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Heath Care Reform Complicates Midterms for Dems; Melinda Gates Challenges Rich to Give Away More; Solar Home in Development; Study: Eating Dinner Together Lessens Drug, Alcohol Use; Michelle Obama to Hit Campaign Trail; Chile Mine Rescue Could Happen Late October; New App Aids Restaurant Food Choices; Senate Dems to Push for Ad Disclosure Bill

Aired September 22, 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: CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with our chief business correspondent and the host of CNN NEWSROOM, Ali Velshi in New York city.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Tony -- Tony, I miss you in person.

HARRIS: Come on back, Ali.

VELSHI: I'm going to come back. I miss you. You have a great afternoon.

Have a great show.

VELSHI: All right.

As Tony said, I'm Ali Velshi. I'm here with you for the next two hours today and every weekday. I'm going to guide you through that maze of information that is coming your way. We're going to learn what's going on at home and around the world. You'll get access to folks who can best explain what it means today, the impact beyond today.

You know what we do on this show. We showcase the best ideas in innovation, in philanthropy and in public education. I'm going to help you figure out what is going on around you and how it figures into your life.

Let's get started right now. I've got a brand-new rundown. Here's what's on it.

The family table, it can do a whole lot more than fill your belly. It might keep your kids off drugs. I've got results of a new study that might change your dinner plans.

Plus, I'll show you new technology that might change the way you eat outside your home, especially if you have any kind of restricted diet or know anybody who does. Or if you're like me you travel so much, you want to eat better. You will never look at a restaurant menu the same way again if you stay tuned.

Also, on the right of your screen, will the first lady have the last word on the midterm elections? The White House sure hopes so. It is sending Michelle Obama on a major swing through the campaign trail. We'll look at whether she'll be the boost that Democrats and her husband need.

Six months ago this week this week, a top to bottom overhaul of U.S. health care, an overhaul that presidents dating back to Teddy Roosevelt had contemplated, debated, or attempted. Six months ago, it was signed into law by President Obama. Today as you may have seen live here on CNN, the president talking up provisions of that law that come into force this week. This is the first of that health-care bill. It's what the White House calls a patients' bill of rights.

He's just about the only Democrat who are going to use the words "health" and "reform" in the same sentence, because the reason also has to do with the calendar. We're 40 days away from congressional elections where every single House seat and 37 Senate seats are up for grabs.

Voters are split, to say the least, on health care. A CNN/Opinion Research poll from last month shows 40 percent of Americans favor reform; 50 percent oppose it. But there are some tricks to that poll, because the 56 percent who oppose, some oppose because it didn't go far enough. Most say it's too liberal, but a sizable chunk say it doesn't go far enough. And when we asked which party can handle the issue better, it is a dead heat.

All of this forms a backdrop to the president's visit to a family home in Falls Church, Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And health care was one of those issues that we could no longer ignore. We couldn't ignore it, because the cost of health care has been escalating faster than just about anything else. And I don't need to tell you all that. Even if you have health insurance, you've seen your co-payments, your premiums skyrocket. Even if you get health care from your employer, that employer's costs have skyrocketed, and they're starting to pass more and more of those on to their employees. More people don't get health care from their employers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Now, Republicans are vowing to undercut -- some are actually vowing to repeal health reforms if they win control of the House. In the meantime, 20 different states are suing the federal court.

In Florida, calling health insurance mandates an unconstitutional power grab. Basically saying that the U.S. government is not empowered to do some of the things they've done in health-care reform. It's a little bit like an Al Capone case. It's not actually got to do with health-care reform. It's got to do with the rights that the federal government has to impose certain things in that health-care reform. The ruling is expected next month on the administration's motion to throw that lawsuit out. Let's talk a little bit about the politics of it today. Our senior political analyst, Gloria Borger, who knows so much about this debate on health care, and our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, who knows that, while this is a touchstone, Ed, of the president's entire election, there are reasons why Democrats want to stay away from it.

But before that, Ed, I want you to give me 30 seconds on news that we're getting about Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, maybe leaving even sooner than -- than expected.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Big news, Ali. Two sources close to Rahm Emanuel, the White House's chief of staff, now telling CNN that there's a good chance he's going to leave, step down as early as October to focus full-time to focus on running for mayor of Chicago.

Now, they stress that he has not made a formal decision. But the bottom line, he's all but in. He's got some deadlines coming up to get some signatures and to get on the ballot by the end of November. So we're expecting that he's going to move full-time to that pretty soon. The date to watch is when the Senate leaves. He's working on a lot of Senate business for the president. Now, once they leave the door the next couple weeks to adjourn before the election, he's likely to go.

The other piece of information, we should point out our sister publication, "TIME" magazine, reported this story. And now we're confirming it but also adding a layer of detail, which is that I'm hearing that Pete Rouse, the White House deputy chief of staff, is likely to be the acting chief of staff. Not a done deal yet, but likely.

Why is that significant? Because they may -- this may happen so quickly they may not be able to get a full-time chief of staff up and running. They may need an interim person just to deal with this, because I think it's happening a little quicker than some people expected, Ali.

VELSHI: All right. And we will check in a little more with you and the stakeout in the next hour of the show.

Gloria, let's -- let's go back to health care and health reform right now. This is an issue, because the president campaigned on this. He worked hard to get it. Senate Democrats and House Democrats did everything they could. This was a party line vote. And now there are some people who would rather they don't trumpet the success all that much. Six months in, the beginning of the health-care bill. This is the first time it's going to touch people. And there are some people who don't want to talk about it.

BORGER: Well, there are people who don't want to talk about it. It depends what district you're in, but if you're a moderate Democrat in a swing district, chances are there are a lot of folks who oppose health-care reform in your district. And so you don't want to talk about it very much, because folks are upset about it. Also, and what the president's trying to do today, Ali, is point out what the White House calls the deliverables, the things that are happening as of today in health-care reform that can help your family. Such as, no more pre-existing conditions for children. Young parents -- parents can now keep their kids on their health care until the age of 26. Lifting lifetime limits on health-care benefits. Those things are going to happen now.

But the problem with health-care reform is that a lot of it is back-loaded. So people won't feel it until the year 2014. So what the White House is trying to do is say here are the things we can point to today that are going to take effect that you're going to like, and people ought to listen to this, is what Democrats are going to say.

VELSHI: And how does the president handle this? Because this was the touchstone of what he ran on. It's what he wanted to do. In fact, health-care reform was on the ropes until the president actually took the lead from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. This is his thing. And then he's got these issues about some people in his own party not wanting this to be trumpeted as much as it is.

HENRY: Yes, well, I think Gloria hit it right on the head. This is supposed to be the crown jewel, really, of the Obama agenda, that he extended it, you know, FDR, Social Security; LBJ, Medicare; Obama now health-care reform finally after several presidents trying. It hasn't really quite worked out that way in terms of being a crowning achievement.

I've got a story right now on CNN.com where I spent a couple of days this weekend in southeastern Virginia. There's a Democratic incumbent congressman, Glenn Nye, a freshman. He's on the ropes right now, facing a tough Republican challenge. And as Gloria says, he doesn't want to be anywhere close to health reform. He voted against the president's plan. He doesn't want the president campaigning in his district.

So this was supposed to be an issue that was tough a few months ago, to gut it out and get it through. But then the White House was suggesting, "Look, there's going to be all these benefits. It's going to be a big win for Democrats." And instead, a lot of them are running from it. In fact, the president, this is the first time he's mentioned health reform in sort of a big sense in quite some time. He's been focusing on economy and jobs because he knows that's what people want to hear.

BORGER: You know, I think, Ali...

VELSHI: Go ahead.

BORGER: ... people wanted change. People wanted change, but they didn't want this much change. And so I think when you look at health-care reform, it's so large it's not very easy for people to digest, particularly when this is an administration that has also done the stimulus package; it's done financial reform; it's done the bank bailouts. VELSHI: Well, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this, Gloria. If we were not struggling with everything else in this economy, with 9.6 percent unemployment, with home prices that don't -- that are muddling along, with a questionable stock market. When would it be perfect to have big health-care reform? Because health-care reform was never going to be small. It could never really be -- in fact, some criticism is that it still doesn't deal with costs.

BORGER: Right. And that's -- I think you're -- I think you're absolutely right. There's no perfect time to reform health care. Hillary Clinton learned that in the early '90s. And I think also there's no way to do small health-care reform, as you very well know. So the White House decided it had to go for it, because it had its congressional majorities right now.

VELSHI: Right, right. It certainly wasn't going to happen if they lose that. Yes.

BORGER: Looking back on it, should they have done it when they did it? Should they have focused on the economy? I mean, those are questions we're all going to be asking after the midterm elections and into 2012.

VELSHI: OK. We'll be talking to you both again. Gloria, thanks a million. Ed, we'll talk to you more in the stakeout. You give us a little more analysis as to what's going on in the power shake-up in the White House.

Ed Henry and Gloria Borger, two of my great friends and two of the smartest people here, "The Best Political Team on Television."

We've talked about the politics of health-care reform. Let's get into the nuts and bolts of it. If you're confused about what -- what happens today, what all this means for your health plan and your health costs, stick around. We're going to break that down for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Let's get into the nuts and bolts of health-care reform. Big changes kicking in tomorrow, six months after the law took effect. Some of those changes may not apply to you. This is the front end.

Josh Levs, best guy to break things down. Here now to understand or help us understand a little bit more about the health care law -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And you know, it's so complicated. And in the end, everyone's going to have to check your own plan and see how this affects you.

As you know, tomorrow marks six months since the president signed the legislation, and that also is with the date that some of these big changes come into effect. But for those of you out there who have a plan provided by your employer, you probably won't see changes until January 1. That's when the new year kicks in, and that's when a lot of the changes will kick in for you. But for individuals or groups who have new plans starting tomorrow, you could start to see some changes right away. What I'll do is I'll talk you through some of those changes and then a big caveat: why your plan might never get any of them.

Take a look at this. First of all, insurers can no longer rescind coverage. If you get sick, you're going about your business, you get seriously sick, they cannot come along, and then take away that from you. Also, they can't go back to your original application and see if you've got something wrong and try to use that to drop you.

Here's another one. Children are now covered for pre-existing conditions. That is going to apply. As soon as this new stuff kicks in, children under 19 will be covered for pre-existing conditions.

And another one here, no lifetime limits. So they cannot say you've hit a certain dollar amount, and they're not going to cover it past there. No lifetime limits.

Now, those three things should apply, no matter what. Here's the next set of stuff I'm going to show you. There are some changes here that I'm going to talk to you about, and then I'll tell you why they might not apply to you.

The law calls for a patient-friendly appeals process. If you have a problem and you want to appeal it, it says that your insurance company has to keep covering everything, including subsequent care, until that gets worked out. It has to cover dependents to age 26 if they don't have access to another employer-sponsored health-care program.

And it's calling for level charges for emergency services. So if you have to go to an emergency room, and it just so happens that an emergency room is out of network, they can't charge you more for it, because clearly, it was an emergency.

And one more, free preventive care. Three are basics like mammograms, colonoscopies, that are now free.

Now, these things that I was just mentioned, this preventative care and these level charges and a few others, will not apply if your plan is something called grandfathered. Certain plans -- if they're not going through big changes right now. If they already exist, if they're grandfathered, they don't have to follow all the changes.

So what you're going to need to do is look into your workplace and your health-care plan, find out exactly which things are going to apply to you and when. So Ali, that's the next step for everyone in this country. Finding out how many of these changes actually apply to the plan that they have.

VELSHI: Josh. What did I say I should call you? What's your "Jersey Shore" name?

LEVS: The Explanation. VELSHI: The Explanation. That's right. Because it's a noun rather than a verb. I would have called you the Explainer, but you know, The Explanation, I think.

LEVS: Did you see your boy, The Situation, dance the other night?

VELSHI: I did see him.

LEVS: And?

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: All right. We can move on.

VELSHI: All right, buddy. Good to see you, as always. Josh Levs, The Explanation.

Should the ultra-wealthy be giving away half of their fortunes? Very interesting and timely question. Melinda Gates thinks so, and she says she's going to keep asking them until they do it. We're going to hear from her in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: A big challenge to the really rich people out there -- I know you're watching me -- from the Gates family. Melinda Gates, along with her husband, Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett, control the Gates Foundation. This is a $33 billion fund that is aiming to improve global health care and reduce extreme poverty.

Among other things, those founders that I just named have challenged the ultra rich to give away half of their wealth. Poppy Harlow is here.

Poppy, you had a chance to sit down and have a conversation with Melinda Gates. Did she convince you to give away half of your billions?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Which isn't very substantial. But yes, of course, you know, what an interesting time to have people talking about giving away half or more of your wealth. Melinda Gates, obviously, the cofounder of the Gates Foundation, in New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly. The Clinton Global Initiative sitting down with us, saying now is the time that the private sector has to step up even more, because donor countries, governments around the world are pulling back what they are giving the countries in the most need now. They're pulling back. More -- more of a reason for all of us to step up. Take a listen to part of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELINDA GATES, BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION: Certainly private donations can't make up for the lack of government when that -- they get cut substantially. Both, it's not just in country. It's when the donor countries cut their budgets, as well. So there's no way philanthropy can fill that in. And so we have to sustain the commitments on both sides from the government. And it's great to see governments like the UK saying, "We're really going to stick to our commitments, the commitments we've made..."

HARLOW: Despite other cuts.

GATES: Despite very difficult cuts inside their country. And I think it's because they realize that that aid is being incredibly effective. And that's one of the messages Bill and I want people to understand. From what we're seeing on the ground, the aid, the health aid is really working, and it's making a difference. And it's why we're going to make some of these millennium development goals.

HARLOW: When you look at the giving pledge, with you, Bill, and Warren Buffett. Really trying to invigorate billionaires around the world to give half or more, if they would like, of their money away. How is that going? Are you seeing more people coming on board?

HARLOW: We are. No, we've had some really nice momentum here over the series of months we've been doing. And I think every conversation which is great leads to another conversation.

And what I'm so excited about, when you talked with couples about their giving, is it's not just giving their money. It's them getting drawn into a cause and using their hearts and their minds. If they built a great business, they're going to use the same business tools they knew and the business brain to work on philanthropy. That can change things, and that's -- that's fantastic, too.

HARLOW: How do you want to see this pledge change the face of philanthropy?

GATES: I want it to become the expectation in the U.S.

HARLOW: The expectation?

GATES: Absolutely. If you are wealthy, you are to give it back to society.

And as well, I even like talking to the families who aren't as wealthy and talk about giving back your time and your energy. I see so many people that have so much they can give back. And a little bit it's just channeling ways that people can then do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: So obviously, giving not just for the super rich.

But Ali, interesting, she talked after that about the inequity in the world...

VELSHI: Right.

HARLOW: ... the growing gap between rich and poor. And said the reason that the Gates Foundation also invests so much in education is because she and Bill see that as the great equalizer. VELSHI: Absolutely. And they've been on that for a long time, that issue. Interesting, though, she talked about donations of time and knowledge, not just money.

HARLOW: Not just money.

VELSHI: So she says even for the less wealthy, just the idea that you can dedicate yourself to things. And we, as you know on this show, focus on that a lot, with our "Mission Possible." People who are not necessarily wealthy, but they do things.

It's -- you started this thing by saying it's an interesting time to be talking about this.

HARLOW: It's an interesting time, because as you heard her say in the interview, countries like the U.K. that have austerity measures...

VELSHI: Right.

HARLOW: ... they're asking their own citizens to pull back. They have stuck to their promise of giving. So she says, you know, where you have donor countries pulling back...

VELSHI: Yes.

HARLOW: ... they're really hurting the efforts that the Gates Foundation, et cetera, are making in Africa and Indonesia across the world. She said this is the time where the private sector has to step up even more. Corporations do it a lot, but there is this focus now because we've seen through the recession the great wealth that there is...

VELSHI: Right.

HARLOW: ... the great destruction of wealth. But how do you equalize on some level these nations? You have five more years to reach those millennium development goals by 2015, one of which is cutting poverty in half.

VELSHI: Right.

HARLOW: She says they're going to achieve that.

VELSHI: Yes. A lot of people are talking about that. We're going to talk about it a lot this week, those millennium development goals that were set 10 years ago, and it's five years left.

Poppy, great to see you. Great interview. Thanks, as always. It's a pleasure having you in proximity.

All right. Eating dinner with your kids. It is good for any family, that everybody knows. But a new study says it can also be a form of drug prevention. We're going to talk to one of the guys behind it straight ahead. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Well, you can call it a smart home. Matter of fact, it's downright brilliant. A group of students have developed a solar- powered house that can make your day a whole lot brighter. They've won Europe's solar decathlon in the process. Rob Marciano takes us to the "Edge of Discovery."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST/CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to the home of the future. When you wake up, the cold, concrete floor warms up. Your favorite music starts playing, and coffee begins to brew. And as you drive away, the house locks itself.

ROBERT DUNAY, VIRGINIA TECH: Lumenhaus is the solar house that gets all of its energy from the sun.

MARCIANO: A group of Virginia Tech students designed Lumenhaus to be completely automated. It even has insulation panels that adjust on their own to the changing weather outside.

JOSEPH WHEELER, VIRGINIA TECH: The house is autonomous, so it operates on its own. It will maintain 100 percent energy efficiency. However, no one likes to be completely controlled by a computer.

MARCIANO: So you can override any command using an iPhone or iPad.

Inside, the house is about 600 square feet, but the small spaces are all multi-functional.

DAVID CLARK, GRADUATE STUDENT: You really have to convince people, because it's so small, that they could live in here. So the space-saving solutions are a big selling point for us.

MARCIANO: In the bedroom, the kitchen, and the living room.

WHEELER: When these sliding doors are open and you open the area up to the decks, you triple your square footage.

MARCIANO: Even the water can be reused using outside recycling ponds. Designers say homes like this could be on the market in just a few years.

Rob Marciano, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: OK. Sometimes I say things that seem remarkably obvious. Guess what? If you have dinner with your kids on a regular basis, they're less likely to get into trouble, you're more likely to be in touch with them, and they're more likely to talk to you about the things on their mind. Everybody thinks that's probably the case, but I want to get to some stats right now.

First of all, take a look at this. This is something we've talked about a little bit, but not that much. Look at that: drug use among teenagers, kids 12 to 17. It had been in decline since 2002. But look at what happened in 2007-2008. Illicit drugs started picking up in 2008; marijuana use, 2007; psychotherapeutics in 2008 started to go up. Kids are using drugs a little bit more.

What can you do about this? I want to tell you about a study that's come out that might tell you a little bit about this. I'm joined by Clyde Tuggle. He's a friend of mine. Clyde is a senior vice president at Coca-Cola, but he's also very specifically involved in the National Center on Addiction -- Addiction and Drug Abuse.

And he comes now with an effort that is supported by Coca-Cola but is supported by coca-cola, but you've done a study that does two things. One is that, actually, kids are having dinner with their parents, and they want to have dinner with their parents.

Let's actually show you a chart. Over the course of the last ten years, you'll actually have seen an increase of about 10 percent. But relatively stable. Kids are having dinner five to seven times with their parents. That's fantastic. Turns out that there's actually statistics that show that, if kids have dinner with their parents a lot, they are less likely to use drugs.

CLYDE TUGGLE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, COCA-COLA: Correct.

VELSHI: Like you said, sounds intuitive, but we've actually got studies now that show it.

TUGGLE: And by the way, Ali, the research is definitive. And this research is now more than a decade old. The Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, of course, founded by Joe Califano.

They first did this research in 1996. He did it for a couple of years, and it showed the same trend. Now it's intuitive. You know, you have dinner with your family. You sit around the table. You have conversations. But the incidence of drug, alcohol and tobacco usage was significantly less, in fact, half.

VELSHI: Sure. We'll show you. Tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana, we've divided it up. You've shown us on your -- you've given us -- actually, let's go to a different one, Michael. Let's go to a chart that actually -- it's a bar chart that shows us tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use in families. If we've got that. There we go.

Look at that. Hard to see some of that graphic. But the red bars are kids who have dinner with their parents zero to two times a week...

TUGGLE: Right.

VELSHI: ... and that dark bar is if you have dinner with your family five to seven times a week. Look at the difference. It's half in almost every case except marijuana.

TUGGLE: That's right. Yes. It's about 1 1/2. But yes, nearly twice as much.

But again, you think about it, it's intuitive. Because the magic that happens around dinner, it's not about the food. The magic that happens around dinner is about the conversation.

VELSHI: Right.

TUGGLE: Those families who gather on a regular basis, they find out what their kids are doing. They find out about what's going on at school, and they listen. I mean, this is the other important piece. So the whole dynamic creates an environment of connecting kids and their parents. That's the key.

VELSHI: So it's not -- it's not that it is dinner. If you have some other way to spend great quality time...

TUGGLE: Sure.

VELSHI: ... because for a lot of parents the pressure might be...

TUGGLE: Right. I mean, think about it, you know, when I was a kid, sure, we were able to get -- we had breakfast every morning, dinner every night. The world has changed. I've got two teenage kids, but guess what? They're on the move constantly.

But the key is finding those moments, those opportunities when you can connect with your kids and find out what's going on. And this research, you know, now over ten years old, provides data, provides a statistical reason to do this, not just the intuition.

VELSHI: And that's the important part...

TUGGLE: Right.

VELSHI: ... that it's -- we knew -- we all thought it's the case, but when there's actual data that if you spend time with your kids, you can actually save them a lot of trouble...

TUGGLE: That's right.

VELSHI: ... that keeping them off of drugs means better chances at education...

TUGGLE: Absolutely.

VELSHI: ... which means better chances at life generally. Clyde, what a pleasure to see you, my friend.

TUGGLE: Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: As always. I'll see you back in Atlanta.

TUGGLE: Enjoy your dinner.

VELSHI: All right. Very good. TUGGLE: Thank you.

VELSHI: Clyde Tuggle is a board member with the National Center on Addiction and Drug Abuse. He's also senior vice president of global affairs at Coca-Cola.

Coming up: The first lady is turning into a campaigner. She is plenty popular, but can she give the Democrats and Barack Obama the boost they need before November? Let's talk about it on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: The first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, will campaign for Democratic candidates in half a dozen states in the last few days before the mid-term elections, partially because she is remarkably popular. I'll talk about that in a second. But take a look at where she's going to be. She's going to be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, campaigning for Russ Feingold, in Chicago, Illinois, for Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias and others. She'll be in Denver for Senate candidate Michael Bennet -- Senator Michael Bennet -- I'm sorry. She'll be in New York City for the DNC Women's Leadership Forum. She'll be in Seattle for Senator Patty Murray. She'll be in California. She'll go to LA and San Francisco for Barbara Boxer and San Francisco for Nancy Pelosi, as well.

Michelle Obama is hugely popular in this country. Look at her favorables, 62 percent. Her unfavorables are 25 percent. In political speak, that is a very, very big deal.

Let's talk to somebody who knows a little bit about whether or not she's going to have any impact in campaigning around the country. Glenn Thrush is the senior White House reporter for Politico.com. We love Politico. And we love your hat, Glenn. Good to see you.

Glenn, OK, she's popular. Health care at the moment is not popular. Things that the administration is doing is not popular. Congress is not popular, both parties. The economy is not popular. Is Michelle Obama going to make any difference?

GLENN THRUSH, POLITICO.COM: Well, I'll add one thing, the president is not particularly popular. You're talking about...

VELSHI: Yes.

THRUSH: ... a 15 to 20-point spread between her popularity and her husband's, who's lingering in the 45 percent range. yes, I think she's going to make a big difference, and it's taken a long time for her to get this schedule out, a lot of local candidates like Debbie Halverson (ph) in Illinois, have been clamoring for this for months, but Michelle has been very reluctant to hit the road.

VELSHI: All right, let's talk about what she can say that's any different. Look, these campaign rallies -- we're always fascinated by them because they generally are populated by people who wanted to see you in the first place. It's the same thing with the president. If you watch one of these campaign rallies, you'd think, Oh, my God, this guy's got everything he needs to sweep the Democrats back into the House and the Senate.

What difference does it make that it's Michelle Obama? What can she possibly say to take advantage of her popularity, which is a good 15 points higher than the president's?

THRUSH: Well, there's a couple of things. First and foremost, Hillary Clinton's campaign, which I covered in 2008, thought she had initially a really hard edge and that she would turn out to be a deficit for the president. But in fact, she sort of has a softer touch, brings kind of a -- sort of a human element. Fifty-nine percent of Democratic primary voters are women. The president -- his numbers with women and white independents have been slipping. Michelle Obama might be a better surrogate in terms of making the president's case on the economy than the president is.

THRUSH: The other issue is, of course, a number of Democrats have complained generally that the president hasn't campaigned enough for them or hasn't raised enough funds for them. Even an unpopular president or one who has his unfavorables -- which, by the way, other presidents have had at this point in their tenure...

THRUSH: Clinton and Reagan, yes.

VELSHI: Even he's more popular than a lot of the Democrats who are running for office.

THRUSH: Yes, and Michelle Obama's a rock star. You know, It's really not that uncommon. We saw this phenomenon in 2006 when, you know, Barack Obama was more popular than Hillary Clinton when they were running around. But the real issue here has been for about two months, this kind of wrestling match between the East Wing where, the first lady's staff is, and the political office and the White House, who really wanted to get her out on the road. She felt really burned by some of her experiences in 2008.

I don't know if you remember that quote when she sort of said that the president's nomination was -- you know, the first time she was really proud of this country.

VELSHI: Right.

THRUSH: She -- the firestorm that hit her after that had a really lingering impact. So getting her out there has been quite a challenge.

VELSHI: All right. Well, we will -- we will be watching everything everybody does to see what impact it has on the outcome of this election on November 2nd. Glenn, great to see you. Please come and join us more often.

THRUSH: Sure. Take care.

VELSHI: Glenn Thrush is the senior White House reporter at Politico.com. A much brighter day, by the way, for those 33 Chilean miners, who we are devoted to following until they are out of that mine. They're trapped 2,300 feet below ground. Rescuers are more optimistic than ever that a bigger, faster drill is going to pave the way for a much earlier rescue. I've got a live report coming up from the mine set (ph) in "Globe Trekking" after this break.

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VELSHI: OK, time now for "Globe Trekking." Remember those miners trapped 2,300 -- 2,300 feet, almost half a mile, under the ground? They are 33 of them there. And the first hole that has been dug to get them out -- the hole has actually reached them, but it was first a very narrow drill. So it's there. They now have to widen it. It's still planning to take a long time.

But there is a development, and that development may get those miners out a little bit earlier. Let's talk to Patrick Oppmann. He joins me now from Chile. He's there. Patrick, what's the development? And how might this change the evolution of these guys getting out of their mine?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: You know, every day, Ali, when officials come out and speak to us, it seems like there are advances they announce, and then also with those advances, some pretty significant setbacks. And today was no different, a very dramatic setback. We'll start with that. The plan B drill, the drill you were just talking about, that reached the miners last week, still needs to be widened.

A very significant setback when the drill bit, the end of that drill, fell down the mine shaft today. Officials say they were drilling through some very hard material, some very tough rock, as there is so much of it in this area. And then they hit some looser material, and that loss of equilibrium somehow kicked free, broke loose this drill bit, which fell all the way down into the mine, the -- felt (ph) the immediate loss of pressure.

And then amazingly, the miners from the bottom of the mine called to say that the drill bit had fallen down into the mine. None of them were hurt, but of course, this was something of concern for them and of concern for officials, not something that they had planned on happening or foreseeing. Luckily, they've got about 30 extra drill bits they can put back on and hope to begin drilling with plan B again soon.

On the plus side, the plan C drill, a large oil-drilling platform, began work in the last 24 hours. This is supposed to speed up quite a bit this rescue attempt. Still about 40 days is what the oil drilling officials are telling me, mine officials, it'll take. But this -- this drill, when it really gets going, can drill up to -- up to 1,000 meters a day, Ali. So could really be a huge game changer if they can make those kinds of advances here.

VELSHI: Hey, Patrick, I want to ask you one thing. When they get that hole, they're going to have rescue chambers of some sort? That's how they're actually going to get the miners out? Tell me about that.

OPPMANN: Yes, sir. The Chilean navy is at work right now designing three of these capsules, one for each one of the holes being drilled. We're told that it could take up to an hour to three hours per miner to pull them out. And it's going to be quite a scary ride. They're going to have oxygen in case there's any kind of problem, the capsule stops. They're going to have to communication and water so they can stay hydrated on that two to three-hour journey, and also stay in touch with officials.

It's going to be a rough and bumpy ride. There's even been some discussions, Ali, about blindfolding and possibly giving sedatives to the miners...

VELSHI: Oh!

OPPMANN: ... because it's going to be such a scary process...

VELSHI: Yes.

OPPMANN: ... those last few hours getting them out of the mine. No decision yet, officials said yet, on how to prepare the miners for that -- for the final moments of captivity...

VELSHI: Yes.

OPPMANN: ... going up in those rescue capsules.

VELSHI: Maybe those sedatives will be a good idea. But they are brave men, anyway. The fact is, they're in a closed space and they've been doing it for a good time (INAUDIBLE) for a long time. So they'll make it out of there one way or the other. Patrick, thanks very much for joining us. And we'll stay on top of the story with you -- Patrick Oppmann in Chile.

Listen, if you have any kind of dietary restriction or if you're just leery about what is in your food when you eat out, you're going to want to listen up. I'm going to show you a technology that can change your eating habits and your life. This one means a lot to me, given how much I travel and how much I eat. It's our "Big I." It's next.

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VELSHI: All right, I want to talk to you about something that matters to me. I travel a great deal. I don't really know what is going on at some of the places I eat. Look at how many times we all eat out. The year ended July of 2010 -- so from July of 2009 to 2010 -- 59 billion restaurant visits in the U.S. That's 193 restaurant visits per person in the United States. Over the next 10 years, it is predicted that we will increase by 8 percent. So by 2019, we will be -- we'll be going to restaurants even more than we do now.

That's an issue because you can't control what you eat at restaurants the same way that you can control what you eat if you cook at home. So what if you really need to know what is in that food? Maybe it's because you have a health concern, maybe it's because you just want to eat better.

There's now an application -- there's a restaurant in Atlanta that actually allows you to do that with technology. But there's an application that you'll be able to use on your portable devices or on the Internet to try and find out this information ahead of time. You can manage blood pressure. You can manage salt intake, sugar intake, things like that.

I want to introduce you to a couple of people who are in the studio in Atlanta right now with a demonstration of this technology. Beth Mynatt is a professor of -- at the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. She's on the left. Jiten Chhabra is a physician and a researcher with human computer interaction -- of human and computer interaction also at Georgia Tech. They're going to tell us a little about this. Folks, thanks for joining us.

Beth, tell me what this is about.

BETH MYNATT, PROF., GEORGIA TECH: You're welcome. What we're trying to do is change the face of health care delivery. And by that, we want to connect people with the most relevant and current health care information and make that information actionable and available in their daily lives. So in many cases, management of health, management of chronic disease is about what you eat day in and day out. In our research, we realize that people had hundreds of questions about what they should eat at the restaurants, just as you described.

VELSHI: So what have you got there? You've got behind you the Web application. Tell me how that would work.

MYNATT: So what we've done is we've created this application, and you can walk in, and based on your health care needs, it provides a personalized meal recommendation just for you.

VELSHI: All right. You guys got a demo for me?

MYNATT: Yes. Jiten?

VELSHI: OK.

JITEN CHHABRA, PHYSICIAN AND RESEARCHER, GEORGIA TECH: Great (INAUDIBLE) I'm going to jump straight into the demo and show you how we do that. So you imagine you walk into this Atlanta restaurant. It's called Tin Drum. Instead of ordering from a regular paper menu...

VELSHI: Yes.

CHHABRA: ... you order from the digital menu. The first thing the menu asks you is, What is your health goal? And that's kind of the crux of this whole application, that it gives you personalized advice at the time of ordering.

VELSHI: All right.

CHHABRA: So let's just say I'm just trying to stay healthy and I would like to order from the menu. Now, what you're seeing here on the screen is a list of all the items from the Tin Drum menu...

VELSHI: Yes.

CHHABRA: ... that I've ranked in order of healthfulness of you -- of the probability of them making you achieve that goal. So let me -- let me...

VELSHI: All right.

CHHABRA: ... (INAUDIBLE) over. Now, you can see that if I choose a different health goal, if I'm trying to manage diabetes, then the items are going to be different. The healthiest item at Tim Drum to help you manage your blood glucose level is the (INAUDIBLE) chow mein with beef. And it's different from you trying to build muscle or it's different from you trying to lose weight. So that's the first aspect of this menu right here.

VELSHI: All right. And Beth, let me ask you this. Part of the issue here -- and this is what happens with me -- I try and know which one of those things I've got to do. But it's sometimes counterintuitive at a restaurant. I mean, you're sometimes very surprised that the thing you think might actually be healthy either isn't because of its ingredients or it's a method of preparation.

MYNATT: Exactly. I've been surprised because I go to this restaurant and the things that I thought were the best for me, because I was trying to minimize salt and calories, turned out to be the wrong items. And so I would see a personalized recommendation and say, OK, well, but what if I want to order this? And then it provided the information and compared the two meals so I could see where the real differences were.

VELSHI: Where does this go from here? I mean, I'm going to have to try out this restaurant in Atlanta, but the reality is, for my viewers all over the country, how do you scale this up and make this something that I can use when I'm on the road, my viewers can use wherever they live?

MYNATT: So the important thing about this is it's a Web-based application. So we have it in the kiosk at Tin Drum, but it can be available to you in any restaurant because we can match the nutritional information about what the restaurant is serving with what your health needs are. So it can be available on a mobile device or available on the Web. You can decide what you want to order before you get it.

VELSHI: But you've got to get it out there so that restaurants can sign up and be part of it.

MYNATT: So we're going to get it out there. The Tin Drum right now is at fresh (ph) to order (ph) right now, and we're looking for more restaurants to partner with.

VELSHI: Let's do it! Let's get those restaurants on that program. That is going to keep us all healthier, and it means that we don't go and say things like, It's not healthy to eat at restaurants. That's good for the restaurant industry, right, because you can go out and you can keep eating at restaurants. It's good for the economy and you can stay healthy. I love this. Thank you both for this "Big I."

Beth Mynatt is a professor at College of Computing at Georgia Tech. Jiten Chhabra is a physician and researcher in human-computer interaction at Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is going to be highlighted, by the way, at the Future Mediafest 2010, October 4th through 7th. For links to usable (ph) health's (ph) Web site and Future Mediafest, head to my blog, CNN.com/ali. I love that one. I want that one to work.

Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski lost her primary. Now the Republican Party is sending her a message. It's crossing right now on our "Political Ticker." Your "CNN Equals Politics" update coming up next.

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VELSHI: It is time now for a "CNN Equals Politics" update. CNN senior correspondent -- congressional correspondent Dana Bash is on Capitol Hill. I love these debates because all my favorite people get to come on my show and talk.

Dana, what do you got? What's crossing the wires right now?

DANA BASH, SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, we're here in the Senate, and it's very interesting because they've been here for a couple of weeks now, back from the campaign trail, and they haven't gotten a lot done. They did do this big small business bill, but for the most part, Senate Democrats who run this place are trying to figure out what to do with their time here. They blame the Republicans for blocking their efforts to do some of the issues they're pressing.

But we just were told today that they are going to press one more issue that is high on their political list -- that is, the Senate Democrats -- and that is a bill to require more disclosure and transparency for those ads that you see on TV that maybe are funded by corporations, maybe unions. This is something that is in response to the Supreme Court ruling that said that there could be free and open spending by those groups. They're trying to change -- change that once again. They don't have a lot of faith that Republicans are going to let this go to the floor. And Republicans, Ali, are already saying, Here's once again another example of Democrats trying to use the legislation that they're pushing for political gain right before the election.

Talking about politics here in the Senate, we're going to go to our second item on "The Ticker," Lisa Murkowski. She, of course, is the Republican senator who lost her primary back in Alaska. She is now running as a write-in candidate. And probably in about 10 minutes or so, the Senate Republicans, her colleagues, are going to do something, essentially to, you know, tell her that they're not happy at all with what she's doing, rebuke her. And they're going to do that by taking her off her post as the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy Committee. Why is that important? Not only is that kind of a slap on the wrist in a big way, it also takes something away from her in terms of her campaign promises and arguments back in Alaska saying, Hey, vote for me, send me back, I've got a pretty important post back in Washington that can help the energy-rich state of Alaska.

And last on "The Ticker" is something that will make Democrats here in Congress who are running for re-election very happy and probably say it's about time. And that is, the president is using his vast resources from his political team, Organizing for America, and he has taped a 3-minute, 48-second video begging people out there, his supporters, the three million or so people who get this list, Please, please, in the words of the president, "step up on your game." I need everybody to get out there and vote for Democrats. That is something that is -- that many Democrats here, Ali, wish that he had done a long time ago.

VELSHI: All right. Dana, thanks very much, Dana Bash, our senior congressional correspondent on Capitol Hill. Be sure to stay with CNN for complete coverage of the key races and key issues heading into the critical mid-term elections. Your next "CNN Equals Politics" update is just an hour away.

All right, picking the next "American Idol." A new batch of judges will be deciding who's got what it takes and who is bloody awful. We'll tell you who made the cut next.

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