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President Obama: 'Make or Break' for Middle Class; Huge Crowds at Newt Gingrich Event; The Man Behind the Super PAC; Friends Perform Avalanche Rescue; Examining Obama's Promises; The Work Of A Sex Surrogate

Aired January 24, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And hello to all of you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Let's go, as always -- top of the hour -- get you caught up on everything making news, "Rapid Fire." Let's begin.

First up here, 18 people had to be taken to the hospital after this bus and FedEx truck crashed there in Miami. All of the injured people were passengers on the bus. The FedEx driver we're told is OK, but traffic was blocked for quite some time this afternoon.

In Alabama, the focus there on recovery one day now after a powerful tornado hit the town of Clay. Look at the damage here. The rescue stage is over. Everyone, thank goodness, is accounted for.

Two people were killed, including a 16-year-old girl who was found 40 feet from her home still lying on her mattress. More than 400 homes were damaged or destroyed. And today people are trying to sift through what you're looking at, picking up the pieces, finding what's left, still intact, trying to save whatever they can.

Alabama's governor, Robert Bentley, couldn't believe what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ROBERT BENTLEY (R), ALABAMA: We saw areas, especially some of the residential areas, that reminded me so much of the April 27th storms. I do not understand except by God's grace that people can survive some of the damage that I see in some of the residential areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Governor Bentley there.

Also, 11 days now after the Costa Concordia hit a reef off Italy, crews have discovered a 16th body. The victim was found on deck three of the ship. Italian authorities say about 16 people though are still missing. Meanwhile, teams of divers, they have started preparing for the task of siphoning the thousands of tons of fuel off the partially sunken cruise liner.

And the son of late Evangelist Oral Roberts, Richard Roberts, was arrested early this morning on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. Roberts was stopped by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol just past midnight. The arrest report says he was clocked driving almost 30 miles per hour over the speed limit. Roberts posted bond and was released from the Tulsa County Jail a couple hours later.

And in Arkansas, have you heard about this? A Democratic campaign director's cat is mutilated, and the word "liberal" scratched across its little body, left on the family's doorstep. Jacob Burris heads the campaign of congressional hopeful Ken Aden. Even worse, according to Burris, it was his 5-year-old son who made the gruesome discovery.

And Ken Aden spoke to CNN just this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN ADEN (D), ARKANSAS CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Obviously, you know, work through this with his kids. And it's just very disheartening any way you look at it, because politics should be about a good political conversation, a good discourse. And whoever did this, it's just wrong, plain and simple.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Illinois, one of 14 states where cameras are either not allowed or not used during trials. That is about to change.

The Illinois Supreme Court is expected to announce an experimental ruling allowing cameras in trial courts, but there are some restrictions, and here they are. Jurors and potential jurors cannot be shown and cameras won't be allowed in juvenile, divorce, adoption or child custody cases.

And a massive solar storm -- remember we were talking about this last week -- it is now pelting our planet right now, and the fallout could affect power grids, satellites, navigation systems, maybe your cell phone. NASA says this is the strongest solar storm in many, many years. And get this -- radioactive particles from the fallout are expected to race toward our planet at nearly 1,400 miles a second. That's quick.

We are standing by for a Newt Gingrich campaign stop in Sarasota, Florida. Our guy on the ground there -- you saw him a couple of minutes ago -- Shannon Travis, he tells us the crowd is so massive, it could even be Gingrich's biggest crowd so far in Florida. It's at this airport hangar where this event is about to start. It's so packed, people are parking on the grass.

Also, next hour we will see Mitt Romney further south, talking housing at an event. That's at Lehigh Acres in Florida. Keep in mind, one out of every 96 homes has been touched by the foreclosure process in some way in that community alone.

Speaking of Florida, actually a different kind of Florida here, a different kind of Disney. Disneyland got a little less clean cut. Disney has announced it's changing its facial hair policy for park employees. And I stand corrected. This is not just Disneyland, this is Disney World as well.

So the company will now allow beards and goatees for staffers who wear costumes. Those not in gear can join in only on casual Friday. Since 2000, Disney has only allowed mustaches. And now you know.

We've got a lot more to cover for you in the next two hours. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Hours from now the president delivers his State of the Union. And this isn't just any speech. It's an election year, folks, which means the competition is fierce.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): Get a sneak peek at solutions President Obama will be offering tonight and hear what his opponents on the Hill are telling CNN today.

Plus, CNN goes in depth where money meets politics. Meet the man who says super PACs are for all the little guys, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't have the money themselves. So how are they going to participate?

BALDWIN: The beat-down recorded on camera, shared on YouTube. And now one of these kids is in jail, and his own father helped put him there.

Then, the woman who's made a career of having sex with people who need her therapeutic touch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take a deep breath.

BALDWIN: Her story is a hit at Sundance. She joins me live.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: 9:01:30, that's the start time for the president's State of the Union tonight. Big stuff here. President Obama will say it's make-or-break moment for America's middle class.

Let's go to Jessica Yellin. She's the chief White House correspondent.

And, you know, it's a cliche we employ all too often, Jessica, saying "huge stakes," but in this case perhaps appropriate, right? I mean, what do you think, especially given the fact here this is an election year?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Cliches in TV, Brooke? Never.

BALDWIN: No.

YELLIN: Never.

Look, this is a political speech. They won't say that here in the building behind me, but this is the start of a political year, and the president will use tonight to frame his campaign message. And he will frame it as a choice between two different visions for the future, two different kinds of economies.

This is how he explained it in a preview video he did for some of his supporters over the weekend. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and folks trying to work their way into the middle class, because we can go in two directions. One is towards less opportunity and less fairness, or we can fight for where I think we need to go, building an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Did you catch that? It's a big appeal to middle class Americans, working folks, not the wealthy -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. So that's something we can expect tonight certainly.

And also, the president seems to have really pivoted into election year footing. The speeches he's been giving seem to be taking on an increasingly populist tone.

YELLIN: Yes. Well, you'll remember -- and this was -- that language was straight from a speech he gave in early December in Osawatomie, Kansas, where he talked about giving everybody a fair shake and creating an opportunity society. And you're going to hear a lot of that reiterated tonight.

Listen to a clip of that speech. We can talk on the back end. Here's Osawatomie, Kansas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: It's heartbreaking enough that there are millions of working families in this country who are now forced to take their children to food banks for a decent meal. But the idea that those children might not have a chance to climb out of that situation and back into the middle class, no matter how hard they work, that's inexcusable. It is wrong. It flies in the face of everything that we stand for.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: So, my top sources say that they see that speech as sort of his vision for where the economy should go. And tonight will be the blueprint laying out exactly specific steps how to get there.

But, Brooke, what this is really about is trying to get everybody to look down into the future so that the election is not a referendum on his stewardship of the economy today, but a choice about two different ideas about how government should function and where we should go down the line. They think if it's a referendum on today, he doesn't win. If it's about two different visions for the future, that's his shot at winning -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Interesting, though, as you say, looking into the future. I remember the speech in Osawatomie, and that was reminiscent of the Teddy Roosevelt speech, right, many a year ago and those same themes?

YELLIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: He is in a little bit of a quandary, conundrum, whatever you want to say, is he not? I mean, he can't plausibly say he's got the economy up and booming. All he can really do is lay out a plan and hope Americans buy it, right?

YELLIN: Can't say it's booming, but he's got a lot of smart numbers crunchers here. And last time around we checked, he said in the last year's State of the Union, "We are poised for progress. The stock market has come roaring back. The economy is growing again. And already, the White House has been saying to us, let's look at the numbers."

"The auto industry has been adding 100,000 jobs a year. The oil production is at its highest in eight years. We're cutting the deficit by $2 trillion."

I can go on and on. There are tons of numbers they can cite to say that there are signs of growth in the economy that have come under his stewardship. So, all he has to do, they believe, is make the case that we're going in the right direction, even if we haven't gotten to a good place yet -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: And offer some distinctions, I guess, in that plan --

YELLIN: Hope.

BALDWIN: -- with what the other Republicans are offering right now.

YELLIN: Bingo. You got it.

BALDWIN: Jessica Yellin, thank you very much, for us there at the White House.

And speaking of Republicans, a lot of the presidential candidates they're cutting a rut in the state of Florida. They're running from town to town to town and drumming up votes in the race for the White House.

And take a look. Live pictures of a Newt Gingrich rally. This is at an airport hangar, packed house. We're going to take you live to Sarasota after this quick break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Before we take you to Florida, some breaking news into CNN this hour.

Syria has decided to allow the monitors from the Arab League to stay inside the country for another month. Keep in mind, several countries had already withdrawn their own observers.

The monitors had announced they would suspend their entire mission if the government didn't accept the extension. So the government is accepting the extension. The Arab League monitors had wanted President Bashar al-Assad to step down, allow his vice president to step in. They said no so far.

But again, Arab League monitors will be able to stay in country there. Breaking news from Syria.

Meantime, to Florida we go. Newt Gingrich making a campaign stop in Sarasota.

In fact, let's sneak peek. Live pictures.

Who is that, you ask? This is retired congressman Bob Walker from Pennsylvania, a long, long good friend of Newt Gingrich's. So he's essentially teeing up the crowd for the former Speaker to speak. And as we've been told, this place is packed with people.

Shannon Travis somewhere there on the ground. There he is.

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: In the crowd.

BALDWIN: In the crowd we found you.

You say these people are pumped. I hope you can hear me. I understand this is an airport hangar.

Why is that, Shannon?

TRAVIS: That's right, Brooke. I mean, probably because the campaign needed a really big place for all of these supporters.

I mean, if you see behind me, as you just mentioned, there are masses of people here. This could potentially be his biggest crowd yet here in Florida.

Up on stage, as you just mentioned, you have basically men pumping up the crowd even more. And Newt Gingrich is expected to come on.

You know he thrives off of this. He thrives off of the energy of the crowd, and he'll surely get it here.

Earlier today, though, at his first campaign appearance of the day back in St. Petersburg, it was a smaller crowd. It was at a diner, but it was no less red meat that he threw out to some of his supporters. Case in point, listen to what he said about Mitt Romney, Brooke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I discovered, I guess, that Romney has a new debate coach whose specialty is to say as many untrue things as fast as you can to get them all into one or two quick statements. So I thought it was kind of wild.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS: Now, obviously, Brooke, the Speaker is talking about Mitt Romney basically hammering away at him in that debate last night, talking about his -- he ended his term in the House and speakership in disgrace, raising questions about his ties with Freddie Mac, saying that he was influence-peddling. But Newt Gingrich is responding. And you can probably expect him to respond to this crowd, because they'll definitely be behind him -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: You know, listening to Newt Gingrich talk, obviously one of his tactics is to try to align Mitt Romney -- he keeps him calling him the Massachusetts moderate -- align him with the president and say, hey, look at me, I'm the true conservative, President Obama is way over here, Mitt Romney is way over here.

And I imagine that crowd there -- right, Shannon? -- south-central Florida, Tea Party crowd, conservative crowd, playing right into it -- to him.

TRAVIS: And those are two key groups, Tea Partiers, possibly some Evangelicals here. But definitely solid conservatives here in this south-central region of Florida.

Another thing to note is that Newt Gingrich knows that this is a base that he needs to win the primary that's coming up next week, so he appeals to them. And earlier today, one really funny thing, Brooke. When he left out, after he finished slamming Mitt, calling him a moderate, or whatever, his exit music was the song "How You Like Me Now."

BALDWIN: By The Heavy. I saw that note earlier. That may be on my running play list on my iPhone, so perhaps that's a message to perhaps Mitt Romney.

Shannon Travis for us.

Thank you so much, Shannon.

Keep in mind, the Florida primary one week from today.

Meantime, as we just mentioned money, millions if not billions of dollars will be spent on the 2012 presidential race. And so far this season these super PACs have spent more than $35 million.

Coming up next, we're going to introduce you to someone else today, to the lawyer who many say created the super PAC concept. Find out what he's going to take on next.

Also, more than 100 gravestones on the wrong graves, people buried in the wrong plots. All of this at military cemeteries across the country.

Coming up after a quick break, what is being done to fix the problem?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You know, all this week here on CNN, as I mentioned a moment ago, we're really looking at the intersection of money and politics. And one man you'll find there is James Bopp. He is perhaps best known for setting the dominos, if you will, in motion that ultimately won the right for groups to collect unlimited funds from corporations, from private donors to flight political battles.

Ted Rowlands takes us "In-Depth" today with the legal mind behind the Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for super PACs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the man many credit with creating the super PAC, conservative Indiana attorney James Bopp.

JAMES BOPP, ATTORNEY: As somebody very interested in government, politics, and conservative philosophy, this is the ideal place for me.

ROWLANDS: James Bopp has been fighting for conservatives since the 1970s when he started representing the National Right to Life Committee. Now he's the go-to attorney for dozens of conservative groups, including the RNC and Citizens United, which, thanks to a 2010 Supreme Court decision, created the super PAC.

BOPP: They just don't want people to be spending money on elections.

ROWLANDS: Last week, Bopp defended super PACs at a debate sponsored by the Louisiana State Bar in New Orleans. His opponent on stage was Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a group that lobbies against corporate influence. Weissman believes the Supreme Court's decision on Citizens United was wrong and that it will eventually be overturned.

ROBERT WEISSMAN, PRESIDENT, PUBLIC CITIZEN: Whether or not it's for the Democrats or for the Republicans, it's the corporate interest as against the broader public interest. And that's what we're going to have to suffer from.

BOPP: We just have more voices, more information. People are free to disregard whatever they don't want to consider. They're free to turn off the TV whenever they want.

ROWLANDS: Bopp argues the super PACs actually allow the little guy to get involved. BOPP: They don't have the money themselves. So how are they going to participate? They have to join a group, pool their resources with other like-minded people, and then they can participate actively.

ROWLANDS: Critics of super PACs include politicians. John McCain calls the Citizens United decision the worst he's ever seen.

BOPP: He is so wrong on campaign finance law, it's a sad commentary. He's just like so many incumbents. There's a bipartisan disdain for the First Amendment because incumbents know that campaign finance laws help their re-election. And at the very minimum, it stifles people from criticizing them, and they hate criticism.

ROWLANDS: James Bopp says next he'd like to push for campaign contribution limits to candidates to go away or at least go way up. But for now, he's pleased to see that super PACs are now part of the political debate.

Ted Rowlands, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: As we mentioned to you, we've been monitoring what's happening there. On the left side of your screen, you can see Newt Gingrich now taking over the podium, saying some "thank yous" and "hellos" to folks who have gathered to see him and hear him at this airport hangar in Sarasota, Florida.

As soon as he gets into really the meat of his remarks, we will take that for you live.

We're also going to hear from Mitt Romney next hour here on CNN.

But I do want to move along and just ask this of you. You know, this week, as we continue pushing forward in our "In-Depth" series of "The Intersection of Money and Politics," the question that we're asking is, have you donated to a campaign? And then, what do you want to get from that investment if you have given your own hard-earned money?

We want you to record your thoughts and send them into iReport. Just go to iReport.com, and you may see yourself here on CNN, as we'll be airing some of your comments throughout our newscast right here on CNN.

Meantime, a new report has found that military cemeteries across the country now have had 115 cases of misplaced headstones and another eight people were buried in the wrong place. The National Cemetery Administration has ordered a review in October after workers at a Texas cemetery found 40 headstones were in the wrong spot.

We talked to you for a while now about Arlington National Cemetery. Problems there over the last two years certainly have brought this issue into the spotlight. Missing burial records, hundreds of mismarked graves there were blamed in part on dysfunctional management. Now, the Veterans Affairs Department did release a statement in part saying this: "VA discovered this issue ourselves as part of our regular operations and took corrective action. NCA strives for accuracy in its service to all veterans and their family members, and deeply regrets the errors which have occurred."

Also, the NCA obviously notifying the families here. It says discrepancies were only found at fewer than one percent -- fewer of one percent of the graves that were reviewed.

And now let's listen to Newt Gingrich, live in Sarasota.

(BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

GINGRICH: You always have to wonder when Obama speaks which country he thinks he's talking about. You also have to wonder what his source material is.

I have been saying -- it seems to confuse the news media. I've been saying that you can really understand him best when you understand that he is a Saul Alinsky radical who taught radicalism in Chicago.

I'm an old-fashioned American. I think the primary documents are the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist Papers.

(APPLAUSE)

So there's a fundamental difference. And if you get a chance, if you can force yourself to watch some of it, or to read about it tomorrow, or to get the CliffsNotes, I'm curious whether the president will be willing to admit the following --

Under his administration, the price of gasoline has doubled. Under his administration, the Environmental Protection Agency has a proposal that will add another 25 cents a gallon to the price of gasoline. Under his administration, he has blocked development of oil off of Louisiana and Texas, but went to Brazil and congratulated them on developing oil off Brazil.

In fact, he said to the Brazilians I'm really glad we could guarantee $2 billion in loans so you could buy equipment from a George Soros company. He didn't say George Soros Company. Just for the fact checkers, I'll make clear he did not say George Soros Company, but it was a company which turned out to be owned by George Soros.

But the weirdest thing I said and this is why I think it's interesting to watch him, because he doesn't seem to operate in the same planet you and I do. He has this sort of Planet Obama somewhere out there and he's -- he said to the Brazilians, I want the United States to be your best customer.

Now, I thought to myself, so the Obama economic model is borrow from the Chinese to pay the Brazilians. You know, I don't want an American president who goes around the world as a foreign purchasing agent.

I want an American president who goes around the world as a salesman of American products and American goods and services. To make matters worse, the Obama administration just picked a Brazilian company to build an airplane that could have been built in Wichita, Kansas, at a time when we need the jobs.

I hope the president tonight will explain the courage, the wisdom, the far-sightedness, that led him to drive cap today into an agreement with the Chinese to build a pipeline. This idea of vetoing the Keystone pipeline is wrong on every possible grounds.

It would have led to 20,000 to 50,000 construction jobs while it was being built. It would have carried oil to Houston, which is the largest petrochemical complex in the world. We would have made money for 30 to 50 years processing Canadian oil.

Then the ports of Galveston and Houston would have made money actually shipping the oil. Instead because Obama wanted to have a handful of San Francisco extremists happy, he vetoed it, which means that Prime Minister Harper, who's a conservative and pro-American, is now talking about working out an agreement with the Chinese to build the pipeline due west across the Rockies to Vancouver, more expensive but doable.

The idea of an American president making a Canadian partnership with China easier than a Canadian partnership with the U.S. would be inconceivable if we didn't know Barack Obama. By the way, last week, the Saudis signed an agreement with China to develop nuclear power in Saudi Arabia to offset the Iranians.

They picked the Chinese because they don't trust the Obama administration. Now, just think about how we're being weakened. Look to our south where just as the Obama administration tries to appease the Taliban and they try to appease Iran.

They're trying to find a way to appease Castro's Cuba, exactly the wrong direction. They don't recognize that Chavez is working an arrangement with Ahmadinejad and the Iranians. They don't understand what's happening in Nicaragua.

I mean, it's almost like a replay of the late '70s. We need to recognize, you know, the president is very big on an Arab spring. He's worried about Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and Syria. Well, you know, if you just look south --

BALDWIN: Newt Gingrich just a couple of minutes in to him speaking as always off the cuff. Just has his notes, never any teleprompters. He likes to tell his crowds -- talking about the president, a bit of the prebuttal to the president's "State of the Union."

He's talking about the president living on planet Obama. A lot of people talk about Gingrich as a historian. We notice that you hear Speaker Gingrich referring a lot to a man by the name of Sal Orlinski.

So a quick backgrounder, Orlinski was an influential community organizer. He was born in Chicago in 1909. He is known for organizing people in poor neighborhoods to demand better working conditions and getting them to polling stations to vote.

Rules for radicals, his most favorite book describes a confrontational method for curing economic inequality. Orlinshi died in 1972.

This Thursday night just days before the big Florida primary, CNN and the Republican Party of Florida teaming up to host our next presidential debate in Jacksonville. That is CNN Thursday night 8:00 eastern. A lot of politics, a lot more coming your way right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: High hopes dashed for a 100-year-old woman who was evicted from her home. I'm talking about Texana Hollis. She has lived in the same home half a century. A foreclosure forced her eviction, which broke her heart.

The government holds the deed to her house. When the Housing Department found Texana's age, they backed off taking her home. But there's a catch. Her house is in such terrible shape it's been condemned. A family took Texana from church now has been good enough to take her in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what God calls us to do.

TEXANA HOLLIS, 101 YEARS OLD: She's just nice to me. She don't care what I call on, she's coming. Day and night, she's coming.

BALDWIN: Her family is now asking for help in building a wheelchair ramp for Texana so she can at least get around.

And good friends, fresh snow and a snowmobile. It sounds like a ton of fun, right? It was until an avalanche. It's hard to make out. You can actually see a line of snow that's gaining on a snowmobiler.

Within seconds, wipe out, his friends turn into rescuers rushing in to help. As all this is happening, you get a firsthand perspective from this helmet cam, one of the friends just so happens to be wearing. This is stampede pass in Washington, just over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SWANSON, AVALANCHE SURVIVOR (voice-over): I knew that I was buried enough in snow that I couldn't move. I mean, I just was suffocating in the snow.

And when they were digging, then I was like, this isn't good. So I was grabbing a shovel while the guys were in there with their hands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you breathe? We got you, buddy. SWANSON (on camera): They knew where I went in the snow and that was the saving grace is snowing exactly where I went in the snow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Suffocating in the snow. All the friends snowmobiling were wearing protective suits and helmets, thank goodness.

President Obama made a lot of promises in last year's "State of the Union" address. One of them, to stop giving billions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies.

Coming up next, we're going to dig deeper into whether the president kept his word.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A lot of presidents make many, many promises during their "States of the Union" speeches, so today we're holding President Obama accountable. The concept is simple.

CNN correspondent, Tom Foreman takes a fine-tooth comb through the issues and tells us, is this a promise kept, a promise broken, compromised, a work in progress or stalled? So here he is now on the topic of oil -- Tom.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rising gas prices, oil company profits and the BP spill in the gulf had many voters on the war path leading up to the last "State of the Union." A circumstance not missed by President Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'm asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: But just because you ask, does not mean you receive, especially in D.C. In May, the Senate considered a Democrat-sponsored bill to cut oil company tax breaks by $2 billion annually.

A few Democrats joined the Republican opposition, a couple of Republicans helped the Democrats, but it failed by four votes. So adjusted for inflation, oil companies continue to enjoy $4.4 billion in tax breaks annually.

Last year was the first year ever that the average price of a gallon of gas never went below $3. Our cars are still running, but this promise stalled.

BALDWIN: Tom Foreman, thank you. Keep in mind tonight CNN's special coverage of President Obama's "State of the Union" address begins at 8:00 eastern live in Washington. And now to this, fair warning. I want to give you time and this warning. After this quick break, we're going to talk about sex. So, parents, get your kids out of the room right now. We'll give you a couple of minutes for that.

Then for you grownups, stick around for my conversation with a woman who makes her living as a surrogate in this particular department. In fact, there is now a movie about her at Sundance getting rave reviews. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: As I mentioned on the other side of the break, this is a topic not meant for kids. So again get the little ones out of the room. I'll give you a minute. You're about to meet a woman who gets paid to have sex, but Cheryl Cohen Green is not a prostitute, she's a sex surrogate, someone who helps other work through their sexual problems.

I know we're all thinking, yes, that's what they all say, but Cohen Green does serious work so much so that her life and career have been made into this big movie that is a contender for the top award at the Sundance Film Festival this week.

The film is called "The Surrogate." it's about how Cohen Green helped this man by the name of Marco Brian, a quadriplegic poet with polio. He lost his virginity to her when he was 36.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMAEL: So --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your money is on the desk over there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it is. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was the wrong way to start off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It really was. Shall we start again?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please. You start.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Although the aim is for us to have sex, I'm not a prostitute. You don't have to pay me up front. I have nothing against prostitutes, but there's a difference. We can talk about that later.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The other thing is there's a limit to the number of sessions we can have. Did Laura mention that when you saw her?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't remember.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The limit is six, but that gives us plenty of opportunity to explore. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is a clip of the film. The real Cheryl joins me live from Sundance, Park City, Utah. Cheryl, it's nice to meet you. We're an afternoon audience so as I go into this first question, what exactly is the job of -- do you call yourself a sex surrogate, sex partner, sexologist, tell me what's the right term?

CHERYL COHEN GREENE, SURROGATE PARTNER: We're called surrogate partners.

BALDWIN: Surrogate partners.

GREENE: And a clinical sexologist.

BALDWIN: Yes, I read all about your training. What is your job?

GREENE: My job is to help a person, and they're not sick or broken, they're just like all of us, myself included, to have a better understanding of their sexuality.

We don't get a lot of good training and a lot of good conversation when we're growing up about it and a lot of people come to their own sexual feelings and desires from a sense of shame and embarrassment.

It can get you into situations in your life where you're not feeling as good as you possibly can about your sexuality and it can get you in trouble.

Considering people who are having problems with keeping erections, getting them in the first place, ejaculating too quickly or not at all with a partner, having very little sexual experience and at a certain age, if you're still a virgin, there's an embarrassing feeling that you're going to come across to a partner as inexperienced.

BALDWIN: OK.

GREENE: And we have a population of people, a lot of people need some tweaking, some help.

BALDWIN: OK. So you step in and you help them. I've been reading a lot about your work and your field. I understand it's very, very nuanced. The therapy you offer here clearly. But for some viewers, I have to ask, Cheryl, what is the difference between what you do and the oldest profession?

GREENE: Well, my intention is very different. My intention is to not have clients come back. It's an education process that can be a lot of fun. It can be anxiety provoking, which is good because we work with therapists around the anxiety that might be happening during our sessions.

So the focus is to help a person go out into the world feeling much better about who they are sexually so they can share that with another person and not come back to see me again.

BALDWIN: You have been doing this for 38 years. How many couples, men, women, have you counselled in those near four decades?

GREENE: Close to 950.

BALDWIN: Wow, 950 and a lot of them are referred to you from a therapist, yes?

GREENE: They are all referred to me from therapists. So I've -- you know, I've established -- go ahead. I'm sorry.

BALDWIN: No, no, continue. You've established --

GREENE: No, I was going to say I've established a relationship in the last 38 years with the best sex therapists in the bay area and people who have educated themselves in human sexuality, psychiatrists, sometimes urologists, will call me.

If they do, I require the client to then be working with a therapist. I have the names of very good people and I give them three names and they can choose.

BALDWIN: OK. So now that we all understand a little bit more about what you do, I want to talk about the film. As we mentioned, the film is based upon your experience counseling this one man in particular, Mark O'Brien who got polio as a child, spent much of his life in an iron lung and you helped him lose his virginity at age 36. This is from a documentary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheryl was very kind to me. She kissed me on the chest after we had intercourse. I felt my chest was very unattractive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Just your kissing him on his chest, what did that -- give him confidence, something he had never experienced before, what?

GREENE: Well, he told me that he had never been really touched in any other way other than to wash him or to do a procedure. And so the first time I touched his whole body to find out where he was sensitive, as I was coming down his chest, I just felt like I wanted to kiss him there. It was vulnerable.

He was very slim and it just came into my mind that I wanted to do that and I did it. When I looked up, he had tears in his eyes and it always makes me feel like crying what I remember it because he was such a very good person.

And he told me how much it meant to him to have that part of his body touched because he was self conscious about it and didn't think anybody would do that. I know he has since passed away, but from what I've read you changed his life. So now there's this film, Helen Hunt plays you. I just want to play another clip. This is from "The Surrogate."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was wondering maybe about possibly buying a futon, you know, in case the need arose.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It might be worth thinking about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got the space, I think. It can be expensive, though, a nice futon. How much do you think a good one would cost?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take a deep breath and let go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do I seem anxious?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Cheryl, how did Helen Hunt study you?

GREENE: We met twice and we spent quite a bit of time together. I was so impressed with how -- the questions she asked me. How I would deal with certain situations.

And we actually met for me to show her how I touched Mark when we had our first session and every session. I was very impressed when I heard her using some of the words that I used.

I couldn't have asked for a person to represent my work any better. Helen is amazing. I just love her.

BALDWIN: I understand the film at Sundance got not just one, but two standing ovations, which is pretty rare for films there. When you first saw the film, you cried and cried. Why?

GREENE: I cried because I kept thinking of Mark and how much he would have loved this movie, and I also cried because it finally is a recognition that people are human creatures.

All of us have desires. Our sexuality is such a deep part of who we are. And to finally see it done so beautifully and acknowledged that every person, not just Mark with his disability that kept him from finding what he wanted to do.

The exploration of sexuality, and we finally got to that point, but everybody. There are so many people who are confused and had misinformation that it was -- it made me feel hopeful that other people will be able to be helped in this process.

BALDWIN: I have two more questions and then I know I have to let you go. One obvious thought I had would be do you ever get attached to your clients, your patients?

I guess yes, since you married your current husband was a patient of yours, but what about clients getting attached to you? Do you worry about that? How do you handle that?

GREENE: Well, that's part of the process. If people learn to feel emotional feelings and attachments, we're working with a therapist so I never -- the therapist is privy to every piece of information in my private sessions.

I tell the clients that right from the beginning that I'm not holding secrets, I'm not going to hold back anything from the therapist. So I always talk about these things if I feel that's starting to happen, and we address it immediately.

And I think it's a marvelous thing. People have to learn that they can feel strong feelings for another person and then they can let go. And I've never -- I mean, when I married Bob, that was a very unusual situation. And we've been together 33 years. So I didn't hurt him.

BALDWIN: Cheryl Cohen Greene, fascinating. Surrogate partner, a grandmother. I thank you so much. Again, the film called "The Surrogate." Thank you. Quick break, back in a moment.

GREENE: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)