Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

George Steinbrenner Dies at 80; Oil Disaster: Will the Cap Work?; Promising Signs in AIDS Fight

Aired July 13, 2010 - 13:59   ET

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

RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Richard Lui, in for Ali Velshi today, with you for the next hour. And we're following two major stories that are dominating the day's headlines.

First off, six hours away from the start of tonight's All-Star game, the baseball world reacts to the death of legendary Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

And the big question also in the Gulf of Mexico, that's our second big issue, has BP finally contained the gushing oil? That new cap is in place and being put to the test right now. We are watching for that.

Let's start with our top story, and that's Major League Baseball losing George Steinbrenner. That is the former owner -- or the owner of the New York Yankees. He was considered a titan of the sports world.

At this moment, the whole world turns its eyes to Anaheim for the MLB All-Star game. Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner died this morning of a heart attack at the age of 80. Steinbrenner was known as "The Boss" for a reason: powerful, controversial and pioneering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNNY DAMON, OUTFIELDER: The legacy is an owner you want on your side. You know, the fans love him because he always goes out and gets the best players.

JASON GIAMBI, INFIELDER: One of the best owners ever in sports. To take an information from where the Yankees -- I know they were great before he got here, but then he turned it around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: All right. Now, he bought the Yankees in 1973 for just $8.7 million. Take a look at what they believe it might be worth at the moment -- over $1 billion.

Now, that's a lot of gain in value when we take a look at the New York Yankees. That is just one of the reasons why when we talk about the sports powerhouse that is important.

And it also became a winner -- seven World Series championship teams and 11 Pennant winners as well. A winning legacy for a formidable owner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEINBRENNER, OWNER, NEW YORK YANKEES: I'm handling the trades.

BILLY MARTIN, MANAGER, NEW YORK YANKEES: That isn't the way we see it, George.

STEINBRENNER I have the right to --

(CROSSTALK)

MARTIN: That's the way it's going to be, George.

STEINBRENNER: Well, you're damn right it is, and if you don't like it, you're fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: A famous interaction there with Billy Martin that happened so many times. Hired and fired five times between those two. And over the decades, his persona grew larger than life.

You can see some of the covers of "Sports Illustrated." This making fun of him as Napoleon, we shall say. And this other cover, "You can't have too much pitching. Just ask George."

Now, he arguably became one of the most recognizable sports franchise owners, casting a large shadow on pop culture as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON ALEXANDER, ACTOR, "SEINFELD": I find it very hard to see the logic behind some of the moves you have made with this fine organization. In the past 20 years, you have caused myself and the city of New York a good deal of distress as we have watched you take our beloved Yankees and reduce them to a laughing stock, all for the glorification of your massive ego.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hire this man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: OK. Well, you know, hiring may be what he's best known for, actually.

Steinbrenner started a wave of hire high spending for players in the mid 1970s, one that hasn't really slowed for the Yankees. This year, for instance, the Yankees' payroll was upward of $206 million. That's about $40 million more than the Red Sox, which rank second on the list.

Now, remembrances are pouring in. Let's start with his family, who says, "He was a visionary and a giant in the world of sports." We go to baseball commissioner Bud Selig, who says, "He was and always will be as much of a New York Yankee as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and all of the other Yankee legends."

And then there's New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who says, "George was a larger than life New York figure whose passion and drive succeed. Will forever be missed."

Now, he reigned over a baseball empire in the Empire State. But ultimately, was Steinbrenner good for the game or not?

Let's go to Len Berman from ThatsSports.com, joining us live from New York.

Len, so was he good or was he bad for the sport?

LEN BERMAN, THATSSPORTS.COM: Well, I think when you put it on both sides of the ledger, I think it will all be positive when all is said and done. Yes, he had his detractors and, yes, he did some bad things. And those who have to pay a lot of money for tickets are going to blame him in part.

But he did so much to raise the popularity of this game, not only in New York, but all around the country. I think the value of every major league franchise has increased because of George Steinbrenner.

LUI: Yes. I mean, I grew up on the West Coast, Len, and I became very aware of George Steinbrenner back in the '70s. I was growing up in the '80s, and he was certainly a figure when you talk about the MLB.

What don't we know, though, about George Steinbrenner? For instance, charity work?

BERMAN: Well, that is a good point you bring up, because he did a lot of charitable things and insisted that his name not be out front. I mean, he was one of a kind.

There was no one I ever covered who was anything like him. And he knew every word you said about him.

He lived in Tampa, but he specially jury-rigged his house to receive all of the New York television channels. This was before the era of DirecTV and CNN. So, he knew what all of us were saying about him, and he never held a grudge.

I don't think he minded what was said, as long as it was said. He owned the back page, he loved the publicity. It helped the marketing of his beloved Yankees.

LUI: So, Len, why was he watching every single network and TV station hour by hour? Why was he doing that? What was he hoping to gain from that? Was he worried?

BERMAN: No, I think he wanted to know what people were saying about him, and he wanted to make sure they were talking about him. And they were.

LUI: They will still continue to talk about him for many reasons.

He changed baseball. Everybody -- almost everybody will agree with that.

Now, we take a look at some of the salaries today, we look at the A-Rods of the game. Is that good for baseball?

BERMAN: Well, there is a yes and no factor. There is the haves and the have-nots in baseball, and that's a really problem that Major League Baseball has. But its popularity is greater than ever. When the Yankees come to town, they have the highest attendance in every city they play.

Yes, he committed a crime, illegal campaign contribution. He was banned from baseball for a while for hiring a gambler to find out information about Dave Winfield. So, there were some real negatives on his report card. But I think when you consider the body of work and what he's done for baseball, and what he's done for the sport, I think you have to consider a posthumous induction into the Hall of Fame.

LUI: So, Len, with that possibility that you just mentioned, there's also, then, the question, now that he is gone, what will happen to baseball? Will it revert to something else? Will it continue down the road that he has helped to shape?

BERMAN: Well, I think so. I mean, at some point in time, they are going to have to get the salary situation under control. It's just not fair that when a picture becomes available as Cliff Lee did, the Yankees thought they were going to get him, as they think they are going to get every major free agent.

There has to be some kind of a level playing field. Every team in the National Football League feels as if they have a chance to win the Super Bowl. You don't have that situation in baseball.

So I think at some point things will try to settle out. But I'm not sure it will be a direct result of the death of George Steinbrenner. I think what's happening now, and with this brand-new stadium, with his family carrying on the tradition, I think Yankee baseball is going to continue the way you have seen it over the past several years.

LUI: Hey, Len, you know sports. You've been doing it for a long, long time. When you go out and have a beer today with some of your buddies that you've been covering this sport for so many years, what are you going to share?

What's the moment? What's the discussion you're going to have about George Steinbrenner? And, my friend, please be frank. I don't mind either way whatever you're going to say.

BERMAN: No. I think when you covered George, be it in New York or in Tampa, you had to know where he was at every moment. He was the story. He was bigger than the players.

So, what I'll remember is walking into Yankee Stadium, and he leaves the Yankee office, and the secretary gets on the phone very surreptitiously and says, "George is heading your way," warning the next person, because everybody had to know where George was at every moment.

And I think one of my favorite memories is when George would leave spring training in Tampa. He'd leave his office at about 6:00 at night. No one else in the Yankee organization would leave until George left the building. Once he left, you'd wait about 10 minutes, and then all the other -- affectionately -- the rats would come scurrying out to the ship. It was a funny sight to see.

LUI: He was certainly a man that many will remember when it comes to baseball and other sports, and for what he did for the city of New York, as well as baseball across the country.

Len Berman from ThatsSports.com.

Thank you for giving us the insight, the coverage that you have had of George Steinbrenner over the years, who's now dead at the age of 80.

Thank you so much.

Day 85 of the Gulf oil disaster. And we are playing the waiting game right now.

The new cap is now in place over the spewing well, and we should learn in the next day or so if it will slow down or maybe even stop the constant flow of oil. BP is testing this new cap at the moment right now.

The government's point man on the disaster says what the testing involves is closing off the vents. I believe we've got some live pictures on the left-hand side that we're watching at the moment, which is the upper side.

You still see oil coming out of it. That is for a reason. They have to let off some of the pressure. They're going to close it down little by little and see if it can handle it.

Let's hear now from Thad Allen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. THAD ALLEN (RET.), NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: In this exercise, high pressure is good. We have a considerable amount of pressure down the reservoir forcing the hydrocarbons up through the wellbore. We are looking for somewhere between 8,000 and 9,000 PSI inside the capping stack, which would indicate to us that the hydrocarbons are being forced up and the wellbore is being able to withstand that pressure. And that is good news.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LUI: OK. We've also got some video from Monday of the actual cap being put into place. This is of course the white structure that's being moved on top of what they put in earlier, which is an adapter.

This testing process that we're waiting for now could take anywhere from six to 48 hours. It all depends on BP as they go through all their testing. They don't want to rush into this. This process could be difficult -- and very difficult. The cap could do more damage to the well's casting underneath, as well as to the blowout preventer, meaning that the flow of oil could continue without control, potentially.

That's just one scenario. Now take a look right now.

There's already 3,800,000 barrels of oil that have leaked out that are in the Gulf right now. The oil collection from the Helix Producer and the Q4000 will be stopped while the cap integrity testing is going on.

And yesterday, the Helix Producer collected a little over 1,000 barrels, bringing the total of oil recovered to 787,600 so far since this leak started. And we take a look at the number of barrels there.

So, you might be asking, what exactly is this sealing cap and how is it supposed to work that we've been talking about, what we're waiting for them to test? We'll give you a crash course coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Testing the new cap, you can see it right there. They are going to see whether it can handle the pressures that are being put upon it. More importantly, what's below it. And hopefully they're going to be able to shut it down altogether.

And we've got Chad Myers here. We're going to talk about actually what's happening at the bottom of the sea right now.

And we were talking about this. I mean, the best way to do it is just break it down in a very simple way. And we've got some simple props that we got from a hardware store.

And let's just imagine -- you know, what we're really looking for here, right, Chad, is this is the bottom of the sea, let's just say. They have got a hole in the ground where they've drilled to pull out crude.

They've put this blowout preventer, and this is where the original failure happened. The blowout preventer being a large valve. That just isn't working.

So, what they've done now -- and we talk about that sealing cap -- is they've dropped a cap on top of that hole, the top of this original BOP. This new cap is actually a mini blowout preventer. It's a valve, a smaller rendition of what they had below.

And they were planning this, weren't they, Chad, for quite some time?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's a true cap. The word "cap" is the correct word, whereas the last thing we had was this kind of this top hat thing. Remember?

LUI: Right.

MYERS: They got rid of that containment thing. There were so many other versions. This literally will stop the oil if it works.

LUI: And we hope it does.

MYERS: And here's the reason why, because the oil is coming out right now. Here's the old blowout preventer. The oil's still coming out.

I'm going to take the oil away to pretend it's not coming out anymore. This is the old cap, kind of in three dimension, that didn't work. The oil came out around this cap. It never really worked like it was supposed to.

This now is gone away. They took this off.

This part down here where the pipe came up and bent over was always damaged. It was never straight up and down. They could never get a good seal.

They took a machine, they brought the machine down, they unscrewed the bolts and took that thing away. Then, in the middle of the night, they brought another machine down and they installed a new top.

Now, in the meantime, oil is coming out unabated. It's just coming out as fast as it can come out. Then they put this back down here and bolted this down.

All of a sudden, we have a beautiful seal possible. We've got a ring here. This ring protrudes out.

You're going to take this new top, put it down on top of this new blowout preventer. The ring is going to come down below it and clamp itself right to the old one. And this clamp is going to be very important.

That seal right there is going to be the most important seal they make. This seal, I think, is going to be OK.

LUI: And that seal is crucial, isn't it? That's the difference between that previous cap that we've been talking about, because it really didn't have a seal.

MYERS: And this would still be OK. We know right now that if they just put a hose, a pipe, all the way to the surface, they could suck all the oil out of this thing. That would be fantastic.

They don't even want to do that. They're going farther than that. They are going to fire these valves -- and they literally go "boom, boom, boom!" This is not just like turning a screw. They are going to fire these valves to stop this oil from coming out altogether.

LUI: And those three rams that they've got -- because they're calling it a three-ram cap, right? -- that is very crucial. They have to do it slowly, right?

MYERS: Yes. And one at a time.

And they're going to pretend and bring up the volume, bring up the pressure from this cap down here, this BOP, slowly so that we don't blow the whole thing up. If you were to shut the whole thing off right now, there's a potential -- like, you know when you shut your hose off, all of a sudden the rest of your house goes, "Boom!" And you go, whoa, what was that?

LUI: Yes. That's right.

MYERS: They don't want that. They don't want that potential explosion to blow parts of this old BOP out, because we don't know how good the integrity is anyway. There was an explosion that shattered this whole thing. It rocked its world.

LUI: A blowout. And earlier you were telling me, hey, look, this is the strong part. What they're worried right now about is from here, from this seal down, and even down into the ground.

MYERS: Yes. My opinion, let's not even close that. Let's hook the pipe up to it and just suck all the oil and get all the oil. Because now, when we close this, potentially, if something down here pops, then we have another leak.

Let's just take it out and get all the oil while we can. But you know what they're thinking? Hurricane. It can't be up there with that boat all the time.

LUI: Right.

MYERS: Got to have to shut it off --

(CROSSTALK)

LUI: And even though they've got those floating risers that would be good for a hurricane, they have got two of them, it would not be able to pull all the oil all the time. As you were saying, during those hurricane situations, they've got to move them on out.

Chad Myers, thank you for breaking this down for us, because this is what's happening right now. They are going to begin to shut that down and test it. And now you know what to look for as time goes forward in the live pictures that we'll be showing you.

OK. Just hours before President Obama unveils his national strategy for fighting AIDS, the U.N. is out with a new report that HIV rates have fallen in the worst-affected countries. We'll have the details for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: OK. In just a few hours, President Obama will announce his new national strategy for fighting HIV and AIDS. And this comes as the U.N. reports a dramatic drop in HIV rates among young people in the worst-affected countries.

First, President Obama's plan for you.

The goal here is to cut annual HIV infections by 25 percent within five years. Now, about 56,000 U.S. citizens get HIV each and every year. Right now, there are more than one million people across the country living with HIV. Tens of thousands of them are not getting any care.

Under the president's plan, there will not be any major increase in federal spending, though. As it stands now, the government spends over $19 billion on AIDS programs.

Now, of course, the fight against HIV and AIDS in this country has a long way to go before it's over. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the number of Americans living with HIV is higher than ever before. As we just mentioned, that number is over one million.

Now to the U.N. AIDS report for you.

Take a look at this map of Africa. It highlights the eight countries the U.N. says have had significant declines in HIV, in large part because of positive changes in sexual behavior among young people. The report says the HIV rate fell by more than 25 percent in these and other African countries most affected by AIDS.

One reason cited by the report here, many young people are waiting longer before they become sexually active and they're having fewer multiple partners. That said, the U.N. says nearly 33 million people are living with HIV worldwide.

And to reduce the number, the U.N. is implementing a new treatment program that seems to simplify the way HIV treatment is provided. To achieve these full benefits of the new program, the U.N. says progress must be made across these five areas you see right here on your screen: create a better pill and diagnostics is one.

Treatment as a prevention. That's number two.

And reduce the cost of treatment, three. Increase voluntary HIV testing. And finally, strengthen community involvement. And that is that plan.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LUI: All right. Do you like art? Do you like YouTube? Well, the Guggenheim Foundation is now doing something a little bit different, and you might be able to see what's happening at the Guggenheim Museum, you know, through YouTube.

"Off the Radar" right here.

MYERS: When you go to an art museum, you're supposed to -- they want you to say, "What the -- is that?" Right?

LUI: Yes.

MYERS: And go to Guggenheim, you're going to get to a point where you say, "I could do that."

LUI: Well, that's it right there, Chad. It is the hands on the hip, standing back, looking at the lighting, and saying, oh, what is that? What do you think it is?

MYERS: I could do that.

LUI: Right. Right.

MYERS: Well, you know what? Now you can do that, because YouTube and Guggenheim are together, making this biannual just creative arts thing.

You put something on Google, something you've made, or on YouTube. Put it on there, something you've made over the past couple of years or maybe right now. Submit it to YouTube. They're going to get it to Google if you apply to the Guggenheim, and then you can actually win your slot in the Guggenheim Museum.

LUI: You can be just by participating in this?

MYERS: On display, in play at the Guggenheim.

Have you been to the Guggenheim?

LUI: I have.

MYERS: You know what it's like? There are some random things in there. Right?

LUI: There are some random things. It is 50 years old. It's a very interesting building.

MYERS: Love it. The round and round she goes, it's like a big corkscrew. You're going all the way up and all the way up.

LUI: If you get dizzy, be careful. There you have it right there.

MYERS: Yes, if you get dizzy, be careful. But you go around and around.

You can go up or down. As you go around, you see different little pieces and porticos that go in and out.

Well, YouTube will have now one of those at the Guggenheim playing the best -- and this isn't YouTube's idea -- the best 20. And those will be picked by -- literally by artists.

You submit all your stuff. Two hundred will be picked as the best. Twenty of those will be picked as the best of the best. And for three years, they will be on display, literally on play at the Guggenheim Museum.

LUI: So, I mean, a good branding exercise, bring in the new generation to get exposed to the Guggenheim. But, look, YouTube is five years old, the Guggenheim about 50 years old. There will be some purists that say, no, you need to go to the Guggenheim to partake in this sort of experience as opposed to going through YouTube.

MYERS: Sure, but it's a contemporary museum as well. So, some of those paintings and some of those exhibits may be six months old. Right? Not everything is old in the Guggenheim.

LUI: No, definitely not.

MYERS: It's upper eastside New York, but it's also going to be in Spain, it's going to be in Venice, all of these things. Clearly, it's easy to transport this. It's a digital --

(CROSSTALK)

LUI: All around the world, yes.

MYERS: Right. You can put this anywhere. Once they realize how good that's going to be, I think people are going to watch those.

LUI: All right. The Guggenheim, YouTube coming together.

Chad Myers with "Off the Radar," giving us sort of an insight to something that's kind of new. Very new, ,in fact.

MYERS: It will be cool.

LUI: Thank you, sir.

MYERS: OK.

LUI: A little Haitian girl on the verge of being adopted, ,and then the deadly quake hit. Her amazing story -- we've got that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: OK Time to go "Globe Trekking". Haiti is our destination right now. Six months after the devastating earthquake, and now CNN's Gary Tuchman joins us from Port-au-Prince with a story of one lucky and amazing little Haitian girl. Hey, Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Richard. Six months ago today, we started doing stories here in Haiti about children who live in orphanages, children who died from the earthquake, children who survived. For many of the children who survived who were in the middle of an adoption process, their adoptions were expedited to the United States and Canada.

In the first week, we met a little girl named Jenna. Who incidentally, her mother in Colorado was watching our broadcast on CNN. While we followed what's happened to her since then it's now been six months. Here's what's happened to little Jenna.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice over): Jenna is 2 years old. She lived in a Haitian orphanage until days after the earthquake. When she was flown to the United States to begin life with her new mom.

ELIZABETH DOWLING, ADOPTED HATIAN CHILD: She's amazing. She makes people fall in love with her wherever she goes.

TUCHMAN: But Elizabeth has noticed the toddler is getting increasingly upset at times.

DOWLING: She's starting to hit a lot and get angry a lot at little things. What we've heard from some of the other families is that a lot of the kids six months later are starting to act out and kind of in their own way say, I've got to tell you this terrible thing that happened to me while I was in Haiti.

TUCHMAN: When the quake struck, part of Jenna's orphanage collapsed the rest of it lest unstable. So Jenna and the other kids had to live and sleep outside.

(on camera) It's possible to generally characterize how the trauma of the earthquake will affect children as they grow up. Experts say, however, that acting out is not the least bit unusual. Nevertheless, for parents like Elizabeth, this is a very trying time.

DOWLING: I have a Ph.D. In child development and I'm not prepared. And I'm proud to say I'm not prepared to help her. I love her and we're going to be great. But like I said, it's uncharted territories.

TUCHMAN: Elizabeth had actually met Jenna a year and a half before the quake. She fell in love with her and began the adoption process. But when the quake hit and communications ceased, she feared the worst. So she was stunned and elated when she was watching CNN and saw this story we were doing on a damaged orphanage.

There are fears the rest of the orphanage could collapse. So the decision has been made to leave these kids outside. Sitting on my lap by total coincidence little Jenna. Elizabeth now knew her daughter was OK. Many adoptions started getting expedited and Jenna was flown on a military jet to the U.S. where new mother and daughter were united. Jenna spent the first few weeks getting used to her home in Denver.

DOWLING This is her crib. She takes everything out and throws it on the ground.

TUCHMAN: Now a half year later, she's on vacation in Maryland visiting her grandparents. She's starting to talk, English and Creole and she's usually a happy and exuberant child.

DOWLING: She really is a diva.

TUCHMAN: You mean that affectionately?

DOWLING: She'll walk out of restaurants and say, bye, guys.

TUCHMAN: But her episodes of anger have proven frightening to Elizabeth

DOWLING: She pinches and she bites. She hits a lot. She'll sit me down and say, no, mommy, like try and put me in time-out of some sort.

TUCHMAN: Giving you the time-out.

DOWLING: She needs control back. That's what she's trying to do.

TUCHMAN: Though Jenna's been through much, Elizabeth hopes she will soon outgrow her anger. But no matter what happens, she wants her 2-year-old to know she will always be there for her.

DOWLING: She has made my life so much richer, but also just -- like I said when I met you right after the earthquake, it's like she's always been here. She's special.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: These are trying times for this new mother. But I've known Elizabeth now for almost six months. We've become friends and I would bet my rent money that she and Jenna will thrive. Richard--

LUI: You know Gary, great piece. I was noticing how emotional it was for Elizabeth just to tell you about her daughter Jenna and how she was acting out. And she's well-trained, as you're saying. How is Elizabeth getting help to try to solve this problem that is here today? Who can she go to?

TUCHMAN: Right, Elizabeth is talking to experts and she's also talking to other parents who have adopted Haitian orphans and are going through similar circumstances. So it makes it easier knowing that other people are going through it.

But there's no question about it. A lot of this she'll have to deal with on her own, with her family, a supportive family. But it's very clear she's a wonderful mother and so are many of these other parents. They went through so much fear when the earthquake happened. So many were months into the process. Elizabeth was 18 months into the process. They thought the children they were going to bring to the United States were dead.

They survived so they're very happy no matter what happens that they have their children with them at home.

LUI: And Gary, how many Jennas do we think are out there that might be going through this difficulty and Elizabeth's, for that matter, too, and trying to help their new children?

TUCHMAN: It's such a big story because you also have orphans who are here who were orphaned after the quake. Then you have orphans who were orphaned before the quake but hadn't gone through the process. There's all kinds of stories to tell.

We'll be telling them for months to come. But there are hundreds of children have come to the United States since the quake and many of them are going through the same issues

LUI: Gary Tuchman returning six months later watching this anniversary. And we hope to have more good stories like the one you're telling us about how they're trying to take care of new children, and making it better for people of Haiti as well as those who have been adopted outside of Haiti.

Thank you, Gary Tuchman there in Haiti for us right now. Be sure to watch CNN tonight at 10:00. Six months after the earthquake, are things any better? Anderson Cooper reports live from Haiti along with Gary Tuchman. That's tonight at 10:00 only on CNN.

A world championship swimmer trying to beat her own record. Get this -- she is 60. And our "Mission Possible".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Now In today's "Mission Possible", marathon swimmer Diana Nyad known throughout the world for her long-distance swimming record, she's now taking on a new mission to swim from Cuba to Key West and she is 60 years old.

Now Nyad's been training for more than six months. CNN exclusively followed her longest training to date this weekend, a continuous 24-hour

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA NYAD, SWIMMER: Let's call it 8:19. That's when we're going to start the swim, 8:19.

MICHAEL BRODER, TEAM PHYSICIAN: The big things that I thought were going to happen or that I was trying to worry about were dehydration, exhaustion, starvation, disorientation and the critters like sharks and Portuguese man of war. Of those, you know we dealt with everything but the critters. It's just after midnight on the boat. Pretty much everybody is sleeping except for the boat crew. Diana's been in the water now 16 hours. She's got eight more to go. We can see the lights of Key West in the distance. We're about 20 miles off. Cell phones just started to work. So we'll check in again with you in the morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go.

NYAD: This training was exactly what we needed to see what we have to tweak and where we have to tweak it. This was -- this crew was unbelievable.

There was just never a doubt there was never a moment of doubt from the very beginning I knew, I'm very proud. You know why? It's because it's not just that I did it, I really pushed. I really pushed.

There wasn't one hour that I just kind of glided through and took it easy. I kept thinking, break it up into the day and then you've got the night and then you'll just have a couple of hours at the top.

But the secret is, I guess to everything, you don't look too far ahead. You have a distant goal but you do what you've got right in front of you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: Diana Nyad, 24 hours, I can't even sleep 24 hours straight. Amazing what she's done. As we mentioned here this is a marathon training effort by Nyad to try to break her own record. You can find out more, because you probably got some more questions about who this woman is go to CNN.com/health and click on the chart. we'll continue to follow her progress right here at CNN.

Getting a check on our top stories, it's a pressure-filled day 85 in the Gulf oil disaster. That new cap is in place over the spewing well and we're crossing our fingers as crews test that out, closing off vents and measuring pressure. We should learn in the next day or so if that cap will slow down or perhaps stop the flow of oil into the Gulf.

An icon of the sports world Yankees owner George Steinbrenner died of a heart attack this morning in Florida. He was known as the boss for more than 30 years. And will be remembered for firing managers and winning championships. The Yankees won seven world series titles during his reign. He was 80 years old.

Yes, you've seen them and heard them before. But this is in a different place. A noisy protest against BP. These are those vuvuzelas, that sound from the World Cup. yes, they're here. This group gathering outside BP headquarters in London today sounding off with their vuvuzelas. The demonstrators say BP's not done enough to respond to the Gulf oil disaster. So their stunt is aimed here at trying to annoy the executives in that. Coming up, "The Stakeout" with Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry. Some bad poll numbers, some okay numbers. We'll ask him how the president is doing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OK Now to one of our popular segments here on the Ali Velshi show. And that's of course "The Stakeout" it's where we get to talk with our hair down with a Chief White House Correspondent, Ed Henry. He's outside the White House right now. Good day to you, first, Ed. How are you doing?

ED HENRY, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Richard.

LUI: Yes, it's the first time I'm doing this so I'm looking forward to getting the insight on what's happening here. I understand the president just came out today. He was naming a new money man. Who was this guy and what was it like?

HENRY: Well Jack Lew is somebody who is well known. Because he already handled the federal budget back in the Clinton administration. In fact it's kind of an interesting behind the scenes story that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton didn't really want to give him up. He's the number two official over at the state department and the first 18 months or so her eof the new administration.

She didn't really want to give him up. She thought he was doing a good job over there. They had to go a lot of behind-the-scenes negotiating here. President joked today he had to give her a couple of players to be names later a couple draft picks maybe. They finally made the trade got him over here.

The key is that Peter Orzaz who's leaving as the budget chief got a lot of praise from the president for doing a good job and setting things up. But the fact is a lot the tough choices have still not been made about how to try to bring the budget back into balance.

That's important when you look at this outside debt commission the president has appointed. The chairman of that commission said this week that the growing debt in this country is a cancer right now on the country and it's got to be dealt with.

LUI: So Ed there really is some negotiation going on for certain players in certain groups within the White House?

HENRY: : A little bit like sports, a little bit.

LUI: That's the analogy you were bringing up for us. Also related to the White House, there's this new poll that has to do with trust. Evidently President Obama may have not done so well?

HENRY: Yes, I mean there's a couple of polls out this morning that have to send some alarm bells here at the White House. You've got the ABC news Washington post poll say basically saying about 6 in 10 Americans don't-either have no faith or very little faith in the president in terms of his policy and his decision-making in terms of leading the country.

That's a concern in terms of what you might call the trust factor. But the sort of silver ling in that poll, at least that the White House is going to take out of this, is that when asked, these Americans who were polled, about how much faith they have in the Democrats on the hill, some 68 percent say they have little or no faith in the congressional Democrats.

72 percent say they've got little or no faith in the congressional Republicans. So when you talk to Democratic officials behind the scenes, they're saying they know the numbers aren't good for this president, not good for the Democratic party.

But unlike 1994 when the Republicans took over, unlike 2006 when the Democrats took control of Congress, the party out of power in both those cases, they were doing a lot better than the party in power.

Right now, that's not the case. So what they're hoping here at the White House is that it's going to be a bad night on election night but not an awful night, not a tsunami.

LUI: So during the midterm elections is what you're talking about, it could go either way, at least based on those poll numbers at the moment?

HENRY: That's right. And you know what's interesting we're picking up some new information about somebody who might be the Democrats hope maybe a difference-maker. The former president Bill Clinton, we're told, just in the last couple of weeks was here at the White House, one of his top aides Doug Band was meeting with Patrick Gaspard, who's a White House Political Director, had this sort of quiet behind-the-scenes meeting where they were sort of laying out where the former president may be helpful.

And it may be intriguing to learn that they think inside here at the White House, the Democratic national committee as well, that Bill Clinton is going to be helpful not just in Arkansas his home state, Kentucky where you've got that big senate race, they're going to deploy Bill Clinton there. But I'm told by democratic officials they're planning to send him all around the country.

They think it's a good 1-2 punch with President Obama because they think there's really nobody else better in the Democratic party than maybe President Obama in making that contrast that the current president's been talking about in recent days about saying, if you put the Republicans in power, you're going to have somebody like Congressman Joe Barton who apologized to BP. He'll be in charge of the energy committee.

That contrast they're trying to lay out, nobody better than Bill Clinton in doing that. He's got a lot of success. Look no further than Al Gore. A lot of Democrats who think if Al Gore used Bill Clinton a little better in 2000 a lot more, he might have been president. LUI: Is there any concern during the presidential elections there were also criticisms about using the former president in the election process to go out and talk about issues?

HENRY: No doubt. And there's going to be some states where the former president is not going to be as popular and they're going to be careful about deploying him there. But left unsaid, when you have Democratic officials saying, we can use Bill Clinton in Arkansas we can use Bill Clinton in Kentucky, it's the fact that they can't necessarily use President Obama in Kentucky, in Arkansas where he lost badly to John McCain.

The idea from what we're picking up inside the White House and over at the Democratic party headquarters is that this may be a 1-2 punch, not going out together but sort of sending Bill Clinton to places that President Obama doesn't play as well.

LUI: Hey Ed, this is your segment, "The Stakeout", we get to learn more about you as well. I know you're a big Yankees fan. And today we had the loss of George Steinbrenner. What are your thoughts? I know you go to the games a lot.

HENRY: Yes. You know growing up, George Steinbrenner was so controversial especially when I was a kid in New York because he was firing managers left and right. He had that run-in with Dave Winfield. But he was a winner, and I think over time he sort of softened. As I've grown up I've seen him soften a bit.

He's left a pretty strong legacy. It's a sad day but also a sad week because Bob Sheppard, the public address announcer at Yankee stadium, going back Mickey Mantle and Joe Dimaggio 1951 he died this week as well at the age of 99.

So it's sort of a rough week. And he's the guy who Derek Jeter still uses an audio recording of Bob Sheppard saying, number 2, Derek Jeter. He had that distinctive voice. I still hear Bob Sheppard's voice sort of echoing in my mind from when I was a kid going to Yankee Stadium. it's pretty interesting

LUI: Yes he's left such a mark on so many fans of baseball, not only fans like yourself but even folks all across the country there. Ed Henry, thanks again, "The Stakeout" my first time Great talking to you. Have a good one.

And by the way we are learning there will be a briefing at Anaheim stadium. We expect to see A-Rod there, Jeter is going to be there. We expect that to happen in about an hour and 15 minutes, about 4:15 eastern time. So we'll be watching that as well.

"Wordplay "is next for you. Today is a bit of a tribute, actually. Stick around for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: OK Very special "Wordplay" today we're considering the meeting of the word the boss now in the dictionary, the definition, quote, "Someone who employs or oversees workers". Most of us have them right?. But some of us like them, some of us don't.

On stage, Bruce Springsteen clearly the boss. He earned the nickname way before the E Street Band when he was in charge of collecting his fellow musicians nightly pay.

But in the stadium, Steinbrenner was the only boss. Love him or hate him. Some say it's evenly split here. George Steinbrenner ran the Yankees exactly how he wanted to day to day, hiring, firing, digging up dirt on players winning World Series pennants all along the way. Baseball and baseball fans tipping their hats today to the boss.

Newtons, iPhones and duct tape is all ahead in my "XYZ".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Okay, here's my "XYZ". the iPhone, my word, my word first Apple PDA in almost two decades, more on that in just a little bit. But consumer reports saying today the antenna may not work if I hold it in my left hand.

Sadly, that's how most people hold their phones as they try to dial or navigate the web. "Consumer Reports" says you know, a good cheap fix is duct tape? A small strip on that lower left-hand side. Talk about spoiling your brand-new sleek communication device you thought you were buying, especially after my own iPhone experience today which I'm betting many of you can relate to.

Took me 24 hours of trying to buy it online. On day number one I was finally successful. Two weeks later, it arrived at my house. I left the connection cords at my parents' house delaying the start-up process. That's my fault.

I then borrowed cords from a co-worker and gave it a try. But in order to get it working, I had to have the latest iTunes. So you know one hour later and a couple days, I'm now on my way.

But to find out I could drop calls after all that if I didn't hold it my left hand? The iPhone was my first Apple PDA since the Newton, if you've heard of that, which I bought 20 years ago. Two of them, in fact. Remember these things? Admittedly they were groundbreakers at the time.

Early on attempts at making a difference. Certainly today's Apple stock prices hovering over $200 are an excellent indicator of where they were going. A far cry from that single digit price of $7 a share when I got my Newton if you can imagine that.

So no matter what though, with millions of these iPhones sold today, Apple's earnings will stay in the stratosphere but there is the question of a fumble by Apple and if there is a fumble, there needs to be a fix and something a little more polished and a little more permanent than duct tape. That's my "XYZ" Time now for "RICK"S LIST"