Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Time's Running Out; Shoplifting Costs You $423; CNN Express: Talking to Young Voters Across the Country; Violent Protests Over Fuel Shortages, Changes in Retirement Happening in France; Clothing Controls Music
Aired October 19, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Tony, I'd love to ask you to say, but as Sandra says, you've got to get going because I know you like to drop it like it's hot in the afternoon. So you have yourself a fantastic afternoon. My good friend, Tony Harris.
I'm Ali Velshi. For the next two hours today and every day I'll be your guide through the maze of information that comes your way. Together, we're going to learn what's going on at home and around the world. You'll get access to the folks who can best explain what it means today and the impact beyond today.
We'll showcase the best ideas in innovation, philanthropy and public education. My mission is to help you figure out how what's going on around you fits into your life.
Let's get started right now.
Here's something going down around you that you may not know costs you money. Shoplifters are not just stealing from stores, they're stealing from you. As a matter of fact, they're costing you $423. We'll break down that number and tell you why.
Plus, he was basically told he was too disabled to fly. You'll meet Johnnie Tuitel, a motivational speaker who found a whole new motivation when he was kicked off a plane because of his disability.
And what if you could turn up the volume on your MP3 player, pick names from a phonebook or scroll a Web site through your clothing? A little bit of rub and surf. It's possible. I'm going to go through some -- I'm going to model some wearable electronics.
OK. But, first, two weeks can be a mighty long time in politics. For a dozens of incumbent Democrats, well, this year's midterms are coming on a little too fast. Election Day is 14 days from right now -- except in all those states where today is also Election Day.
Every state you see highlighted here -- I'm going to put them up on the wall -- every state you see highlighted here in, not in white, has got either early or absentee voting. And that means every day between now and November 2nd, there are going to be a smaller number of voters who can still be swayed one way or another.
Now, does that mean campaigning is going to drop off between now and November 2nd? Not on your life.
If you're keeping score at home, here's how it comes down. Thirty-seven Senate seats are in play. In order to win control of the Senate, the Republicans need a net gain of 10 seats to take control. Now, the handicappers over at "Rothenberg Political Report" are predicting a Republican pick up of eight seats, six to eight seats at most, which means Republicans, according to them, at this point, are not likely to take control of the Senate.
Now, all 435 House seats are up for grabs. As you know, it's one-third of the Senate, but all of the House. And only about 100 of those are considered to be in play. I say "only," but that's a far more -- that's a far bigger number than in a typical year. Republicans need to pick up 39 of those 100 that are in play. And again, "Rothenberg" predicts they'll do that and more. They're looking at a pickup of 40 to 50 seats.
Now, my colleague, John Roberts, got some details on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CNN'S AMERICAN MORNING)
NATHAN GONZALES, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT: It's going to be an ugly election night for Democrats. We just don't know quite how bad it's going to be. I think the challenge hidden in that 100 competitive seats is another key number in that 91 of those 100 competitive seats are currently held by a Democrat while nine of those are currently held by a Republican. So, Democrats are dramatically on defense. And I think that the challenge is that 50 number may not even be the cap for Republicans. We're still waiting to see how these final messages play out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: OK. So of those 100, 91 of them are Democratic seats.
And if you want more proof that the Democrats are playing defense, the "Happy Warrior," himself, Joe Biden campaigning today. Not in typically Republican states, not even in tossup states, but in states where Democrats ought not to be concerned. The vice president is visiting Washington state, campaigning for embattled Democratic Senator Patty Murray, and California for embattled Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer.
Former President Bill Clinton is in Florida campaigning for Democratic Senate candidate Kendrick Meek. Meek is running far behind the GOP candidate and the Tea Party favorite, Marco Rubio.
And this is day two of the fourth bus tour of the Tea Party Express, and they are still in Nevada. They're clearly playing offense. The Tea Partiers want to oust Nevada's Democratic senator and the current Senate majority leader, Harry Reid.
At a kickoff rally yesterday in Reno, the movement's biggest name had some fighting words for Democrats for sure, but also for the GOP.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FMR. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hey, politicians who are in office today, you, some of you, need to man up and spend some political capital to support the Tea Party candidates instead of doing this, waiting to see how everything's going to go. You know that the Tea Party candidates are constitutionalists. They have the common sense. So, some of these politicians, the big wigs within the machine, they're driving me crazy because they're too chicken to come out and support the Tea Party candidates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Wow. Call them chickens.
Man up, by the way, seems to be the phrase of this campaign. Afterwards CNN's Shannon Travis got a few words with Palin while she worked the crowds. Listen to what he had to say to her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PALIN: Thank you for your encouragement.
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: What do -- what do you say, Governor, what do you say to your critics who say you're way too divisive to forge a consensus?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God bless you.
TRAVIS: Critics say you're way too divisive.
PALIN: They're going to say what they're going to say. And if I spend all my time just answering the critics, I might as well close up shop and do nothing else. Instead, we're out here we're just a -- so appreciating the enthusiasm for the common sense message of Tea Party Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: OK. All this brings me to "The Best Political Team on Television" and specifically, the best political pair on television. CNN's senior political editor Mark Preston on your left, and on your right, deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.
Guys, thank you so much for this.
Hey, Mark, you got a column. It's right there on the screen next to you. That you've written. Talking about there being enough Tea Party candidates in the Senate where the GOP may not take the Senate, but if these Tea Party-supported Senate candidates win, you could see a Tea Party bloc, a voting bloc in the Senate.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: You could, Ali. Look, by my count, there are eight candidates in the Senate right now backed by the Tea Party, encouraged by the Tea Party, fueled by the Tea Party, that could win on Election Day. If that is the case, those eight would come here to Washington and they would exert an incredible amount of influence, more than likely their leader would be Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who bucked all those party leaders and helped these folks out, not only monetarily but just by the fact that he was from Washington and he got behind their candidacies.
What does that mean in the big picture of things? It would create a problem for the Republican leadership because in the Senate, it is govern by consensus. There has to be compromise. And if these Tea Party candidates come to Washington, D.C., they would be less likely to compromise. They would dig in their heels on conservative issues.
Across the Capitol, Ali, the House already has a Tea Party Caucus. Fifty-two members are already part of the caucus. They're all Republican. I would expect that that caucus would increase.
And, in fact, I just got off the phone with Michele Bachmann's office who is overseeing that caucus. And they said, look, what we're trying to do is be the ear piece for these common Americas who can come to Washington, D.C., and talk to us, not be the mouthpiece.
Having said, these Tea Party Caucuses, they could unite and they would very much be the mouthpiece for the conservative movement, Ali.
VELSHI: All right, here's the problem, Paul, that we have people in the Tea Party who represent in some cases what traditional conservatives represent. And there are some who don't. Some are far more libertarian. They don't want some of the rules that conservatives would have on there.
And then topping it all off, because I'm the money guy, I'm curious about these promises to lower the deficit and lower taxes at the time when you got 2 percent economic growth. So, ultimately, there's going to be some reckoning on November 3rd when we find out that some people have won office, who have promised to do things, that it's very hard to do in government.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. And it's going to be tough for them to deliver. And there could be a problem in two years or four years or six year s when a lot of these people are up for reelection if there are no results because it seems like the American electorate nowadays is very fickle.
They give the Democrats four years now in power in Congress, and now, they're ready for a change it seems. They could be ready for a change again if some Tea Party candidates win election and don't deliver over the next two years.
And, Ali, you know, remember back in 1994 when the Republicans stormed back and won Congress -- control of Congress from the Democrats --
VELSHI: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: -- there was agreement between the Republicans and President Bill Clinton. They were able to achieve big-ticket items. But it seems like that may be more difficult if the Republicans win back control of Congress this time to see any kind of agreement with the Obama White House because of this Tea Party effect. And they are just so widely divergent on some key topics, like repealing health care reform --
VELSHI: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: -- lowering the deficit. So, it seems very tough to have some agreement.
VELSHI: Yes. Guys, I want you to listen to this. This is Sharron Angle, who is running against Harry Reid. And as we just said, the Tea Party Express is still in Nevada. They're still gunning for Harry Reid with some success.
She was talking to a bunch of school kids. One asked her why her ads seem to target Latinos and indicate that they're illegal immigrants. Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHARRON ANGLE (R), NEVADA SENATE CANDIDATE: You know, I don't -- I don't know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: I don't know that all of you are Latino. Some of you look a little more Asian to me.
Mark, Paul, what do you make of Sharron Angle and those comments?
PRESTON: Let me just talk in the macro sense. And I think Paul can add on to it.
In the macro sense, Republicans don't want to hear statements like this. They don't want Sharron Angle to be making these inflammatory comments. They don't want Carl Paladino, who is running for governor in New York, to make disparaging comments about homosexuality. They don't want Ken Buck out in Colorado, another Tea Party favorite, to talk about homosexuality being a choice.
They want their candidates to talk about the economy.
VELSHI: Right.
PRESTON: The economy is what's going to get them to win on Election Day, Ali.
STEINHAUSER: Mark was macro. I'll going micro on this one, Ali.
Statement from the Angle campaign said that Sharron was making the point that this country is a melting pot and you cannot judge people based on the stereotypes or the way they look. The question to Sharron Angle that she was responding to there was about a new ad that her campaign has put up attacking Latinos in a way over illegal immigration, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Thanks, guys. I love it. I love the micro and the macro. You know guys know exactly what's going on. It's a place to get plugged in, CNN.com/Politics.
And we'll be back with these guys very, very shortly.
Hey, shoplifters -- you probably don't think much of them if you're not one, yourself. But they're taking money out of your pocket. You may be shocked to find out how much. We've got it down to the dollar when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. I'm here with Josh. He's got something interesting to tell us.
Next time you're shopping, take a look at the people around you. Look carefully. Some of them may be shoplifters. They are clearly still out there and they could be taking hundreds of dollars a year right out of your pocket.
Now, I sort of get that, Josh, because if you're stealing, the retailer is going to pass on to us.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
VELSHI: But you got some hard numbers on this.
LEVS: Yes, we do because there's thing, this barometer that follows it every year out of this agency in England, the Global Retail Theft Barometer.
VELSHI: Yes.
LEVS: Take a look at what they're saying, all right? I pulled out the U.S. figures from which this came out, in 2010, June 2010. This is just U.S. retailers here, lost $39 billion. Now, a lot of this is from theft, a little bit is administrative errors. But the vast majority is theft and it's every state.
VELSHI: And this is outside theft or this is what they called shrinkage in the industry?
LEVS: It's shrinkage in the industry.
VELSHI: Where sometimes it's inside?
LEVS: A lot of it is inside. A lot of this is inside.
VELSHI: Yes.
LEVS: And that's part of what's interesting. It includes every step of the retail supply chain.
VELSHI: Yes. LEVS: So, it could be that someone says they're carrying, you know, 815 iPads. When they get there, this person says, oh, there's only 800. We don't know --
VELSHI: Right.
LEVS: So, in fact, the U.S. is different from other countries, because in North America, very -- one of the very few places that's saying that it's a bigger problem with employees than it is with outside shoplifting.
VELSHI: Right.
LEVS: Most countries, shoplifting is the bigger problem.
VELSHI: Because we got security systems that probably have dealt between these little tags and things that explode and cameras and alarms. We've dealt with a lot of the stick in your pocket and walk out of the store stuff.
LEVS: Yes, exactly. And then, look -- so what we're saying before, and you've talked about this earlier, this boils down, because the cost trickles down, $423 for every family on average.
VELSHI: And basically that's because costs increase to make up for it.
LEVS: They have to.
VELSHI: Yes.
LEVS: Now, there's a little bit of good news.
VELSHI: Yes.
LEVS: Actually, this kind of theft is decreasing.
VELSHI: Yes.
LEVS: It's going down this year. Some people thought it would go up because the economy was so ugly, it's going down a little bit in part because they're spending so much money to try to prevent this from happening.
VELSHI: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: The cost of the stuff that's stolen, and some of it is the cost of security and surveillance, and making sure it doesn't happen?
VELSHI: Exactly.
And this is the stuff that's stolen the most right here. I was looking in the U.S., what are people taking the most of? Cosmetics and perfumes. This is the most stolen. And this makes sense, you can stick it in your pocket.
VELSHI: Sure. They're small. Yes.
LEVS: They can't get these little bar codes on it that will ring.
Check this out. Next is auto parts and building materials. So, this isn't traditional shoplifting.
VELSHI: I wouldn't have thought about, carrying out a bunch of 2x4s.
LEVS: Well, the thing is, again, it might not arrive at the retail, right?
VELSHI: Right. It might fell off the truck.
LEVS: Yes, fell off the truck.
VELSHI: Right.
LEVS: And we don't know at what point of the supply chain -- from the warehouse --
VELSHI: Right. Right. OK.
LEVS: And, finally, fashion. Now, you know what people are stealing? Name brand fashion. It's -- they look for the names and the name brand fashion is what disappears in the U.S. and accessories, too, which I think is --
VELSHI: Do people still do that thing when they go into rooms and they put stuff on and they put the regular clothes on and leave?
LEVS: We're both thinking of the same person. (INAUDIBLE)/
(LAUGHTER)
LEVS: So, yes, that is the basic idea. It's one of the ways that they're doing it.
VELSHI: Wow, very interesting. Thank you for that. Love it. Explainer Josh Levs, thanks, buddy.
LEVS: You got it.
VELSHI: Hey, take a quick look over there, if you can. Look at that Dow. It's down 118 points right now to 11,025. We're going to keep an eye on it. That stock market has been having a rough morning all day.
And, listen, with the election coming up, a lot of people are taking political sides. That's what you do. But what if you're somewhere in the middle? What if you are -- and this used to be OK to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal. Do you even have a party? Your money and your politics -- up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. If you -- if you tell people you're a Republican, they may assume that you're supposed to be opposed to things like abortion and gay marriage. And if you tell people you're a Democrat, they might think that you want big government and more trees and high taxes.
What if you're somewhere in the middle? What if you're fiscally conservative, you want balanced budgets, you want lower taxes, but you're socially liberal? That's a big question. Where do you fit into this economy, where do you fit into politics right now?
My good friend, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera is a reporter and anchor for CNBC. She's written a new book about this and it addresses this. In fact, she says that the first step is to better define the party's platforms to address economic policies that create jobs. And we say, we're always talking about it on this show. That is -- beyond everything else, that's the one thing that matters the most.
Michelle, what a pleasure to see you. Great to have you on the show. Congratulations on the new book.
You really are addressing this issue, that there are a lot of people in America who would like things to be economically better, but they don't want to mind people's business on the social side of things. And they're wading around without a -- without a banner at the moment.
MICHELLE CARUSO-CABRERA, CNBC REPORTER & ANCHOR: It's very, very frustrating. I believe the vast majority of Americans actually want a government that stays out of their pocketbook and out of their private life.
But I tell you, I am fairly optimistic at this moment right now in history. We've got like 40 percent of the population that says they're independents and we have seen the dialogue shift dramatically towards fiscal issues.
I started this book, Ali, during the last election, before all these fiscally conservative groups existed, because I was so frustrated. And now, I find there's a lot of people who feel exactly like me.
VELSHI: So, how do you -- how do you square this? Because right now, we just talked with Paul and Mark a little while ago about how there's this Tea Party push and probably a great deal of success with that. And there are some people in the Tea Party who are -- they're libertarians, they just want -- they want less government and they want -- they want lower taxes.
But there are some people who want other things. They want in on your business and they -- as you said, you talked about abortion and gay marriage. What happens if you're a fiscal conservative? Who do you back right now?
CARUSO-CABRERA: Look, you've got to look at your local election --
VELSHI: Yes.
CARUSO-CABRERA: -- and look at the platforms of the individuals and call them up. Call up their offices. They're very responsive -- and say, what I care about most are fiscal issues, and controlling spending and the size of government. Don't say the deficit because the deficit is only a symptom of government that's getting bigger and bigger and more spending.
VELSHI: OK. Let's talk about this for a second. I love interviewing TV people because very concise answers.
There are a lot of people out there who say they will lower your taxes and they will lower that word you just said, the deficit. Hard to do when our economic growth is 2 percent right now. What's the honest answer for fiscal conservatives? What's -- what should you hear from your elected official, your candidates in order to say, that makes sense?
CARUSO-CABRERA: Some departments of the government should probably just go away. They don't need to exist because they haven't achieved what they were set out to do. There's a lot of fiscal conservatives who say, you know what, the Department of Energy was created in the 1970s to reduce our reliance on foreign oil. We've gotten nothing for our money. So, that's not very effective.
You've got a lot of people who are arguing -- a lot of candidates who are arguing actually, there should be no federal intervention into education. Historically, there hasn't been in the United States.
And then you really have to have people who honestly tell you that our entitlement, Social Security and Medicare, have promised way too much --
VELSHI: Those are --
CARUSO-CABRERA: -- to future generations. That's where the money is.
VELSHI: That's where the issue lies and we got to focus on that. I showed the picture of your book, I didn't say the name. The book is called "You Know I'm Right: More Prosperity, Less Government."
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, great to see you and to be on the same show as you are. Good luck. And I hope to see you soon.
CARUSO-CABRERA: Such a pleasure and an honor. Thank you.
VELSHI: All right.
Another big story we're watching, by the way, business story. Intel plans to create up to 1,000 permanent high-tech jobs in Arizona and Oregon. The company says it will invest up to $8 billion in these two states. Earlier, I spoke with Intel's CEO, I asked him about the decision to invest within the U.S. in manufacturing instead of abroad where it's cheaper. Here's what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL OTELLINI, CEO, INTEL: It's a very significant investment. It does cost a bit more to work -- to build one of these factories from scratch in the U.S. It's not labor cost, as one might thing think. It has to do with the kinds of grants that other countries would give you, tax credits and those kinds of things.
And what I've been asking -- calling on the administration to do is to consider doing those kinds of things for anyone who wants to invest in the U.S., whether it's a foreign company or domestic company, to create an incentive to put jobs here, to retool manufacturing in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Hey, we'll bring you more on that story and other business stories. Check out "YOUR $$$$$," Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. My host, Christine Romans, also the author of a brand new book, "Smart is the New Rich." Great book. It's on the bookshelves now.
Let me you bring you up to speed with some of the hour's top stories.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs earned $1.9 billion in the third quarter. That's just under $3 a share for those of you who are shareholders. That's actually down 40 percent due to a drop in the trading business.
The nation's biggest bank, Bank of America, reports a net loss of $7.3 billion in the third quarter. Now, it blames that loss on a one- time charge of $10.4 billion to comply with the new financial reform law. They say if they didn't have to have limits on credit card fees, they would have made a lot more money.
Bank of America is also moving forward with foreclosures in 23 states. Foreclosures were stalled in all 50 states due to potential paperwork problems. But the bank says its review found no errors so far, so it's still going over the cases in the other 27 cases.
Johnson & Johnson says its third quarter sales fell because of success of recalls of its over-the-counter drugs. The latest recall late yesterday involves Tylenol 8 Hour caplets in 50 count bottles. It came after reports of a moldy smell which also led to a previous recall.
A man in the wheelchair kicked off a plane and told he's unfit to fly. But he is a motivational speaker who turned a bad situation into an uplifting story. You're going to hear all about it -- next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: Johnny Tuitel is a motivational speaker. He's also bound to a wheelchair. He was on his way from Florida to Missouri to make a speech, but just as his flight on US Airways is about to take off, he was taken off the plane.
He didn't know why at first. He was worried about why he was being taken off the plane. He later found out it was because of his disability.
He has cerebral palsy and he needs a wheelchair to get around. Didn't make the flight, he missed his speech, and he thought about suing.
But, later, it would be -- he decided it would be better to educate rather than litigate. So now, he's talking to US Airways about how to keep things like this from happening to anyone else.
As you know, we talk a lot about what goes on on the airlines. Sometimes, it's critical, sometimes, we applaud what they're doing. US Airways has been one of those airlines with a continuous string of customer service problems.
But, Johnnie, I can't say I was entirely surprised to see that the airline had done this. But it does say on its Web site, "If a passenger has a mobility impairment so severe that the person is unable to physically assist in his or her own evacuation of the aircraft, US Airways requires the passenger travel with a safety assistant to assist the passenger to exit the aircraft in case of an emergency evacuation."
Johnnie Tuitel joins me now from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Johnnie, you fly a lot. This is not, like, something you do very rarely?
JOHNNIE TUITEL, MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER: No, I fly more than Amelia Earhart. I mean, I'm all over the country. I've flown over 500,000 miles in my life as a traveler. I've been doing this a while.
And I don't know if I'm an expert, but I'm good at it, and I know what my needs are. I know what I'm able to do and what not able to do.
And when this happened, Ali, it really threw me for a loop. I mean, I just -- I didn't know what to do at first because I didn't expect something like this.
VELSHI: Have you heard this from other airlines? Have they denied you boarding or being able to fly in the past?
TUITEL: No one has -- no one has ever denied me the ability to fly in the past over the last 20 years. And even before that -- I mean, I started flying when I was 7 years old. I flew to Europe as a kid, you know? It never happened.
VELSHI: And have you flown on US Airways as somebody who uses a wheelchair?
TUITEL: Actually, I have flown on US Airways before. So, that's really what was confusing.
VELSHI: All right. So, what happened? Did somebody loaded you on to this plane and then --
(CROSSTALK)
TUITEL: Here we go.
VELSHI: Tell me the story.
TUITEL: Let me quickly go through the scenario for you.
VELSHI: Yes.
TUITEL: I go -- I go into the airport, go to the counter, get my boarding pass. The man at the counter says to me, "I'm going to be the same guy at the gate, I'm going to check your chair." You know, just like when they check a stroller, they bring it below at the very end --
VELSHI: Yes.
TUITEL: -- and they bring it up to the gate when you land in your connecting flight? So, he said, "I'm going to bring the chair down and I'm going to put in an aisle chair and I'll escort you on to the plane." So, that's what he does. He puts me in the aisle chair, wheels me onboard.
I sit down. He says good-bye. Seven, 10 minutes later, he comes back and he says, "We need to talk." And as you said in the intro, I had no idea I was going to be removed from the plane. He wheels me out of the plane. I'm wondering what's going on. I'm thinking I'm going to get bad news, something's wrong. And I'm proceeded -- they proceeded to tell me they have deemed me too disabled to fly. And that I can fly if I go to the counter and purchase a companion ticket and then find a companion.
VELSHI: You got to find a companion.
TUITEL: Not only did I have to -- I'd have to hire a companion and buy that companion a ticket.
VELSHI: So now what ended up happening? Did you complain to US Airways?
TUITEL: Not initially. What happened basically was I made them, or didn't make them, I asked them to sell my ticket to Delta and I went on a Delta flight the next morning which ironically broke down so I didn't get out until Saturday morning. Just made the speech. Missed two very important meetings. They never sent me a written apology or explanation as to why they did what they did. And under the Carrier's Act, they were supposed to do that. They did not do that. However, they did call me Thursday night, last week to apologize.
VELSHI: This is after it hit the news, right? Let's be clear. They called you because they were getting -- this is how US Airways work. They wait until they get bad publicity and then they're all over.
TUITEL: Well and again, excuse me. Ali, you're probably right. I'm assuming that as well because right after I'd done two news shows and the press release hit, the girl called, offered me the money back for my ticket. I said, no thank you. I don't want the money back.
Then the next day, the following day after the news story hit and then the press release really started gaining steam, I got another call. And they actually said that -- and I don't know if that was the reason -- but they said they would like to remedy the situation and they would like to work with me on a consultant basis and let's make sure this doesn't happen again.
VELSHI: All right. Well, that's making lemons out of lemonade. Somebody like you who's used to motivating people can probably have some good effect.
Johnnie, thanks for telling us your story. We hope there will be a positive outcome not only for you, but other people in your situation and that generally there will be a good message to the airlines.
Good to see you.
TUITEL: Well, actually, and that's exactly what I do for a living. As a motivational speaker and author, I work with kids and adults. You know, this is better than litigating.
VELSHI: I hear you there. That's why we wanted to have you on. Because there's a good outcome to it. Johnnie Tuitel from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
We'll follow that story and see if changes occur as a result Johnny's participation with US Airways. US Airways, thanks for doing the right thing, although you waited until it was on the news.
T.J. Holmes, my good friend, you often see him here in place of me while I'm out traveling. He is on the show today, which is a big treat. He's on the CNN Election Express in South Carolina getting an earful from young voters. We're going to find out what's on their minds when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
All right. With these pivotal midterm elections just around the corner, you better believe the CNN Election Express is on the road. And boy do I miss being on it. It's in Aiken, South Carolina. You know, where I can't be, at least my good friend T.J. Holmes is. He's been talking with young voters and some who might be too busy to vote.
T.J., thank you for being here and good to see you. T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: You know what, always good to see you, Ali. And usually the case. When you can't be somewhere, I'm usually there filling in for you, such is the case now on the bus. I know you miss it. I know you spend a lot of time on it. And it still has your stench on it quite frankly. But, we miss you out here, Ali. We will see you soon.
But you're talking about young voters. The short answer to whether or they're motivated is no. No matter what rally you see the President have with 20,000 kids yelling and screaming, you know what, when you come out here and talk to them, they're just not engaged.
Now, this town Aiken, the one we happened to have found here, we talked to young people, but also other folks who live here in this town who are engaged and who find themselves lucky they live in Aiken, a smaller community of 30,000. They consider themselves kind of a success story because they've been able to stay below the average unemployment rate for the country. They have a couple of stable businesses here. Even the equestrian industry is huge here. But, still listen to them, you'll hear some common concerns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRAD SHARP, RETIREE: We see everyone's concerned about where the economy is when where the economy's going. And it's kind of scary right now.
TOM CANIGLIA, REALTOR: I think two-thirds of the people that move to Aiken are coming from other places and they can't sell their properties at their places, so they can't come here. And it -- I think it's actually gotten worse in the last year, and I'm not blaming anybody, by the way, politically. I think it's way more involved than that. It's gotten worse in the last year instead of better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So you hear common concerns there, Ali.
Listen to this for a formula for success for Aiken. Their business here is the nuclear business, if you will. An old nuclear plant here that was responsible for some nuclear materials during the Cold War. It's not making those materials now, but still it's having to be dismantled, employs thousands of people.
Like I mentioned, the equestrian industry is here. You don't find that everywhere. Also, this is a big retirement community. They come down, they support it. A lot of golf courses here employing a lot of people. So they have a formula here that kind of works, that they're able to sustain themselves. Not the case everywhere. But somewhat -- I don't know if we can call this a success story, Ali, but we found a place that's not as worse off as many other places are.
VELSHI: All right. T.J., good to see you. Hey, listen, you're on the bus all week?
HOLMES: All week, baby. VELSHI: All right, do me a favor. Tomorrow, show me some of the inside of the bus. I miss it a lot. Maybe take a walk in and show me what's going on inside? I miss it.
HOLMES: Yes. The reclining chair that says "A.V." the initials on it, it's still there.
VELSHI: The captain's chair.
T.J., great to see you, as always. We'll speak to you all week. T.J. Holmes out in Aiken, South Carolina.
Violent protests, strikes, and fuel shortages sweep across France. The country's president vows to crackdown on troublemakers. I got a live report on the latest mess in Globe Trekking, coming up after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for sting something we do every day. Globe Trekking. Today's stop is France, a country is engulfed in violent protests, strikes, fuel shortages, and flight cancelations. The outrage triggered by a plan to increase the retirement age from -- get this -- 60 to 62. CNN's Jim Bittermann is following the chaos. He joins me from Paris.
Jim, you know, anybody who spends a lot of time in France knows this kind of thing happens from time to time. Seems to be a little bigger than normal.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And I think that's one of the things the government is worried about, especially the addition of the students and the kind of demonstrations we've seen today and over the last two days. Because the students often are a sign that things are going to get radicalized.
Having said that, we saw just a little bit of a sign tonight that maybe the unions are not as resolved as they might be. One of the smaller unions said they don't know that they're going to be able to keep this protest going for another round. But, in any case, it is an issue that has galvanized the public.
And talking to a political science professor here a little earlier, one of the things he made the comparison to was President Obama when he tried to get healthcare through. There are a lot of people who really don't like President Sarkozy and that just no matter what the issue is they'd be out on the streets, Ali.
VELSHI: Ultimately, Jim, do the French sort of accept because they've been sort of striking in protests of changes to social legislation for so long, do they -- are they feeling that this effect might be felt elsewhere? We talked about airlines not being able to get in.
How is this affecting air traffic, for instance? BITTERMANN: Well, in fact, today, there were about a third of the flights at Charles de Gaulle, a big airport here in Paris were canceled and about a half at Orly, so that really affects people that want to get around the country. Transportation picture, the trains are about half canceled.
But the real problem has been energy supplies, basically gasoline and diesel oil which a lot of French use in their cars, the energy supplies have been running tight. There's about 4,000 gasoline stations out of the 13,000 in the country that are needing resupply and haven't been getting it. So that's going to start hitting the average person on the street very hard very shortly.
VELSHI: All right. Who wins in this one? Because Sarkozy says he's going to push this stuff through. Any end sight to the strikes and is he going to win?
BITTERMANN: I think we've to consult our crystal balls on that one. It looks to me like he really does want to get this through and he's really gambling his political career on this.
He's got a year and a half toward elections. If he can get this passed he can say, look, I'm the reformist president, I was able to get this by through the Parliament and the French people accept it a year and a half from now. If he can do that. If not, he may be forced to back down. And if he has to back down and the country's really paralyzed it's going to really damage him politically. He will not be able to run successfully, I don't think, in a year and a half when he's up for re-election.
VELSHI: All 4right. And this is a real problem that a lot of European countries have got to deal with.
Jim Bittermann is our senior international correspondent, joining us from Paris.
Jim, good to see you. Thanks very much.
Hey, new technology, I love this on one. It's our "Big I." New technology that allows you to control your electronics with your clothing. Today's "Big I." Take a look at that jacket. That's actually -- it doesn't just look good, it does something. I'm going to tell you about it when we come back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Every day we do something called "The Big I." It stands for idea. It's something that could change the world in which live. And I've got a fantastic one, this -- it really amazing me.
With me, Clint Zeagler, he's a researcher and designer with Georgia Tech. As you know, we do a lot with Georgia Tech around here because they're up the road and they invent fantastic things. And Claire Porter (ph) who's modeling this. This is wearable technology. It's really need. Clint, you have technology which basically isn't sticking your iPod in your pocket or attaching it to your jacket. It's controlling things with the fabric in your jacket or in your clothing.
CLINT ZEAGLER, GEORGIA TECH SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN: That's right. We use conductive thread and do embroideries. So you can see here that basically this is just a piece of fabric and when you touch the fabric it connects the circuit.
VELSHI: Take a look at the screen there. You'll see what's happening.
CLINTON: This is showing how I can basically control a program on the computer.
VELSHI: You're just showing me that it's actually being controlled, but this could mean anything. This -- you could be starting your computer, your iPod, you could be doing anything?
ZEAGLER: That's right. If you look at Claire's jacket, what we've done is taken the technology and made it to where we can embroider it onto the clothing. So basically you can run the wires inside or the thread inside the sleeve and have your cell phone in your pocket and for instance answer your cell phone by just brushing your sleeve.
VELSHI: So Some people's early experience with this may be a blue tooth headset which you have to touch to organize it, now you're integrating it into fabric and clothing.
You have a few other things here. You have a zipper. Now I think I know what this is for. This is if you're walking around and somebody gives you a clue your zipper is undone and then you can casually -- without doing anything you can do this on your hand and something like that and it closes the zipper.
ZEAGLER: It can be a volume control. The other nice thing about the zipper, in the industry, there's lots of jobs when you need to know that the suit is fully zipped up like hazmat suits or space suits or any kind of Any suit that needs to be zipped up. That's why the zipper is nice.
We've also done some stuff with knife pleats. So these are a set of one way and scroll the other way and scroll the other way.
VELSHI: What would this control be? Give me an example of something I would need to control this way or this way. Let's take a tight look.
ZEAGLER: You could skip through songs on an MP3 player or scroll up and down a web page.
VELSHI: Oh, OK, all right. And then you've got -- this is the one -- this is similar to what we were seeing. This is what's on Claire's --
ZEAGLER: And then, for instance, this one here we have hooked up to show, for instance, this could be a file, new, open, save.
VELSHI: So you're actually navigating around a page using what's on your --
ZEAGLER: Using what's on --
VELSHI: Tell me the application for that because obviously, if I have a computer in front of me, I don't need that. Is this some point when I have the image in my eyeglasses or something?
ZEAGLER: If you have a heads-up display, which is a video camera in your eye, then you can use that to control your computer with your file and edit.
VELSHI: Or maybe there's a display on a screen and giving a presentation.
ZEAGLER: Exactly.
VELSHI: You can be clanging it from your clothing.
ZEAGLER: Or you're skiing on a ski slope and you've got your MP3 player in your pocket and want to change songs or volume without having to take it out in the cold and take your gloves off.
VELSHI: All right. How long before you think we'll see this in clothing?
ZEAGLER: Well it's ready now, and that's why we made this swatch book, to show people and show fashion designers who -- because I come from the fashion industry, we're scared of technology most of us. So we tried to package it in a way that fashion designers can look at it and not be scared of the technology behind it.
VELSHI: Very nonintrusive. You can see somebody designing patterns. If I saw you wearing that on the street, I wouldn't know that that's technology. I would think that that's nifty design.
Good to meet you.
ZEAGLER: Nice to meet you too.
VELSHI: We will follow this closely. I would like to see where this goes.
Claire, thank you very much for that.
Hey, to check out other research going on at Georgia Tech or this, head to my blog, CNN.com/Ali, we'll link you, we'll point you in the right direction.
OK, we've been talking about her a lot, Delaware Senate Candidate Christine O'Donnell. She gets a lesson on the Constitution from her opponent. A political update just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: Two weeks to go before the elections and the Delaware Senate contest is back in the news. Wolf Blitzer knows that one better than anyone. He's part of "The Best Political Team on Television." He's here with the very latest developments.
Wolf, good to see you.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Ali, thanks very much. Lots of news crossing CNNPolitics.com on our Political Ticker.
Christine O'Donnell, she's the Republican nominee for the Senate in Delaware. She had another debate with Chris Coons, the Democratic nominee. And unfortunately for Christine O'Donnell, she had some problems with the Constitution. Once again, she suggested that the First Amendment to the Constitution does not directly deal with the separation of church and state, which of course has been the widely interpretation of the First Amendment for a long time.
She was asked about teaching creationism in public schools. She -- and somebody pointed out that the First Amendment calls for the separation of church and state. She said, the First Amendment does -- let me just clarify. You're telling me the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?
Later, she had some problems knowing what the 15th -- excuse me, 14th Amendment was to the Constitution. She had a problem with that. She also had a problem with the 16th Amendment. Fourteenth Amendment gives citizenship to anyone born in the United States. The 16th Amendment created the federal income tax. She said she didn't bring her Constitution with her to the debate.
That could be a problem for her. She's way behind in Delaware to begin with. This is not going to help her, I suspect.
As far as President Obama is concerned, he's done a new 60-second commercial, an ad that's airing primarily on African-American radio stations in urban areas urging African-Americans to go out and vote. He says, on November 2nd I need you to stand with me and vote.
It's a $3 million outreach effort by the Democratic National Committee trying to get out the vote. If the Democrats don't go out and vote they're going to suffer significant losses on November 2nd.
Finally, the first interview that Rahm Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff, has given in Chicago. He's gone back to Chicago. He's on a listening tour potentially getting ready to run for mayor of Chicago. Mayor Daley has decided not to seek reelection.
Rahm Emanuel speaking for about an hour to the "Chicago Tribune" mostly stating his case for education reform. He says that will be issue number one in Chicago. It's by no means a done deal that he's going to win that race, that election in February. Assuming he gets it. He has a lot of stiff opponents in Chicago. It's going to be a tough battle for Rahm Emanuel -- Ali.
VELSHI: Wolf, in the last election, President Obama really had a lot to say about troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. That was a big, big election topic. It doesn't seem to be the top concern for most Americans right now, but how is it playing out amongst candidates?
BLITZER: It's not really a huge issue, at least in all the speeches that they're giving, in all the polls. The issue number one, as you know, Ali, better than anyone, is jobs and the economy. That's issue number one by far. What's happening in Iraq and Afghanistan is important and certainly to some voters it will be significant.
But on this issue, there's not a whole lot of difference at least on the substance between the president and the Democrats, the democratic leadership, I should say, and the Republicans. They support General Petraeus in Afghanistan, what he's trying to do as far as counter insurgency programs are concerned and they support the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
So it's not a huge issue, at least not now.
VELSHI: All right, Wolf, good to see you, as always. Thanks very much.
Wolf Blitzer and "The Best Political Team on Television." Our next political update will be actually in just a few minutes.
Stay with us, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
