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Mitt Romney Announced Paul Ryan as His Running Mate; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Meets with Turkish Leaders and Syrian Opposition Activists; Cyclist Tyler Hamilton Disqualified by IOC; Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Makes Bold Accusations Against the U.S.

Aired August 11, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Mitt Romney and his newly announced running mate aren't wasting time hitting the campaign trail. Just a few hours after introducing Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan as his vice presidential pick, the presumptive Republican ticket is making its case to voters in Virginia.

Romney introduced Paul Ryan this morning as, quote, an intellectual you will leader of the Republican Party and a person who will help lead the country to, quote, "to widespread and shared prosperity," en quote, and then Ryan told his own story and shared his ideals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For the last 14 years I have proudly represented Wisconsin in congress. There -- there I have focused on solving the problems that confront our country, turning ideas into action and action into solutions. I am committed in heart and mind to putting that experience to work in a Romney administration.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: My dad died when with I was young. He was a good and decent man. There are few things he would say that have just always stuck with me. He'd say, son, you're either part of the problem or part of the solution. Well, regrettably, President Obama has become part of the problem and Mitt Romney is the solution.

Every generation of Americans leaves their children better off. That's the American legacy. Sadly, for the first time in our history we are on a path which will undo that legacy. That is why we need new leadership to become part of the solution, new leadership to restore prosperity, economic growth and jobs.

SO, we have a critical choice to make as a nation. We are on an unsustainable path that is robbing America of our freedom and security. It doesn't have to be this way. The commitment Mitt Romney and I make to you is this. We won't duck the tough issues. We will lead.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We won't blame others. We will take responsibility.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: And we won't replace our founding principles. We will re-apply them. That's what we will do. We can turn this thing around. We can. We can turn this thing around, real solutions can be delivered, but it will take leadership and the courage to tell you the truth.

Mitt Romney is this kind of leader. I'm excited for what lies ahead. I am thrilled to be a part of America's comeback team and together we will unite America and get this done! Thank you! Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: So where does congressman Ryan stands on the issues? He's most known for his conservative budget principles.

In July 2009 he proposed the road map for America's future, an economic plan that would end Medicare as we know it and privatize Social Security. At first he got criticism from his own party because Republicans worried it would scare away senior voters.

Former Republican house speaker Newt Gingrich even called it, quote, "right-wing social engineering," end quote. But Ryan has become the darling of tea party supporters. Ryan who is a catholic voted to ban federal health coverage of abortion.

On economic, he's a leading GOP voice on the Obama administration. He voted no on the president's stimulus plan. He took on the White House over the affordable care act and wants to repeal it. On guns he is backed by the NRA. He voted to decrease the gun-buying waiting period from three days to one day. And on privacy, he voted to allow electronic surveillance of Americans without a warrant.

And on defense, he voted to send America to war in Iraq and then voted against ending the war in Afghanistan.

The Obama campaign is also reacting to today's announcement that congressman Paul Ryan has been picked to be his running mate.

CNN's Jessica Yellin is up to White House live for us.

So Jessica, what is the campaign saying about Ryan?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fredricka.

Well first of all, from now on when you hear the word Ryan from people on the Obama team expects them to be using the phrase Romney-Ryan budget. That will be the phrase you will hear from now until November.

In a statement released today, Obama campaign manager Jim Mesina said in par quote, "in naming congressman Paul Ryan Mitt Romney has chosen a leader of the House Republicans who shares his commitment to the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors will somehow deliver a stronger economy."

Bottom line on this, Fredricka, is the Obama campaign believes that the Ryan pick only underscores the narrative that the Obama campaign has been driving for months and that Mitt Romney is trying to drive up, reduce taxes on the wealthy and put more burdens on the middle class. They think there pick only helps their message.

WHITFIELD: And you know, Jessica, our Jim Acosta reported not long ago that vice president Biden actually made a congratulatory phone call to Paul Ryan. At the same time the statement comes out from the Obama campaign, it sounds a little conflicting, is it not?

YELLIN: No. That's typical - I mean, that's not unusual in politics. It's a gracious thing for one opponent to reach out to the other. The vice president's statement said I urged Congressman Ryan to enjoy the day with his family and looked forward to engage him on the clear choice voters face this November.

So in another words, I mean, the recent incident, have a good day today because the vice president will be taking him on, on how his budget affects seniors, women, that trend, students and the middle class starting tomorrow.

WHITFIELD: So clearly, the Obama White House or the re-election campaign will be using this to their advantage and underscoring all of those things as it pertains to the woman vote, the senior vote, the independent vote.

YELLIN: Yes. I would say it's -- they see benefits for them. This is their point of view.

For women because, for example, he's voted to defund planned parenthood and not just seniors obviously because of Medicare, veterans and students because there are cuts to student loan programs and they'll find other constituencies to campaign to and then again, lashing Mitt Romney to all of these other issues.

The other piece of it is this now makes the debate very clearly about these big issues, about entitlement reform, tax reform and the fiscal cliff we're facing instead of silly things like Obama-lony, and Romney-hood. The Romney campaign thinks it helps them.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jessica. And as aside, you have a nice, big, gardening project that looks like is unfolding behind you there.

YELLIN: They've been doing this for more than a year for a while. There's a rehab going on here at the White House.

WHITFIELD: It is particularly pronounced today.

All right, Jessica Yellin. Thanks so much at the White House. Appreciate that.

All right. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are already hard at work. We hit the campaign trail with them next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Mitt Romney and his new running mate are going right to work, launching a four-day bus tour, four battle grounds states. Right now, they're in Virginia, getting ready to hold their third event of the day in rally in the town of Manassas.

CNN's national political correspondent Jim Acosta is with the running mates. He talked to me about the parallels between the two men.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Paul Ryan came out on stage and delivered his speech and then his wife and children joined him by his side along with mitt and Ann Romney.

You saw sort of the present and the future of the Republican Party, and Mitt Romney symbolizing the president and Paul Ryan very much symbolizing the future of his party. And you know, I think that those images are ones that the campaign would like to see out there, you know. And you know, earlier this afternoon I can tell you, Fredricka when we were going up interstate 95, and the Ryan children and the Romney grandchildren were playing together in the Romney bus and they were, you know, learning how to make Mitt Romney's favorite sandwich of peanut butter and honey and they were doing bus suffering, whatever that is, we are told by the campaign.

So, they were having some there. And it's one of those lighter moments that the campaign wants the public to see. They want to see this image that they can put up against what is a very impressive image from a stage crafting standpoint on the president side. The president, his wife and their two beautiful daughters that were obviously very warm stand and very American picture of the presidency.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

ACOSTA: The Ryan-Romney image they're putting out I would say that's equally the case and that's part of what you're seeing today, Fredricka.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Vice president Joe Biden actually calling to congratulate Ryan this morning. Biden says he's looking forward to engaging Ryan in what he's looking forward to engage him in a clear voters face come November.

All right, with the Election Day, less than three months way, some new polls suggesting Romney supported flipping. President Obama's lead is growing. Obama now leads Romney by seven points, 52 to 45 percent, that's according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

Some more bad news for Romney, his unfavorable numbers has gone up six percentage point since last month with registered voters. It's believed some of those troubling numbers may have something to do with those negative ads that have been put out by groups supporting the Obama campaign. But Mitt Romney is solidifying some support. In May, only 47 percent of Romney voters said they were strongly behind him. That has jumped to 56 percent. And as you can see, Obama's numbers have not changed that much at all.

All right, in other news, Hillary Clinton is in turkey, talking about Syria, but we'll tell you who she's meeting with and what's on the table.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: That was a story we are watching today. U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton is in Turkey discussing the deadly violence in Syria. She is meeting with Turkish leaders and Syrian opposition activists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We look for ways to support those on the ground without making the suffering worse. There's a very clear understanding about the need to end this conflict quickly, but not doing it in a way that produces even more deaths, injuries and destruction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So far today, at least 51 people have been killed around the country of Syria.

In Iran, two strong earthquakes jolted the northwestern part of the country and at least 87 people have been killed and 600 injured. The quakes measured 6.4 and 6.3. Rescue teams have been sent to affected areas. Some buildings have been damaged and power and telephone lines are also down.

All right closer to home, a new report blames drivers for a deadly multi-car crash on Florida's interstate 75 back in January, if you recall. Eleven people died and 46 others were injured after heavy fog and smoke played a pretty good role in that collision.

In the report the Florida highway patrol said, quote, "despite the presence of fog/smoke warning signs, some drivers did not take proper precautions and slow their speeds to prepare for reduced visibility," end quote.

Police have since recommended changes that approve training and better communication with the national weather service.

All right, back to the race for presidency, Mitt Romney makes his choice for vice president. How did he come to this decision? We'll hear from the woman in charge of Romney's VP selection committee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney is hitting the campaign trail today with his new running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. They just wrapped up a rally in Ashland, Virginia.

Ryan told voters this is the time for a Romney presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN: We see that hope and change has become attack and blame, but we know better and being here in this great state of Virginia, a state that those of us who are all Americans are in debt to, the cradle of so many of our great founders, one of the best said our rights come from nature and nature's God. They don't come from government. That's the idea of this country.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: We believe in liberty. We believe in freedom and we need to exercise it and each generation has its chance. This is our generation's defining moment. It doesn't matter what generation you come from, this is the most important election in your lifetime. We are at that proverbial fork in the road. And so, what we have here is a man who has met and is right for the moment and that man who is right for this moment to get us on the right path off of the wrong path is the man who is about to be the next president of the United States and that is governor Mitt Romney.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: There are apparently remain a lot of people asking, who is Paul Ryan, except for the Washington political scene, many know a lot about him. Outside of Wisconsin, some say he's little known.

Ryan is from Janesville, a small town between Milwaukee Madison. He is best known for his knowledge of the U.S. budget. He is the Republicans' leader on fiscal matters including developing his controversial road map for America's future which would drastically change the Medicare program and privatize Social Security.

On Capitol Hill Ryan represents Wisconsin's first congressional district, a conservative-leaning swing district that voted for both Republicans and Democrats for president. Now in his seventh term he was first elected in 1998 at the age of 28. He is currently the chairman of the house budget committee and serves on the powerful ways and means committee that writes tax law. He is catholic and opposes abortion. He graduated from Miami University in Ohio which sits in house speaker's John Boehner's congressional district and he is married and his three children.

So why did Mitt Romney choose Paul Ryan and how did he come to this decision?

Our chief political analyst Gloria Borger found out and she spoke exclusively to the woman in charge of the selection committee for Mitt Romney earlier this week and here's their discussion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You've been very involved.

BETH MYERS, ROMNEY ADVISER: Yes.

BORGER: In the vetting and the process of choosing a vice presidential running mate which is very, very important. It's the first chance people get to look at how a president makes decisions.

So what is it about the process of choosing a vice president? What does that tell us about how Mitt Romney makes decisions?

MYERS: Well, that's something I learned working with him as chief of staff at the governor's office for four years that there is a way -- he is very methodical in making his decisions and what he wants is a couple of things. First of all, he wants all of the information and we went about a very thorough process in making sure that we had a lot of information about a broad group. He also doesn't like to rule anything out until he has to. So, you know, the first swathe was brought. We got a good cut of information about a lot of people. He then narrowed it down and we got even more information. We got personal information from each of the potential candidates and at that point again, we had some attorneys look through and go through everybody's record to make sure that there was -- I didn't want to miss anything about them, and then Mitt took these candidate dossiers and he thought about them. He read all of them word for word. I had talked with each of the candidates personally. He's obviously been campaigning with a lot of the folks that he was considering and he read the dossiers and we narrowed it down once again and we did, you know an even more deep-dive on them and then gave him the final product and he's thinking about it now.

BORGER: Does he solicit your advice?

MYERS: He solicits the advice of a small group of his advisors, but then he asks, I think, everybody he meets, you know, what's your thought on this?

BORGER: And he listens?

MYERS: He listens. I mean he asks, you know, sort of people you wouldn't think that he'd ask about it. He talks to, you know, he calls friends from all walks of his life, all across the country wanting to know what they think. He listens to that, but I haven't told him -- I -- I have not shared with him my opinion because I think it's important that I'm the objective --

BORGER: So it's his comfort level with someone.

MYERS: Yes.

BORGER: And his feeling that person's qualified to be president.

MYERS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, obviously, his first qualification is that the person is qualified to be president and perceived to be qualified to be president.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: All right. Gloria Borger joining us, live now from Washington.

So you know, interesting there, you know, Beth Meyers saying Mitt Romney read all of the dossiers, you know front to back, word for word and then they narrowed it down. But then I'm wondering if she's saying that it was Mitt Romney who narrowed it down and said OK, this is going to be my guy or by way of committee did they make --

BORGER: There is no committee. There is no committee. The truth of the matter is if there was a committee it would kind of be Beth Myers, maybe Mitt Romney, maybe Ann Romney. This was really, really closely held.

As Beth Myers said there, I think it's his management style. He goes through and looks at the data. You know, he's a data-driven person, as we all know, looks at all of the data and then solicits advice and then as George Bush famously said, he's the decider.

So I think that's what happened in this case. And I think in the case of Paul Ryan, Fredricka, what he did was he made a bold decision that lots of people didn't expect him to make because, quite honestly, it's risky. It's a very risky discussion because what it does is it crystallizes this campaign, polarizes to a great degree. It makes the competing visions between Obama and Romney that much clearer and while it will galvanize the Republican base, there is a down side here because independent voters, senior citizens, for example, could be -- could be turned off by Paul Ryan and his -- and his budget plan.

WHITFIELD: So you mentioned some pretty powerful words there. He could be risky, you know, it does offer a distinction. So, it really underscore that the selection of the running mate is indeed, probably the most important decision that a man or woman running for president could make.

BORGER: Well, what it does is it just tells you about the person at the top of the ticket more than anything else. And so, in this particular case I think what we can read into it is that the Romney campaign and the candidate himself believed that just saying the economy is bad, the economy is bad, the economy is bad wasn't going to be enough to get him across the finish line, that they need to do something different. Something more proactive to define a vision, and I think what they're doing is they're saying let's take the long view here. Let's look at how we get our fiscal house in order and we look at the bigger problems which are, how do you save Medicare? How do you save Social Security for our children and our grandchildren? And let's have that debate. Yes, they are going to continue to gripe about the slow economic recovery, but I think they want to have something more proactive and positive to run on as an agenda.

WHITFIELD: All right, Gloria Borger. Thanks so much for bringing that to us, a very insightful process in selecting a running mate.

All right, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are all really taking technology fairly seriously in trying to get your vote. Ways the presidential candidates are going more digital next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney announced his pick for vice president today in conventional way. He used a mobile app to name Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate.

CNN Money Laurie Segall is here to tell us more about this.

Good to see you, Laurie. In the 2008 campaign we saw a great use of technology and now we're seeing it's taken a new turn. Tell us more about Mitt Romney's VP app.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Yes. I mean, you say unconventional. It's very unconventional to make a huge announcement like this and do it completely through a Smartphone. But Mitt Romney, about a week and a half ago, said this is how we'll make our vice presidential announcement so download the app. You'll get a push notification. So a lot of people downloaded the app for the notification because you want to be the first to know. They said that you are going to know this before the media.

So what this did is it allowed a lot of people to give their personal information from the Romney campaign. So, when you downloaded that app, you put in a lot of your information, your e-mail, that kind of stuff and that's all very valuable, as you can imagine to the campaign. And it also allows you to follow Mitt Romney to twitter and it allows you to donate to the campaign if you're interested in that and you know be the first to know. That's their selling point.

Now, were you the first to know through the push notification? I think the cat kind got out of the bag a little bit. Sources spoke to the media. People had it on the back and that kind of thing. It didn't exactly work as they had planned, but the idea that they were going to make this announcement completely through a Smartphone app was pretty innovative and showing that they have a commitment to technology.

WHITFIELD: OK. Meantime, Romney not the only one with an app, the Obama campaign recently came out with one, what's similar or different?

SEGALL: Yes. So, Obama came out with one right around the time that Romney came out with one. So, you can both - you can see that they are both really committed to this. But Obama is all about location. It doesn't ask for your location, but it does ask to access your location. And what that means is, you can download the app. You can see where you can go vote in your area. You can see how Obama has -- what he thinks about issues in your community that directly affect you like education and health care. And the major thing that he did is he connected that app to latest campaign so-called dashboard. And what dashboard allows you to do is it essential, you to turn your Smartphone into a political organization tool.

So, I can take my Smartphone out. They have a map of all of the houses in the neighborhood and voter information. I can go knock on those doors and tell them to vote for Obama. Tell them, you know, talk to them about the campaign and what's happening. I can send all of that information back to the Obama campaign.

So it definitely shows the power of location. A little bit creepy that you can see the places around you and voter information. I think they got heat about that, but definitely interesting to collecting data.

WHITFIELD: Is there anything to be, can you look in your crystal ball, will there be game-changing apps in this election?

SEGALL: You know, we started out about six months ago asking people that have been in previous campaigns this very question. And the one thing we came up with and it doesn't sound that sexy, but the one thing everyone kept saying was data. The game changing app will be data. You have facebook information now. You have all of the stuff you collect on the smart phone and that's really going to - how each campaign is able to utilize that data will be the game changing app.

In 2008, Obama hired someone named (INAUDIBLE). He was a former Google guy. He created Google chrome which a lot of us use. He created a personalization platform to the Obama campaign that is essentially, Fredricka, when you went to my BarackObama.com back in 2008, it looked completely different than when I went there. And that is just because they can see if you reacted to different to different colors, different messages and essentially they raised an extra $75 million for the campaign.

So, he is no longer with the campaign and he commercialized that technology. So anyone can use it. And here's the kicker. Now Romney and Obama are using that. So it's really anyone's game. It's how everyone wants to use this data.

WHITFIELD: No longer the future, instead, it is now.

SEGALL: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Laurie Segall. All right, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

SEGALL: Thanks, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: For more on the story, just go to CNNmoney.com/technology.

All right, every Saturday at this time we bring you information on new technology and how it impacts your life. Up America, tea time in London, tips from a local.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello. While in London attending the Olympics with my dad and brother we took in local culture. We met up with our travel expert, Kate Maxwell of jetsetter.com at a trendy tea parlor like no other and we learned about etiquette and the native hot beverage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: Taking in all of these Olympic events is rather exhausting. We've been to the very exciting men's gymnastics and we've taken in the party scene, beach volleyball, and so my brother Lonnie, my dad, 1948 gold medalist Mal Whitfield right here, we decided we need a little break and we'll kick up our heels a little bit. What do you say? Say it's tea time. It's 4:00.

Hey there, Kate. How are you?

KATE MAXWELL, TRAVEL EXPERT, JETSETTER.COM: I'm very well.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you. Kate Maxwell, jetsetter.com. Finally we see each other in person, and we have to come all of the way to London to have tea.

MAXWELL: Hello. I'm Kate. Pleasure to meet you. Mr. Whitfield, pleasure to meet you.

Let me tell you about the history of tea. You think about it being this squint essential English thing. But actually it was not introduced to the country until the 17th century by Charles II married a Portuguese woman. So, it is actually a Portuguese thing. The east India Company in the colonial time made it by popular. And it really became as a social custom in the hid-1800s and there's an interesting story behind this and this was when gas lighting was invented and the English had dinner a bit later in the evening when they could eat when it was dark so they were quite a bit hungry, so they had breakfast and then they have this meal, so, the duchess of (INAUDIBLE) apparently became rather faint in the afternoon. So, she introduced this custom of having tea and snack.

WHITFIELD: A little pick me up.

MAXWELL: A little pick me up. So I mean everything has a story really. The sandwich was named also the fourth earl of sandwich and legend goes that he was playing cards and then e wanted a snack so he asked his butler, his man servant to put a piece of meat between two slices of bread. So he didn't get his hands greasy by picking up meat.

So he could continue to play cards and so that was adopted, the name was adopted, the sandwich was adopted and that was the story behind that and I'm hoping we'll have some sandwiches.

WHITFIELD: Great.

MAXWELL: We actually have a tea menu. My favorite tea is (INAUDIBLE) which a very smoky tea. Earl gray, obviously is the classic British tea. Dodging, you might be familiar with.

So, what are you going to try?

WHITFIELD: OK. You know, my favorite is jasmine pearl. I would like to try something different. I'll go by your recommendation by what you're having.

MAXWELL: Right. So, they have an organic Laksang (ph).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And it did have that kind a smoky flavor, almost like drinking smoked salmon, but it was good. Let me not turn you off. I'll bring you another serving, a British tea time with Kate Maxwell, Sunday 5:00 Eastern time, reasons why holding that pinky up and the positioning of your spoon, and very specific places at the table. Also, we peak another peek at cool tea parlors when in London. It was very fun.

All right. By the way, here's a question for you, why is a nun doing time behind bars? We'll show you how she's actually changing the lives of so many mothers serving time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, one of the worst droughts in the last half century has taken a serious toll on the Mississippi river, as the river level drops, so does barge traffic. Some have already run aground in the shallow water. Others are having to carry lighter loads in order to navigate the river. Both will impact the prices of goods shipped along the Mississippi and that means a lot of things, a great host of things. The river is expected to keep dropping until September.

Officials are still trying to figure out what caused a massive sink hole to open up in a Louisiana bayou. Hundred fifty residents of Assumption parish were forced to evacuate when this sinkhole began to actually grow. They've been told they won't be allowed to return to their homes for at least another month. The sink hole roughly the size of a football field is more than 420 feet deep in one corner.

This week's CNN hero is from New York where more than 10,000 children are growing up with their mothers locked up behind bars. Sister Tessa Fitzgerald is helping thousands of female women behind bars start new lives. Her strategy, love.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SISTER TESA FITZGERALD, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: Across our nation there are thousands of mothers behind bars. I've never met a woman inside that said, gee, I'm going to go out and mess up again.

What's your lesson you learned here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not to ever come back.

FITZGERALD: The depth of her guilt was what she's done to this child is unbelievable and they want to do everything that make it right, but they're always unsure whether it's really going to work.

I'm Sister Tesa Fitzgerald and I happily work with incarcerated mothers to keep their families together and to rebuild their lives. When women come out of prison, they're so vulnerable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have money and I don't have a job and it feels like there's no way out.

FITZGERALD: A home is the part that will make their life possible.

So good to see you. How are you? You're back home.

We give a lot of love and a lot of support around her is a community who has seen growth and change.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trust me; it's going to be all right.

FITZGERALD: Over time, broken bonds have been mended and they can now be wholeness to their life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. It's Kelly from the mentoring program.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was a crack head. I gave birth while I was still incarcerated. I just didn't know how I was going to save my life.

Sister Tesa didn't just save me. She saved my entire family. She made me proud of who I am today.

FITZGERALD: It's everyone's right to live the best life that they can. And when I start seeing that take place in the women that I've worked with and I love.

Very proud of you.

That makes it all worthwhile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Remember, all of our heroes come from your nomination, so if you have someone that you'd like to tell us about, you need to go to CNNheroes.com.

All right, she's legally blind and she's an Olympian and now she's using that drive to help children with visual disabilities live their dreams as well. You'll meet her coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. There was some Olympic drama today but it actually had to do with the 2004 games. The international Olympic committee said today they are stripping U.S. cyclist Tyler Hamilton of the gold medal that he won in the 2004 Athens games. The IOC says it is disqualifying him from his events because he admitted to doping. Hamilton made headlines last year when he accused fellow cyclist Lance Armstrong of doping.

A famous journalist once said if sports don't build character they reveal it. He could have been talking about Marla Runyan. In 2000, she became the first legally blind athlete to compete in the Olympic Games. Well today, she is inspiring young children with visual impairments.

Here is CNN's chief Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta with the human factor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning, Camp Abilities!

DOCTOR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every day at Camp Abilities starts the same way, with care to share.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven more shots on the basketball court last night including three in a row.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did my first back flip on the rings at gymnastics.

GUPTA: All of these children are visually impaired and they've come to Camp Abilities for a one-week developmental sports camp. Their inspiration this year is Marla Runyan, who was diagnosed with Stargardt's disease. It is a form of juvenile onset macular degeneration. She was diagnosed when she was just 9-years-old.

MARLA RUNYAN, DIAGNOSED WITH STARGARDT'S DISEASE AT AGE NINE: We all know, I mean for everybody whether you're sighted or not, you know, physical exercise activities, sports, think about what a role that plays in your life. Running became my choice of sport after I kind of abandoned soccer and had such trouble seeing the ball obviously so I went out and ran high school track.

GUPTA: And boy could Runyan run. After running track and field in high school and college, she turned pro. Eventually becoming the first legally blind athlete to compete in the Olympic Games. Runyan says she was able to reach her full potential by competing against the best athletes in the world and now she is giving these campers their first taste of competitive sports.

RUNYAN: Disabilities to me is all about empowering kids and teaching them what they can do and giving them opportunities that they are not otherwise available to them at public school or after school programs.

GUPTA: And there's lot to choose from. Sports like beat baseball, goal ball. They learn to ride bikes. Practice judo. And, of course, run track.

RUNYAN: When my vision changed, but my desire to be in sports never changed, so I just stuck with it.

GUPTA: Just like the camp's mantra says, "a loss of sight doesn't have to mean a loss of vision."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our motto for camp ability is "believe you can!"

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: On to Venezuela now allegations of an American spy caught there. Why some believe President Hugo Chavez's claims are bogus. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is making bold accusations against the U.S. He says police in his country arrested an American spy. But there is reason to believe Chavez may be blowing smoke.

Brian Todd explains.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From a U.S. antagonist known for his paranoia a provocative claim. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez riles up the crowd at a campaign event says his security forces have captured an American citizen illegally crossing into his country he says from Colombia. And that's not all.

HUGO CHAVEZ, PRESIDENT OF VENEZUELA: His passport that he tried to destroy when he was caught and other things he carried had evidence of entries and departures in the last few years from Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. Also this individual has the appearance of a mercenary. And we are interrogating him.

TODD: Chavez says his captive also tried to destroy a notebook full of coordinates. He described the person as an American citizen of Hispanic origin.

We pressed the Venezuelan embassy in Washington repeatedly for a name, any other information on the person or what they believe he was doing. We got no response.

A U.S. government source tells us, U.S. officials are operating on the assumption that Chavez's forces have someone in custody. The source says U.S. officials have reached out to the Venezuelan government but received no information.

U.S. officials also don't have a name the source says and they view with suspicion Chavez's claim that the person has the appearance of a mercenary.

KEN ROBINSON, ANALYST, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL FORCE OFFICE: You know if you go on Google and you Google Chavez and say Hugo Chavez accuses, you're going to get 5,500,000 hits. He is a serial accuser.

Analyst Ken Robinson is a former U.S. Special Forces officer who conducted operations in Latin America and is familiar with intelligence matters there. He says Chavez could be exaggerating or making this up completely to play to supporters in an election year.

Robinson says it's possible the person if he exists could have been working for an oil company or contractor legitimately serving the situation in Venezuela. But he also says spy operations aren't out of the question.

ROBINSON: The U.S. concern in Venezuela is its sponsorship of terrorist groups. The FARC that live in Colombia use sanctuary of the Venezuelan border to conduct operations and those same individuals have become what we call narco-terrorists.

TODD: Robinson says if the person is a spy or mercenary he is probably a bad one. A good spy wouldn't be carrying an American passport with Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya stamped on it he says and wouldn't be obvious about carrying a notebook with coordinates.

Brian Todd, CNN. Washington.

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