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GDP Drops to Lowest Level in 25 Years; Obama Pitches Economic Plan; Hundreds Lose Electricity, Stay in Shelters; Government, Health Care Still Hiring; Japanese Students Learn English Through Obama Speeches

Aired January 30, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST: OK. What recession? ExxonMobil racks up the biggest corporate profit in U.S. history for the second year in a row. And 2008 was pretty great for Amazon, as well. Too bad they are the exception.

And the heat is off, the power is out, the ice is thick, and the race is on to save lives in Kentucky. We're live at an overflowing shelter.

Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Kyra Phillips hive at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We've got the economy, day 11 of the Obama administration, and some weather that's had some deadly consequences. All of that coming up.

And later, more information about the woman who gave birth to octuplets. Turns out she already has six children at home: her mother's home. So you do the math. It's eye-opening.

Plus, the little wiener dog that could. When a pit bull started tearing into her owner, Baby Joe unleashed the beast within.

But up first, a continuing disaster, though not for everybody. We learned today the U.S. economy shrank at a rate of almost 4 percent in the final quarter of 2008. President Obama calls it a continuing disaster for America's middle class.

But not so much for ExxonMobil, Colgate, Palmolive or Amazon.com. All those companies report bigger and better profits for the quarter or the year before, or both.

The nation's GDP, gross domestic product, was expected to have withered even more, as much as a 5 percent rate. Still, negative 3.8 percent is the worst reading in a quarter century, and this quarter's figures will likely be worse.

All right. To break down these numbers, because it is pretty mind-boggling, let's go to Susan Lisovicz, who is at the New York Stock Exchange, to make some sense of all of this for us -- Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, let's start with the GDP, because that is the mother of all economic reports. It's the best measure of the economy's growth, or in this case contraction.

Fourth quarter GDP, Fred, showed how rapidly the U.S. economy deteriorated from the previous three months. A 3.8 percent decline, however, is not as bad as Wall Street's consensus. We actually thought it was going to drop by 5.5 percent.

Whatever the case, it shows how consumers, how businesses, were affected by the credit crisis. We already were seeing spending reined in. But when you don't have access to credit, it just puts the brakes on that much harder.

The downturn also accelerated overseas, Fredricka, and that affected demand for exports. That had been one resilient part of the U.S. economy.

When you saw all of this happen, then you saw job cuts accelerate. And what's affecting that, as well, is corporate earnings. We're in earnings season.

So you've been talking about three companies making money, yes, they're making money. ExxonMobil made a lot of money in 2008: $45 billion, beating its own annual record from 2007.

But in its fourth quarter earnings, they dropped 33 percent because of oil's sharp drop.

Colgate-Palmolive I'll mention real quickly. It had cost-hutting measures as well as it raised prices.

And finally, Amazon.com, you know, the Internet is one of the beneficiaries of this very challenging retail environment. A lot of folks are staying at home for whatever reason. They're surfing for bargains, and Amazon is one of the beneficiaries of that -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Well, I guess it's good to hear somebody's doing OK in all of this. Susan Lisovicz, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: All right. Layoffs, recession, downturn. We're hearing those words all too often these days. But how would you like to hear this: "You're hired"? Well, you can. Jobs are still out there, and you can find one. So says our personal finance editor Gerri Willis, showing us where and how. She's about ten minutes away. Don't want to miss that.

All right. Now to the White House where the woes of the middle class and labor unions in particular are front and center. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux can fill us in on that -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. Well President Obama's trying to show people, show the American people that he gets it, that he understands their frustration, the sense that times are dire here. That is why he announced this middle-class task force that's chaired by the vice president, Joe Biden, saying they're going to be taking a look at all these different things that are affecting particularly the middle class, that they'll have a top group of advisors who will be tasked to do that.

Now one of the things that the president is trying to do, he's using a couple of strategies. He's trying to sell his economic stimulus package, up to $900 billion that he wants to infuse in the economy. He says it's going to turn it around. So what is he doing? He is talking about the need for bold action, but he's also emphasizing just how bad things are.

Take a listen, Fred.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. This diverse group representing labor unions and not-for-profit organizations, advocates for our business community.

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Mr. President.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Well, Fred, during the East Room event, he talked about this being an unprecedented economic situation. He talked about the numbers of jobs that have been lost.

And he was before a group of labor leaders -- you might have seen those pictures there. He was announcing the three executive orders that he issued that he believes will simply help labor leaders, unionized workers: one preventing taxpayer dollars from reimbursing federal contractors who spend money trying to influence the formation of unions; another one which would require federal contractors to inform the employees of their rights; and then a third one to allow qualified employees to be able to keep their jobs even when their contract changes hands.

These are the kinds of things, the tools, that he believes will help workers keep their jobs and put them in those positions of strength.

But all of this, Fred, as you can imagine, really part of a big sell here to push forward an economic stimulus package that a lot of Republicans and even some Democrats aren't too crazy about -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Well, it is indeed a desperate situation, getting worse by the hour now. We're talking about the weather. More than a million people are still without power after this week's big ice storm. Kentucky and Arkansas are the hardest-hit states. In Louisville, the ice is so thick that it snapped a power line, catching a car, actually, on fire, as you see right there on the right side of your screen.

The power is also out in parts of Missouri, Ohio and West Virginia. Hundreds of shelters are open. And people who are hunkered down in their homes are still having to drive miles to look for food and water.

At least 27 deaths are blamed on this storm.

So let's concentrate on Kentucky right now. Three people have been found dead in two homes where gasoline or propane were being burned for heat. Well, carbon monoxide poisoning is the suspected cause of at least of the two deaths. One of the hardest-hit areas in the state of Kentucky, Louisville.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is there.

Susan, give us an idea of the extremes that people are having to go.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, a lot of people are showing up at shelters throughout the state. And here in Louisville, we're at the main shelter, the first Walnut Street Baptist Church.

Joining us now is Marshelle Thompson. She has been here for a couple of nights now.

Turn this way just a little bit more. There you go. Marshelle, can you tell me, you know, you heard about some people who are sticking it out at home saying we can get through this. Why did you decide that wasn't the best idea?

MARSHELLE THOMPSON, WITHOUT ELECTRICITY FOR FOUR DAYS: Because I knew that this was deadly weather. This weather is -- it can kill. So I got my family, and I said, "We have to leave."

And they was like, "Well, you sure?"

And I was like, "Yes, this is deadly weather." And it turned out to be deadlier than I even thought it was.

CANDIOTTI: No fooling around. You've been here a couple nights so far. How are they helping you?

THOMPSON: They're helping us all they can help us. They're doing everything they can do. They feed us; they keep us warm. They take care of the sick. But we really need some type of help, because the sick people, it's a lot of them. It's a lot, and we need help.

CANDIOTTI: When you hear about they might get more snow next week, on top of all of this, what goes through your mind?

THOMPSON: That I know that we're going to get more people, because people are out here (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in hotel rooms, and we know that the money's only going to last so long. We're already in an economical crisis, so we know that their money's -- so we're going to have more people coming to Walnut Street Baptist Church.

CANDIOTTI: We're hearing that FEMA, the governor is telling us that he's trying to get more generators out here, to get people more help. How hopeful are you that will happen quickly?

THOMPSON: Very hopeful. Now that we're on television and people can see that we really need -- then I think the help is going to start coming.

CANDIOTTI: Marshelle, thank you very much for joining us. All the very best to you. And we hope that you can get home very, very quickly.

Fredricka, they're expecting temperatures to go up into the -- maybe the 30s, maybe the 40s this weekend, but then there's a prediction for more snow at the beginning of next week on top of this snow and ice, at least six, seven inches in Louisville alone. It's tough throughout the state.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Adding real insult to injury there. Thanks so much, Susan Candiotti. Appreciate it.

Well, Chad Myers is keeping track of what's happening, not just in Kentucky but everywhere else that's seeing this kind of severe weather.

Chad, gosh. I think the folks there need a little good news, but Susan points out it could go either way.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: I'm sure folks who end up in Tampa are still not going to be too unhappy, even with 50.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, Tampa's a great city.

WHITFIELD: Not going to be balmy at 70 or anything, but...

MYERS: Just go to -- just go to the Club Nuevo Stratton (ph).

WHITFIELD: Good idea and a good time. All right. Thanks so much.

MYERS: You got it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, perhaps you're looking for a job. Looking to change careers all together? Well, CNN can help. We'll tell you who's hiring. And yes, there are still places out there who are hiring. Our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, takes you on a job hunt.

And our iReporters are sending us some great photos and videos from this week's deadly ice storm. We'll continue to keep you updated on this story here in the NEWSROOM. And we'll be talking live with a man who heads emergency management operations in the hard-hit town of Leitchfield, Kentucky. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. He picked a running mate, he picks a cabinet and now President Obama has picked his team for the Super Bowl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Steelers are probably the team that's closest to my heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Opportunities are out there. Jobs are available, and you can get hired. You don't hear those words too often these days, but they are still very true. Our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, is here to prove it.

So Gerri, we're focusing on government and health care today, two sectors that are still hiring.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: That's right. Well Fredricka, do you know the government, the federal government, Uncle Sam, employs almost 2 million people. Just in the first half of 2008, 91,000 new jobs were created.

Any job you find in the private sector you can also find in federal service. Now, the government hires chemists, biologists. At one time they even hired art appraisers for the IRS. Of course, there are the usual office managers, personal assistants and engineers.

And then there are still real wacky jobs out there, too, jobs you haven't even thought of, like bowling commitment repairer, lamplighter, charwoman, sexton. And I mean, check it out. There's some crazy jobs out there.

And there's a fantastic Web site to go to if you want to find a federal job. USAjobs.gov is the place to go. And on the site you can search for job openings by job title, by location. Remember, not all federal jobs are in Washington. In fact, just about 12 percent are. So it really pays to check this out and look around, because Uncle Sam is one of the few that are hiring right now.

WHITFIELD: OK. And what about health care?

WILLIS: All right. The industry is expected to grow like topsy (ph): 22 percent through 2016. It's expected there will be 13.6 million new jobs. That's according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here are some job titles that will grow the most quickly. Fastest growing health-care jobs: home health aides -- check this out -- up 48.7 percent. Medical assistants, registered nurses, nursing aides and orderlies. We're going to see huge demand for those jobs. Now, you should know that educational requirements vary, but some hot jobs like medical transcriptionists or home health aides may only require that you attend vocational or community college or maybe even just get some on-the-job training. It's definitely worth checking out the health care.

And this weekend on -- I started to say "Open House" but that doesn't anymore. "Your Bottom Line." We're talking about how to land your next job, plus what the stimulus package means to your wallet. It's "Your Bottom Line," Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

WHITFIELD: That's only because, Gerri, you have so many balls in the air. You cover so much ground.

WILLIS: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. Good to see you. And we'll tune in. Of course, that would be good (ph), as well.

WILLIS: Have a great weekend.

WHITFIELD: You, as well. Thank you.

All right. Well, the lights are starting to flicker back on in parts of Kentucky, but more than 600,000 people are -- in the state are still without power after a crippling ice storm. The situation is critical in places, and officials are pleading for outside help.

Joining us now on the phone from Leitchfield, Kentucky, the man in charge of emergency operations, Randall Smith.

So Mr. Smith, give me an idea of your observations as you try to assess, and how are you actually able to get around in order to make these assessments?

RANDALL SMITH, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, GRAYSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY: Well, we have people in the county that is reporting to us in the city. And we -- constantly, we're having meetings with updates from people of various organizations telling us what the status of what they're doing.

We had 100 percent of the whole county without electricity for approximately three days.

WHITFIELD: And we're talking Grayson County?

SMITH: Yes. And we had in this county, we have had very little outside assistance. We have not seen a Red Cross person. Our National Guard was deployed without any transportation for numerous days. We finally got three Humvees to come. We are -- we're sitting here. Grayson County is handling the situation totally by themselves.

WHITFIELD: So when you say that you need some more outside help, you know, clearly with the National Guard, it would be nice if they had more vehicles to get around. Even if the Red Cross were to show up, you say they haven't been seen anywhere. In what manner would you want to see some outside help? What is the kind of direct assistance that others can provide?

SMITH: We need volunteers at some of the shelters and especially someone who has some knowledge of setting up shelters and so on. We have three shelters set up in the county. At one time we had 500 people there. We've got some lights restored. Generators have been brought in from private individuals to restore some heat and so on in homes.

WHITFIELD: And what's your understanding -- we had a previous report that some people are using their -- you know, their gas stoves...

SMITH: Yes.

WHITFIELD: ... propane, et cetera, to try to stay warm.

SMITH: Yes.

WHITFIELD: We're talking three days without heat, without electricity.

SMITH: Right.

WHITFIELD: In what other way are you seeing people being inventive about trying to stay warm, and in a safe manner?

SMITH: In a safe manner? A lot have gone to other counties, and some we can't get out. We can't get them off. We have two lakes here on each side of the county and there's personnel, because of the light wires being down and so on and being unsafe, we can't even cut the trees down to get into them. And we can't even assess what those people need. They cannot call out. Cell phones have been out for days. No land lines, no communication at all. And we can't even get into them to see it.

At one time we had 600 light poles in this particular county that have been broken, and it's going to take, at the nearest, to get them all restored with electricity probably will be over a month.

WHITFIELD: It's a bad situation which only sounds like it's about to get worse.

SMITH: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Mr. Smith, emergency management of Grayson County, thanks for your time, but we hope the next time that we get a chance to speak with you perhaps you'll be able to give us good news that some of that outside help is on the way to delivering some of these greatest needs.

Thanks so much and all the best in what is clearly a very bad situation.

SMITH: Thank you. WHITFIELD: All right. President Obama, well, he's been in office now just 11 days, and already he's made quite an impression in this country, and apparently abroad.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I wish the best to the Cardinals. They've been long suffering. It is a great Cinderella story, but other than the Bears, the Steelers are probably the team that's closest to my heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well, there you have it. Presidential support. Not in the cards for Arizona this year. But on the flip side, it's a safe bet that Senator McCain is pulling for Cinderella this Sunday.

All right. No doubt about it, President Obama has his own style, especially in the way he speaks. And it is translating overseas, apparently. In fact, as CNN's Kyung Lah learned, it's inspiring.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this high school English class in suburban Tokyo, the teacher is relying on an outside voice.

OBAMA: The world is watching what we do here.

LAH: You may have heard of him.

OBAMA: The world is paying attention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world is paying attention.

OBAMA: We say, we hope, we believe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we can.

LAH: Their textbook is an English language book and CD set featuring the speeches of Barack Obama. The students mimic his speaking style and take grammar quizzes from the president's election- night victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park.

OBAMA: It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

LAH: "The way he speaks is different from us," says Asato Maejima. Their teacher says that difference is inspiring them to learn English.

The book isn't just a hit in high schools. It's a best-seller across Japan, a nation that's embraced guides on learning English with gusto but never like this.

(on camera) This book has sold so well, the publisher has followed it up with a sequel, this one featuring the inaugural address of Barack Obama. This is No. 1 on Japan's version of Amazon, this one No. 2 based on book reservations alone.

OBAMA: Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real.

LAH: "People wrote us letters saying they were moved and they cried," says the publisher. Obama is giving Americans hope and Japanese people feel it, as well.

As far as a book on President Bush?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madness (ph).

LAH: Not really best-selling potential, says the publisher. And Japan's own lawmakers? Quite a bit more subdued than the American president.

Most readers don't understand all the words, but the publisher says the speeches still manage to capture the Japanese imagination.

OBAMA: Yes, we can.

LAH: "It's not just English," says this teacher. "It's communication." Beyond language, and proving beyond borders.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Republicans in the political wilderness and looking for a new leader. The GOP is choosing a new party chairman. We'll have an update from Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Hello again, I'm Fredricka Whitfield live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, it could have been worse. And maybe by now, it is. In the last three months of 2008, the main gauge of U.S. economic output shrank at a smaller rate than many economists expected, 3.8 percent instead of 5 percent. And the recession that officially began in December '07 has almost certainly gotten deeper in '09.

Recession or no, 2008 was a boom year for Exxon Mobil. The world's biggest publicly traded oil company says it broke its own record, which was also the nation's record, for biggest yearly profit, $45.2 billion. But even Exxon saw sales and profits slide in the final quarter.

So by way of perspective, that record Exxon profit is barely 1/20 the size of the economic rescue package that's making its way through the Senate now. The White House is hoping the Senate bill will pick up a few more Republican votes than the House version did, which was zero. Our Dana Bash is on the Hill. So, Dana, what are the prospects?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you, in talking to Republicans, especially moderate Republicans, those who you would think would be possibly inclined to vote for the Democratic bill, it doesn't look like that's going to happen right now. It does not look like any Republicans are interested in voting for what many think is a $900 billion bill that has too many pieces of excess spending, things that they just simply don't think really will stimulate the economy.

So, here's what's going on right now, Fredricka. Because of that, we are already talking to Republicans, moderate Republicans, and conservative Democrats. For example, Susan Collins of Maine and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. They had a meeting here this morning to talk about maybe an alternative, some other way to deal with stimulating the economy. It is a big task, but talked to Senator Ben Nelson. And he basically says, look, he is a Democrat who simply doesn't agree with this approach by his own party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BEN NELSON (D), NEBRASKA: In this situation, I want to make sure that the actual package will really deliver the bang for the buck that we're hoping that it will and the people are expecting it to. They'll be very disturbed -- and they should be -- if it doesn't do that. And I don't want to take that risk. I think it's much better for us to make sure that the package is right than to make the package big.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, what's going to happen this weekend, in advance of the beginning of the debate Monday, Fredricka, is that Senator Ben Nelson and again the Republican Susan Collins of Maine, who I also just talked to, they're going to be working with their staffs all weekend to try to come up with some alternative that they can then share with some of their like-minded senators, perhaps other Republicans and Democrats who have concerns for various reasons with the current bill. But unlike in the House, the Senate is going to be a vigorous debate with lots of different ideas that senators are going to be able to vote on next week.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

Let's talk a little bit more about Republicans, but really in the form of leadership, the party leadership. Many of them are in Washington this hour to choose a new party chairman. The next Republican leader faces some pretty sizable challenges. The party has lost control of Congress and the White House in just a few short years. Our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, is standing by for us in Washington. The pressure is on, Bill.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. We've got a very hot race here. They're voting just behind me. They're counting the third ballot totals for the race for Republican party chairman.

Well, what difference does it make? This will be the person who tries to lead the party out of the wilderness, as you said. There are five men -- and they're all men -- running for leader of the party. Two are African-American, three are white.

The question is, who's going to be the face of the Republican Party? They don't have the presidency. They don't have the vice presidency. They're not a majority in neither house of Congress. There are some Republican governors out there, but they don't yet have a real national presence except for Sarah Palin.

So, the question is, who's going to represent the Republican Party, and who's a good communicator to communicate the party's message? When the party is out of power, as they are right now, the chairmanship of the party becomes the face of the party. So, that's why this race is particularly important and interesting.

WHITFIELD: So, Bill, you mentioned there are five that folks are voting on. You can see just kind of the meeting, the lobbying, if you will, taking place. But does it seem as though the party is leaning toward perhaps a more moderate Republican, something different from what they've seen in the last few years?

SCHNEIDER: Well, all five of the candidates would describe themselves certainly as conservative. The two African-American candidates are sort of opposite in one way.

Ken Blackwell, the former secretary of state of Ohio is a social conservative, but he didn't do too well in the balloting. He's come in last so far, though he's still in the race. One of the top contenders is Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland. That's a very blue state. It voted solidly Democratic. He's another African-American candidate. He is perceived as perhaps a little more moderate than the other candidates, though I think he'd call himself a conservative.

Right now on the second ballot, which got completed about an hour ago, it was a dead heat between Mike Duncan, who's the current chairman of the party, who became chairman under George Bush, would represent continuity, is a real behind-the-scenes, nuts and bolts kind of operator, and Michael Steele, who would be a very new face, an African-American chairman of the party, perceived, as I said, a little bit more moderate. He's considered a very good communicator.

And right now, it's a tie, 48 votes for Duncan, 48 votes for Steele. We'll see in a few minutes who comes out on top on the third ballot, and we'll see if anyone drops out of the race. You need a majority of 85 votes to win, and one of the things that the Republicans I've spoken to say they're looking for is a good communicator. They don't say there's anything wrong with the party's image or message, but they haven't been good at communicating with ordinary Americans. That's what they're looking for, and they're being gavelled to order right now.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Interesting. It sounds as though we're heading toward a runoff as well, since it's a tie, at least between the two. All right. Thanks so much, Bill. We'll check back with you. Appreciate it.

All right, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is also in Washington. You heard Bill mention her name. Well, she's making the rounds this weekend, mostly under radar, however. Tonight she is attending a private dinner, then she scheduled a luncheon tomorrow at a D.C. think tank. She's expected to join President Obama and other D.C. luminaries tomorrow night at the always off-the-record Alfalfa Club dinner, a yearly sometimes ruckus black tie tradition in Washington.

All right, well, here's one aspect of the recession that's kind of taken a back seat to all the job news. How is all this gloom and doom affecting your children? Your hard times are their hard times as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the moment, I am currently the only one who can support my family, and can't. My mom won't let me get a job to help her and I'm really, really scared that I might have to put off school for another year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's talk about this with our chief medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, because this really affects the health of the entire family when a parent or both parents lose a job.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. And you know what? Even if the parents are not in economic trouble, kids have a way of picking up on the anxiety of other parents, or just sort of the anxiety in general. So, we think of childhood as this carefree time, when really, your kids could be just as worried as everybody else about economics. Let's listen to what another young person had to say about the subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He used to come home smiling every day, and well, Now it's not the same anymore. He comes home, and he's worried all the time. and I see in his eyes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're like four months behind rent. And my brothers, they might be homeless. I mean, I can get out, but my brothers -- my brothers, they might be homeless pretty soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: As you can see from that young man, it is just heartbreaking when this happens. And parents need to keep in mind, their kids may not be telling them how anxious they are. They may be trying to keep it inside. So it kind of behooves parents to kind of be the ones to mention it first. Toss it out there and say, hey, you know, a lot of people are having problems now. I'm sure you've heard about it on the news. Are you worried at all?

WHITFIELD: Wow. So then, you know, the pink slip comes. A serious break does come for a parent. How frank do you need to be with your child about, you know, I got laid off? Because that's just a heavy burden for a lot of kids, too. They start thinking about, like those young kids, what are we going to lose as a result?

COHEN: Right. Exactly. And so, you want to give them some information, but not more than they can handle. And a lot of this, as you would guess as a mom, depends on the age of the child.

So, let's say that mom has been laid off. You come home, what do you tell the kids? Well, you might tell a 4-year-old something different than what you would tell a 14-year-old. So, let's take a 4- year-old. You might say something like, "Mommy is worried because she likes her job. But it's not your fault, and we'll be fine." And the reason for that "not your fault" part is that a 4-year-old is very narcissistic and might think it's them. And you want to make it clear that it's not.

But to a 14-year-old you might want to say, "Yes, Mommy's losing her job, but don't worry. We've saved up enough money." Hopefully that's the case. "We won't have to move, but we are going to have to sacrifice in other ways. For example, we'll have to eat out less."

So, giving some concrete examples of how life is going to be different after the layoff is good. If your house is safe for the next couple of months, don't say, oh, no, we're worried.

WHITFIELD: Make them feel good about that.

COHEN: Right. You can just say, you know, yes, we'll be OK for the next couple of months in this house. You're not going anywhere.

WHITFIELD: But I guess, you know, you kind of have to warn them, we may have to all tighten up a little bit in some way.

COHEN: Right, and to give concrete examples of ways that you'll tighten up.

WHITFIELD: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right, well, they've seen some pretty rough winters. Literally. But folks in Kentucky say it's one of the worst ice storms they can actually remember. You're looking at some of the new images that we're receiving right now. We'll find out how people are coping as they try to stay warm after days without power.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Just take a look at this right now. This is a scene across Kentucky, Arkansas and several other states that have been knocked back in the Dark Ages, literally, by this week's ice storm. In some places no heat, running water, television or phone service because of the ice storms. You're looking at some of the latest images out of Kentucky right there.

The situation is especially critical in Leitchfield, Kentucky, where officials are pleading for outside help. More now from reporter Scott Harvey with our affiliate WAVE.

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SCOTT HARVEY, WAVE REPORTER (voice-over): The entire town of Leitchfield is dark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like a war zone.

HARVEY: Even the Grayson County Emergency Management Center is running on generators. The director, Randall Smith, says they are making it. But barely.

RANDALL SMITH, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR: I can't reinforce enough, we need volunteers to come to Grayson County.

HARVEY: Ninety-five percent of Grayson County has lost power, and there's only one operating gas station. Even it is running on an emergency generator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the worst I've ever seen.

HARVEY: And it's either wait in line...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About two hours.

HARVEY: ... or make a long drive to get gas and kerosene.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bowling Green, Kentucky. And the other one's Nashville, which is about 62 to 72 miles.

HARVEY: For now, the entire county is in dire need of volunteers like nurses and other medical staff.

SMITH: It is getting critical at this point now, getting very critical.

HARVEY: Randall says the county has been begging for outside help.

SMITH: We haven't seen a Red Cross person yet to help us. I'm totally disappointed in some of the organizations that haven't stepped up and helped us here. And we have called numerous times.

HARVEY: If it doesn't come soon, he fears the worst.

SMITH: We will probably have some fatalities in all this, because we have some people on the lakes that we can't even cut in to to go get.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks like someone (INAUDIBLE) pulled into the driveway.

SMITH: There's just so many things that we can't do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See if I can find that out.

SMITH: We need chainsaws.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kerosene.

SMITH: Manpower.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Food.

SMITH: We just need help. That's all.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Our meteorologist Chad Myers now in the Severe Weather Center. Oh, my gosh, my heart goes out to the folks there, because this is absolutely miserable.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And when we talk about, you know, one county or two counties, but it's everywhere across Kentucky. This is the map behind me here of all the outages across northern and central Kentucky, all the way back to Paducah. And you can keep right on going. I mean, you can just go through Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma and Texas, then go the other direction through Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and on up even into upstate New York.

So, you know, as we focus on just a couple of areas, we know that this is stretching it out. Just go ahead and send us an iReport, and we will show your iReport either on the air or you can just go to iReport.com right there and look at everyone else's pictures as well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, Chad, thanks so much. We'll get updated from you again a little bit later.

All right, taking care of her newborn octuplets will run a California mom pretty ragged. Good thing she's got those six other kids perhaps who can help out. We're learning more about one very large family.

The multiples' mom is believed to be 33 years old. According to family members, she had eight embryos implanted but didn't expect all of them to take. And even before the big delivery, she was raising a half dozen little ones. I do mean little: 7, 6, 5, 3 and 2-year-old twins. Oh, my goodness. They've all been living at home with mom's mom, who must be a really super-great grandma.

And then take a look at Baby Joe right here, a dachshund on the outside, a lioness on the inside. When a pit bull attacked her owner, Cecile (ph), Joe went into attack mode, jumping and growling at the bigger dog until her owner could actually get away. Cecile has 15 stitches on her leg but says she's be a lot worse off if it weren't for her fearless wiener dog.

All right, well, there's an interesting way some people are dealing with foreclosure these days. By going nowhere, just staying at home. Some have nowhere to go anyway. We'll talk about mortgage squatters and the congresswoman telling them not to leave. That's next hour.

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ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: I love the people of Illinois today now more than I ever did before. Thank you. And the fight goes on. Just because I'm not governor anymore doesn't mean I'm going to keep fighting for you in the causes that I've fought for my whole life.

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WHITFIELD: And he kept fighting, and he made his case repeatedly on television talk shows and in front of the state's senators. But it wasn't enough to save his job. One by one, Illinois senators voted unanimously to remove Governor Rod Blagojevich from office yesterday. He's still facing a host of criminal corruption charges, including claims he tried to sell the Senate seat left vacant by President Obama.

Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn has taken over as governor, ending what President Obama called a painful episode for his home state.

So, who is the new Illinois governor, Pat Quinn? A Democrat, was twice elected lieutenant governor. While serving in that post he successfully led an effort to block protests at military funerals, and he also secured funding to support families of Illinois National Guard troops and reservists. Quinn was a consumer advocate before actually taking office. Earlier today, he said there's a lot of work to do in Illinois, and he's eager to get it started.

Campaign signs are up, expectations are high and security is tight across Iraq right now, as people gear up for a nationwide provincial election tomorrow. More than 14,400 candidates are competing for 440 seats in most of the country's 18 provinces.

In some of the biggest cities today, borders are sealed, air traffic is halted and overnight curfews are already in effect. Yesterday gunmen killed three provincial candidates in separate parts of the country, along with two election workers. Washington is closely watching the vote, as it considers how fast to pull out American forces.

A shoe monument -- a shoe monument, that is, in Iraq has gotten the boot just a day after it was unveiled outside an orphanage in the northern city of Tikrit. A sculptor had made it out of fiberglass and copper with the help of kids actually orphaned by the war. It's an homage to this memorable incident in Baghdad back in December -- remember that? -- When the Iraqi journalist hurled his footwear at President Bush.

Well, many hailed the man as a hero. But local officials tell CNN the monument was taken down after a request from the central government, which has charges pending against the journalist.

All right, Chad Myers is in the Severe Weather Center because we continue to watch this horrible swath of cold, icy, snowy weather across the country, which is becoming very deadly also.

MYERS: Yes, now dozens, literally, of people. And we're going to go home to houses that are going to have pipes that have been broke for a long time, water still probably running. If you haven't left the house, or if you're near the house, just go in there and make sure the water's off -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: OK. Thanks so much, Chad. Appreciate it.

We're going to go straight to the White House for the daily briefing with Robert Gibbs. Let's listen in.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Happy Friday. How's everyone? I have my trusty week ahead, though it's not that detailed, you'll find out. Saturday I have. We'll get into that a little bit later. Again, I apologize. I'm still a little under the weather.

Let me give you a couple of quick announcements and give you a better answer to a question that was asked yesterday that I was -- didn't have any information on and should have. First of all, Director Blair conducted his first PDB this morning with the president. So we're glad to -- we're glad that he's been confirmed and glad to have him onboard.

The Obama administration today announced an emergency contribution announced of more than $20 million to relief efforts in Gaza. As part of the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance fund. That was announced by Senator Mitchell in the region this morning.

The president has called and talked to President Hu Jintao of China, and we will have some more information and a readout on that a little later this afternoon. And then lastly, let me go through just quickly the DTV question from yesterday, which, as I said, I should have been better prepared for. I think you all have copies of letters that were sent from the transition to both houses of Congress in January. The transition, obviously, in an agency -- in the agency review process determined what it believed to be shortfalls in planning for the DTV transition.

For instance, it found that the coupon program for converters had 3.3 million requests sitting on a waiting list and that the FCC told Congress that the call center that it had established could not handle the rate of incoming calls. The transition asked that Congress delay the February 17th transition.

The House -- I'm sorry, the Senate voted on that last week, and passed that delay. The Senate took -- I mean, sorry. I'm confused today. The Senate voted on that, and the House took the bill up under suspension of the rules requiring two-thirds of those present supporting the bill. The bill passed with an overwhelming majority, but not with the necessary two-thirds.

The Senate last night took the bill up again and passed it. I'm told that the House will vote next week. We anticipate that the House will pass a delay on DTV to June 12th. If that gets to the president's desk, and when that happens, the president will sign that delay into law, so that we might undergo a little bit better planning process to ensure no interruption for people with televisions.

And with that, let's get going. Yes, ma'am?

QUESTION: Thanks, Robert. A couple questions on the economy. Can you explain what the president's strategy will be in the coming days to lobby senators on the stimulus package? What kind of meetings does he have planned? Does he plan any sort of different-looking strategy than he did with the House for whatever reason?

GIBBS: Yes. Well, definitely -- go ahead.

QUESTION: And secondly I want to clarify, or see if you can clarify something that Vice President Biden said in an interview yesterday. He said that any new money for the financial industry-type bailout would not be requested until all the $350 billion has been spent. Is that accurate?

GIBBS: I don't remember that part of the transcript, but let me check on that. Obviously, I hate to do this. I think both of these answers are largely going to hedge toward answers that I gave yesterday to a couple of these questions.

As I said, the president will continue to reach out to Democrats and Republicaans and seek ideas on ways to improve or strengthen the package if those ideas are out there. I said he didn't forestall the idea or close the door on sitting down with leaders in order to do that, from both parties.