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Hard Sell on Stimulus; President Obama Goes to Indiana; Ice Storms' Nasty Aftermath; New Beijing Hotel on Fire; Elkhart's Jobless Rate More Than Triples

Aired February 09, 2009 - 09:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: On the road over the air. The president is selling his stimulus on two fronts today. Just ahead, where the package stands now in the Senate.

And towns destroyed. Many lives lost. Australia wildfires called the nation's worst ever. This hour we hear from those people who made it out alive. It is Monday, February 9th. I'm Heidi Collins. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Stimulus showdown. A critical week gets under way and the stakes are huge. More than $800 billion of your money and an economy that is squeezing all of us. The stimulus plan, driving the president's day as he tries to sell the massive rescue package to the American public.

Later this hour, he leaves for Indiana. There, he has town hall meetings in Elkhart and tonight he will hold his first primetime news conference. That will be happening at 8:00 Eastern.

We are covering all of the angles of the stimulus showdown and the president's big push to sell it. Brianna Keilar is on Capitol Hill and Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House. Let's go ahead and begin this morning with Suzanne.

So, Suzanne, you are already talking to the White House, of course, this morning, getting some details of the president's trip today. What exactly are they telling you?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, I talked to Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, earlier this morning. And he simply said they are not in Elkhart to explain Washington's process to them, in his words, but, rather, to highlight Washington's problems and to the pain, the pain that Americans are feeling simply saying that the president gets it, he understands it, he's talking to everyday Americans about this, and that he believes that this economic stimulus package will create those -- the four million jobs that he's been talking about.

But, Heidi, it's interesting here. He's going to Elkhart, Indiana. This is a place that has 15 percent unemployment. The reason why, essentially, this tripled over the last year is because they are the capital of recreational vehicle manufacturing, RVs, people who buy them, they take vacations.

So folks aren't doing that anymore essentially. And so those three big companies that make those RVs are suffering. They've had to lay off a lot of people in that community. And I talked to a White House official, I said, how does the president's plan in creating these four million jobs, how does that really impact these guys, these manufacturers who have lost so much of their business and those people who've lost their jobs?

So they say it doesn't necessarily -- actually help those guys with their businesses. What it does do is that create these other kinds of jobs, these infrastructure jobs. So if it's building a railroad, or if it's renovating something, that those are the kinds of jobs that they are talking about.

COLLINS: Right.

MALVEAUX: So it will be interesting to see what kinds of questions people will turn to the president and ask him and how specific he's going to be about how his plan will translate into creating jobs on the ground for various folks. Not just these shovel- ready projects but people losing their businesses as well.

COLLINS: Yes. No question. I think there was some question, definitely, as to why he chose Elkhart, Indiana. So we appreciate that, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning.

Thanks, Suzanne.

And we are going to be having live coverage, of course, of President Obama's town hall meeting in Elkhart, Indiana. As we mentioned that will be scheduled to begin at noon Eastern.

And join us tonight for the president's first primetime news conference. It gets started at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. We're going to bring you extensive coverage on that as well.

Let's go ahead and take a quick look now at the stimulus plan. Lawmakers worked in a rare Saturday session to help pare down the plan. The new price tag is $827 billion. In a concession to Republicans about a third of the Senate bill now involved tax cuts. Just three Republicans, in fact, are expected to join Democrats in supporting the package but it is enough to end today's debate and set up the vote for tomorrow.

So let's go now to Capitol Hill and congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar with the very latest.

Brianna, good morning to you.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Well, that weekend session on Saturday certainly, the chance for Republicans to talk more about why they don't like this bill, but, actually, the compromise that was forged came late on Friday night.

And, today, here on the hill, this evening, we'll be seeing a test vote, a key test vote to see if that compromise that was forged between Democrats and a few Republicans will deliver those votes needed to move this bill out of the Senate. Now in order to get Republican support on this, Democrats had to agree to a few things. Overall, a $100 million haircut for this stimulus bill, that included at least $40 billion in cuts to education funding, as well as they had to add on some tax credits for buying homes, for buying new cars. With that, they won over three Republicans that we know of at this point, Maine Republican Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, as well as Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

Arlen Specter, who said that there are reasons to argue this is a bad bill, there are many constituents calling him to tell him they are not happy with it but, at the same time, he said, under the circumstances, basically it's essential and that the economy will be worse off without this bill.

So after this key test vote today, Heidi, looking forward, if this moves forwards, gets the 60 votes it needs, the expectation then is that tomorrow, there is a vote on the overall bill. Next step after that is for the House and the Senate to hash out their differences because they both pass bills and they're not the same bill, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. And I don't know if this is an easy or a short answer, Brianna, but what exactly are these kinds of difficulties that they're going to face as the House and Senate try to reconcile their differences and get this bill drafted once and for all?

KEILAR: Could be some of the same difficulties that we saw in these negotiations throughout all last week in the Senate. For Democrats, this education spending cut, the cuts to education spending, a very bitter pill to swallow, as well as some of the cuts to state aid.

So that could, again, be an issue. But I spoke with Susan Collins, asking her if she was afraid in this process if some of the things she had lobbied for and gained here in the Senate, if they might be cut out or if more spending would be added. And she said that if more spending is significantly added it would lose her vote. And from what we can tell, Heidi, that's an essential vote.

COLLINS: Yes, very good. All right, we'll keep our eye on it, obviously, very closely.

Brianna Keilar, at Capitol Hill this morning -- thanks, Brianna.

The worldwide recession forces big cuts for Nissan, the Japan's third largest automaker. And here's a look now at the series of cost- cutting measures. Nissan will eliminate some 20,000 jobs. It's also eliminating bonuses for its board of directors and reducing board members salaries by 10 percent. The reason? Net revenue is down by more than a third.

Six American citizens are missing this morning after their plane crashed off the north coast of Puerto Rico. Rescue crews say they found debris that may be part of the wreck, but there's no sign of the pilot or five passengers. Their private plane took off from the Dominican Republic on Sunday. It was headed to an airport in Puerto Rico when it went down. Rob Marciano joining us now to get a look at the picture all across the country today.

Hey there, Rob.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Yes, no question. All right, Rob. Thank you. And I know you're interested in this story, as well.

A perfect storm of condition triggers firestorms never seen before in Australia. Survivors tell us about their daring escapes from the flames.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Hundreds of people have been lined up since yesterday morning to get their hands on a ticket for President Obama's town hall meeting tomorrow. The tickets are free but there are only 1,500. Many people say it's worth the wait.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once in a lifetime experience and we thought we'd have a good chance of seeing Obama.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh. We've been here since probably about 5:00 or so and we came out because I brought the kids mainly so they can get to experience this whole thing and witness history, I guess, and it's a big deal for Ft. Meyers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The president will talk about his economic recovery plan. Ft. Myers' unemployment rate climbed to 10 percent as housing market is among the nation's worse.

While President Obama heads out of town to campaign for a stimulus plan, members of Congress are busy with the politics and, today, the stimulus bill gets a test vote in the Senate. Tomorrow senators vote in the overall bill and then it's time to find compromise with the House version.

So here with more on the process, former CNN Washington bureau chief, Frank Sesno.

Frank, good morning to you.

FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

COLLINS: A whole lot to talk about here. Some people probably still very, very confused about this whole thing, the difference between the TARP and the stimulus and all of that. But for you, I want to go to some of the things that happened over the weekend.

Arlen Specter, in particular. There was an op-ed in "The Washington Post" actually this morning that says this, "I am supporting the economic package for one simple reason: the country cannot afford not to take action."

And then that compared to what Alabama senator, Richard Shelby, had to say. Let's go ahead and listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R), ALABAMA: We're going down on a road where it's unchartered. We're going down a road to disaster. We've never seen this kind of spending, ever, and there's a lot more to come. There's got to be some other way better than what we're doing. Not the socialist way, but to try to get our free markets working again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: I don't know, Frank, if I would say that they are bipolar thoughts, but certainly different thoughts within the same party.

SESNO: Well, it's place your bet time, you know? It's Arlen Specter saying we can't do nothing and this bill, flawed, though it may be, ideologically and financially and economically and otherwise, is some spending increases. A lot of spending increases and some tax cuts.

Shelby says, wait a minute. It's socialism. It's spending too much money, it's out of control. It's going to put us into debt for generations. You know what? They are both right. And it's a question of, you know, where you think the urgency is. Arlen Specter and the Democrats say the urgency, the fierce urgency is now.

COLLINS: Yes. No question about that. The House versus the Senate version, though, which final bill do you think is going to be more successful or resonate with more people?

SESNO: My hunch is and the sense is that the Senate bill is going to have some pull-down on the House version. They'll cut more spending out of this when they go to conference commit. They'll haggle over some things but put a few things back in but conservative Democrats and the administration, if they're going to hang on to these Republicans, are going to have to show that they've had some influence on the bottom line that came out of that House bill which is substantially more than the Senate bill.

They'll call it some financial discipline. They'll call it compromise and they'll say they've got a good start. They've got to have something, quickly though, if they're going to be able to hold up a bill and say the dollars are going to start to flow and the tax cuts are going to take effect.

COLLINS: Yes, and the scary thing is, I think, for a lot of people is that there has been quite a bit of talk that this isn't going to be enough money. In fact, you know, we are hearing it's possible the president could come back again in the next coming weeks to ask for more money regarding the housing situation.

Congress is going to go for that?

SESNO: You know, this is simply an unbelievable situation and totally unchartered waters. You know, it depends what the fear factor is out there whether Congress goes along with it or not. It depends whether it's credible, it depends if it's really focused specifically on helping people in the mortgage mess and the foreclosure frenzy. Then I think it does stand a chance.

The fact of the matter is that these numbers that we're seeing, $350 billion, for the bailout.

COLLINS: Yes.

SESNO: $800 billion plus for the stimulus. We've never seen numbers like this being spent by this government before. So I think all bets are off, really, in terms of whether there's more out there. The key is going to be whether the public, and the public is increasingly skeptical by the way, but whether the people and the Congress can be convinced that these dollars will actually make a difference.

If it goes to houses and foreclosure I think there's a good change you will see more.

COLLINS: Yes, in fact, when you mentioned fear, the former CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch, had this to say over the weekend with John King. Let's go ahead and listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK WELCH, FMR. CHAIRMAN & CEO, GENERAL ELECTRIC: He's been using fear for the last few days. The country doesn't need fear. But he needed fear to rally the Congress behind this stimulus bill. He's got to go in and balance confidence with fear. There's no question about that. He's got to give people a feeling that I've got this thing under control, I know where it's going, it's going to be difficult, but I got a great team here and we can pull it off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: So, Frank, in this press conference that we're going to see tonight with the president, are we going to see that strong president, a tough one? Or are we going to see more of a conciliatory one?

SESNO: I think it will be -- I mean I think Jack Welch's word, and the word to look out there, is balance.

COLLINS: Yes.

SESNO: It's going to be a balance of tough and conciliation which is what he's been trying to do. It's also going to be a balance of fear and reassurance. If there is no fear factor in what Obama is talking about then he doesn't connect with what people are feeling because there is a lot of fear in the land. After all he's going to a place today that's got 15 percent unemployment.

People are opening their 401(k)s, if they are brave...

COLLINS: Yes.

SESNO: ... when the statements come and they are afraid of what they are seeing. So there does have to be a connection with the fear factor for the president to be -- you know, in contact, connecting with what people are feeling. But if he goes overboard, if it's all about fear, then it's going to, I think, lose a certain resonance and feel out of control.

In that regard, Welch is absolutely right. We hear it from the White House all the time. Presidents and leaders who command well will acknowledge the problem or the fear and then seek to reassure and show that they are moving in the right direction. It's a very careful balance, not many hit it just right.

COLLINS: Yes. Tough thing to do, obviously.

SESNO: Yes.

COLLINS: All right, Frank Sesno, our former Washington bureau chief, nice to see you. I. Thank you, Frank.

SESNO: Good to see you, Heidi. Thanks.

Join us tonight as the best political team on television set the stage for President Obama's first primetime news conference, will be happening 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And then afterwards, we'll break down what was said, what wasn't said and what it all really means. Then at 10:00 Eastern, you can stick around for "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

Why did the president choose Elkhart, Indiana as the place to push his economic recovery plan? We'll add up to thousands of reasons.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A fairy-tale ending for a story on heroes. The pilot and crew of U.S. Airways 1549 are getting the key to New York City. Their story, still, a huge one after this spectacular crash landing in the New York's Hudson River. They've also been making the rounds doing television interviews all weekend and at 10:30 this morning, Mayor Bloomberg will present the keys at New York City's city hall.

To hear how they made it out safely in their own words, you can tune in to "LARRY KING LIVE" tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. He'll be talking to the pilot and the crew.

Authorities in Pennsylvania say everyone under 18 must be off the streets in Coatesville by 8:00 p.m. The juvenile curfew was originally 10:00 p.m. but officials changed it after another arson on the back porch of a home in Coatesville. The fire here is the 23rd arson of the year in the southeastern area of Pennsylvania which includes Coatesville. Devastating wildfires across Australia's Victoria state blamed for at least 130 deaths now. Thousands of people left homeless. The police saying two towns have been wiped out. Drought and extremely high temperatures have contributed to the fires. Police are investigating a number of fires as arsons. Prompting the prime minister to call acts like this, quote, "mass murder."

Gary Reason of Australia's 7 Network News talked with some survivors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY REASON, 7 NETWORK NEWS REPORTER: At (INAUDIBLE) north of Melbourne, Michelle Williams recounts how an inferno came to her doorstep but pass on by.

(on camera): Have you ever been through anything like that before?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No way.

REASON: What goes through your mind when you have fire flame that close to your house? And your 1-year-old son was with you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just want to get out.

REASON: The fortunate families, those that got through at all, homes and lives intact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flames, they're coming across (INAUDIBLE). Walked (INAUDIBLE) through the bottom there. It was just like a 747 coming over.

REASON (on camera): When the fire went over the top, where were you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were outside.

REASON: You were outside?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Outside.

REASON: Hosing back?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

REASON: And how was that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pretty scary.

REASON: Yes, I bet.

(voice-over): When you drive (INAUDIBLE) roads, it's difficult to believe anything survived. One local called it rural roulette. The random selection of the fire front's victim.

Dave Tucker survived but felt far from lucky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feel guilty.

REASON (on camera): Don't feel guilty. Don't feel guilty.

All over this region alongside the cases of utter devastation, there are houses just like this one, escaping the full ferocity of the fires by nothing more than a couple of meters.

(voice-over): Similar stories at the refugee centers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saved the house. (INAUDIBLE) this house that, but you know everything else is gone. I don't know how I got out. I really don't know. You know? And, you know, there's just explosions everywhere. Houses, gas bottles. Cars.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Many had died running from their cars. Others told how they survived staying in them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we were lucky (INAUDIBLE). They were on the gravel. It was all around us. It was coming from every direction. There was grass on fire, fire on the car. It was horrible. Worst night of my life.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This man has seen plenty of brushfires. Camp fires, he says, compare to this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wind had turned to the east and it just came straight across the mountain (INAUDIBLE) and it lit up like a blow lamp. It wasn't a torch. It was a blow lamp.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: About 400 Australian troops are heading to the fire area to help and rescue and recovery efforts.

If he wasn't already in office, you might think he was on the campaign trail. How the president and his Cabinet are pushing the stimulus package.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Well, the opening bell just about to ring as you know, a couple of minutes away here on Wall Street and stocks are poised to pull back a little bit from Friday's triple digit gains. That was nice, huh?

Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with a look at how the trading day looks like it will shape up.

Hi there, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Heidi. Good morning. Welcome to the workweek. Well, the Dow climbed more than 200 points on Friday finishing with its first weekly gain in five weeks. But we're going to have a different start, I'm afraid, this morning.

The optimism coming not long before Senate negotiators reached an agreement on the Obama administration's $780 billion stimulus package. Lawmakers reconvene this afternoon to further discuss the massive recovery plan and a vote could come as soon as tomorrow.

However, some of the enthusiasm attached to the bailout expected to wane at least in the early going thanks to big news from a pair of automakers. General Motors reportedly in talks to take back a large portion of auto parts maker Delphi. "The Wall Street Journal" reports the deal would allow GM to qualify for further government bailout assistance.

Meanwhile, Japanese automaker Nissan said it's slashing 20,000 jobs in the wake of a more than $900 million quarterly loss.

In other earnings news. Hasbro reporting a 30 percent drop in quarterly profit on a weak holiday shopping season and cutbacks in consumer spending results worst than expected, although the world's second largest toymaker did say some brands such as "Star Wars" and Nerf toys were strong.

There's the opening bell. But Whirlpool also had news. It had a rough quarter, posting more than 75 percent drop in profit and sales stumble. The appliance maker also forecasting a tough 2009, a trend that is all too common in corporate earnings report this past couple of week.

Whirlpool said, in fact, this year could bring the toughest conditions it has ever faced.

And checking the numbers, 30 seconds into trading, the Dow just off a few points. The Nasdaq down as well. And, you know, given the tough environment, it's no surprise then that "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that Starbucks is about to announce a bargain. That's not usually something you hear from Starbucks, home of the $4 cup of coffee. That you'll get some breakfast food with it...

COLLINS: Really?

LISOVICZ: ...Which is also something that we haven't seen from Starbucks. But, you know, in this economy, folks are paring they're expenses and they're drinking the stuff in the coffee -- in the break room. Imagine that, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. Oh, yes, I've seen that. I've seen that happens. All right.

LISOVICZ: Shocking!

COLLINS: Yes. All right, appreciate it, Susan. Thanks. We'll check back a little later on.

LISOVICZ: You got it.

COLLINS: President Obama getting the word out about the stimulus package today. The president leaving Washington on his way to the heartland this morning. He will be answering questions about the stimulus from some of the people it's supposed to help. Mr. Obama will arrive in Indiana a little bit later this morning. At noon, he is hosting a town hall meeting in Elkhart, and then tonight he'll be holding his first primetime news conference at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

The president not the only one giving the stimulus plan a hard sale. It's such a major effort. It almost looks like the administration is back in campaign mode. CNN's Jim Acosta has a closer look now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If at first you don't succeed, sell, sell again. And the sales pitch from top White House economists is sobering.

LAWRENCE SUMMERS, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: It's worse than I think most economists like me ever thought we would see.

CHRISTINA ROMER, DIRECTOR, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: You know, the numbers that are coming out that I certainly have been watching since I joined the transition, are, quite frankly, truly frightening.

ACOSTA: On top of that, the administration is navigating through a near stimulus stalemate with just three Republicans supporting the Senate bill's massive $827 billion price tag. The legislation more than a billion a page.

JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We're laying multi-trillion dollars of debt on future generations of Americans. I can't -- I can't support such a thing.

CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: Every economist agrees that government spending in a recession is essential. So this bill isn't perfect, but it's essential.

ACOSTA: The Senate package is roughly the same size as the House version. But huge Senate cuts in education and aid to states will be hard to swallow for House Democrats. And both versions have to be reconciled.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: We will have a bill that will pass the House when we come out of the process with the Senate.

ACOSTA: All eyes are on Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has called some of the cuts very damaging. Other House leaders say they are listening.

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: Nobody should say it's my way or the highway at this point in time. Let's get something big and done now.

ACOSTA: Highways are just what the administration has in mind. Insisting its plan will put people to work. New transportation secretary and former Republican Congressman Ray LaHood told John King on CNN's "State of the Union," the stimulus will inject money into worth projects.

RAY LAHOOD, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: There aren't going to be any earmarks and there aren't going to be any boondoggles. This money will be spent correctly by the book with no shortcuts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Here's a number to consider, three. That's how many Republicans have signed on to the stimulus plan. Not just in the Senate, but in the entire Congress. Still, leading Senate Democrats say the bill could get to the president's desk by the end of the week. But it is not the bipartisan victory it appears the president wanted.

Heidi?

COLLINS: All right. Jim Acosta for us. Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: You bet.

COLLINS: We are going to have live coverage, of course, of President Obama's town hall meeting in Elkhart, Indiana. And, as we mentioned, that is scheduled to begin at noon Eastern.

Then, tonight, the best political team on television sets the stage for President Obama's first primetime press conference at 8:00 Eastern. And when President Obama is finished, we will break down what he said and what he didn't say, and what it all really means to you. Then at 10:00 Anderson Cooper is keeping all of them honest.

We know many of you have questions about the stimulus bill. A lot of you are asking how tax cuts could help people who don't have jobs. Our Josh Levs took your questions to the experts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We have this ridiculously complicated tax code in America. Is there some way that people will be helped by tax cuts aside from the hope that it will lead to job creation?

JEFF ROSENSWEIG, EMORY UNIVERSITY: Well, you know, we already had this experiment. We spent something like $168 billion last spring on these kinds of tax cuts. And as economists, we weren't able to measure any positive effect on the economy. So I think the questioner is actually quite astute.

LEVS: I want to ask you if anyone has notice what's going on with lobbyist. Are they active in this stimulus plan? I mean, this is just for you. How much of an effect are lobbyists having in this specific bill right now?

EAMON JAVERS, POLITICO.COM: This is a field day for lobbyists. I mean, I've talked to a lot of lobbyist all week, and they all have little pet projects and little things that they want to slip into this bill, because in Washington, the saying is this train is leaving the station, which means they know this bill is going to get passed. They want their little pet project in there, and it's so big that the chances of their little thing getting noticed are pretty slim. So lobbyists are crawling all over this bill right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And just to let you know a little bit later on in the program, we're going to be talking with Jeffrey Rosenweig as well from Emory University. We're going to break down a little bit more on the TARP and stimulus, and let you know what exactly is in there for you.

Meanwhile, Rob Marciano standing by now in the weather center. He's going to be talking about all kinds of things that are going on. The western half, though, of the country really seeing some activity.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. That's where most of the action has been. But, you know -- Heidi, you know this, most everything that starts out west has to go east.

COLLINS: That's right.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Yes, no kidding. In fact, we have a guest standing by. We're going to talk a little bit more about all of that in just a minute, Rob. So thank you.

But in the meantime, we want to show you these pictures that we are getting in as well right here to the CNN NEWSROOM. We've been telling you all morning long that we are expecting President Obama to be holding his town hall meeting at Elkhart, Indiana. That will be coming your way at noon. But right now, you are seeing the president as he arrives at Andrews Air Force Base there, Marine One, obviously taking him from the White House to Andrews, and then he will depart a little bit later on on his way to Elkhart, Indiana. Of course, we will have all of that for you just as soon as it happens.

COLLINS: We want to get back to this story, though. Rob has been telling you about it and so have we, because the Midwest is really dealing with some nasty aftermath of these ice storms. Three weeks ago, in fact. And now the scope of the devastation is still startling.

One electric co-op saw 80 percent of its power poles snapped by the crushing weight of the ice. Thousands of homes still remain without power.

And joining us with an update is Charles Crawford. He is the general manager of the Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric Cooperative. That's in Brag City, Missouri.

And Charles, if you can hear me, why don't you just begin with what exactly the situation is right now this morning.

CHARLES CRAWFORD, GENERAL MANAGER, PEMISCOT-DUNKLIN ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE: Well, this morning, we've gone from a staff and linemen of 28 people to, right now, we're sending of 950 men on the ground with trucks and equipment repairing the damage to our system. We have already changed out over 6,000 broken poles.

COLLINS: Wow.

CRAWFORD: And we're probably going to hit 7,000 today, and probably hit 8,000 here very shortly. We are just devastated with the ice.

COLLINS: Yes, no question about that. I'm looking at all of the information that's coming to us here. And obviously, the weight of that ice is just something that those lines can't hold.

I want to ask you, though, personally, Charles, because I know that you are, obviously, a resident of the area as well. And you haven't had power this entire time, right?

CRAWFORD: No, ma'am. We've been without power. We were without water for quite some time, several days, but we have assisted the water districts in getting generators so they could pump water out to all of the members around and other members of other towns to get the water into them. So, you know, you can have water. You need water all the time.

COLLINS: Yes.

CRAWFORD: And water is like electricity. It's something that we take for granted until it's not there.

COLLINS: Yes, no question about that. So where is everybody right now, Charles? Still in these shelters? Are they still up and running, and do they have everything they need?

CRAWFORD: Yes. There is shelters around that are taking care of most people and most of us. We just survive at home, you know? I mean, we've adapted to it. My wife and I have been without power and like I say, we did get -- have got water back in. And you just learn to live with it. I mean, it's just an inconvenience, but you overcome the inconvenience. That's just things that the people are very good and can take care of and help themselves.

COLLINS: Sure.

CRAWFORD: There are people that do have to go to emergency shelters that are set up around Kenneth.

COLLINS: Yes.

CRAWFORD: It's working very well.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we sure do appreciate your time, Charles. I know it's been an incredibly tough road so we will continue to follow this situation there alongside our meteorologist Rob Marciano as well. Charles Crawford with the electric co-op over there. Thank you, again, Charles.

I want to get back to these pictures that we've been showing you, because we believe we could see the president step out of Marine One there. This is at Andrews Air Force Base now. And he will be shortly making his way on to Elkhart, Indiana, for the town hall meetings that we have been telling you about all morning long. Obviously, in the -- an attempt to sell the stimulus package that we've been talking about for many, many weeks now and so as the House and Senate, obviously. So we continue to watch these pictures.

And a lot of people have many, many questions, at least from what we've been able to gather here because we have been asking you -- there he is, President Barack Obama, getting out of Marine One. People have a lot of questions about how this money will affect them. Certainly by way of home foreclosures. Everybody wants to know what's in it for me basically.

So this is part of his challenge as, again, he gets ready to depart Andrews Air Force Base, now that he is on the ground off to Elkhart, Indiana for that town hall meeting that will come your way 12 p.m. Eastern, and of course we're going to have that for you right here on CNN. A break now.

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COLLINS: President Obama taking his case for the stimulus to the people. As you know, he will be leaving shortly now on Air Force One for that town hall meeting that we've been telling you about here in Elkhart, Indiana. These are live pictures now, of course. We're going to have that town hall meeting for you when it begins, again, 12:00 noon, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And Fort Myers, Florida, just one of many areas hit hard by the economy with high unemployment and horrible housing markets. People there very anxious to hear what the president has to say. Hundreds, in fact, camped out all night long to get a ticket to the event, and reporter Chad Oliver from our affiliate WVBA is joining us live.

So they are still there?

CHAD OLIVER, WVBA CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, good morning. A lot of frustrated people right now here in downtown Fort Myers. People that camped out overnight, we're told this morning they weren't going to be able to get in because they simply ran out of tickets. I want to show you a group that's gathered here now. Again, this is for the Obama event scheduled to happen here at noon tomorrow. There were about 1,500 tickets available. Each person in line was told they were allowed to take only two tickets.

Well, I just spoke with someone in line who says she was number 443 in line and she wasn't anywhere near the front of the building when they told them no more tickets. So do the math yourself. A lot of these people are wondering where all the tickets went.

Heidi, you mentioned the economy here in southwest Florida. Unemployment now is at 10 percent. And that's a conservative figure. There's a lot of people here that are out of work and they want to hear what the president has to say tomorrow.

COLLINS: All right, we sure do appreciate it. So sorry. We've got some breaking news that we need to get to. So we appreciate that, and we will keep our eye on the situation there in Ft. Myers as well. A lot of people with questions regarding the stimulus, obviously.

Quickly now to this. We are getting some really incredible video in from Beijing. Apparently, a hotel there is on fire. And our Emily Chang is on the line now with more information.

So, Emily, from what I understand, Emily, this was a new hotel. Anybody inside?

VOICE OF EMILY CHANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, from what we understand this is a new hotel that hasn't been opened yet so as far as we know, no guests inside. We don't know if there were construction workers in there perhaps or around on the bottom. But what I can tell you is that about a half hour ago, we noticed there was smoke coming from this building. I actually live across the highway in a residential apartment building on the 28th floor, and within minutes, the building was just engulfed in a plume of smoke.

You could see flames on the bottom floors, on the top floors. I don't know if it started from the top down or the bottom up, but it happened very quickly. We're in the middle of the end of the Chinese New Year's celebration. A Lunar New Year. There's a full moon in Beijing right now.

And even as this fire is raging, you can see fireworks going off in every direction. So, you know, it's very possible that this was accidentally started by fireworks. We just don't know. What is significant, I would say, is that this is one of two buildings, two very new modern sleek imposing buildings that went up ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games. Very much a symbol of how Beijing was transforming and modernizing their hotels. It's actually meant an Oriental Hotel. It's next to the CCTV building, which I would say, you know, is like now one of the major icons of Beijing. So this building, the Mandarin Oriental right next to it is also, you know, very modern and sleek, imposing architecture and just to see it on fire is very striking indeed -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, no question. Even just from the pictures that we're getting, you know, it's a little bit -- it's a little tough to get that perspective so I'm glad you're able to share that. How big is this building? Is it -- you mentioned that it's new. I'm imagining several stories?

CHANG: It's a 40-story building. So it's absolutely huge. And, you know, there are flames on I'd say the sixth, tenth and 35th floors. So, you know, this fire spread very quickly, it's very big. You can see the firefighters fighting the flames from the ground, but as far as getting this fire out, it's going to be very difficult. They're going to have to do it by air, I assume, on the ground. I can even see they block traffic in all directions. I actually walked down to the street level. There were police trying to block access to the roadways, et cetera. But, you know, this fire is only gotten this big in the last, I'd say, 30 minutes. So, you know, all of this is still happening right now.

COLLINS: Wow. And obviously, we can hear the sirens in the background from where you are. Emily, thanks so much. Keep us posted on this, because, again, those are pretty unbelievable pictures there. This is the Mandarin Oriental Hotel there in Beijing. A 40-story, basically brand new hotel. So we will continue to follow that for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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COLLINS: Why is the president making his stimulus appeal to the people of Elkhart, Indiana, because the city feels the economic downturn more than most? Cindy Ward of affiliate WSBT explains.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last month, another 600,000 Americans lost their jobs.

CINDY WARD, WSBT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The lines at the unemployment office in Elkhart County tell the story, it's a story that experts now say probably started in December of 2007. Recession has layoffs in the RV industry and it really started to hit the county hard last summer. That's when Monico Coach said it would close plants in Nappanee, Elkhart and Wakarusa putting 1,400 people out of work. It had already laid off 600.

Now we just couldn't hardly believe it. You know, we were planning -- I was planning to stay in there until I retired and then taking retirement and just enjoying life.

WARD: And smaller manufacturing companies announced closings and layoffs. For instance, Sundowner Trailers, 80 workers, Work Holder Furniture 80 workers, and it went on and on.

Add to it the auto industries' plant closings and layoffs in the tens of thousands, the RV industry couldn't get parts and the ripple effect was devastating. Consumer confidence tanked, people stopped spending and started saving, and then the credit crunch. Lenders tightened credit making it hard for dealers or anyone else to get money for RVs or towables. And the hits just keep coming. Just last week announced Jayco and Keystone RV announced 600 more layoffs.

Jayco says the downturn in the economy and the RV industry is worse than first thought and recovery will take longer, meaning more tough times in a county where manufacturing accounts for half of all employment. So why Elkhart?

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Elkhart, Indiana, has over the course of the past year watched its unemployment rate go from 4.7 percent to 15.3 percent. WARD: The White House may have put it best, saying, "The people of Elkhart know the state of our economy better than most and are suffering more than most."

Cindy Ward, WSBT News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Elkhart seems like the right choice for President Obama to visit on his stimulus campaign tour. According to labor statistics, the Indiana County leads the country in unemployment. The auto and manufacturing industry had long been the backbone of employment in the city. But with the deep slump in sales, most families there have been hit hard.

President Obama will also make a stop in Ft. Myers, Florida, possibly to play the bipartisan angle. That district is represented by Republican congressman who voted no for the bill. But the governor, Charlie Crist, who is Republican, supports the stimulus package.

And tonight's the best political team on television and President Obama's first primetime press conference at 8:00 Eastern. When President Obama is finished, they'll break down what was said, what wasn't said, and what it really means. Then at 10:00, Anderson Cooper is keeping all of them honest on AC360.

A father mourns the death of his children in Australia's wildfires.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lost two kids. Nothing will bring them back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: More survivor stories from what's being called the nation's worst wildfires ever.

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