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Escort Talks About Scandal; China: Chen Can Apply To Study Abroad; Seau Coroner Rules Suicide; Concussion And Brain Studies; Drew Peterson In Court This Hour; Jobless Rate Dips; 115,000 New Jobs Added; Romney, Santorum Meet In Pittsburgh; Obama Talk About Student Loans; Clooney On The Campaign Trail; Stocks Struggle After Jobs Report; Heavy Rain Spurs Flooding in Flint, Michigan; Firm Hiring Web Content Writers

Aired May 04, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- fire alarm. With only 10 days left of school and students now studying for exams that is probably a good call. Dan Simon, CNN, Berkeley, California.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM.

She is the woman at the center of the scandal that has humiliated the Secret Service and now she is speaking out on TV for the first time.

Mountains of flowers and condolences for Junior Seau. And news his family will allow his brain to be studied for signs of concussion.

He's not the president, but he's played him on the screen -- I guess, he portrayed a man running for president. Now he's about to give the real commander in chief a huge boost with $40,000 a head fundraiser.

It's the biggest full moon of the year and it's almost upon us, but what makes the moon so super tonight?

Good morning to you. More salacious details this morning from the prostitute or as she calls herself, a high priced escort at the center of the Secret Service prostitution scandal.

Yes, this woman, Dania Suarez is talking on TV. She is the escort who got into an argument with one of the Secret Service agents in Colombia after he refused to pay her.

You know the story, it happened before President Obama arrived in Colombia last month. Here's Ms. Suarez on Colombian TV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DANIA SUAREZ, ESCORT (through translator): You know, neither my friends or I didn't know they were agents, you know, Obama's agents or you know, then we left and we went to this place to buy condoms, and then we went to the hotel.

Who went? My friend, she is not a friend, just acquaintance, and the agent who was with me and the other one and the four of us. And then my friend went with him because she liked him. No, I don't understand because she liked him, it wasn't the same thing I was doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, there you have it. Miriam Wells, managing editor for "Colombia Reports," she join us via Skype. So I thought this woman's life was ruined, but she seems pretty happy.

MIRIAM WELLS, MANAGING EDITOR, COLOMBIA REPORTS: Good morning, Carol. Well, she does, actually. She seems cheer full throughout the interview although she does talk how the scandal has damaged her life.

There is a bit of a contradiction there, but yes, lots of interesting stuff. She is giving more details of what happened between herself and the agent, the behavior of the rest of the agents in the club.

Yes, that's a few interesting things coming out. I'd say the most interesting is the behavior of the agents. She is saying there were 10 or 11 of them in the club, completely drunk, rowdy.

She says they were drinking alcohol like water. She says she can't believe knowing now who they are that they were behaving this way. Then the agent the specific one she went back with, she said in the club he was good looking.

He was friendly. He was nice to her. She was having a great time with him, but the next morning when he woke up, when he was -- his character completely change and he said some quite nasty things to her, apparently.

COSTELLO: Yes, that is when supposedly he threw her out of the room and called her, I guess, the "B" word for lack of a better way to put it, right?

WELLS: Yes, that is what she said. She said in the club it was the transaction was very clear despite the language difference. He said sex to her and she understood obviously, she said baby, cash money, cash money.

He said, OK, Quanto. In Spanish, that is how much. She said $800, he repeated back $800. She said the next morning when they wake up she asked for the money and he said let's go with the "B" word and swore at her.

She said he was completely different the next morning and she was very surprised because she had trusted him and thought he seemed like a nice guy.

COSTELLO: Just a final question, has she become like a celebrity in Colombia?

WELLS: No, she hasn't. This is the first interview she's done. They have a few networks. They have questions from different media around. This is the first time she has given an interview.

There hasn't been that much talk since other -- what is going on in the U.S. but no, she has been out of the media. Also worth noting she confirms she did not know they were secret agents.

She didn't know that they had anything to do with Obama. She says she saw a military uniform in the room, but she didn't really think anything of it he could be any sort of soldier and she thinks knowing what she knows now they were complete idiots to do what they did.

COSTELLO: I think she is on to something there in the mind of many people. Miriam Wells, thank you for joining us live via Skype. We appreciate it. Of course, that Secret Service investigation still ongoing within the United States, not over yet.

A deal has been struck that could diffuse the diplomatic crisis over a Chinese activist that's according to the State Department. We got this in about two hours ago.

The statement says Mr. Chen has been offered a fellowship from an American university where he can be accompanied by his wife and two children. The Chinese government has indicated that it will accept Mr. Chen's applications for appropriate travel documents.

Now that means Chen and his family should soon be on their way to the United States and it means the Obama administration may have wiggled free from an embarrassing diplomatic tussle.

But you never know because it's China. Stan Grant is in Beijing. So Stan, what happens now?

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we wait to see exactly how this plays out. You know, the door was open when the Chinese said that they could process a passport for Chen. He could apply as any other Chinese citizen would.

Of course, he's not just any other Chinese citizen. He's the man at the center of this extraordinary firestorm between China and the United States. Now the U.S. saying that they would expedite a process of student visa and he has a place to go and study once he arrives in the United States.

Now what prompted all of this, Chen, of course, who fled house arrest. He was in holed up in the embassy for almost a week. He left the embassy thinking a deal was done then. A deal would allow him to stay in China, which is what he wanted to do and to live safely and freely.

Within hours of leaving the embassy, everything changed. His wife told him about threats that have been made. She was beaten up since the guards discovered he had fled. He then realized that there was no future for them in China.

Their lives were in danger and that is when he started to ramp up the case to be to get out from China quickly and go to the United States. This appears to be, Carol, a face saving win-win situation for all.

Most notably Mr. Chen if he's actually able to leave the country and go to the United States. Still some time to play out, but he's a little bit closer to his dream -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know you'll keep an eye on it for us, Stan. Stan Grant reporting live from Beijing, China this morning.

Sometime today the family of Junior Seau will announce his funeral plans. It comes just a day after the coroner rules his death a suicide with a single gunshot to the chest.

The former football star had told friends he wanted his brain studied to learn more about the damage caused by concussions. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been investigating the topic of concussions and football players for years now.

So Junior Seau's brain will go do this Boston Institute and what will they look for?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is hard to talk about, obviously, so recent, but they are going to look for evidence of what is known as plaques and tangles in the brain.

People may have heard those terms typically associated with Alzheimer's disease. It's a very similar process. We're talking about something known as CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

And the theory is and again, it's pretty new science, but the theory is that repeated blows to the head, not even blows that necessary cause concussions.

But just blows to the head over and over again can cause this process, CTE and it can cause it in at a pretty young age, you know, 43 here.

COSTELLO: And it can cause react in certain ways like anger and depression and it could really like make you commit suicide?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's -- we don't know for sure because it's still such new science but yes, anger, depression, and memory loss and cognitive problems.

Again, just so early in life. There was even evidence I saw when I was doing one of my stories of this process in a 17-year- old's brain. So it starts very early in life.

It's hard to draw the link, but you remember Dave Duerson last year, who also committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest. I point that out again, it's hard to talk about it.

But he did it specifically for the reason of saying I want my brain to be studied. He didn't shoot himself in the head because he wanted his brain to be studied. You know, the same sort of thing is possibly what happened here with Junior Seau.

COSTELLO: So the NFL has taken steps to try to prevent these concussions from happening, has the NFL done enough?

GUPTA: There is a lawsuit that was filed yesterday, as you know, a lot of people saying they haven't done enough. I think right now the concern about trying to limit the number of head injuries and also taking players out of the game.

There have been significant improvements. I think they've done things to try and make sure players are actually tested in between these big hits.

But I think overall the concern is these players, the retired players, you had Jamal on earlier. You know, later on in life if they develop these problems, what happens to them at that point?

And when we say later in life with a football player that is in the 40s, yes, so it's very early in terms of their overall life span, hopefully, but their health care, how they get it treated, resource that they have available for them.

COSTELLO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

GUPTA: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Don't miss your appointment with Sanjay this weekend. "Sanjay Gupta, M.D." airs tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 Eastern and on Sunday morning at 7:30 Eastern.

An interior designer who helped the John Edwards campaign get money from a wealthy donor will return to the stand for a second day as the corruption trial of the former presidential candidate resumes. The designer says neither he nor the donor knew the money would be used to cover up Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter.

Remember this guy? That would be Drew Peterson, the former Chicago area cop accused of killing his third wife and still under investigation in the disappearance of his fourth.

At the bottom of the hour, in 20 minutes, he's due in court, his first such appearance in two years. Ted Rowlands is in Joliet, outside Chicago. So what kind of hearing is this?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it has been two years since Drew Peterson has been in a courtroom. What is going to happen today we're expecting it will be relatively short. This is a status hearing on the heels of an appellate court hearing and decision, which has cleared the way for the process to move again.

Basically, it has been held up for two years because the appellate court had to weigh in on some hearsay evidence. That has been done. Now we're going to find out first of, who is the judge in the case because the judge that was overseeing it retired.

And then we may get a trial date. It's expected that this trial will get underway in the fall. A lot of people in this community are very keen on this story and they have been watching every detail of it since Drew Peterson was arrested.

He's a former police officer in nearby Bolingbrook, Illinois accused as you said of killing his third wife and also is the main suspect in the disappearance of his fourth wife.

So he's back in court. We'll find out in just about half an hour likely who the judge will be and possibly a trial date.

COSTELLO: All right, Ted Rowlands reporting live from Joliet, Illinois this morning.

How would you like to have dinner with George Clooney? Who wouldn't, right? For a few bucks you can win the chance, the raffle outcome just days away.

And the moon moving very close to the earth, that means a super moon will appear before our very eyes, and it will happen this weekend. Much like it did when Dean Martin sang that famous classic song.

I love Dean Martin. We're both Paisanos. We love Dean Martin. But let's take about the moon --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will be a Bella Luna, that's for sure. It's going to be the closest approach of the year and it's full moon, so we call it the super moon, because of that it will be bigger and brighter than you would typically see up to 20 percent brighter in many spots.

Of course, you look to the east, once the sunset tomorrow night all night long unless if you have cloudy skies and if that is the case, that's going to be an issue.

Northeast and southwest corner of the U.S. that's where you have your best shot, everybody else sing a song and hope for a break in the clouds. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 15 minutes past the hour time to check our top stories.

A mixed report on the U.S. jobs market for the month of April. Hiring slowed from a strong pace earlier this year 115,000 jobs created. And while the unemployment rate dipped to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent in March, it was likely because more workers dropped out of the labor force.

The family of Junior Seau will allow researchers to study his brain. That's according to the "L.A. Times" and "Sports Illustrated." The family wants to know if damage from concussions led the NFL star to take his life. Seau died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

More twists in the case for Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng who has now been offered a fellowship at an American university. The State Department making that announcement, it comes as China says Chen can apply to study abroad.

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum spent months on the campaign trail hammering each other left and right, but today they are singing a conservative Kumbayah.

The two primary foes are getting together in Pittsburgh. This is their first face-to-face meeting since Santorum suspended his campaign.

Romney told Fox News earlier this morning that he's not expecting an endorsement from Santorum today. Santorum's aides say the two will try to get to know each other better and talk about issues close to Santorum's heart.

Also later today, President Obama will talk more about student loans. He holds a round table discussion with a group of high school seniors and their parents at a high school outside of Washington.

Later, the president will welcome the NCAA champs, the University of Kentucky men's basketball team to the White House and of course, tomorrow the president will hold a big rally at the Ohio State University.

Speaking of President Obama and his re-election bid, he will get a boost from a man who also aspired to be commander in chief, at least on the big screen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: Help get an education, teach young people a trade and we're going to get them out of debt. Where does that fail?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is all right, governor, if you do it, do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Wow, that sounds familiar, doesn't it? Well, the Oscar winning actor George Clooney will host a high profile fundraiser for the president and his Hollywood home.

But there is an even more profitable twist for the Obama campaign because the campaign is holding a raffle for this dinner and a lot of supporters have paid $3 to enter the raffle.

So that they can sit down and have dinner with not only George Clooney, but the president. The winner will be announced soon. "Showbiz Tonight's" host, A.J. Hammer joins us now. A.J., this could break records.

A.J. HAMMER, HOST, HLN'S "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": In a huge way, Carol, President Obama's dinner with Clooney has officially sold out. The Hollywood reporter is saying now that the event is on track to raise twice the amount originally anticipated.

They are now looking at a whopping $12 million and that would make it the biggest one-night presidential fundraiser in history. One hundred fifty celebrities and entertainment industry executives have paid $40,000 each to dine with the president at Clooney's Studio City California home.

That is going to happen on May 10th. Those tickets alone raised $6 million. But yes, the big story here is when all the money is counted there is a good chance less than half will come from the high rollers who paid $40,000 a plate.

The rest of the campaign cash, which could top $6 million will likely come from the online contest. The contest is called Obama, Clooney and you. Regular folks who want to enter were asked to give suggested donation of $3 to the campaign for the chance to win not only two tickets to the event, Carol.

But airfare as well, but I don't want anybody rushing to their computer if you want to hang with Clooney, the contest has ended. The "Wall Street Journal" reported this week, by the way, Clooney has declared fundraiser a huge success.

Last weekend, he was at the White House Correspondents Dinner and Clooney told the paper, "All I know it's the biggest fundraiser so far to date." At that point, he said they raised $10 million and he added that the amount is double anything that's ever been done before.

COSTELLO: We did reach out to the Obama campaign. They would only tell us that, yes, they are going to pay airfare for the lucky winner, and it was successful, but they are not talking much about it.

HAMMER: No, they're not. And the contest is going to be brought to a close by announcing the winner and the campaign is supposed to be doing that in the coming days.

We don't have an exact moment when that will happen, but to be clear the proceeds from the event are being spread around, Obama victory fund will get some.

That is a joint fundraising committee for Obama for America, and the Democratic National Committee, several state Democratic Parties are also going to be getting this money and a huge sum of money according to a Democratic official.

But really, Carol, what it points out is George Clooney, the great Clooney can indeed do anything.

COSTELLO: You're not kidding, wow. It's interesting how this campaign is developing as far as fundraising is concerned. A.J. Hammer, thanks so much.

Remember the exotic animals that wreaked havoc on a small Ohio town last fall? Well, we may see some of those animals from that same farm today. The surviving five will be returned to the owner's widow.

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COSTELLO: We have some new numbers to share with you on the state of the economy, 115,000 jobs were added last month. The unemployment rate fell a tiny bit. Sounds good, but I don't know. I guess, you could sum it up this is kind of lukewarm.

But we'll let Alison Kosik use -- fit the adjective. She's at the New York Stock Exchange. Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know what, that 150,000, Carol, it just doesn't cut it. It's just not good enough to dig the job market out of the hole it's in. You see how Wall Street feels about it.

Stocks are lower. The Dow down 114 points because Wall Street expected to see more like 160,000. But more importantly, look how the year has been going as far as job growth has been going.

It slowed every month this year. Look, January started really strong, but has been falling ever since. And now we're at less than half that. And to add to this there are other signs lately the economy is slowing.

GDP, economic growth in the U.S., activity in the service sector, both of those have been showing down. Also a dozen countries in Europe are back in recession. All of that, Carol, trickles right through to the jobs market -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, so I'll ask you this question because the unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent, which isn't so much. But is that a glimmer of hope or should I shut up?

KOSIK: I wouldn't tell you to shut up that would be rude, but you may not want to go overboard on that. Because that 8.1 percent, the unemployment rate falling is not about people finding work it's just the opposite.

It's because people are dropping out of the labor force and while some of that is normal, just normal retirement, a lot of that is because many people are frustrated they are not finding work and not looking for work anymore.

Look how bad it is now. Less than 64 percent of people are working right now. These are people who are looking for work that is less than 64 percent of people that is the lowest level since 1981.

When fast times at Ridgemont High was big movie. Remember that? That was a long time ago. Listen, the problem with low participation rate is that it hits tax revenue really hard because if you're not working you're not contributing to the tax role.

It also makes it harder to fund Social Security. Ultimately what it does is it hits economic growth. I'll give you a silver lining before I go, Carol.

The silver lining to this slowing economy, if that's what is happening here is that oil prices right now are below $100. So at least we'll hopefully see that trickle through to the gas pump at some point -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, gas prices have dropped. I mean, they are still too expensive, but at least they've dropped. Alison Kosik live at the New York Stock Exchange.

Now to just talk back on one of the big stories of the day, the question for you this morning, will Julia win the battle for women voters?

The war for women voters is still raging. The Obama campaign's latest weapon, Julia. She's not flesh and blood. Julia is a cartoon figure created by the Obama campaign for its web site.

The Julia info graphic shows how one woman can be helped by government programs and the president's policies throughout a lifetime. Beginning at 3 years old with Head Start, in college with Pell Grants, and affordable student loans, covered under her parent's health plan with Obamacare.

Getting a small business administration loan for her web design company and then getting Medicare and Social Security to retire. The Julia time line also describes how the benefits would be cut under a Romney administration.

Well, wouldn't you know it? It didn't take long for conservatives to fire back blasting cartoon Julia for promoting a big government nanny state.

CNN contributor, Dana Loesch put it this way on Twitter. She tweeted, quote, "I have no idea how I or other women survived this long without the government making all of our decisions for us, Julia."

Well, the whole Julia thing could backfire as Michael Shear of the "New York Times" says, why have a fictional Julia, couldn't you find a real one?

So the talkback question for you this morning, will Julia win the battle for women voters? Facebook.com/carolcnn. I'll you're your comments later this hour.

Still ahead this morning, a school excuse far better than the dog ate my homework. One kid, he was with the governor really. He has Chris Christie's John Hancock to prove it. Our "Political Buzz" panel weighs in on this executive order written on the back of a reserved seating sign.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Thirty minutes past the hour. Good morning to you, I'm Carol Costello.

Stories we're following in the NEWSROOM.

The nation's unemployment rate inched down last month; fell to 8.1 percent from 8.2 percent in March. 115,000 jobs were created in April; that's fewer than economists have predicted. Retail and health care among the sectors that added jobs but transportation and warehousing -- the warehousing industry I should say, those sectors lost jobs.

Drew Peterson due in court in Illinois for a hearing about his upcoming murder trial. The former police sergeant is accused of killing his third wife, Kathleen Savio, in 2004. Her death was originally ruled an accident but the case was reopened after Peterson's fourth wife, Stacy, disappeared in 2007 -- in 2007 rather. Peterson has pleaded not guilty.

This massive sink hole in someone's backyard in Florida, may have finally stopped getting bigger. It's already forced homeowners and some neighbors to move out and it's already swallowed four trees. It might have been caused by a drought in the area causing underground water levels to drop.

"Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing with us today Sirius XM radio host and comedian, Pete Dominick; Hiram College Professor and Politics 365 correspondent, Jason Johnson; and Crystal Wright of Conservative BlackChick.com. Welcome to all of you.

CRYSTAL WRIGHT, CONSERVATIVE BLACK CHICK.COM: Thank you.

JASON JOHNSON, PROFESSOR, HIRAM COLLEGE: Good morning.

PETE DOMINICK, SIRIUS XM RADIO HOST AND COMEDIAN: Good morning Carol.

COSTELLO: Our first question, the 2012 general election hasn't even officially begun and already President Obama and Mitt Romney are slinging mud. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As governor, he outsourced state jobs to a call center in India. He's still pushing tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. It's just what you would expect from a guy who had a Swiss Bank account.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Obama attack machine has started. Spending millions to sling mud or oil at Mitt Romney. Why? Because in the five states where Obama is attacking Romney, gas prices are roughly doubled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ok, so things are only going to get worse. One study shows 70 percent of campaign ads between 2011 and April 22nd of this year have been negative. So apparently it works. We know they work, but why do they work so well? Jason?

JOHNSON: Well, this is one of the things I actually write about in my book, "One Day to Sell" it's the type of negative advertising that you run. Either policy or character, character ads work really great against an incumbent because it reminds people why they shouldn't trust them. Policy ads work really great when you're going up against a challenger.

And then in the year like this, where the elections really close people don't hate Mitt Romney but they don't love Barack Obama, whatever you close (ph) you use negative ads, you create a distance between the candidates and that's how you win. So they're always going to be effective.

COSTELLO: Crystal?

WRIGHT: If, you know, there is no surprise, Carol, that negative ads have gone up this election cycle because this President has no record to run on. He is presiding over one of the worst economies in U.S. history.

So he's got to go negative to distort Mitt Romney's record and have and create a tail of fiction so that he can divide America, he's got class warfare, gender warfare, I guess next we'll have race warfare, so that Obama can click off votes because we know that he can't unite Americans and actually win another term on a great record.

DOMINICK: Get on, get on Crystal.

COSTELLO: Oh she doesn't give up. Pete?

WRIGHT: I won't.

COSTELLO: Pete?

DOMINICK: Well, these -- these ads work because they allow candidates to -- to criticize their opponents as opposed to putting out ideas. They also were the rise of the Super PACs of course the opponents can separate themselves, I didn't say it that was the Super PAC.

But let's not act like these are the worst ads. I've got some ads for you Carol from the 1800 election, John Adams versus Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's camp accused President Adams of having quote, "Hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman".

Now listen, we've got to listen to John Adams who called Vice President Jefferson a mean-spirited low-lived fellow the son of a half breed Indian squaw sired by a Virginia mulatto father and we -- they didn't really get the fact checked the way we can now --

COSTELLO: Somehow that doesn't make me feel better but anyway getting on to our next question. Mitt Romney meeting with Rick Santorum today in Pittsburgh, first time the two men will meet face- to-face since Santorum left the trail. Another frenemy. Romney told Fox News early today, quote, "I don't think we have plans for an endorsement today."

So what do you think Santorum will tell Mr. Romney? Crystal?

WRIGHT: I think Santorum is going to try to whisper sweet nothings in Romney's ear. First of all he's going to say, "Mitt, look, I'm sorry for calling you the worst Republican ever, but guess what when I do endorse you, I won't be like Newt Gingrich and get a 23-minute rambling speech about how I can't wait to return to the moon and all of these great things and then not even dance around the edges, in supporting you. I will throw my full support behind you, Mitt Romney, because I also want to secure a job in your administration if you beat President Obama. That's what's going to happen.

COSTELLO: Pete?

DOMINICK: I'll keep this one short because I went long last time. I think, I think Rick Santorum probably just say hey, remember that time when you outspent me 10 to 1 and I still won? And then he'll probably look into Rick Santorum and look into Mitt Romney's eye, take a beat and then profess his undying love for him.

WRIGHT: Well that's so sweet.

COSTELLO: Oh you gave me chills. Oh Pete.

WRIGHT: Oh Pete, me too.

COSTELLO: Jason?

JOHNSON: He's going to say Mitt, thank you so much, I was on history's garbage heap before this campaign. No one knew who I was, I was celebrity fit club and because you're such a weak Republican nominee who can't galvanize your own conservative base I have skyrocketed back to prominence. I'm so happy. Thank you so much. I don't even care if I get a spot in your new administration because I'm going to be on the Speaker's tour for the next 15 years. Thanks Mitt and by way write me a check and take care of my campaign debt.

COSTELLO: Ok, it's time for the "Buzzer Beater" 20 seconds each. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie getting an unusual request at a town hall meeting from a sixth grader named Peter Schwartz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER SCHWARTZ, SIXTH GRADER: I kind of need a note for school.

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: You need a note for school?

Peter, this just says, "Please excuse Peter from school today, he was with me."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That is so cute. And it's a far better excuse than the dog ate my homework. So if you're Mitt Romney does this make you want Chris Christie as your running mate even more, Jason?

JOHNSON: Look obviously, this kid's teacher is a Democrat who doesn't like Christie, so he needed an excuse for meeting the Governor. Look, no. Chris Christie is not going to be Mitt Romney's running mate, he doesn't want a running mate who's going to outshine him. I think he should go for Bob McDonnell in Virginia. Virginia is a state that he needs to win, let Chris Christie go out and write notes for kids, sit at the school kids table but he is not VP material, not for Mitt Romney.

COSTELLO: Crystal?

WRIGHT: Well, I hate to say this I'm going to agree with Jason on part of what he said. Chris Christie is not VP material for two reasons. We don't pick a VP on his ability to give out hall passes and excuse notes to you know sixth graders, so they can get back in school.

And second, if Chris Christie really wanted to be a VP pick, he would start losing some weight. We got no president since President Taft who was that big and you can't be -- wait a minute, you can't been one heartbeat away from the presidency and be that large.

And I also think you know he -- he's -- he's got a little bit of a Biden touch, you don't know what's going to come out of his mouth.

COSTELLO: Oh ok. We'll all take a breath after that. Pete?

DOMINICK: Listen, Chris Christie, this kid at a town hall and Chris Christie cut so much funding from education, I guess kids just start wandering in the town halls, this is what happens. But I mean, really, we had a very disgraceful thing happen this week when Mitt Romney's foreign policy advisor was pushed out because he was gay and Mitt Romney showed no backbone to back him up.

When we see the video surface of Chris Christie defending a judge who happened to be Muslim what I call his finest moment, that's not going to help him, either.

COSTELLO: All right, thanks for joining us. Thanks for playing today. It was interesting.

DOMINICK: Thanks Carol.

WRIGHT: Thanks.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: A bear, two monkeys and two leopards will return to their home this morning. They'll be back at the farm where their owner released them and 50 other wild animals into a small Ohio town.

And later, millions of Americans are looking for work but business owners can't fill openings. Yes, this is the other side of the story, how one employer telling us what you need to get a job with her.

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COSTELLO: All right. There have been all sorts of problems in Flint, Michigan. Flint is north of Detroit -- take a look at that. They had a lot of rain in the last few hours and as you can see it has caused a lot of problems. This is off of I-75, which is the major highway through that area of Michigan. You see that trucker standing on top of his rig, waiting to be rescued.

Rob Marciano is here, there is no body of water near there, that is incredible.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, just a low-lying area. They got five to six inches of rainfall in the last 12 hours and a lot of that coming in a small chunk. And obviously, look at that they have the swift water rescue teams that are out and about there. So it's surreal to see this on such a major roadway just off Interstate 75. But nonetheless, you have been on interstates where they have the on and off ramps, they typically dip down low, and that is where the water can certainly gather.

So that trucker -- see him standing on top on the cab of his truck, waiting for rescue, which is something you don't see every day. That's for sure.

COSTELLO: Yes. We're going to stay with this. This is our affiliate WDIV. They're shooting this of course, from the air and you can see that the rescue crews are putting the boat in the water on I- 75, which is weird from the get-go. And they're going to make their way slowly to that trucker.

We were wondering a truck gets flooded out, that's a lot of water. So the trucker must have been getting off of the highway and then it just flooded out the bottom carriage of his truck? I mean the truck is high off the ground.

MARCIANO: Yes. So, this is a good five or six feet probably above the ground level now. I'm not sure exactly what exit this is. There is probably a small body of water there, a stream or a small river that quickly over-flooded as well because this is more than just a big puddle for sure.

So flash flood warnings are in effect for some of the surrounding counties here but the rain as you can see, has lightened up. The sun hasn't broken through but the rain at least has lightened up a little bit.

There you see a wider shot there on the left part of your screen. You get the idea. Any spot that's low-lying there and it looks like there might even be some rural -- I don't want to say farm land -- but it's not the most urban scene there.

COSTELLO: Well, Flint is not such a big city. But that's just weird. We're going to continue to follow this, and when they get that boat in the water we'll go back to the video.

MARCIANO: There are some other spots. Let's take weather graphics, real quickly. There is some other spots besides lower Michigan or central Michigan that are going to see potential for flooding. This is what happened the last 24 hours you can see the red getting into Flint, Michigan there. And that estimates that anywhere from four to six, in some cases seven or eight inches of rainfall in 24 hours -- that's a lot.

Some of that does include Chicago so they are saturated as well. And with that sort of saturation, you have potential problems as far as any additional rainfall that may be heading in these directions.

On top of that, severe weather threat, you know, Carol it has been so warm and humid, obviously down here in Atlanta, but from the south from the Gulf Coast up to about Chicago, over to Philadelphia, the past several days we've been in this kind of soupy late June like air mass, that can really dump a lot of water in a hurry when you get a cluster of thunderstorms that moves over an area fairly slowly, that is what happened here across central Michigan and they're dealing with some flash flooding for sure.

COSTELLO: Yes. So can we get another shot of the trucker who's standing on top of his rig waiting for this rescue team to come get him? It's just s incredible.

So he's doing the right thing; he didn't go into the water because you never know what is under the water, in flooding situations. We're going to take a break. We will be back as this rescue gets underway.

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COSTELLO: Ok. You're looking at live pictures out of Flint, Michigan. This poor trucker, there is flooding off the highway, I-75 in Flint, Michigan which is north of Detroit. Four feet of water on the roadway. It appears that this guy was getting off an exit ramp and ran into this. You see him standing on top of his rig waiting for help to come.

We know that firefighters have their rescue rafts out. They're putting the boats in the water. You're going to see them in just a second. We're watching as that rescue get underway.

If I'm that trucker, I'm thinking to myself, boy they are taking their time but, of course, they have to mind safety issues themselves. So were going to follow this and we're going to move on to other news but we'll be right back to it as this trucker gets rescued.

Nation's unemployment rate dipped to 8.1 percent last month -- we've been telling you that -- that is slightly lower than in march. 115,000 jobs were created, missing forecasts of 160,000 new jobs. Retail in health care among the sectors adding jobs. While jobs were lost in the transportation and warehousing industries.

12.5 million Americans are looking for jobs. But some employers are saying having we have the jobs, we just can't find workers.

All this week we have been looking at businesses that are hiring but cannot fill positions. Today we're talking with Kari Dephillips. She owns the Contact Factory, an online P.R. agency. Pittsburgh company is in its second year of business. It has ten workers and wants to bring on four new writers and an editor.

Welcome, Kari.

KARI DEPHILLIPS, OWNER, CONTACT FACTORY: Hi, Carol, thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being on.

So you're sitting and you're listening to the jobs report this morning and it wasn't so great. And you're thinking but I have jobs. So what goes through your mind when you see the figures come out like that every month?

DEPHILLIPS: I really think that it's a shame. I think that with some industries there are a lot of cut-backs with Internet marketing and with online jobs in general I see growth in that market and I see a lot of need for jobs.

COSTELLO: Your company needs jobs, why can't you find enough workers? Do people not know there are openings with your company?

DEPHILLIPS: I don't think that that is as big of a factor as you might think it would be. We get between 50-100 applicants trying -- sending us cover letters and resumes on a weekly basis even without an ad up.

The biggest problem that I have found is that we're looking for a really particular type of writer. It's really a mix of ad writing, a little bit of journalism, and some creative writing as well and it's all kind of rolled in to one.

And there are lots of people who may have journalism experience but that doesn't necessarily translate well to the online world. There is a lot of people who have creative writing experience, but creative writing alone isn't enough. There are a lot of SEO principles, search engine optimization principles that come in to play with web writing, I have found that really the skill level in a lot of the applicants is lacking.

COSTELLO: I was reading we exchanged e-mails yesterday and I was noticing that even the applicants you're getting, that some of the applicants simply cannot write, which is depressing to me.

DEPHILLIPS: Yes. I mean I like to say that writing is a lot like singing and everyone thinks they can do it well but few people actually can. If you have seen an audition episode of "American Idol", there are a lot of William Hungs out there in the writing world as well.

COSTELLO: That's so depressing. So it's a bigger problem than just, you know, finding qualified workers. Perhaps it's a problem with our educational system as well because it should be a cinch to learn how to write because you learned that --

DEPHILLIPS: But it isn't.

COSTELLO: -- your whole life.

DEPHILLIPS: Right. We have people who apply for work with us who have creative writing degrees and who have English degrees and who have just blatant errors in their cover letter. And every word counts with our company.

We're sending out press releases that are highly visible. One word can really make a difference between whether we get sued or whether our clients get sued. Or, you know, whether PR goes as planned. So it's really kind of a high-risk environment where we end up hiring less than 0.25 percent of the applicants who apply with us.

COSTELLO: But you still want more. Kari Dephillips, thank you for joining us this morning. Your company is in the Pittsburgh area. If you want to apply, cnnmoney.com, you can find all the information. Thanks Kari for joining us.

DEPHILLIPS: Thank you. Have a great day.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Let's take you back to Flint, Michigan where terrible flooding has stranded a trucker on top of his rig -- take a look at that. The rescue is just getting underway. We're going to take a break, we will be back on the other side to show you more.

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COSTELLO: Ok. The rescue mission is underway. You can see that poor trucker in Flint, Michigan -- this is right off I-75 he's been trapped on top of his truck because they had about 12 inches of rain in the last couple of hours -- intense flooding there. And finally rescue workers attached the motor on that dinghy, and they had to like -- go down the highway in the water, floating down the highway. Get off an exit ramp and get to this trucker.

As you can see, they have thrown him a life line, he's putting on a life vest. And I don't know how -- will he jump? I guess we'll have to see.

Poor guy is trying to start the motor so they can get the heck out of there. The trucker did the exact right thing, because you don't want to go into the water during a flood because you don't know what is underneath the water and that could cause more injury to you. You could get trapped underneath the water and drown. So this trucker did exactly the right.

And there you see him climbing down. Go, go, we have been hoping and praying for him for about ten minutes now. He's in the life raft, safe and sound, don't know what will happen to his rig but I think there is a lot of damage there.

So, a successful rescue in Flint, Michigan, severe flooding there, parts of I-75 still closed down, Flint north of Michigan.

I'M Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips continues after a quick break.

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