Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

GOP Candidates on the Road; Perry: "Fun to Poke" Obama; Help for Underwater Homeowners; Gadhafi Buried in Secret Location; Violence Growing Concern in Syria; Syria: 7 Months of Uprisings; Tunisia's Elections Called Free, Fair; Oil Rig Fire Could Burn for Days; Police Break Up "Occupy Oakland"; Casey Anthony Jurors Identified; Defense to Make Case in Murray Trial; Experts: Boys Should Get HPV Vaccine; "Sincerely, Barack Obama"; Hunt for Serial Sex Assault Suspect

Aired October 25, 2011 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And it is the top of the hour. Thank you for being with us.

Press in the flush and making their case, two Republican presidential candidates on the road this morning. This hour frontrunner Mitt Romney meets with campaign volunteers just outside Cincinnati, but the spotlight belongs to Rick Perry.

Next hour, he unveils a new tax plan that's sure to get Americans talking. Now here's the question, he wants you to ask yourself, would you rather stick with your current tax rate or simplify your life with a flat rate tax of 20 percent?

Jim Acosta is awaiting Rick Perry's event next hour in Gray Court, South Carolina. So Jim, let's talk about the flat tax plan.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. You know, there is some political urgency for Rick Perry as he's announcing this new tax plan. "The New York Times"/CBS News poll shows Perry in fifth place with just 6 percent of the support of Republicans right now.

So he's hoping he can change all of that and really eject some energy into his struggling campaign with this new economic plan he calls it cut, balance and grow. He's going to be talking about it in about an hour from now, but I just want to go over some of the details of this proposal.

He's talking about, as you just mentioned, Kyra, an optional flat tax rate of 20 percent. He says, Americans could also stick with their current tax rate if they prefer that. He would also lower the corporate tax rate to 20 percent. He would eliminate the estate tax.

He would also eliminate taxes on long-term capital gains and dividends and Social Security benefits. He also says he would go after the deficit and hold domestic spending to 18 percent of GDP. But Perry as he's announcing this plan has gotten a little bit off message.

Over the weekend, he gave an interview to "Parade" magazine and what he talked about the president's birth certificate and raised doubts as to whether the president's birth certificate is real. And even said, he had a meeting with Donald Trump in which they talked about the president's birth certificate.

Earlier this morning on CNBC, they aired an interview with Governor Rick Perry talking about this issue. The Texas governor saying he only raised it because he likes to poke the president. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it is great. My grade ended up on the front page of the newspaper, so if we are going to show stuff, let's show stuff. That's all a distraction, I get it.

I'm really not worried about the president's birth certificate. It is fun to poke at him a little bit and say, how about -- let's see your grades and birth certificate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Isn't Perry stealing a bit of his own thunder by poking fun at the birther controversy by making the rounds like this?

ACOSTA: Absolutely. This is going to get people talking about this whole birth certificate controversy all over again. He is holding a media news conference later this afternoon in Columbia, South Carolina.

Obviously, those questions are going to come up. He's going to be meeting with the governor of this state, Nikki Haley, whose endorsement he would like very much. He's also meeting with Senator Jim DeMint and other influential Tea Party conservative inside the Republican Party.

And so all of these sort of gets in the way of this message as Rick Perry is struggling in these polls. He's had these shaky debate performances. He is trying to re-launch, reboot his campaign.

At the same time, he's talking about birtherism, which is not going to sit well with some Republicans. Karl Rove just the other day on Fox News said this is going to damage your campaign.

So Governor Perry is going to have to work his way around that controversy as he talks about this new economic plan today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Jim Acosta, we'll be watching of course.

And still on the topic of money, if you live in an average American neighborhood nearly one in every four homes is under water. That means your neighborhood or your neighbor, rather maybe even you could owe more than the home is worth.

So the White House is throwing a life line expanding a program that allows underwater homeowners to refinance. Athena Jones is at the White House. So Athena, tell us about the plan and who exactly stands to gain from it at this point? ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. The Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced this plan that is aimed in helping homeowners lower their monthly mortgage payments. So that will put more money in their pocket by refinancing.

Now who stands to benefit? It's people who have federally guaranteed mortgages, those are the mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. These borrowers will have the Home Affordable Refinance Program expanded so that now as you mentioned.

No matter how much their home has fallen in value, they'll be able to refinance. So even if they are way under water and owe a lot more on their home than it is right now worth, they will be able to refinance as long as they are current on their monthly mortgage payments.

That means that they have to have been current for the last six months and can't have missed more than one payment over the last year. Now the thinking as of the average homeowner, this will save them more than $2,000 a year, which HUD Secretary Shawn Donovan said was the equivalent of a substantial tax cut.

PHILLIPS: All right, so critics say that it ignores, you know, the Americans who need the most help.

JONES: Well, exactly. I mean, even the administration acknowledges that this new program is not going to solve the entire housing crisis. It has been seeing strict limitations as we discussed. It's only going to help people who have been current the last six months, haven't missed more than one payment in the last year.

And so that means that if you really are one of those homeowners who's been struggling, maybe you have missed a couple of payments in the last 12 months, but you managed to scrape it together for all the other months.

You are still not going to qualify and so critics would argue that those are exactly the people who need to be helped the most. The other big limitation here is the same limitation with all these efforts to help homeowners during the entire administration, which is that it is voluntary for mortgage lenders.

So banks are not forced to go and help someone refinance and that's another big part of the problem. So the administration hasn't even really put out an estimate of how many people will ultimately be helped. We'll just have to wait and see -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Athena Jones at the White House. Athena, thanks. Stay with us because in just 10 minutes from now, we're going to talk to HUD Secretary Shawn Donovan about the program and the pitfalls at 10:15 Eastern Time right here live on CNN.

The body of Moammar Gadhafi was buried at dawn today in a secret location. The burial comes five days after his killing, which is still raising a number of questions. Our Dan Rivers is in Tripoli with the latest -- Dan. DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He has now finally been buried after five days lying on public display in a market on the edge of the Misrata. We're told by a Tripoli Military Council spokesman that the burial took place with his son, Mo'tassim and the defense minister, Abu Bakr Yunis.

He was also lying in the same place. Members of the Gadhafi tribe were allowed to pray over his body before it was moved. That's about as much as we know, really. We don't know where he was buried.

The understanding is somewhere in the desert. They want to keep the location secret to avoid his grave becoming a shrine for his supporters, but as you mentioned the questions about how he died and how his son died just won't go away.

PHILLIPS: So then the search for Saif? Where does that stand at this point?

RIVERS: Well, the rumors suggest that Saif may be heading towards the south of the country. We, like other media organizations, have suggestions from different sources or one source in our case within the TNC suggesting that he was heading south across the border, perhaps in Tunisia.

Some unconfirmed reports that he has a fake Libyan passport, but it is really difficult to pin all these down. I mean, there are so many false claims about the whereabouts of Saif Al-Islam. They have claimed to have captured him in the past and that turned out not to be true.

They've claimed he was being injured. They've claimed that his convoy was surrounded by rebels. So I'm just afraid it is one of these rumors, which are really, you know, it's like chasing shadows here.

Really trying to pin information down, but that's the latest suggestion. He possibly could be heading to the south, but so far there's no proof being produced into his exact location.

PHILLIPS: All right. Dan Rivers in Tripoli for us. Dan, thanks.

Egypt's government fell in February. This week Libya, so is Syria the next domino in this Arab spring? We're going in depth on Syria this morning.

CNN's Arwa Damon joining us live from Beirut. So Arwa, Libya, Egypt, is there a message here for Syria's President Assad and his government?

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the activists most certainly are taking this as a message. In fact, shortly after Gadhafi was killed, they were taking to the streets chanting a warning to President Bashar Al-Assad, a warning that he would be next.

But one also have to realize is the dynamic that existed in Libya and those that currently exist in Syria are pretty different. When it came to Libya, there was a clear chunk of territory that the opposition controlled.

There was a clear and defiant frontline and there was unity amongst the various Arab nations and unity amongst the international community when it came to some sort of intervention. Those dynamics do not exist in Syria right now.

At the same time, the pillars that are holding up the Syrian regime are still fairly intact that being the business merchant middle class and for the most part the Syrian security forces.

So what activists there are hoping is that the death of Gadhafi was transpired in Libya is going to convince more people inside Syria that the revolution there can actually, eventually succeed -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, we saw what happened which the anti-government demonstrations as soon as Gadhafi - as soon as it was announced that Gadhafi was dead. Has that continued, the momentum continued with regard to the demonstrations?

DAMON: You know, Kyra, these activists in Syria, I mean, they go out whenever they can, wherever they can. But at the same time, in the last month, the Syrian security forces have really spanned out throughout pretty much the entire country.

So what we are seeing now is more of the activists trying to gather in various alley ways, in the various side streets chanting still for the downfall of the regime, but they have to be very quick because these small gatherings are being broken up incredibly quickly and with such brute force.

But yes, they are doing the best they can to keep up the internal pressure. What they are hoping, too, is that the opposition numbers based outside of the country are going to continue to put pressure on various international leaders, but there is some sort of global consensus as to how to approach Syria.

But it is really such a tricky situation. The king of Jordan just a few days ago, telling CNN that he doesn't believe that there was anyone in the region or outside of the region that knew exactly how to approach and how to manage this uprising in Syria.

PHILLIPS: Arwa Damon. Arwa, thanks.

Tunisia is part of this Arab spring as well. The country has just elected its first natural national constituent assembly. Our Zain Verjee is joining us from London on that. So Zain, international observers are calling this election so far remarkably free and fair?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is really incredible to think that this is happening in the Arab world in a country like Tunisia. What next for Tunisia in the spotlight now that is the question.

Let's take a look at the international headlines and see what they're saying. "Gulf News" has this, Tunisia blazes historic election trail. It says, let other nations who have followed the path taken by Tunisia watch and take heed. In the coming months, let the leaders of the Arab spring uprisings take note. The building inclusive institution requires time and thought. The "Independence" has this headline, Tunisia and Libya, two faces of the Arab spring.

It goes on to say, as the first country of the Arab spring to hold a successful election, Tunisia is a pioneer. What is happening so far is promising, but it is only a start. Those strong showing by the Islamist Party there, Kyra, and many people in Tunisia as well as the rest of the Arab world are a little bit worried.

They're a little bit nervous here because this is really untested, unchartered territory. They're concerned because they say if the Islamists are in power, what's going to happen to liberal democratic values that many people in the region do hold dear.

The Islamists as well as some analysts that we have spoken to say, Islam and democracy can co-exist, but it's really going to be a test case and that test case today is Tunisia -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Zain Verjee out of London. Zain, thanks.

When people in Oakland went to bed last night, there was an "Occupy Oakland" tent city downtown. Well, this morning it is gone. Police shut it down and hauled away the protesters. That story is coming up.

And another plan for the president to help struggling homeowners, but will we see real relief this time or is it too little, too late? Housing Secretary Shawn Donovan is joining me live right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, here's a quick look at news across the country now. An oil rig fire burning in Texas could still be burning days from now. It exploded Sunday just outside of Austin. No one was hurt. Fire fighters think it could take up to a week to actually put it out.

And police have broken up "Occupy Oakland's" tent city and arrested protesters. More than 300 people had been camping in the downtown plaza for weeks to support the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. The mayor claimed that the plaza just wasn't safe.

Atlanta police may get the same order soon. The mayor thinks that two weeks in a downtown park is enough. He's about to revoke an order to let protesters stay longer.

And the names of the jurors from Casey Anthony's trial are now public. In July, they found Anthony not guilty of murdering her daughter. The judge thought a three-month cooling off period was needed after the verdict to protect the jury's safety.

Well, prosecutors wrapped up their case Monday at the Michael Jackson death trial. Now it is the defense's turn. Attorneys will try to reverse four weeks of damaging testimony against Dr. Conrad Murray. CNN's Ted Rollins shows us how the defense plans to make its case. TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When court resumes, a nurse who treated Michael Jackson will be on the stand. Her name is Sharilyn Lee. She is testifying that at some point in the year 2009, the year that Michael Jackson died, he asked her to give him Propofol.

Before she took the stand, we heard from another health care provider, one of Michael Jackson's long time doctors, Dr. Allan Metzger and he too told the jury that in February of 2009, Michael Jackson was looking for somebody to give him Propofol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ALLAN METZGER, JACKSON'S PHYSICIAN: He asked me about intravenous sleep medicine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he happen to mention the name of this medicine?

METZGER: I think he used the word juice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Also today, we are expected to hear some character witnesses that the defense is hoping will build up Dr. Conrad Murray's reputation, which took such a beating during the prosecution's case.

We're going to hear from a couple of witnesses that we have met in years past. Ruby Mosely is a woman in Houston, Texas who was a patient of Dr. Conrad Murray. She'll say that Murray has helped her community in Houston by serving an underdeveloped area.

Then we'll hear from a guy by the name of Gerry Cause. He says he had a heart attack 10 years ago and Dr. Murray saved his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERRY CAUSE, DR. MURRAY'S PATIENT: I had a heart attack 10 years ago and he saved my life. And he's been my friend ever since.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Janet Jackson has canceled a few of her tour dates in Australia to come back to Los Angeles to attend portions of the rest of the trial. She was not in court yesterday. We do expect to possibly see her and the rest of the family in court later today. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.

PHILLIPS: And be sure to check out sister network, HLN, your place for expert coverage of the Dr. Conrad Murray on trial.

Coming up, his daughter had a pretty bumpy week, so Michael Lohan helped shift the spotlight by getting himself arrested.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, in a big speech the president is stepping up efforts to help the battered housing market. The new plan is supposed to help ease the refinancing process by lifting restrictions, lowering costs and even eliminating some fees. But even some Democrats say it is too little, too late.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPRESENTATIVE DENNIS CARDOZA (D), CALIFORNIA: It's good intentions, but they have not put enough pressure on the banks. They haven't -- the programs were to0 cumbersome to begin with.

In my area, many of the homes are 70 percent under water. When they limited it to 105 percent and then 125 percent of the loan to value, they immediately, you know, cut off the worst-hit areas. And those markets just continue to decline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Shaun Donovan, HUD Secretary here live in Atlanta. As we were talking, going state to state in the areas hardest hit with the areas and issue of housing, let's get right to the numbers. How many people are you saying this is actually going to help, the hard numbers, because I was looking back even in 2009, you helped 894,000 people when you originally hoped it would help 5 million.

SHAUN DONOVAN, SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT: Well, here's the key thing. We know there are four million families that have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages that are under water and could benefit by bringing their interest rate down substantially.

The average benefit would be is over $2,500 a year. That's like a big permanent tax cut for those families. Of those four million, we're going to have to see how many sign up. This is up to those families. They could choose to come in and refinance, but it is opening up that opportunity to those four million families.

The other thing that I would say that's critical here is because we are making changes that streamline the process, bring down fees for what it is going to cost to refinance, this could potentially help other families as well.

There are six to seven million Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgages that are above water, that have equity in their homes, but they haven't refinanced yet and they could benefit.

If we can bring the cost from $5,000 to refinance and cut that in half, that could help other families refinance as well. So this is a big deal.

It is not a silver bullet. It's not going to solve all of our problems and there are other steps that we are taking, but this is an important step for us.

PHILLIPS: Well, you heard Congressman Cardoza say 70 percent of his folks are in trouble. He went on to say, look, it didn't work well in the past, what's going to make it different this time around. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARDOZA: We did a lot of meetings. I brought Mr. Donovan to my district. He told me that he had the answer. Clearly, he didn't. You showed tonight in your statistics that your statistics don't lie.

When I told him that they didn't have the correct answer, they're pretty arrogant about this. He said you didn't understand what you are talking about. I'm a former realtor and former businessman, do you think I don't know what I was talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: I'm going to give you a chance to respond to that. Were you too arrogant?

DONOVAN: Well, look, let's look at the facts of where the housing market was when the president came into office. Housing prices have been dropping for 30 straight months. The housing market was literally falling off a cliff. And we have stabilized the housing market.

Housing prices have been roughly flat since the president came in and let's look at where foreclosures are. A year ago, they were more than a third higher than they are today. So are we making progress? Yes.

Have we helped to stabilize the market? There's no question, but as the president said, he's frustrated, I'm frustrated, there's more that we need to do. What we announced yesterday is part of that step to be able to move forward.

But we also need Congress to act. One of the things the president talked about in Las Vegas yesterday is that the American Jobs Act would really help the housing market by putting 200,000 construction workers back to work.

Rebuilding the most devastated neighborhoods, which have vacant and foreclosed homes, that's the project rebuild portion of the American Jobs Act and we need Congress to do their job here, too.

PHILLIPS: You mentioned Las Vegas, you know, Mitt Romney was meeting with the Las Vegas Review Journal last week and took a bit of a different approach.

He said don't try to stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom allowing investors to buy homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up and let it turn around.

DONOVAN: Well, look, if the market was going to fix this problem alone, it would have done so already. What we really need is government working in partnership with the private sector to make these changes.

And that's what the announcement yesterday was about. Why did we have a barrier as Congressman Cardoza talked about to home that were above 125 percent of loan to value? Because there was no market for the loans, so we've sat down at the table with lenders, with bond buyers, with a whole range of the private sector and push them to find common sense solutions to a lot of these barriers.

PHILLIPS: What do you do if it doesn't work? In 2009, it didn't hit the goal that you projected? Now you are talking four million people.

DONOVAN: Look, let's be clear. We've helped a million underwater homeowners refinance that wouldn't have had the opportunity before. Is it as large as we would have liked? No, but that's still a substantial number of homeowners benefited. And we think we can go farther.

And let me tell you, the president is not going to give up on this. We are going to keep pushing. We're going to keep finding ways to make progress here. But we also need Congress to do their job. We need them to step up and pass the American Job Act as well.

PHILLIPS: HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, thanks for your time. Thanks for stopping by.

DONOVAN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right, our "Political Buzz" panel has an important question to answer about Herman Cain's smoking new campaign ad. Is it cool, weird or just inappropriate? You got to see it to understand.

And later, why it could be six months or longer before companies start hiring again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories, rescuers in Turkey have pulled three members of the same family alive from earthquake rubble. Crews first reached this 2-week-old baby, then her mom, then her grandmother. They are still searching for the father. The death toll from Sunday's quake has risen to 366 now.

Hurricane Rina has strengthened into a Category 2 storm. Forecasters say it could make landfall in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday.

And GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry unveils his flat tax plan this morning. It would give Americans the choice of keeping their current tax rate or going with a 20 percent flat tax.

All right. "Political Buzz" -- your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the top.

And playing today: Democratic National Committee member Bob Zimmerman, Georgetown University's Chris Metzler, and founder and editor of Citizen Jane Politics, Patricia Murphy.

OK, guys. First question: Rick Perry continuing to raise the so- called birther issue. Here's what he said on CNBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just think it's great. My grades ended on the front page of the newspaper. So, let's -- you know, if we are going to show stuff, let's show stuff.

But, look, that's all a distraction. I mean, I get it. I'm really not worried about the president's birth certificate. It's fun to poke at him a little bit and say, hey, how about -- let's see your grades and your birth certificate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Robert? Is it fun?

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE MEMBER: Rick Perry is not about having fun. Rick Perry is about doing what he thinks he's got to do to win. He's also said that it is good to keep the birther issue alive and actually question whether President Obama loves this country.

He's doing that because he's trying to play to the extreme demagogue wing of his Republican Party and it may help him in the short-term, in the primaries. But that strategy and that thinking will destroy the Republican Party in the general election.

PHILLIPS: Chris?

CHRIS METZLER, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, actually, Robert, Rick Perry is about having fun. In college, he did lock some defecating chickens into the dorm room of someone he couldn't stand.

But as it relates to this particular issue, my problem here is that Perry is stepping on the message. So, here he is about to reveal this flat tax today and he's still talking about this so-called birther issue, whatever that means?

At this point I think he needs to move on. This does not help him in any way move his campaign. It does not rehabilitate him.

PHILLIPS: I think Chris just triggered the next question, and that's the worth worst college prank. But that will be another 20-second buzzer.

Patricia, let's stick with the birther issue, shall we, and what we said on CNBC.

PATRICIA MURPHY, CITIZEN JANE POLITICS: On the birther issue -- yes.

(LAUGHTER)

MURPHY: Rick Perry is not fun, it's not funny, it is really the lowest of the low for him to go here. And to me it's actually a sign of desperation. He is not catching on even with the rightest right wing of the Republican base. That's the place that Herman Cain has taken over by not questioning the president's Americanism, whether or not he's really an American. Herman Cain has gone there actually with an issue that has caught fire and to his credit, he hasn't gone after the president.

And so, for Rick Perry, I think he needs to get back to the issues, as the professor were saying, get back to the issues. He needs to convince people that like Mitt Romney, he can be a presidential candidate and look presidential. That's the only thing he has going at this point.

PHILLIPS: All right. You might have just heard my interview live here in studio with the HUD secretary. You know, President Obama unveiled the new housing plan to tepid review, shall we say. If you can't fix the housing crisis, can he be re-elected? Chris?

METZLER: No, I don't think that he can. As it relates to this, the executive order that he has issued relative to the housing crisis here -- keep in mind, I think that this is a smart political strategy. And actually, it probably will help him more than it will help the homeowners.

As the interview indicated, they have attempted to fix this housing crisis. They have not been able to do so. The numbers keep shifting in terms of what they are able to do.

They've got to do two things: they've got to fix the housing crisis and they've got to address the issue of jobs. So far, he has not done a good job.

PHILLIPS: Robert?

ZIMMERMAN: You know, it always frustrates me, Kyra, when I see my Democratic Party and the Republican Party define the housing crisis, complaining 11 million to 14 million Americans and the unemployment crisis in a partisan or political context, because it's much bigger than that. Yet the reality is, next year, it's going to be defining political issue. That's why the Obama campaign has got to make this not a referendum on the Obama administration, but a choice between the Obama government plan and the Romney strategy. We have to let the marketplace rule the day.

Ultimately, the president has to do more for the housing crisis to make this a real choice in the election.

PHILLIPS: Patricia?

MURPHY: Listen, we all know that the housing crisis is not going to turn around before this election. The president still can get elected anyway. It depends entirely on who the Republicans put up against him. If they put up somebody who can say, look at me, I can fix this economy, I can do more than the president has done, then the Republicans are going to win.

The fact that the president hasn't done more to fix the economy makes him very, very vulnerable. But it doesn't make him -- it doesn't mean that he's already defeated. It depends on what the Republicans do to put up against them. It's going to be a choice. PHILLIPS: All right. Here we go. Your buzzer beater, 20 seconds each on this one.

Take a look at this brand new ad from the always unpredictable Herman Cain.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

PHILLIPS: All right. Let's roll it again, shall we? Can we rerack it without the banner?

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

PHILLIPS: It's his chief of staff smoking.

So, what's reaction, guys? Is it weird, cool, inappropriate? Chris?

METZLER: It is actually very creepy, very weird.

Look, if you're going to have someone smoking, it has to be the Marlboro Man. It can't be this random campaign manager blowing smoke. And from the standpoint of the ad, it doesn't make any sense.

What is it going to do, bring Americans back together to be chain smokers? What's the message? It is weird. It's creepy.

PHILLIPS: Robert?

ZIMMERMAN: I seriously thought this was a spoof by "Saturday Night Live." I didn't believe it was a political ad. But then, again, now, it's the lead story in all the political news coverage around the country.

So, what do I know? I don't think political buzz produces votes. But again, we have an unemployment crisis and the Kardashians have 12 television shows.

(LAUGHTER)

ZIMMERMAN: What can I predict to you about that?

PHILLIPS: Point well-made.

Patricia?

MURPHY: Unless the Kardashians wind their way into this conversation.

Listen, this web ad totally works. For one thing, web ads are free. The only way that people will watch them is if they get free media and are replayed on CNN and other places. So, in that sense, it works.

And there's something creepy about the campaign manager smoking that's kind of very real to me. I just think the whole thing was. So, I think they did a good job.

PHILLIPS: All right, guys. METZLER: Where's the Marlboro Man?

PHILLIPS: You know what?

MURPHY: He died of cancer.

PHILLIPS: I didn't want to say it because I didn't want to embarrass Chris, but yes, he passed away.

METZLER: His son.

PHILLIPS: Until the next discussion, guys.

ROBERTS: The Kardashians are still with us.

PHILLIPS: Boy, Kardashians, college franks, this is really going -- this is circling the drain.

All right, guys. We'll talk tomorrow.

MURPHY: Take care.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

Well, she's been dabbling in mug shots but Lindsay Lohan is apparently bearing more than her face now in "Playboy." "Showbiz Tonight" host A.J. Hammer with all the revealing details.

Oh, A.J.

A.J. HAMMER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT HOST: Oh, Kyra.

Well, here's the deal, reports surfaced last night that Lindsay Lohan is doing a spread in "Playboy." TMZ is saying "Playboy" and Lohan have already actually started taking some of these pictures, scheduling shoots, of course, around her community service obligations at the morgue.

Now, we have not been able to get an official response from "Playboy" just yet. Lohan's camp tells us they can't confirm at this point, but they didn't deny it. She's reportedly getting close to a million bucks from the magazine for the pictures. And I'm thinking she may as well take the money since I really don't think it will not hurt her acting career any.

Oh, but, wait, there's more! Lindsay's dag got into some trouble last night. He was arrested in Tampa on suspicion of domestic violence. He then had a heart scan and that sent him to the possible.

Tampa police are saying that Michael Lohan was arrested for battery on his live-in girlfriend. And after he was taken to custody, he complained about chest pain and he was taken to a hospital to be evaluated. He's apparently OK. Tampa authorities say he checked himself out of the hospital and, of course, he was then immediately taken back into police custody. Michael Lohan has been arrested on similar charges before. Los Angeles police arrested him back in March. He was charged with a misdemeanor then.

So, Kyra, the Lohans, the way I see it, have yet another mug shots to put into their dysfunctional families album drama.

PHILLIPS: Boy, and my guess is it will just continue to get thicker, that album.

All right. Drama -- speaking of drama, drama last night on "Dancing with the Stars," A.J. The judges took serious some heat.

HAMMER: Yes, fireworks on "Dancing" last night, Kyra. The judges really seem to be hitting a few nerves. Dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy confronted judge Len Goodman last night. Maksim and his partner Hope Solo got some pretty negative comments about the performance from Goodman and Maksim apparently had enough.

Watch what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEN GOODMAN: I have been in this business for nearly 50 years. My experience as a judge is different to the audience.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't be disrespectful like that.

CHMERKOVSKIY: It's not disrespectful to everybody, right, because everybody is putting a lot of effort. Everybody on that balcony has been dying and killing themselves only to hear your guys a little judgmental.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Their judges -- those weren't the only fireworks last night. Cher was furious with judge Bruno Tonioli for saying her son Chaz performed like a penguin, trying to be a bird of prey. Well, that sent Cher write to her Twitter account.

Listen to what Cher tweeted last night. "I could teach his little arm-waving blank some manners. Critique Chaz's dance style, movements, et cetera, but don't make fun of my child on national TV."

The wrath of Cher, Kyra. You don't want that coming at you on a Tuesday morning.

PHILLIPS: No way. That's true.

A.J., thanks.

And if you want information on everything breaking on the entertainment world, A.J. has got it -- every night, "Showbiz Tonight," 11:00 p.m., on HLN.

Well, still ahead, the HPV vaccine already recommended for girls. But right now, medical experts are voting on a plan for boys to get it, too. That's story coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLPS: All right. Well, medical experts just decided that boys should get the HPV vaccine. The shot is already on the Centers for Disease Control vaccine schedule for girls. And as you know, it sparked controversy, just ask Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here to explain why they are recommending it now to give to boys.

We'll get to the controversy in just a second.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. Three reasons to recommend it to boys. One, boys, when they get HPV, the human papillomavirus, it increases their chances of getting genital warts and certain types of cancer. So, that's two reasons for the boys themselves.

Plus, boys -- when they have this virus, they're the ones who give it to the girls. When the girls get the virus, it increases their chance for getting cervical cancer.

So, it's sort of the three-fer here and the CDC, this committee, is recommending it for boys ages 11 and 12 they get them before they become sexually active.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, if the CDC puts this on the vaccine schedule then, will parents have to get it?

COHEN: Well, you know, it's interesting. I didn't use the word "mandatory" because this is the way that it works. It's a little tricky.

The CDC can say, yes, this ought to be on the schedule and you should get it along with polio and meningitis vaccines and all that, but then states have to take the step of saying, we are requiring this shot before we will let your child attend school. And most states have not done that with HPV for girls. Only Virginia and the District of Columbia have required the HPV shot for school attendance. So, if they do the same with boys, then really most people in this country won't have to get their child vaccinated to go to school.

PHILLIPS: All right. And we talked so much about is it safe or not? There are a lot of critics out there.

COHEN: You know, within doctors, there is not a controversy. Doctors will tell you this is a safe shot. We have given it to millions of people around the world with no major side effects. There's controversy politically. There's controversy in some communities online. But among doctors, they are really in agreement about this.

PHILLIPS: All right. Elizabeth, thanks.

COHEN: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: That news just coming to us.

All right. Coming up, talk about a special delivery. Every day, handwritten messages from Barack Obama landing in mailboxes across the country. That's right. We are going to talk to someone who received one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: OK. Catalogs, bills, flyers -- most days, our mailboxes are full of junk. So imagine sorting through it one day and finding a letter from the president, a handwritten letter at that. Well, it actually happens almost every day, and there's a new book out, "Ten Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President."

It details President Obama's daily habit of reading some of his mail and actually writing back.

Eli Saslow is the author of "Ten Letters." He is a staff writer at "The Washington Post."

Also joining us, Thomas Ritter, who wrote to President Obama and got a pretty lengthy reply.

Guys, thanks so much for being with me.

ELI SASLOW, AUTHOR, "TEN LETTERS": Sure, thanks for having me.

PHILLIPS: OK. You bet.

All right. Thomas, I'm going to start with you because I got your e- mail right here in front of me. You actually say to the president that you hope he stops and listens to you, that his health care bill has caused a toxic environment.

You hesitated to write this, you said, for fear of retribution, that his administration targets and ridicules those who criticize him. And you tell the president to do the right thing, not just the political thing when it comes to health care for all Americans.

Why did you actually take the time to write this e-mail? And did you ever expect a response?

THOMAS RITTER, GOT LETTER FROM PRES. OBAMA: Well, I never expected a response. I just kept watching the health care debate and just watched how hey kept just trying every trick in the legislative book to get it passed. And it was just something that clearly the majority of the people didn't want passed.

And I just thought somebody could just stop and pause. And I even said pause and reflect, you know, just so we can get something that everybody could agree on because there are some good things that we need to get done with health care. But health care is, you know, there are good things health care has.

So, I thought everybody could figure out a way to work it out instead of just pushing it through because, you know, they had the majority. PHILLIPS: Well, I tell you what? He did pause and reflect and you got a response. Let's take a look at the handwritten letter that he actually sent you. And the president directly addresses your criticism, even using your exact words.

He said, "I appreciate your concerns, but I have to challenge you, Thomas, on what you said about anyone speaking against the administration is targeting and ridiculing anybody." That he's gone out of his way to listen to legitimate criticism and he defends strongly the rights of everyone to speak their mind even those who call him socialist or worse. He asks you to keep an open mind and that he truly believes that health care and his health reform bill was the right thing to do for the country.

So, did he change your mind when you read that handwritten let her?

RITTER: Well, at first he did. You know, I was in awe. I'm in shock, awe, a little scared. I mean, you know, you write a letter and you kind of vent a little bit and you don't think that, you know, somebody is going to get it and read it -- and let alone the president is going to read it and then actually answer you back. It was like I was debating with the world leader.

And I just, you know -- but as I see, you know, how things are turning out, you know, how negative it's becoming, you know, that kind of -- my hope kind of went away, you know? First, I thought maybe he would listen.

PHILLIPS: Well, Eli, how does the president decide who he's going to respond to?

SASLOW: So, he gets 10 letters every night. And he usually writes back to one or two.

And, honestly, over the last year, I saw him write back to letters of all kinds. There was Thomas' letter, a letter from a fourth grader in Kentucky writing about her school.

He writes back to the ones that usually strike him. These letters -- they are so personal. They are almost like journal entries. Because people write not expecting that Obama is going to read it.

And Thomas' story is great because, you know, he wrote that e-mail late one night, not having any idea where it would go, it lands on Obama's desk. And then two weeks later, he gets this handwritten reply and Thomas, I think, was pretty smart about doing some research on the Internet in terms of looking at handwriting samples to see if this was really from Obama, noticing smudge pattern from the left- handed writer.

RITTER: Yes.

SASLOW: Before Tom has really realized it was from him. So, it's a big surprise.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's pretty remarkable. And your book is great. It's such great insight to a different side of this president.

And I always say, you know, not enough people handwrite letters anymore or "thank you" notes. I mean, it's pretty fascinating to hear the president still does that.

And, Thomas, you got to be on the receiving end.

Great book, Eli.

Thomas, I know you'll cherish that letter.

Thanks so much guys for joining me today.

RITTER: Absolutely. Thank you.

SASLOW: Thanks for having us on. Appreciate it.

PHILLIPS: You bet.

Well, a new tax plan, this time from another presidential candidate. Next hour in the NEWSROOM, we're going to bring you Rick Perry's live remarks and break down the flat tax.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, an intense search is underway in Texas for a man suspected of sexually assaulting at least four members of a black sorority.

Ed Lavandera joining us again from Dallas.

So, Ed, let's talk about how the police put all the pieces together. Can you hear me OK, Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, authorities here in Texas say that they have video surveillance of what they believe is the man suspect of carrying out these four attacks. They've happened in the last year, the attacks happened in suburbs north of the Dallas area.

And police say that the man that you see in this video is the man they believe is the suspect. What's interesting about all this -- the four victims, all in their mid-50s to mid-60s, women that all belong or alumni of a sorority group called Delta Sigma Theta.

And they told investigators that during these attacks, that the attacker knew intimate details about them, knew them on some level. They won't say exactly how or what kind of information the attacker gave, but it was clear this man had done the research. In fact, investigators say they believe this attacker had been stalking these victims, surveying them to try to figure out when they would be home alone, because all of these women were home alone when these attacks happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. GREG WILKERSON, CORINTH POLICE: We feel not only is he doing his research, he's possibly conducting surveillance. So, he's, you know, spending some time around the area, around the residences prior to the attacks. And once again, that's what we told the members of the sorority to be vigilant, you know, be mindful of any vehicles or persons in the area, that are out of place or don't belong. And be sure to report that because we do feel that he's spending some time around these victims' residences prior to committing the attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Kyra, as far as the sorority is concerned, they are urging people to really keep a low profile. In fact, telling people if you have placards on your license plate that have the sorority's name, t- shirt or anything like that, Facebook postings, Twitter postings, really urging people to lay very low.

In fact, we have tried to communicate here to the local chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. We have not gotten any response back. All communication has been handled out of their national office in Washington.

PHILLIPS: All right. We will follow this case. Ed Lavandera out of Dallas, thanks so much.

And that does it for us. We're going to wrap it up this hour.

But stay with us. Joe Johns is in for Suzanne Malveaux as CNN NEWSROOM continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)