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Ayotte Wins NH GOP Senate Primary; Riding Against Pelosi; Tea Party Sees Success in Primaries; Underaged Sex Trafficking a Problem Online; Small Businesses Need Help; Device Tweets for Dogs; Comic Features Muslim Hero

Aired September 15, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The rock star is in the house. CNN NEWSROOM continues with T.J. Holmes in for Ali Velshi -- Doctor.

T.J. HOLMES, HOST: I don't know if I can keep up the energy you have in this room right now, Ton. But good to see you, as always, buddy. Thank you so much.

I am the aforementioned and certainly not deserving of the title rock star. Hey, there, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes, in for Ali Velshi today. Let me tell you what we've got on the rundown now.

A 12-year-old girl calls home two weeks after she was lured away by child sex traffickers, and our cameras are there when the call comes in. We'll show you what happened.

Also, super heroes born in the divisive years after 9/11, their common enemy, Islamophobia. We'll take you where no comic book has gone before.

Also, think you don't have any musical talent? Never played a note in your life before? Well, we'll show you a glove that can turn you into a musician. But does it really work? We've got a live test that's going to be happening. You'll see it. It's going on right now. Our Chad Myers checking this thing out. We'll see if he turns into a piano player here shortly.

But of course, it's a story we are keeping our eye on, big story today, the voters have spoken. The primaries are pretty much done, except for one we still have to get past out in Hawaii. But for the most part they've wrapped up, and the GOP is once again humbled by the Party of Tea.

Yesterday's elections in seven states and the District of Columbia gave us the biggest day in politics that we're going to see until the actual November midterms.

Here are the big winners. In Delaware -- yes, we're talking about Delaware to start things off, this tiny state making big headlines. The Tea Party darling, Christine O'Donnell, capturing the Republican Senate race.

And New York City, Democratic Senator Charlie Rangel easily fends off five opponents to win the right to seek a 21st term. Now, why is that a big deal? Normally, it wouldn't make headlines. He's expected to win. But you'll remember that he's awaiting an ethics trial back in Washington, D.C.

Also in Washington, D.C., the city council chairman, Vincent Gray, has upset the city mayor, Adrian Fenty, in the Democratic mayoral race.

Also, Carl Paladino -- this is a bombastic millionaire from Buffalo -- he scores again for the Tea Party, defeating the establishment candidate in the New York Republican race for governor.

Now, the Delaware race, that was the marquee matchup. Again, tiny state but making big headlines today. O'Donnell, again backed by the Tea Party money and also backed by Sarah Palin's blessing, she easily turned away a nine-term Delaware congressman, Mike Castle, for the right to seek the Senate's seat job that Joe Biden held for some 36 years. Republican Party leaders backed Castle in a big way and, until a short time ago, it seemed they still weren't really feeling O'Donnell. A top GOP official told CNN -- I'm going to quote this for you here -- "Until she demonstrates some viability in the polls, we are not going to have any money for her," end quote.

But later came another statement, this time from Senator John Cornyn. He said -- I'm quoting once again -- "The National Republican Senatorial Committee and I personally, as the committee's chairman, strongly stand by all of our Republican nominees, including Christine O'Donnell in Delaware. This support includes a check for $42,000, the maximum allowable donation that we have provided to all of our nominees which the NRSC will accepted to her campaign today.

Now, election day. It wouldn't be election day if we still didn't have at least one unresolved race. Something, yes, is still up in the air. That race is the Republican Senate primary in New Hampshire. This one, a little bit of a twist on the Tea Party versus the old Republican guard theme.

A lawyer here by the name of Ovide Lamontagne, he is backed by the Tea Party and the state's biggest newspaper while his main opponent, the former state attorney general, Kelly Ayotte, is backed by national Republicans as well as Sarah Palin. And the last we checked here, Ayotte held a really, really thin lead. We will keep you posted there. So one still up in the air.

Let's turn now to a guy who is a bit sleep deprived. There he is. You're looking pretty good for having no sleep last night. Paul Steinhauser, political deputy's three different groups reacting to what we saw last night. The reaction from the Tea Party, the Democrats and Republicans. Let's start with the Tea Party. How are they reacting to what happened last night?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: They are, you can imagine very, very happy and thrilled with the results. T.J., O'Donnell's victory and Paladino, you mentioned up in New York, these are big victories for the Tea Party movement, for conservatives, for those outsiders, anti-establishment Republicans. It's kind of like almost in a way the grassroots is now running the party. In a way it's like the tail wagging the dog.

So, as you can imagine, Tea Party groups very excited about what happened. It's a new chapter in the same book we've been reading all primary season. I mean, Murkowski in Alaska. Bennett in Utah. Two other incumbent Republican senators ousted by candidates backed by the Tea Party, as well. So the results yesterday, the same thing.

As for Delaware, just take a look at this. Castle, good stuff from our Jessica Yellin. Castle who lost, he says there's zero chance he's going to endorse O'Donnell. So there's some hard feelings, no doubt about it. And Murkowski is...

HOLMES: That's just sour grapes. That's just sour grapes. Yes, that's the next category, though.

STEINHAUSER: Yes.

HOLMES: Republicans, these are still their candidates, even if they are Tea Party candidates. How is the Republican Party reacting now to what we saw the Tea Party do last night?

STEINHAUSER: Hey, I love what you did there, because the initial response from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, campaign committee last night was pretty -- pretty tepid, as you show -- you mentioned.

Now, today a different story, a little bit. A little more "Kumbaya" today. But it will be -- still, the jury is out. Let's see how much money. You know, the NRSC gave her a check for $42,000, but will the independent expenditures division, the division that can really give her some big money, will they do that? Will they put up ads for O'Donnell in Delaware? Will they help her with get-out-the- vote efforts? That will be the big question. Or are they going to say, "You know what? We're going to write off Delaware"?

Listen, there's a civil war, it seems, almost to a degree going on in the Republican Party. It's fascinating.

HOLMES: Paul, and last thing here, and you've got 22 seconds to do it. Democrats, how are they reacting to it? And what do they think this is going to mean for them in November?

STEINHAUSER: Listen, Democrats are thrilled. They think that these new nominees are too conservative, too outside the mainstream, too extreme for the independents and moderates who can decide the elections on November 2, T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Paul. We appreciate you, as always. You do some of your best work when you are sleep deprived, buddy. Thank you so much. We'll check in with you plenty.

Well, six minutes past the hour here now. I want to turn now to a story we've been keeping an eye on. Just a lot of people scratching their heads. How could this happen? This was one minute. This was a normal, quiet day. The next, a huge explosion triggering a raging inferno. At first, total confusion for firefighters, rushing to last week's natural-gas-fueled blaze in San Bruno, California. That's right outside San Francisco. They had no idea what they were facing. And that is today's "Sound Effect."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call for a fourth alarm for this. Look, it appears that we have a plane down in the neighborhood, multiple structures on fire and we have a fireball still coming out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop that engine. We have no water in this hydrant. We need them to lay into us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy that. Engine 38, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Further we think we've got a broken water main down here. So they need to lay in from the corner of San Bruno avenue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is North branch on 31. Go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It does not appear that this is an aircraft down. It appears that this is some sort of natural gas explosion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Couldn't imagine. Couldn't imagine that a neighborhood could look that like because of a gas main explosion. They even thought, as you heard there, they thought a plane was down.

Well, some quick thinking helped firefighters overcome the destroyed water mains in the area. They improvised, stretching their hose lines from another water grid, and all 400 first responders battled that gas-fed inferno. Four people were killed in that fire. Three still missing. Thirty-seven homes were destroyed.

Well, coming up, selling underaged girls for sex and using the Internet to do it. Next, a young victim calls her mom two weeks after she was lured by child traffickers. And our cameras were there. We'll show you what happened. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the topic of underaged girls for sale is being talked about right now on Capitol Hill. Online child sex trafficking. That's the focus of a hearing that is underway. A representative from Craigslist expected to be among those to testify. You're seeing a live picture of the chairman there of the House Judiciary Committee as this gets underway.

Now, the online site Craigslist, again, expected to be there. They recently shut down tits adult services section, which critics blame for allowing traffickers to remain anonymous while selling young girls for sex.

Our Amber Lyon has been on this story for us. She's also in that committee room. She's monitoring that hearing for us today, but she also talked to a woman whose 12-year-old daughter fell victim to online sex trafficking.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Where are we headed right now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going upstairs to her bedroom.

She's a normal 12-year-old. Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers.

LYON: Do you sleep in her bed at night?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do, just so I can still basically have that connection.

LYON (voice-over): A mother's anguish. Her 12-year-old daughter, lured away by a pimp on her way home from school in April. She's been sold for sex on Craigslist before the site closed its adult services section. She's also trafficked on another Web site, BackPage.com.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A friend of mine told me to look on Craigslist, and it almost blew my mind. I really didn't believe what I saw. She was there with a wig on. She had on a purple negligee.

LYON (on camera): Your 12-year-old daughter?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. And one, the other one was just her rear end. I mean, she was bent over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody wants to know, when you look at a Web site, and you see a list of prostitutes, how many of them are children?

ERNIE ALLEN, CEO, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: Nobody knows what the real numbers are.

LYON (voice-over): Back in June we asked Craigslist to estimate the number of potentially underaged trafficking victims in its adult services ads. Their answer, quote, "effectively zero."

ALLEN: That's not true. We have been able to find, locate and return home 54 missing kids on Craigslist. Now that is a tiny fraction of what the total scope of the problem is. We found 12 kids on BackPage.

LYON: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children gave us current missing child posters, all being sold for sex.

(on camera) There are 52 missing persons posters behind me representing 52 girls all under age 18, all missing right now. Christina, Monica, Rachel. And the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says all 52 of these girls are being sex trafficked. Erica, Ashley, Nicole. The vast majority of them sold on the Internet.

We've got white girls here. Black girls here. Hispanic girls, Asian girls. The youngest girl on this wall went missing when she was 13 years old. A lot of these have something in common. She may be in the company of an adult male. Over here -- Christina may be in the company of an adult male. In this case, that adult male is most likely the pimp.

(voice-over) A group based in Georgia called A Future Not a Past commissioned a study. They were focusing on the men who try to buy sex online with underaged girls.

KAFFIE MCCULLOUGH, A FUTURE NOT A PAST: We wanted to know, what's the scope of this problem in Georgia? And to me the results were staggering: 7,200 men a month buying sex from adolescent girls. It like, just took my breath away.

LYON: There's no legal obligation for Web sites to report ads that might involve underaged prostitution.

BackPage.com told CNN the site includes links to help users notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children if they identify potential abuses.

And back in 2008, Craigslist promised to, quote, "work tirelessly in tandem with key non-profits" and agreed to report ads to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children when they seemed to involve adolescents.

But in a period of 15 months, Craigslist only reported 132 ads. That's 132 out of more than 700,000 adult services ads that it rejected. Ads that could have provided vital leads about children being bought and sold.

And that 12-year-old girl we told you about at the beginning? By chance, she called home just as we were speaking with her mother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should be home with your family, with your friends, with the people that love you.

LYON: The first time they'd spoken in the two weeks since the little girl had vanished. Police rescued the 12-year-old girl and arrested a 42-year-old man and charged him with human trafficking. One girl rescued out of thousands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How you doing. Just, please, step away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

LYON: Amber Lyon, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, the president keeps saying, small businesses are key to jump-starting the economy. Right now he's pushing to pump hundreds of billions of dollars into those small businesses, but small business owners, they have their own take on things, and they have some advice you're going to hear. This, for the president.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: President Obama says it all the time: that small business creates two out of three jobs in this country, and last week the president announced a $350 billion plan to help those businesses. So what are the owners saying about it?

CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow joins me now from New York.

Poppy, the president says he wants to give $350 billion to small business. Surely small business owners like the sound of that?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes. It's interesting. They want more aid, yes. When you heard the president make that announcement sort of mid-last week we wanted to find a company that could show us exactly what they were doing with government money, how much more they need. So we went into this small business. It's family owned. They started it in the 1980s. They're still up and running today, but they talked to us about the challenges and also the benefits that they face right now. Namely, what they think the government should stop doing. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: How hard is it to run a small business right now?

MICHAEL HORSBURGH, PRESIDENT, RIDGID PAPER TUBE CORPORATION: It's not something that you can just take a back seat on. You have to always be involved in every aspect of the business.

How much more do you have to do? This is your last box?

HARLOW: We hear so often, nothing is made in America anymore. Not true. Your company makes paper tubes.

HORSBURGH: Yes. Made in America. Materials are purchased in America and Canada, and our workforce are local people. We have the opportunity to add more jobs locally.

HARLOW: Is the president's latest plan, a $200 billion tax break for businesses, is that what small businesses need right now?

HORSBURGH: We need anything we can get. I would look into additional equipment to replace the equipment that we have now.

HARLOW: Would that mean hiring more workers?

HORSBURGH: It would. It would allow us to put on a second shift. We currently have about 27 employees now. I hope to have 50 employees within the next two years. I'd like to modernize our production lines and get into a larger building.

HARLOW: What do you think the government could do that it's not doing for small businesses?

HORSBURGH: I think that, as far as unemployment extensions go, they could limit the amount of extensions they put. We've had a "help wanted" sign out front for probably six months. People come in. They fill out applications, but ultimately we end up just signing their slip that they've been here, that they've looked for a job.

HARLOW: To get unemployment benefits?

HORSBURGH: Absolutely. They're telling me that they're happy with the unemployment benefits they're receiving now, and maybe when they end they'll consider it. There has to be a point in time where somebody starts fresh, gets back into a company, starting even if it's less than what they were making before, because there's plenty of upward mobility in my company. If you're an aggressive, hard-working person, there's plenty of opportunities for you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: And you know, that's kind of a harsh reality, T.J., for some folks out there, the fact that, you know, here's a company that says they're willing to hire. People come in. They apply. They get their unemployment form signed. And then they're called back for a second interview at this company, and they say, "Sorry, we'd rather get unemployment." That's not a popular thing to talk about, but here's a company that is clearly hiring even in this environment, and yet people would rather be on unemployment than making minimum wage right there. Not the norm, but certainly something that you have to take account for in a time like this.

HOLMES: Yes, it needs to be accounted for. Because we hear so much from Democrats and Republicans. Good that you got out there, actually hearing from a business owner who could be affected.

Poppy, we appreciate you, as always.

Need to let you know, Poppy, of course, part of the best financial team on television out there. You can catch Poppy and, of course, all of our money team on "YOUR $$$$$," hosted by Ali Velshi and also Christine Romans.

Coming up here, you know, just about everyone plugging into Twitter for instant updates for everything from family to finances. Now you can add Fido to the list. Who knew this was coming? CNN's Gary Tuchman takes us to the "Edge of Discovery" with doggy tweets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Roscoe. Thanks to his high-tech tag, he's learning a new trick. How to tweet.

RACHEL COOPER, MATTEL: While I'm at work I'm able to hop on Twitter, and I can see what my dog is up to.

TUCHMAN: These pups aren't pawing away at a keyboard, though. Their tags have a motion censor and microphone that can tell when they move or bark.

RON BAGLEY, DESIGN DIRECTOR, MATTEL: Data is sent from the tag to the antenna and the software evaluates this data that's coming in and determines an appropriate tweet to send to your dog's Twitter page.

TUCHMAN: So now you'll know now when your dog is taking a nap, chasing its tail or even chasing away the mailman.

It might be a novelty toy, but developing it was doggone tough.

BAGLEY: We spent many days in many different homes with dogs trying these on, putting these on dogs' collars and having them sit still and run around. We would test the very little dogs, like Chihuahuas, on up to big dogs like Great Danes. And this helped us to tune the microphone to be able to pick up on this broad range of volume, decibel level.

TUCHMAN: Cutting-edge technology that might end up a chew toy.

Gary Tuchman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, some clerics have called it blasphemous. Some parents probably won't even give it a chance. A comic book series that promotes basic human values, but does it for the prism of Islam? We're talking to the creator of "The 99." He's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: A diverse group of superheroes banding together to fight for justice. Well, if you think this is a familiar story, you might know where I'm going with this. Maybe not. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teamwork, 99 style.

DR. NAIF AL-MUTAWA, CREATOR/CO-WRITER, "THE 99": When Jewish kids watch this animation and think these characters are Jewish. And Christians think they're Christians, and Hindus think they're Hindus, and Muslims think they're Muslim that I have achieved what I'm trying to achieve.

(END VIDEO CLIP0

HOLMES: It's called "The 99." It's a comic series based around qualities like generosity (ph), mercy, and wisdom. Pretty hard to argue with any of that stuff.

But it's also incredibly inclusive. There's one character with autism, another in a wheelchair and another in a burka.

The 99 refers to the 99 attributes of God, Allah in the Koran. It was born in the tough years after 9/11, when the creator sought some positive Muslim role models for his kids and presumably everybody else. Given the climate we've seen lately in some parts of the country, we thought we'd like to bring in Dr. Naif al-Mutawa. He is the man behind "The 99," who also happens to be a clinical psychologist. Sir, we appreciate you coming in here with us. Let's go back a few years. The idea for a comic book of all things. Why?

AL-MUTAWA: Yes. I mean, the idea has been seven years now in the making, and a lot of hard work and a lot of fun, and it just was -- just occurred to me one day that the only way to kind of really get to where I wanted to get to was to try to mainstream the positives within my own culture that we share with the rest of humanity that weren't quite getting projected. And what better way than through comic books?

HOLMES: Do -- do the characters and the storylines in the comic book necessarily follow a story line talking necessarily a lot and promoting Islam, or you just have a lot of characters in there and some of whom happen to be Muslim?

AL-MUTAWA: Neither. Islam is never mentioned. Nobody's Muslim; nobody's Jewish; nobody's Christian. They're all based on values that people share with the rest of -- that everybody shares. So whether -- so the characters are from 99 different countries. We happen to have a character from the U.S. and a character from Britain, a character from Saudi, Indonesia, China.

But we don't talk about -- we don't talk about people's religions. Because at the end of the day, the values that we share as human beings are the same. It's their expressions that can be different. And that's what we focus on. You can say that Superman...

HOLMES: Go ahead. Finish up.

AL-MUTAWA: So we can say that Superman is a Christian comic. We can say "The 99" is a Muslim comic. But Superman has no religion in the storyline. "The 99" follows the same tradition.

HOLMES: Who are you trying to get through to with these comic books and this comic series? Who's your audience?

AL-MUTAWA: That's a great question. The audience is global. But there's two different things.

When I started this, my problem is that I wasn't happy with how Islam was being seen by the west, but more importantly, is I wasn't happy with how Islam was seeing itself. And every time something terrible like 9/11 happens, it associates itself with Islam. What happens is then Islam that's there the day after, on 9/12, is somehow compromised, because there's a new mean. There's a regression to the mean. And this new Islam becomes what's projected to kids in future generations.

And I -- the idea for me was I wanted to go back and link positive stuff to the same place the bad guys were linking negative stuff. Because at the end if it can inspire both poles, that in the end they become bad guys with a bad message, and you delink it from religion. And that's kind of where I was going with this.

HOLMES: Now help us understand that. You kind of explained it there. But you talked about you saw some negativity, maybe, directed towards Islam, towards your religion, but at the same time, the book, as you say, certainly doesn't hit on religion.

So how does it help make the connection and help people see Muslims or Islam in a better light when the book, as you say, the comic series doesn't necessarily hit on Islam?

AL-MUTAWA: Another great question that, you know, I can answer very simply with this. You know, right now I'm here in studios in Manhattan on 60th Street. Twelve blocks away from here and 30 years ago, Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon with a copy of that book in his hand, with "A Catcher in the rye." And he told police it was this novel that drove him to kill.

A year later, Hinckley tried to kill President Ronald Reagan. He, too, referred to the same book.

And so my question is, whose fault is that, the book or the deranged lunatic that pulled out their own personal messages? And so the idea being here if the Koran or my faith can inspire very positive stuff that no two parents can disagreed wanting to share with their children, then I've achieved my objective.

HOLMES: And it's called "The 99." And again, it's all over -- I believe a number of countries, several different languages, as well. So people, it's out there. It's been around a while. You can find it. It's called, "The 99." His name is Dr. Naif al Mutawa.

Sir, we appreciate having you on. We appreciate you coming in. You enjoy the rest of your day.

AL MUTAWA: Thank you so much.

HOLMES: Coming up on the bottom of the hour here now. We already knew this election season was going to be a pretty bumpy ride, but now comes a new bus tour. This one called "The Fire Pelosi" bus tour.

Stay with us for some literally rolling coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We told you it wouldn't be the day after an election if we didn't still have an unresolved race. Well, Paul Steinhauser, we might have resolution now?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Maybe.

HOLMES: Maybe.

STEINHAUSER: Maybe. Here's what's going on in New Hampshire, this was the race we were talking about earlier.

Kelly Ayotte, she was the establishment candidate up there New Hampshire on the Republican side for the Senate nomination, Ovide Lamontagne was the outsider, more conservative candidate, they were basically deadlocked. Well, just in the last couple of minutes the Secretary State's Office in New Hampshire has certified Ayotte as the winner. She is ahead right now, T.J., by 1,667 votes.

But wait, there's more. Lamontagne has until 5:00 today to contest this because it's such a close margin. I just got off the phone with Lamontagne's campaign adviser who said they've just learned of the news and told me, he said, stay tuned.

HOLMES: That's what you mean by maybe we have some resolution maybe.

STEINHAUSER: And quickly, T.J., the one interesting thing here is Sarah Palin weighed in on this race but endorsed and supported Ayotte the more establishment pick, not Lamontagne.

HOLMES: All right, Paul, we appreciate you. We got another 2.5, 3.5 hours here before he has to possibly give an answer whether or not he'll challenge. And again, it wouldn't be an election if we didn't have a challenge and a recount -- and I don't want to get ahead of myself.

But, Paul, we appreciate you, buddy. We'll check in with you again.

Now there was never any doubt really what Republicans hope to do in the November midterms. But just in case anybody's wondering, they check out the big red bus that's probably going to roll through their town somewhere in the next few weeks.

You see this big thing? It's the GOP's "Fire Pelosi" bus tour. Pelosi, meaning the democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Going to be covering a lot of ground on this bus, 117 cities between now and November 2nd.

Our senior political editor Mark Preston has a window seat for the first few stops.

Mark, hello to you. I believe, I'm told, you're in Fairfax right now, and the first question should have naturally been, what are they hoping to do with the bus tour? But they had it plastered over the side of the bus what they plan to do.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes. No question, T.J. And in fact, it's a little bit quiet here now. In fact, you missed the bus, T.J. It's already pulled out. It's on to the second leg of its tour. You're right. I'm about 20 miles outside of Washington, D.C. right now. Virginia, a democratic state, in 2008, President Obama took it back. However, in 2009, T.J., we saw Republicans take back the governorship.

Republicans are hoping to pick up a couple seats in this state in their quest for at least 39 seats, the number, T.J., that they need to take back the House of Representatives.

And you're right, I got to spend about a half hour with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, T.J. As we drove out here, he had some very interesting things to say to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL STEELE, RNC CHAIRMAN: We have watched as this government has ignored the people and has acted in a way in which they have dismissed, they have name called, and they have just put out of their minds what's important, what's important to America.

Well, guess what? We take the country back by firing Pelosi. We take the country back by retiring Harry Reid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: There you go. There's Michael Steele in Washington, D.C. right before he left to head into Virginia, T.J.

But let me tell you, a couple things he had to say to me on the way out here to Fairfax, again about 20 miles outside Washington, D.C.

First of all, he told me that he's instructed the Republican National Committee staff to help Christine O'Donnell raise money and he's also instructed them to figure out what kind of resources she needs for that campaign in Delaware. A lot of talk that national Republicans would not rally around this candidate, T.J. Michael Steele tells me that, in fact, the National Committee will do so.

He also told me that for all the critics that have been throwing arrows at him, throwing rocks at him for his tenure, he says all that he has ever wanted to do was a chance to do his job. If you look at the electoral scoreboard, T.J., he's done a good job. Picked up the Virginia's governor's race, Massachusetts senator's race, the New Jersey governor's race. The criticism on him is on raising money; he says he's doing a good job -- T.J.

HOLMES: Well, we will see how good of a job he does, election day is right around the corner. All right, our Mark Preston with the "Fire Pelosi" bus tour. Still don't have anything on our CNN Election Express bus. But hey, they're giving it a shot.

Coming up, American Sarah Shourd making her way home after being freed from an Iranian prison, but two other Americans, including her fiance, still being charged with spying. They're still behind bars. We're going to hear from their mothers when we go "Globe Trekking." That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, time now to do a little "Globe Trekking."

American Sarah Shourd is spending her first full day of freedom in Oman after her release from an Iranian prison. Her freedom came after 14 months behind bars and a half million dollar bail paid by Amani sources. She's with her mother, resting and getting a medical check before returning home. Her main concern, though, the two other Americans including her fiance who are still in that Iranian prison. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH SHOURD, FREED FROM IRANIAN PRISON: Today is the day my work begins and all of my efforts going into helping procure the same freedom for my fiance, Shane Bauer, and for my friend, Josh Fattal, because I can't enjoy my freedom without them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Shourd and the other two were arrested and charged with spying after allegedly straying into Iran while hiking in neighboring Iraq.

For the parents of the two young men still being held in Tehran, the past 14 months and particularly the last few days have been a time of emotional highs and lows. They spoke to CNN's Candy Crowley and Jim Acosta today on "AMERICAN MORNING." Their bottom line, it's time for Iran to release their sons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY HICKEY, SHANE BAUER'S MOTHER: You know, I'm very happy Sarah's out. She's my daughter-in-law to be, I love her very much, but I want Shane home. I want Shane and Josh home, connected with their families.

And the biggest thing for me at that moment, what was it like for Shane and Sarah to separate along with Josh, because they're very close right now.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: And what are your hopes right now? I mean, what do you know about their condition and how soon they might be able to come home?

LAURA FATTAL, JOSH FATTAL'S MOTHER: OK. Well we don't have any new information, but Cindy and I have not talked to nor heard from Josh or Shane for four months, on Tuesday. From the time we left Tehran, May 21st, till today, we have not had a letter or phone call from Josh or Shane. And of course, we're more than eager to, but what we really want, of course, is their release. It is almost 14 months of detention. We're so happy that Sarah's home with Nora, but it's our turn. It's our turn to have our kids back with us.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Do you know anything more recent about their condition, their state of mind, since you saw them four months ago?

HICKEY: It does sound like Sarah did get to say good-bye to Shane and Josh, which kept me awake at night thinking, I hope she gets to say good-bye and they don't just wonder where she went.

As far as their condition, we're not sure. I'm very anxious to talk to Sarah so she can give us those details.

FATTAL: But you know, 14 months almost of detention, the mental and psychological stress of detention in. Both Shane and Josh together, they're isolated from the whole world in a very big way, and that stress and that prolonged and protracted detention, it doesn't do well by anyone.

And so, we need them out. It's not like a long distance race. We're here to end it. We want it over. And we just are hoping, as Cindy said, that the humanitarian and compassionate nature of the Islamic Republic of Iran will work in our favor, as it has for Sarah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: The Obama administration has called for the immediate release of Josh Bauer and Shane Fattal calling the espionage charges against them groundless.

We're going to head back to politics here. Big new endorsement for one of last night's primary winners. We'll have the political update for you, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Taking a look now at some of the stories making headlines. She won the primary. Now maybe time for the real test. Can Christine O'Donnell win vice president Joe bidet's old Senate seat in November? The Tea Party favorite defeated longtime Congressman Mike Castle in yesterday's U.S. Senate primary in Delaware without Republican establishment support. That has Democrats more optimistic about retaining the seat, which could save their majority in the Senate.

Also tracking three, count them, three named storms. First up, Topical Storm Karl. That's moving over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. It's expected to drench the area with up to five inches of rain. Then in the Atlantic, you've got Hurricanes Igor and Julia. Still a long way from land. Both are Category 4 storms with winds topping 135 miles per hour.

Also, an FDA decision could come by Friday on whether to revoke Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer. An advisory panel has recommended that after two trials show the drug didn't help patients live any longer. If the FDA agree, insurers could drop coverage. Avastin cost more than $8,000 a month.

Coming up, we're excited to show this to you. A revolutionary way to make music. Imagine being able to let your fingers learn to play on their own while you're busy possibly doing other things? That is today's "Big I." And we have got a big, old, live demonstration for you. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HOLMES: In today's "Big I" segment, technology to help you learn to play music just by touch. It's T.J. and The Pips here today.

Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a glove that connects to your cell phone, your MP3 player or laptop. As the music plays, the tips of the glove vibrate on your fingers to correspond with the fingers you would use to play the song.

Now, it's not just about learning to play music, though. It can also be used as a rehabilitation device for people who have lost use of their hands. The technology will be highlighted at a future media fest in Georgia Tech here in Atlanta next month.

And Thad Thorner - do I have that right - Stoner. Associate professor at Georgia Tech. I have Chad here, because he's been practicing the past hour or so, so we'll put it to a test here in a second. But initially, just explain what this is to lay people, if you will. We're trying to understand.

THAD STARNER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, GEORGIA TECH: If you're like me, you would really like to learn to play a musical instrument like a piano, but you really don't have the time to do the practice. Now, wouldn't it be great if you actually could rehearse songs you want to learn without paying attention to them? And we have discovered this effect called passivehapic (ph) learning where it seems like it's actually possible to do that.

So, we've made this glove. We called it the Mobile Music Touch. And what it is is it's a wireless device that hooks into your cell phone or laptop. So, while reading e-mail or watching a video or doing whatever you normally would do, the system plays the song you want to learn. In this case, we're doing "Amazing Grace." And as each note is played, vibrators in the fingerless glove vibrate to tap the finger that corresponds to that note on the piano.

So, what's amazing, in about a half hour, you'll be able to learn sort of the muscle memory of how to be able to play the song.

HOLMES: Wait a minute now. You're telling me all I've got to do is put on a couple of gloves, and you play a song for me for a half hour or an hour, and I can go put on a concert somewhere?

STARNER: Well, I'm not sure about a concert, but you can pretty much pick it out easier than you could before. And it seems to work not only just for learning a new song but also for rehearsal. So, if you're a musician and you have problems with repetitive stress injuries, you can actually have the gloves sort of give you that muscle memory, that feeling of the song. And then you concentrate on the expressiveness.

HOLMES: Is someone using this for that application yet? Y'all just developed this. It's not in use. No one's using it just yet.

STARNER: Well, we've done four studies on it, so really we know this effect works pretty well. As you see, the system's relatively small. You can run it off a normal cell phone with a Bluetooth connection.

So, we're not there yet. It's still in the laboratory. But one of things we got excited about is not just learning it for -- having people learn it for music, but also for rehabilitation. So, let me introduce Major Tonya Markow here. This is her Ph.D. work. And she's doing work now on rehabilitation --

HOLMES: Interesting work, yes, because a lot of people would like to play musical instruments but you're talking about other applications.

TANYA MARKOW, PH.D STUDENT, GEORGIA TECH: Yes, sir. What we're looking at is using it as a form of hand rehabilitation, so we're currently working at people designated as quadriplegics, which means due to a break in the neck, they've lost some ability to use the four limbs. What we've done is we've worked with a few folks, and they've tried the glove. One thing that's really neat about it is they get to play the piano, which is actually a form of rehab in and of itself because you're doing some fine, dexterous movements with the hand.

But we've had interesting comments about the vibration that it tended to kind of remind them where their fingers were, because many have lost the ability to sense with their hands. So, if they touch an object, they don't get the feedback of actually touching something. So, we're trying to improve their ability to perceive with their hands and also the ability to use their hands, fine motor skills.

HOLMES: Wow. That is amazing. An application there. I'm certainly amazed as well that you could put a glove on and 30 minutes later, be able to play the song. Chad has had this glove on for how long now?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: About 45 minutes.

HOLMES: About 45 minutes. What was the song?

MYERS: This is what the song would have sounded like.

(PLAYS RANDOM KEYS ON KEYBOARD)

MYERS: That is my musical repertoire. That's how good I can do it.

HOLMES: So, he's had the song on for 45 minutes. And what was the song, by the way?

MYERS: It's Beethoven's "Ode to Joy."

HOLMES: Oh, this ought to be good. All right, Chad.

MYERS: Okay. This thing buzzed, and all I did -- all I did was I played on my mouse. I did my hurricane stuff. And it was buzzing on my fingers.

HOLMES: You were working.

MYERS: Let's see if I can do it.

(PLAYS MUSIC ON KEYBOARD)

HOLMES: Oh, you got to be kidding me. Are you kidding me?

(PLAYS MUSIC ON KEYBOARD)

HOLMES: Now, did you have any talent or background in music? Ever play the piano? And you didn't know that song, correct?

MYERS: No. I've heard it, but I wouldn't know what fingers to use. And I always thought I had to go back and forth. No, I was hoping for like, this Liberace -

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: That is clearly -

MYERS: Watch. It just buzzed. Middle, middle, up, down, down, down, down, down --

(PLAYS MUSIC ON KEYBOARD)

HOLMES: Okay. You guys are going to eliminate the need for piano teachers.

STARNER: I don't think so. There's still a lot of --

MARKOW: Subtleties -

STARNER: Subtleties (INAUDIBLE) you really got to practice with a teacher. But at least this gets you over the hurdle of initially learning.

And what's great with the folks at Shepard Center is that, you know, you're not just rehabbing your hands but learning a new skill set. It motivates people to do it.

HOLMES: Well, we had a live demo.

Again, Chad has never seen this before, done it before. Says it works. Again, these are the good folks from Georgia Tech here. This technology will be highlighted at the future Media Fest right here in Atlanta, Georgia. It's going to come up early October.

To get more information on the Mobile Music Touch and future Media Fest, just go to our blog, CNN.com/tj.

Congratulations, guys. That's amazing stuff. Really.

STARNER: Thank you very much for having us.

MARKOW: Thank you.

HOLMES: I'm having a party around Christmastime. Can you give me a couple so I can impress my guests?

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Quick break here, folks. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Now for a few "Odds & Ends." One of the most powerful people in the porn industry, Larry Flynt, founder of "Hustler" magazine, has spoken out for women's rights. That's pretty odd. In the op-ed in "Huffington Post," Flynt makes the case for passing Equal Rights Amendment, that measure to prevent discrimination based on sex has been floating around without getting passed for nearly a century now. Right now, on average, women make a lot less than men do doing the same job. And in Flynt's words, a country that discriminates against half its population cannot be held up as a great democracy.

Also, another guy in the porn business has sold his Twitter account to Israel for six figures, we're told. His name is Israel Melendez, the guy who runs an adult Web site. He created "The Handle" at Israel back in 2007 when Twitter was just getting up and going. He's gotten a lot of followers and a lot of anti-Israel posts, even though he didn't really use it and he has nothing to do with Israel.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Now Twitter doesn't allow selling actual accounts. They call it username squatting. So Twitter itself actually told Israel, the country, about a loophole. It bought the password to the account and is now tweeting at twitter.com/Israel.

Also, just in time to take advantage of some Twitter tweets, the sites rolled out a re-engineered version that it says provides an easier, faster and richer experience. In plain English it just more streamlined of a look its allowed embedded media and detailed context alongside those 140 characters. That was a little odd.