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Investors Ready To "Friend" Facebook; Suspect Arrested In Highway Murders; U.S. Welcomes G8 And NATO Leaders; Analysts: Obama May Tap Oil Reserve; Obama Team Deploys Biden; 2012 Strategy And Vice President Biden; Investors Ready to "Friend" Facebook; Van Halen Postpones 31 Concerts; Mick Jagger Hosting SNL Finale; Rocket Launch Attempts to Make History

Aired May 18, 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)

JEANNIE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The sticker price a mere $259,500. Mark Witz says he has never encountered fish out driving, though the "spy who loved me did." When you are asking the buyer to sink $250,000 into a car, it better have a slightly ambiguous amphibious horn. Jeanie Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Of course, the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

Good morning to you. Happy Friday. I'm Carol Costello. The stories we are watching right now in the NEWSROOM. Mass chaos in Kentucky. You hear them, don't you? Neighbors screaming and running for cover. Police racing with guns drawn to takedown a shooter. How the argument went so wrong and the video of what happened next?

You have to like history in the making. The Facebook frenzy is about to become one of America's largest public companies and make Mark Zuckerberg one of the world's richest men.

It may look like your grandfather's 1960s rocket, but it isn't. An insider's look at Space X, the next frontier in intergalactic travel.

But we begin with this, are you ready to friend Facebook? Later this hour, investors will get their first chance to buy a piece of the social media empire.

It is the most talked about initial public offering in years and people are putting their money where their mouth is. The set price this morning is $38 a share.

This first wave of sales will generate about $16 billion. That makes it the most valuable tech IPO in history. Ali Velshi is in New York. So Ali, you're the business guru, is all this frenzy warranted?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, totally is for a couple of reasons. One is, I have been getting tweets and e- mails all morning about overhyped and people stealing money and this kind of none sense.

Carol, this is not a public vaccination. It is an IPO. If you don't want to buy shares of Facebook, you know what you do? Don't buy shares of Facebook. If you don't want to see my tweets and my reports about it, unfriend me, don't follow me.

But what if you do, what if you think this is a real shift in the paradigm of the internet? Remember the old days, Carol? We used to get AOL discs and you have this portal and it would give you all this information that you may be needed or didn't need.

And then it moved into this clean page of search, right? Just a little box and the internet and its experts would tell you anything you needed to know. Facebook is betting that the future is the community you create.

Your friends and the people you follow helping you curate your journey through life. And they are betting that that is what the internet is going to be used for in the next five and 10 years.

If they're right, then that $38 on the wall behind me is going to look like a discount, like a big deal. If they are wrong, you don't have to buy it.

So, yes, I think this is a moment in history that is not an endorsement to buy the stock and it's just saying that this is a big deal. This is a day that Facebook grew up and became part of the serious world of big companies.

COSTELLO: OK, so having said that, because, you know, the common man, I guess, for lack of a better term, won't be able to buy any shares until they're bought up by the rich guy. So how much will shares be when it finally gets down to, you know, where you and I could buy them?

VELSHI: Why don't you come back to me in an hour and I'll tell you what it's doing. The problem is that it's at 38 bucks. That's IPO prices. It hasn't started trading yet. It's listed. This often happens with IPOs. It takes a little while.

My guess is because this was so oversubscribed, meaning so many people wanted to get in on it. The price at any point today is going to be higher than $38. Some people think $60, 90 bucks.

But that's not -- it's not -- you see we keep worrying about how much you and I can pay versus the institutional investors, the rich guys.

Here is the reason to buy a stock, not that somebody else got it cheaper. It's that you can sell it for more one day. If you believe in that tale that I just wove about the future of Facebook then buy it today.

And in three years, you may have seen it doubled. If you don't believe that tale, don't go anywhere near the stock.

COSTELLO: OK, advice taken. I hope we can afford it by the time it gets to us though.

VELSHI: That's a good question.

COSTELLO: Yes, Ali Velshi, thanks so much.

VELSHI: All right.

COSTELLO: The buzz builds up, the clock ticks down as we await Facebook's big moment. We will take you behind the scenes of the company's nerve center.

Dan Simon is at the California headquarters and introduces us to an employee tradition known as the hack-a-thon. He will joins us to explain in about 25 minutes.

Now we have to tell you about the big break in that Mississippi case. A suspect now under arrest in the killing of two motorists both along the desolate stretches of highway.

This week the case stirred public fear and distrust when authorities warn that the shooter could be posing as a cop. But now we're learning that police think that may not have been the case.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Dallas. So who is this guy? Who is this suspect?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they found out about this suspect on Tuesday when in the town of Tunica, Mississippi, not far away from where the shootings happened in that north west corner of Mississippi.

Authorities there get a call of a woman being raped. They rushed to the scene over there. They arrest the man who they believe was raping this woman. As they take him into custody, they find a .9 millimeter handgun on him.

One of the detectives I'm told notices as he looks at the gun and realizes that it matches very similar to the gun that might have been used in those highway shootings, deadly highway shootings that had happened the week before

The magazine from that gun is then rushed off and the gun rushed off to the ballistics testing at the state lab there in Mississippi and it came back as a match.

And that's when authorities arrested this man that you see there, 28-year-old James Willey and we'll find out here in a couple of hours, Carol, that he will be charged with the murders of those two shooting deaths that happened last week.

COSTELLO: So let's talk about motive here. Do police have any idea? I know that one of the victims had his wallet stolen and his wallet had hundreds of dollars inside.

LAVANDERA: Well, you mentioned at the beginning and alluded to the fact that early on, one of the plausible theories that police had warned people about that might have been they are trying figure out why in the world would people pull over.

Because they believe that these two victims had been stopped. There wasn't like they were driving down the highway that they had pulled over. What would cause someone to pull over in these early-morning hour at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning for a total stranger?

So they thought, well, perhaps this may be one of the possible motives. Authorities now say that they do not believe that is the case. That is the way this attacker carried out these murders.

But they still don't know what exactly the motive is. I'm told that they will continue to try to interview him this morning.

COSTELLO: Ed Lavandera live for us this morning.

We are waiting to hear from President Obama at any moment. He is hosting two major diplomatic events this weekend. First at Camp David where seven leaders of the world, eight most powerful countries begin the G8 summit today.

Only seven leaders will be there as Russia's president, Vladimir Putin was unable to attend. And then on Sunday, two dozen heads of state meet in Chicago for the two-day NATO conference.

Both summits will cover everything from Afghanistan to the crisis in Syria to Europe's economic situation. Big events and even bigger security responsibility for the United States. That's what that means.

Both events are the diplomatic equivalent of hosting both the World Cup and the World Series in the same country on the same weekend. Let's check with the White House and check in with Dan Lothian. Hi, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: How are you doing?

COSTELLO: I'm good. I was wondering, you know, we hear a lot about Vladimir Putin not showing up for the G8 summit. Why is that?

LOTHIAN: Well, you know, some may see this as a slap in the face of the U.S., but the White House is really downplaying any friction here saying that President Putin called President Obama said that he could not make the trip here.

Because he was busy forming his government there and getting settled back into a role that he once held as president in Russia. There had been some speculation that the reason he pulled out was because he didn't want to come here and face the continuing pressure from the international community to take more decisive steps in dealing with Syria and also Iran.

But again, they are saying this is more a situation where he wanted to sort of take care of his business there back at home instead of coming here.

What's interesting is President Obama shortly after that announced that he -- at least the White House announced that the president would not be going to the APEX Summit in November in Russia. They say that this is in no way retaliation, but simply because it was too close to the U.S. elections -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, Dan, we're going to have to cut away. President Obama is now speaking. He's talking about the global food supply and security issues. Let's listen.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Dan Glickman and everyone in the Chicago Council, we were originally going to convene along with the G8 in Chicago. But since we are not doing this in my hometown, I want to bring a bit of Chicago to Washington.

It is wonderful to see all of you. It is great to see quite a few young people here as well. I want to acknowledge a good friend. We were just talking back stage. He was my inspiration for singing at the Apollo. Bono is here. It is good to see him.

Now, this weekend at the G8 will be represented by many of the world's largest economies. We face urgent challenges, creating jobs, addressing the situation in the eurozone, sustaining the global economic recovery.

But even as we deal with these issues, I felt it was also important, also critical to focus on the urgent challenge that confronts some 1 billion men, women and children around the world, the injustice of chronic hunger, the need for long-term future security.

So tomorrow at the G8, we're going to devote a special session to this challenge. We're launching a new partnership to reduce hunger and lift tens of millions from poverty.

We will be joined by leaders across Africa including the first three nations to undertake this effort and who join us here today. I want to acknowledge them. Prime Minister Meles of Ethiopia --

COSTELLO: OK, we're going to jump away. We will continue to monitor the president's speech and when he outlines his plan, we'll bring that outline to you.

The Obama campaign unleashing what it hopes will be a powerful weapon though in the presidential election and his name is Joe Biden. How the vice president has become an attack dog for the 2012 campaign?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 14 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now. After all the hype and build up, will investors flock to friend Facebook? Its stock is going public on the Nasdaq today. The social networking giant priced its IPO at $38 a share, which values the company at roughly $104 billion.

A major break in Mississippi, police arrest a suspect accused in the murders of two motorists both alongside desolate stretches of highway. They say when they arrested 28-year-old James Willey, he had the 0.9 millimeter handgun that was used in the shootings.

The case stirred public fear and distrust after authorities raised the possibility the shooter might be posing as a cop. They now say they don't think that's what happened.

Some analysts say President Obama may tap the strategic petroleum reserve as sanctions on Iran are put into place. That may mean up 1 million barrels could be off the table, which could lead to a spike in the price of oil.

It is a risky move. Not just because the presidential elections are six months away. Many analysts say the reserve should only be used in cases of actual shortages of oil, not to lower prices.

You know him as the vice president, but Joe Biden is taking on another role, attack dog. Biden talking tough to voters during his made in Ohio tour where the vice president stopped at several places including a Dairy Queen where he bought a few ice creams cones for customers.

He also stopped and had dinner at a local spaghetti restaurant and of course, he was in the fire house where he congratulated local crews. He actually bought ice cream cones for everyone.

He also slept in a Hampton inn. It is all part of a plan to shore up President Obama's street cred with those conservative Democrats he need to win re-election. And Biden's way with words especially when it comes to Mitt Romney, could be an effective tool.

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JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He said, quote, "I'll take a lot of credit for the fact that the industries come back." Whoa! By the way, I'll take a lot of credit for a man having landed on the moon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That was Biden poking fun at Romney's role in the auto bailout. Joining me now is Jason Johnson, chief political correspondent for politic365.com. Thank you for being here.

JASON JOHNSON, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, POLITIC365.COM: Glad to be here.

COSTELLO: So Joe Biden wraps up his Ohio tour and you saw him. He really tried to be one of the people. You know, buy ice cream cones at Dairy Queen, sleeping at the Hampton inn, eating at a spaghetti warehouse, is this working?

JOHNSON: It works great because Romney doesn't have a counter right now. Joe Biden is the most believable person in this country when it comes to what I know what the hard travel life is like. I know Western Pennsylvania and I know Eastern Ohio.

I know what it's like to come out of these factories. Barack Obama can't speak to that. Mitt Romney can't speak to it. So Biden is actually doing a good job for the president.

COSTELLO: Yes, but will it be enough? Because President Obama didn't do so well in 2008 with those voters in Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, in fact, he lost big time to Hillary Clinton.

JOHNSON: Exactly, so here's the catch. If you look at Ohio in particular, which is the purplest of swing states, you also have Senate Bill Five from last fall, which was this huge collective bargaining bill.

It made John Kasich very unpopular, the governor and Mitt Romney took the wrong position. So Ohio was a really unique purple state. The president is actually beating Romney in Ohio right now because a lot of voters there, his approval numbers are just upside down for Mitt Romney. And Biden is the great sort of attack dog for the president to put in right now.

COSTELLO: OK, so let's talk about the attack dog status of Joe Biden. Because sometimes Joe Biden goes over the brink and says things he should not, you know, i.e., same-sex marriage. So it was interesting because when Biden was talking to voters in Ohio, his people really would not let reporters ask him questions.

JOHNSON: Yes.

COSTELLO: And why do you think that was?

JOHNSON: Because in a way he might also be on punishment right now. What he did about talking about gay marriage. I'm pretty sure Obama said look. Get him out of the White House. Put him out somewhere where he could be effective. He can run his mouth.

Joe Biden, his off the comments were great when he is speaking to voters. Not so much when he's talking to reporters. This is the great place to sort of send him out. He can't get too much trouble and hopefully he can help Obama in the election.

COSTELLO: OK, so I'm still intrigued by, you know, the types of things he is doing. At one point, when he was buying ice cream cones in the Dairy Queen for people, someone yelled out. Can you buy ice cream cones for all of us and he said you probably know what my salary is.

It's what, together he and Joe Biden make more than $300,000 a year, which is a lot more than most people, but still it makes him not a millionaire. So do those things really resonate enough?

JOHNSON: They certainly resonate when you are comparing it to a Mitt Romney who says I don't know much about NASCAR, but I have friends who own NASCAR teams. So this is the kind of the question here, which of these gentlemen can convince the public that they understand the regular life better?

The real question is going to be who does Mitt Romney pick as his running mate? If he can find someone who's like Joe Biden, who can attack Obama, but also seemed to connect with regular people, it's going to be a much closer race.

But right now, Joe Biden is the only one who can speak to the Midwest with any degree authenticity right now.

COSTELLO: Of course, people are not going to vote for Joe Biden. They will vote for President Obama. How can Joe Biden convince them that President Obama can connect in the same way Joe Biden can?

JOHNSON: Well, here's the catch. Unfortunately, our presidential elections are between two people. So even if you have, I've always said it is a comparison between Frasier and Niles. I mean, if both Obama and Mitt Romney are stiff, Barack Obama seems slightly more someone you can connect to.

And Joe Biden can reinforce that and say, look, I know both these of guys are elites, but he's slightly less elite. That is something the voters can believe in.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Jason Johnson, thanks so much for being here.

JOHNSON: Anytime.

COSTELLO: Mitt Romney's campaign has released its first campaign ad of the general election season and it is not an attack ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would a Romney presidency be like? Day one, President Romney immediately approves the Keystone pipeline.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Also today, Mitt Romney has found his bridge to nowhere. It is not in Alaska, but in New Hampshire. Romney will be campaigning in Hillsboro, New Hampshire today near this bridge, the Sawyer Bridge.

It's a historic bridge originally built in the 1800s. It doesn't look like that now. It is now restored to its former glory. Take a look. Thing is, the bridge literally leads into nowhere.

I mean, it leads into a field. It is not open to traffic. It's actually now part of a planned city park and you guessed it, the bridge was restored with $150,000 in federal stimulus money, something Mr. Romney will no doubt say was a waste of taxpayer money. We'll keep you posted.

We are also awaiting Facebook stock to go public. It could happen any minute now. This is a live look at the Nasdaq.

Coming up, we will show you Facebook's nerve center and explain an employee tradition known as hack-a-thon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, if you could change something about Facebook, what would it be?

We love Facebook because it gives us direct access to you, something we never had in the past. Now I can actually have a conversation with you in real time. Still we wonder what Facebook's initial public offering will mean?

Now Mark Zuckerberg will have to answer not just to himself, but to shareholders. Facebook is expected to haul in $16 billion when it sells its stock today. So if you are kicking yourself because you can't buy in, look on the bright side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some business news, this week, investors will be able to buy shares of Facebook stock for the first time ever. That's great. Now you can lose all your money in the same place you lost all your time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well, not everybody. On "The View," President Obama says his daughters don't ever wile away their day on Facebook.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: First of all, Malia didn't get a phone until last year. Sasha still doesn't have a phone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How old is Malia?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Malia is 13. She'll be 14 in July. They don't have a Facebook page, part of that obviously is for security. We don't let them watch TV or use their computer except to do homework during the week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A recent Western Illinois university study suggests that Facebook feeds our inner narcissism. The more Facebook friends you have, the more you're into yourself. Whatever?

Seriously, many people value Facebook and are wondering whether this IPO will change Facebook for the better. So the talk back question for you today, if you could change something about Facebook, what would it be? Facebook.com/carolcnn. I'll read your responses later this hour. Facebook's big moment approaches, billions of dollars in play. This is the empire at work kind of. Dan Simon is at company headquarters. He will show us the employee tradition of hack-a-thon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just about 30 minutes past the hour. Stories we're watching right now in the NEWSROOM.

Police in Mississippi arrest a suspect on the killing of two motorists on the remote stretch of highway. Police found James Willey when they were called to investigate an alleged rape and they also found the handgun they think that was used in the killings.

Authorities had feared the killer was posing as a cop and pulling over unsuspecting drivers. They now say they do not think that was the scenario.

This morning, jurors are back in the North Carolina courthouse deliberating the corruption case of John Edwards. The former presidential candidate is accused of illegally funnelling campaign money to his mistress, the mother of his child. He could face up to 30 years in prison.

President Obama heads to Camp David today where he will meet with other world leaders for the G8 Summit among the topics, nuclear tensions with Iran and North Korea and the deepening economic concerns. Leaders are also expected to debate tapping global oil reserves to push down prices at least temporarily.

Facebook's big moment is approaching. This is the live picture of Nasdaq where you're going to see in a minute, where investors will soon be able to buy a piece of the social media empire. Let's first take it to the company's nerve center. Dan Simon is outside company headquarters in Menlo Park, California. So are the champagne corks popping?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well I think there is more Red Bull. This was a long night for Facebook employees. You know, normally this will be the beginning of a workday for them instead it's the end. We're seeing cars stream out of the parking lot, there have been some helicopters hovering above us to mark this momentous event.

You know the real work though begins for Facebook improving its valuation, $104 billion. What the employees did today was to you know symbolize to the world that they are all about building this product, building new features. So they have what's called a Hackathon.

But the question becomes can they prove their valuation? We spoke to many experts inside and outside of Silicon Valley. Here is what one of them had to say.

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DAVID KIRKPATRICK, AUTHOR, "THE FACEBOOK EFFECT": There is no way mathematically that you can actually say yes, it's worth 25 times revenues. I don't believe that. But I don't think you can argue that it isn't worth it either because you know this is a company that sort of transcends the traditional metrics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: One key component in terms of growing the company is getting more users. But of course there are always some hold outs and Facebook is blocked from certain countries. The question can they continue to grow their user base? So we talked to one venture capitalist to impose that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG GRETSCH, SIGMA MANAGING DIRECTOR: Obviously at some point they can't. I mean, how many people are there in the world? Seven or eight billion? Some percentage of those people are not connected. You know some countries are -- are blocking out Facebook.

So you know, you have to look at the number of people who are signed up to Facebook and say they are getting close to the maximum number.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: And we all probably know people who just refuse to sign on to Facebook for one reason or another. And they kind of look at it as sort of a badge of honor. Meanwhile, we're here at the Menlo -- in Menlo Park, California.

Carol, it has been quite a night. Again, this was a hackathon. And we'll see if any of the projects that the employees were working on actually make it to the Facebook site. Back to you.

COSTELLO: Ok so if you get back into the Hackathon, I have an idea, because my Facebook friends have spoken.

SIMON: Ok.

COSTELLO: People hate Timeline. They hate it and they want it to go away. Can you go and tell them that?

SIMON: I will go and tell them that. You know I have to say it was controversial when it first came out. And then I think gradually, most people have come to accept it. But apparently, you haven't, Carol. And I will tell them that.

COSTELLO: Oh it's not just me. I'm telling you people are responding in droves. They hate it.

SIMON: Ok.

COSTELLO: Dan Simon, thank you.

We're just minutes away from the first shares of Facebook being traded. Alison Kosik is at the NASDAQ market site. That number is unchanged right now. Why? ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's unchanged, yes because right now Facebook shares are not technically open to the public. I'll tell you what this is turning into a quite been the nail biter. You know I'm watching the people here on the floor of the NASDAQ. They're all waiting and waiting for that first official trade.

But what's going on behind the scenes is sort of this delay which is normal with any IPO. But especially this one that's got tremendous demand with one investor saying this kind of demand is nothing short of pandemonium. But what's happening is the underwriters, the institutional investors. If you are lucky enough to have a portfolio that met the requirements to get in early at that $38 price, all of those people right now are buying Facebook shares at that IPO price.

Now they're going to buy them and they're going to hold them until Facebook actually goes public and opens up all of those shares to the public to the average person who can -- who can do their best. And I wish them luck to get a low price on this one.

COSTELLO: Yes me, too. I'll keep my fingers and my toes crossed.

Alison Kosik live for us this morning.

President Obama is a Democrat and Mitt Romney is a Republican, right? So why are the two praising previous presidents from the opposite party? Our "Political Buzz" panel tackles that one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: "Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today on the left CNN contributor, Maria Cardona on the right, Lenny McAllister, host of the "McAllister Minute" he's also the featured speaker at the Rally for Common Sense featuring Herman Cain. Welcome to both of you.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you Carol.

LENNY MCALLISTER, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, POLITICS365.COM: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

First question, Mitt Romney's campaign released its first general election ad and guess what -- it's not an attack ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would a Romney presidency be like? Day one, President Romney immediately approves the Keystone Pipeline creating thousands of jobs that Obama blocked. President Romney produces tax cuts and reforms that rewards job creators not punish them. President Romney issues order to begin replacing Obamacare with common sense healthcare reform --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ok so Romney has a really busy day one. He's going to get the Keystone thing going, he's going to introduce tax cuts and tax reform and he's going to take steps to kill Obamacare.

Can he do it all in one day? Lenny?

MCALLISTER: Yes, he can. Because -- and not -- not to paraphrase the President but yes he can. Because these are the type of solutions that America wants and with Republicans controlling Congress in a President Romney in place, we can finally get that Keystone Pipeline in place to create jobs. We can get the tax creators or job creators away from all of these regulations and get them back to creating work in America and get the type of policies that President Obama said he would do in 2008 and hasn't really done in the last four years.

COSTELLO: Maria.

CARDONA: Well let's see, in repealing Obamacare, he would want to take away life-saving protections for millions of American children. And -- and Keystone you know what the administration was probably on the road to approving that once we know that it didn't destroy our environment and actually some of the oil stayed in the country.

With tax reform for Romney, that means slashing tax rates yet again for millionaires and billionaires and corporations at the expense of programs for the middle class. So can he do it all in one day? No Carol, because he's not going to get elected.

COSTELLO: Ok. Ok, you are split along partisan lines this morning.

MCALLISTER: It's not what the polls are saying right now Maria.

COSTELLO: Second question. It's a little confusing on the campaign trail these days. Mr. Romney a Republican keeps invoking Bill Clinton, a Democrat. And Mr. Obama, keeps invoking a Republican, Ronald Reagan, it makes your brain hurt. So the question, what is the strategy here? Maria.

CARDONA: It does make your brain hurt and it's only May. But the strategy here is clearly that each campaign is trying to get a surrogate on the other side to be one of the people who approve what they are doing.

But the problem here for Romney is that Bill Clinton is actually campaigning for Obama and supporting Obama. So I think that falls a little flat when you see that the President he is invoking is actually supporting President Obama.

And what Obama is saying about Reagan is actually true. Reagan raised taxes 11 times. He put amnesty. So yes, he would be a raging liberal in today's Republican Party.

COSTELLO: Lenny.

MCALLISTER: Well, the difference is, number one, if we did a seance and was able to bring back Ronald Reagan, I think we would be all a little scared. But more importantly this is the power of having somebody that can work with both sides of the aisle and get movement done in Washington.

Senator Obama said that he would change the tone in Washington, bring both sides together and get results. He has not done that. He has been one of the most hyperpartisan presidents in the history of America.

Whereas President Romney can come in and do what Reagan and Clinton did, bring about prosperity, work with both sides and get movement with this economy unlike President Obama did over the last four years.

COSTELLO: Ok. To your buzzer beater now, 20 seconds. Joe Biden, not quite Obama's Joe the Plumber, but close. Cue Jimmy Fallon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, TALK SHOW HOST: The spokesperson for President Obama's campaign says that a new Republican attack ad is quote, "BS". Then Biden says, "I hate when you spell out words I can't understand you. Then an aide said I think it is time for somebody to go to b-e- d. I don't want to go to sleep. Joe? Put on your footie pajamas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So the question, Biden is lovable to some and kind of goofy to others but can he capture those Reagan Democrats who just don't get Obama? Maria.

CARDONA: Absolutely, he can, Carol. And look, the administration knew going into this that Biden has a tendency to speak off the cuff. But actually they think that is good. It makes him credible. It makes him real. It makes him passionate. All things that Romney is not.

And he is able to appeal to those kinds of voters. They won enough of them in '08 for President Obama to win the presidency. And I think that he's going to be able to pull it off again.

COSTELLO: Lenny.

MCALLISTER: They didn't win those votes in 2008. The McCain/Palin ticket lost those votes.

Cardona: Enough of them -- I said enough of them.

MCALLISTER: They lost those tickets. They're not going to be able to win those votes. If he gets a safe VP choice on the Romney ticket, it's going to be Vice President Biden providing pitfalls for Obama to fall into in addition to his own record full of holes. They're going to have to explain throughout this election cycle. They'll have a hard time doing it.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks for playing today both of you, Maria and Lenny.

MCALLISTER: Thank you, ladies. God bless.

COSTELLO: Van Halen abruptly postpones more than 30 concert dates. What? Now fans are worried something's wrong?

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COSTELLO: Van Halen postpones 31 concerts with absolutely no explanation. Now fans are wondering why and hoping the shows won't be canceled permanently. A.J. Hammer, host of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT", any clue as to why they did this?

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST: It's a great mystery and it was really abrupt announcement yesterday when Van Halen postponed these concerts. No explanation was given. There was no word on when the appearances might be made up, if at all.

And what's interesting is they are still scheduled to perform more than a dozen shows through end of June including a concert tomorrow night in St. Paul Minnesota. And I should point out that tickets are still available for that show and every concert that is still scheduled on the tour.

Van Halen, of course, got together a long time ago -- all the way back in 1974. They have had a turbulent history that is legendary. But this tour had fans particularly excited because original lead singer David Lee Roth is back with the band.

Now, Roth of course, left the band in '85 after big falling out with guitarist and founder Eddie Van Halen. He was replaced by Sammy Hagar. Hagar was with the band until 1996.

But bands are not concerned and I think rightfully so. Maybe there is some sort of a health issue at play here. But since the band is not offering any information, Carol, for now, we're just going to have to wait and see what caused this and if we get any more information.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Ok. Let's talk about another rock legend. Mick Jagger who rarely cancels concerts. But we're not talking concerts here.

We're talking something else.

HAMMER: Yes. "Saturday Night Live" is bringing his magic back to the show this weekend. He's appeared on the show five times. But this his very first time hosting the show. I can't wait for this. He hasn't just appeared as a musical guest. He has been in some funny sketches in the past on the show. They are highlighting the skills in what I think are some pretty magical promos. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MICK JAGGER, SINGER: Hi, I'm Mick Jagger. Watch me on the season finale of SNL.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish I was rock and roll like you.

JAGGER: You can be with magic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Righteous.

JAGGER: That is terrible. What a waste of magic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: I get a little -- he is actually a very, very funny guy; very affable guy obviously. And he's still rocking. Can't wait to see him, I think it is a perfect way Carol to wind down this season of SNL.

COSTELLO: I think you're right about that. Thanks for sharing. We needed to laugh.

A.J. Hammer, thank you. Want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world? A.J. has it tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" at 11:00 Eastern on HLN..

Some say it will turn the sun into a giant ring of fire. Meteorologist Ron Marciano will be here of this Sunday's solar eclipse.

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COSTELLO: Now to someone who is making their mark. 77-year-old Rankin Paynter bought nearly everything from a Kentucky K-Mart that was going out of business and then -- what do you think he did -- he gave everything away to charity. Paynter says he was poor as a child. So he just wants to help people out whenever he can.

He says he hopes he'll inspire more people to give back. A humble man.

If you don't catch it this weekend, you won't see it for another ten years. I'm talking about the solar eclipse. And for people in one part of the country, it promises to be a spectacular show this Sunday. Rob Marciano is here to tell us where we can see it.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: This one is special, ok, because it's an annular co-question meaning -- remember how the moon was so close to us two weeks ago? When we saw this big moon?

COSTELLO: The super moon?

MARCIANO: Yes. Well, now it's a little further away from us. So because it doesn't cover up the entire sun so you see a bit of a ring of fire around the sun when you look at it. You won't see another one of those for at least 10 if not 20 years. We'll see a total eclipse in four or five years. Anyway, it's really rare. If you are able to see it, you should take advantage of it. Maybe get in a plane and head out west as well.

Let's take the weather. We'll run down exactly where you -- basically anybody who lives east of the Mississippi, you're not going to see it because the sun's going to be down by the time it happens. You are looking at the bottom right hand corner of you screen. West Texas, that's Lubbock; that's one of the spots that will begin to see it as the sun is setting at 7:30 in the evening on Sunday. This is all Sunday. Albuquerque starts at about 6:30 local time. Then the sun sets.

A lot of these national parks will be great spots to see it. Make sure you have a fairly flat western horizon. Reno is a great spot and Redding, California actually a great spot as well. If you happen to be on boat, south of the Aleutian Islands.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MARCIANO: Or Japan, also a great spot.

COSTELLO: Seriously I guess in the Grand Canyon, you will be able to see it see it like it will be a spectacular sight. Wouldn't it be cool --

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MARCIANO: Well, you better see it up on the rim than down below.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Although if you were lying down at the bottom looking up at the sky.

MARCIANO: But all national parks are doing a lot of these weekend to highlight (inaudible) so get out of there and enjoy.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob.

MARCIANO: Have a good weekend.

COSTELLO: In today's "Daily Dose", the new study in the medical journal Lanford challenges what we thought about good cholesterol. Investigators found no evidence that good cholesterol reduces any risk of heart attack. We have been told just the opposite for years but do not stop monitoring your bad cholesterol just yet. It is still a good way to weigh your risk of a heart attack.

Facebook's IPO goes public today meaning the public can buy stock. We're going to tell you about that when we come back.

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COSTELLO: We asked you to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, "If you could change something about Facebook, what would it be?

This from Mark. "I'm not completely comfortable with security and privacy protection on Facebook.

This from Jamie. "Get a dislike button. If someone dies, and you just want to show that you care but don't want to say liking the status. It just makes you feel a little evil."

This from William, "When you close your Facebook account you actually close it. All information is deleted, gone, cannot be accessed by anyone."

Keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolCNN. And thanks as always for your comments.

For the first time ever a private company is sending an unmanned rocket on a mission to the International Space Station and the CEO of Spacex says it's incredibly risky. CNN's John Zarrella talked to him talks tomorrow's historic event.

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JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The mission is unprecedented. It is for many in the space business, hold your breath and cross your fingers time.

After months of delays, a commercial company's spacecraft is attempting to make history. There is, says Spacex CEO Elon Musk, both excitement and high anxiety.

ELON MUSK, CEO: We've done everything we possibly can think of to ensure the success of this mission. Despite that, there is still a significant risk.

ZARRELLA: Risk because a handful of nations have ever done this before. And before now, no commercial company has ever attempted it. Once in orbit, the unmanned Spacex Dragon capsule will head for a rendezvous with the International Space Station.

If all is well after a series of systems checks and maneuvers NASA astronaut Don Pettit will use the station's robotic arm to reach out, grab hold of dragon and berth it to the station.

MUSK: It's been a very heard technology to dev. It is hard technology to develop. Of course, we need to prove that we have done it correctly. I think there is a good chance that we don't quite succeed on the first time, but I'm confident we will succeed, if it's not the first, it will be the second or third.

ZARRELLA: There is, quite literally, a lot riding on this.

With limited dollars, NASA decided to retire the shuttle, develop a new rocket to take humans on deep space missions say to Mars and turnover to commercial companies the job of ferrying cargo and eventually astronauts to the station.

Several companies are developing vehicles for the job. Spacex is the first ready to try.

MUSK: So it can actually carry the same number of people as the space shuttle.

ZARRELLA: Last year, Musk showed off his dragon spacecraft that successfully orbited the earth, a precursor to the upcoming mission. Musk, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal has no illusions when it comes to rocket science..

MUSK: When I started Spacex, it's not as though I thought rockets were easy. I mean I did think they were very hard. But I would say it ended up being even harder than that.

ZARRELLA: just exactly how hard will be answered very soon. John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

COSTELLO: Amazing. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me this morning. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Fredricka Whitfield.