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Andrew Breitbart Dead At 43; Six Killed In Harrisburg, Illinois Tornado; Iran To Hold First Vote Since 2009; Passenger Missing From Cruise Ship; Crews Rescue Base Jumper; Bank Of America Tests New Fees; Revolutionizing Reproduction

Aired March 01, 2012 - 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: Welcome back. Thank you for joining us at the top of the hour.

We are talking about the fact that we learned that conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart died early this morning in Los Angeles. He was 43 years old.

We're hearing that he died of natural causes. Now you know Breitbart was an influential and controversial voice in politics. He was on CNN's "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT" just two nights ago talking about the presidential race.

We are going to talk about Rick Santorum also weighing in on this as well. But first, do we want to listen to it or not? We don't have it or we do? I'm being told we don't have it. Here is Rick Santorum reacting to the news just a short time ago. We do have it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Obviously for his family, it's a big shock. What a colorful force. Almost -- you think of anybody out there who has more energy, just out there constantly, you know, driving and pushing, he would be it. What a huge loss, in my opinion, for our country and certainly for the conservative movement. My prayers to his family. Sorry to hear it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: That's Rick Santorum just moments ago. CNN political director, Mark Preston joining us now. We mentioned his influence and also controversy surrounding Andrew Breitbart. Why don't we start with the influence and do we have any idea about any of the details surrounding his death?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: We don't know, Kyra and in fact, this is news that just break in right now. As you can see, even Rick Santorum was caught off guard there at a campaign event in Georgia learning of Andrew Breitbart's death.

At 43 years old, died in Los Angeles. He was the father of four, but for us how we got to know Andrew Breitbart was his willingness to put himself out there and to attack the left and to attack Democrats.

In many ways, Andrew Breitbart was a bridge for the Republican Party, the old Republican Party into the 21st Century. He was somebody that stuck very close by his conservative views. He tried to have some fun with it. But on social issues he was not as staunch as some conservatives would be.

He did, as I said, build a bridge for the Republican parties in many ways to younger voters and that's really where he had a strong following. He was one of the pioneers. I think you could say, on the internet as far as it comes to conservative causes.

I've got to tell you, certainly in this presidential year, the death of Andrew Breitbart is certainly going to be felt.

PHILLIPS: The three stories I remember covering regarding Andrew Breitbart and how we got to know him and his influence and also the controversy that followed on many of these occasions, ACORN, Shirley Sherrod and also the Anthony Weiner scandal.

Mark, maybe you can just touch on each of those to kind of remind our viewers and give context to what kind of influence Breitbart had on politics.

PRESTON: Sure. And this of course, is all intertwining the web where he was. As we said, he pioneer on it and was able to use it for good and for bad in many ways. The whole ACORN scandal, he was able to really push these videos of ACORN workers engaging in funding, so to speak, for sex workers, for pimps.

They caught it on video and while ACORN says that it was a misrepresentation, it really did take down the organization. When it came to Sherry Sherrod, he put out and edited video of Sherry Sherrod who was an Agriculture Department official.

Piece together the video, didn't show the whole video and portrayed her as being racist when in fact, the speech that she was given was not a racist speech and that became a very big black mark against Andrew Breitbart.

But to close with the Anthony Weiner scandal, he basically took down the New York congressman. Some would say probably was in line to become the next mayor of New York City, and by doing so he was able to use his web site to promote these tweets that the congressman was putting out.

That were scandalous and salacious at best and it forced him to leave Congress and of course, try to rebuild his own image as we think Anthony Weiner is trying to do now. But along the way, Kyra, Andrew Breitbart noted that he gained some friends and lost some friends.

In fact, let's listen to what or rather let's look at what he said in his most recent book, "Righteous Indignation" about his popularity. He wrote, I love my job, I love fighting for what I believe in. I love having fun while doing it. I love reporting stories that the complex refuses to report. I love fighting back.

I love finding allies and famously, I enjoy making enemies. I got to tell you. He was a guest, as you said, frequently here on CNN. He was a pretty lively fellow, an interesting person and somebody that I think the conservative movement, Kyra, is greatly going to miss.

PHILLIPS: Andrew Breitbart, dead at the age of 43 by natural causes. We will follow the story throughout the morning. Mark, thanks so much.

A monster storm plows through the heartland and spins off an outbreak of tornadoes. This morning, the pictures, the numbers. We'll tell you the story.

At least a dozen people have been killed now. Almost 200 people injured. The damage stretches from Kansas to Kentucky. Half of the death toll coming from one small town, 9,000 people live in Harrisburg, Illinois.

Six people died there. As many as 300 homes were damaged or destroyed. A lot of residents woke up to the terrifying sound of winds ripping apart their homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN HICKS, TORNADO SURVIVOR: Well, we woke up. The half the roof was coming off the house. We managed to get the small children in the closet and about the time the small children were in the closet, my wife and I noticed the walls separating from the house. It wasn't just a couple of seconds later was quiet and it was obvious there was utter devastation around there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I started feeling the trailer shaking and that's all I can remember. Next thing I knew, he was hollering. I was hollering. I crawled out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm praying. I'm really hoping and praying to God that everything will be cool. I was -- I was really thinking for a second is that we were going to die. I was scared. I really thought my dad and I were going to die or get thrown from our trailer and die. It was scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And our Don Lemon is part of the CNN team there in Harrisburg. Don, let's talk about how widespread the damage is.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's unbelievable. But listen, you talk about how big it was. This is the reality. This is a 91-year- old mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not 91.

LEMON: Your mother was 91. She lived here in this community for most of her life, most of her married life. You were here with her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I was. I was here and I put her in the bathtub. I woke up about 10 minutes after 4:00. I heard the sirens and could hear a locomotive sound coming straight at us. I went ahead and put her in the bathtub, made her squat down.

I laid on top of her. We held on to each other in that tub. Luckily got saw just this middle to be destroyed, but I had to hold on to her. I could feel all the forces pulling on my body trying to take us out of here.

Then shortly after it blew over, then we got up, got a couple of our purses and stuff, went out with the neighbors and took off in a four-wheel drive and went to safety against the gas lines and stuff.

LEMON: Pat, her name is Thelma?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thelma Wiley, they told us that we could have 12 hours today to get her things out. And a lot of her things are very salvageable. This is her life, everything she owns.

What we're trying to do is take what we can. They told us we don't have that much time and we need more time to get it out just today, but they told us we can't.

LEMON: I want you to take a deep breath.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

LEMON: All right? It's going to be all right. They're going to give you as much time as you need.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You guys go out there and tell them that.

LEMON: All of her stuff?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some of it we're throwing away because it's no good. It was damaged and destroyed, but what we're trying to take is her good bedroom suite. The things on this side of the middle were good even the TV and all that stuff is good.

LEMON: Is this the bathtub where you guys were?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, here. We hunkered down right there. She was in the back. I was over here. We had all this apparatus to help us out.

We just ducked and I -- I think I put towels and stuff over our heads. That is the only time we had. The warnings -- the sirens went off. We had about two minutes to get into the bathtub and get covered.

LEMON: Let's walk out here and show everybody else what you're doing. This is reality, Kyra, you hear about numbers and injuries. But these are lives, and people had to really scramble.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We tried to -- we tried to get a lot of this out yesterday, but we didn't have a lot of equipment. You know, we needed -- we needed trucks, we needed people to wrap things. There's china, there's crystal, there's things that are a part of her life.

LEMON: And everything is going in here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had another one that was coming. We were going to try to put the furniture on flatbeds since it's not raining, use that for breakable stuff.

But they -- the landlord that owned these just came in and told us they'll run some kind of electric cable down the middle of Water Street for other people that need electric, so they're going to push us out. Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you. So glad you're OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. So am I. I'm just not sure if I'm OK right now.

LEMON: All right. You can see she's nervous and a bit flabbergasted because they're giving her 12 hours to get out. That's not enough for a whole life.

I want to show you where we are. Then back to you. There you go. This was once a vibrant neighborhood. What the tornado didn't take away, the bulldozers will take away in just a couple of minutes. That's it.

These folks are going to have to rebuild. As I said to you all morning, the people who are here who lost things are saying I can't believe only six people died when you consider the strength of an EF4 tornado. Now we are getting reports that it was higher than 170 miles per hour.

PHILLIPS: Wow, all right, Don Lemon there for us in Harrisburg. Don, thanks. You know, that was the hardest-hit town. The devastation though has gone far and wide.

Take a look at these images that were submitted by CNN I- Reporter of the damage in Branson, Missouri, the resort city for country music bands. About 10 percent of the show venues are said to be damaged there.

The cost of repairs estimated in the tens of millions of dollars. In Tennessee, three people were killed when the storm struck just before dark this morning crews are there launching a search for anyone who might be trapped in that wreckage.

CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano is here following how powerful these storms were. I mean, you can see right there by the pictures.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: So spread out. You know, for the month of February, this is quite an intense outbreak. I want to focus on the EF-4 that Don was showing us because this unlike a lot of the larger ones doesn't have to be super wide to be a strong storm. Here is the track from the National Weather Service.

Now at this point, they think it's about seven miles long, but they stopped surveying it yesterday. They will go back out there. Likely it was more than that, 250 yards wide. So, you know, you think of an EF-4, you're thinking, has to be a quarter mile wide, half mile wide, this wasn't.

This thing came through at 5:00 in the morning local time and then when it got to Evansville, just south, it decreased in intensity from an EF4 160 so plus to an EF1 just 90 mile an hour winds.

All right, today we have a threat in the midsection, but tomorrow is a greater threat. You want to highlight this in the areas that are very similar to yesterday. St. Louis, Southern Illinois, Louisville, back to Nashville, moderate risk of seeing severe weather and tornadoes again tomorrow -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Rob, thanks so much.

Let's head overseas. Iranians are about to do something they haven't done in nearly three years -- vote. Parliamentary elections are tomorrow. It's the country's first vote since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election in 2009.

Our Ivan Watson is getting a rare look inside that country as Iranians prepare to cast ballots. He joins me now live from Tehran. Ivan, what are people concerned about in this election?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are a lot of concerns here. One of the -- one of the serious issues is the economy. The Iranian currency has lost by some estimates half of its value against the dollar in just the last four months.

People have seen their savings lose value in the banks. They've seen also dramatic inflation when they try to go out and shop, for instance now before the Persian new year. We were in the bazaars that were jam packed full of people who were complaining about high prices.

That's a concern. There are also people are concerned about the intense international pressure against Iran right now. There's been an awful lot of talk and speculation coming from government officials and Israel and in the U.S., the arch rivals of Iran.

Talk of the possibility of military action against Iran. That's something that people are concerned about. And economic sanctions as well led by the U.S. and its European allies, that have really limited, for example, international trade, bank transactions between Iran and its international trading partners.

All of these things are concerns for Iranians. The government has a massive publicity campaign to get out the vote because it sees big voter participation as proof that it enjoys the support of the Iranian population, some 33 years after the Islamic revolution here -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll be following it, that's for sure. Ivan Watson with rare access inside Tehran for the parliamentary elections. Well, coming up next, a judge gives prosecutors a deadline in the Ohio school shooting case. We're checking stories cross country next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're continuing our coverage now of the pretty shocking death of Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger. He was found dead this morning in Los Angeles. He was 43 years old. We're hearing that he died of natural causes.

Breitbart made his name with his conservative web site like breitbart.com, big government and big journalism. He also helped launch the "Huffington Post." He stirred up a lot of controversy as well.

Erick Erickson is also a conservative blogger. He's with redstate.com. He's also a CNN contributor. Erick is joining me on the phone. Erick, let's get to what you're hearing.

You know, we were reporting that he was found dead early this morning in Los Angeles. You are saying that you talked with some friends that had dinner with him last night and he possibly he died of a heart attack?

ERICK ERICKSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (via telephone): Yes, that's what I'm hearing. It appears to be a heart attack although it hasn't been confirmed yet. Everyone is still in so much shock. I'm stunned by the news.

Dana Loesch, one of our CNN contributors, she worked for him. She was the editor of one of his big sites. My first thought this morning. I thought it had to be a Twitter hoax. He's so aggressive on Twitter, has a following on Twitter, I just assumed it was one of the typical hoaxes.

When it was confirmed -- he really is like a super nova who has gone dark. In any room I ever saw him in, he was the brilliant ball of energy. People just gravitated to him. He was willing to use himself as a lightning rod and get criticism from the left and the right.

But use that attention to focus everyone like a laser on the story he wanted told or shown. He was quite successful at it. I really do think -- he would be quite happy being called a conservative activist or blogger I think.

But he really was one of the great unheralded dotcom entrepreneurs. He worked for Matt Dredge behind the scenes for a number of years. Then got this brilliant idea of getting the Associate Press online feed and starting breitbart.com and a lot of sites came after him doing what he did. But very few did it as well as he did.

PHILLIPS: Let's -- we'll talk a little bit more about his career, but you saw him just -- I guess a couple weeks ago. Did he ever mention anything to you? Did his family ever mention anything to you about heart problems or health problems or high blood pressure, anything like that? Do you know of any health issues that he's had?

ERICKSON: No, I don't. He just -- he was -- Andrew, I don't think he ever slept. He had so much energy. There were more than once I would receive a phone call from him. I'm on the east coast, he on the west coast. I remember one time in particular I got a 3 a.m. phone call from him.

He was headed home from a late dinner to see the wife and kids and it was 3. I'm completely oblivious to the fact it was 3 in where I was. He got pulled over by a police officer for using his cell phone on the freeway then at 4:30 in the morning called back to apologize. He had not realized it was so late when he called the first time.

PHILLIPS: Wow, and you mentioned his family. He's a father of four, right?

ERICKSON: Yes, yes he is. I remember distinctly on occasion we had lunch together out in California when I was there for a meeting. He spoke so highly of his kids so fascinated by other peoples kids.

To a degree he was a big kid himself, so much energy and liveliness. It's so sad. I feel -- my heart breaks for his family and friends. Probably one of the most loyal contingents of friends of anyone I know.

PHILLIPS: You've talked about his influence in politics that also came with a lot of controversy, Erick, as we well know. The Anthony Weiner scandal and those pictures that surfaced, also Shirley Sherrod and what led to her losing her job. But he really -- we really got to know him first off through the ACORN story that broke, right?

ERICKSON: Yes. It was actually a great teaching experience for particularly a lot of conservative activists who for years wanted to be pundits. Andrew was of one of the people of the vanguard for saying no, no be journalists.

He used this as a lesson. James O'Keefe went undercover, released some edited videos, making claims about ACORN that the organization denied. They said the video were edited. So they released the unedited video, which didn't change the story.

Then ACORN changed their story again and they released additional videos backing down on that ACORN defense. The drip, drip, drip, he became a real master at dribbling out stories, letting his opponents change their story and adding to the story in a way that their denial of the story had no merit.

It was fascinating to watch. It got to the point where people Andrew Breitbart went after would typically be very, very quiet for a while, waiting to see what else he had.

PHILLIPS: The Shirley Sherrod story. He caught a lot of flack for that because of the way he edited that and it turned out he was editing it to take a certain angle, but when you had a chance to talk to Shirley Sherrod and see that entire speech that she gave, she was portrayed unfairly.

ERICKSON: There were a number of people on the left and right who were critical of him. I was somewhat critical of him as well just having grown up in the south and heard what she said and then interpreted it as something else.

Ultimately, the purpose of that story, the Breitbart site said it had been able to tell the story about the Department of Agriculture giving away farm subsidies inappropriately.

And he got a lot of criticism, a lawsuit came from that story, but ultimately congressional Republicans wound up having look into what the Department of Agriculture was doing.

He was perfectly willing to be a lightning rod and get all the criticism, be sued, but inevitably every time he would still get people to focus on what he wanted them to focus in on.

PHILLIPS: Erick Erickson, thanks so much for calling in. We appreciate it. If you're just tuning in, we will be talking more about the death of Andrew Breitbart at the age of 43.

Checking other stories cross country now, prosecutors have a deadline today to file charges against TJ Lane, the alleged high school shooter in Ohio. He's accused of killing three students and wounding two others. Classes at Chardon High are scheduled to resume tomorrow.

The FBI is investigating the case of a missing cruise ship passenger. A family member reported the woman missing after the cruise ship celebration docked in Florida. The crew searched the ship and couldn't find her.

And a base jumper had to be rescued from this Arizona mountain after he realized his parachute was on backwards. When he jumped, the shoot drive him back right into the mountain. Rescuers say he's lucky to be alive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Bank of America is revamping its checking account fees. Alison Kosik, what can you tell us?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it depends on actually what kind of account that you have, Kyra. The "Wall Street Journal" is reporting that these fees range anywhere from 6 bucks to $25 if you take out a new Bank of America checking account.

Now at this point it's only a test. Bank of America is testing the program in states including Arizona, Georgia and Massachusetts. There are ways to avoid the fees if you meet certain requirements, like if you maintain a minimum balance, if you bank online, if you take out a mortgage with Bank of America.

I want to be clear about one thing though. Bank of America's nationwide checking accounts, they already have fees. What's happening here is they're trying to change the structure of their fees because Bank of America like a lot of banking firms have been hit by a weak economy.

There are new government rules that limit the fees that they can take in, which essentially means that these banks are making less money.

So you look at B of A's annual sales, they fell by double digits last year, and they said they would cut 30,000 workers. So what you see Bank of America is trying to do is find new ways to make money. So it's not just a Bank of America thing -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange. Alison, thanks.

Mitt Romney says we don't need Canadian oil. We deserve it. Our "Political Buzz" panel will weigh in on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right.

Time for "Political Buzz", your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions 30 seconds on that clock and playing today: Democratic strategist, Robert Zimmerman; Dean Obeidallah, founder of the Arab-American Comedy Festival, he's going to bring us the comedic side today; and Tom Blair, best-selling author of "Poor Richard's America."

All right, first up, guys Olympia Snowe, surprise retirement now we hear from her. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. OLYMPIA SNOW (R), MAINE: People are just stunned by the debilitating partisanship, polarization and overall dysfunction, you know, of the institution. And the political paralysis has become, you know, to the point of extreme when it comes to, you know, solving the problems facing this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Stunned, dysfunction, what's your adjective for the polarized GOP, Robert?

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I guess you could say glacial gridlock. Point simply is the Republican Senate is more frozen in position than Walt Disney. You can Google that reference on your own. What made Olympia Snowe such a distinguished Senator though is that she understood her mission in the Senate was not to just take a position it was to reach a resolution, to put -- to move the agenda forward and her colleagues can take a lesson from that.

PHILLIPS: Tom?

TOM BLAIR, AUTHOR, "POOR RICHARD'S AMERICA": I think I might use the word suicidal to describe the GOP. I think numbers of people in the Republican Party today are committing suicide because they fear death. If you look at the primaries, folks to get through the primaries are making statements, statements they really don't believe, statements to many Americans that are somewhat bizarre and statements that will actually I think kill them in a general election if they're successful enough to get through the primaries.

PHILLIPS: Dean?

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, FOUNDER, ARAB-AMERICAN COMEDY FESTIVAL: Look at it this way Kyra, she has been in the Congress for over 30 years and now it is so shockingly polarized she is quitting. The Republican Party needs to get their act together. Maybe they should seek some help, maybe go on Dr. Phil or Dr. Oz or actually maybe Dr. Dolittle at this point. Because the Republicans are difference species with the part of Michelle Bachmann and Olympia Snowe have nothing in common other than "R." If we ever need a third party right now that's a moderate party, I mean, this is the time for it frankly.

PHILLIPS: Keystone Pipeline. Mitt Romney says hey, we deserve Canadian oil. Deserve? Tom?

BLAIR: I -- I don't like the word "deserve". America is a great country. And we're a great country because people work extremely hard. We are what we are because of hard work, not because of what we got what we deserve. I would suggest to -- to Mitt the only thing this country deserves are politicians day in and day out do what's best for this country.

I'd also suggest that 40 years ago we put a bunch of men on the moon and brought them back safely. Obviously it's within our technical capability to oversee the building of a pipeline across America that doesn't leak.

PHILLIPS: Robert?

ZIMMERMAN: You know when I read that comment, it occurred to me people like Dean and his comedian colleagues are going to make -- will retire off of this guy and build a career around Mitt Romney's mishaps. You know he drove around Michigan advocating American automotive excellence while he was driving a Canadian car.

So I think the point simply is that we deserve is for our presidential candidates who are going to advocate our independence of foreign oil and move a transition us off of oil into natural gas and then into alternate energy sources and new green jobs. That's the leadership we need. We deserve that from our candidates.

PHILLIPS: Dean?

OBEIDALLAH: Obviously of course we deserve it. If you are a rich person, you deserve everything. We don't only deserve Canada's oil we deserve their maple syrup, their Tim Horton's chain, a, what we don't deserve from Canada is Justin Bieber. We should return him.

You know the whole idea about the oil pipeline being the silver bullet or the Jeremy Lin that will reduce our oil price is not accurate. There's articles today showing actually it can raise prices by 20 cents in the Midwest.

So I mean the jury is still out in the pipeline I think ultimately will happen. Bill Clinton came out and favor it yesterday it's just a matter of time there's no need to rush it. We don't deserve it. We have to pay for the oil. We can't take it.

PHILLIPS: You had to mention Tim Horton, now I'm thinking Tim Bit and I'm really hungry. All right, "Buzzer Beater" time, 20 seconds each on this one. Jimmy Fallon, Newt Gingrich and ice cream therapy. Roll the clip, Scottie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, TALK SHOW HOST: Last night Mitt Romney came in first place in the Michigan primary, although he barely won. Incidentally, barely won is also the total number of votes Ron Paul received.

Yesterday's Michigan primary Newt Gingrich actually came in fourth place, or as the ice cream in his freezer put it, it's going to be a long night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So is Newt still going to make a comeback? And what kind of ice cream goes with that? Robert?

ZIMMERMAN: Well, let me -- let me put it this way, I think in order to get through his comeback, he doesn't have to go through a couple of gallons of rocky road ice cream from Ben & Jerry's. But realistically, the reason I think he can't reposition himself is because he's still fighting with Rick Santorum to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney will get to that magic 1,144 delegate count it's going to cost a lot to get there.

PHILLIPS: Tom?

BLAIR: I think even though Newt has had a wonderful career, he's the equivalent now of a beached whale. Every once in a while the tail slaps the sand and makes a lot of noise, but no amount of Super PAC money is going to get him back to the ocean. He should just lean back, enjoy the grandchildren and have a big bowl of vanilla cello ice cream.

PHILLIPS: He just says that with actually no expression. Dean.

OBEIDALLAH: I love being on this panel. I agree with everyone. It's ridiculous.

I want to say if Newt Gingrich makes a comeback, we'll all be eating ice cream and other frozen foods because that means hell would have frozen over. There is no chance. But I'll tell you this, if he starts eating any ice cream, I think in time he'll get bored with it and start eating a younger, more attractive ice cream.

PHILLIPS: Gentlemen always a pleasure. Thank you so much.

BLAIR: It's nice to be with you.

OBEIDALLAH: Thanks Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well stopping a woman's biological clock. Fertility doctors are actually doing that with a relatively new medical technique. I'll show you how it's changing lives straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, since the news broke this morning we've been telling you about conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart being found dead at the age of 43. On his Web site it says natural causes.

We talked to our Erick Erickson, who's a contributor here at CNN, who was told possibly he died of a heart attack. As you can imagine the news is making itself across the country, obviously conservative worlds. People like CNN contributor Dana Loesch also having a hard time taking this news.

Dana joining us on the phone. A mentor and a friend to you, right?

DANA LOESCH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (via telephone): Yes. Andrew Breitbart was a very dear friend. He was not just my employer over at the Breitbart site at bigjournalism.com but he was a mentor as well. Just very, very difficult morning. It's always difficult when you lose someone, especially someone who was such a voice for conservative politics.

And there were -- he had people who disagreed with Andrew, sure. And he, to some, to many, seemed like a very polarizing figure but once you got to know him, to know him was to like him regardless of what you thought about his politics. He just had so much energy and was such a great, great man.

PHILLIPS: Dana, Erick Erickson had called in about 20 minutes ago and told us through the circle of friends that he had possibly died of a heart attack. Are you hearing what possibly might have caused his death?

LOESCH: Well, it was just -- all I can say right now, is that it was just natural and unexpected. I'm sure that there will be more news from Joel Pollack, who's the counsel over at Breitbart, over at the company. I'm sure details will come out but you know, it's just unexpected and natural. It's a very sad loss today.

PHILLIPS: And I know this has been hard for you, because you were so close. He was your mentor. What are the things you are going to remember with regard to what he did for you -- Dana? LOESCH: He -- well, you know, I think he inspired me in a lot of ways. He inspired me to look at journalism through new eyes. He inspired a lot of people like me who got involved with new media, conservative networks. He inspired people to get out in politics and fight. I don't mean with vitriolic speech or anything, and they just fight with the left.

But there's battles that conservatives have to engaged with the right as well, with other Republicans.

He stood for truth. He was a very accessible person. He was a very fantastic speaker. I will say this of him, I never understood how he did this. He could go on stage with no notes at all, whatsoever, no idea of what he was going to speak about. He would give one of the greatest speeches, a 40-minute speech with nothing. Just right there on the spot ad-lib. He was very gifted in that way and a very inspirational figure.

He was figurehead of conservative politics. He was a figurehead of the Tea Party Movement he was that fierce as defender and a great void has been left in our movement land everyone can feel it..

PHILLIPS: Dana Loesch, one of our CNN contributors, thanks so much for calling in. Once again, conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart dead at the age of 43.

Quick break we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking stories across country now.

The death toll from a massive storm system that slammed the Midwest and South has now climbed to 12. Officials say that three people were killed in Tennessee last night. Hours earlier the storm plowed through the Midwest killing nine people, most of them in the city of Harrisburg, Illinois. A twister with 180-mile-per-hour winds destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses there. Dozens of people were hurt.

A smaller tornado touched down in the music resort city of Branson, Missouri. There were no fatalities but the state's governor says damages will total in the tens of millions of dollars.

You can help those affected by the tornadoes, just go to cnn.com/impact. There, you'll find all the organizations and ways you can help those in need. CNN.com/impact.

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PHILLIPS: Well, postponing motherhood. A lot of us have had to do it for a variety of reasons, career, haven't found the right partner, divorce. That causes a lot of stress about our biological clock and having kids. But thanks to cutting edge technology you now have options. Freezing your eggs is one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. JAMIE GRIFO, NYU FERTILITY CENTER: Just freeze the eggs.

The IVF day starts with ultrasound monitoring. Checking ovaries for development of eggs. Blood tests, going upstairs and retrieving eggs, using surgery. Getting those eggs into the lab.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Dr. Jamie Grifo may sound like an ordinary fertility doc.

GRIFO: Freeze the eggs.

PHILLIPS: But he's not. He's one of the world's leading scientists with the knowledge to stop a woman's reproductive clock.

(on camera): When you first discovered you could do this, what was your reaction?

When we had our first baby from it, it was very exciting. We knew that this would help a lot of people.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Grifo uses a technique developed within the last decade called vitrification which freezes eggs about 100,000 times faster than the old method. It's still considered experimental by the American Society for reproductive medicine.

GRIFO: We weren't very good at freezing eggs. The ice crystal damage to the cell that was the problem. Using the vitrification technique where you dehydrate the cell and then flash freeze it without allowed it to survive the freezing and towing process. So that it could be as viable as if they had never been frozen.

PHILLIPS: Grifo is the director of NYU's fertility center. Since using this fairly new egg-treating technique, he has seen a surge in new patients. There are now more than 900 frozen egg cycles safely secured in these liquid nitrogen tanks. He's made it his life's work to tell women when it comes to having children you have options.

(on camera): Would it be fair to say you're actually stopping that biological clock from ticking for a moment.

GRIFO: Well, we're freezing that reproductive potential in time. So if a 30-year-old freezes her eggs, she freezes her 30-year-old potential.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): That's important, because as a woman gets older the quality of her eggs diminishes, making it harder to get pregnant. And many experts would suggest if you're a woman who wants to wait to have kids, you should freeze your eggs in your late 20s or early 30s.

So how did I meet Dr. Grifo? I was 42 years old and wanted to get pregnant. And it was under his watchful eyes I was blessed to have these beautiful twins through traditional IVF. It was during my pregnancy Dr. Grifo told me about vitrification.

GRIFO: It's hope, not a promise. It's an option, not a requirement. It allows women to be more thoughtful about how they conduct their lives and how they think about their fertility.

KATHERINE COOPER, EGG-FREEZING PATIENT: Does it tie in at all to that --

PHILLIPS: Women like 37-year-old Katherine Cooper.

COOPER: The information that I'm looking for is a --

PHILLIPS: Who has a high powered job in New York's frenetic banking industry.

With two sisters and a really tight family, Katherine knew she wanted a family. She also wanted a career. Babies would have to wait.

(on camera): How do you balance your want for a baby but also your want to have a really successful career?

COOPER: The balance part is tricky so obviously I really want to have a baby, I just don't want to have one right now.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): So her gynecologist sent her to Dr. Grifo, the leading specialist in the New York area.

COOPER: He brought up the fact that my fertility was going to decline rapidly over the next several years and that I should consider freezing my eggs.

PHILLIPS: She decided to take the leap, but it took three months to get an appointment. Then Katherine started the process to harvest the most eggs she could, a daunting series of hormone shots.

COOPER: Once I had everything all mixed up I'm looking at this needle saying I know this is the wrong needle. It's so big. And so I just decided to insert it halfway and hope for the best.

PHILLIPS (on camera): Bottom line, it wasn't easy?

COOPER: No. No, it wasn't easy.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): After two weeks of ramping up egg production, Katherine's lucky number was 13.

(on camera): That's 13 chances at having a baby.

COOPER: Sure. Yes. It's a -- I think the -- the odds are pretty good if I choose to use them, plus it's not as if I'm doing this because I'm infertile. I don't -- I don't know that I have fertility problems. I'm doing it to create options in my life.

PHILLIPS: 13 options frozen in time until Katherine says go.

(on camera): So considering the cost, the shots, what it felt like, it was not an easy process. Was it worth it?

COOPER: Completely worth it. No doubt in my mind. Worth it.

PHILLIPS: I was thinking about this. You're like the ultimate ladies man. You have gotten so many women pregnant.

GRIFO: Well, you know.

PHILLIPS: Have you ever thought of it that way?

GRIFO: No. Other people have.

PHILLIPS (voice-over): But actually Dr. Grifo is very old- fashioned. He hopes his patients, like Katherine, can conceive naturally, but if they can't, he's at least been able to freeze a little bit of hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And you can join me and Dr. Sanjay Gupta this weekend for an in-depth look at the amazing medical breakthroughs enabling infertile couples to realize their dreams of parenthood. CNN's "BABY QUEST" airs Saturday afternoon at 2:30 eastern time.

Straight ahead, we're taking a look at the neighborhoods destroyed and so many lives shattered. How do the people devastated by these tornadoes that ripped across the country recover?

Next hour in the CNN NEWSROOM Suzanne Malveaux will talk with the governor of one of the states hit hard by these storms.

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PHILLIPS: All right. There are some stories we're working on for you later today in the CNN Newsroom.

At 11:15 Eastern time, John Boehner holding his weekly news conference. One likely topic, the battle over birth control and whether the Obama administration can force religious-based organizations to cover contraception in their insurance plans. At 1:15, President Obama's going to give a speech on energy in Hampshire.

Then at 5:00 Maryland Governor, Martin O'Malley signs the civil marriage protection act's legalizing same-sex marriages in the state.

That does it for us. It's the top of the hour. We move out, Suzanne Malveaux moves in.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Nice to be back. We're going to Arizona for a little bit.

PHILLIPS: Doing little politicking.

MALVEAUX: Well, you know, covering politics up from the balloon and down below, It was a lot of fun.

A lot more to do.

(CROSSTALK)