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Hillary Clinton For Vice President?; Afghan Government Negotiating With Insurgents?; Wave of Toxic Sludge Threatens Hungary; Connecticut Battle Royal; Green Beret Awarded Medal of Honor Posthumously; Some Speculate Hillary Clinton as Vice Presidential Candidate in 2012; Gracie Jujitsu Classes Teach Children Self-Defense From Bullying; Bear Attack Survivor Describes Incident; Meg Whitman Spending Record-Breaking Amount On California Gubernatorial Race
Aired October 06, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's a wave of toxic mud that could kill anything it touches. And this chemical sludge is threatening homes, children and entire water supplies. We're going to take you there live.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news starts now.
Two years ago, they battled and bickered in the race for the White House. But would President Obama really tap Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be his number two? Rumblings of a dream ticket.
Plus, talking with the Taliban. Is the Afghan government negotiating with insurgents? And might this mean a sudden end to the war?
And we just kicked off October, but the weather getting wild.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got hail here. Wind is blowing, knocking down road signs.
BALDWIN: Snow, hail, a lot of surprises all across the country.
A bear attacks a politician, and he lives to talk about it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Hi, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM.
You ready to roll today? Here we go.
The news today in Central Arizona can pretty much be summed up in one word, that word being tornado, in fact, two of them. That is a confirmed number. And that is enough. But I want to walk you through some of this damage, and let's look at these pictures together.
Unbelievable damage. This is early, early this morning. By the way, if you can't tell because it's all crumpled, this is an RV dealership. It was called Camping World just off -- if you're in the neighborhood, you may know -- I-40.
This is Bellemont, Arizona, just a couple of miles from Flagstaff. But you can see the RVs tossed around, flipped over, crumpled, shredded on their sides. The twisters hit before dawn, one right around 5:15 in the morning, the other one about an hour later.
And we are hearing about significant damage also north of I-40.
Chad Myers and his whole team over there in the severe Weather Center, I know you guys have been watching for developments. And, Chad, if we could just first talk about the damage so far --
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- I mean, not just RVs.
MYERS: Right.
BALDWIN: Homes.
MYERS: A few homes.
BALDWIN: Freight train cars.
MYERS: Twenty-eight freight train cars knocked off.
And we just got video of this and I don't even think it's in the system yet for us to get it back out to you, but they were the double- decker freight train cars, almost like a car that you would put wheels on and it would be a tractor-trailer.
They were --
BALDWIN: So, they're huge.
MYERS: So -- so they're huge. They're -- they're -- they're -- basically, they're just -- they're -- they're cars you could take and put on a ship. They come off a ship, they go on the train.
But they put them too high. They were stacked double-decker, so it blew them off, because I guess, you know, extra windage, extra wind damage would just blow them off.
There's a far, far picture of that, far away. But we're going to get you closer pictures as the day goes on. I know they're close. We just don't have them yet in.
And also we have another confirmed tornado that was reported just a few minutes ago, which would make three. But I believe there's going to be more than that.
And to east of Sedona, right along the interstate, I-17, I'm going to take you to kind of an interesting map. Usually we look at colors of red, orange and blue, and then the red ones are the bad ones. But this is Doppler. This is actually -- what we're looking for it this storm right there that for a while just to the east of Sedona and another one right there. Watch them go by, one and then two.
Those are the red and the green of the Doppler-indicated spin. Red's going one way, green's going the other way. When you get two different colors, red and green, kind of right next to each other, something is spinning. This wind is going this way. This wind is going this way. And you get it to spin. And that's what a tornado looks like on a radar. So, when we say Doppler-indicated tornado, that's what a Doppler-indicated tornado looks like.
BALDWIN: So, red and green together bad news.
MYERS: Red and green don't make anything good when they're -- when they're together, no, actually.
BALDWIN: Got it.
MYERS: And it's still very close to the south side of Flagstaff. Over here would be like the meteor crater. So, in Sedona, I don't know if you have been out there, but it's just -- it's fantastic.
The -- the red rocks of Sedona -- from Prescott over to Sedona, it's been a rough day there, and that's just to the south of Flagstaff. So --
BALDWIN: Now, something that struck me --
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: -- in reading up on the story, we're talking about Bellemont. What's the likelihood that one single town would have not just one --
MYERS: Hmm.
BALDWIN: -- but two tornadoes hit in a single day?
MYERS: Yes. And the last time a tornado hit in Arizona was Bellemont years ago. Only four tornadoes a year typically in Arizona. But what happens is when you get --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: We have new pictures, by the way.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: I can make it smaller.
BALDWIN: Chad, we have some new pictures --
MYERS: Go ahead. OK, go.
BALDWIN: -- I'm just getting in my ear.
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: These are new pictures. So -- so, please --
MYERS: OK.
BALDWIN: -- keep on -- keep on rolling.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: When you -- when you get a seam or a squall line that breaks out, sometimes, you get what's called training. And the train event usually makes a flood event, because you get one storm where another storm just was, like a train on a -- on a road, on a -- on a rail.
BALDWIN: Sure.
MYERS: So, one storm after another after another. But when you get them and you get them spinning, then you can get one tornado after another after another in the same location. And that's what they had today.
BALDWIN: Look at these -- look at these pictures.
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: It's -- I don't know. It's obviously the innards of these RVs.
MYERS: Right.
They are fragile, to be honest. Had that been a house, it would lose some shingles.
BALDWIN: But there are homes. There were homes.
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: Glass shattered, but not quite toppled over like the RVs.
MYERS: Correct.
BALDWIN: Gotcha.
MYERS: Correct.
The -- the shingles are missing, some glass is missing, and the garage doors are kind of blown off. That's what happens to a non- stick-built home not attached to the ground. That's what that looks like when it -- and we thought that all these were empty.
And, in fact, just listening to the manager of Camping World on an interview he just did..
BALDWIN: Yes?
MYERS: -- on the satellite -- BALDWIN: What did he say?
MYERS: -- he said one was actually being populated. One was lived in last night on -- on the grounds, but the people in that were not hurt.
And that -- the -- the one that they were in was just moved a little bit, not torn apart, like you see here.
BALDWIN: Just moved a little bit.
MYERS: Wow.
BALDWIN: Hey, let's talk about -- let's move from one disaster to another. One is natural.
MYERS: Yes.
BALDWIN: One is very much so not.
This one is overseas. This is of the manmade variety. And, you know, we will talk to Chad here momentarily.
But let me tell you about the situation.
MYERS: Uh-huh.
BALDWIN: You're going to think I'm talking about a disaster movie, the way this whole thing reads, the way it looks. But this is, oh, so real.
This is chemical waste that will burn through your clothes. It will sear your skin and blind you on contact, some dangerous stuff, needless to say.
Look at these pictures. This is Hungary. Think about a wave that's six feet deep of this stuff, this muck, this toxic muck. It's flooding towns -- as you see, it's coated in the red stuff -- drowning people in their homes, killing every animal it touches.
This heavy metal sludge is obviously highly toxic. It's also a little bit radioactive, and it has splashed over a large part of Hungary today after an accident happened at a factory. And you better believe it has entire nations worried, especially since nobody knows exactly what happens next.
We're going to talk to Chad about this in a moment. But first, we have Nic Robertson. He is on the phone for us in the mix, in the thick of things in Hungary.
And, Nic, unfortunately, we can't see you. But if you can paint the picture. We have pictures. Paint the picture. Tell me what it looks like. Tell me, does it smell?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Brooke, it's dark right now. And we have yet to get to the worst-affected areas at the moment.
So, what we know is that this -- this wall of toxic sludge cut its way through at least three villages. It was of strong enough force to move vehicles, pick them up, and just toss them on to the sidewalk.
And the people that were actually caught in its path and whose bare skin was touched by this toxic sludge have -- have severe burns. What is happening right now, the government has declared a state of emergency. They're tipping chemicals to reverse this sort of high- alkaline pH of this sludge in the rivers to try and -- to try and neutralize it in the rivers.
Of course, the rivers feed just less than 40 miles away into the Danube river. That's one of Europe's biggest rivers. It flows from there on past Serbia, Romania. So, all these countries are now watching carefully, are these contaminants going to end up on their doorstep?
And it's not just the high pH level that is caustic to the skin. There are -- there are heavy metal -- what are known as heavy metals, arsenic, chromium, to name two, in this contaminant. That gets into the water supply, that's a concern. The government has banned people using their wells in this area to stop them getting contaminated, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Nic, let's back up for a second as we keep looking at these pictures. And you mentioned the -- I think it's plastics that are being poured into -- there it is -- the river to try to make sure this muck doesn't reach the river the Raba River and then of course the Danube, which you mentioned.
But, backing up, this all happened because you have this aluminum plant. And next to this aluminum plant, they're storing this toxic sludge, if you will. And the reservoir in which this sludge was being held burst. Do we know how that happened?
ROBERTSON: Well, the prime minister has said that someone is responsible, and there's an investigation under way. And the owners of the plant at the moment are being questioned by police, but as witnesses, not as suspects.
But, at the moment, the indications are that the plant owners are not at fault. Indeed, they say they have safety checks run just a couple of weeks ago, and those safety -- safety checks came back -- came back positive, that there -- that they were -- that there were no issues.
However, local residents say that this sludge pit which was built along with this plant during the socialist era, about 30 years ago, 30 or 40 years ago, in the 1970s, was never substantial enough. Local residents say it's been an accident waiting to happen.
The plant bosses say that the heavy rain affected the walls of the sludge pit; that's what made it collapse. Of course, the people who say that this was an accident waiting to happen, they're the ones that are caught in the midst of this. They're the ones with the burns. They're the ones whose homes have been destroyed in this -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Accident waiting to happen, that is certainly not something anyone here would want to be hearing.
Nic, do me a favor. Stay on the phone because right now I want to turn my attention to Chad.
Because, if you could just explain to people the lay of the land.
MYERS: OK.
BALDWIN: We're talking about the Danube, which of course would --
MYERS: Mm-hmm.
BALDWIN: -- affect so many other nations here in Europe.
MYERS: Sure. Mm-hmm.
BALDWIN: Walk me through this.
MYERS: Well, we're talking about a plant that takes bauxite and aluminum out of it.
So, you have to understand that any type of process that changes a stone, which they're extracting metal from, and you're getting other metals, you're making something, you're going to have a byproduct. This byproduct was put in this about 64-acre pit. And there it is, believe it or not. There it is. That's the pit.
BALDWIN: So, that's the reservoir.
MYERS: That's it. That's the pit, 64 acres,about a tenth-of-a- square-mile here.
And along the edge somewhere of where this was just basically a levee, the levee broke, and then the water spilled out. Now, what they expect typically is for this water in there to just kind of evaporate. The sludge turns into just a thick muck and then turns hard. They scoop it out and move it somewhere else.
Well, before that happened, before they were moving this away to a landfill, this broke and down right here into Kolontar, which is where all of the homes that you saw just now on those -- on that video, this is where all they were affected.
I don't think, honestly, that there could be that much chemical in a 64-acre lake that -- OK, keep going, Dave. As we zoom out, and we go all the way from the spill site to 40 miles to the Marcal River, although it's already in the river, that all the way into the Danube -- keep going, Dave -- and then figure out where this goes.
My gosh. Look at this. This is through Slovakia, through Romania , through Bulgaria, and then finally into the Black Sea.
BALDWIN: Uh-huh.
MYERS: OK. So there's an awful lot that this could --
BALDWIN: Far, far away.
MYERS: Putting -- yes. But putting heavy metals in any river system or any water system at all puts all of the plants and animals in danger.
Not so much, OK, are we going to kill the weeds along the side of the river? No. Heavy metals can be in animals for a long time. We think that we polluted the Gulf of Mexico by putting oil in it. Well, if you put a bunch of heavy metals into a river system, you are going to have an ecological disaster for a long time, before all that heavy metal goes someplace else.
Yes, it's the alkalinity. We understand that. Alkaline is the exact opposite of acid, right? So, you -- if you dump acid into alkaline, you could basically get back to water, back to neutral. But I don't know how much that's going to take. It's the metals that I'm really concerned about getting into this waterway.
BALDWIN: On that final point, Nic, I have one more question --
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: -- for you on the metals. How confident are officials here in these different regions within Hungary that this stuff won't make it to the river? How confident are they?
ROBERTSON: Well, they're saying -- they're saying that they can stop it getting to the Danube River. They say that they have the expertise and the professionals in the country to be able to do that.
One of the other things that they're trying to do is pour -- is pour the plaster into the river to actually physically block the river. But the analysis that says you can neutralize it, but you have still got these heavy metals, that's the real worry here. That's what has, worldwide, people worried. That's what has local countries worried. That's what has ecologists worried. Go ahead and neutralize it, but the heavy metals are the danger.
BALDWIN: Gosh, this stuff just looks scary. I hope you and your crew, Nic, have hazmat gear and the whole deal, because this is -- this is obviously bad news for Hungary.
Nic Robertson from the phone, from Europe, thank you for that. We will stay on that story. And I'm sure we will be seeing Nic in the coming days here.
Meantime, so, why is there talk of Hillary Clinton -- Hillary Clinton -- replacing Joe Biden as vice president if President Obama decides to run again in 2012? We're going to get some reaction from the White House, the secretary of state herself, and from the "Best Political Team on Television" coming up.
Also, a former Taliban diplomat playing peacemaker? Could it be? Delicate negotiations in Afghanistan between that government, Pakistan and this former Taliban insider, this ambassador to Pakistan here, a member of the Taliban, they're all under way. How is that working out?
We're going to get an update coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: You know how Chad and I were just talking about those not just one, two tornadoes and possibly some more messy stuff to come for just outside of Flagstaff? It was Bellemont, Arizona, today.
Got a tweet I want to show you. This is from the Arizona Department of Transportation. They say: "North Arizona still under a tornado watch. Crews clearing I-40 and US-180 of debris from two reported tornadoes." They end it with, very appropriately, "Wild Arizona weather."
Connecticut, the state race there has been messy pretty much from the start of this thing, if you have been following it. One candidate was hit with claims that he lied about fighting in Vietnam. Meantime, the other candidate, she's been known to get in the ring with WWF wrestlers. You know who I'm talking about? I know Jessica Yellin does. She will be talking to me next about that and this.
This group has made a name for itself protesting at the funerals of American soldiers, the families, obviously, they're outraged. But what about the Supreme Court? Our own Jeff Toobin weighs in on the controversy at the highest court of the land.
Stay right here. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: This summer's conventional wisdom said this. There is no way Democrats could possibly lose the Senate and no way that Chris Dodd's Connecticut Senate seat could possibly go Republican.
Well, that was then. This is now. Less than one month until the election, a recent poll showed the Democratic a shoo-in, former Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Well, shoo-in, maybe not so much these days. You see, his opponent -- take a look at these pictures -- this is kind of fun -- a political novice, but she does know a little something -- whoa -- about smackdowns.
That lady on the floor is Linda McMahon, Republican nominee for U.S. Senate. By the way, she's also the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.
And Jessica Yellin got to go to Connecticut. She's in Waterbury.
We're talking about this very interesting race, Jessica Yellin. And before we talk politics, look, I'm a girl from the South. So, here's my question for you. In Connecticut, is it wrestling or wrestling?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Ah.
(LAUGHTER)
YELLIN: Well, Brooke, you know, I don't take political positions, and that seems to be a very contentious debate.
(LAUGHTER)
YELLIN: So, I'm not saying -- I will tell you, though, Vince McMahon has said, wrestling/wrestling, we're in the entertainment business.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Right. Right. Right.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: OK. Wrestling/wrestling aside, this is supposed to be a pretty easy deal here for Blumenthal, but he developed a little problem over his military record.
Let's take a look here. This is a new ad -- before we chat, let's take a look. This is a new ad from his opponent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, LINDA MCMAHON CAMPAIGN AD)
NARRATOR: Would you lie about serving in a war?
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have learned something very important since the days that I served in Vietnam.
I served in Vietnam.
NARRATOR: Dick Blumenthal did --
BLUMENTHAL: I served in Vietnam.
NARRATOR: -- again and again.
BLUMENTHAL: I served in Vietnam.
When we returned, we sought nothing of this gratitude.
NARRATOR: He covered one lie with another.
BLUMENTHAL: Since the days that I served --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Yikes, lied again and again and again.
So, Jessica, is this a reason why this race has been so close, that Blumenthal has been exaggeratory of his service record?
YELLIN: It's -- it's been a big factor here, Brooke.
Obviously, it's a tough year for Democrats in general, and this state is no exception. But the fact that Blumenthal has had to answer these questions has complicated his race. And I put it to him again today because this ad was the first time we saw some of that video. We have heard the quotes before, but that video was fresh. And I asked him, did he intend to mislead?
Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA MCMAHON (R), CONNECTICUT SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I have been bankrupt. I have come back from bankruptcy. I have had an opportunity because of the American dream in this country to grow and to --
BLUMENTHAL: Nothing new in the ad and nothing new about Linda McMahon's attack campaign against me.
I'm proud of my military record. I'm proud of having served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves. On a small number of occasions, out of hundreds that I have described my military record, I inaccurately described it. And I regret it. It was unintentional. I take full responsibility for it. And I apologize particularly to veterans.
YELLIN: Brooke, and he goes on to say that he also believes that people of Connecticut knows who he is. He's been in office many years. Basically, at this point, the campaign's position is, this question is asked and answered.
BALDWIN: Jess, when you look at these -- you know, when you look at different attack ads, obviously, the point is, you know, one candidate takes their opponent's foibles of the past and they splash it all across the screen.
But then you look at -- when you look at McMahon, and given her history with wrestling, I'm just curious if you have been out and about talking to Connecticut voters if her history there, if they're -- if they're able to take her seriously.
YELLIN: You know, because she's sort of seen as the business partner in the deal who is much more focused on running the system, running the management of it, she is taken seriously, but it's led to complications.
First of all, she's put more than $20 million into this race, and so that raises the question of her buying a campaign -- an election. There is an investigation because her own company did not provide comprehensive health care for the wrestlers for their health care when they were outside the ring. So that raises questions what's government's responsibility vs. business, and other questions surrounding this multimillion-dollar company.
So, it's raised a lot of complications for her in this race and, of course, makes for plenty of interesting headlines, when they want to write about smackdowns and think of your wrestling analogy.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Talk about smackdowns, wrestling. Hey, you never know what could happen here, pretty interesting race.
Jessica, you get all the cool assignments and all the fun races. Appreciate it, Jessica Yellin for us.
YELLIN: Oh!
BALDWIN: Yes, yes, go. Yes.
YELLIN: We just found out Michelle -- Michelle Obama will be coming to campaign to Blumenthal here on October 18.
BALDWIN: Ah.
YELLIN: So, that's one little bit of news I wanted to update.
BALDWIN: A little bit of breaking news here from Jessica Yellin -- Ms. -- Ms. Obama.
YELLIN: There you go.
BALDWIN: All right, Jess, thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: It is the biggest police corruption crackdown in FBI history, 133 people, most of them police officers, arrested for protecting drug dealers. Isn't it supposed to work the opposite? Coming up next, we're going to tell you where and how this bust went down.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is curled up. And his -- oh, God, his head is all bashed in.
911 OPERATOR: OK. Where's the bear now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he's -- John, John, wait.
911 OPERATOR: Where is the bear now?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't see him. I -- he was at the door, and I scooted him away. (END AUDIO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Horrifying.
The man she was talking about, by the way, her husband, mauled by this bear, somehow managed to cling to life, in large part because of his wife's quick thinking. You heard her on the 911 call. We're going to have more of that, details, more of that 911 call. We're going to hear from him -- coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Want to take this time, get you caught up on some of the day's top stories here.
A rude awakening in both Central and North Central Arizona today. One tornado pounded the Flagstaff area just a little after 5:00 this morning. Another one hit about an hour later. And see the pictures over my shoulder? There they are. Those are RVs just tossed around like toys, flattened, smashed.
The tornadoes also pushed several cars off a train, off the rails, freight train off the rails, damaged more than 100 homes. No one was killed, though seven people are reported hurt.
And take a look at some of these guys in handcuffs here. They are cops busted in the biggest police corruption crackdown in FBI history. Hundreds of FBI agents swooped down -- this is Puerto Rico -- to arrest 133 people. The suspects are under indictment in this huge investigation into police protecting cocaine dealers.
Some, in fact, were turned in by their own. Police refused to turn it a blind eye to the corruption in their ranks. South American smugglers send drugs to Puerto Rico on their way to the East Coast.
And America honors a Green Beret who drew Taliban fire so his team could make it to safety. Staff Sergeant Robert J. Miller charged scores of Taliban, firing his machine gun and lobbing grenades when his unit was ambushed during night patrol in Afghanistan in January of two years ago. He was killed.
And today President Obama awarded him the nation's highest military award. This is the Medal of Honor. He presented it. There are Miller's parents accepting the honor on their son's behalf, who say their son loved what he was doing and believed it was a good cause.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it ever becomes physical from the bully we give the child the resources to defend themselves without being violent, neutralize the threat and end it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Can you really "bully-proof" your child? One self defense advocate says with a little training and proper strategy your child can avoid becoming a victim. That's ahead.
Also, could it be Obama/Clinton running in 2012? Where would that leave this guy, the vice president? We're going to drill down on to what some people are calling the new dream ticket. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.
OK, this kind of sounds -- you may say more than kind of -- far- fetched. But, hey, this comes from Bob Woodward, the old Watergate sleuth. He tells our own John King that Barack Obama might indeed dump his vice president, dump Joe Biden, and decide to run for reelection with Hillary Clinton.
Absolutely not says the White House today, and absolutely not says Hillary Clinton herself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have a great relationship and I have absolutely no interest and no reason for doing anything other than just dismissing these stories and moving on, because there's just no -- we have no time. We have so much to do, and I think both of us are very happy doing what we're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: You heard her. She says she's just dismissing those stories but this is politics, right? And this is by no means the first time we've heard of the old switch-a-ro. Joe Biden getting secretary of state Hillary Clinton running for vice president.
Let's talk about this more with Gloria Borger, one of our favorite CNN political analysts. She's there in D.C. Gloria, before we pontificate on the possibility, let me go to Ed Henry's tweet to underscore what the White House is saying.
Mr. Henry says he is tweeting, this is from the press secretary Robert Gibbs, pouring cold water on Obama/Clinton ticket in 2012. "No one in the White House is discussing this as a possibility." Yet Bob Woodward is saying it's on the table.
So Gloria, let's have a little fun here. I want you to make me an argument, sell this to me. How could we put Hillary Clinton on the ticket for 2012? Why would that be a good thing?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: OK, first of all, let me say before I do that and play that little game, that I think that really this isn't going to happen. I think that from talking to top advisers to Joe Biden and from talking to top White House advisers --
BALDWIN: David Axelrod.
BORGER: I'm not saying who I'm talking to, but I'm telling you, but as one said to me, maybe Bob Woodward has gone to too many Georgetown dinner parties.
You can't -- Bob Woodward is a great journalist and one of the greatest journalists of our time. But I think what he is reporting -- and I don't know who his sources are -- is outside chatter outside the White House rather than inside chatter. So to get back to your question --
BALDWIN: And we'll get to his sources in a minute, because he does attribute it to one group. We'll go there. Indulge me, though, Gloria.
BORGER: Outside chatter, but let's get to your hypothetical.
BALDWIN: Give me the argument.
BORGER: You could make the argument, OK, Hillary Clinton is very popular. It would get women excited. It would get those blue collar voters she did so well with in a state like Pennsylvania excited.
But I can also make the flip argument, which is that Joe Biden is terrific with blue collar voters, and you have him campaigning this fall with blue collar voters, and that, in fact, if you're talking about a dispirited Democratic base that doesn't like the war in Afghanistan, Hillary Clinton owns the war just as much as Barack Obama.
BALDWIN: Sure.
BORGER: And you could make the case that Joe Biden, in all of their discussions, was the one against sending as many troops to have Afghanistan as we have. Remember, he was for a less robust presence there.
BALDWIN: Correct.
BORGER: So he could help with the base more than Hillary, right?
BALDWIN: Excellent point. And we also dug up, because we have all kinds of archives here at CNN just to remind people when we think about this that the relationship between the president and secretary of state currently is fine. Back in the day not too far back in the day it was a little bit frosty.
Here's a snippet we pulled from one of the debates. Here we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can you say to the voters of New Hampshire on this stage tonight who see your resume and like it but are hesitating on the likability issue where they seem to like Barack Obama more.
CLINTON: Well, that hurts my feelings.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry, senator. I'm sorry.
CLINTON: But I'll try to go on.
(LAUGHTER)
He's very likable. I agree with that. I don't think I'm that bad.
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You're likable enough, Hillary, no doubt about it.
(LAUGHTER)
CLINTON: I appreciate that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Ouch, likable enough.
BORGER: That was a bad Obama moment.
BALDWIN: It was a bad Obama moment. It was a bad moment. But what about this? And we're almost out of time, but there is the sense these rumors are coming from these rogue Clintonistas trying to stir the pot.
BORGER: It's always interesting. The truth of the matter is that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama do get along very well. They have worked together very well.
But I think what happens sometimes in campaigns is it's the staff that never quite makes up. And so, you know, because they've been out there fighting in the trenches, and even though the principals are OK with each other and have moved on, some of these things linger.
BALDWIN: They're not over it. They're not over it.
BORGER: They're not over it, which is another reason I don't believe she would ever be on the ticket, because those things still linger.
BALDWIN: A lot of people are shooting down the idea. We'll just have to leave it at that.
BORGER: But you always have to pay attention to Bob Woodward. The guy has great sources. That's why we're talking about it.
BALDWIN: Gloria, thank you.
By the way, I looked it up the last time the president ditched his vice president, all the way back to 1976. That was Gerald Ford, and he lost.
Meantime, the city councilman who survived a freak bear attack tells what it was like to fight for his own life and why he is, oh, so grateful to his wife.
And a short time ago President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to a Green Beret who showed amazing courage while facing gunfire from 100 Taliban fighters. We will show you more of that emotional ceremony in the next hour. Stay right with us.
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BALDWIN: This is just one of those stories. You're going to hear it and hear me explain it to you and think what would you do?
Here we go. This isn't just about surviving a bear attack, which is pretty amazing all to itself. This is about how a wife kept her wits about her while a 150-pound bear attacked her husband.
More on that in a moment. First the husband, good news, thank goodness, survived this mid-September attack. And today after weeks of recovery in the hospital, we are hearing from him for the first time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN CHELMINIAK, BEAR ATTACK SURVIVOR: There were times when she was just clawing over the top. There were times when she was biting. I just vividly remember being bitten on the head and the sound that that makes as it was -- as her teeth were going into my head and running along the skull. It was just a horrendous fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Did you hear that? Teeth going into his head into his skull. Imagine. This was during that horrendous fight when John Chelminiak's wife came upon the attack outside their cabin in beautiful Washington State. And this is her right after she dialed 911.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYNN SEMLER, WIFE OF BEAR ATTACK SURVIVOR: My husband's been attacked by a bear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now, you can hear Lynne Zumler. She tries to stay calm describing what she sees. Imagine, she sees her husband, this Bellevue, Washington, city councilman lying on the ground outside the vacation home. Now let's pick up the call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHELMINIAK: I'm dying!
SEMLER: He said he's dying!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. SEMLER: Honey, just a minute. Megan, close the door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, I'm going to get somebody to get the ambulance headed your way. OK.
SEMLER: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay on the phone. Stay on the phone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now, here is what happened. Her husband was walking the dogs when the bear leapt out of the bushes near the cabin. Her wife heard some kind of noise. Thinking, what's going on? She goes outside, realizes it was a bear. There's more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEMLER: He is curled up. And, oh, god, his head is all bashed in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, where's the bear now?
SEMLER: I think he -- John, John, wait.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Where's the bear now?
SEMLER: I don't see him. He was at the door and I scooted him away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: I know, it's tough to listen to. Such presence of mind. You can hear her talking herself into staying calm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEMLER: Oh, god. I need you to keep breathing. Stay calm. I'm going to stay calm too, my love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now, this attack left her husband with deep cuts, puncture wounds around his head, around his body, and a gash in the back of his neck.
Here he is from today that left him really all the way down to his spine. He also lost -- you can see his left eye. It's gone. He has undergone multiple surgeries, multiple skin grafts. In fact, he has more surgeries in the months ahead.
But through it all he's amazed by his wife's bravery. By the way, the bear that attacked him was captured. There it is. It was captured and killed. Though Chelminiak obviously just grateful to be alive. It's a tough story. All right, you got to look at this. Look at this reporter. I know, we do stupid things, but this is just some of the ferocious weather that record through Phoenix last night. More video from this guy getting pounded buy rain and hail coming up.
Also, bullies, consider yourself warned. More students are learning how to defend themselves. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: This week we have been looking at school bullying and cyber bullying. And a California sensei teaching some kids some progressive tips to handle bullies in what he calls a humble approach to dealing with the problem.
While the kids are certainly learn to defend themselves with martial arts, they're encouraged to try diplomacy first. Casey Wian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen to me, hamburger head, this is my school. Level your hamburger at home next time. Yes, good. Tackle, tackle, tackle nice.
WIAN: Nine-year-old Trevor Robertson is one of 60 students in a jujitsu class that says it can bully-proof kids.
MARGARITA ROBERTSON, ENROLLED SON IN "BULLYPROOF" PROGRAM: He had to transition to a different school and had a hard time fitting in with some of the kids.
WIAN: Now Trevor's earned a new stripe on the belt and new confidence.
TREVOR ROBERTSON, GRACIE BULLYPROOF PROGRAM MEMBER: I was at soccer camp, and an older kid, he was kind of picking on me, and then he tried to push me. So I got his arm and I put it behind his back and I asked him if he would stop. And he said, yes. And he didn't bug me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Redirect. Lay down.
WIAN: At the Gracie Jujitsu academy outside of Los Angeles, students learn that physically subduing the bully is the absolute last resort.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be respectful and calm.
WIAN: And they should never go looking for trouble.
RENER GRACIE, CO-CREATOR GRACIE BULLYPROOF: If the boy is harassing you, talk to them with confidence. And we teach them how to do that. Eye contact, stand strong, what to say. If the bully still persists, you have to tell the teacher and get the parents involved, get the principal involved, school administrators involved. Should he punch me in the face? No, of course not. Should he tackle me? No.
If it's physical, we give the child the resources to defend themselves without ever being violent. End it.
WIAN: Michelle was bullied when she started kindergarten last year.
WILLIAM HIE, DAUGHTER TARGETED BY BULLIES: She'd come home with her pants like dirty, her sunglasses kind of like broken. So when we asked, say, hey, what happened here? She really said, I just fell. OK. She didn't want to say anything else. But I noticed the kind of like the attitude change. OK? It's kind of like angry.
WIAN (on camera): Does she have problems with bullying anymore?
HIE: Actually, no. She kind of like knows what to do. That's a good thing.
WIAN (voice-over): As part of the yearlong class, children are taught responsibility, respect, citizenship, and manners.
GRACIE: If you want something, say "please." If they give it to you, "thank you." If you don't, what do you say? "No, thank you."
We're teaching fighting fire with water. It is the humble approach. And again, it can't be more emphasized that the more a child learns how to defend him or herself, the more confident they become. And the more confident they become, the less likely they are to be targeted by the bully.
WIAN: The academy has heard complaints from schools with zero tolerance policies for violence even in self defense. As a parent, I asked Gracie how to advise my son.
WIAN (on camera): I don't want him to go against the school and protect himself. So how would you handle a situation like that?
GRACIE: It makes sense that the schools says no one fights at all. Throw a punch, kick someone or respond to a fight, everyone's in trouble. Everyone gets suspended. The problem is the bullies violate the rules, and the kids who are the victims now of the abuse, the violation of the rules, are too scared of the policy to stand up for themselves.
WIAN: He stresses the goal to avoid conflict giving kids confidence.
Casey Wian, Torrance, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: If you haven't learn by now watching the news, everything you do these day in the public eye is of course subject to video evidence. And that includes tantrums at the car wash. You've got to see this.
It's hard not to feel bad for this guy, right, after he lost his money in a change machine. What exactly do they think by kicking -- watch it with me. Here he goes -- bam. Kicking the change machine, what was that going to accomplish? Pulling it apart, yes. He goes on and on and on. I guess his car was pretty dirty.
Next, one of the big rules in soccer is, you know this, can't use your hands. So you should look very closely at this soccer player about to breeze past a female ref in Germany. Watch his hand. Whoa. There he goes again. Watch his right hand, brushes past. Can you see it? There he goes. Can we see illegal use of hands, buddy?
This next one, I can laugh it because I've had a couple of these assignments myself. Look, you cover weather, it happens. Bad weather usually means great news footage of reporters getting their tails kicked by Mother Nature.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at this. Those pellets of hail are falling like bullets. It's painful to be out here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: "Painful to be out here," "pellets of hail," ouch. That hurts. He needs a helmet, I guess.
And finally, if I can provide no other service to you in this the entire two hours here, at least let me show you an example of how not to become a master griller. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be a man about it. Toss it on there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Oh. Not such a good idea. Here we go. Wait for it. Oh! Wow. Not a good idea to get that close and throw cooking oil on an open flame. Gentlemen, come on. Luckily no one was hurt, but people, don't get any ideas. Let's just roll this one more time. Cooking oil, that's getting a little bigger. A little more, little bit more -- Oh. Grill 101, what not to do.
We are two minutes away from some breaking political news. Wolf Blitzer has the highlights from the Political Ticker. That is next.
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