Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Storm Slams Northeast, Mid-Atlantic; Two-Cent Insurance Cancellation; Missing Gun Epidemic; The Hactivists' Role with Protests in the Middle East; Screaming Match in PA State House; Return of the 'Old Spice Guy'; Australia Imposes 'Flood Tax'

Aired January 27, 2011 - 10:59   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Carol Costello. CNN's big stories for Thursday, January 27th.

Protests in the Arab world spread to a third country today, Yemen, at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

(CHANTING)

COSTELLO: Thousands jammed streets today to protest a three- decade rule of Yemen's president.

The Army is reopening a military base south of Salt Lake City today. Dugway Proving Ground tests how chemical and biological agents affect military hardware. Officials won't say why Dugway was closed other than they had a serious concern.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will announce today the United States is retiring that color-coded terror alert system. Officials say the system lost credibility and nobody really knew what it meant. It will be replaced with an alert that zeroes in on specific threats in specific areas.

The government commission that explored the causes of the 2008 financial meltdown is out with its final report today. The commission says the crisis could have been avoided had the government been on the ball. The report faults the actions taken by just about every major government figure involved in the crisis in both the Bush and Obama administrations.

Slammed and slammed again. Much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are reeling from another big snowstorm.

In Philadelphia, a new one-day record -- more than 14 inches. Just over a foot fell yesterday in Central Park, toppling the record set in 1871.

In Newark, New Jersey, 11 inches. And some areas have gotten more snow today.

As the storm moved through Washington, it dumped about an inch of snow an hour, just the right amount for a snowball fight and to give you a great big headache. We've got live coverage all across the region. Reynolds Wolf is in Boston. Sandra Endo is in Washington. And Rob Marciano is tracking the storm for us in the CNN Weather Center.

So, Reynolds, let's start with you in Boston.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. Let's get it started in Boston.

Here's what we've got. We've got some drifts in the area that were pretty interesting, as you can see here.

This is how it was last night. In about a 12-hour span from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., the snow came down. The heaviest we have anywhere in the region, at least here in Boston, was about 11.5 in south Boston. Now, that was the situation then.

Now, here, as I walk through the snow, is the situation now. The streets are in pretty good shape. They've had plows coming through, they've had salt trucks out and about. Things are fine. A little slushy here and there, but certainly passable. You see that slush over here and there.

And the snow, by the way, was some of the wet stuff. It's not that white powder that Rob Marciano loves so much. It was the heavy, heavy stuff, and that heavy snow caused all kinds of issues. Some 3,000 homes without power. There was actually a structure in Lynn, Massachusetts, where there was the roof cave-in. Certainly some bad situations.

However, as the sun is out, drier air is moving in, people are getting back to normal. Certainly the roads are in better shape. As we mentioned, public schools though remain closed for the time being.

How you doing?

COSTELLO: Did you plan in that, Reynolds?

WOLF: Hold on one second.

How long have you been working?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since 10:00 last night.

WOLF: Ten o'clock last night. How are you feeling? Are you tired? Are you keeping up pretty well?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm all right. I'm used to it by now.

WOLF: All right. Well, the roads look pretty good, man. I appreciate the hard work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When are you guys going to move? Because I can't go until all the snow is off --

WOLF: We're going to be gone in a little bit. Can you give me a beep?

(LAUGHTER)

WOLF: That's what it's all about, guys. That's what it's all about.

COSTELLO: That is so embarrassing.

WOLF: Hardcore snow stuff.

Thanks, man.

COSTELLO: Reynolds, go move that truck.

WOLF: The thing is though, we do have a little bit more snow in the forecast.

COSTELLO: Go move that CNN truck.

WOLF: Yes, we're going to move the truck.

Let's take it back to you guys.

COSTELLO: OK.

Let's head out to the nation's capital. A half of foot of snow fell there. A beautiful scene from our towercam. Doesn't that look pretty? Oh, but the snow has disrupted travel, knocked out power, closed some schools.

Sandra Endo is live from the National Mall.

Washington doesn't handle snow very well, Sandra.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, not so well, Carol. But it's beautiful here, too, right?

On the National Mall, you can just see the blanket of snow. But as Reynolds was mentioning, it's not that fluffy powder stuff, because take a look.

The look is beautiful, but it's really hard and crunchy. That is what people had to shovel through to get through their cars and driveways this morning. And that was enough to actually shut down the federal government for a while.

All the offices were delayed about two hours. So, slowly, we're seeing a lot of people get to work right now.

And the good thing though, Carol, as you can see, this major street right here along the National Mall is open, and it's clean. Plows have been coming through. The snow is no longer sticking on the street right here.

But keep in mind, D.C. has its fair share of practicing, as you mentioned, because last year, around this time, there was a snowpocalypse. So this kind of seems really easy to handle.

But keep in mind, 200,000 homes and customers were without power because of this snowstorm. And the streets are open, but a lot of public schools are closed here. Government offices had to close early.

And there were dicey situations. Even the president was delayed in his commute coming back to the White House from his stop in Wisconsin yesterday. A normal 20-minute commute took the president an hour. So those presidential powers can't trump Mother Nature -- Carol.

COSTELLO: No, Mother Nature trumps us all.

Thank you very much, Sandra.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: America's Muslim population set to double. We'll look into new projections that could change the face of the country.

And drug smugglers go medieval. Now they're flinging drugs across the border fence in Arizona.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: One of the reasons often cited to support health care reform in this country is the outrageous behavior of some insurance companies. When a cancer patient inadvertently shortened his premium payment by two cents, his insurance company dropped him. The company thought better of that decision after our Denver affiliate, KMGH, aired the patient's story.

Here's Russell Haythorn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSSELL HAYTHORN, REPORTER, KMGH (voice-over): Ron and Frances Flanagan share a moment of sheer relief.

FRANCES FLANAGAN, HUSBAND'S INSURANCE REINSTATED: Our prayers were answered.

HAYTHORN: Ron's health insurance was reinstated after he was cut off for being two cents short on his November payment.

RON FLANAGAN, INSURANCE REINSTATED: Relieved to have insurance again retroactive to December 31st.

HAYTHORN: Their insurance benefits provider dropped them when Frances paid their last bill online. She hit a "7" instead of a "9," leaving their $328.69 payment two cents short.

It came at a critical time. Ron suffers from a type of bone marrow cancer and needs a stem-cell transplant. They got an apology. The CEO from Ceridian COBRA even called Ron directly. R. FLANAGAN: Just wanted to talk man to man and apologize for what had happened and what it's put me and my family through. He says, 'Nobody should have to go through that for that kind of an amount."

HAYTHORN: The apology comes a day after 7 News first broke the story which went viral on the Web, prompting a public outcry. Complaints about Ceridian popped up everywhere. One woman said the same thing happened to her over 3 cents, a story that touched a nerve with the public, perhaps because of lingering frustration with the health care system.

F. FLANAGAN: It's like a whole ton of bricks just fell off of me. And I know it fell off of my husband.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That's for sure. Frances Flanagan learned the insurance policy had been canceled while her husband was undergoing a biopsy. She actually went in and told the doctor to stop because they were no longer able to pay. But everything's fine right now.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Gun control is a divisive political issue in the United States. But listen to this. Tens of thousands of guns are vanishing from shops across the country.

CNN's Jeanne Meserve has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Guns, thousands of them, are disappearing from gun dealers without a record of being sold. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, more than 21,000 guns went missing last year; more than 62,000 disappeared over the past three years.

ARTHUR HERBERT, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, ATF: A lot more guns are missing than -- than I think anyone would like to have. I believe that it's very important for us to have accountability of firearms, to know where the firearms are.

MESERVE: But the ATF numbers, as large as they are, don't reflect the full extent of the problem because the agency only has enough staff and resources inspect about one in ten gun dealers each year though it does try to target known or suspected bad actors.

Sixty-seven dealers had their licenses revoked last year for not reporting or misreporting missing firearms, but in many cases dealers tell authorities the guns were lost or stolen.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence maintains that some dealers are corrupt, selling guns under the table, off the books, without background checks of the buyers.

PAUL HELMKE, BRADY CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE: These are the guns that are prized by the gangbangers because they know it's not traced -- not easily traced back to them or the place where they got the gun.

MESERVE: We were unable to reach a trade group representing gun sellers and the National Rifle Association said it had no comment because it isn't involved in gun sales.

The ATF says it would be easier to keep track of guns if dealers were required to do annual inventories to account for every firearm. Under current federal law, they do not.

(on camera): It might also be easier to keep track of guns if the ATF had additional resources and clout, but it has been almost five years since the agency had a permanent director to effectively make its case for money, manpower and additional authority.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: The job market roller-coaster ride is not over yet. New numbers out this morning show a rise in the number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits. The Labor Department says initial jobless claims rose to 454,000 last week. That's a jump of 51,000 from the week before. Some analysts say layoffs of temporary holiday workers could be distorting the numbers, but they still represent slow improvement in the job market.

But thousands of government workers could soon be joining the unemployment lines. Governors all across the country are facing huge budget deficits, so they're looking to slash and burn.

Stephanie Elam is in New York with details.

So, Stephanie, what are states talking about doing?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is not a pretty picture, Carol. And we're talking about tens of thousands of cuts all across the country.

In Texas, lawmakers there want to cut more than 9,000 government jobs. Georgia's governor will erase 14,000 positions, although most of them are already vacant at this point. New York is looking to lay off 10,000 workers and freeze salaries. And in California and Nevada, they're proposing pay cuts as well.

And it's not just the rank and file. New York's governor, Governor Cuomo, is cutting his salary. And Nevada's governor says he's willing to do the same.

And remember, many of these state workers have already been dealing with furloughs. There's been pay freezes that have been on them as well. And they were put in place during the session because things were just so rough. And they weren't getting as much tax revenue, these governors weren't -- these governments weren't, and that's also affected them, too -- Carol.

COSTELLO: But when you say that these governors and mayors across the country are going to lay off all of these workers, it's not as easy as that, is it?

ELAM: Yes. No, it's not. And layoffs in the public sector mean some of our services can really be cut.

So if you take a look at Texas, most of the proposed cuts are in the Department of Public Safety. So that means police officers. They may also cut case workers who investigate child abuse. Public workers also take care of the parks, they take care of the libraries, they take care of processing our driver's licenses.

But these states are running deficits in the billions of dollars range, so something has to be done. But a lot of people will argue that we actually need those people in those positions.

COSTELLO: OK. Before you go, can you look at the markets for us?

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Stephanie.

ELAM: Sure.

COSTELLO: Revolution driven by social media. A look at how Facebook, Twitter and the like are shaking up the Arab world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A revolution is spreading across the Arab world. Tunisia setting it off with anti-government protests that forced its longtime president to flee. That happened about two weeks ago, and that has inspired Egypt and now Yemen to stage similar protests.

(CHANTING)

COSTELLO: This is virtually unheard of. This is one of at least four demonstrations today at Yemen's capital. Thousands of people taking to the streets to demand their president step down after 32 years in office. Security was out in force, but there were no reports of violence.

That is not the case, however, in Egypt. Police have been using everything from sticks to tear gas to try to break up anti-government demonstrations, but the protesters refuse to be stopped.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen joins us now from Cairo.

And have things settled down, or are they still out there protesting as vigorously as ever?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Well, right now in Cairo, it seems as though they've settled down just a little bit. However, there are people who believe that there's going to be pretty big protests here tomorrow, on Friday.

There are, however, big protests going on right now in the town of Suez, which is about 1.5 hours out of Cairo. I was there earlier today. There were massive clashes between police and demonstrators there near a police station which had been set on fire the day before.

And the people there that we talked to, they were telling us that they're simply fed up with their government. They say they don't have any opportunities, there's too much unemployment. And they also say that they're quite angry at America for what they say, bolstering this government for such a long time -- Carol.

COSTELLO: And I was wondering about this. I know Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei -- we know him better as the former U.N. arms inspectors -- he's heading home to Egypt right now.

What can we expect from that? Because there have been threats against his life, right?

PLEITGEN: Yes, absolutely. And he was, of course, very prominent in the run-up to the Iraq War, so he is really very much a celebrity here in this country. He's a very important opposition figure.

You're absolutely right. He says there's threats to his life. He also says that he's being massively restricted whenever he's in this country.

The big question is whether or not he's going to turn into an opposition icon here, when he comes here. He says that he wants to join the protests.

Now, there are people who believe that he is going to wield a lot of power and that he can make a difference, and possibly even take over power if the president here, Hosni Mubarak, should fall. However, most people that I've been speaking to on the streets, they say right now, to them, this is still something that's very much centered around issues.

They want to see more employment, more jobs. It's not really about people at this point, which is also interesting, of course, because this is really something that's coming more from Twitter and Facebook, where people are organizing. It's not really a protest that has a face just yet -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, funny you should mention those things, because we're going to talk about them right now.

Frederik, thank you very much.

Those protests rocking the Arab world are a testament to the power of social media. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and similar sites were instrumental in helping to bring down the government of Tunisia. Old-school dictators no match for Internet-savvy young people sending their messages and images to supporters at home and around the world.

Nicholas Thompson, senior editor of the "New Yorker," joins me now from New York.

And Nicholas, it's amazing what Facebook and twitter, you know, have done, especially in Tunisia.

NICHOLAS THOMPSON, SENIOR EDITOR, "NEW YORKER": Yes, absolutely. Facebook was an extraordinary organizing tool in Tunisia. And you can -- one great piece of evidence of the power of these social networks is that Egypt has recently blocked twitter. Tunisia hacked in and acquired the passwords of all Facebook users in an effort to try to slow down that effort. So they are very powerful tools.

COSTELLO: Let's center on Egypt for just a second because that's where things are really happening right now. The government somehow has stopped tweets from flying around.

How did it manage to do that?

THOMPSON: Well, this is an extremely important point. Is that people often think that the internet and social networks are always add power to the protesters. They always add power to the people. But they forget that all internet traffic -- most internet traffic flows over pipes which the government controls. So it's actually fairly easy for a government to either shut down access to a site or to track people.

So, sometimes in many of these situations, the power of the internet can actually help the government more than it helps the people. We saw in Iran a year and a half ago, a lot of people thought that twitter was going to bring down the Iranian regime. The Iranian government was actually able to track people on twitter so it may have given power to the regime. So you can't always think that these social networks are a force for the protesters.

COSTELLO: So it just makes me curious about why it worked in Tunisia and not so much in Iran.

THOMPSON: Well, in part because of the effect of the social media is marginal. It doesn't create revolutions or things from scratch. What is does is it gives an impetus to a movement that already exists and to feelings that already exist. It's sort of like a match. And you need to light a match to a properly constructed fire. And in Tunisia, clearly the situation was ripe for the match provided by Facebook to do that and for the government with its, you know, watering cans to not be able to put out the fire. It wasn't enough in Iran. And we're going to see what happens in Egypt and in Yemen.

COSTELLO: We just have a graphic to put up because it's just amazing. At the height of the tweeting that's centered around Egypt. You can see that it was being tweeted all around the world. And the bigger the graphic, the black box you see, the more tweets came from those countries. And another fascinating thing is I understand there are actually underground groups who can actually spam the governments to try to get them to stop blocking Facebook and twitter.

THOMPSON: Yes, there's a group of hactivists -- hacker activists, known as hactivists -- working in the United States, who actively side with the demonstrators. And they did this in Tunisia, as well, and they hacked into government sites and they had some effect on slowing down the bank says system. And they've declared war against the Egyptian government. So they're now on the side of protesters.

So they're doing a couple of things. They're trying to make it easier for people inside of Egypt to tweet without being tracked. And they're trying to spam/shut down/hack into the government infrastructure. So you have a cyber war ongoing as you actually have these real-life protests in the street.

COSTELLO: It's just amazing to me. So the country right now, you know, where there are thousands of protestors in the streets, Yemen. Do you know anything about that? Are people in Yemen able to post on Facebook and tweet?

THOMPSON: I don't know the status of whether it's been shut down in Yemen yet. The reports are always very sketchy. You always hear that twitter and Facebook have been shut down. Sometimes they really have been shut down, sometimes they haven't.

There's a very interesting moment this morning where Hillary Clinton gave a press conference and was talking about this issue. And she's, of course, in a delicate position because the United States has complicated relationships with these governments, particularly Egypt. And instead of taking sides with the protesters or with the government, she took sides with the power of social media. And so she asked the government of Egypt to not block twitter and to not block Facebook. And there are some reports coming in that after her statements, the sites have opened up. I'm not sure exactly what the state of play is at the moment in Yemen, but we can be certain that a lot of people are using them.

And, in fact, if you're trying to follow the news of all these events, one way to do it is to follow on twitter. It's actually a very exciting and interesting way to do it. You type in #Egypt or #Yemen. And you can see some of the passions of the protests. And you can also see the power of social media to inflame positions. Once you start reading these threads, once you start seeing the tweets coming every second, you start to get emotionally involved. And you can see how social media can really suck you into the vortex of a protest like this.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're absolutely right. Nicholas Thompson, thank you so much for joining us and clarifying things. It's fascinating.

THOMPSON: Thank you so much for having me on.

COSTELLO: Twenty years ago there were 1.1 billion Muslims in the world. But according to a new study, 20 years from now that number will have doubled. By 2030, Muslims will represent more than a quarter of all people on the planet.

And here in the United States the number of Muslims will more than double to 6.2 million in the same period. What's behind the anticipated growth? researchers at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life say a high birth rate. The large number of Muslims of child-bearing age and an increase in life expectancy in Muslim countries are responsible for the trend.

So let's take a look at some of the -- oh, actually, we're going to talk more about that story and we're going to have a guest in the next hour.

But right now we want to look at some live pictures from CNN producer Julian Cummings (ph). He's in New York. This is the Brooklyn Bridge, and you can see it's in terrible shape. At least the walking part. We hope the driving part is a little drier from that.

Rob Marciano is tracking the weather from the CNN weather center. He'll have the latest forecast for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Top stories now. Police in Davos are calling a, quote, "a little explosion." A spokesperson says a small firework went off at the back entrance of the hotel where some high-powered guests are gathering for the World Economic Forum. Former president Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak there tonight. No injuries and very little damage reported, but it's certainly perked up authorities.

And the recession could have been avoided. According to the highly anticipated final report from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The report points the finger at federal authorities who failed to curb Wall Street's reckless habits as being responsible for the economic turmoil that erupted in 2008.

But blame the nor'easter ripping up the eastern seaboard for the severe weather slamming the northeast. The wild winter storm left six to 18 inches of fresh snow across the region from Virginia all the way up to Maine.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: President Obama called for bipartisanship saying both parties would move forward together or not at all. It's all good for these two California Congressmen. We'll show you their bipartisan moment next.

And, are you keeping up with the Kardashian sisters? Well, Piers Morgan is. He's got a true hour of reality TV on CNN tomorrow night. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM KARDASHIAN, REALTY TV STAR: Kourtney is the most practical. You know? I've always just kind of gone for it and made the wrong decisions. Kourtney, like, really takes her time. And, you know, Scott had stopped drinking for about a year -- KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN, REALITY TV STAR: I do, but, yes. It's been like about almost a year since Scott's been -- cleaned himself up. And I just -- I don't know. I'm just kind of taking my time off.

KIM KARDASHIAN: Maybe you just need to go for it.

PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": If he's got down on bended knee tonight watching this --

KIM KARDASHIAN: What would you do?

MORGAN: -- and proposed, would you say yes?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh, Piers, you tease. You have to watch tonight to find out Kourtney's answer. "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT," CNN at 9:00 Eastern. Tomorrow Piers talks to Colin Firth.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Partisan politics was quite evident at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Watch what happens during a committee meeting after a vote was called.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Give you an opportunity, represent, to make your speech, please.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have members of the rules committee -- we have members of the rules committee on the house floor. They have a right to speak.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May I speak? May I speak?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have a right to speak.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May I speak?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to stifle us here, too? You can't. You can't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Clearly Republicans and Democrats, both sides of the aisle involved in this yelling match which did not end. Up for a vote? Numerous bills that would change the way the state government would operate. Democrats wanted to continue debating an amendment, Republicans did not. Eventually, the Democrats stormed out of the room. The bill now heads to the full house. We'll keep you posted.

These California Congressmen, though, had no problem crossing the aisle. Democrat Bob Filner planted a big one on Republican Brian Bilbray with a bear hug -- isn't that sweet? The two were being interviewed by a San Diego TV station from D.C. They were asked about the president's State of the Union address and bipartisanship. And their answer? Hugs and a big kiss.

A Tea Party lawmaker may be considering a White House run. Paul Steinhauser, part of "The Best Political Team on Television," live from the Political Desk in Washington.

So what's this about, Paul?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey, Carol.

Even before I get to that, I just saw that beautiful story of the congressmen kissing. I promise you, I'm making a declaration here, I will not be kissing Steve Brusk, our coverage manager.

COSTELLO: Please don't.

STEINHAUSER: Not going to be doing that.

All right, back to Jim DeMint, the senator from South Carolina and a kingmaker among conservative circles, among Tea Party types. Yesterday, on Wolf Blitzer's "SITUATION ROOM," Wolf asked him, are you going to run for president? And he said no, a very definitive no. He said it before.

But guess what? Now we learn that Senator DeMint is going to Iowa. Of course, Iowa plays a crucial role in the race for the White House. Its caucus kicks off the presidential primary calendar.

And our Peter Hamby, some really good reporting on the Ticker this morning. He says he's learned that aides to DeMint say, you know what? DeMint is considering a run for the White House himself for the Republican presidential nomination if, if there are no other viable conservative candidates out there that really emerge from the field.

I'm going to ask Jay McMichael (ph), our cameraman, to zoom right in here to the Political Ticker. Something I wrote up this morning, talking about somebody else who may run for the White House on the Republican side, Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, who is also popular among conservatives. He said, I will make an announcement by the end of January.

And he said yesterday he'll live by that. He's going to announce either A, a run for the White House or maybe a run for the governorship of Indiana. The clock is ticking. We're almost out.

COSTELLO: So how many are now considering a run, Jim DeMint, Michele Bachmann, Mike Pence, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney.

STEINHAUSER: You know, and the list goes on.

COSTELLO: Palin.

STEINHAUSER: We've got a list of about -- maybe Palin. We've got a list of about 15 people, and it keeps growing. Throw in Donald Trump now if you want, now Rudy Giuliani. It keeps growing and growing, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. Some new evidence out today, I understand, on the political punch of social networks. Tell us about it.

STEINHAUSER: Yes. You know, we always talk about the power of Facebook, of Twitter, of even MySpace. Well, look at this. A brand- new poll from Pew Research Center, and in the midterm elections last year, one out of five Americans, about 22 percent of Americans directly reached out maybe to a political candidate, a campaign, advocacy group. And how did they reach out? By using either Facebook, MySpace or Twitter.

It just shows you the power, the increasing power, of the social networks, Carol, when it comes to politics.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Paul. We appreciate it.

Your next Political Update in an hour. And for the latest political news, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.

He's back. "The Old Spice Guy," that is. And he's asking you to stare right into his big brown eyes. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Snow, sleet and rain, it is a mess out there in many places and of course, it's trending online. Sandra Endo is live at the National Mall.

And Sandra, I know it's cruel to have you stand out there and talk about what's trending online when you could go indoors and do that, but what a beautiful background.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is gorgeous here, Carol. You're missing out in the town you live in. Look how beautiful. It looks nice and quiet and peaceful out here on the National Mall. Very different scene, though, as the storm moved up the northeast.

Take a look at iReports that's trending on CNN.com right now. One from Myint Hlaing who sends us reports from Brooklyn showing snow- covered streets. Pretty tough conditions if you have to get through streets and go to work.

Also, another iReport from Central Park from, this is from Lulis Leal. And Central Park set a record for the most snow accumulated in one day, more than 12 inches and that broke records for decades. So clearly a lot of snow just dumped all along the northeast, and that is definitely trending today, Carol. So you're missing out on like the trendiest spots in northeast.

COSTELLO: And I'm bummed and I'm here in Atlanta and there's no snow and it's kind of nice. Well, at least by northeast standards. I'm pretty happy I'm in Atlanta today.

Hey, tell us about something hot? And by hot, you know what I mean.

ENDO: Oh, yes. This guy is smoking hot. You're talking about the "Old Spice Guy." He is back with a vengeance giving us a little tease. Check it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISAIAH MUSTAFA, "THE OLD SPICE GUY": If you'd like a sneak peek try staring through my striking brown eyes and looking them as I currently remember them in my brain.

You can't get past the striking brown eyes, can you?

Don't worry, it's commonplace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh, my gosh.

(LAUGHTER)

ENDO: People can't get enough of him, Carol, right? He is such a riot. And he's teasing these new Old Spice ads. I can't wait to see them. They're supposed to debut next month. So check it out, definitely keep an eye out for those eyes.

COSTELLO: I know, it's the only commercial I actually look forward to watching. Good for him. He's back. And I couldn't get past his beautiful brown eyes either.

Thank you, Sandra. Please go and get warm somewhere.

Australia's historic flood and the damage it left behind. The government slaps a flood tax on residents to pay for the damage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The season's big snowstorms are draining big city budgets in the north. Look how Australia, though, is paying for nature. A flood tax will cover repairs from the recent disaster costing middle class families in Australia as much as $20 a month.

Damien Ryan with Australia's Nine Network looks at reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DAMIEN RYAN, NINE NETWORK, AUSTRALIA (voice-over): On the front line of fundraising today, there was a strong feeling the government's levy will be bad for business.

(on camera): Do you think people will stop donating?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do, yes. Especially if they think the government is going to always slap a tax on them.

RYAN (voice-over): The response to Queensland's flood crisis has been unrivalled. Today almost $170 million has been raised.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a lot of people who have given quite a lot. Now they're going to be giving more, forcibly.

RYAN: The Queensland Premier's Fund is for the people. Today the premier was still desperately pushing her barrow.

ANNA BLIGH, QUEENSLAND PREMIER: The donations the Australians have generously made all go to families, their homes, to who have been personally affected.

RYAN: Back at the checkout the debate continued.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think everyone needs to do their bit to help. It's a terrible, terrible disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I agree with it in principle.

RYAN: But he may be in a minority. A Nine/MSN poll asked the question, "Should Australians be forced to pay?" The response, a resounding no.

The prime minister says the rebuild (ph) tax was built around numbers, not politics. But not everyone agrees.

SAUL ESLAKE, ECONOMIST: I think the government calculates, though, that those who have to pay the levy probably won't have voted for the government anyway. And if they did, their vote won't be lost as a result of having this levy imposed.

RYAN: Damian Ryan, Nine News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)