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Young Immigrants Seek Reprieve; No Date For Balancing Budget; Obama Using Anger And Hate; Wildfires Burn in the West; Galaxy Cluster Is Big; Campaigns Hit Iowa in Force; Obama Campaigns with First Lady; War of Words on Campaign Trail; Celebrating Julia Child
Aired August 15, 2012 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux and this hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, immigrants dreaming of becoming American citizens, lining up today outside consulates all over the country. Plus devastating wildfires leave dozens in Washington state without homes. The record temperatures have people sweltering in Arizona. I want to get right to it.
Hundreds of thousands of people who have living in fear for years, well, they feel they don't have to anymore. They are the children of illegal immigrants brought here as kids. And right now, they're lining up outside consulates immigration right centers across the United States. They are applying to stay and work in this country for two years without having to worry about being deported. This is all part of President Obama's new immigration policy that takes effect for the first time today. Rafael Romo reports on who can apply and who cannot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice- over): There are multiple forms to fill and documents to obtain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was scared to get my hopes up.
ROMO: Anna Ramirez and her sister Kuana (ph) are applying for deferred action. The Obama administration policy will allow some undocumented young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children to legally stay here for two years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't have a choice to come here, but I have done nothing bad here.
ROMO: The Ramirez sisters were toddlers when they were brought to this country by their parents. President Obama says suspending deportations for these immigrants is the right thing to do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a temporary stop-gap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: To qualify, applicants must have entered the country before the age of 16, been in the country for at least five years, have a high school diploma or be enrolled in school, and no criminal record. Those who served in the military are also eligible.
(on camera): According to the Migration Policy Institute, nearly 1.8 million young immigrants may be eligible for deferred action under the Obama administration policy, and those who meet the requirements will get a work permit which would also allow them to get a driver's license.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES KUCK, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Nobody is going to get a green card out of this. Nobody's getting any more than a promise that over the next two years, we won't deport you. But it gives kids to hope, and when you give kids hope, you see great benefits in communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO (voice-over): Opponents say the policy rewards those who broke the law and since it's temporary, it doesn't really help anybody.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- executive order of course is the short-term matter, it could be reversed by subsequent presidents.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: However, for the Ramirez sisters, coming out of the shadows means everything.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went to school here. I grew up here. I Know. My whole life I've lived here. So, I don't consider myself a U.S. citizen but I am not.
ROMO: They say they have great pride in their heritage, but cannot imagine going back to the country of their parents.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Rafael Romo is here, he joins us live. So, Rafael, it's an excellent piece there and obviously you talk about the politics of all of this. This is really just a two-year reprieve, so what happens after the two years are up? Are we going the see the same lines and folks have to go through this again and again?
ROMO: Well, it depends on many things, first of all, what happens in November and who is going to win the presidential election? This is an Obama executive order. If he doesn't win reelection, what happens in January? And if he wins reelection, what happens in August of 2014? The reality is that Congress has rejected the Dream Act, which this is sort of a dream act, twice. And so, this is only a temporary fix, and that's the reason why so many of these kids are so nervous. And some of these kids are not even going to apply just yet. They are just going to wait to what's going to happen in the election and then they're going to take their chances. But what they're you and what they told me is that this is the only hope we've had, so we are going to take it.
MALVEAUX: What is this application process like? You talked to these young folks.
ROMO: Right here.
MALVEAUX: Oh, you is the application.
ROMO: Right here.
MALVEAUX: Is it costly as well?
ROMO: Well, $465, but that doesn't include the legal fees. The application itself is six pages, nine pages for instructions. But the reality is that kids have to show that they haven't committed any serious crimes in the United States, that they got here before age 16, that they went to school or are currently enrolled in school, and those who served in the military also qualify.
MALVEAUX: All right. We are going to be following this story and seeing just where it goes, because you are right, executive order, this could all change after next year.
ROMO: Exactly right.
MALVEAUX: OK, thank you, appreciate it.
ROMO: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: I want to take a look at the lines as well outside of the consulate immigration rights centers around the country. And Miguel Marquez who is outside of one of them in L.A. And, Miguel, you talked a bit about the school system, the L.A. School system, maybe more than 200,000 students who would be applying here, a lot of the folks showing up at the center for help here. What is the -- what is the importance of how this is going to impact folks there? And, for example, the school system that's going to be seeing a lot of the students?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I mean, it will impact everything in their lives. After today, if they submit that application today, they will not be -- they would be deported from the country, so until that application is resolved, one way or another. If it's rejected, then they would be deported. I want to show you the line here at Cherla (ph), this is probably the largest immigrant rights organizations in Los Angeles. There's about 500 people in line now. It goes all the way around the corners, an absolute massive line of people waiting to get in here. They started to let people trickle into the center here and they're starting to process applicants. Many of these people coming here with their documents in hand, high school diplomas, birth certificates, vaccination records, that's maybe the most important piece of documentation that they have, because it proves exactly where they were and when, and it will allow them then to go through the application process -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Miguel, you've been speaking to a lot of people in that line there behind you and you talk a little bit about the fact that some of them are nervous about being there. Explain for us really what the -- what the risks are on both sides of actually standing in that line?
MARQUEZ: Yes, there is a lot of concern about what is going to actually happen here. The nervousness stems from two reasons. One, they are giving over a heck of information about themselves, their lives, their families, and they fear that that information may end up in the hands of the department of homeland security or enforcement agencies that could then use that information against them. They have been promised that that will not happen. Citizenship and immigration services are the ones that are doing all the processing of these applications and they say it will not happen.
The other concern that -- and the bigger concern that they have is that this is a two-year program. What happens after two years? It's not entirely clear. They may extend the program. There may be comprehensive immigration reform in Congress and they may have a whole other answer or they may be going -- go back to just being undocumented and not have legal status and could be deported -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And, Miguel, real quick here. This was a very controversial proposal, certainly everybody was not everybody was on board with this. Are you seeing protesters or folks who are a counter to all of this who are challenging people who are in line here? Or is it pretty much those who are applying?
MARQUEZ: No protesters here. I understand there may be a protest in San Bernardino out east of Los Angeles today, but I haven't heard whether or not it's been big. One thing that just happened here was that the people who are applying just recited the pledge of allegiance and everybody broke into tears here, so there is almost a feeling of celebration at this center today, and trepidation, because it's a brand new world for a lot of the people -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, Miguel. Thank you, appreciate it.
Paul Ryan says he's excited and eager to get into the debate over the budget, but when asked if his proposals would balance the budget, he said he's not sure. Now, Ryan campaigns in Ohio, that is later today, and his first one-on-one interview since he was chosen as Mitt Romney's running mate. He was asked about balancing the budget.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIT HUME, ANCHOR, FOX NEWS: The budget plan that you are now supporting would get to balance when?
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), VICE PRESIDENT CANDIDATE: Well, there are different -- the budget plan that Mitt Romney is supporting gets down to 20 percent of GDP government spending by 2016. That means get the size of government back to where it historically has been. What President Obama has done is he has brought the size of government to as high as it hasn't been since World War II. We want to reduce the size of government so we can have more economic freedom.
HUME: I get that but what about balance?
RYAN: Well, I don't know exactly when it balances, because we haven't -- I don't want to get wonky on you, but we haven't run the numbers on that specific plan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: All right, Jim Acosta, he's joining us from Oxford, Ohio where Ryan is holding a rally later today. And first of all, Jim, let's talk a little bit about that interview with Fox News, because some people take a look at it and they thought, well, you know, this is the budget guy, maybe he should be able to answer that question about when they think they're going to be able balance the budget. How did they feel that they performed? How does the Romney campaign look at that interview?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Mitt Romney has been asked about the differences between his budget, and the budget that was proposed by Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney has said, Suzanne, just recently, that his budget would balance the budget sooner than Paul Ryan's budget. He is starting to draw some distinctions between his plan and what Paul Ryan has proposed while he's been in Congress.
But I have to tell you, Suzanne, this is getting to be a very nasty and negative race between these two campaigns. You just said, a few moments ago, where we are standing right now, Paul Ryan will be out here later today. Mitt Romney does not have any events today, so Ryan will be carrying the campaign's message here in Ohio. But all of this really turned ugly yesterday. As you know, the vice president, Joe Biden, accused Mitt Romney of wanting to put chains on people. And the Romney campaign responded to that, you heard the president refer to the Seamus incident, talking about the dog that Romney strapped to the hood of -- or not to hood, through the roof of his family car when he was a young father.
And then, last night, in Chillicothe, it seemed Romney had had enough. He gave a very fiery speech and basically accused the president of having an angry and desperate presidency and that drew this graphic, or excuse me, this statement from the Obama campaign. We'll throw up the graphic on screen, and the Obama campaign said, governor Romney's comments seem unhinged and strange coming at a time when he's pouring 10s of millions of dollars into negative ads that are demonstrably false. Suzanne, that word, unhinged, was very interesting. It caught a lot reporters by surprise that they would use that kind of language. And then, Romney was asked about that in an interview earlier this morning on CBS. Here is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: I can be much more dramatic, I think. I think unhinged would have to characterize what we've seen from the president's campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now, we should tell you, right now, Suzanne, Joe Biden is wrapping up some remarks that he made in Blacksburg, Virginia, and it seems like the nastiness is continuing. He was saying today that the selection of Paul Ryan for Mitt Romney's running mate is a sign that the Romney campaign is putting away the etch-a-sketch, so the Obama campaign going after that -- in going after the Romney campaign today. And so, we will have to see how Paul Ryan responds when he gets out here later today -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And it's really interesting, Jim, we see this kind of nastiness every four years, saw it in the Obama -- the campaign and the big fight between Hillary Clinton, Obama and McCain and all that. We'll see whether or not we talk about those topics that people really say they care about which is the economy, and, of course, with the addition of Ryan, that is supposed to happen. We'll see if that actually does happen or if it develops into what we've seen over the last 24 hours. Jim, thank you, appreciate it.
Here is what we are working on this hour.
(voice-over): Devastating news for dozens of people. They lost their homes in Washington state's wildfires.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have been here for 25 years. We moved over from Bellevue and it hurts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Also, a discovery in space. NASA says it's found a cluster of galaxies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today, we are going the do breast of chicken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And the queen of cooking, Julia Child would have turned 100 today. We'll take a look at this unusual woman's life. Plus, 10 things you probably didn't know about her.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: It's being described as an explosive, dangerous situation. We are talking about the latest western wildfires. Officials in Washington state say that 28,000 acres have burned. At least 60 homes have now been destroyed. The fires are only 10 percent contained. That has many evacuees wondering just how long it's going to be before they become the next victim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM SEEMEYER, EVACUATED NEIGHBOR: Everybody's house is gone. All my friends, my neighbors, you know, people I care about and we're all either going to have to move, rebuild, hug, shed some tears and start over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Oh, that's heartbreaking. Across the region, 62 wildfires are burning. We're talking about in Idaho, California, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, and Idaho. A 20-year-old firefighter was killed when a tree fell on her. Two others have been injured in Oregon and California.
I want to bring in our Chad Myers to explain why this is so bad. And I understand it really is about all the hot -- hot, hot temperatures.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's hot and there was a drought. Many, many years ago there was a drought. There's not a drought really right now. It's not that bad, Washington/Oregon, even northern California, for the amount of rain that's come down. But the drought of years past has killed so many trees out there. These pine beetles killing these lodge pole pines. There are dead trees standing everywhere in the west from Utah through Idaho and in Montana and all the way into, of course, Washington and Idaho -- Oregon and also into northern California, where these fires are burning right now.
Yes, it's hot. Temperatures are going to be running up towards 100 degrees for the next couple of days, especially down even into southern Oregon and into northern California. Reading is going to be -- was 100 -- I think 112 degrees there yesterday. Can you imagine trying to fight a fire in that?
Here's what I'm talking about where the current drought situation in the fire area is not so bad. The drought has been in the central part of the country. Clearly that's where it just hasn't rained. We've talked about that now for weeks. It has not really spread all the way to the western part of the world, the western part of the United States, where the rain hasn't been perfect, but at least it hasn't been the dreadful drought that's in the middle part of the country.
MALVEAUX: Chad, let's talk a little bit about water for a moment. At a fire in Louisiana, they're actually trying to protect the drinking water.
MYERS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: Tell us how.
MYERS: Yes.
MALVEAUX: What is happening there?
MYERS: Let's go back to last year when the river was -- the Mississippi River, it was 50 feet higher than it is right now. Well, if I just show you this drought area here, it's right in the heart of where the Mississippi comes down from the Ohio and Mississippi, down into Louisiana.
What the problem is now there is that the water is literally sliding down the river and it is not going fast enough to push the salt water back down the river into the ocean. So the Gulf of Mexico is actually coming up the Mississippi River. They're making a sill. They're making a sill right here. And what a sill is, and I'll show it to you in a second, it's literally a bump on top of the ground underneath the water.
This is the (INAUDIBLE) the salt water coming all the way up almost here to where New Orleans is, right up here. So they're going to -- down here, down south of Bell Chase, they are going to make a bump on the bottom of the river to stop the salt water from coming up. You say, what's the bottom mean? What's -- why? Because salt water is heavier than fresh water. The salt is coming up under the fresh water, so they're going to put a bump right there.
And this is what it's going to look like. The water, the salt water, is coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. It's coming here. It's going to hit this bump and it's not going to go any further. The fresh water will continue to flow down river and push all of this salt water down.
We just, literally in the past five minutes, got an issue from Plaquemines Parish saying there is salt in their water right now. About -- somewhere not unhealthy for regular people, but if you're on a very low sodium diet, you should go out and find some bottled water for sure.
MALVEAUX: Yes, they're going to try and get that fixed.
MYERS: Plaquemines Parrish, 23,000, 25,000 people in Plaquemines Parrish. We're not talking about the city of New Orleans, but this is the first step. This might take six weeks to build.
MALVEAUX: Yes, it's going to be a serious problem if they can't get that addressed right away.
MYERS: Yes. Right.
MALVEAUX: Thank you, Chad. Appreciate it.
MYERS: You're welcome.
MALVEAUX: New this hour. NASA is announcing the discovery of a cluster of galaxies. We're going to talk to a famous physicist, Michio Kaku, about it, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: NASA has big news. It is about space. Outer space. Other galaxies and about how we are actually not alone at all in the universe. This -- take a look at this picture here, released today by NASA. It is this purple blob here that astronomers say is a cluster of galaxies. We're not just talking a galaxy, we're talking about a cluster of galaxies. It's the name -- it's named Phoenix Cluster and NASA has had an eye on it for quite some time. I want to talk about it with Michio Kaku. He's a physicist and professor of physics in New York.
Professor Kaku, good to see you again, talk to you again. Always a pleasure.
MICHIO KAKU, PROFESSOR & THEORETICAL PHYSICIST: Hi.
MALVEAUX: Tell us what we're watching. What are we looking at here when we take a look at this Phoenix Cluster?
KAKU: The Phoenix super cluster is the Godzilla of galactic clusters. It's big. It's mean. It is 25 trillion times more massive than our sun. Our galaxy, our Milky Way galaxy would be a midget compared to this gigantic super cluster.
MALVEAUX: What is it made of, this gorilla, this gargantuan galaxy here?
KAKU: Well, our Milky Way galaxy consists of 100 billion stars. However, this galactic cluster is 25 trillion stars. And (INAUDIBLE) manufacturers 700 stars every year. Our galaxy would be quite proud to manufacture maybe one or two stars per year. So you see the enormous size of this super cluster, which existed near the big bang. So this actually is a window on creation. We're able to peer back in time, to have baby pictures. Baby pictures of the infant universe when we had these gigantic super clusters everywhere.
MALVEAUX: What does this tell us about ourselves, our own galaxy and about the universe in general?
KAKU: Well, when you look at the night sky, you see all these stars, right? How does that fit into the Milky Way galaxy? Think of a pizza, a gigantic pizza, and then take a pinpoint -- a pinpoint and put it on the pizza. That pinpoint is every star that you see in the night sky. Everything that you've dreamed of. Everything you've imagined is nothing but a pinpoint in this gigantic pizza. And now think of 100 pizzas -- 100 pizzas scattered all over a football field. And then you begin to realize how big this cluster really is.
MALVEAUX: This is making me a little bit hungry, I must admit here.
How did NASA even get these images? How does -- how did we learn about this? How did we discover these new clusters of galaxies? KAKU: Two ways. First of all, we have a telescope in the South Pole, which give us an unobstructed view of the night sky. And then we have a satellite in outer space, the Chandra X-ray satellite, and we're actually able to detect the radiation emitted from the big bang itself. It's called microwave radiation (ph). And we're actually able to actually detect the remnants of the explosion. Believe it or not, we actually have photographs of the explosion showing ripples on the surface of the explosion, and these ripples eventually became you and me.
MALVEAUX: And, professor, last question here. When you see just the enormity of what you're talking about here in the universe, does it give you pause, does it make you even more confident that there are other life forms out there?
KAKU: Certainly. Realize that we have 100 billion stars just in our own backyard, Milky Way galaxy. But there are 100 billion galaxies that we can see. Do the math. That's 100 billion times 100 billion. That's the number of stars that we can see with our telescopes. So I think we're not alone. We would be arrogant the believe that we're the only game in town when the total number of stars in the universe is 100 billion times 100 billion.
MALVEAUX: Wow. All you got to do is take a look at the numbers and the pictures. I'm with you on that one.
Professor Kaku, a pleasure, as always. Thank you. We hope they're friendly at least. We'll see.
KAKU: OK.
MALVEAUX: Thank you.
President Obama is going to speak to voters in Iowa in just a couple of minutes. We're going to have that live for you.
Plus, it has actually been a nasty war of words in the presidential campaign. Not even Labor Day yet. We're going to see how it compares to some others.
And, don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Head to cnn.com/tv.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: A massive blast rocks the Syrian capital Damascus today. A bomb attached to a diesel truck exploded near a government military complex. Now Free Syria Army rebels have told CNN that they are responsible for that attack.
Police in the western Afghanistan city of Herat says a bomb place on a bicycle exploded, injuring at least 18 people. Five of the victims are said to be in critical condition. The attack comes a day after a series of bombings and other attacks that killed at least 47 Afghans in several cities. In the U.S., a lawsuit on the FBI's surveillance of mosques has been thrown out of court. A Reuters report said that civil liberties group sued the FBI claiming that the agency sent an informant into several mosques in the Los Angeles area to spy on mosque members. But a federal judge dismissed the case, because he said that a trial could end up revealing government secrets.
We are on to of some early reports of a shooting that has taken place in Washington, D.C. We don't have a lot of details on this, but we do know that a security guard has been shot at the office of the Family Research Council on G Street in the capital's Chinatown area. This is a group, the Family Research Council, is a Christian lobbying organization, founded by James Dobson. The FBI does have, we understand, a suspect in custody and the police are investigating all of this. We will bring you more details as soon as we learn more.
Iowa, of course, as we know, a popular political destination. It's a small state. And electoral votes, only has six.
But as John King shows us, it is not stopping the candidates from hitting it with huge force.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We go through 3,000 an hour.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Choices, choices, choices. The Iowa state fair is a test of diet discipline.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a kernel of corn and stick it in a jar.
KING: And in the spirit of state farm fun, showing that Iowa, this time around, is a competitive presidential battleground.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: President Obama stopped by the fair in his three-day Iowa swing. And the Romney campaign showing it for Paul Ryan's solo debut. A different feel from four years ago when the president won Iowa by ten points.
TERRY BRANSTAD, (R), GOVERNOR OF IOWA: We have a battle going on here for the heart and the soul of the people of this state.
KING: Republican governor, Terry Branstad, says the GOP base is fired up and he predicts the president will lose a huge chunk of his 2008 coalition.
BRANSTAD: Obama had a tremendous following here four years ago, but people feel betrayed. They feel like he ran as somebody that would bring people together and he was going to reach across the aisles. He has not done that.
KING: Four years ago, Democrats had a significant voter registration advantage. But now, Republicans have now erased the edge.
Visit an Obama campaign office like this one in Davenport and you see the competition up close.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I count on you to vote by mail?
KING (voice-over): Have you been outhustled here?
DAVID AXELROD, OBAMA CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISOR: We have an organization edge in the state, and we have done a good job of registering new voters. So we are building that back up. But I don't think we will be outhustled on Election Day or in the next 85 days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD ANNOUNCER: Mitt Romney's middle-class tax increase, he pays less, you pay more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING (voice-over): The TV ad war is bruising, $66 million in the last month. The Obama campaign outspent the Romney campaign almost 2:1 in that period. But add in party and super PAC spending and the pro-Romney forces had the edge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD ANNOUNCER: 41 straight months of unemployment over 8 percent, almost four million fewer jobs than President Obama predicted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Iowa is a great test of the Ryan factor. The president's team says his policy views will trump his Midwest roots.
AXELROD: He may hail from Wisconsin but he is a product of the right wing Washington think tanks and that vision is not good for the country.
KING: But Governor Branstad says Ryan helps with the critical Catholic voters and is in tune with the Iowan's biggest worry.
BRANSTAD: The number-one concern here is the budget deficit.
KING: A million people attend the fair so both campaigns are working hard, signing up new voters, new volunteers and leaving the fun to others.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: John King, CNN, Des Moines, Iowa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And you are taking a look at live pictures. That is Dubuque, Iowa, where President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama at the podium. We will dip in and take that live after a quick break.
(SINGING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: First Lady Michelle Obama joining the president on the campaign trail this hour. The president wrapping up a three-day bus tour of Iowa and holding a rally now in Dubuque. The campaign, of course, hoping that the first lady's popularity will help the president. Let's listen in.
(LAUGHTER)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: So after he left we stayed and cut loose and stayed until the fair shut down, and it was a ball. I have to say that we are all very jealous that Barack got to go back to the fair without us last week.
Did you have a fried Twinkie?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Pork chop and beer.
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
MICHELLE OBAMA: He's so pleased with himself.
(LAUGHTER)
BARACK OBAMA: It was tasty.
MICHELLE OBAMA: But in all seriousness though, because of those wonderful memories and so many more, I want to start by saying thank you. Truly, thank you for the kindness, generosity and love that you have shown our family, I mean, throughout this state, consistently.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
MICHELLE OBAMA: Iowa was our very first experience with a national campaign, truly.
(SHOUTING)
MICHELLE OBAMA: And it is because of all of you that Malia and Sasha still think that campaigning is fun.
(LAUGHTER)
They do. Now they never really want to go, but they are like, that was fun.
(LAUGHTER) But more importantly, because of you, Barack and I will always remember what this process can be at its very best. Every election you all remind us what democracy is all about. It is about people getting to know the issues and discussing them with their neighborhoods and getting to know the candidates and the families up- close and personal.
I will never forget the very first visit that I made here back in 2007. I think that it was the very first campaign event I did, so, of course, I was nervous. And it was in the backyard of someone's home. And I have to admit, you know, I really didn't know, you know what it would be like. I hadn't done much campaigning. And back then, people barely even knew who Barack was, and let alone who I was. But the folks in that backyard welcomed me like an old friend. Within minutes, I was so comfortable that I remember kicking off my heels and I was standing barefoot in the grass just talking and laughing and listening to people's stories. And I heard about what was going on in folks' lives and the jobs they were juggling and the businesses they were trying to keep afloat, the kids that they hoped to send to college if they could just find a way to afford.
The more we talked, the more at home I felt because what I learned is that, in all of the stories, I saw my story. You know, I saw Barack's story. And I mean, you all know that story by now. My father worked at the city water plant his entire life and neither of my parents had a college degree. But they saved and sacrificed so that my brother and I could have the education that they only dreamed of. And while -- Whitney Young. Oh, my goodness.
(SHOUTING)
MICHELLE OBAMA: That is my high school.
(LAUGHTER)
Go, Dolphins.
(LAUGHTER)
And pretty much all of our college tuition came from student loans and grants, my dad still had to pay a small portion of that.
MALVEAUX: That is First Lady Michelle Obama in Dubuque, Iowa, before a packed audience, a crowd on the campaign trail, talking about their time in the critical battleground state of Iowa.
More after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The war of words in the presidential race is not just heating up, but boiling over. It shows no sign of letting up. Mitt Romney kept up verbal jabs at the president in an interview this morning. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president's cal pain is about division and hatred and my campaign is about getting America back to work and creating more unity in the country which has been the source of America's vitality and strength.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Things reached a boiling point when Vice President Joe Biden said in a stop in West Virginia at a campaign stop talking about Mitt Romney's plans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He said in the first 100 days he would let the big banks once again write the rules, and unchain Wall Street.
(BOOING)
BIDEN: They are going to put you back in chains.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Well, Romney said today that Biden's comment was beneath the dignity of a presidential campaign. Biden is not backing down. He pointed to earlier comments by Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, about unshackling the economy.
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REP. PAUL RYAN, (R), WISCONSIN & VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now I see this as an opportunity to rebuild what Lincoln called the central ideas of the Republic. We believe a renewed commitment to limited government will unshackle the economy and create millions of new jobs and opportunities for all people of every background to succeed and prosper. Under this approach, the spirit of initiative and not political clout determines who succeeds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: I want to bring in our senior political analyst, David Gergen, who joins us by phone to talk about the tone of the campaign and put it in context.
And, first, David, some people look at this, talking about unshackling and chains, and see something as racially coded language. The vice president tried to explain what he meant by this, and I want you to listen to this first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Here's what Congressman Ryan said, he said, we believe a renewed commitment to limited government will unshackle our economy. The speaker of the House said -- used the word "unshackle" as well referring to the proposals. The last time these guys unshackled the economy, to use their term, they put the middle-class in shackles.
(SHOUTING)
(APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: That is how we got to where we are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: David, if you will, explain to us about this language that they are using, because some people do see it as actually charged, particularly when the vice president was turning to an African-American when he was talking about putting folks back in chains.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Well, Suzanne, listen, Joe Biden has made gaffes along the way and most of them are harmless. A lot of people think well of him and have fun with him, and I don't have problems with most of them. I respect Joe Biden. I think this comment did go way over the line. I am sure he did not mean it, but he needs to walk it back. To say you want to unshackle an economy, that is a purely neutral phrase. It is like liberating the economy or freeing up the economy. That sort of terminology is used all of the time.
It is different qualitatively to go into a state of an old confederacy and go into the audience that is half black America, and say, that my opponents are going to put you back in chains. These are very, very different connotations there. And the vice president knows that. He is a good guy. He should have walked it back and said, look, I got out in front of where I wanted to be. It's not obviously what I intended.
But from Romney's perspective, there has been a series of these things where he has a right to be angry, just as the Democrats and the Obama people have a right to be angry about the long period of time when, you know, they have been accused of things that are just not true like, the birtherism movement --
MALVEAUX: David?
GERGEN: -- and continues to raise its head. But they went after -- you know, people went -- they -- the Obama people have gone after Romney, as I suggested, saying --
MALVEAUX: Yes.
GERGEN: -- he was an ex-felon and he hasn't paid his taxes, and no evidence.
MALVEAUX: Let's put this into context. There is a lot of talk of whether or not the campaign has reached a new low here. And we have seen ugly episodes of politics here over the years. We've seen the Willie Horton ad back in 1988, trying to link Michael Dukakis to a murder after he was let out on furlough. The speculation of Sarah Palin's baby, her child, and the list goes on. Are we getting oversensitive or hyper-intensified because of social media? How does this fall into perspective in what we have seen in years past?
GERGEN: Well, since the early days of the republic that kind of politics has always been a contact sport. It has always been rough and tumble. Andrew Jackson thought that attacks on his wife drove her to her grave, and he has always bitter as a result. And you talk about the Willie Horton ad, when Republicans went after the Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis, or the Democratic ad against Barry Goldwater back in '64, which was another infamous ad, who said that my opponent is going to get us into a nuclear war.
But I think that what is bothering people now is that -- and why this campaign has been so troublesome is that we are in a really critical point for the country. There are big stakes here, and big, big choices to be made.
MALVEAUX: Right.
GERGEN: And the campaigns started to deteriorate weeks ago, and it is sort of continuing to roll downhill. And I think that there was a sense of that with the selection of Ryan, that both sides would get out of that gutter and start to talk about the big choices, and for better or worse, which ever way you want to go.
MALVEAUX: All right. We have to leave it there.
David Gergen, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
GERGEN: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: At least 26 people have died from West Nile virus in the United States, making it the worst season for the disease in years.
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MALVEAUX: Dallas, Texas, under a state of emergency because of the West Nile virus. At least 26 people have died since the outbreak began, 10 of which were in Dallas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there's been almost 700 infections nationwide, the most the agency has ever seen this time of year.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta talked earlier about the symptoms.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: People with a mild illness, it's fever. They can have swollen lymph glands. They sometimes get a characteristic rash that's usually on the chest, back or the stomach, sort of in the trunkal area of the body.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Health officials say there's no vaccine for West Nile virus. The best way to prevent being sick is avoid being bitten, use repellant, wear long sleeves, clean out any standing water that you have in your yard where mosquitoes can breed.
Before she taught America to enjoy French food, TV Chef Julia Child's help the U.S. military develop shark repellant. Today, we're celebrating the 100th anniversary of her birth.
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MALVEAUX: Long before there was the Food Network, Rachel Ray or even Paula Dean, there was Julia Child. Today would have been her 100th birthday. Food lovers all over the world raising a glass to her.
Eatocracy editor, Kat Kinsman, joining us live from New York.
Kat, she was one of my favorites when I was a kid. Just a little girl, I used to watch her. I didn't even cook. I just loved her. Just saying her name. She impacted so many people. All of these chefs, these cooks. Tell us a bit about why she's being celebrated.
KAT KINSMAN, CNN EATOCRACY EDITOR: She's being celebrated because you can't find any chef or food lover worth their salt who wasn't in some way touched by her legacy. Chefs like Danielle Baloud (ph) and Jacques Papan (ph) are talking about her in these reverent terms. I interviewed Emril Lagossy (ph) a few years ago and he worked with her when he was just starting out, he was saying the magic and glory of Julia Child is she was so relatable. She knew what she was doing but wasn't afraid to screw up a bit in front of the camera. If she drops a piece of swordfish on the floor, Helen at home is going to do that, and she handles it with tremendous humor.
MALVEAUX: Is she going to pick it up is the question? She had a very complicated and rich, rich life. Tell me some things we might not know about her. You've got a list, I think.
KINSMAN: What an incredibly strong figure. She started late in life. She didn't even really get into food until she was 38 years old. Before that, she had been work as a spy. She was never out in the field. She had high security clearance and would process high- level documents. She never intended to go into food. She was thinking she was going to be a writer, or perhaps a basketball player, because she was 6'2" and that seemed like a career path. And a lot of people look at her as a role model. Her book came out when she was in her 40s. She didn't go on television until he was in her early 50s. She had just an incredible life and did it with such joy and no snobbery. People, to this day love her.
MALVEAUX: She lived almost just shy of her 92nd birthday. She contributed red meat and gin to her long life. Is that right?
(LAUGHTER)
KINSMAN: There is true. She had to cut back a little bit in her later days. There's a fantastic bio called "Deary" that just came out. They were having to restrict her diet a little bit in her later years. But she could go into the buffet at the end of breakfast and take all of the bacon from the buffet and feed it to her friends at lunchtime. You couldn't stop Julia Child.
MALVEAUX: You said beef bullion (ph). That is the dish we should all be cooking tonight in her honor?
KINSMAN: They should. And they should go to the Smithsonian to see this fantastic display of her kitchen. Look at the images on Eatocracy, captured in video. It's fantastic.
MALVEAUX: Thanks, Kat. Always good to see you.
CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Brooke Baldwin.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Suzanne, thank you so much.
