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Tornadoes Touch Down in Arizona; Dow Nears 11,000; Roundup of Law Enforcement Officers in Puerto Rico; Tornados Strike Arizona; Hot Off the Political Ticker; What's Hot
Aired October 06, 2010 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Again, everyone, I'm Tony Harris. Top of the hour and anything can happen. Here are three developing stories we are watching closely for you this hour.
Tracking tornadoes in Arizona. Chad Meyers is all over it for us.
Dow inching toward 11,000. Will we hit it? And what does it mean for the economic recovery? We are talking about it with our Ali Velshi.
And Supreme Court battle between a grieving father and a religious group displaying anti-gay slogans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one should be buried with what the Phelps did to him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What they want to do is they want to litigate our religious doctrine. Well, you don't do that in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Wow. Hot, hot stories for you this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Let's get started with our lead story. Let's get to Chad Myers, who is on the story of the tornadoes.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
HARRIS: At least two touching down earlier in the Flagstaff area?
MYERS: At least, right. Sure.
West of Flagstaff, along I-40. And we expect that there will be more, because these storms are still rotating. They are rotating a lot like Midwest thunderstorms do, although we're talking about places like Sedona, and just west of Flagstaff, kind of a higher elevation here. And I just got a brand-new tornado warning for Coconino County. And that is going to be until 9:30 Mountain Standard Time.
Weather service still seeing these Doppler-indicated tornadoes. And I can show them to you here.
And because a lot of times we show you this, Tony, that map there that just shows a bunch of color and then some boxes, well, I'm just going to get slightly more technical on you, because I want to show you what we look at right behind the scenes.
We look for colors that are not the same, that they're right next to each other. There's red and a green.
Watch the very latest maps right there. Watch. There's red next to green. And there's red next to green.
Why do we care? Because, like a train whistle, when a train goes by you at a stop sign, when the trains are down, and the whistle's blowing, it sounds different from one way as it's coming to you, as it sounds different as it's leaving. That difference in sound is the Doppler effect.
The Doppler effect is what we see on this map and why the colors are different. And when colors are different, that means one wind is going this way and one wind is going that way. And if you get winds that do this, clearly something could be on the ground.
HARRIS: Yes.
MYERS: And in fact, Bill Pribil, I believe, from out in Coconino County in Arizona is with us on the phone right now.
Sir, tell me your title, first of all, and tell me what you see. What do you know?
SHERIFF BILL PRIBIL, COCONINO COUNTY, ARIZONA: Well, I'm Bill Pribil. I'm sheriff of Coconino County here in northern Arizona. And I am sitting in front of a house that has been destroyed by the tornado.
It has partially collapsed. The roof is gone. All the windows are shattered out.
About a mile of destruction. We have a camper world here. We're estimating about 30 trailers were destroyed in their inventory.
HARRIS: Wow.
PRIBIL: We had a train derailment from this tornado. And it's just something that we don't experience here.
But we have vehicles upside down. Many, many -- you know, hundreds of home -- well, at least 100 homes have windows that are gone and damaged. So it's --
MYERS: We have heard of seven people treated and released. Are you doing any type of search for other victims?
PRIBIL: The search took place early on. At this point, we have -- we feel that we have minor injuries, no serious injuries, and that everyone has been accounted for.
MYERS: OK. What are your plans now with this weather still in the area? Are you sending out crews to repair things, or saying, kind of just wait it out because there's more weather coming?
PRIBIL: Well, the utility companies have been in the area already checking for gas leaks and those types of thing. The power is out. It's beginning to hail very hard right now. You can probably hear it in the background.
MYERS: Yes.
PRIBIL: And as you had mentioned on your broadcast just a second ago, we may end up getting more tornadoes. It seems to be -- we're right in the track right now for that possibility. And so --
MYERS: It's certainly down toward -- yes, go ahead. Go ahead.
PRIBIL: Well, we're hesitant to put people into the fields because of the weather.
MYERS: Absolutely.
Tony, once you get things that are already damaged, that damage can blow around more significantly because pieces are already loose.
Sheriff, we know that there's a problem with I-40, west of Flagstaff. What do you know about that?
PRIBIL: Well, we had I-40 closed down for a period of time. The Department of Public Safety had shut it down because we had two semis that had been overturned because of the tornado. And obviously, we wanted to get emergency vehicles into this area, and we didn't want the traffic. Plus, with the fear of more tornadoes -- we continue to get tornado warnings -- the last thing we want to do is have a lot of traffic on the interstate and have a tornado come through.
MYERS: Sheriff, I know you're a busy man. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for the call and the time that you took with us. And if anything more happens, please, we will be back with you later on tonight.
Thank you, Sheriff.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Another big story we're following for you. The Dow Jones Industrial Average once again could poke its head above 11,000.
CNN's chief business correspondent and the host of CNN NEWSROOM after this program at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time here to explain what this number means.
Ali, good to see you.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you. A tough act to follow after Chad. That was --
(CROSSTALK)
HARRIS: We are popping here.
VELSHI: I'll tell you. You've got a lot of stuff going on.
HARRIS: So what do you think about this number, 11,000? Will we hit today? And maybe we won't hit it today, but --
VELSHI: Yes, we're about 35 points away from it right now. All day people have been asking me, is this financially significant? And is this psychologically --
HARRIS: Yes, psychologically significant.
VELSHI: It's not. It's neither of those things. As you said, it's a number. It's just a number.
It's round, and we like talking about round numbers. And it's a higher one than we have had in several months.
So here's the important thing. Can I go to the wall for a second?
HARRIS: Yes. Yes. Yes.
VELSHI: Let's go back and take a look.
The Dow's at 10,970, about 30 points away right now. But let's go back if we can and look at the Dow from three years ago, October of 2007 until now. I think we've got that, but maybe we don't.
All right. Three years ago, in October of 2007, Tony, was when the Dow hit its high. It was up above 14,000, if you can see over there in the top left corner.
And then we had -- that was sort of the beginning of the end. By the beginning of 2008, we were in recession. And you see how it kept on going down until the middle of 2009, just a little above 6,000.
And then there's been this slow but steady increase. But take a look. 2009, there was a remarkable, remarkable gain in the stock market. But what happens, Tony, is we all get very, very scared about this and we don't invest in the stock market.
Now, what is happening is this stock market is telling you -- what it's basically telling you right now is that companies believe that other companies can be bought at a discount, that times are going to get better. So you might buy more of something than you like if you think its value is going to go up. You might buy a bigger home than you like because you think it's going to be valuable.
HARRIS: Yes.
VELSHI: Companies are buying other companies thinking times are going to get better and those companies are going to be worth more later. Regular investors like you and me are not getting into the stock market, and the 11,000 might be a reminder to you to say, lots of bad things are going on in the world. Some things are going OK. And it might be time to make sure that you are, in a very balanced and legitimate and reasonable way, invested in the stock market.
HARRIS: Folks have been afraid of these markets.
VELSHI: Sure. And rightfully so.
HARRIS: And rightfully so. They've seen the value of their 401(k)s plummet, right?
VELSHI: Yes.
HARRIS: But you have always said -- you've written a book. Do we have the book cover and everything else? Because it's still in print and folks can still get the book.
VELSHI: Right.
HARRIS: Look, you've got to take a longer view of this.
VELSHI: You have to take a longer view of it, because the economy doesn't care that you're mad. And I wrote this book, by the way, right at the beginning of 2009, the end of 2008, right when it was the worst of the crisis.
And my message then was, guys, there's going to be opportunity. There's six billion people in this world, there's 300 million people in this country. Some things are wrong, some things are always going to be wrong.
But the beauty is there are people, there is demand in this world, and the demand is not in our shores sometimes. It's elsewhere.
HARRIS: China, Brazil.
VELSHI: China is going to have GDP of about 10 percent. The rest of Asia, without China, is going to have about eight percent. India is going to have about six percent.
HARRIS: Brazil! This Brazil story is so ridiculous right now.
VELSHI: Brazil is firing on all cylinders, and Brazil hasn't even reached its height yet. So the bottom line is there are ways to make money. And one of them -- the beauty of this country is you can buy stocks in companies that have ways to make money.
Half of the revenues, more than half of the revenues of the companies on the S&P 500, 500 companies, American companies, more than half their revenues come from outside of the United States. So I just want people to say you don't have to back up the truck and load up, but get your foot in the water.
HARRIS: Yes. Things are happening here.
VELSHI: That's right.
HARRIS: We understand the unemployment picture is what it is.
VELSHI: Absolutely.
HARRIS: OK?
VELSHI: It's the biggest problem.
HARRIS: It is the biggest problem, but there are things happening here that you need to pay attention to.
VELSHI: Yes. That's exactly right.
So, the book simple. CNNMoney.com has a lot of information on this.
HARRIS: Great.
VELSHI: Just get yourself read in and understand what's going on in the world so that you can start to take advantage of this. We're not sitting here talking about the Dow at 12,000, so, hey, do you think it's time to get in?
HARRIS: Yes. And folks have missed an opportunity.
Ali, terrific. See you at the top of the hour.
VELSHI: All right, buddy.
HARRIS: The man.
Another big story that is developing right now, a huge corruption bust in Puerto Rico. New details coming in just a moment.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: New details about a massive sweep of law enforcement officers in a drug trafficking case unfolding in Puerto Rico right now. Attorney General Eric Holder calling it -- listen to this -- the largest police corruption investigation in the history -- in the history of the FBI?
Senior Latin America Affairs Editor Rafael Romo joining us now.
Share more of what you're learning about this and what the attorney general had to say.
RAFAEL ROMO, SENIOR LATIN AMERICA AFFAIRS EDITOR: No small change, Tony, especially when you think about the fact that the FBI has a 102-year history.
HARRIS: Yes!
ROMO: And so we are talking about the arrest of 133 people in the island of Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory. More than 90 of them are police officers. Those entrusted with protecting and serving their people have been arrested, and the charges are all related to drug trafficking.
We also understand, according to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, that two U.S. Army personnel are involved in this operation. The investigation lasted two years. It just ended, but they say that it's ongoing.
Seven hundred and fifty FBI personnel were flown into Puerto Rico to participate in this investigation. And so it's very much an ongoing situation at this point.
HARRIS: OK. Now, there was a briefing last hour, correct, from the attorney general? Anything in that that we should listen to?
ROMO: Exactly. I wanted to point out a statement that Attorney General Holder said about what this means in the scope of drug trafficking in the area.
Let's hear what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: Now, without question, today's arrests will disrupt drug trafficking operations in Puerto Rico and help to strengthen law enforcement operations across and beyond the island.
To the people of Puerto Rico, let me say this -- as you continue your fight against drug trafficking, violent crime and corruption, we will continue to stand with you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Now, this is very important, Tony, because when we talk about disrupting the drug trafficking operations not only in Puerto Rico, but in the region --
HARRIS: Right.
ROMO: -- Puerto Rico has long been a transit point for drugs from South America. And as the war on drugs in Mexico gets tougher, Puerto Rico has become the chosen point of the destination for drug cartels to send their drugs into the United States. So this is very significant. And just think about it, 133 people being arrested today, and this is still ongoing.
HARRIS: I want more details on this. I want to know how this played out in practice, but that's reporting for another time.
Rafael, appreciate it. Thank you.
ROMO: Absolutely.
HARRIS: A major First Amendment case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court today. When does speech some say is vile and inappropriate for the time and place get First Amendment protection?
The case involves anti-gay protests by church members outside funerals of U.S. service members. They were outside the Supreme Court today as the justices heard oral arguments inside.
CNN's Kate Bolduan looks at the legal battle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder was 20 years old when he was killed in Iraq.
(on camera): Tell me about March 3, 2006, the day you found out that he was killed.
ALBERT SNYDER, FATHER OF FALLEN MARINE: It was probably the worst day of my life. If you lose a parent, you're an orphan. If you lose a spouse, you're a widow or a widower. But if you lose a child, there's not even a word to describe it.
BOLDUAN: Even after all of this time, I mean, the pain is --
SNYDER: It's still there. It's still there. And it's no different.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): But Albert Snyder says that was only the beginning of the nightmare for his family.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP (singing): America, America --
BOLDUAN: Members of the Kansas-based Westboro Church led by Fred Phelps picketed outside of Matthew Snyder's funeral, as they've done at military funerals hundreds of times before. The church believes soldiers are dying because God is punishing the country for "the sin of homosexuality."
Matthew Snyder was not gay.
FRED PHELPS, FOUNDER, WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH: I'm sorry that they raised their son for the devil in hell. I'm sorry that they let him have anything to do with the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Army. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to tell them that they sent their child to hell.
BOLDUAN (on camera): The funeral was held here, St. John Catholic Church. Albert Snyder preparing to bury his only son.
And here, nearby, on this public street, is where the Westboro Church members gathered for their angry protest, triggering this constitutional battle.
SNYDER: It comes down to dignity. No one -- I don't care if you're not military -- no one should be buried with what the Phelps did to him.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Snyder sued for defamation and invasion of privacy, but the Phelps family argues they're protected by their rights of free speech and religious expression. The fight has now made it all the way to the high court.
Sean Summers is Albert Snyder's attorney.
SEAN SUMMERS, ATTORNEY FOR ALBERT SNYDER: When they protest outside of a private funeral, they're not trying to advocate for or against a particular position. All they're doing is harassing a family so they can hijack someone else's private event.
BOLDUAN: The Phelps family declined to be interviewed about the case, but told the court they weren't targeting Matthew Snyder personally, saying, "The church's speech was public issue speech, highly disliked and needing protection." Adding, "The church does not require an invitation to be on a public right-of-way peacefully picketing."
SHIRLEY PHELPS-ROPER, WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH: What they want to do is they want to litigate our religious doctrine. Well, you don't do that in America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each one of the mare going to hell.
BOLDUAN: The Phelpses have the support of free speech advocates and some media groups. Albert Snyder has the support of 48 states and members of Congress.
(on camera): You and your family have suffered so much. Why do you want to take this fight on?
SNYDER: So other people don't have to go through the same thing that we went through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: My goodness.
Kate Bolduan, live now from the Supreme Court.
And Kate, you were inside the court building, inside the courtroom for the oral arguments on this case. If you would, describe the arguments you heard.
BOLDUAN: Fascinating. Each side was able to have 30 minutes, and that's pretty typical.
Very tough questions coming from the justices for both sides. It really seemed that the justices were struggling with the big question here of where and if to draw the line between the right of someone to hold a private funeral and the right of people to protest on what they consider public issues.
Many -- without into a lot of the legal arguments here, many questions about what makes someone a private figure, when do they enter the public sphere? What is public-issue speech? Where does it become speech that is targeting an individual almost like harassment or forcing intentional distress upon someone?
Also, the question of setting. Is a funeral a setting that requires more protection than other settings?
A lot of tough questions on both sides. It's a highly emotional case.
I always say this, Tony, and I'll say it again. A case does not make it to the Supreme Court because it's easy and because it's a slam-dunk. Very tough issues here.
And it seems because of all this battle that you could see within the justices as they're asking these questions, it seems that it would suggest that we could get a very narrow ruling here rather than what you can see sometimes, which is a very broad ruling that has very broad implications for people throughout the country. So we'll have to see how the justices land on this, but a very tough case.
HARRIS: Solid reporting on this through and through.
Kate Bolduan for us.
Kate, appreciate it. Thank you.
Buried almost a half-mile understood ground for more than 60 days now. Rescue oh so close for the miners in Chile. We've got a live report for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Talk about a light at the end of the tunnel. There is new hope for those trapped miners in Chile. The drilling to the miners' chambers could actually be done by this weekend.
CNN's Karl Penhaul joins us from outside the mine.
And Karl, this is amazing when you think about the initial reporting on this -- and you were there -- that it could take up until, what, the end of the December, around Christmas to get these miners, to get to these miners? Now we're talking about possibly, what, by the end of the weekend? KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right. That was the initial forecast, wasn't it, Tony? Sometime before Christmas.
But there is good news. We have heard that the leading drill, the Plan B drill -- that's one of the ones you can make out just behind me -- in the last 12 hours has cut through 160 feet of rock. That means there's only 220 feet to go to break through, to get right through into that tunnel where the miners are.
Now, if you calculate that in 12 hours that drill went 160 feet, technically, sometime within the next 24 hours, there could be breakthrough into that tunnel. But there the confusing becomes, because the government says that Plan B drill will now be taken off line for a while some maintenance is carried out and while they put a camera down into the rescue shaft that has been drilled so far to test a little bit the integrity of that hole.
And so, it very much seems that the government knows very well when they can get through to these miners, but are timing it. And that has subjected them to some criticism from political opponents saying that they may be playing politics with this rescue and that the government is playing with the timing and trying to complete this rescue operation just before the president is due to go off on a tour to Europe mid-month.
But I want to bring you up to date, as well. Something else that gives us an indication that the final countdown is beginning, because just as we're on air, I can see a convoy of vehicles coming up the hill. And we're going to show you this. We're going to pan off and show you it.
We can see some cranes coming up. This is a convoy of probably about 10 or 15 trucks.
HARRIS: Wow.
PENHAUL: And what these trucks appear to be bringing in are cranes. They're bringing caterpillar parts, and they appear to be bringing what looks like to be the structure for the winch system.
What's the relevance of that winch system? Because it's the winchers that are going to pull the rescue cages up to the surface, the rescue cages that have been dubbed the "Phoenix capsules." And with the help of these winchers, they hope that they can pull those rescue cages up, and anything up to about 40 miles an hour, which would mean that the miners could be hoisted from the tunnel up to the surface, that half-mile journey in about 15 minutes or less.
But again, let's stay on that picture and have a look at it, because just down there, every time a piece of this heavy machinery key to the rescue operation is brought in, the family members who have been camped out here in this tent village they call Camp Hope, they turn out to wave the Chilean flags and chant messages of support for the people that are driving these trucks. And that's to say we can see a piece of caterpillar track going past just now, but I want you just to see this bit of equipment. And that is what looks to be the part of the winch system, part of the structure for the winch that will lower the Phoenix rescue capsule down into the ground and hoist those miners one by one back to the surface.
And again, the fact that this gear is arriving on site now as we speak seems to me to be another indication that this rescue operation is well ahead of schedule and that in many senses, the final countdown has begun -- Tony.
HARRIS: Wow. Amazing on-the-fly play-by-play of that scene playing out behind you, Karl.
Karl Penhaul for us.
Appreciate it. Thank you.
Got to tell you, you don't see this very often in Phoenix, Arizona -- hail the size of golf balls and water running through the streets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE WATKISS, KTVK-TV CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's hailing. Yes, look at this, James.
We've got hail here. Wind is blowing, knocking down road signs.
This is something, James. You get underneath there. Let me just talk while we're doing it. You just stay there.
Look at this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A powerful storm system to blame for the nasty weather in Phoenix and other parts of the desert Southwest, including tornadoes, today near Flagstaff.
Chad is tracking all of this for us, and we will check in with him in just a couple of minutes.
We're back in a moment. A quick moment.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRISAll right. Very quickly. You know the story of this morning, the story of the hour weatherwise. It is two tornadoes actually touching down.
MYERS: Four.
HARRIS: We're up to four now?
MYERS: Four now. HARRIS: There's Chad in the Severe Weather Center.
MYERS: And the ones - we usually say no tornadoes, didn't touch down, we don't know, could have been wind damage. We'll have to go look.
Literally, they looked. Out their window. It was out the window of the Weather Service office in Flagstaff.
HARRIS: Are you kidding me?
MYERS: In fact, it was one mile away, and they could see it. Yes. So, they confirmed that one right away.
Tony, it's been a crazy morning out here. I want to show you the storm right now that I'm worried about. Here's Sedona, beautiful, picturesque area. The red rocks of Sedona. Drive through something like out of a movie, and a lot of movies have been shot there.
But this cell right here to the southwest of Flagstaff is spinning and spinning violently. I don't know that I have any eyes on the storm right now to confirm it's on the ground. But this is the only storm that I'm worried about. Sedona. Here's the highway back toward Clarkdale and Cottonwood.
Moving to the north. A little bit to the east. Flagstaff here. Probably missing Flagstaff but, Tony, the town that got hit is right there. So, these are just one storm. We call it a train. One storm moving over the same areas and over the same areas.
Now, I believe we have pictures of a real train that should be on the tracks --
HARRIS: Right.
MYERS: -- that are not on the tracks. It's getting into the systems. We have to - we get the pictures. We get these iReports. They come in, they go out and then we get them out to you.
What we have here, what we had and I think I saw it out of the corner of my eye, some of this was a trailer park. An RV sales area. Not in these RVs -- but torn apart. We literally just -- we see this over and over when you get something light like this. To turn things over.
The next picture, around the other side of this, shattered the bottom off of this, clearly. And the good news is nobody in it. And then bBack out here toward the freeway, this is the interstate, out toward I-40. See the trucks not doing very well. Because I-40 was at least shut for a while, and we think it probably still is as they're getting overturned semis out of the roadway. We know that eastbound at least still had one lane open for a while.
But you know, as cleanup continues, they have to shut these things down periodically so they can get the trucks in the right places and get them turned over, so I-40 west of Glagstaff a mess and more weather to come.
HARRIS: My goodness!
MYERS: Yes, sir.
HARRIS: What a couple of hours for you and the team over there in the Weather Center. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks, Chad.
Voters, 27 days from a nail-biting decision on control of the U.S. Congress. The midterms showdown and how we got here with senior political analyst Gloria Borger.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Twenty-seven days left until the midterm elections, so where are the candidates? They are not doing a lot of national TV interviews. CNN's Wolf Blitzer talked with contributor Jack Cafferty about that on "THE SITUATION ROOM" yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": You know, Jack, we have been inviting a lot of these candidates, for Senate, for govenors' races -- Democrats and Republicans, from all over the country to appear. Come on the show. We'll talk about the issues, the substantive issues facing the American people. National security issues, economic issues, jobs. You know what most of them say?
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No.
BLITZER: Not happening. Not interested in doing a serious, substantive national interview. And it's not just Republicans and conservatives. It's a lot of Democrats, as well. I think they're scared.
CAFFERTY: Well, I think a lot of the incumbents are terrified and then you've got these Tea Party candidates, the far right-wing, very conservative O'Donnell types who, you know, by definition are a part of a fringe element in the country, so they probably want to stay out of the mainstream spotlight.
And so, what we've got is a democracy where the voters go to the booth relatively uninformed. I don't know if that's a very good thing. Do you?
BLITZER: No. I don't think it is.
CAFFERTY: No.
BLITZER: I'd like them to come on the show and answer questions.
CAFFERTY: Get in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Talk to the Wolfman.
BLITZER: That's what I say.
CAFFERTY: That's it. BLITZER: Let's see if they listen. OK, Jack, thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Okay.
Senior political analyst Gloria Borger joining us from Washington now. Gloria, look. The real question here is, in your view, are Democrats and Republican candidates running out the clock here, not taking tough questions from you, from Jack, from Wolf and other members of The Best Political Team on Television for fear of mistakes and gaffes?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it is interesting. When you think of folks who have been avoiding like Christine O'Donnell or Sharron Angle or Rand Paul, for example -- they're really inexperienced candidates who have made mistakes. Right?
And the last thing they want in the world is for someone like a Wolf Blitzer or you or me to start asking them a bunch of questions that maybe they won't be able to answer. They don't want to get themselves in any hot water.
Rand Paul came out and did some national interviews. Got himself in a heap of trouble, so you can -- you can understand. If you're his campaign adviser right now, you are saying, we don't want to get in any trouble. We just want to run this campaign. We want to keep it very local. We want to talk to the people we think are friendly to us --
HARRIS: Yes.
BORGER: -- because after all, they want to win. And they don't think that people like us will help them win.
HARRIS: Yes. Here's the real reason I wanted you on the program today. Twenty-seven days, again, before the midterm election. You have this -- I have to say it. Look, it's not because you're sitting here. You have this terrific piece on CNN.com.
BORGER: Thank you, thank you.
HARRIS: It is a "how we got to this point" piece. This point being a moment where Republicans seem poised for a significant win in a couple of weeks. You write about the moment for Republicans when it all started to come together, August 2009. The Arlen Specter town hall meeting. Let's listen to it, and then I have a question for you.
BORGER: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One day God's going to stand before you and he's going to judge you and the rest of your damned cronies up on the Hill! SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Okay. We've just -- we've just had a -- we've just had a demonstration of democracy. Okay? You want to be led out of here, you're welcome to go. Now, wait a minute. Now, wait a minute. Now, wait a minute. Now, wait a minute. Wait. Wait a minute.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: So Gloria Borger, why was this such a defining moment for Republicans?
BORGER: Well, you know, it's interesting. Republicans at first, Barack Obama was so popular, don't forget. The Republican staff in the Senate was given marching orders. You can attack Barack Obama's policies, but don't attack the president personally because he's so popular.
Then Obama started proposing all kinds of things because he clearly sees himself as a transformational president. He didn't see himself as a guy that won just because the other guy George Bush was unpopular. Proposes all these things. And what they start seeing in the Congress, Republicans look at polls as much as they can. And for the first time in July, before this town hall meeting they started seeing the 40 percent number for Barack Obama on disapproval on his top policies. On health care, on stimulus, on bailout. Right?
Suddenly, they said, wait a minute. Something is up here. And then I talked to a bunch of Republicans who are actually sitting in their office that day watching this event unfold. And they realized, wait a minute. Something is happening out there. We've been watching the polls but some folks didn't realize it until they saw that movement crystallize and those angry town hall meeting.
And don't forget, Arlen Specter was a Republican, right? And he had changed parties because he thought, well, the opportunity was there for him to win as a Democrat. And as you know, he didn't even survive his primaries.
So, you know, overnight is a lifetime in politics. Two years is a lot longer, and the tables have flipped on the Democrats.
HARRIS: All right. Gloria, that's terrific. Again, it's a wonderful piece at CNN.com.
BORGER: Appreciate it.
HARRIS: Yes, yes. Good to have you on the program.
BORGER: Thank you. Sure. Thanks, Tony.
HARRIS: A train derailment due to tornadoes in Arizona. We'll get an update on that straight ahead. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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MYERS: And welcome back with a weather update. We now have information about the railroad, about the train itself that has been derailed west of Flagstaff by the tornado earlier this morning. Lena Kent, the public information officer from Burlington Northern Santa Fe on the line with us now.
Miss Kent, tell me, what can you tell us about this train?
LENA KENT, BURLINGTON NORTHERN SANTA FE RAILWAY CO. (via telephone): We had a train that was stopped in Belmont this morning around 6:30 a.m. and it was stopped there because of the tornado warning when, unfortunately, the tornado came through and actually hit the train, derailing 28 car links.
MYERS: Now there is another tornado warning just to the south of this train derailment right now. Are there people -- are there men and women out there trying to get to this train derailed or do you know that more weather is on the way and you just say to stay away from it for now?
KENT: We do have crews out there working on the track. I'm not actually at the scene, so I don't know if they've cleared out for the moment. But we do have people that will be out throughout the day and the evening working to get that line reopened.
MYERS: Were there any injuries?
KENT: There weren't. we did have crew members on board the train, but fortunately they were not injured.
MYERS: This is obviously an east/west track. Very populated with other trains. Is there a standstill now? Is this going to be a problem with any other trains for the day?
KENT: It is blocking both of our main lines through the area, so traffic both eastbound and westbound is stopped. You know, depending on how the day goes and the weather goes, we hopefully plan to have the line reopened around midnight tonight.
MYERS: I know you're not there, but is the track itself torn up as well or just the train? Did it just fall over or is there more work that has to be done to repair the track itself?
KENT: Right now it appears that there's minor damage to the track. Certainly we'll know more once we clear the cars away.
MYERS: Miss Kent, I know you're busy. Thank you very much. We will have more as the day goes on.
There are more storms out there on, believe it or not, Tony, and there are more storms out just to the north and to the west of Sedona and another cell that is spinning and I believe the tornado is probably on the ground about 10 miles from where that train derailed and now we have people outside trying to get this train back on. There is going to be another storm on the way. I'm sure they're going to hear about it soon because a tornado warning is on it. We're back in two minutes.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: A difficult morning, a difficult afternoon it looks like. We're back in a moment.
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HARRIS: Twenty-seven days until the midterm elections. Time for your cnnpolitics.com desk update. The host of "John King USA," chief national correspondent John King, with "The Best Political Team on Television" joining us now live from Washington, D.C.
John, great to see you. What's crossing right now?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tony, we've got a busy day on the ticker because you know at 27 days out, more and more from the campaigns. Here's what you would call a case of good news and bad news for the Democrats.
A new Pew Hispanic Center Study, a poll of Latinos say they overwhelmingly favor Democrats when they're asked their preference for Congress. Sixty-five percent of Latinos, in fact, say in that poll they support the Democratic candidate for Congress, 22 percent for Republicans. So you think Democrats would be really happy, except for this. Only 32 percent of Latinos have thought quite a lot about the November election. So a sign there many of them may not turn out to vote. That's one of the challenges for the Democrats in the final three and a half weeks.
Here's another one that's all over the political world right now in terms of buzz. There's been a lot of talk in Washington for months, will Obama replace his vice president, Joe Biden? Maybe turn to Hillary Clinton heading into the 2012. Well, Bob Woodward was on "John King USA" last night and he stoked this by saying he's told it's on the table.
And I'll ask Floyd to zoom in here. This is one of the items trending on the political ticker, the White House denies Obama/Clinton ticket in the work. The White House denies it. So does Secretary Clinton. He's headed a forum here in D.C. this morning. She has a great relationship with Joe Biden. She said absolutely no interest in being the VP candidate. She said we have so much to do. Both of us are very happy doing what we're doing. So, Tony, they're trying to dampen that one down.
And let me close with this. You had a conversation with Gloria Borger just a few minutes ago.
HARRIS: Yes.
KING: A lot of news on the ticker about the new polls, the new ads, the new wrinkles in every campaign. Also a lot of great commentary and calmness. Carville and Bennet (ph) are on there. John Avalon and Gloria Borger. Gloria's column you noted, a great thing. So when you're tuning in, checking with the ticker for political news, look for those stories as well because you'll learn a lot more of the insights and the context for the next 27 days.
HARRIS: That's terrific. Got a question for you. That's terrific stuff, John. And I've got a question for you, and I asked Gloria just a couple of moments ago, and believe you may have had a conversation on this point last night on your show, "John King USA," 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Aren't Democrats and Republican candidates running out the clock 27 days ahead of the midterm elections, not taking tough questions from the likes of you, from Gloria, from Wolf, for fear of mistakes and gaffes?
KING: We do see a lot of that this year. Now to the credit of many candidates, a lot of candidates are out there doing town halls, taking questions. They're willing to do both local and national interviews. And you're seeing in the final weeks, of course, a lot of debates. And, you know, there was the Connecticut Senate debate the other day. The California governor's race. So there's some of it.
But there is what I think was -- one of the newspapers the other day called it the year of the missing candidate or the incredibly disappearing candidate. A lot of candidates, when you get into the final days, especially if they're ahead in the polls, they say, play it safe, no big interviews so I don't stumble over a big question.
HARRIS: Yes.
KING: And some candidates are behind because they've make mistakes in the past, Tony, and, you know, say Rand Paul, the Senate candidate of Kentucky, he's been told by national Republicans, stop doing national interviews because when you do, you get in trouble. Do conservative talk radio. It's -- you see play to your base. It's a term that's overused in politics. Watch the candidates. That's a lot of what they do, they go to places where they're safe.
HARRIS: Yes.
KING: Don't take risks.
HARRIS: There he is, the host of "John King USA," 7:00 p.m. weeknights here on CNN, John King.
John, appreciate it. Thank you.
KING: Thank you, Tony.
HARRIS: And your next political update coming up in one hour. For the latest political news, just go to cnnpolitics.com.
Having just a bit of fun with two little bunnies and the result goes viral on the Internet. Josh is next with "What's Hot."
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JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we are back in the NEWSROOM. I'm Josh Levs. A busy day in here today. And we have one minute to lighten things up for you. And what's lighter than bunnies in paper cups? Take a look at this. One of the hottest videos out there right now. Two little bunnies already becoming famous. They've got more than a quarter million hits on YouTube with this video out of Japan. I've said it before, I will say it again, animals don't have to do anything at all. HARRIS: That's it?
LEVS: To drive people wild on camera. They can sit there and they, in no time, people spend money and time and energy trying to go viral.
HARRIS: Are you kidding me?
LEVS: Just put two bunnies in cups and you win. This video says cute rabbit video twin rabbit -- cute bunny video twin rabbit. Wascally wabbits. If you watch long enough, you can even see the noses twitch. I'm telling you folks, this is what people are looking at.
HARRIS: And that's it to get to a million views?
LEVS: Ton, modern art.
HARRIS: Oh, my.
LEVS: We'll be right back in the NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: Boy, oh, boy, so much more to cover on a very busy news day. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Tony, thanks very much.
