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Jobs Added in October; Closing the Achievement Gap; Nancy Pelosi to Run Again to Lead Dems; India: A Cost/Benefit Analysis

Aired November 05, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It's 2:00 on the East.

I'm Ali Velshi, with you for the next hour. Here's what I've got "On the Rundown."

Hurricane Tomas is lashing Haiti right now with furious winds and potentially deadly flooding rains. What's happening in those tent cities that are home to more than a million people? We'll talk to people on the ground.

And he's Harlem's hero. Geoffrey Canada is fixing schools and turning countless kids' lives around. He's here to tell us how he does it and share his thoughts on how the election might change the direction of education.

And President Obama is heading to India, but not without controversy. We'll examine the high cost and potentially high returns of his trip.

But first I want to tell you about a big story today.

After months of losses, the U.S. economy added jobs in October. That's the month for which we have the most recent numbers. We got them today -- 151,000 jobs were added in October.

The number is made all the more remarkable when you consider that most forecasts had been for a gain of between 60,000 and 68,000 jobs. Let me show you what this has looked like. This is the jobs picture in America over the last three years.

Back in December of 2007, when this recession started, we had gained jobs. Then look at that. All through 2008 -- 2008 to 2009 -- we were losing for three months there more than 700,000 jobs. That was right where President Obama took office.

Then look at that. Jobs started to increase and increase. And toward the end of 2009, just for one month, we were in the green. Then we were back in the red again.

Then look at that. In 2010, it seems solid, but a lot of that was Census job growth, government jobs. And when that ended, we had four straight months of job losses.

Now, 151,000 jobs. The devil is in the details though. Let me take this apart for you. One of the first things that has to get your attention is that the jobs created came from the private sector, 159,000. In fact, it was offset by the losses in government jobs. So, if we're for gaining jobs, what kind of jobs are they?

Well, you can argue about whether we're adding quality jobs or not. And I'm going to talk to some people about that in a moment.

Temporary workers saw the biggest gains, 35,000. Retail, up 28,000. Health care, that has been a perennial success area, up 24,000. Fast food, up 24,000.

Now, there were some losses, too. Leisure and hospitality down 26,000. Another 14,000 jobs were lost in local government. That's an increasing problem as these deficits get pushed down to state and local levels.

There's another big number out there, and that's the unemployment rate itself. It remains at 9.6 percent.

Adding all those jobs, 150,000 jobs, made no dent in the national unemployment rate. Why? Well, we need to create about 150,000 jobs a month, according to economists, just to keep up with population growth, people entering the workforce. More people enter the workforce than retire on a monthly basis. You need 250,000, 300,000 jobs to really put a dent in that unemployment rate and start to get back to where we were before this recession, 5 percent unemployment.

OK. It's a lot of numbers I've been throwing out there, and one of the things about jobs is that it's not about numbers. It's actually about real people.

Nearly 15 million people in this country are unemployed. More than six million people have been unemployed for more than six months. They've given up looking for work.

Christine Romans, my colleague, is in New York with her analysis on this.

OK, Christine. That's a lot of numbers. If you don't follow it as closely as you and I do, that might be a daunting selection of numbers.

What do you take from this jobs report?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're absolutely right that it is about people, and that people are really concerned about the jobs market. And we know -- everyone knows somebody, maybe in your family, who has lost a job.

So, seeing jobs creation, 150,000 jobs, you think it's not enough. But it is something.

And Ali, something I take from the broader trend is that 1.1 million jobs have been created in the private sector since December 2009 -- 1.1 million jobs. Not enough to bite into the unemployment rate, but, still, it is moving in the right direction. That's one side of it.

VELSHI: Right. If you've heard -- based on some discussions you hear out there, you would think none were.

ROMANS: Right. No, there are jobs being created.

Look, this is the biggest, most dynamic labor market in the world. There are people getting jobs and losing jobs every day for more reasons than just the economy.

VELSHI: Right.

ROMANS: But there are an awful lot of people who aren't finding their foothold, aren't finding their opportunity in this labor market. That's still a problem.

The length of unemployment, the average length of unemployment, is still too long. It's now 33.9 weeks. I mean, think of that and how that has worsened. This line shows you --

VELSHI: Let's look at this chart, yes.

ROMANS: -- what the great recession has done.

VELSHI: It used to be much lower all through the first part of the decade.

ROMANS: That's right. Look at just from January of 2009. By the time you get to January 2009, it has just skyrocketed.

That means that people are out of work six months or longer, and a record number of people. A record percentage of the unemployed are what we call the long-term unemployed. And there's some serious process issues related to that -- unemployment benefits, how much longer we're going to keep those going. What does the new political climate mean for unemployment benefits? What are we going to do to help people cope who have been left behind, even as -- and this is very important -- even as we're seeing signs of life in the private sector for the first time in a long time?

VELSHI: Yes. So what happened? Because we had been hearing for so long that it's government and regulation and over-regulation and high taxes that's preventing job creation. And I often thought -- my basic economics tells me that it's demand. If there's demand, people hire, and if there isn't demand, people don't hire.

What happened in September and October to create all these jobs?

ROMANS: It's demand. It's demand in all those areas that you pointed out.

In some cases, look, they cut to the bone, right? They cut maybe more than they needed to. And now, as they've realized things aren't getting worse, that maybe things are stable and could possibly get better, they're starting to add some jobs. And maybe there's a little bit of confidence coming back. You keep hearing from people, time heals all wounds. That's what is going to help the confidence problem for so many hiring managers who are battle-scarred, frankly, after what's happened in the last couple of years. They don't want to hire somebody and have to turn around and fire them, and find themselves with too much labor again.

So that's what we're facing here right now. And let's be honest. You've talked a lot about globalization, plus technology, and the fact that the whole labor market is changing outside of even the great recession.

And so you have, frankly, very highly-productive workers who are doing more work now. Companies could do more with less people, or their people are far flung and they pay less for people around the world. So there's a lot of --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: And in this economy you're hesitant. If you are the person who wasn't laid off, and you're being caused to work more hours or do more stuff, you're hesitant to say no to that because you want to keep your job.

So there are a lot of changes, and I think this gives us some sense of the sophistication and the dynamic of the labor market. It's not a simple thing, and it's not ever just one thing that causes jobs to be created or jobs to be lost. I'll take jobs gained any day, Christine. At least we have green on the map today.

ROMANS: Me too.

VELSHI: Good to see you, Christine.

ROMANS: You too. I agree.

VELSHI: Christine Romans, my colleague on "YOUR $$$$$." You can see both of us, by the way, Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern; Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

And listen, Christine has got a great new book that deals with a lot of the stuff that we've just been talking about here, how to reinvent yourself for this new economy. The book is called "Smart is the New Rich." And it's on bookshelves now.

Well, he's going beyond the norm to educate children and close the achievement gap. His model is so successful, even President Obama has taken notice. Geoffrey Canada, a name you all know, is joining us live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: When it comes to "Fixing Our Schools," Harlem Children's Zone president and CEO Geoffrey Canada is doing whatever it takes to help thousands of students get a quality education. His approach starts from the cradle with the aim of getting each student into college. The new documentary "Waiting for Superman" revolves around the veteran educator and his successful model.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "WAITING FOR SUPERMAN")

GEOFFREY CANADA, PRESIDENT & CEO, HARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE: One of the saddest days of my life was when my mother told me Superman did not exist. I was a comic book reader, and I read comic books, and I just loved them, because even in the depths of the ghetto you just thought, he's coming, I just don't know when, because he always shows up and he saves all the good people, and they never end up -- I was reading.

I don't know, maybe I was in the fourth grade, fifth grade. My mother -- I was like, you know, "Mom, do you think Superman is" -- she said, "Superman is not real." I was like, "He's not? What do you mean?" "No, he's not real."

And she thought I was crying because it's like Santa Claus is not real. And I was crying because there was no one coming with enough power to save us.

(END VIDEO CLIP, "WAITING FOR SUPERMAN")

VELSHI: Geoffrey Canada joins me live from New York.

Geoffrey, good to see you. Congratulations on the recognition that you've had from this movie.

But, you know, for a lot of people who are peripheral to the discussion that we have every single day here, and that you have every single day, who are you? Who is Geoffrey Canada, and why is everybody talking about you?

CANADA: Well, look, I'm a guy who grew up in extreme poverty here in New York City, in the south Bronx. And I was able to get a great education, and I have decided I'm going to dedicate my life to helping children who are growing up in exactly the same circumstances I grew up in.

You know, there's this belief in our nation that certain children just simply don't have the right stuff to learn at high levels to be competitive. And I disagree with that.

I think that we can really educate all children. We've just got to be smart. We've got to innovate and we've got to do some things that are different.

And so I bring my history with me wherever I go. I mean, I look at these kids, I look into their eyes, and I see little Geoffrey Canadas, some kid growing up asking, "Is anybody going to help me get out of this thing?" And I think we've got to respond massively.

VELSHI: Geoffrey, thankfully, the south Bronx isn't the place it was a couple of decades ago, and even before that, where that was one of the places that it was hardest to get an education, and not just because the schools were unsafe and that schools didn't have the right conditions, but that the place was unsafe and kids grew up in bad conditions, sometimes without adequate food and sometimes in bad homes and around drugs.

How much of giving every child a quality education has to do with what happens outside of school and what happens inside of school?

CANADA: Ali, you know, this is a great question, because there are lots of people who say, "Geoff, you believe in high quality education and great teachers and great leaders." And I say, "Absolutely true." And they say, "Why do you do all of that other stuff?"

It is because our kids, in some places, are growing up where there are so many obstacles. They can't walk to school without passing gangs. They're dealing with parents who have substance abuse problems. They're dealing with the issue of asthma, and it's keeping them out of school and making them go into the emergency rooms.

I mean, if we just ignore all of these other conditions, we can save individual children. But you can't save a community, because our kids need safe communities to grow up in. And so this is not just about grade schools, which we need. It's about making sure we change communities so that they actually become healthy places for children.

VELSHI: And "The New York Times" referred to Harlem Children's Zone as, "One of the most ambitious social service experiments of our time." I'm going to get into this a little more with you after a break. But before we go, tell me what the Harlem Children's Zone is.

CANADA: Well, we start with children from birth with something we call Baby College, and then we stay with those kids throughout their entire childhood. So we stay with them when they're 4-year- olds, and we'll be with them when they're 11 and when they're 15, and we get our kids into college. And then we stay with them until they graduate from college.

So we believe you have to have a comprehensive approach. We provide health services and dental health services and mental health services, sports and recreation. We think that we have to recreate for our young people what those of us who are professionals take for granted for our own children who are growing up in the middle class.

VELSHI: All right. I want to talk more about this greatest, most ambitious social service experiment, and discuss how it's not just a school. It's a community and what you do.

Geoffrey Canada, the president and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone.

For all of you who watch us every day on "Chalk Talk," this is an important discussion. I'm going to talk with Geoffrey Canada about the role politics plays in education reform when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: In "Chalk Talk" today we've been talking with Geoffrey Canada about his successful model for educating children in Harlem. Even he didn't realize just how much work he had cut out for him when he decided to become a teacher. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "WAITING FOR SUPERMAN")

CANADA: I went into this business, I mean, literally straight out of college. The first thing I did was teach. And I went to the Harvard Graduate School of Education, majored in education. And I came out and I was ready, and I figured it was going to take me all of two and a half to maybe three years if I wasn't on my A game to straighten out education in the nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP, "WAITING FOR SUPERMAN")

VELSHI: You thought it would take about three years to fix this thing.

Geoffrey, it's great that we're all ambitious.

Listen, I want to ask you about politics. President Obama has applauded your model, and he announced $10 million in grants for other groups to replicate it. The Department of Education has put out billions of dollars in this Reach for the Top effort.

Do you think the federal government is doing the right thing? And do you think there are other state governments who are doing the right thing? Or is the success of this kind of model going to depend on people like you and your type of system?

CANADA: Well, there are two things about this issue, Ali, that I think are really important.

President Obama and Secretary Duncan put billions of dollars in Race to the Top to try and get our states to innovate and to change their ways of educating young people. And I think that's exactly right.

You know, I've been watching your show and this emphasis on, how does our country stay competitive? But we know innovation is all around us except in one place.

In 55 years since I first started school, there has been no innovation in education, even when it's an utter failure. And Race to the Top pushes states to try and do innovation. So I think that's great.

But the second part of this, he also allocated $200 million to replicate our work in something he calls Promise Neighborhoods. And the idea was, in some places, if you're going to change a community, you're going to have to do more than just have great schools.

You're going to have to look at the other issues impacting on that community. And let me tell you why it's so important.

I have got 630 of my kids in college right now that we are going to get through college. If those kids believe Harlem is going down and it's dangerous, and it's a horrible place to raise their children, all of those kids are going to go into some other community. And we need to keep our most talented kids in our own communities, which is why Promise Neighborhoods is so important.

VELSHI: So what is a Promise Neighborhood? I mean, you're not a city counselor, you're not the mayor. What can you do in a zone, as opposed to just dealing with a school?

CANADA: Well, you know, one of the things -- and I really pushed the administration -- that we needed to have a match of public dollars with private dollars so that there's really an accountability system here. And one of the misconceptions of our work is that we run charter schools and that's what we do.

I spend as much of my money and time working in the public schools in my 97 blocks as I do in my own charter schools. But we're running after-school programs, we're programs on the weekends, on Sundays. We're making sure that our young people learn about college, that they take the PSATs, they take the SATs, they do college trips, they fill out the financial aid forms.

So, we are trying in as many ways as possible to recreate for these young people a pipeline where they are guaranteed, if they stay with us, to go to college. And I think that that can happen in most communities across this country if you get serious educators and youth development people together and you hold yourself accountable for results.

VELSHI: Yes. It's a great concept.

Geoffrey, this issue has been big. We follow it every day. This movie has -- if it wasn't on your radar, it's on there more.

But the movie has got some criticism. As you know, from watching our show, Randi Weingarten is a friend of ours. And we try and talk to all sides in this issue because everybody wants to educate the kids. But the movie was hard on teachers and teachers unions.

Where do you come down on that?

CANADA: Look, and I've spoken to Randi about this. And Randi is doing some innovative things across the country. But we're in a crisis.

We can't wait seven or eight years to really bring innovation into education. And I've said very clearly, I don't want to get rid of great teachers. I don't even want to get rid of mediocre teachers.

I want the ability to get rid of teachers who can't teach. And the fact that in most places you can't do that is a crime.

This idea that, as places like New York City contemplates layoffs, that you are going to be forced to keep teachers that you know aren't good while you're letting go teachers who you know are great simply because of seniority, you can't run a business like that. And we need to innovate and compete internationally, which we are not doing. And that means we've got to tackle these issues.

So I'm not trying to get rid of the unions. I want the Teachers Union to get teachers more money and make sure they have terrific work conditions. But we can't have folks blocking innovation, because we have to innovate. This hasn't worked in some places since I've been essentially a kid, and we've got to change that.

VELSHI: Geoffrey Canada, thank you for the work that you do for kids across Harlem and the implications of that work for kids all across the country. It's great to talk to you. Come back again and talk to us more often.

CANADA: Thanks, Ali. I love the show, so thanks for having me on.

VELSHI: Thank you.

Geoffrey Canada is the president and CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone.

OK. This hour's top stories include a welcomed surprise on the labor front.

The government says the economy added 151,000 jobs last month. That's a lot more than expected, the most, in fact, since May, and the 10th straight month of hiring by private employers. The unemployment rate is calculated separately. It stands unchanged at 9.6 percent.

A federal appeals court in Utah is refusing to move the trial of Brian David Mitchell, accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart from her family's home in 2002. That clears the way for the trial in Salt Lake City to resume after a one-day interruption during opening statements. The victim is expected to testify on Monday.

And for the second time in two days, a Qantas airline flight out of Singapore has turned around and made an emergency landing with engine problems. Today it was a 747 with an engine that caught fire moments after takeoff. Nobody on board was hurt.

Yesterday's scare was a blown engine -- and I do mean blown -- on an Airbus A380, the biggest passenger plane in the skies. No one, luckily, was hurt there either.

Closer to home, a country all too accustomed to misery is dealing with more. Haiti takes the brunt of Hurricane Tomas when we come back.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: President Obama is heading off to India on a trip that some claim is embarrassingly extravagant. Ed Henry has got his abacus out. He's doing the math. He's live from Mumbai, next.






(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama's next week or so will be taken up by a trip to Asia. First stop: Mumbai, India. Air Force One will be wheels down there tomorrow. We saw it takeoff this morning. It's a long trip.

It's the country's commercial capital. It's the richest city in India.

Jobs and trade top the president's agenda. That's according to the White House. One of his first events is speaking at a U.S./India business conference.

From Mumbai, the president then heads to the capital, New Delhi.

India is a big American ally so let's look at the country in a little more detail. The population is now nearly 1.2 billion, second only to China. It's a young country and workforce. The median age is about 26 compared to 37 in the United States.

There are 15 official languages, but the most widely spoken is Hindi. English considered a subsidiary official language, but there are more English speakers in India than there are English speakers in America, believe it or not.

Religion-wise, India is majority Hindu. It's practiced by 80 percent of the population. Thirteen percent are Muslim, 2 percent are Christians and another 2 percent are Sikh.

Economically, India is on fire. The GDP last year, gross domestic product, $3.6 trillion. That's the value of everything produced in India. That's first fifth highest in the world. First is the European Union, then the United States, Japan, China and India.

But check out India's GDP growth rate. That's what we look at. It averaged more than 7 percent growth per year since 1997. America this year, if we get 2 percent, we're lucky. So, India is rolling at a growth three times as high as the United States.

But most Indian workers aren't rolling in dough, the average household income just over $3,000. Here in the U.S. it's over $50,000.

All right. Speaking of India, Ed Henry.

There's much buzz about this whole Asia trip, by the way, and how it's going to -- hold on a second, Ed. I jumped the gun on this one. Am I doing this now or am I -- all right.

Before I get to Ed this is not about how much Ed is spending in India, but there's buzz about how much this whole Asia trip is going to cost. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: Within a day or so, the president of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. He's taking 2,000 people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are five-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending. It's a small example.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Two hundred million dollars a day! Two thousand people with him, 870 hotel rooms.

Ed Henry got to Mumbai, ahead of the president. He joins us now with a fact check on that one. That was Michele Bachmann, who is running for a leadership position in the Republican Congress.

Ed, what do we know about those numbers? The White House has said they think that's an exaggeration.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think the congresswoman is going to have to check her facts before she goes much further in this leadership race here because $200 million a day is far, far from a reality.

The White House says it's nowhere close to that. And based on just checking some basic facts, they're accurate. I mean, you know, there were some local reports here that sort of, here in India, that sort of sparked this whole thing --

VELSHI: Right.

HENRY: -- guessing (ph) that there would be dozens of warships here with the president and all these fighter planes. I mean, it just -- it was over the top and wrong.

And so, I just had a veggie burger when I got here in Mumbai. And I don't think that's going to -- you know, the tab is not going to be that high. It's not very extravagant, I can tell you. We're not traveling first class, though.

I don't know. I just think this is another example sometimes who the political system back can get a little carried away with one little report, you know, overseas. Some people jump on it for political reasons and the seeing it catches fire, but it's not true.

VELSHI: Right. And when you look on the Internet, you see a lot of reports that all point back to the same initial anonymous report citing that number.

OK, Ed. But there are sort of two kinds of criticism going on here. One is, there's some expense obviously to doing this trip.

HENRY: Sure.

VELSHI: Should the president be out there right now after he took a shellacking in his words in the midterm elections? And the other side is, I guess a lot of people don't really get where India stands vis-a-vis America and why this might be seen as an investment as opposed to an expense.

HENRY: Yes. I mean, this is something that could be a more fair criticism because undoubtedly there are going to be -- and I've heard some Republicans back home, before this trip, telling me that they were scratching their heads, why would the president, right after a big midterm election, all about jobs, why would he go overseas right away.

I mean, number one, he's still commander-in-chief. He still has global responsibilities.

Number two, you know, the fact of the matter is the White House is trying -- we'll see whether they succeed or not, because I'm not going to take their side on it. I mean, this is their position. We'll see -- we'll see whether it works.

But they're being aggressive about trying to say this trip is about jobs, because as you know and you mentioned, India's economy is on fire right now. A growth of about 8 percent a year and they're starting to invest more and more money in the United States. The White House claims that they're right now, Indian companies are supporting about 57,000 American jobs back home. Small number but they say it's growing.

Also, as you look at U.S. exports over the last two years, they've quadrupled to about $17 billion over last seven years, and that's why the president is going to be addressing a U.S./India business council.

And so, you know, their position is, look, you know, trying to push some of these trade deals, trying to -- in fact, the president is hoping that there's going to be some announcements while he's here. We'll see whether they actually follow through on them, but maybe that Indian military, as well as some private companies, maybe be spending billions of dollars on some new planes, for example, from American companies.

VELSHI: Yes.

HENRY: And that will be a big shot in the arm. Obviously, the American economy is still struggling. Nevertheless, any time the president is globetrotting and people are hurting back home, it's really a dicey subject.

VELSHI: Hey, Ed, you know, my people are from India. I hailed -- my ancestors are from India.

HENRY: I thought -- yes, I'm going to come -- I want to find some of your people if you e-mail me.

VELSHI: If you do, let me know. If you find any of my people, tell them to feed you, give you a good meal, you know, take care of you as well as we take care of you back home.

Ed, good to see you, my friend -- good to hear from you at least. Stay safe and enjoy India. I've never been. But you'll let me know where the hotspots are.

(CROSSTALK)

HENRY: You got people here? I'm going to have to fix that. I'm going to go around and I'm going to find some of your friends and maybe some relatives and maybe we'll bring it to the stakeout on Monday.

VELSHI: Very nice. Ed Henry, you stay safe. Enjoy the trip.

Ed Henry, in Mumbai, ahead of the president's arrival there.

By the way, this allegation that it costs $200 million, the war in Afghanistan costs $190 million a day. It strikes me that the president is now spending more on his trip to India than they are on the war in Afghanistan.

Hey, listen, did you ever think teaching kids how to start a rock band would help change the world? We've got the real school of rock. "Mission Possible" coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MOVIE CLIP)

VELSHI: That was a clip from the movie "School of Rock." The film gets kids excited about music.

There's a real life program that's different but gets kids excited about music just the same. It's called Plugged In. It's a program that teaches teens how to be in a rock band.

The kids perform concerts and give the proceeds back to charity. The goal is to give teens a creative outlook that doesn't just help them grow, but teaches them to help the world out, too.

Sandra Rizkallah and Tom Pugh, the founders of Plugged In, join me from Brookline, Massachusetts.

Hey, folks, good to see you. Tell me about this. How does this work?

SANDRA RIZKALLAH, CO-FOUNDER, PLUGGED IN: Hi.

TOM PUGH, CO-FOUNDER, PLUGGED IN: Hi, Ali.

RIZKALLAH: Well, we put kids in bands. They rehearse once a week with a teacher for an hour and a half, and each session last 14 weeks and at the end of each session, they all play in a benefit concert that raises money for an organization that they choose at the beginning of the term. We have like a town meeting type of event where the kids stand up and present causes that are important to them and then they vote.

So, it's really about empowering them to make a difference in the world. They choose the charity. They the songs they play.

VELSHI: And you've got about 400 kids in the program or you had 400 kids go through?

PUGH: Through our eight years in this, we have had 400 kids. But we've had 90 on average for the past three years.

VELSHI: Wow! And then you --

PUGH: Spring and fall.

VELSHI: So you've had a couple dozen concerts out there. You don't -- do you have any sense of how much money they're going to raise? I mean, how much money am I going to pay to see somebody who's been a musician for 14 weeks? Is it their family and friends, a community thing? These are the people who buy the tickets?

RIZKALLAH: It's a community thing. It's family and friends.

We don't focus on the money. It's really about creating lifetime givers. It's, you know, teaching them about -- giving them an opportunity to learn about giving with something they love and it's something that becomes part of them.

We find that after they are past Plugged In, they raise money on their own. They volunteer. They have benefit concerts themselves. And overall, they're just more compassionate human beings who are going to use whatever resources they have in their lives to help others.

VELSHI: So, they choose --

PUGH: We're trying to teach them compassion.

VELSHI: And tell me about that a little bit, because at the front end, you were saying, they choose -- they get together and they have this little town hall and they choose what they're going to do. How do you direct that?

RIZKALLAH: No.

PUGH: Well, we don't direct that actually. We talk to them and we say, what do you think is an important charity? And they have to pitch each other on these charities and have a vote.

We also think that it's important to be compassionate to each other and to themselves so that they can take risks and develop some self confidence. And that carries over -- it's an interesting thing. A trickle turns to a stream.

And we're just -- we are amazed at how much progress some of these kids have made.

VELSHI: Yes.

RIZKALLAH: It's really cool because we've met people from all over the world as a result of the charitable organizations that the kids have chosen. We've invited bands from Zimbabwe that have come to visit us. You know, we reached out to countries all throughout Africa and all parts of the world and met people who are really doing amazing things with music to help others. And this is all through the kids.

And, you know we have people from different countries connecting with us --

VELSHI: Yes.

RIZKALLAH: -- you know, who want to learn more about what we're doing.

VELSHI: Well, that's fantastic. Some of the things that the kids have helped with, as you say, they're local and they're global. They have been homeless shelters, medical research, juvenile diabetes, AIDS research, tsunami relief and some of the things that you mentioned.

Thanks for doing what you're doing and thanks for joining us to talk about.

Sandra Rizkallah and Tom Pugh are the co-founders of Plugged In.

You want more details, I'll link them to my blog. You go to CNN.com/Ali and we'll tell you how you can get involved. Even if you're not a kid and you're not a performer, you can help out.

OK. She won't be speaker, but Nancy Pelosi doesn't want to sit in the shadows either. When this new Congress forms in January, she's got a plan. We're live on Capitol Hill when we come back.

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VELSHI: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she is House speaker for a little while, she wants to be the top Democrat in the new Congress. Some of her fellow Democrats say maybe it's time for her to step aside.

Our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash first came out with the report here on CNN that she is going to run as the leader of the House Democrats.

What have you got now, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well I think we should first read the statement that she put out explaining why she made this decision, Ali, and I'll put it up on the screen.

She said, "Many of our colleagues have called with their recommendations on how to continue our fight for the middle class, and have encouraged me to fight for House Democratic Leader. Based on those discussions, and driven by the urgency of protecting health care reform, Wall Street reform and Social Security and Medicare, I have decided to run."

Now she certainly has her supporters in a big way. George Miller of California, he, we are told, was making calls for her. He put out a statement calling Nancy Pelosi the single most effective member of Congress.

I just -- moments before we came on the air, I got a phone call on my cell from Jason Altmier, he is one of those new Democratic members who actually that won. He said I'm not voting for her, I'm not going to vote for her, because she's from a conservative district.

And he is not alone. There are many conservatives we have talked to all day today who say the American people made very clear they want change and that includes change at the head of our party, our party which got trounced on Tuesday.

And I will just tell you that in the circle of the so-called progressive way, more liberal members of the House Democratic Caucus, they are the bigger wing right now because moderates really got crushed. They are almost surely going to vote for her. I mean, there's really no question at this point whether or not she will have the votes to get it.

But the question leading up to today was whether or not they really wanted her to do this. I also had a very interesting conversation, Ali, with a progressive lawmaker who said he had talked to a lot of colleagues and said it's fair to say that from most progressives the visceral place was that if Nancy wanted to go that she should do it, but that there wouldn't be a lot of people bursting into tears if she didn't make this decision -- made the decision the opposite way to not run.

VELSHI: Dana, OK, thanks very much. You'll continue to follow it and we'll continue follow it with you.

BASH: Thank you.

VELSHI: Dana Bash at Congress.

Believe it or not, we still have some political races that are not decided yet. I'm going to check with Paul Steinhauser when I come back.

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VELSHI: Paul Steinhauser joins me from our CNN Politics Desk in Washington with the latest news hot off the Political Ticker.

It's becoming a bit like Groundhog Day, Paul. You just keep telling me there are races that are not decided. The election was days ago, what's going on?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: You're stuck with me, Ali, until it's all over because the CNN Political Team will be here for you until this election is over.

But you're right, it's not over. Check this out, we put a little graphic together. We've got one Senate race still to go. Of course, that's in Alaska. They have to start counting as maybe as early as next week those write-in ballots in the battle between Lisa Murkowski, the senator up there, and Joe Miller, the Republican nominee and the Tea Party-backed candidate.

There are nine House races still to go as well. We're keeping an eye on all of those. And in the governorships Connecticut, Minnesota and Vermont have still not been decided though we may get resolution maybe as early as today in Connecticut. And we'll keep an eye on all that.

One person we do know who is now coming back to Washington, D.C. would be Senator Patty Murray of Washington state. Last night, she won. Her opponent Dino Rossi, the Republican challenger, conceded. Patty Murray coming back to Washington for a fourth term in the Senate.

And that means pretty much now the Senate will be 53 Democrats in that coalition including two independents, 47 Republicans. Republicans picked up six seats in the Senate.

Let's also talk about Keith Olbermann, and I'm going to ask our cameraman Reggie Selman (ph) to zoom right in here, it's brand new on the CNN Political Ticker. Keith Olbermann, of course, the MSNBC primetime host, he's been suspended indefinitely for violating ethics policies of NBC earlier this year when he donated to three Democrats seeking federal office.

MSNBC made that announcement today. Says the president of MSNBC, Phil Griffin, I became aware Keith's political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.

The three candidates that Olbermann gave to are congressman Arizona Rep Raul -- I'm going to mispronounce that.

VELSHI: An Arizona congressional candidate.

STEINHAUSER: Two Arizona congressman and Jack Conway, the Senate nominee in Kentucky.

Listen, Ali, Olbermann, in a statement to Politico, he defended what he did. But what' is interesting here also is that Olbermann himself and MSNBC were very critical of FOX earlier this year when it was found out that FOX donated a million dollars to the Republican Governors Association.

And Ali, this is one reason why I should not be on air all the time, because I can't pronounce names.

VELSHI: You're fantastic.

Go back to that Alaska Senate race for a second. What we do know is that a Republican is going to win that race?

STEINHAUSER: That is going to happen because it's either going to be Joe Miller the nominee or Lisa Murkowski a Republican who was forced to run as a write-in candidate after she lost the nomination to Miller.

VELSHI: And why don't we know, because last I saw, the write-ins had the most votes?

STEINHAUSER: They did, but it's not guaranteed that all those write-in votes are for Murkowski because there were a bunch of other write-in candidates. You could write anybody you want, basically.

So the whole idea is that they have to count the votes, that won't start until next week at the earliest and then we'll go from there. And I tell you, lawyers will get involved. This thing could go on for a while, Ali.

VELSHI: I don't know, I feel like when I was a kid, elections used to get decided on election night. Maybe I was just fantasizing.

STEINHAUSER: That's so old school.

VELSHI: So old school.

Paul, good to see you, my friend. You have a good weekend, I'll see you on the other side.

Paul Steinhauser, our deputy political editor. Our next political update is in one hour.

As the president heads off for Asia, a lot of folks complaining bitterly about the trip. They say it'll cost too much money and it doesn't make enough sense. I'll do a little cost/benefit analysis in my "XYZ."

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VELSHI: Time now for "The XYZ of It."

Right now, President Obama on the way to India, the world's largest democracy. It's the first stop on an Asian trip that's being criticized by -- well, his critics. One criticism is that he's taking a particularly long trip at a particularly delicate time for his presidency, his party and the U.S. economy.

The other criticism, which I spoke with Ed Henry about a few minutes ago, is that it's going to cost too much money. Some critics of the president, including Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and commentators Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, have repeated a foreign media report that it will cost $200 million a day, although the White House says nowhere close. The White House won't tell us how much it's costing, but I do think it's crucial and not just because it's a visit to my ancestral homeland.

India is one of the fastest growing economies. This year alone it will grow at more than three times the rate of the United States. India, like China, is a country to which the U.S. exports a lot of jobs -- customer service jobs, technology jobs, engineering jobs.

President Obama's visit to India isn't designed to bring those jobs back. They're there because the market has determined that it's more efficient for them to be there. When you call customer service and somebody in India answers, you're probably paying less for that service than you would have if it were routed to a call center in the U.S.

But India has grown and changed and has used all of those U.S. jobs to change its economy. While parts of the country are still mired in poverty, India is home to great prosperity, much of it new. The world's most expensive residential home is in India. Some of the world's richest industrialists are in India. India will soon produce the world's cheapest car, one that will event actually be sold here in North America.

India is not just available labor, it's prospering consumers. And like I often say about China, the U.S. and its businesses need to understand and deal with India in a way that allows us to understand what India needs that the West can produce.

India is an important partner to the United States in economic matters, but also in regional security matters and global diplomatic matters. This president has realized its strategic and historic importance and this trip will capitalize on it.

That's it for me. CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Brooke Baldwin.