital because the police were called to intervene in a custody dispute at her house and they suspected she was under the influence.
Joining me to dig deeper into the story is addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky. Thanks for being with us. What is going on with Britney?
DR. DREW PINSKY, ADDICTION SPECIALIST: Britney Spears is seriously ill. She's on a 72-hour hold.
COOPER: Mentally ill?
DR. PINSKY: Mentally ill. She's in a psychiatric hospital, with a medical problem with doctors taking care of her. She's being held against her will for72 hours, which is called a 51/50 which is very difficult to get in California. You have to be imminent harm to self or others or so gravely impaired you're disconnected from reality.
COOPER: So even if there was her family wanting her held, that would been against the law?
PINSKY: No such thing; you cannot do that. But you also can use drugs until you die in California. So just doing drugs and alcohol is not enough to be held --
COOPER: So it is not simply that she needs to detox and everything
PINSKY: You can't hold somebody for that unless they're saying I'm loaded and I want to kill myself. Now, usually an addict who is saying erratic things like that, when they sober up they next say, "I don't mean that anymore, I want help." But if she stays on a 72-hour hold that means her impair is so profound psychiatrically. If she goes on a 14-day hold, it is extremely difficult to get a 14- day hold in California. Never for drugs and alcohol; only for the most serious mental illnesses are you put on a 14-day hold.
COOPER: If she is mentally ill, if she's taking drugs, that just makes it worse.
PINSKY: Makes it worse. It makes it actually impossible technically to tell what the mental illness is, because theoretically she needs to be off drugs and alcohol for at least 30 days before somebody attempts to make a diagnosis.
However, there are patterns you can begin to sort of sorth through; things like when somebody sobers up and they still need a hold, that's a pretty big deal.
COOPER: There's something -- I don't know if it's uniquely Los Angeles, but you watch those videos of her life being followed by these -- it's like --
PINSKY: It's crazy.
COOPER: It's like some mush pit. Grungy guys with cameras. They're not even real photographers they're just like hoodlums with cameras who just torment her.
PINSKY: Yes.
COOPER: Yet she also feeds into it.
PINSKY: You do not have to go to lunch at the Ivy.
COOPER: She calls them up.
PINSKY: She's flirting with it to a certain extent. There are plenty of people who are huge celebrities and you do not see them getting this kind of attention. What we can't speculate on, regardless of who's responsible for this, what does the impact of all of that have upon her.
She has a life under stress. There's not doubt. Let's pretend it was Britney Smith we're talking about. Britney Smith, very stressful career, doesn't have any privacy, has depression, bizarre behavior, known addict, child custody issues, recent divorce, you add all that up for Britney Smith, and her probability of survival is about 50/50.
I mean, this woman is seriously, medically, mentally, psychiatrically ill. We should all be really praying for her because this woman will be lucky to survive. Her prognosis is bad. She has multiple diagnoses here and it's a bad situation.
COOPER: I do have to say, though, it's people who want to read these magazines, who want to see these pictures, who want to look at these videos in the Internet are all playing into this. And everyone can say oh, this is so horrible but people like to watch it. PINSKY: Anderson, it's a whole other topic, but you're right. I would challenge anybody to try to make rational sense of it. It's easy to say, well, it makes us feel better when people have lots of money.
COOPER: I heard Larry King saying that. It makes me sick.
PINSKY: It's not right though, because the reality is our preoccupation with somebody like that is irrational. It's not a rational thing. I think it's a scapegoating mechanism. I think it's a deep human mechanism.
COOPER: It's not like she's in the public eye. She hasn't produced really anything for years.
PINSKY: It's fame for fame's sake.
COOPER: And then it's like fame for watching her implode. People like to watch her implode.
PINSKY: I'm writing a book about this right now.
COOPER: Are you really? It's really disturbing.
PINSKY: It's really disturbing, it's fascinating, it's unique to our time and there are explanations for it.
COOPER: To be honest, we debated even doing this story tonight because it sort of feeds into it and I hate to do that. But at the same time, she is a major person and this is a horrible development in her life.
PINSKY: It is something about us and it's not rational. I think it harkens back to very primitive impulses. As we become sort of more primitive in our character construct. We don't have a lot of stability in our lives, not a lot of stable family systems. And we tend to do more primitive things and one of those things is to scapegoat people and act out with envy.
That's kind of what we're doing here. It's almost back -- I'm going to preview my book a little bit -- to human sacrifice impulses when you elevate somebody and then we sacrifice them. That's kind of what we're doing here.
COOPER: Let's hope she'll figure out a way to pull herself out of it. Or get some help. Dr. Drew Pinsky, appreciate it thank you.
Up next he fell from a New York skyscraper 47 stories. This is just an incredible story. This guy nearly 100 miles per hour he was falling. He lived to tell about it. It's a medical miracle.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OSBOURNE: Hi, I'm Ozzy Osbourne. Live from CNN's center in New York, this is "Anderson Cooper 360." And now, yee haw Anderson! COOPER: I don't know. I think it beats Michael Douglas, there's no doubt about it. That voice is better than Michael Douglas. Ozzy Osbourne, auditioning to be the voice of "360" there; our finalist. if you liked Ozzy as our announcer, let us know, cnn.com/360.
This story is really remarkable. You know the classic holiday movie "Miracle on 34th Street?" This is a real life miracle on 66th Street. Last month, weeks before Christmas on New York East side on 66th Street, two men plunged 47 stories to the ground.
They were window washers, also brothers. Unbelievably, one of them actually survived. No one knows how but he did. And on Christmas day he woke up and actually started to talk. He's had at least 11 operations so far, including one just today on his spine.
His surgeon told us he's doing remarkably well considering what he's been through. And what he's been through, though, is pretty hard to fathom. Trying to "360" M.D. Sanjay Gupta.
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SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: A scaffold dangles 500 feet in the air from a New York skyscraper; a dizzying 47 stories high. When that scaffold collapsed, window washer Alcides Moreno and his brother, Edgar, were on it. One brother would die. The other would live, leaving doctors to use a word they don't use very often.
DR. HERBERT PARDES, N.Y. PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: If one can talk about medical miracles, you probably already have the sense that this certainly qualifies.
GUPTA: It was hard for me to wrap my mind around just how far the Moreno brothers fell, 500 feet, almost two football fields from all the way up here.
I'm on the roof of this 47-storybuilding. They were roughly this high when the scaffolding gave way. One second they were stable. The next second they were falling and accelerating. It took them just 5.5 seconds to fall and to reach the speed of nearly 100 miles an hour.
When they hit, they were all the way down there. Witnesses were certain both men had died. But Alcides Moreno actually sat up and was able to speak. He was picked up by ambulance and rushed to the emergency room. And he was sent to surgery.
DR. JOHN BOOCKVAR, N.Y. PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: Thankfully he's a very fit young man who is a thin young man. And that helps my surgery quite a bit. It made my surgery easy to operate on him because his tissues are in good shape.
GUPTA: We spoke to a physicist who said it's like a high-speed, head- on collision except four times worse. We now have a better idea of the types of injuries Mr. Moreno sustained when he actually fell.
First of all, he broke his spine. He actually had spine fractures all around. He also broke ribs all on this area on one side of his body. If you actually look inside his lungs, he had contusions around his lungs, and he had bleeding inside his abdomen as well. He actually had to have his spleen removed. In addition to that, if you look at his body overall, he had blood clots in his brain, he broke both legs and one of his arms.
To put this in perspective, 50 percent of people who fall from three stories or higher die. Again, Moreno was 47 stories in the air. The doctors we talked to had never heard of anyone surviving a fall of that height.
We may never know exactly why Moreno survived. In the end, a wood plank may have saved him. His wife, Rosario, doesn't know if it was the plank or divine intervention. She does know that while he has a tough road ahead of him, he is alive.
ROSARIO MORENO, ALCIDES MORENO'S WIFE: He knows about his brother's death, but my husband is very religious. He believes that when it's time for you to go, you just go.
GUPA: Moreno will likely face more time in the operating room, but that's time I'm sure he's happy to have. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COOPER: And what a remarkable story.
"The Shot of the Day" is next. Two others survived a tough day on the job in another city when "360" continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Tonight's "Shot" is a heart-stopper. Earlier in the program, we told you about the window washer who fell 500 feet and survived. A similar thing happened in Denver a couple of years ago when a window washer's platform broke loose in high winds. The platform there swung wildly for a couple of minutes leaving the workers clinging for dear life.
Fortunately they were rescued by firefighters. The thing just smashes right into the window right there. Yikes. That has got to be the scariest job.
HILL: I cannot imagine.
COOPER: I'm afraid of heights, so I couldn't do it.
HILL: I'm with you. I don't do well with heights, open staircases, forget it.
COOPER: Yeah. Look at that thing. Yikes.
Well, we want you to send us your "Shot" idea. If you see some remarkable video, tell us about it, cnn.com/360. We'll put some of your best clips on the air.
More "360" when we return. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: For our international viewers, CNN Today is next. Here in America, Larry King is coming up. I'll see you on Monday. Have a great weekend.
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