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American Morning: Wake Up Call

Huge, Uncontained Fire Near Austin; DeMint Hosts Candidate Forum; Libyan Convoys Pass Through Niger; Irene's Federal Cost: $1.5 Billion; New Mexico Could Change Law; Postmaster Talks Debt To Congress

Aired September 06, 2011 - 05:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It is Tuesday, September 6th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.

I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for waking up with us. I'm live here in New York.

Let's start in Texas, shall we? Because it's a dry, scorched burning place this morning. Its wildfire problems are getting worse. More than 60 new fires broke out over the weekend, the biggest and maybe the most dangerous is the one you're looking at there in Bastrop County. That's about 30 miles from downtown Austin.

Let's go to Atlanta and check in with Rob Marciano.

Rob, we're going to get to Chris Welch who's in Texas in just a bit. But I wanted to talk to you first about the dry conditions in Texas and if they're going to get any relief from Mother Nature.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We don't see a whole lot coming down the pipe there, Carol, and what's the good news today, is that Lee, or what's left over of Lee is pulling of towards the north and east and that really, the past two days, has what's been causing the biggest problem ironically. We were hoping to get Lee's moisture over there. It didn't. It missed it to the east. And then it got the back side, the wrap around dry air winds that only made the conditions worse yesterday.

So, today, we don't have critical fire danger, we don't have red flag warning that's up. So, that's the good news. The winds are going to be lighter. It's not going to be any more moisture.

And it's not -- definitely not going to rain, but the winds will be lighter and the temperatures will be a little cooler. And you know, I'll tell you what? From the firefighters that I've talked to over years of covering fires like this, they'll take cooler winds, cooler temperatures, and they'll certainly take lighter winds.

So, they don't necessarily need a complete dumping of rain from a tropical system to get a handle on this fire. So, the hope is today they do that.

Chris Welch, I believe is online with us via phone.

Chris, what can you tell us as far as the latest stats of fire, acreage, containment and a number of homes that have been --

CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): We're still hearing about 25,000 acres so far. We got a new number -- I guess that number was updated yesterday afternoon. We, of course, expect that number to go up. You know, we were hearing yesterday for most of the day, 300 homes had been destroyed so far. Now, we're hearing that number is closer to 500. I believe the number they gave us now is 476 homes destroyed.

And I can tell you where we're standing right now, it's still dark, the sun hasn't come up here. But you can see this massive orange glow and firefighters -- we're told -- firefighters have been working throughout the night. They've got about 250 firefighters that are working to battle this fire right now.

We're also hearing word this morning that Governor Rick Perry, who cut his campaign trail trip short yesterday to come back to the state to tend to this stuff, he'll be holding a -- he's going to fly over this morning at 8:00 a.m. local, 9:00 a.m. Eastern. After that, he's going to do another press briefing. So, we hope to hear more from him later today.

We'll get you new pictures to you as soon as we can. So, we hope to get some of those to you shortly.

MARCIANO: Chris, what's been -- what's the strategy for today and going forward with the firefighters told you as far as what the plan of containment is with these residents being so close?

WELCH: Well, given the fact that yesterday, winds actually picked up a little bit more than they anticipated, the fire started posing more of a threat than they anticipated as well. So, they hoped to do more of a ground fight with this, but yesterday, that was really not possible. They were dropping buckets of water and retardant from Black Hawk helicopters, not doing much in the way of ground because it's just too dangerous to send crews that close to these flames when these winds are so bad and, you know, the humidity level is so low. It's dry out here.

So, that had been the plan yesterday. Once daylight comes today, they're going to do a briefing with the emergency crews and they hope to, you know, figure out if they'll be able to do something different today.

MARCIANO: All right. Chris Welch for us live from the fire lines in Bastrop County, Texas, just outside of Austin.

Carol, no rain there. The rains from what's left over of Lee continues to move off the east coast. We'll be watching that for potential flooding for the areas that got hit by Irene. That will be a big weather story going forward and Hurricane Katia is now a category 3 storm, with winds of 125 miles an hour. We do not expect landfall in the U.S., but it already affecting the East Coast with big waves and the winds with this large storm will get to parts of eastern New England, but thankfully no direct hit expected.

COSTELLO: Yes. It's already raining here in New York, too.

Rob Marciano and Chris Welch, many thanks to both of you.

Those fires in Texas meant Governor Rick Perry had to break away from the presidential trail. You heard Chris mention that. Perry missed yesterday's Palmetto Freedom Forum in South Carolina. Senator Jim DeMint, Congressman Steve King of Iowa and a Princeton law professor hosted.

DeMint is one of the Tea Party's biggest champions on Capitol Hill. The three hosts asked the Republican candidates about the Constitution, role of government and their positions on various issues. Here's a sample.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: What would you change about our foreign policy?

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot. First, I would have one.

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I happen to believe that this information is weakening America militarily. This is not what Americans want. The world is not safer.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Constitution does not specifically enumerate nor does it give to the federal government the role and duty to superintend over education that historically has been held by the parents.

REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Liberty and rights don't have anything to do with entitlements. Entitlements means that you can take someone else's money and the government there is to redistribute it.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's the most effective food stamp president in American history.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

COSTELLO: OK. You saw Michele Bachmann there. There's been a shakeup inside her campaign. Her campaign manager is moving into an advisory role. Ed Rollins had a stroke more than a year ago and says he just doesn't have the endurance for the long daily grind of a White House bid. Bachmann's campaign manager is also quitting over what he calls strategic differences.

Well, those people clearly don't like the way President Obama is handling the economy, nearly do 65 percent of Americans in a recent CNN/ORC International poll which, means the pressure is on to deliver with Obama's big speech on jobs later this week. Yesterday, President Obama gave a sort of preview to a pro-union crowd in Detroit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilding. We've got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. We've got more than 1 million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: When President Obama lays out his new jobs plan to a joint session of Congress on Thursday, CNN will, of course, carry it live. Don't miss our special coverage beginning at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

The president told that Detroit crowd that he would defend organized labor and restore the middle class.

Teamsters' president, James Hoffa, went one step farther. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES HOFFA, TEAMSTERS PRESIDENT: President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march and President Obama, we want one thing -- jobs, jobs, jobs!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. He said something else that's riled up the political pundits across America. We're going to talk more about Hoffa's speech in our Political Ticker with Tim Farley in just a few minutes.

Jerry Lewis wasn't there this time but the 46th Annual Muscular Dystrophy telethon he devoted so much of his life to went on.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

COSTELLO: That was Celine Dion doing her Steve Perry impression. M.D. officials say the telethon raised more than $61 million. That's the best it's done since 2008. This time, the telethon wasn't really a telethon. It lasted only six hours.

Sitting at your computer all day can cause all kinds of stress on your eyes and neck. Now, inventors have come up with a way to make sure you are sitting up straight all the time. And it doesn't involve your mother.

But, first, it's time for our quote of the day. This is the quote. "You are the only folks keeping the barbarians in the gates," end quote. It comes from a politician, high-powered one, and it's not Jimmy Hoffa. We'll tell you who said it and what they were talking about in 90 seconds.

It's eight minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 10 minutes past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.

Let's get back to the quote of the day, shall we? The quote is, "You are the only folks keeping the barbarians in the gates," end quote. That was Vice President Joe Biden in Ohio saying organized labor is under assault. Here he is getting all fired up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You are the only folks keeping the barbarians in the gates. You are the only nongovernmental power, the only nongovernmental power, the only one that has the power and the capacity to stop this onslaught.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: He's talking about a new GOP-backed law, rather, restricting collective bargaining rights for public employees. Unions will try to overturn that Ohio law, SB-5, they'll try to overturn that law in November.

Time for a check on the world markets. They took quite a tumble earlier. So, let's go to Kristie Lu Stout. She's live in Hong Kong.

Why?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hey there, Carol.

Markets in Europe, they are right now rebounding. Modest gains I'm talking about. Providing at least some relief after Monday's steep fall.

Now, that said, analysts say that high volatility is likely to remain until there's a lasting solution to the European debt crisis. And those debt woes are also driving the Asian markets today. And also worries about the strength of the U.S. economy also hurting share prices here. Markets here extended Monday's sharp declines with banking and energy companies all leading the way -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, let's talk about something -- I don't know if it's more pleasant but certainly is interesting, this invention to make sure that you keep your posture while working at your computer.

STOUT: Yes. I overheard you earlier comparing it to bringing your mom to work. There is a lot of that in here.

There's a high tech computer monitor designed to help your health at work. It's a called the Ergo Sensor. It detects a range of moments while you're in front of the computer screen like how you're sitting for example or how many times you're linking your eyes, et cetera. And then it tells you if you're sitting in the optimal ergonomic zone.

So, Carol, in essence, it can reprimand you for bad posture and tell you when you need a break.

Now, it was built by Phillips. And this computer monitor will go on sale in Europe starting in December. What do you think, Carol?

COSTELLO: Do you think people will really buy that?

STOUT: Do you know what? I think there would be a number of buyers in Asia. I don't know -- in the U.S. I'm not too sure. But I have a gut sense that people here in Asia would be curious about this thing, even though it does seem more annoying than informative.

COSTELLO: Yes. I was just going to say, I think I would punch it after a while.

Thank you.

STOUT: Especially if it involves pop-ups, right?

COSTELLO: Exactly. Kristie Lu Stout, thank you.

Teamsters chief, James Hoffa, knows how to energize a pro-union crowd. Wait until you hear what got him fired up in Detroit and at the same time riled Tea Party activists just before an appearance by President Obama.

It's 13 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Fourteen minutes past the hour. Welcome back.

It's time now for our Political Ticker.

President Obama getting warmed up for his big, big speech on jobs on Thursday night. We've got a preview of that speech as he spoke to a union crowd in Detroit. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: There is work to be done and there are workers ready to do it. Labor is on board, business is on board. We just need Congress to get on board.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius POTUS, joins me live from Washington.

So, Tim, the president was fired up, but I understand before the speech, Senator Carl Levin handed President Obama speech by Harry Truman -- a sort of a "give them hell" kind of speech and I don't know that President Obama delivered that in Detroit, but some might say he came closer.

TIM FARLEY, SIRIUS XM POTUS: That was seemingly the attempt, although I find it a little ironic that Harry Truman was also the one who had the Army take over the railroads when the union was on strike, and that was a different part of the Truman presidency.

But, yes, there seems to be a push, Carol, for President Obama to fight. Indeed, "The L.A. Times" this morning has a poll that indicates that although people would like to see Congress do something about jobs, as we approach the big speech by the president this week, there's also a sense they don't want him to compromise at all. They want him to stick to his guns. They want him to fight.

And this is a union movement, labor, that has been disappointed in some ways of this president because he has not done anything about NAFTA. He has also not moved forward with union voting and in some ways has been, as I say, disappointment to this group. So, how much he can actually depend on labor in the 2012 election remains to be seen.

COSTELLO: Well, labor is certainly providing the fighting words for President Obama. I'm sure everyone's heard by now what Teamsters' president, James Hoffa, said right before President Obama took to the podium. President Obama was not there yet when James Hoffa said this.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOFFA: Everybody here's got a vote. If we go back and we keep the eye on the prize, let's take these sons of bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Now, of course, Tim, he was talking about the Tea Party and he -- and by taking them out, he meant voting them out. Of course, Tea Party supporters took it a whole different way. They took it in a more violent way. They've already sent out this press release via e-mail asking supporters for campaign donations because of what James Hoffa said.

But maybe this sort of stuff resonates not only with union members but for other liberals who think President Obama should take off the gloves?

FARLEY: Yes. And this is going to be one of the key tests of the 2012 campaign. We've seen Mitt Romney reaching out more to the Tea Party. Whether or not the Tea Party is going to be that much of a factor in 2012, Sarah Palin was trying to get them not to be divided when she was appearing this weekend in New Hampshire. The Tea Party is not on the ballot. It is a symbol, if you will, of the more right wing parts of the Republican Party.

Just as for some people, the unions might be considered part of the more left wing aspects or the more left wing side of the Democratic Party.

So, if you get the extremes playing against it, the question is: who's going to play in the middle, and where are those independent voters in all of this screaming? Yes, you have to energize your base, but you have to get those people who want something to happen in Washington, D.C., and I think the battle is going to be there.

But as you say, we've got -- we've got some pretty exciting language going on here and we'll see if that does resonate either on the right or left.

COSTELLO: And just an added thought, President Obama supposed to be the guy who brings the sides together. That's what he campaigned on. That's what he's been trying to do. So, it's difficult for him just to abandon that all of a sudden and turn into this tough-talking Harry Truman kind of president.

FARLEY: Yes. Exactly. And although, as we've talked about, the left wants a -- they want a fighter, the president, they don't want a professor in chief which is what they seem to be getting more often from this president. He also has to govern by the way. He's running for president.

But unlike 2008 when he was on the outside looking in, he's on the inside now, and he's got to figure out what to do. The speech on Thursday night, perhaps, the first step in a long series of steps to get him to re-election in 2012, at least that's what he's hoping for.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Tim Farley, thanks as always. Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius POTUS.

FARLEY: Thanks.

COSTELLO: Libyan convoys moved through a neighboring African nation. So, where's Moammar Gadhafi? Is this part of his attempt to seek refuge outside of Libya? We're digging around for answers.

But, first, it is September 6th and that means it's Fight Procrastination Day. So, to everyone out there who likes to race deadlines, maybe put off things until the very last second, fight that urge and get it done today.

It's 19 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Twenty-two minutes after the hour. This is your AM. WAKE-UP CALL.

Here are three things to put on your radar today. At 8:30 Eastern, Mayor Bloomberg of New York is scheduled to give an update on the progress at Ground Zero as we look ahead it to marking the 10th year anniversary of the nation's tragedy.

Also this morning, General David Petraeus will be officially sworn in as the new CIA director.

At 2:00 p.m. Eastern, a hearing to discuss the U.S. Postal Service crisis. It may not be able to pay all of its bills at the end of the month. The postmaster general is among several being called to testify at today's hearing.

Overnight, we learned Libyan convoys passed through the African nation of Niger. So, the big question: is Moammar Gadhafi part of the convoy?

Let's bring in Zain Verjee, live from London.

Any evidence he is, Zain?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi, Carol. That is the million dollar question and I don't have the answer. Nobody does -- at least nobody who's talking to us. What we're trying to figure out here, and this is moving quickly, what exactly is going on.

What we do know is that there are two convoys of Libyan vehicles passing through Niger. That's according to the Nigerian military captain, as well as the minister in the ministry of interior in Niger. Neither of which were authorized to speaks to the media.

What we understand is one of the convoys is heading to the capital of Niger, which is called Niamey.

And the other has already reached. It is not clear who exactly is in those convoys, but there is speculation that it could be Moammar Gadhafi, it could be members of his family, it could be loyalists just leaving. We don't know for sure. But we're keeping our eye on it, Carol. That's for sure.

COSTELLO: OK. Talking about people still loyal to Moammar Gadhafi. What's going on at Bani Walid in Libya?

VERJEE: Well, negotiations are going on. What an official in the Transitional National Council has told CNN is that the two sides will be meeting for talks today. What they want is for them to surrender. They're saying we will not harm you if you surrender.

So, there is a little bit of progress on negotiations there. We'll see how they shake out.

COSTELLO: And another topic, the Council of Europe is demanding the truth about CIA black sites. What are they?

VERJEE: Right. Well, the president for the Council of Europe is saying come clean before 9/11. These were those prisons that these black sites that basically prisoners after 9/11 were taken to, to be integrated. There were allegations of torture going on in black sites like this that were in different countries in Europe. And basically they can do things to prisoners in some of these countries you cannot do in the United States.

So, what the president of the Council of Europe is saying, let's stop all of this, guarantee that this kind of cooperation doesn't happen again, and just come clean about the details of what happened at these black sites.

COSTELLO: So, how likely is that to happen?

VERJEE: It's unlikely. I mean, there have been leaks and information that we had about waterboarding, for example, in specific countries that the CIA had had links to, and that were conducting these kinds of programs in these black sites. It's unlikely we may get a drip of it. But the president is calling for more information.

But because this is so shrouded in secrecy and intelligence and specific kind of operations, that they would not want to get out.

COSTELLO: Yes. I just can't envision them coming forward and saying, yes, we torture people secretly. I don't know. It's a tall order.

Zain Verjee live from London, thanks so much.

VERJEE: Right.

COSTELLO: Oscar producers say they are definitely looking for more comedy in next year's show. So, could Eddie Murphy be tapped to host Hollywood's golden night? The big name who's backing him up, that's coming up next.

It's 26 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It is Tuesday, September 6th. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.

I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining us. Live in New York. It is just about 30 minutes past the hour.

An enormous wildfire burning outside of Austin, Texas, right now, has already destroyed nearly 500 homes. And firefighters haven't been able to do much about it. It is the biggest and maybe the most dangerous of the dozens of fires that have broken out in the last few days. So, let's head to Texas now and Chris Welch, and Chris, you know, I just -- how is it going? Are firefighters making any headway at all?

CHRIS WELCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right when you say that the firefighters haven't been able to do much. These winds have been so strong. Yesterday, they were even stronger than they anticipated. I think you can see over -- I think it's kind of over my right shoulder, you can see that glow still raging in the background. That -- and this is , you know, before the sun even comes up, before the sun has time to really dry things up and heat things up.

So, this fire is definitely raging on. Couple of new things this morning. 25,000 acres, that's the latest number we've got. That's how much has been burned, so far. 476 homes destroyed, and we heard from Texas governor, Rick Perry, yesterday. He cut his campaign trail events short to come back to the state, tend to these wildfires. He had a press conference. We expect to hear more from him this morning. He's planning to do another flyover. I want to give you a listen to a couple of things he said yesterday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY, TEXAS: It was a surreal experience today, not only flying by that substantial -- I mean, I have seen a number of big fires in my life. This one is as -- this one is as mean looking as I've ever seen, partly because it's so close to the city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WELCH: And wildfires have been a serious issue here in Texas for the last almost year now. Fire season usually starts in November then winds down in the spring when rains come. This year, that didn't happen. Rains didn't come. They've had serious drought. So since December, they have had 3.5 million acres of land burnt. That's about the size of the state of Connecticut, Carol.

COSTELLO: That's just awful. Chris Welch, so, we're going to be praying for rain for the folks in Texas. Chris Welch reporting live from outside of Boston. Thank you.

The White House says an extra $1.5 billion is needed for America's disaster relief fund. It's a preliminary estimate to cover uninsured losses as a result of Hurricane Irene. The additional funds on top of the $5 billion needed for other recent disasters. All of this awaits lawmakers returning from summer recess. So, you know, they're going to have to tackle that 2012 budget.

New Mexico could soon put the brakes on granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. State lawmakers will consider the issue in a special session that begins today. Critics say the practice is a magnet for fraud. They say way too many illegal immigrants are coming from other states to get driver's licenses. Utah and Washington are the only other states with a similar law.

State workers in Utah are back to a five-day work week. Most state offices had been closed on Fridays since 2008 in an attempt to save on energy bills. It was a plan implemented by then Governor Jon Huntsman. He's now seeking the GOP nomination for president. It turns out didn't save much money, so the workers, state workers are back to five-day work weeks.

Comedian, Eddie Murphy, could be tapped to host the Academy Awards next year. He is the top candidate, according to "The Hollywood Reporter." One of the people in his corner, Brett Ratner who is co-producing the show. He's also directed Murphy in his upcoming film, "Tower Heist." Billy Crystal also on the list. Not on the list Anne Hathaway and James Franco. I don't think they'll be repeating that ever.

It's just September, but some analysts are already predicting what holiday sales will look like this year. We'll be back in 90 seconds. It's 33 minutes past.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 34 minutes past the hour. Rhode Island thinking about slashing benefits for 50,000 state workers and retirees. It's about a $6.8 billion shortfall in the pension plan. That's almost equal to the state's entire annual budget. So, next month, lawmakers are expected to consider A, shrinking retirement checks, B, replacing guaranteed pensions with retirement accounts, and C, giving up some generous cost of living raises for retirees.

The postmaster general heads to Congress today to talk about debt. The postal service is facing its second year of $8 billion plus losses, and it may not be able to make this month's payment to cover future employee health care costs because it's maxed out on its credit and it's way short on cash.

For more money -- for more money -- man, I'm having trouble with phrases this morning, Christine. So, for morning money news, let's head to Christine Romans. Take it away. I guess, the U.S. markets aren't shaping up so well this morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No. Futures are down. You know, the market was closed yesterday. Friday was a big down day because the jobs report for August showed no net job creation in this country. So, that's still a problem here. You got concerns about Europe, but Europe actually rebounded. So, we'll see. It could be a little skittish at the open.

I'm watching gold, Carol. I can't see what your dangling earrings look like today, but gold just hit above $1,900 an ounce. That's been a pretty good way to check the pulse of how scared the market is and what people are feeling in the world economy. Gold prices up again. It still shows indecision. A lot of people talking about Congress, the president, jobs, et cetera, et cetera. Just more uncertainty and unease.

COSTELLO: I know. I was holding up my solid gold necklace. Maybe --

ROMANS: There you go.

COSTELLO: It's not solid gold.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the holiday sales forecast, although, I don't know why, because Christmas is a long way off.

ROMANS: I know. It's just the beginning of September, but this is already the time when we get the retail trade groups coming out with their expectations for what the holiday shopping season will be. Why does November and December matter so much to them? Because a lot of companies get like, you know, 40 to 50 percent of their whole sales for the year coming those two months. So, the International Council of Shopping Centers, that's a retail trade group is saying that November and December, they expect sales to increase 3.5 percent.

Now, I would say that sounds a little optimistic, doesn't it, because we've seen consumer confidence plunge. We've seen the market on edge. We've seen gold prices go up. The question is -- but we did see a back-to-school shopping season that wasn't too bad.

So, the question is, are people holding back for the rest of the year, but they're coming out when it matters like back-to-school time, like black Friday, like Christmas, already starting to gauge whether the consumer is going to come back by the end of the year and why does it matter? Because 70 percent of U.S. economic activity is tied to the consumer. So, you want to see the consumer healthy, happy, and spending a little bit, but not too much and not digging into debt. It's a fine line. A very fine line.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Miss Romans, we appreciate it.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Lessons on business by Christine. We love it. Thank you, Christine. I'll see you in a bit.

ROMANS: Bye, Carol.

COSTELLO: It is time to "Get Smart." So, here's a question this morning. Which piece of home technology uses the most electricity? OK. Maybe it's not technology, but is it A, your refrigerator, B, your laptop, or C, your DVR? The answer coming your way in two minutes. It's 38 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is 40 minutes past the hour. This is you're A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Now, back to our "Get Smart" question. The question was, what piece of home electronic thing uses the most electricity? The National Resources Defense Council says it's C, your DVR or set top box, and here's why. You can't turn most of them off or put them in sleep mode. If you hit the power button, you're probably just dimming the clock. The NRDC estimates there are about 160 million set top boxes in U.S. homes costing $3 billion a year in power.

Now, for our "Political Ticker," let's bring in CNN political reporter, Peter Hamby. He is on the phone from Columbia, South Carolina. So, Peter, let's talk Governor Rick Perry first up, because he had to go back to Texas to deal with the wildfires which meant he skipped the forum in South Carolina. I guess, the big question now is, will he be back in time for the Republican debate on Wednesday?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER (via telephone): We actually still don't know the answer to that, Carol. He gave a press conference when he got back to Texas yesterday after doing some campaigning in South Carolina. He said that the primary focus remains the wildfires. It's the biggest, you know, wildfire breakout in state history. So, we're still waiting to hear the answer on Wednesday's debate. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past him to cancel the debate.

He's canceled other plans later this week, because, you know, Rick Perry, he's kind of afraid to really kind of do his own thing, and the focus really is for him on the wildfires. So, it's kind of a wait and see thing for us at this point, but again, you're right, he did cancel a very big event, a much-anticipated forum with South Carolina -- South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint here in South Carolina yesterday, Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm sure most people in Texas appreciate him doing the job he was elected to do. Let's talk about Mitt Romney, though. He unveiled his jobs plan in Nevada. In fact, he wrote -- actually it's Nevada because it's the state with the nation's highest unemployment rate at 12.9 percent. Romney also wrote an op-ed piece in "USA Today" ahead of today's announcement, and I'm just going to read you a little bit from that article.

Romney says, and I quote, "We must once again unleash the tremendous economic potential of the American people. Contrast between what the Obama administration has done and what Iowa do as president could not be starker." As you read through this op-ed, Peter, does he have a good, solid plan?

HAMBY: I mean, according to Mitt Romney, he is going to unveil 59 economic points in this plan which is vintage Romney, Mr. Businessman, Mr. CEO. I have a plan for everything. you know, he says he's going to totally eliminate corporate tax -- sorry, excuse me, capital gains taxes and dividend taxes, reveal -- repeal Obamacare, fight unions, whole litany of things. What he's trying to do here are two things. One, kind of continue the strategy he's had of positioning himself as the guy running against Barack Obama, the eventual nominee.

You can really fix the economy in a way Barack Obama really has not done so far, but also, positioning himself against Texas governor, Rick Perry, who's kind of leapfrogged him in the polls and become the frontrunner. You're going to hear language in the speech about how Romney is a conservative business man, how business creates jobs and not the economy.

All that language is designed to kind of contrast themselves against Rick Perry who's been in government since 1985 and does have a good jobs record, but Romney's going to say that as a businessman, I can create jobs. Government doesn't create jobs, business does, and I'm going to unleash the power of the private sector, Carol.

COSTELLO: Got you. So, if people want to read it, it's in "USA Today," an op-ed by Mitt Romney with his 59-point jobs plan. Thank you very much, Peter Hamby, live for us this morning. We appreciate it.

Take a quick look at sports now, shall we? First up, Jim Tressel, he left Ohio State a few months ago, but he could not escape suspension. Tressel is now a consultant with the Indianapolis Colts, but the team is making him miss the first six games of the season. If he stayed in Columbus, Ohio, he would have been suspended for five games because of NCAA violations. Several of his current and former players are being punished. So, the Colts thought it was only fair that Tressel sit out a few games. If you're swimmish or have small children in the room, you might want to take cover. The University of Maryland demands that you fare the turtle. A bunch of people who watched the Terps played Miami last night in football were more terrified of their new uniforms. Sports writers, even Lebron James, got on Twitter and gassed a collective eew. On a related note, Maryland won, so, apparently, the uniforms were that scary.

These next athletes were a little more than a Speedo or bikini. Take a look. This is Muscle Beach, the Muscle Beach Championship in Venice, California. More women and more young people competed this year. One woman said she did the lemonade cayenne pepper and maple syrup cleansing for a week leading up to this. Delicious. The winners got featured in "Iron Man" magazine. Looking good.

Overnight -- time to get serious now. Overnight, we learned Libyan convoys had passed through the African nation of Niger. So, the big question this morning, is Moammar Gadhafi part of that convoy? Let's bring back Zain Verjee. She's live in London. Any new word about this, Zain?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We do not know for sure if Moammar Gadhafi is in that convoy. We don't know if members of his family are on it. We're trying to figure out what exactly is going on. What we can report is that two convoys of Libyan vehicles are in the African country of Niger. According to two sources, who weren't authorized to speak to the media, they are in Niger.

They indicated that one of the convoys has already reached the Nigerian capital called Niamey, and one is on its way there. There's a lot of speculation about whether Gadhafi is on it or not, Carol. We're going to stay following this story and just keep you posted.

COSTELLO: Before you go, we must talk about this ginormous crocodile captured in the Philippines. This bait is big.

VERJEE: It was easier to capture the crocodile, you know? Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

VERJEE: These villagers in the Philippines, and they managed to capture this one ton saltwater crocodile. It took them about three weeks. They set four different traps, and it broke through all of them. Basically, this crocodile has been terrorizing fishermen and killed a huge water buffalo.

So, what they've decided after capturing it like this, just look at that, what they had to do, Carol. They're taking it to an eco tourism park where it's going to be the star attraction there. It's something like 21-foot long. Pretty amazing, huh.

COSTELLO: I'm glad they kept it alive. That was good of them. Zain Verjee, live in London, many thanks.

On this day in history, in 1901, President William McKinley was shot at the Pan-American Exposition in buffalo. He was shaking hands when anarchists -- when an anarchist fired on him. President McKinley died eight days later. Now, you know. Now, you remember, maybe. Forty-seven minutes past the hour.

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COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It is Tuesday, September 6th. This is you're A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Carol Costello joining you live from New York this morning. Thank you for joining us. It is 50 minutes past the hour.

Texas governor, Rick Perry, calls it surreal. And as mean as any fire he's ever seen. He's talking about an enormous and dangerous wildfire burning outside the capital city of Austin. It's destroyed nearly 500 homes, so far, and is threatening more. Strong winds and dry conditions have made it tough for firefighters to contain. Meteorologist, Rob Marciano, joins us from Atlanta. So, Rob, are the winds dying down at all?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and slightly cooler air is moving in. We don't expect any rain really until further notice, Carol, but because Lee is moving off to the east and this air mass behind is settling in, the winds are dying down a little bit. The temperatures are cooling off a little bit and, you know, firefighters will take that compared to what they had yesterday which was really a worse case scenario.

Warm, yes, but for this time of year -- for what it's been, yes, it's cooler. Severe thunderstorms potentially across parts of the east coast. I want to show you some picks ahead of Georgia, because we just got hammered yesterday. A lot of trees down, power out, and a couple tornadoes touching down just north of Atlanta, Georgia, and doing some damage to some homes and businesses there. So, a scary situation for sure.

As far as rainfall tallies with Lee or with the leftovers of Lee, fairly impressive in places like Tennessee and Rome, Georgia. Five inches there. Remember, places like Mississippi and Louisiana saw over a foot in some spots. Hurricane Katia, Category 3 storm, this at one point last night was a Category 4. Nonetheless, it's a monster. A 125-mile-an-hour winds right now moving to the northwest at about ten miles an hour.

We still anticipate this to do a classic re-curvature and kind of roll the tables here and split the difference between Bermuda and Cape Hatteras, but nonetheless, dangerous conditions right now pretty much up and down the eastern seaboard especially across the northeast. Life-threatening rip tides and big time swells out there.

So, I know it's the day after Labor Day and a lot of people going back to work, but if you extended that Labor Day holiday, heading to the beaches, be careful. But most of the east coast is actually kind of wet. I know you're up in New York. We got some rain and potentially some flooding from what's left over of Lee heading your way over the next --

COSTELLO: (SINGING) la, la, la. (LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: All right, Carol.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it. We do.

There has been a shakeup inside Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign. Her campaign manager is stepping aside and moving into an advisory roll. Ed Rollins had a stroke more than a year ago, and the daily grind on the campaign trail, he says, is just too much. Also, Bachmann's deputy campaign manager is quitting over what he calls strategic differences. Rollins talked more about all of this with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN ADVISOR (on the phone): You know, conflicts in the campaign, I have great affection for her. I'll do everything I can to help her. Still, very much the team and I put in place. I just don't have the endurance to go 12, 14-hour a day, seven days a week anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ed Rollins.

President Obama's big speech on jobs coming up in just a couple of days. Yesterday, he gave a sort of, kind of preview to a pro-union crowd in Detroit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got roads and bridges across this country that need rebuilt. We've got private companies with the equipment and the manpower to do the building. We've got more than one million unemployed construction workers ready to get dirty right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: When President Obama lays out his new jobs plan and its entirety, he'll do that before a joint session of Congress on Thursday night, and of course, CNN will carry it live. So, don't miss our special coverage. It begins at 6:00 p.m. eastern.

The president said all of that which you just heard to that Detroit crowd that he would defend organized labor and restore the middle class. Teamsters president, James Hoffa, went one step farther before the president went in front of that podium. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM HOFFA, PRESIDENT, TEAMSTERS UNION: President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march, and President Obama, we want one thing -- jobs, jobs, jobs!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Let's take a look now at the word of the day. It's reo. R-E-O, reo. Find out what it means and why you need to know after this short break. It's 54 minutes past the hour.

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COSTELLO: Two minutes to the top of the hour. This is you're A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Back to our word of the day. It would be reo, R- E-O, which is actually an acronym for real estate owned properties in the possession of a lender. Right now, Uncle Sam has about 250,000 of those repossessed homes due to the high number of people defaulting on government-backed mortgages. That's almost a third of all repossessed homes nationwide.

Now, let's go to Carter Evans for a look at your money this morning. I was going to say let's talk about something better, but not.

CARTER EVANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes. We always end this show on a bright note with the money segment. It's tough. All right. Let's talk about what's on the economic calendar this week, you know, not a whole lot. Everybody is really looking ahead to the president's speech on Thursday, and now, we're coming of a three- day weekend and off that dismal jobs report on Friday.

Take a look at our futures. Dow futures down 113, NASDAQ futures down 27, S&P 500 futures down about 15, 16 points. Take a look in London. The FTSE in London down two percent, Carol. The Dax in Germany today down 4.3 percent right now. So, it looks like it can be rough day for stocks.

COSTELLO: Quick look at headlines.

EVANS: OK. All right. Real quickly, Honda recalling one million cars worldwide. A lot of them are coming from the Fit and CRV lines. They have a problem with the master switch on the power window system. Apparently, it could eventually cause a fire. It has not yet. They're also recalling some CRZs from the hybrid models, and this is funny. Apparently, the motor can spin in the opposite direction of the transmission. Meaning, your car can go backwards when you have it in forward.

COSTELLO: Oh, that is fun.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I love when that happens. Carter Evans, many thanks, as usual.

EVANS: Sure.

COSTELLO: "AMERICAN MORNING" continues right now.