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Lady Bears Perfectly Undefeated; At Least Six Tornadoes Hit Texas; Widespread Tornado Damage In Texas; Up To 13 Twisters Hit North Texas; Images Of Texas Tornadoes; Sentencing Today In Katrina Shootings; Obama Hosts Easter Prayer Breakfast; BBC: Spy Nearly Seduced Obama Official; Water Rescue In Malibu; Play Ball! Opening Night Tonight; Baylor Lady Bears Just Perfect; First Lady On "The Biggest Loser"; Olbermann: "I Screwed Up"; Lowest Rated Airlines; Texas Tornadoes Caught On Cam; Augusta National in the Line of Fire; Being 30 and Living with Your Parents
Aired April 04, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: -- finishing the season with 40 wins and no losses. Baylor beat Notre Dame 80-61. The starter, Brittany Griener, had 26 points and 13 rebounds. They become the seventh women's team to finish with a perfect undefeated season.
Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Just ahead of the NEWSROOM. At least half a dozen tornadoes batter the Dallas metro area. And the powers of the storms are caught on camera. Take a look as this tractor-trailer gets picked up and it's literally spun through the air.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tornado, everything was just flying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: This morning we're getting new pictures of the damage as people start sifting through and cleaning up the debris.
And Forney, Texas city officials have scheduled a news conference that's scheduled to start any minute now. Of course, we're going to monitor that and bring you any new information.
The bombshell Russian spy is making headlines again. A new documentary says she was close to seducing an Obama cabinet official. This morning, the Obama administration is responding to the allegations.
Plus, all eyes are on Augusta National, but it has nothing to do with this week's Masters Golf tournament. This woman could become the first female to be offered a membership. We could know more when the course chairman addresses the media in less than an hour.
Are you used to flying the unfriendly skies when you travel these days? We're revealing the list of the meanest airlines. But we start with the damage of the devastation in and around Dallas, Texas. This morning, we're getting a new look at the damage from the air. Rescuers going out and searching for anyone who still may be trapped, at least six tornadoes touched down in the area. Some of them caught on video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at the debris fly. My god, please.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Take a look at what it looked like at Lancaster, Texas. A homeowner watches helplessly as a twister approaches his home and even zooms in on the swirling debris.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is coming towards us. Get in the building.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: At nearby Forney, a similar scene, the camera rolls as a tornado fills the sky with the gray mist and seems to hover over a helpless truck yard. And listen closely to this twister in Fort Worth.
It's the ominous tornado sound so many people say they hear as a tornado bears down. We are covering all angles of this developing story.
CNN's Miguel Marquez is in Arlington, Texas, where at least 150 homes were destroyed. And meteorologist, Alexandra Steele gives us a closer look at some of this amazing video.
But let's begin with Miguel. Good morning, Miguel.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. We're in front of one of the houses here in Arlington where rescuers will be going through today. Yesterday, this was a brick house. This was the wall here for the house.
Today, it's pretty much a pile of bricks. This is actually a bed, that's the closet if you can picture this. This was another bedroom over there. Everything literally got sucked right out of this house.
It is absolutely amazing every time you cover these tornadoes about how massive and widespread the damage can be and yet, how selective it can be as well. This house destroyed.
Obviously, the house next to it appears to be heavily damaged, but the house to the right of it is untouched. And the houses across the street seem to have fared a lot better than this house did.
As you said, rescuers are getting out across a wide swath of Texas today trying to figure out if there's anything injured or anybody trapped in any of these areas. Dallas-Fort Worth airport is trying to get back on its feet.
Today, they have cancelled 200 flights, but flights are coming and going so it pays to pay attention there. And the National Weather Service is also getting teams out across this huge area of Texas, trying to figure out exactly how many tornadoes in the end actually touched down -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, we're figuring that out too. Miguel Marquez reporting live from Arlington, Texas.
We want to give you a better idea of just how violent things turned in the Dallas area. This is radar image from Tuesday afternoon. It shows the violent storm sweeping across the Dallas area and spinning off as many as 13 tornadoes.
The trail of damage from beginning to end nearly 160 miles long. Meteorologist, Alexandra Steele, joins us. Just the most amazing thing about watching coverage of these tornadoes, everybody had a camera out and they were shooting pictures. Some of those pictures were unbelievably frightening.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Unbelievably frightening, but I don't think I remember a tornado that we had this amount of video, just incredible video and pictures. Everyone has one of those, a camera phone.
So I think it's twofold. Really, one, of course, I have heard you ask a lot of the people that have been out there and shooting this, you know, why are you out there, are you scared, et cetera?
But in terms of kind of understanding tornadoes, we are seeing a lot more visually. You get a lot of insight from visual pictures, looking at these tornadoes. I mean, it really is incredible.
What we have learned, it's not so much what you can learn from looking at other than analyzing it. But looking at this, what you can see is the gray and white debris field and if you look carefully now, this are the tornadoes near I-20.
And when you see that, see the debris flying around, which is incredible. What's so incredible is no one has been killed. No reports of any of that when you see this. You see the tractor- trailers and another cool piece of video, look at this.
This is a storm chaser. Look at the picture of this thing. And it almost looks like -- now, kind of breaks up and dissipates a little bit, but the circulation is still there. But it looks like a breathing machine in a way and in essence that's exactly what it is.
So, I mean, this does look like something out of the movies, but you can imagine the amount of video? Look at that. You can see that's the debris field, the gray and white swirling nature of it, and that's what we have seen, incredible tractor-trailers being thrown by the power of this.
You know, Miguel talked about being out there in the field. The National Weather Service going out there to assess the damage and pictures like this are so key because you look at the structures that were damaged, be it the roof, the walls and that's how damage is assessed in terms of getting a qualification like in the EF3 or 2 that kind of thing.
So when you look at this, you can see this roof totally decimated. An EF-2, winds 111 to 135 miles per hour. Roofs damaged, debris air borne, we have seen that, but an EF-3, which takes the winds from 136 to 165 miles per hour, roofs and walls torn from structures.
We have seen that as well. That's how you kind of know in essence beforehand what the expectation will be just by looking at the damage because that's what the surveyors are doing out there. Looking at the damage and then knowing the structure from which all this damage has come.
COSTELLO: They have a lot of damage to look at, right, and we have so many witnesses. So we want to give you more firsthand accounts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Large tornado on the ground!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Now, that storm chaser, Jason McLaughlin, he shot that video of a tornado touching down near a school in South East Dallas and that's not only caught camera. We're going to talk to him live. That will come your way in about 15 minutes.
The thing -- I just continue not to understand is, I would be running away from that thing so fast.
STEELE: Yes.
COSTELLO: Drop my phone.
Also this morning, we're getting our first look at the suspect accused in Monday's shooting rampage in a small Christian college in Oakland, California.
Later today, 43-year-old One Goh faces arraignment on murder and kidnapping charges. He's accused of killing seven people at Oikos University because he was upset over being expelled.
And less than an hour from now, a judge will begin sentencing five former New Orleans police officers. In September, they were found guilty of shooting unarmed civilians trying to cross the Danziger Bridge into the hurricane ravaged city.
They are also convicted of covering up the killings. The shootings took place during the post Katrina looting and lawlessness. All four of the men shown face sentences of at least 15 years.
The Republican primary season is not over yet, but the race for the White House is on. Mitt Romney has more than half the delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination. And he's looking to rack up more in the next three weeks.
That's when Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island all vote. Yesterday, Romney pulled off a primary sweep in Wisconsin, Maryland and D.C. His focus now is on President Obama in the fall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president has pledged to transform America. And he spent the last four years laying the foundation for a new government-centered society. I will spend the next four years rebuilding the foundation of an opportunity society led by free people and free enterprises.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: President Obama is taking aim at Romney as well. He mentioned the GOP candidate by name for the first time in a speech on Tuesday.
President Obama, by the way, is hosting an Easter prayer breakfast right now at the White House. Brianna Keilar is there. Is he done yet, Brianna?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He has finished with his remarks, Carol. He addressed -- I will tell you though the breakfast isn't over, it's still going on, but President Obama addressed the crowd of religious leaders.
This is something that the White House really kind of prides itself on. In 2010, they started this breakfast before Easter and we -- to honor Easter in a way that they say that other administrations haven't done.
So this is something they do every year and President Obama kind of joked to some laughter that this is the calm before the storm, Carol, because we have the Easter egg roll coming up here at the White House this weekend and the White House is just, you know, taken over by hundreds of children.
So President Obama addressing this crowd and he talked about Jesus overcoming fear and overcoming doubt. Talking about, you know, he acknowledged the bible verses. He does previously.
There were a number of religious leaders that he was talking to, Catholic, Greek, Orthodox, Evangelical, Baptist as well as a prominent African-American pastor from the Atlanta area -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Brianna Keilar live at the White House. Thank you.
A British documentary claims Russian spy Anna Chapman nearly seduced a member of President Obama's cabinet. The documentary quotes a top FBI official who says the bureau had to step in and warn the cabinet member to cool it. U.S. officials are denying the story. The cabinet member was not named.
Santa Monica College in California, dozens of students gathered to protest a plan for high priced courses and then as you can see things got really ugly.
They tried to storm into a board of trustees meeting last night. Someone unleashed pepper spray on the crowd. Several student protesters were taken to the hospital with breathing problems.
Some tense moments on the water off Malibu, California, early this morning. A sailboat caught fire and rescuers had to pluck one boater out of the water.
And the Masters, it's one of golf's premier events, but some say it's all-male image is outdated. The latest controversy revolves around the new female CEO of the tournament's top sponsors. Will she be allowed in?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking stories cross country now. Look at the 60- foot sailboat burning brightly against the pre-dawn sky off Malibu. Fire boats spent hours battling the flames. A team rescued at least one boater in the water. No serious injuries reported.
In New York City, a man dies after a huge construction crane collapsed last night. Another worker was seriously injured. Police say two long pieces of the crane broke free and fell. Several streets were closed off as emergency teams responded.
The town of Winlock, Washington, is dealing with a big problem -- a cavernous sink hole. Nearly a block long is disrupting traffic on the main road. The hole is big enough to swallow a car or a small home. The town says it hopes to get state and county money to help pay for repairs.
The boys of summer get cracking tonight. It's opening night for major league baseball. The defending World Series champion Cardinals will play the Marlins in Miami.
The Marlins are breaking in the new ballpark. The "Sun Sentinel" in South Florida reports the average resale price on a ticket for tonight's game is more than $229, baseball's official opening day, tomorrow.
Not many people can say they're perfect, but the Baylor Lady Bears can this morning. The team won the NCAA women's basketball championship last night and made history in the process, finishing the season with 40 wins and no losses. Baylor beat Notre Dame last night 80-61. Star center, Britney Griner had 26 points, 13 rebounds. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRITNEY GRINER, BEARS CENTER: It was great. Everybody was a part of this win. Everybody did what they need to do and the unfinished business is done. We did it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's 40-0. What's it like to win this national championship?
GRINER: I can't even give you words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: They become the seventh women's team to finish with a perfect undefeated season.
The skies turned black in a series of tornadoes went on a destructive rampage through the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tornado on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So scary. Some of it was caught on camera by storm chaser Jason McLaughlin. We're going to talk to him when we come back.
Also, Mitt Romney is inching closer to winning the Republican presidential nomination, but Rick Santorum says, it's a just halftime, halftime or game over? We'll ask our "Political Buzz" panel. That's coming up later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Eating a healthy breakfast and exercising, those are right in the first lady's wheelhouse. She paid a visit to "The Biggest Loser" last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: You're showing millions of Americans that each of us can make positive changes in our lives and these changes won't just make a difference for ourselves. They can make an impact on our families and children as well.
So keep up the good work. You all are doing great and I bet you feel better too. In fact, I'd love to hear about it in person. So will you all come here to Washington so that I can see just how far you've come?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That's right. Next week, Michelle Obama will turn the west wing into a gym with the cast members at the White House. The first lady has made several TV appearances lately on Nickelodeon, Jimmy Fallon and David Letterman.
Speaking of Letterman, the newly jobless Keith Olbermann went on David Letterman show last night and said he screwed up by taking the job at Current TV. The network canned him last week after months of drama. Olbermann has had several employers over the years and that was not lost on Dave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell us your story.
KEITH OLBERMANN, NEWS ANCHOR: How much time have you got?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long ago did you leave MSNBC to go to the Current TV show? Over a year, right?
OLBERMANN: I don't know. I have to consult my notes because after a certain point I can't keep track of where I'm working.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's why we had this made up. This is an adjustable card.
OLBERMANN: That's brilliant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go. There you go. All yours.
OLBERMANN: Thanks, Dave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Current TV is the network Al Gore cofounded. Current and Olbermann are now feuding over exactly why he was fired.
Flying, what's not to love? Delay, long lines, baggage fees so now a new study ranks the best and the worst airlines. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange to fill us in.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So, Carol, it turns out it actually was the best year ever for airline performance if you were traveling. You were less likely to get bumped, for the airlines to lose your luggage and you're more likely to arrive on time.
You look at four years ago, airline performance actually hit a historic low, but no, no, it's not all about rainbows and sunshine. The airlines that had the lowest rankings all had huge issues with customer complaints.
Another common theme that we saw was bankruptcy or merging, which may or may not have had a hand in these issues. So take a look at the top three worst big airlines, Carol. This is according to a survey.
The third worst airline, American Airlines. It happens to be going through bankruptcy. It had more people getting involuntarily bumped from flights. Coming into number two, Continental. That happened to merge with United. It's got a growing number of delayed flights apparently.
Then United, that happened to be the worst airline. It had the highest rate of consumer complaints last year. It also lost more bags, had more planes arrive late. Lots of headaches with that one -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Sounds ugly. So what was the top airline, the best airline, it was the small one, right?
KOSIK: No, no. Of the majors, we looked at the majors. Of the majors, Delta actually came in number one, seeing improvement across the board there.
There were fewer complaints on Delta. Fewer mishandled bags, fewer bumped fliers, but overall, if you look at the best of the best, low cost airline, AirTran takes that number one spot.
COSTELLO: OK. So I guess we should check stocks because they're not looking so great right now.
KOSIK: Not looking so good. The Dow is down 139 points. A report came out on the service sector, a big disappointment to Wall Street. It showed that employment was up in the service sector, but activity slowed.
Also the fed said that it's not going to be giving out any stimulus any time soon. That's not what Wall Street wanted to hear. That actually happened yesterday when we saw the selloff begin yesterday. It's carrying over through today. Once again, the Dow down 139 points -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.
They're cleaning up in Texas after a violent tornado tore through the Dallas-Fort Worth area. More than a dozen twisters may have touched down.
Storm chaser Jason McLaughlin caught this one on camera. Amazingly, look at the size of that thing. Amazingly, there are no reports of any deaths. Rescue crews as I said combing through the wreckage though.
Jason joins us from Arlington, Texas. Jason, that was like enormous.
JASON MCLAUGHLIN, STORM CHASER: Yes, it was pretty intense. The tornado that affected this area and caused scenes all across the metroplex, this particular tornado touched down five miles south of here yesterday afternoon and it was a very violent tornado.
COSTELLO: Is this one of the more violent ones you have caught on camera?
MCLAUGHLIN: Just mainly the proximity of where it was, just all the damage that did occur from it. You know, being in a big area like this there's a lot of homes all over. There's subdivisions all over I if -- the areas where the tornadoes touched down.
Not nearly the strongest tornado I have seen, but they were relatively small, but they were relatively intense. That was something different about them.
COSTELLO: Have you ever experienced so many tornadoes coming down at one time?
MCLAUGHLIN: There's been very, very limited times. This is the only time I can think of this has occurred here in the metroplex. Typically in Kansas, Western Oklahoma, things like this can tend to happen.
But you know, the area that this touched down, one tornado affected Tarrant County here, Arlington, Fort Worth. Another one was further east, Southeast Dallas. Then I caught another tornado that was even east of Dallas in the town of Forney.
So just mainly the main populated areas of the metroplex are what was affected from these tornadoes.
COSTELLO: Why do you think this is happening so often in the south or seemingly often I should say?
MCLAUGHLIN: This happened to be one of those days that everything happened to set up. This actually is the first severe event we even had across North Texas this year. Most of the severe weather has been off to our east. So this was kind of a change of pace compared to what we have seen over the last couple of years.
COSTELLO: You said before you were like shooting one tornado here and one tornado there. Were you in a car? How does that work for you?
MCLAUGHLIN: I was -- I'm trying to keep the public safe, so I'm out watching these storms. The first tornado I had touched down, it was actually south of this home around ten miles.
That tornado moved off to the north and as it did, it continued to track north from here after it crossed over this home and this subdivision. When it did, I had to leave there.
There was no way to stay with that storm. It was headed north into a very populated area. New storms were forming back to the south, so I shot back southeast. It was around an hour and a half later that the second tornado I ended up catching which was east of Dallas.
COSTELLO: Wow. We're glad you're safe. Thanks for sharing your video with us. Jason McLaughlin.
MCLAUGHLIN: Absolutely, thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Mitt Romney won huge in the primaries last night, moving him much closer to the nomination. But while many have already called it, his opponents are still rallying. Is it just too difficult to face reality? Our "Political Buzz" panel takes that one on when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking our top stories now, Texans are surveying the damage from a string of tornadoes, as many as 13 twisters touched down across the Dallas region. Hundreds of homes are damaged and destroyed, but remarkably nobody died. Emergency crews are searching for anyone though who may be trapped in the wreckage.
We're getting our first look at the suspect accused in the shooting of a small Christian college in Oakland, California. Later today, 43-year-old One Goh faces arraignment on murder and kidnapping charges. He's accused of killing seven at Oikos University because was upset over being expelled.
After another round of primary wins Mitt Romney swept Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C. He now has more than half the delegates need to clinch the Republican presidential nomination.
And if you match him up with the current president, the CNN/ORC poll finds 54 percent of registered voters would vote for President Obama, 43 percent would choose Romney.
"Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock, playing with us today, on the left, CNN contributor, Maria Cardona, in the middle, Jason Johnson, he's chief political correspondent at Politics 365. And on the right, strategist and former McCain/Palin aide Boris Epshteyn. Welcome to you all.
JASON JOHNSON, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITICS 365: Good morning.
BORIS EPSHTEYN, STRATEGIST AND FORMER MCCAIN/PALIN AIDE: Good morning.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you Carol. It's good to be here.
COSTELLO: I'm glad you're here.
First question, the Republican primary isn't officially over, but it really is. President Obama is already taking shots at Mitt Romney and Mitt Romney is returning the favor.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This congressional Republican budget is something different altogether. It is a Trojan Horse. Disguised as deficit reduction plans, it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. It is thinly-veiled social Darwinism.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In Barack Obama's government-centered society the government has to do more because the economy is doomed to do less. Because when you attack business and you vilify success, you're going to have less business and less success.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So the question Republicans are social Darwinists and Democrats are socialists. So who's more radical? Jason?
JOHNSON: Look, this is really fascinating. So the Democrats are so radical that they propose a health care plan in 2009 which was the same one the Republicans had in 1996. The Republicans are so radical that they have a Tea Party that hates government so much that they all ran for Congress in 2010.
Look, neither of these parties is as radical as they claim that they want to be. The Democrats seem to be completely beholden to Wall Street, only doing what they think they can get through the Republicans. And the Republicans are only as radical as their sort of conservative and moral base will allow them to be.
So I don't think either party is all that radical. We haven't seen the kind of revolution Americans have been asking for.
COSTELLO: Boris?
EPSHTEYN: Jason is right on one thing, is that neither party is that radical at its base. There are wings of both parties that are radical that they want to on their left and make sure that government pays for everything and controls everything. On the right, there's those that want government completely out.
Now the reality is that neither of the one side or the other side is going to happen. We are in the middle, the majority of the country is in the middle and politics would be better served that we talked about the niche issues that are really disconcerting like the high deficit, like the high unemployment which has not gotten better under President Barack Obama and not going in this over sweeping comments like the Trojan Horse. Who wants to talk about Trojan Horses?
COSTELLO: Maria?
CARDONA: Look, there's no question that on both sides that there's hyperbole, but this (inaudible) about Democrats being socialists is so old and has been very discredited but the President in talking about the Paul Ryan budget is actually right. It does basically cut -- gut every single program the middle class families and working class families have benefited from and thrived from. And it puts trillions of dollars, adds trillions of dollars to the budget to give millionaires and billionaires more tax cuts.
And don't take his word for it. Newt Gingrich called it right- wing social engineering in a rare blink of truthfulness. So there you have it.
EPSHTEYN: That's why Newt Gingrich has six percent in Wisconsin, come on.
COSTELLO: Ok.
EPSHTEYN: Newt Gingrich does not speak for the Republican Party.
COSTELLO: Ok, let's move on -- let's move on to the second question.
Republicans seem to be steering the conversation away from contraception. Governor Nikki Haley visited "The View" and says quote, "Women don't care about contraception, they care about jobs and their family. Ann Romney has the same message." So the question, do economic or social issues matter more to women, Boris?
EPSHTEYN: Yes, they do. And the numbers show that, the approval ratings for President Obama and Mitt Romney were the same before the contraception debate started as they are. After now, it had kind of died down. The key issue right now is the economy. It is jobs. And that women and men both care about the most.
And that's why this President's approval rating has still not gotten with an approval above disapproval. The disapprovals have continued to be higher because the unemployment is high and the economy while it is recovering, it's doing a much slower pace because of the policies put in by this President and his administration made a bubble this recovery.
COSTELLO: Maria?
CARDONA: Oh my God, Boris, have you seen the approval ratings among Independent women? Romney and the Republican Party are bleeding the support of Independent women. Because yes, they care about economic issues, they care about economic growth, they care about job creation. They're supporting the President on that, but they also care deeply, not just about contraception, but about equal access to health care rights which Republicans have been trying to take away.
Look I wrote about this on CNN.com recently, Republicans would have done well to stay away from Pandora and especially her box. And they didn't, and now they're paying for it.
COSTELLO: Whoa, Jason.
EPSHTEYN: Absolute incorrect.
JOHNSON: This is why the Republicans do so poorly with women. I mean, for Nikki Haley to say that that's sort of like saying well, Americans don't really care about the beach, they just care about the sand and the sun and the water.
Look, you can't separate contraception from an economic issue. It's called family planning. And most women out there, they'll discuss with their husband. They'll say, look, can we afford to have a child right now? Can we afford to have -- another thing, can we afford the children that we have. So this is another example of the tin ear of the Republican Party; they are completely losing women right now. And Nikki Haley pretty much talked herself out of the VP job.
CARDONA: Yes.
COSTELLO: Ok here is your "Buzzer --
EPSHTEYN: Numbers just don't support that at all but that's fine.
CARDONA: Yes absolutely.
COSTELLO: Here is your "Buzzer Beater" now. "Buzzer Beater" 20 seconds each. Here is your third question.
Rick Santorum threw everything but the kitchen sink at Mitt Romney before the primaries. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Rick Santorum and I approve this message.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What if I told you this man's big government mandating health care included $50 abortions and killed thousands of jobs? Would you ever vote for him? What if I told you he supported radical environmental job killing cap and trade and the Wall Street bailouts? And what if I told you he dramatically raised taxes and stuck taxpayers with the $1 billion short fall? One more thing. What if I told you the man I'm talking about isn't him. It's him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Ok, so yes that ad ran and Santorum lost badly in Wisconsin, Maryland and D.C. His post primary speech though, he says, "Oh it's just halftime for me." So the question, why is it so difficult for Santorum, Gingrich and Paul to face reality? Maria?
CARDONA: Because right now the reality for the Republican party and for any nominee is that it's going to be very difficult for them to go up against this President with the policies that they are embracing. Not only that, but they know that Mitt Romney is not part of the A-Team.
Not that they would be any better, but they are going to be very hard pressed to put together a vision to really -- to really compete against President Obama when in fact they are embracing -- they are embracing the exactly the kind of budget that President Obama was talking about.
COSTELLO: Jason?
JOHNSON: The reason that they don't understand it, they're like the walking dead. You know these other candidates, Santorum and Gingrich and Paul, they think they're alive but they're really just shuffling around.
Look, this is Mitt Romney's race. Mitt Romney has pretty much been in the lead since the beginning. The other guys need to give up, they need to get out of the way. They need to allow Mitt Romney to focus on facing the President. They just don't want to accept it. Like old athletes and zombies, they just don't know when it's time to walk off the stage.
COSTELLO: Boris?
EPSHTEYN: If Santorum and Gingrich thought they weren't part of the A-Team they would have gotten out long ago. This has nothing to do with their belief that President Obama is so strong, that it will be a tough election. He's in fact not that strong. Unemployment has been above eight percent for three years running and Geithner said it's never going to get above eight percent.
What it's all about is Santorum and Gingrich have gotten to almost personally dislike Mitt Romney which is very unfortunate for Santorum and Gingrich because he is going to be Mitt Romney, our standard bearer; and Santorum and Gingrich are fading away fast in anybody's mind.
All right, Boris, Jason and Maria thanks for playing today. We appreciate it.
CARDONA: Thank you, Carol.
JOHNSON: Thank you.
EPSHTEYN: Thank you.
COSTELLO: They're called the boomerang generation for a reason. They leave home for college and then return home for free room and board. Are they victims of the economy? Or are they seizing an opportunity? Has living with your parents become cool? That story is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Everybody thought Tiger Woods' sudden surge would be the big story of the Masters -- not so. Controversy is in the air over a top corporate sponsor IBM and its female CEO, Virginia Rometty. Will she break into the ranks of the elite all-male club? The chairman of Augusta National plans a news conference in just about 20 minutes. Our Patrick Snell is live in Augusta with more on that. Good morning, Patrick.
PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Yes, welcome back to Augusta. You can see the thousands on the course here already behind me for the final practice day ahead of the tournament proper getting underway on Thursday. But yes, big talking point is will the club finally announce its first-ever female member? We're waiting with bated breath. It's going to be a packed media conference just a few yards in front of me here. August National chairman, Billy Payne will address the world's media and we'll see what, if anything, he does have to say on this topic. We're not guaranteed anything as far as the club is concerned. This was dealt with a couple of weeks back where they simply said we don't comment on the individual membership policies that we have here at the national.
So we're going to see what happens. It's possible of course, Carol, that Mrs. Rometty is already or has already been offered membership. We just simply don't know because the club doesn't divulge details. So it should be an interesting hour or so coming right up here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So she could keep it secret and then there's no controversy?
SNELL: Well, she would have to come out and say it. I mean that's what we're looking for here. The club will not reveal anything. They have made that very clear.
So all I can tell you is that the four previous CEOs of IBM, one of the big three corporate sponsors here at the National, all male, have all been offered membership. She is the current CEO of IBM. She took up that position in January of 2012.
As they say, we're expected to hear a lot more from Billy Payne at the top of this hour. Now, when he took over as chairman here at the National back in 2006, the only thing he said about the topic at the time is there was no specific timetable to address the issue of female membership. A potentially big morning ahead of us, Carol. But as I say, he may not go there.
COSTELLO: We'll see, I guess we'll see in about what; 12 minutes. Thanks so much, Patrick.
How cool are you if you're a 30 something still living at home with your parents? Apparently some say it's pretty awesome. Coming up, we'll explain.
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COSTELLO: For all of you still living with your parents, fear not. You're not a loser, you're cool. Hey, whole movies have been made about you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So where do you see us going?
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, ACTOR: Well, tonight, I see us going back to my place.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As long as you're up, son --
MCCONAUGHEY: Come on, pop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You two have fun.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You live with your parents?
MCCONAUGHEY: Is that a problem?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Brad Tuttle is in Springfield, Massachusetts. He wrote an article for "Time" magazine called "Being 30 and Living with Your Parents Isn't Lame, It's Awesome".
Welcome.
BRAD TUTTLE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: Really? It's awesome?
TUTTLE: I don't know if it's exactly awesome. I don't know if this is something that many people will be bragging about necessarily, but I think that it's more so than it has been in the past. It's normal.
COSTELLO: Oh, no. You're cutting out there. Do we want to re- establish the Skype signal? Ok. We're going to try to re-establish Brad. I really wanted to talk about this too because it's an interesting issue for many different reasons.
Let's go to our "Talk Back" segment.
We have a "Talk Back" question this morning, and we asked you this question: Who's more radical, President Obama or the GOP? We got a lot of responses mostly going against the President.
Here's a sample. This from Michael, "Obama is the most radical president in U.S. history. He criticizes the GOP's budget but his budget didn't get a single vote from even the most liberal Democrats.
This from Diana, "The GOP. They are for the rich and could care less about the working class. Most of them signed a pact saying that they will not raise taxes on the wealthiest people in America."
This from Alyssa, "I consider myself to be a moderate conservative, I'm fiscally conservative and a social libertarian and even I can see that Obama is way more radical than Republicans."
This from Susan. "Obama is unquestionably the most radical politician to ever make it into office. His change has taken my change out of my pocket. Isn't there a lemon law?"
Please keep the conversation going on Facebook. We have gotten over 2,000 comments, so this question hasn't -- it's absolutely touched a nerve. Facebook.com/Carolcnn.
Ok. We have our Skype signal up and running. Let's go back to Brad Tuttle, the man who wrote an article for "Time" magazine that says hey, you're not a loser who live at home, it's actually pretty awesome and may be considered cool. Tell us what you mean by that, Brad.
TUTTLE: Well, I don't necessarily think this is something that many people are going to be bragging about to their friends, but moving back with your parents is awesome in a sense that it's less stressful in a lot of ways.
Recent surveys have shown that young Americans who are out living on their own have about the same level of satisfaction with their living arrangements as do young Americans who are living with their parents. A lot has to do with how expensive rent is nowadays and how comfortable young people are spending with their parents nowadays.
COSTELLO: So when you say that they're more comfortable living at home, is that because their parents say, oh, it's ok, honey, come back home, I want you to come back home or is it because the kids want to come back home to relieve stress?
TUTTLE: Well, I think that parents are very, very sympathetic with young people's struggles in the job market today. Parents probably -- their friends if not themselves have probably lost jobs over the last few years so they really, really get how difficult it is to -- for young people to find jobs and particularly to find good jobs. Add into that that young people and their parents, they seem to get along in a lot better ways than generations have in the past. There isn't the generational conflict that you saw, you know, in the '60s say. They see eye to eye in a lot of way.
COSTELLO: Yes, well, I think that you have a point there. I just want to give people the statistic because it blows my mind. 21 percent of people between the ages of 25 and 34 live with their parents. And if you compare that to 1980, only 11 percent of kids went back home after college to live with their parents. And I just have to say, being from a previous generation than Generation x, even if I made no money at all and I had to beg on the streets, I would not go home to live with my parents. Even though I love my parents and I get along with my parents, I just wouldn't do that to my parents.
TUTTLE: Well, I think this generation has a bit of a different take. They have space, their parents welcome them with open arms. Their parents love having them home in a lot of ways. Especially at this time given the state of the jobs market, parents are happy to have them home. Saving up, perhaps even if they're working, saving up, you know, paying off those student loans before they go off on their own.
In a lot of ways, parents are going to understand that if kids move out on their own, they might wind up in really, really hard, you know, financial situations. Not being able to pay off student loans and digging themselves into credit card debt. These are the problems we have seen over the last few years that people have encountered. Part of that is because they're out on their own. Perhaps if they had been living home with their parents, saving up --
COSTELLO: I hear you, Brad. I do. But, you know, I fell into all of those things but I fought my way out myself. I didn't ask my parents for a bailout. But that's just me. I understand things are different. But it's a fascinating article.
Brad Tuttle, if you want to read Brad's article, time.com. Thank you so much.
TUTTLE: Thank you.
New salmonella fears. An outbreak along if -- the east coast. Spicy tuna sushi rolls, the key suspect. What you need know and watch for next.
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COSTELLO: A surprising twist on "Dancing with the Stars"; one of the fan favorites was voted off the show. And a lot of people wonder why? "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer, he joins us from New York. What happened?
A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Well, Carol, this was a surprise to fans of the show. Jack Wagner was told to hit the road. It came down to Jack, Gavin De Grass and Gladys Knight. And Frisco Jones got the boot. (inaudible) was the name of Wagner's "General Hospital" character a few years ago.
"SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" caught up with Jack backstage. Although he definitely seemed a little surprised himself when he heard the news, he handled it gracefully. Watch what he told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK WAGNER, ACTOR: I really took this challenge on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
WAGNER: And, you know, I was there early. I would go through a t-shirt or two before she got there. Then she'd come in and she'd say, we'll fix all that. I'm dancing right out of here tonight. I'm not stopping. I'm never taking this outfit off. Can I get a full shot of this? This is going to be on for a long time to come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Yes. The show has been extremely competitive this season, Carol. Pretty emotional too. A lot of stars shedding tears over the last couple of episodes.
Big announcement last night. The judges announced that for the next few episodes the final two couples will have a dance-off to survive with the judges having the final say on who goes home. So they're shaking it up.
COSTELLO: That's a good thing. I want to talk about Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. Are they getting hitched?
HAMMER: It looks like they may be. You know, they have been on again and off again. They're reportedly planning this big wedding for the summer. They were engaged in January. But they've always kept a pretty low profile.
"People" magazine says they are getting ready to celebrate their marriage in style, although people didn't have any specific details about an actual event. But they're saying Justin has promised Jessica the best day ever. Carol, that will be one heck of a fun wedding, I imagine, if it comes to that.
COSTELLO: Yes, with two very beautiful people.
A.J. Hammer, thank you.
If you want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, A.J. has got it tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT", 11:00 Eastern on HLN.
Federal health officials are investigating whether sushi could be behind a new salmonella outbreak in the United States. So far more than 90 people have gotten sick in 19 states in Washington, D.C. Seven have wound up in the hospital.
Investigators say spicy tuna rolls are highly suspect but they're not certain yet. They're focusing on six clusters of restaurants in Texas, Wisconsin, Maryland, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
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COSTELLO: Stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.
At 1:00 Eastern, Memphis names part of a street after the reverend -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was assassinated 44 years ago today.
At 2:00 Eastern, Pam and Robert champion discuss the latest findings into the suspected hazing death of their son, a Florida A&M band member.
Also at 2:00 Eastern, First Lady Michelle Obama meets with military families and their children at Walter Reed Hospital for a pre-Easter celebration.
That does it for me. Have a great day and thank you for watching.
NEWSROOM continues now with Kyra Phillips.
