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Changes at the White House; New Tactics for Political Activists; President's Chief of Staff Exits; Eatocracy: How We Waste Food; The Human Factor: Living With Parkinson's; Florida Races Heating Up; Mike Pence Testing Larger Waters

Aired October 01, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7 at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, the big stories for Friday, October 1st.

This is a very big one. The president's chief of staff is heading for the exit this hour. His expected replacement is described as Rahm's polar opposite, the anti-Rahm.

And they call it citizen journalism. Young conservatives, they target liberal politicians with ambush interviews. They say they are doing the job the mainstream media won't.

And a middle-schooler gets teased about his weight, so a family gives a, you know, menu a makeover.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It felt great. It made me happy. And I achieved my goal that I've always wanted to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: We have been doing it all week, and we're wrapping up our weeklong series, "Eatocracy."

Good morning, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Tony Harris off today.

Those stories and your comments right now in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Want to get you live to Washington, straight away. It's a live look right now at the East Room in the White House. And you see everyone is gathering there because President Obama plans a rather grand send-off for his chief of staff.

We are talking about none other than Rahm Emanuel. Emmanuel is going home to Chicago, we are told, to run for mayor. He says it's the only other job he would ever want, and he plans to do that.

You can see them gathering there. We're going to follow that. The announcement unfolds live in the CNN NEWSROOM in just a few minutes. You won't miss any of it.

But right now, we want to get started with a focus on weather. It's up and down the East Coast, bad weather.

Heavy rain causing flood warnings and watches from the Carolinas to Maine. North Carolina is really hardest hit. Four people drowned in a weather-related vehicle accident there. Entire neighborhoods under water, and dozens of people are in temporary shelters right now.

The city of Wilmington has been inundated with 22 inches of rain. And in Carolina Beach, a lake overflowed, flooding downtown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I used to live in Houston, and I thought I'd seen a lot of rain there, but this is incredible. I've never seen flooding like this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm on the third floor, so I think I'm OK. I've just got to get food for my kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I got in my car to go to the store, and I got about half a block and the road was flooded. And I want to go get a soda, so I got my kayak out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Let's go right now to CNN's Severe Weather Center, and Rob Marciano joining us.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: We're going to check some other top stories of the day right now.

More than 1,200 people who work for NASA are being laid off today. Many of them have worked on the shuttle program for almost 30 years. The program comes to an end next June.

Militants hit NATO supply trucks in southern Pakistan. Some two dozen fuel tankers headed to Afghanistan got torched at a truck stop. Militants often attack NATO convoys in northwestern Pakistan, in the tribal areas. Supply trucks in the south, which is considered safer, well, usually don't have Pakistani security forces with them.

A new audio message to Muslims. If authentic, it is the first we have heard from Osama bin Laden since March.

The speaker on the 11-minute recording urges Muslims to help Pakistan's flood victims. The message is posted on Islamic Web sites often used by al Qaeda. It doesn't contain the usual anti-American rhetoric and threats though.

South American leaders are today condemning what they call an attempted coup. The president of Ecuador had to be rescued by his country's troops yesterday. They fought police officers who were protest a new law, they claim, would take away their bonuses and reduce their compensation. President Rafael Correa went to the protest to talk to the police, but he says officers kidnapped him and tried to suffocate him. He is thanking his bodyguards for saving him and pledging to stick with reform.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. RAFAEL CORREA, ECUADOR (through translator): We knew these risks that we would face when we said that we were going to change our country. And if those risks mean losing my life for my country, so be it.

I wouldn't say I would happily give my life. We all fear death. But I would be willing to make the sacrifice if it means having the kind of country we all want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: And those are your other big stories.

And right now this is a very big story. As we say, "CNN Equals Politics." The setting, of course, the White House and the East Room. The president's chief of staff leaving Washington to run for mayor of his home city, Chicago.

Senior White House Correspondent Ed Henry is in Chicago, Rahm Emanuel's kind of town.

Ed Henry?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Don, it's interesting. As you note, a lot of anticipation about this. We have known for days that Rahm Emanuel was likely to leave his post as White House chief of staff, come here to Chicago to run for mayor.

Two big stories out of it. Obviously, here on the ground here in Chicago, I can tell you -- you know Chicago politics as well or better than anyone -- this is not going to be a slam-dunk for Rahm Emanuel.

Interestingly, he's the top dog right now at the White House, but there are already, as you know, about 10 candidates who have jumped into the mayor's race. The election is going to be on February 22nd. That's sort of a narrow amount of time here to build support.

There is about a dozen more people weighing bids, maybe going to jump in as well. Rahm Emanuel hoping that with the money he has got in the bank, over $1 million left over from when he was a congressman, left in his House campaign account, he can use now the contacts, the power he has, that he can win this.

But it's not going to be a slam-dunk. There is going to be a lot of work he needs to do.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, he is going to be passing the torch to Pete Rouse, who is sort of a real sharp contrast to Rahm Emanuel, who is this hard-charging, gruff, fast-talking, sometimes profane staffer, very powerful. Pete Rouse has the same amount of power, but is low key, self-effacing, doesn't bring a lot of attention to himself, really the antithesis to Rahm Emanuel.

When you talk to some senior Democrats back in Washington, they think, look, Rahm Emanuel's sort of hard-charging style may have been just what the president needed in the first two years of his administration, with the financial crisis and all these problems coming at him so fast and furious. But now in the next few months, at least, because it's an interim appointment -- although Pete Rouse could get it long term, they're still sorting that out -- that maybe Pete Rouse's self-effacing style will work well for the president coming out of these midterm elections, where it's expected that he will be dealing with either a Republican Congress or a severely weakened Democratic Congress.

He may need someone a little less aggressive, maybe be that can reach across the aisle and work the back rooms of the Senate. Pete Rouse was Senate chief of staff for Barack Obama when he was in the Senate, and before that really cut his teeth as a chief of staff to then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, where he was known as the 101st senator because he had so much influence behind the scenes. So it's going to be interesting to see how all this plays out -- Don.

LEMON: Yes, it will be. And Rahm Emanuel was my congressman, the 5th District, when I lived in Chicago.

Chicago, Ed, as you know, very insular. You see "The New York Times" did a big thing today on why he might win, why he might not win, saying, "White House? That's nice, but it's the big league's now, Rahm."

You know, Chicagoans look at their politicians as if it's really the country, because they are the biggest city in the Midwest. So it really sort of revolves around them, everything that's outside of the East Coast.

HENRY: Absolutely. And you look at -- you know this paper well -- "The Chicago Tribune" this morning. When I woke up at the hotel, you know, it was not Rahm Emanuel on the front page, in the photo, as I expected. It was Governor Quinn in that race, and there was a little thing over here, "Rahm Will Leave White House. See Page 8."

You're right. I mean, there's a lot of people jockeying for mayor. I think that tells the story, in part.

Rahm Emanuel, sure, top dog at the White House. But as you know better than anyone, it doesn't guarantee that he's going to win this.

He's got to do a lot. There's going to be Africa-American candidates. There may be some Hispanic candidates getting in here.

And as you noted, Chicago politics can break down along ethnic lines, and Rahm Emanuel is going to have to navigate that. And some of the battles that he had back in the White House over health care may be child's play compared to what he's going to do here. And one quick note. You know that sort of hard-charging style. One of the legendary stories about Rahm Emanuel is that he sent a dead fish years ago to one of his political opponents here in Chicago.

My colleague Dan Lothian just sent this in. It's a posting on CNN.com that this morning, at the senior staff meeting, Austan Goolsbee, also worked with Barack Obama back here in Chicago, now at the White House, is a top economic adviser, presented this big going away gift there at the White House. It looked very formal.

Rahm Emanuel opened it up, and it was a dead fish. So his colleagues playing a little bit of a practical joke on Rahm Emanuel, and maybe having a little fun at his expense, making light of the fact this is someone who has been seen as very ruthless, very tough and aggressive there in Washington.

Now he's going to have to bring that style to Chicago. And as you noted, some people like that. I spoke to some people outside City Hall, in fact, yesterday who said -- as one woman put it, she said, "Look, as Chicago mayor, sometimes you need to be nice, sometimes you need to be not so nice" -- Don.

LEMON: And as I heard one of the pundits this morning say, "If you can't make it in Washington, you can make it in Chicago." We will see.

(LAUGHTER)

HENRY: That's true. Thanks, Don.

LEMON: Ed Henry, stand by, because we're waiting for President Obama to arrive in the East Room of the White House at any time right now. Those are live pictures. They're gathering there. He's really got a big staff change to announce here, and live coverage right here in the NEWSROOM.

Don't go anywhere right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Just want to tell you, we are well aware of what's going on at the White House. We just got the two-minute warning. You're not going to miss any of it, just in time to get this in, a very important piece of news.

They are the new generation of political activists. They are young and conservative. Many call themselves investigative reporters, and they are using social media to get their message out.

For more than six months, CNN followed a group of rising stars in the conservative movement. Our Special Investigations Unit correspondent Abbie Boudreau is here to talk about her upcoming documentary. "Right on the Edge" it is called. It's already quite the buzz about this project online and everywhere.

One person you followed is 27-year-old Jason Mattera. ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Jason Mattera. He is an author of a best-selling book called "Obama Zombies." He's best known for videotaping ambushes with liberal politicians and then posting them on YouTube. He told us he has no problem confronting the left.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON MATTERA, POLITICAL ACTIVIST: Because this is really citizen journalists who are fed up with the direction of the country, and they are going out there and doing something about it.

Mr. Rangel, Jason Mattera.

REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: How are you?

MATTERA: I'm from Brooklyn, New York.

I love buttering them up in the beginning.

Great to meet you, sir.

RANGEL: What you doing in Brooklyn?

MATTERA: You're a young kid, so you're a young lefty, you're a fan of his. And then once they're buttered up, you just go in for the kill.

Why do you drive a taxpayer-subsidized Cadillac, use for rent- controlled apartments (INAUDIBLE), and failure to pay tax on rental properties? You write the tax code.

RANGEL: Why don't you mind your goddamn business?

MATTERA: No, I'm serious. Why are you such a disgrace?

BOUDREAU: You look proud.

MATTERA: Oh, it's an adrenaline rush when do you it. And yes, I knew I caught him.

BOUDREAU: Do you think you cross a line though of just being disrespectful at a certain point?

MATTERA: I am fine disrespecting the left, honestly.

BOUDREAU (voice-over): Jason's confrontation with Congressman Rangel was shot more than a year ago, before the mainstream media was covering the story. Some of the issues Jason grills him on would become the subject of an Ethics Committee investigation, a full-blown Washington scandal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right. So here is a question, Abbie. How far are these young activists willing to go with this? BOUDREAU: Well, we talked to so many young conservatives for this documentary, and what we've learned is that there are few rules and few boundaries that some of these activists live by. And what we heard over and over was, "Truth at all costs," and that's what you'll see in the documentary.

LEMON: All right. Very interesting. The documentary coming up Saturday and Sunday, right here on CNN at --

BOUDREAU: 8:00 and 11:00.

LEMON: --- 8:00 and 11:00 Eastern. It's called "Right on the Edge," by our Special Investigations correspondent, Abbie Boudreau.

Abbie, very interesting.

All right. Here we go. The president expected in the East Room at any moment now to talk about some big staff changes at the White House.

He is expected to talk about his now present chief of staff, which is going to be his former chief of staff very soon. I believe he is leaving to go to Chicago to run for mayor there. We are talking about Rahm Emanuel. Rahm Emanuel says it is the only other job that he would ever want.

We're following this. You're not going to miss any of it.

We're back in a moment here on CNN. Those details coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Perfect timing here. We want to get you to the White House and the East Room. You see the president of the United States making his way to the podium.

Let's listen in, everyone.

(APPLAUSE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Thanks, everybody. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Everybody take a seat.

That's not for me.

All right. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, everybody. And welcome to the least suspenseful announcement of all time. (LAUGHTER)

As almost all of you have reported, my chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has informed me that he will be leaving his post today to explore other opportunities. Now, this is a bittersweet day here at the White House.

On the one hand, we are all very excited for Rahm as he takes on a new challenge for which he is extraordinarily well qualified. But we are also losing an incomparable leader of our staff and one who we are going to miss very much.

When I first started assembling this administration, I knew we were about to face some of the most difficult years this country has seen in generations. The challenges were big and the margin for error was small -- two wars, an economy on the brink of collapse, a set of tough choices about issues we had put off for decades, choices about health care and energy and education, how to rebuild a middle class that had been struggling for far too long. And I knew that I needed somebody at my side who I could count on day and night to help get the job done.

In my mind, there was no candidate for the job of chief of staff who would meet the bill as well as Rahm Emanuel. And that's why I told him he had no choice in the matter. He was not allowed to say no. It wasn't just Rahm's broad array of experiences in Congress and in the White House, in politics and in business, it was also the fact that he just brings an unmatched level of energy and enthusiasm and commitment to every single thing that he does.

This was a great sacrifice for Rahm and Amy and the family, to move out here. Rahm gave one of the most powerful positions on Capitol Hill to do this. And in the past 20 months, Rahm has exceed all of my expectations. It's fair to say that we could not have accomplished what we have accomplished without Rahm's leadership, from preventing a second depression, to passing historic health care and financial reform legislation, to restoring America's leadership in the world.

For nearly two years, I have begun my work day with Rahm. I have ended my work day with Rahm. Much to Amy's chagrin, I have intruded on his life at almost any hour of the day, any day of the week, with just enormous challenges.

His advice has always been candid. His opinions have always been insightful. His commitment to his job has always been heartfelt, borne of a passionate desire to move this country forward and lift up the lives of the middle class and people who are struggling to get there.

He has been a great friend of mine and will continue to be a great friend of mine. He has been a selfless public servant. He has been an outstanding chief of staff. I will miss him dearly, as will members of my staff and cabinet with whom he's worked so closely and so well. Now, I don't think anybody would disagree that Rahm is one of a kind. I am very fortunate to be able to hand the baton to my wise, skillful and longtime counselor, Pete Rouse.

Pete, who has more than 30 years of experience in public service, will serve as interim chief of staff as we enter the next phase of our administration. Many of you remember Pete as the top aide to then- Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Pete was affectionately known as the "101st senator."

From the moment I became a U.S. Senator, he's been one of my closest and most essential advisers. He was my chief of staff in the Senate. He helped orchestrate and advise my presidential campaign. He has served as one of my senior advisers here at the White House.

And in that role, he has taken on a series of management and legislative challenge with his customary clarity and common purpose. There is a saying around the White House, "Let's let Pete fix it," and he does.

Pete is known as a skillful problem solver. And the good news for him is that we have plenty of problems to solve.

(LAUGHTER)

So, I am extraordinarily grateful to him that he's agreed to serve as interim chief of staff, and I look forward very much to working with him in this new role.

Obviously, these two gentlemen have slightly different styles. I mentioned, for example -- this was a couple of years ago -- I pointed out that Rahm, when he was a kid, had lost part of his finger in an accident, and it was his middle finger, so it rendered him mute for a while.

Pete has never seen a microphone or a TV camera that he likes.

(LAUGHTER)

And yet, there's something in common here.

You know, as president of the United States, you get both the credit and the blame for what happens around here. And the blame is usually deserved, or at least I happily accept it because that comes with the territory. But the credit really goes to the men and women who work in this building.

It goes to people like Rahm and Pete and the hundreds of others who are here today, who sometimes get some attention and sometimes don't. But these are folks who give up incredibly lucrative opportunities, sacrifice enormously, and their families sacrifice enormously. And they come here every day to do the best possible job on behalf of the American people. And oftentimes, they don't get the thanks that they deserve.

So, as your president, and as a fellow American, I want to take this moment to say to all the staff, all the cabinet members, how proud I am of you and how grateful I am of you. And how particularly proud and grateful I am to my outgoing chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

(APPLAUSE)

RAHM EMANUEL, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Thank you. Slightly different reception than I got at my bar mitzvah, and I appreciate it.

(LAUGHTER)

Thank you, Mr. President, for those generous words. But, more importantly, thanks for your warm friendship, your confidence, and the opportunity to serve you and our country in such consequential times.

Needless to say, this is a bittersweet day for me, too.

On the one hand, I'm excited to be heading home to Chicago, which as you know very well, Mr. President, is the greatest city in the greatest country in the world. I'm energized by the prospect of new challenges and eager to see what I can do to make our hometown even greater.

These are unprecedented and great times in Chicago, Mr. President. The Chicago Bears and three and zero.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

I am also sad to leave you, the vice president, and my terrific colleagues here at the White House, the Cabinet, and so many friends on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue with whom I've worked as chief of staff and as a member of Congress.

It's been a profound privilege to work for and with you, Mr. President. I watched you confront some of the toughest challenges of our time and you've done it with unfailing grace, intelligence and courage.

You had the tough -- you had the guts to make the tough calls that stopped the free fall and saved our country from a second Great Depression. You've taken on some of the most powerful interests in this town to stand up for the American people. And you've been willing to challenge the worn-out ideas and the stale thinking that often stands in the way of progress.

Mr. President, I thought I was tough. But as someone who saw firsthand how close our nation came to the brink and what you had to do to put America back on track, I want to thank you for being the toughest leader any country could ask for in the toughest times any president has ever faced.

(APPLAUSE)

And even on the hardest days, you never lost focus on why we're here -- not just to score political points, but to solve problems; not just to win the next election, but to make a difference for the next generation.

I have served you, Mr. President, as a member of your staff, but I also observed you as a friend. I have seen what few are privileged to see. The father whose heart breaks when he writes a letter to parents whose son or daughter has been lost on the field of honor. The man of quiet, committed faith who always appeals to the better angels of our nature. And the proud product of the American dream, who sees in the reams of economic statistics the child who struggles and the single parent with limited income, but unlimited potential.

You have lived that American dream, Mr. President, as have I. My father and my grandfather came to this country for opportunity. They came here for a better life for their children.

My mother marched with Martin Luther King because she believed that none of us is truly free until all of us are.

Both my parents raised me to give something back to the country and the community that has given us so much. And I want to thank you for the opportunity to repay, in a small portion, of the blessings this country has given my family. I give you my word that even as I leave the White House, I will never leave that spirit of service behind.

(APPLAUSE)

And now, because my temper is sometimes a bit different than yours, Mr. President --

(LAUGHTER)

-- I want to thank my colleagues for your patience the last few years that you have shown. I mean, I'm sure you've learned some words that you've never heard before, and in any -- and an assortment of combinations of words.

(LAUGHTER)

What we've learned together was what a group of tireless, talented, committed people can achieve together.

And as difficult as it is to leave, I do so with the great comfort of knowing that Pete Rouse will be there to lead the operation forward.

From the moment I arrived and the moment he arrived, Pete has been a good friend with great judgment. He commands the respect of everyone in this building, and brings decades of experience to this assignment.

Finally, I want to thank my wife, Amy, and our three remarkable children, Zach, Ilana and Leah, without whose love and support none of this would have been possible. I hope to end this soon so they can all get back to school today and finish their exams. (LAUGHTER)

Mr. President, thank you.

And thank you all. I look forward to seeing you in Chicago.

(APPLAUSE) LEMON: Very poignant moment there from Rahm Emanuel, I guess we can say now the former chief of staff to President Barack Obama. The president there flanked by his new chief of staff Pete Rouse and then Rahm Emanuel, his outgoing chief of staff.

I want to bring in Ed Henry who is our senior White House correspondent. Ed, it is very interesting to see this side of Rahm Emanuel. And you heard the president say, you know, these two men have two different styles here.

I'm wondering, as I'm listening to all of this, is this a new day? Maybe, a new approach by the White House? Rahm Emanuel mentioned the accomplishments, why he worked with the president, what they have accomplished over the last year. I wonder if that's going to be more of a focus and if they're going to take it down a notch when it comes to the president, at least what his mission is between lawmakers, at least?

HENRY: Yes, well I think there will be a shift and part of it's not just personnel, it's just sort of the nature of the times.

You heard both the president and Rahm Emanuel talk about the first 100 days, the beginning of their time together and sort of the nature of the problems coming at them fast and furious, trying to prevent a second Great Depression. There were decisions that had to be made quickly.

There were a lot of critics in their our party saying they were taking on too much, too much on the plate for any one administration to handle. In fact, that is still being debated out in the midterm elections right now as we speak, as to whether or not the president bit off more than he could chew with health care reform, for example.

And I think in the next two years, you're certainly going to see, when you talk to senior officials inside the White House, a different approach, less on their plate, if you will. They are still going to be attacking these many problems, but they realize the political reality of situation, that coming out of these midterms it is very likely there will either be a Republican Congress or a Democratic Congress with a lot less room to run. They won't have the votes to pass health care reform-type stuff by those margins. They just are not going to have the votes anymore.

So there is going to be a need to be a shift and maybe some of the aggressiveness, maybe some of the tough talk from Rahm Emanuel, that might not have worked so well in the next two years anyway and maybe self-effacing behind-the-scenes player like Pete Rouse will be able to hand that will over the next few months into the next two years. One other quick point, it is interesting to me the emotion. You heard Rahm Emanuel choking up there as he talked about his time with the president. You're right, we don't see that side of Rahm Emanuel.

And I was thinking back to those divisive democratic primaries. People forget that Rahm Emanuel, as close as he is to the president now and their joint roots in Chicago, he did not endorse him, as you know, in those presidential primaries because he also worked for Bill Clinton and he was close to Hillary Clinton and he stayed out of that.

And yet, I remember being here in Chicago, just about two years ago, during that presidential transition, and president-elect Obama immediately went to Rahm Emanuel and said regardless of what happened in the primaries, I need you. And I think on balance, while it wasn't perfect, he certainly got a lot accomplished.

LEMON: And interviewed him right after he got the call from President Obama, he walked out of his office and talked about his mom then, saying how proud his mom was of him. Hey listen, no matter how tough skinned you are, talking why about your mom and dad, just, you know, you see the softer side.

HENRY: Absolutely.

LEMON: Thank you, Ed Henry, appreciate it. Thank you so much. We will be watching. Going to be interesting the next few months at the White House.

You know, 40 percent of the food we produce in this country simply thrown away when so many need it. We'll talk to the author of "American Wasteland" about what we can do to stop the waste.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We have been doing this all week, CNN is taking a cross- country food journey all this week and we have sent reporting teams to every corner of America, even beyond that. Our mission: To get fresh answers about how our food is grown, how the choices we make impact our health, our state of mind, our budget and really, just the pure joy of eating.

We have teamed up with the new CNN.com food destination, it's called Eatocracy.com, to bring you "Eatocracy: Mind, Body and Wallet."

You know, wasted food, whether thrown in the dumpster or not, big restaurant portions like spaghetti that you see or good fruit laying on the ground -- look at all that stuff, it was good before it hit the dumpster, a lot of it, and someone could have used it, a lot of people need it. Freelance journalist Jonathan Bloom says it is unnecessary and unethical.

And I want to tell you he wrote the book called "American Wasteland" from firsthand experience here and he joins us now from Raleigh, North Carolina.

Hey, Jonathan, thanks for joining us. How did you come one this idea and why did you do it?

JONATHAN BLOOM, AUTHOR, "AMERICAN WASTELAND": I grew up appreciating food. And my parents taught me to both enjoy food as something that tastes great and also to value it. So, if you were to look into the refrigerator at my household when I grew up, there were leftovers of all shapes and sizes.

Then later on, I was volunteering in a place called D.C. Central Kitchen and that is a food recovery organization, and what they do is they recover all these foods that would otherwise be thrown out. And I started to see all these foods that they had saved and it was really nice stuff. And so I had a little epiphany and I thought, well, what happens in places that don't have this kind of food recovery group?

LEMON: Yes. You know, some people -- 40 percent, Jonathan, 40 percent, is that a bit inflated? I would imagine it might be more than that when you think about it and that's a really big number, almost half the food that could be consumed.

BLOOM: Yes, it is staggering, isn't it? So, when you -- when you try and get a picture on what that looks like, well, you know the Rose Bowl, it is a 90,000-seat stadium in southern California, well, every day, America wastes enough food to fill that stadium.

LEMON: OK. So tell us about your research then for people who may have questions about these numbers. How did you come up with it? How do you know that it is fairly accurate here?

BLOOM: Sure.

Well that 40 percent figure comes out of an NIH study. There have been various estimates, they range from about a quarter to half of all the food produced, but 40 percent is pretty solid. And so what I've done is I have gone throughout the food chain from farm to fork and really take an lock at how and why we waste and then suggested some solutions on how we could do better.

LEMON: All right. So, answer those questions for me. How -- and really the thing I want to know is, I know how, but why. Why do we waste so much food? Why aren't people doing things about it? All the food can be going to homeless people or people who are below the poverty line, people who are hungry.

BLOOM: Yes. Well, primarily, we take food for granted. And why do we do that? Well, it's abundant. You walk into the supermarket and you see these stacks of food, the displays are three or four apples high. Everywhere we turn, it seems there is food. Now it is in pharmacies and places like Home Depot and gas station and so we are kind of inundated with food. We don't value it as much.

Part of that is because it is actually pretty cheap. I know food prices have been rising, but when you look at how much of our income we spend on food, it is only about 10 percent and that is less than in any other country.

LEMON: Jonathan Bloom, thank you so much. Good information there and I guess the best thing to know is probably knowledge and knowledge is power. We can figure out exactly what we need to do so we can stop wasting so much food an get some people fed.

Hey, we appreciate what you're doing, OK?

BLOOM: Thanks for having me.

LEMON: Thank you.

Next hour, we will hear another side of the food problem, families that don't waste food but eat too much of the wrong food. How one family completely changed their eating habits.

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LEMON: All right, so if I say Alex P. Keaton, do you know who I'm talking about? Michael J. Fox. Actor Michael J. Fox trained his body to learn to live with Parkinson's Disease, that makes him one of the inspiring people that we talk to in our new series, it's called "Human Factor."

Here is our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I had the rare opportunity to sit down with Michael J. Fox for an unprecedented 90 minutes. These long interviews are something he hardly ever does anymore. We wanted to talk about Parkinson's Disease, talk about his foundation and talk about the numerous obstacles that he has overcome the last 20 years since he was diagnosed.

MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR: There was a real clear period around 1993, '94, two years after diagnosis where I just got it. I just accepted it. And I realized that there's an old saying that my happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance and in greatest proportion to my expectation. You know, it's just about this is what it is and so now what.

GUPTA: And so once you were not in denial, you think you were you were happier.

FOX: Yes, absolutely. Because when you can look at the truth of something, then every -- I mean, that's what it is. It is what it is. Now you have options.

The only thing I don't have a choice about is whether I have Parkinson's. Everything else is my choice and that's incredibly liberating. That's much more liberating than the physical constraints of this disease are limiting.

GUPTA: Are the things that you particularly miss that you can't do? I mean, things that you say, god, I really just wish I could do this still?

FOX: Actually, no. GUPTA: You do everything --

FOX: I do everything I ever did before. Yes, I know. I play hockey, I play golf, I play guitar, I hang out with my kids. I mean, that -- if it seriously limited or restricted or adversely affected my ability to interact with my kids, I think that would be something that would be hard to deal with.

GUPTA: He's just a remarkable guy. It was captivating conversation.

You know, his foundation has raised over $200 million, which they're putting to lots of different uses, including answering some questions regarding the mystery of Parkinson's. They've also setting up the biomarker study trying to figure out are there are clues within people's bodies that help become targets for medications down the line.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Sanjay, thank you very much.

The U.S. is apologizing to Guatemala for deliberately infecting people there with sexually transmitted diseases. It happened to research study conducted in the Central American nation from 1946 to 1948.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today issued a joint statement calling the action reprehensible and unethical. They said the conduct during the study does not represent the values in the United States.

CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen will join me live at the top of the hour with more on this very disturbing study.

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LEMON: Reminds me a little bit of -- is it "Good Times," or the one with Rerun? Anyway, time for CNN Equals Politics update, CNN.com Desk update. Pete Hamby with the "Best Political Team on Television" joins us now live from D.C.

Hi, Pete Hamby. What's crossing right now?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Hey, Don. I like the Rerun shoutout.

LEMON: Actually, you know what it is? "Sanford and Son." That's what it is. Where is --

HAMBY: Politics, are you ready?

LEMON: Yes. HAMBY: All right. We're going to start out on the Ticker in Florida with the Florida's governor's race. A new poll out today on the heels of another CNN poll showing democrat Alex Sink losing ground in the governor's race. According to this new Quinnipiac poll, she trails Republican Rick Scott, 49-43.

Rick Scott is a familiar face. He was a former health care executive all over TV during the health care debate, a big opponent of that. He's been running a barrage of television ads in Florida. According to this poll, a lot of voters find it annoying, but apparently it's working.

Also staying in Florida, take a look at the Eighth Congressional District in Florida. Alan Grayson, who you might know, he is a top target of national Republicans. Last year, during the health care debate, he said Republicans want Americans to die quickly. He's a very outspoken liberal. National Republicans out with a new TV ad calling Grayson a national embarrassment. That comes on the heels of an ad that Grayson ran against his Republican opponent Dan Webster calling him "Taliban Dan."

Keep an eye on this district. It's in Orlando, it's a swing district. Grayson is running unabashedly to the left at a time when Democrats are dealing with this enthusiasm gap. He's trying to rally this base, we'll see how that plays out.

And finally, tomorrow, Mike Pence, the Indiana Republican, unabashed conservative, he will be going to Iowa to speak to the Iowa Christian Alliance in Des Moines. He's pretty much made clear that he's thinking about maybe a presidential bid, possibly a run for governor of Indiana. But he's definitely testing the waters. He would be a dark horse. It's hard to run for president from Congress.

But he's is one candidate, if you look at field of Republicans when they run for president, people often say, there's main stream Republicans on one side and social conservatives on the other. Mike Pence kind of straddles the line here. He's a strong fiscal conservative. He's also got strong roots in the social conservative community. Activists around the country know who Mike Pence is and that could help him as he runs for president in 2012. So we'll be watching that tomorrow.

LEMON: Pete Hamby, as always, much appreciated, sir. Thanks for going with the flow there at the top of this -- your hit there.

Your next political update is in an hour. And for the latest political news you can -- you know where to go, go to CNNPolitics.com, of course.