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Deadly Southern Storms; Al Qaeda Train Children Terrorists; Heath Ledger; Toxicology Reports; Republican Lead John McCain; Super Tuesday
Aired February 06, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris.
Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown: A house-to-house searches this hour, dozens of people killed in a mid south tornado outbreak and more victims may be in the wrecking.
COLLINS: Super Tuesday math, Clinton and Obama divide Super Tuesday delegates. For the Republicans, the frontrunners step forward.
HARRIS: Boys, perhaps 10 years old, training to be terrorists. The U.S. shows a disturbing al Qaeda tape. Today, Wednesday, February 6th, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Breaking news this morning. Brutal weather slamming parts of the South today, killing dozens of people. It's a story we've been tracking all morning right here on CNN. Many homes and businesses damaged or left in ruins like that in Jackson, Tennessee. The state was the most deaths is Tennessee. At least 24 people were killed there. One of the hardest-hit areas was western Tennessee. Our Ed Lavandera is in Jackson for us this morning.
Ed, good morning to you.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Well, we're on the campus of Union University, and, you know, what I'll describe is not as good as what Andrew Norman will describe. He lived in this dorm right behind here. You can see the windows in the, basically, the back part of the wall is blown out there. What was that like last night for you?
ANDREW NORMAN, STUDENT: Well, it was just pretty normal night and then they told us all to, you know, go downstairs. That's the drill, is you go downstairs to the -- we live on the upper floor. And...
LAVANDERA: That's your room, what we're seeing right...
NORMAN: Well, that's one of -- my room is farther down, that's one of the rooms, but you know, we just went downstairs and just were just joking around, just really, you know, and then just heard this loud rushing noise and then just silence and darkness.
LAVANDERA: You were kind of describing to me earlier the sensation that you had...
NORMAN: Right. Well, I opened the door, and we could see just the swirling wind, slammed the door and ran to the bathroom and then you just feel the pressure drop out and like you just get chills and then the windows exploded and all this dirt came flying in and it was -- I've never been through anything like it for sure, so.
LAVANDERA: At some point, did you think am I going to survive this?
NORMAN: I mean, we were all pretty scared. I think things happened really too fast to think, you know, that, but there were some people who were pretty upset in our room, so, I mean, we were all scared.
LAVANDERA: And how long did this last?
NORMAN: Maybe 10 minutes, before we -- everything calmed down enough for us to get out of our room and then it was just chaos, you know, from there, trying to get everybody out and safe and to a building, so.
LAVANDERA: All right, we're told classes are canceled for two weeks. What do you do now?
NORMAN: Well, right now, me and my friends and, you know, my roommates and stuff, we're just trying to salvage what we can and go home and just wait it out, I guess, and just try to come back when we can.
LAVANDERA: And you seem to be in pretty good spirits today, actually laughing a little bit.
NORMAN: Well, that's all you can do, really, I guess, is just try to keep your spirits up and not get too down about it. I mean, we're all fortunate, we made it out OK, so.
LAVANDERA: And was there a rush to kind of get out of the building?
NORMAN: Yes. Well, immediately, when I got out of the building, my residential director, Mario, was like come help, come help, there's people trapped, and he's got little kids, so they're handing out little kids and people are pushing up on the wall to get people out from under there and then we smelled gas in there and like everybody's got to get out, so we all ran to the PAC, the P.A.C. building and just hung out there for a couple hours, so...
LAVANDERA: Andrew, I appreciate it. I know it was a difficult night for you guys. We're joined by the president of the university.
And David Dockery, you hear a story like that, you're watching from a distance. What goes through your mind?
DAVID DOCKERY, PRESIDENT, UNION UNIVERSITY: Well, I talked to many students over the last 12 hours, and I've heard those stories. Our students were very courageous last night. They were -- they handled an incredibly challenging situation with grace and they pulled together, they helped each other. It was an amazing thing to behold, because no one panicked. If that would have started, we could have lost control, and then we don't know what kind of damage we would have had. But, the fact that everyone helped each other, cooperated, it got us through the night.
LAVANDERA: What are you telling students to do now? I know classes are closed for at least two weeks. What are you telling them to do?
DOCKERY: Classes are closed until at least February the 18th. We're encouraging them to go home, if they can. We have students from 45 states and 30 countries, so some of them live too far away to go home, but those who are -- who can get to their homes, want to encourage them to do that. It's best that them go ahead and leave town. For many of them, their cars are so damaged that they're going to have to find another way to get there. We have about 1,100 cars that we know were on campus last night, less than 100 were not damaged pretty badly.
LAVANDERA: And you told me every building on campus...
DOCKERY: Every building on campus was hit, some hit very severely, yes, sir. So, we have our contractors and insurance people here. The assessment is starting, and so we will begin to clean up as soon as we get this planning meeting out of the way.
LAVANDERA: And we know there were some stundents that were still in the hospital because of their injuries. Is there an update on them?
DOCKERY: Well, we have nine students that stayed in the hospital last night. They're still there. Their situation is improved this morning. Some will be there for several days, but we're very hopeful that they're all going to be well and have a full recovery in the coming days.
LAVANDERA: Were these the students that were trapped? I know there was one section of students that were trapped...
DOCKERY: All the ones that in still in the hospital were students who were trapped in the rubble last night.
LAVANDERA: All right, a very difficult time here for the students and the faculty of Union University, but amazingly, no one on this campus killed, even though a short distance from here there were two victims who died in these storms last night -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes, boy, Ed, unbelievable, also about the cars -- 1,100 cars on campus, only about 100 ended up not being damaged. Really gives you an idea of the strength of a storm like that just throwing cars around like match boxes, I guess.
LAVANDERA: Yes, you know, Heidi, if I can add real quick, I mean, that is the amazing thing here this morning is we're standing next to the student parking lot, and as you walk around, some of the cars that weren't either lifted up off the ground and flipped over, eerie kind of thing, they were moved several feet. So, essentially, the wind was so powerful that the cars were like in a dancing line, were kind of moved to one side. You can just sense how powerful these storms were. And then there's just other cars that are completely flipped over, windshield and glass all over the place.
DOCKERY: Some of them were moved from one park lot to the other one. It's just absolutely amazing.
LAVANDERA: And you've had a better chance to kind of tour the campus. I mean, it is -- this is just a portion of it. The campus goes back toward this direction. The women's dorm, other parts of the buildings and academic buildings on campus, the destruction is rather intense.
COLLINS: Yes, no question about that as we continue to look at those live pictures just behind you there of some of the dormitories. But again, important news that you point out, Ed, Union University, no one was killed, there. There were about 13 kids trapped and nine of them do remain in the hospital, doing pretty well as we heard from the president there just a few moments ago. To the both of you, thanks so much.
HARRIS: Let's get you to Rob Marciano in the Severe Weather Center.
Rob, I'm just curious, are you getting any figures as to just how intense these storms were, wind speeds? You look at some of these pictures. It's amazing, the descriptions of cars being moved from one parking lot to the next?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. That's what tornadoes can do. You know that scale, it's much like the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricanes, we go from zero to five, five being the worst, and each individual National Weather Service office will send out a survey team to survey the damage, take pictures, match those pictures up against, you know, other guidelines that would indicate what kind of strength that wind had in relation to the damage they're seeing and then those storm surveys or reports will be filtering in throughout the day today and even more so tomorrow. We'll really have a handle as to how strong these storms was.
My guess from looking at the damage, you know, the storms that range anywhere from an EF-1 to probably an EF-3 in some cases, so certainly a significant event all the way around. And it's still happening. We still have this tornado watch that that's in effect for Atlanta, south towards Pensacola until 2:00 this afternoon. You see this moisture streaming in from the Gulf of Mexico, feeding into what is some pretty buoyant, toasty air, thanks to the heat that has built up over this part of the country for the past couple of days.
All right, strong line of thunderstorms rolling through Atlanta, now. We're getting the back end of it. Not sure if we still have that tower camera, but rainfall beginning to taper off somewhat. The heaviest action is from LaGrange south to Columbus, heavy severe thunderstorm warnings in effect for this line. See how it's beginning to kind of bow out? That's when you know you got some pretty strong straight-line winds. Oftentimes, the mid and higher level winds will dive down to the surface when you see this sort of action on the radar.
It extend down to the South, southern Alabama, portions of that, are couple counties here under a severe thunderstorm warning for this one, not a tornado warning, but severe thunderstorm with strong straight-line winds and likely some hail with this system, and it continues to pump in off the Gulf of Mexico.
Again, that tornado watch in effect until 2:00, significant or slight risk for severe weather for pretty much everybody northeast of here to D.C. So, this will be something that a lot of folks will have to watch, including some of our politicians in Washington, D.C.
Want to show you one other map before I send it back to you. This is a graph, a bar graph, of tornadoes month-to-month, January, February, March, April, May. May sticking out like a sore thumb, there. And remember -- you know that may is actually the time for tornado alley. This is an average over the last three years. But what sticks out to me and should to you is that January and February are the smallest, with the least amount of tornadoes touching down during those months.
Of course, last year during the month of February, almost a year to the date, we had those tornadoes that rolled through central Florida just north of Orlando with over 20 fatalities, there, and now we have this action. But, it's certainly scary to think about, you know, if we continue the trend, what this year may bring. Hopefully, that doesn't, you know, happen, but we've already seen well over 50 fatalities including these events, and we haven't even got on the peak of the season.
COLLINS: Wow. It is -- this is crazy. All right, well, we keep hearing over and over again, though, from all the reports we've been getting in that people were very happy and feel very good about the amount of warning that they got. Certainly saved some lives.
MARCIANO: Yes, for sure. I mean, the storms prediction center out of Norman, they had it bull's eyed and then each individual National Weather Service office which is responsible for issuing those warnings, some of which came out 20 minutes ahead of time, they are just on it and they do a supreme job, no doubt.
COLLINS: Yes, we'll talk more about maybe, you know, what people should do once they do get a warning like that. You know, obviously, we know about the basement. I mean, what if you don't have a basement? What if you're in your car? That might be a good idea, just a bit of a reminder, there, if that's all right are with you, Rob, we'll check back later for the homework. Thanks so much.
HARRIS: And again, we're just trying to get you the latest pictures, eyewitness accounts, anything that we can get to thaw you tells the stories over these tornadoes and the devastation. We've got a report now from one of our affiliate reporters, KATV is the affiliate station, the reporter is Heather Crawford. She's in Atkins, Arkansas, that is just a bit north of Little Rock.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEATHER CRAWFORD, KATV REPORTER: We knew it was bad last night. We saw all of the trees down and the houses damaged, but there's no words to describe what we're seeing here today in the daylight hours. I am standing on a slab of concrete. Yesterday, this was someone's home. In fact, the people who lived here had just moved in on Saturday. They were inside what used to be right here when the tornado hit. They got trapped under all of this rubble. You see shoes and mattresses and televisions, their whole -- all their possessions now just a pile of rubble. They all made it out alive.
However, in Atkins, in this area, we're told that there was a total of four deaths, and there's been about six severe injuries, people that have now been taken to Little Rock hospital for severe trauma. So, there is a lot of devastation. The tornado went right through this area. And like I said, I mean, it's hard to even put it into words what we are seeing with our own eyes here, just houses totally gone. They're not even here anymore. Cars turned upside down. We will have much more for you coming up in just a few minutes. Back to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: OK, that's Heather Crawford from our affiliate KATV. She was in Atkins, Arkansas. Again, we are doing everything we can to get you the latest video when it comes into the NEWSROOM, we will, of course bringing that to you. Your I-Reports have been very helpful. And again, when weather does become the news, again, send us your I- Reports. Go to CNN.com click on I-Report or type ireport@cnn.com into your cell phone, and particularly in a scenario like this one, it bears repeating, please, always be safe.
COLLINS: Want to take a moment now to get out to one of our other affiliate reporters who -- they've all been doing such a great job of bringing this scene to us so that we can see more about what's going on here. Want to take you now to Brooke Sanders, she's with WMCTV in Memphis, Tennessee.
Boy, really, really an area that's been hit hard, particularly when we look all across the state of Tennessee, at least 24 people dead there -- Brooke.
BROOKE SANDERS, WMCTV REPORTER: Absolutely. This was an unbelievable scene last night when the tornadoes kept popping up. I can tell you the sirens in Shelby County, Tennessee, where Memphis is located, went off for a good couple of hours as the tornadoes just continued to head our direction.
I want you to take a look behind me. We are across from the Hickory Ridge Mall. They will not let us go any further than we are. You can see that the power crews are already out here at this hour. And as if you look through those trees, you can see some of the roof damage to that mall. The tornado that hit here came right through around rush hour, it actually ripped the wall right off the side of the Sears store and people were actually inside. Fortunately, though, no one was trapped, no one was killed. But just about a mile from here, there was a warehouse where 18 wheelers were literally lifted up out of the parking lot and thrown into the warehouse. Three people were killed there.
This morning, the cleanup and assessment has already gotten underway, and they are trying to figure out exactly how long it will take to get the power back on. Several schools in this area have had to stay shut down because they simply have no power. The cleanup is going to take a long time. And that's just in the city of Memphis. As you go further east from us, the damage is just astounding, especially when we talk act Union University over in Jackson, Tennessee. That university reported this morning $30 million in damage -- Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Boy, oh, boy. All right. As we continue to look at live pictures from Memphis, Tennessee, Brooke, appreciate that. Thanks.
HARRIS: The U.S. military says al Qaeda is train children to be terrorists and now it has a shocking evidence on tape. Live to CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
Barbara, it seems to me pretty clear-cut evidence that al Qaeda views this battle as a generational one.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, that's right. Very disturbing video being released by the U.S. military in Baghdad, earlier today. It's not new that al Qaeda certainly has been using children to try and carry out violent attacks, but this video is very compelling evidence. It was released at a briefing today. It actually comes from a raid that happened a couple of weeks ago north of Baghdad. Some video that shows children being used to carry out attacks, being trained to carry out very deadly attacks in Iraq, as you can see. The chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, talked about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADMIRAL GREGORY SMITH, U.S. ARMY: The video shows 20 or so boys, most believed to be under the age of 11, being trained on how to carry out kidnapping and assassinations. The boys were supplied with weapons ranging from pistols, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The video also shows the boys making statements promoting slaughter and declaring their allegiance to al Qaeda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: Well, as we continue to look at some of the video that was released at this briefing in Baghdad, you can see these are just boys, you know, being trained to stage raids, being armed with grenade launchers, AK-47s, pistols, showing them searching car, detaining people, going into buildings, just like adult insurgents.
And, of course, the whole idea here is that al Qaeda, obviously, believes that they can basically take these children and use them in areas of Iraq and that they will not gather as much suspicion from coalition or Iraqi forces if they see children moving around as if they were to see adults. So, some very disturbing video now coming to light about some of al Qaeda's latest methods -- Tony.
HARRIS: What won't al Qaeda do? At the pentagon, Barbara Starr. Barbara, thank you.
STARR: Sure.
COLLINS: Is anyone trapped? Crews going house-to-house today after a tornado outbreak in the South.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Quickly want to get this news out to you right away regarding the death of actor Heath Ledger. We have just learned from the New York Medical Examiner's office that those toxicology reports that we had been waiting to get the results of have now been released. I'm just going to read to you part of it. Here is what it says: "Mr. Heath ledger died as a result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of" and then there are several drugs listed.
Basically, it says, "we have concluded that the manner of death is accident resulting from the abuse of prescription medications." Looking at video there of Heath Ledger, 28-years-old. We will continue to follow this story for you. Our correspondent Allen Chernoff is looking through these reports and we'll talk more with him in just a few minutes, out of new York.
HARRIS: Out in front, former underdog John McCain taking a commanding lead in the presidential race. McCain won nine Super Tuesday states from Connecticut to California. Dana Bash is in Phoenix where McCain will be leaving this morning to fly across the country.
And Dana, I suspect that the senator will be leaving soon. He wants to get back to Washington. There's a pretty big conservative conference this week in Washington, D.C.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty big conservative conference tomorrow, pretty big vote later on today on the stimulus package that's going through the Senate, so a lot of reasons to get back to Washington. But also, as you can imagine, Tony, a lot of reasons to celebrate today after what was really a very, very good night for John McCain. Of course, you saw across the board from coast to coast John McCain doing very well in some of the biggest, most important states with regard to the delegates he needs in order to get the nomination from New York and New jersey and some of those states in the Northeast to the important state of Missouri, which, of course, is the bellwether state, but also really the key thing here is the state of California, where John McCain did a lot better than even John McCain aides even thought he was able to do.
Because at this point, it looks like, you know, it's broken into congressional districts, 53 all together. It looks like he won all but two of them. Mitt Romney only picking up apparently two of them. So, that is why you heard John McCain last night for the first time really feel comfortable calling himself the frontrunner. But you also heard him, Tony, acknowledge, even subtly, the fact that he still has a lot of work to do in uniting his own party. He reached out really pretty quickly last night in his speech to conservatives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I promise you, if I am so fortunate to win your nomination, I will work hard to insure that the conservative philosophy and principles of our great party, principles that have done so well by the country we love, will again win the votes of a majority of the American people and defeat any candidate our friends on the other side nominate.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, John McCain, of course, did exceptionally well last night, but he still has about half of the delegates need in order to win the nomination. So, he is not there yet, not even close. What is going to determine whether or not he is the effective nominee, of course, is whether or not the other two Republicans who are viable Republicans in the race, whether and how long they stay in.
Mike Huckabee did extraordinarily well in the South, so he has made it very clear this morning he is not going anywhere, he is staying in this race. But the big thing to look at is what happens to Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney had an incredibly disappointing night last night. He spent a lot of money, millions of his own money, and you know, today, Tony, we are told he is going to huddle with his advisers, today, he is going to look at whether or not he can stay in this race. But they are saying as of now he is going to stay in at least through March, that is the next day where there are some significant primaries.
HARRIS: Dana Bash with the McCain campaign in Phoenix, Arizona. Dana, thank you.
COLLINS: Breaking down Super Tuesday, now. Blocs of voters pushing hard in different directions. Boy that's for sure. Let's go through some of the numbers, now. David Brody is a senior national correspondent with the Christian Broadcast Network. Miguel Perez, a syndicated columnist, they are in New York for us this morning. And Jehmu Greene, the former president of Rock the Vote. She is in Washington.
Welcome to all of you. We've spoke within a couple of you yesterday before we got the results in. So, we want to begin with David one more time, here.
David, let's look at two of the exit polls from yesterday, if we could. Pointing out conservatives and Southern conservatives, we see Mitt Romney getting the conservative vote there with 42 percent over John McCain's 31 percent. And then to the Southern Republicans, we see Huckabee getting 41 percent over Romney's 28 percent and McCain's 26 percent. Yesterday, you said Huckabee would do very well in the South. Does any other part of these exit polls really seem to surprise you?
DAVID BRODY, CHRISTIAN BROADCAST NETWORK: Not really. Huckabee did do well, but you know the important issue here, Heidi, is that, look at those numbers, that 41, 28, 26. John McCain and Mitt Romney are not in the single digits. I mean, this is not a runaway for Mike Huckabee. And what's interesting here is John McCain is tapping into this patriotism that plays very well in the South.
South Carolina is a great example of that. And that is part of the reason why he won down in South Carolina, not just military, but patriotism, national security, evangelicals, that Southern roots down there, they really tap into that, and the McCain folks know it. So, McCain is in the ballpark, here.
And the other point to point out here, Heidi, is that evangelicals, you know, Mike Huckabee has kind of been pigeonholed at the Evangelical candidate, but if you look at some of his numbers, I mean, to win five states, almost winning in Missouri, I mean, he's a guy that is not just appealing to Evangelicals.
I've been on the campaign trail a year, and I can tell you that when people leave the room and they hear him speak, they believe that they will not only vote for him, but Ed Rawlins (ph) told me, his senior campaign manager, Ed Rawlins told me, listen, if we had another week in New Hampshire, they would have won that thing. They believe Mike Huckabee resonates.
COLLINS: Wow. All right, well, interesting. All right. I want to take a moment mow to look at some of these other exit polls. Miguel, for you, a lot of talk this morning about the Latino vote, of course, and the fact that it is key to Hillary Clinton's big state win, so let's break that down a bit. Look at here. This is Latino voters for Clinton and Obama, 61 percent, in fact, for Clinton. Then, when we look at California in specific, Clinton, 69 percent, Obama, 29. Were you surprised by the strength of Latino support for Hillary Clinton?
MIGUEL PEREZ, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: I was not surprised, frankly, because the Latino elected officials throughout the country have been on Hillary's bandwagon since the beginning. Senator Obama, unfortunately, has been trying to catch up with the Hispanic vote. There needed to be some coalition building between the African- American and the Hispanic community that was not done. And in the case of the Clintons, of course, they have -- they're running almost as incumbents. It's very hard to defeat the Democratic machine, especially the Latino Democratic machine all over the country is very, very much entrenched with the Clintons already.
COLLINS: Why is that, though? What is that relationship all about?
PEREZ: Well, you know, Clinton was a good president -- Bill Clinton was a good president for the Hispanic community, overall. There are some segments, of course, of the Hispanic community that are of course not happy with the Clintons, the Cuban-American community in Florida, for example, but you know, most Latinos are Democrats, the overwhelming majority of Latinos vote Democrat.
What Republicans try to do every four years is basically get as a huge -- as big a chunk as they possibly can of the Latino vote so they can split that vote, because they never expect to get the majority of the Hispanic vote. If they can split it, that huge voting bloc that we represent, especially in the general election, where Latinos are stronger because we live in the states where, you know, the large states with large electoral college votes.
COLLINS: That's right.
PEREZ: And we can swing those states, we can actually swing the general election. So, you know, there's a lot yet to come. And you know, in the case of Mr. McCain, of course we want him to keep going because he gives us leverage. You know, the Democrats know that they could have taken Latinos for granted and assumed that Latinos were going to vote for them if it had been anybody but McCain, because the other ones have been pounding the immigration issue, and they are seen in the Hispanic community as anti--Hispanic, not the case with McCain. So, McCain gives Latinos leverage. We can now go to the Democrats and say, listen, we still have a viable alternative in the Republicans.
COLLINS: Right, well it is a certainly a very interesting demographic. I know we'll be talking a lot more about it as we move closer and closer every day to November.
Jehmu, I want to get to you, obviously, the youth vote. As we expected, it would go to Barack Obama, and as you predicted yesterday, of course. Here's a snapshot quickly. One state where Obama did win, Georgia. Look at this now by age here: 18 to 29, 75 percent, 30 to 44, 73 percent, and as you can see, those other numbers there. He did a great job with young voters. So, what happened in places like California? Was it more of a question of turnout there?
JEHMU GREENE, FMR. PRES., ROCK THE VOTE: Well, I think absolutely. The story coming out of yesterday is the overwhelming turnout from young voters. It's interesting that the people that rocked the boat rung the bell at NASDAQ to open up the stock market yesterday, and young people across the country heard that as a call to arms.
We're seeing turnout triple in some of these states that the numbers are in: Georgia, Missouri, Massachusetts, tripling. In Tennessee, turnout quadrupled. We still have to look to see how turnout affected the California race, but absolutely Barack Obama is winning the lion's share of these voters.
But the Clinton campaign is not giving up on these voters. They're going to continue to compete for them. That's why we've seen Chelsea on the road more, doing the college tour. COLLINS: Yes.
GREENE: And I think it's really going to come down to both of these candidates duking it out for these voters. But I'll tell you, every college campus I have been on in the past few weeks, young people are definitely on the Obama bandwagon, and they're the ones really driving, you know, the energy and the enthusiasm for his race.
COLLINS: The young vote, the Latino vote, and the conservatives, where they will go. Certainly very interesting discussion. To the three of you, we appreciate your time. Jehmu Greene, Miguel Perez and David Brody. Thanks so much, guys.
BRODY: Thanks, Heidi.
HARRIS: Well, and this breaking news, the toxicology report is in, the results are in on actor Heath Ledger, his death, and the results point to a, boy, a prescription drug cocktail as the cause of death.
Allan Chernoff following the Ledger story for us in New York -- Allan?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Tony, New York's chief medical examiner is confirming that it was an accident that killed Heath Ledger, the Australian movie star. The chief medical examiner saying that Heath Ledger died from, "abuse of prescription medications."
He's saying that this was, "an acute intoxication by combined effect of six different drugs," and the drugs listed, two of them are painkillers, Oxycodone and Hydrocodone. One of them used to relieve a dry cough. Two anti-anxiety drugs and two sleeping pills.
Heath Ledger himself had said several months ago that he was having tremendous trouble sleeping. He said this in a "New York Times" interview. He had starred in the Batman sequel, which is yet to be released. And he said he had been very involved in the character. It had caused him to really have tremendous trouble. He was sleeping only two hours a night.
And when police did discover his body on January 22nd in his apartment in SoHo, the neighborhood downtown in Manhattan, they discovered his body in his bed. They also found those six prescription medications in the apartment itself.
Keep in mind, of course, Heath Ledger, the star of "Brokeback Mountain," for which he did receive an Oscar nomination, he also did have some personal difficulties. He had broken up with the actress Michelle Williams, who is the mother of their two-year-old daughter.
So, again, just repeating the headline here, the chief medical examiner in New York saying the death of Heath Ledger an accident, dying from abuse of prescription medications -- Tony?
HARRIS: Allan Chernoff for us in New York. Allan, we appreciate it. Thank you.
Parts of the south, boy, slammed this morning by deadly storms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All I have left is my front porch. The rest of it's gone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Dozens are dead, hundreds of others injured. A live report straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Want to keep you updated on this developing story, a terrible story it is, too, with these massive tornadoes that have gone across five different states in the south. Want to take you out to our correspondent, Dan Lothian. He is in Atkins, Arkansas, on the phone for us in the middle of some of these pictures that we are seeing.
Dan, we know that at least 13 people have been killed in the state of Arkansas.
VOICE OF DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and indeed, and when you see the devastation here, it's amazing that more people were not killed. I'm walking along 105, which is a main roadway that goes through Atkins. On the right side, you just see an entire field of trees that are leveled. And then pockets in between those trees of what used to be homes, now look more like a landfill and other homes that the roofs have been blown off and the walls have just collapsed in.
Had a chance to talk to a couple of families that live right along the road here. To my right, a family that has been living in this home for about three to four years they said. And they moved into this home after their former home, which is just down the street, was burned down. There was a fire at that home. They lost it. They moved to this home, and now this home has been destroyed.
They were not in the home, so they're OK. They're now going through the home, trying to pick out some of their belongings. In fact, I just see someone walking out with some clothing that they just brought out of the home.
Across the street now, which is to my left, down a road that's partly blocked by a lot of trees that have been knocked down, there's another home where we're told by one of the family members that they had about five or six family members who huddled in the bathroom. They have a special-needs child and a young baby. They huddled inside the bathroom, and amazingly, that was the only room that wasn't destroyed. The rest of the house, the roof is gone, the backside of the house, I'm looking at it right now, the wall has just collapsed in. The family members are now sort of picking through their belongings, trying to find what they can recover after this devastating storm, these tornadoes.
And over -- across the street now, what I'm looking at, there are a couple of energy workers. And I asked them what they were doing. They're going around with some kind of meters. And they're just looking to see if there are any gas leaks. That obviously is always a big problem whenever you have tornadoes come through and rip up pipes and that kind of thing, can lead to additional problems. So, they're just checking to make sure that there's nothing that's leaking.
And continuing, the operation of going door-to-door, we've seen some areas where they've already marked off with bright orange tape that no one is inside. They continue doing that throughout the area here in Atkins, just to see if there are any other people who are either trapped inside the homes or perhaps people who have died trying to recover those bodies as well.
The governor of Arkansas was here a few moments ago at the spot where I'm at. They have taken off down the street to do a little bit more survey of the area. We hope to catch up with the governor later on. But certainly, for the people who live here, this is just a devastating day for them. And the scene, when you see these pictures, it's just amazing that more people did not die.
COLLINS: Yes, certainly, as we continue to look at those pictures. And we did have an opportunity, Dan, to speak with Governor Beebe a little bit earlier in the program, talking about the National Guard and how he brought them in, of course, to help with all of this.
I wonder, Dan -- I hear a lot of wind noise possibly in the background. What's the weather like now where you are?
LOTHIAN: Yes, amazing you bring that up because the weather is just -- you know, even though we don't have any sort of tornadic activity happening at this point, the wind is just so strong right now. In fact, at times in order to talk to you, I have to turn my back to the wind because the wind is strong. In addition to that, it's very cold. It's about 34 degrees or so. In fact, I thought I saw a few flakes ...
COLLINS: Yes.
LOTHIAN: ...in the sky. It reminded me of Boston, you know, what's going on here? So, in addition to everything that they're dealing with there, they're also dealing with continuing bad weather. These high winds, very cold temperatures. So, it's a difficult, difficult situation, not only for the families but also the volunteers and the rescue workers who are working in these conditions.
COLLINS: Oh, yes, I imagine it makes it so much worse. We actually did talk with Pope County Emergency Management, who reported the same thing, Dan. Snow and sleet is what she was saying coming in ...
LOTHIAN: Yes.
COLLINS: ...in the aftermath of these tornadoes. It is very, very strange weather, indeed. We appreciate the reporting, Dan Lothian coming to us this morning by telephone from Atkins, Arkansas. Thank you, Dan.
HARRIS: Buddy Rogers is on the phone with us, and he is with the Kentucky division of emergency management. Buddy, we know you're awfully busy. We appreciate your time this morning. If you would, give us an assessment of your state. We understand you have a number of fatalities, unfortunately.
VOICE OF BUDDY ROGERS, KENTUCKY DIV. OF EMERGENCY MGMT.: We do and our -- and let me just say that our hearts go out not only to the folks in our state, but those of our surrounding states, too, and our thoughts and prayers are not only with those families and their loved ones but to the responders as well.
In Kentucky, we've had seven confirmed deaths from last night's storms, and some injuries, mostly minor to moderate. Haven't had any reports of any serious injuries. But we do have widespread damage throughout the state.
HARRIS: Certainly a number of counties in your state, but talk to us about Allen County, which we're getting some notes was particularly hard hit.
ROGERS: Allen County was hit, and that's where four of the deaths occurred earlier this morning in the early morning hours. And damage assessments are still ongoing there as well.
HARRIS: And we understand, boy, this is pretty sad, a couple and their adult daughter killed at a mobile home park. Is there any more you can share about that sad occurrence?
ROGERS: Well, I know that did occur in the Muhlenberg County, which is in the western central part of the state in a -- Nolan (ph) Mobile Home Park there, near the community of Powderly.
HARRIS: Are you getting reports of livestock killed and destroyed in the storms as well?
ROGERS: You know, I haven't heard of any livestock reports coming in, but, you know, time will tell.
HARRIS: Yes.
ROGERS: A lot of the teams are out now after the daylight got here. You know, this occurred mostly during the darkness, and they're out doing their damage assessment roll ups as we speak.
HARRIS: And Buddy, what are you hearing? What are they reporting in terms of trees down, road closures? What do you have on your hands?
ROGERS: You named it. We have trees ... HARRIS: Wow.
ROGERS: ...down everywhere and power lines down. We have a lot of folks without power. We have schools closed due to damage to the schools themselves and the ability to transport students to schools. So, we have several schools throughout the state closed today.
HARRIS: Is the National Guard available to you to help in any way?
ROGERS: We have had requests for National Guard assistance, and we have sent some units out to Central City, which is down in the Muhlenberg County area. They've initially sent 30 units there. They were military police company out of Louisville, based out of Louisville, that just happened to be nearby at a training facility, and they have since been relieved by a local unit there of 24 soldiers.
Monroe County, which is a county about three or four counties to the southwest, which borders Tennessee, they've also requested some National Guard assistance, and they'll be receiving that assistance shortly.
HARRIS: Buddy, we are so sorry for the loss of life and the injuries to your great state. And, boy, we wish you all the best as you move forward today. Buddy Rogers is with the Kentucky division of emergency management. Buddy, thank you.
COLLINS: Those deadly storms slamming the south this morning. In fact, nearly 50 people are dead now and hundreds of others are injured, reports of at least 60 tornadoes.
Veronica De La Cruz is tracking this story online for us. I imagine, Veronica, seeing an awful lot of pictures and awful lot of reports from people there.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are, Heidi. And we want to go and concentrate for a second on Jackson, Tennessee. Union University hit hard by that series of tornadoes, 13 students trapped in the wreckage overnight. Luckily, all have been rescued. About nine were taken to the hospital, nonlife threatening injuries.
I want to show you what we have found online. This is from Facebook.com. There's a page there for the students of the university. The group's administrator has posted nearly 20 pictures which ...
COLLINS: Wow.
DE LA CRUZ: ...really tell the story. Take a look. I mean, here you see cars just flipped over, students, they're gathering to help in the rescue efforts, other photos of students buried under the wreckage being rescued by fire crews. There's more images there of all the damage, the debris, just the walls ripped right off the dorms there. You really, really see the power of this storm. It really is unbelievable. Again, we found all of these images on Facebook.com. There is a support group set up there. You know, checking earlier, Heidi, I think 350 members is what that group had. I think that number has jumped by at least 100.
COLLINS: Yes, I imagine so. You know, it's interesting, too, our Ed Lavandera is in Jackson at the university, talked to the president. And so, when we look at that picture of the cars there, 1,100 cars on campus. Only 100 of them not damaged. So, absolutely unbelievable as we continue to look at what comes in, certainly through Facebook.
The university Web site, though, have you had a chance to check that out? I imagine they might be offering some more information to students.
DE LA CRUZ: You know, we've been checking in on that Web site throughout the night into the morning, and it is still down. That Web site is still down. You know, local media reporting that classes at the university have also been canceled until further notice. And so, that is the situation there in Jackson, Tennessee -- Heidi.
As you know, our I-Reporters have also done a tremendous job in contributing to our coverage. These are a couple of I-Reports that we received from Kevin Kern in Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis being about 90 miles away from Jackson where Union University is located.
This is some of the damage done to a mall that is close to his house. Kevin says he's a former TV reporter, which is why he couldn't help but grab a camera, get out there, document all of the destruction. He did say that they were able to close the area schools around noon before all that bad weather broke out. So, that is some good news.
Also on the Web, one more thing I wanted to share with you, a couple of the blogs. We found this firsthand account posted to a blog called the Sassy Southerner. The blogger, who lives in Alabama, had this to say. "I listened in horror as the police called for ambulances -- I've listened and still am listening to them search house to house for survivors. I heard the police relay they were performing CPR on someone. A few minutes later, I hear them summon the coroner." So, really, you know, a shocking firsthand account there that we found on the Web.
We did want to remind folks out there to send us their i-Reports. You can do so by logging to CNN.com/ireport. But please, do stay safe in the process.
COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. Certainly, when we're hearing reports of other weather coming in, really unbelievable situation across the south this morning. Veronica De La Cruz, thanks.
HARRIS: So, 47 minutes after the hour right now as we check in again with Rob Marciano in the severe weather center. And Rob, I just want to remind everyone before we toss it to you that we're expecting to hear a statement on the devastating tornadoes in the mid-south from President Bush. That's scheduled for the top of the hour.
MARCIANO: OK.
HARRIS: We will, of course, bring that to everyone right here in the NEWSROOM. But Rob, to you now for an update on the storm system as it moves east.
MARCIANO: Well, it's certainly worthy of a presidential address when you think about the immense amount of real estate and tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of likely lives affected by this line of devastating weather.
Now moving into Georgia, into Alabama, we have this tornado watch that is in effect until 2:00 this afternoon. And rough weather certainly moving through this part of the world. Atlanta being spared the brunt of it, at least. It looks like the most rough weather has been to the south and east of us, so that's good news for folks who live in the ATL.
But Legrand (ph), back to Columbus, these have been severe thunderstorms with winds up to and maybe in excess of 60 miles an hour in spots. And they're kind of training a little bit over the Columbus area and the I-185.
We slide the map down towards southern Alabama. This line of thunderstorms is classified as severe. There's a severe thunderstorm warning out for Coffey County, which includes Enterprise, and you may remember that name from March of last year, when an EF-3 tornado ripped through that town with eight fatalities.
So, this is certainly not something that they want to be dealing with right now. Probably not a tornado involved here, but certainly some heavy rain and possibility of straight-line winds up to or in excess of 60 miles an hour. And that certainly is enough to do damage.
So there, you see the moisture coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. The backside of this is extremely cold. You heard about the folks who've already seen the tornadoes run through, how cold it has been, sleet, snow not out of the question in some of those areas that saw the damaging weather, especially Kentucky, back towards Arkansas a little bit farther to the north. Chicago, there's your snow.
Here's your line of thunderstorms now beginning to get up and over the Appalachian Mountains. The Carolinas, the Mid-Atlantic, up through Washington, D.C., a storm prediction center say hey, this is an area that has a slight risk of seeing some severe weather today, including West Virginia.
Here's the tower cam from West Virginia from our affiliate out that way. Thanks very much, (INAUDIBLE). SAZ, thanks very much. Some clouds right there, certainly not as turbulent as what we've seen in the past 12 hours, 24 hours, and we hope to keep it that way.
But you should keep an eye to the sky, no doubt, and keep it right here. Tony, Heidi. COLLINS: Yes, boy, we will, certainly. And let us know, too, if we need to come back to you, Rob. Thank you.
MARCIANO: OK, you got it.
COLLINS: John McCain now the clear Republican frontrunner. We'll talk with one of his top lieutenants coming up in just a couple minutes.
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HARRIS: Want to show you some -- again, our effort to get you the very latest video as it comes into the CNN -- look at this path, this swathe here, of destruction, this debris field, really, the location, Memphis, Tennessee, right now. Take a look at this. Our affiliate aerials from WMC.
This is the same area where we've had pictures earlier of a mall that suffered heavy damage, pictures of a Sears store with a partial roof collapse. Hickory Ridge Mall -- thank you, Sara, for that locator there, and the name of that mall. Devastating pictures, but pictures from WMC as we bring you the latest pictures as we get the detail of this story of the tornadoes that just tore through the mid south last night and the devastation left behind.
As we get more of those pictures, we will, of course, bring them to you here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Widening his lead, John McCain keeps up the momentum, winning nine Super Tuesday states. Frank Donatelli is the senior adviser with the McCain campaign. He should be -- yes, he's smiling this morning. He is joining us from Washington, D.C.
Take a moment here and talk about last night and how good it must feel for your candidate, never mind you and the rest of the folks working for the candidate, but for the candidate to have wins in the east, a win in Oklahoma in the south, California, as well. What does this say about your campaign moving forward?
FRANK DONATELLI, SR. ADVISER, MCCAIN CAMPAIGN: Well, Tony, what it says is that John McCain is the one Republican that has national reach. As you point out, he won in the northeast, he won in the Midwest, he won California, previously he's won South Carolina and Florida.
So, we have a very broad reach both geographically and philosophically. He wins moderates. He does very well among conservatives. I mean, John McCain is the one Republican candidate that's capable of putting together the broad-based coalition necessary for Republicans to win the White House.
HARRIS: Well, Frank, Frank, you say he's doing well with conservatives as well as you'd like, you know that is still the sticking point. And I'm trying to understand it. I suppose on some level, you understand it a bit better. What is with this movement that we certainly saw rolled out, the seemingly "stop McCain" effort? What is it all about, and how do you combat it?
DONATELLI: You know, Tony, I guess that proves the old adage, you can't please all the people all the time. The fact is that Senator McCain has a very conservative record over many years in the Senate. He has the support of strong conservatives in the Senate, Steve Forbes, Bill Simon, the leading conservative in California, Ted Olson, the leading conservative jurist in the country.
So, all I can tell you is that, as Senator McCain continues to speak to the American people, we're speaking to the Conservative Political Action conference tomorrow, I have every expectation that once conservatives hear more about what he has to say, we'll continue to improve our vote among self-identified conservatives.
HARRIS: And what do you think -- you mentioned the conference tomorrow in Washington, D.C., and Senator McCain is on his way back to speak to that conference. He skipped it last year, as you know. Do you see an opportunity here for some fence mending?
DONATELLI: Well, I see a big ...
HARRIS: If it's necessary, in your view.
DONATELLI: Yes, I see a big opportunity, mainly because on the issues that conservatives care about, going all the way back to Ronald Reagan and before, which is looking out for the just interests of the United States abroad and protecting our country, keeping spending and taxes low, and appointing judges who will not legislate social policy from the bench. John McCain and the overwhelming majority of the attendees at this conference are in agreement. So, that's what he's going to talk about.
Further, he's going to tell them that he's the one candidate that can actually win the White House this November, and that's our best chance to continue to be a part of government in Washington in November.
HARRIS: Frank, big night for your candidate last night, and congratulations, absolutely. Frank Donatelli, senior campaign adviser for the McCain campaign. Frank, thanks for your time.
DONATELLI: Thank you.
COLLINS: Dozens of people lose their lives in a night of terror. Daylight now revealing incredible damage from a tornado outbreak. This video just in to us now live. We've been watching it -- unbelievable devastation in Memphis, Tennessee, from our affiliate there, WMC. We will have more of this video and across the other states that have been hit, five in all. Our coverage all day right here in the NEWSROOM.
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