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Biden to Crash Republican Party; West Nile Outbreak Continues;
Aired August 22, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And hour two. Here we are. I'm Brooke Baldwin live in New York.
The West Nile outbreak has just become one of the largest in U.S. history. The virus now detected in 47 states this year, more than 1,000 cases. And the government says that number not might rise, will rise. We will break down exactly how bad it's gotten here in just a moment and what you can do to protect yourself, but, first, politics.
Have you heard about this yet the ? Guess who will be in Tampa next week as the Republicans launch their convention?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Any of you going to be in Florida? Well, I'm the speaker at the convention. I'm going to come down there. It's good to see you, guys. Thanks for covering it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Don't expect the Republicans to exactly roll out the red carpet for Vice President Joe Biden.
His announcement yesterday surprised a lot of folks. You just don't show up like that, show up in place where many, many Republicans are, not exactly your party. That is the following week in Charlotte. And certainly no doubt you have seen Mitt Romney, the campaign ads accusing President Obama of changing welfare rules by dropping a work requirement.
Those ads might play well in Peoria, let's say, but are they true?
Tom Foreman checks the facts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Join me as I sign the welfare reform bill.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welfare reform was a big bipartisan success story in the mid-1990s. Signed by Bill Clinton, it fulfilled promises by the Democratic president and the Republican Congress to push welfare recipients to work in exchange for their benefits, to end welfare as we know it.
So the idea of another Democratic president, Barack Obama, taking the work requirement off of the table is political dynamite, right?
NARRATOR: On July 12, President Obama quietly ended the work requirement, gutting welfare reform. One of the most respected newspapers in America called it nuts.
FOREMAN: The problem is, President Obama calls this claim nuts.
OBAMA: Every single person here who's looked at it says it's patently false.
FOREMAN (on camera): So where did this come from, this notion of a giant change in welfare rules? Oddly enough, it did not originate here in Washington, but rather out in the country.
(voice-over): Several states, including some with Republican governors, asked the federal government for more flexibility in how they hand out welfare dollars. Specifically, they want to spend less time on federal paperwork and more time experimenting with what they hope will be better ways of getting people connected to jobs. So the administration has granted waivers from some of the existing rules.
OBAMA: Giving them, those states, some flexibility in how they manage their welfare rolls as long as it produced 20 percent increases in the number of people who are getting work.
FOREMAN: That might, in a small way, change precisely how work is calculated. But the essential goal of pushing welfare recipients to work remains in place. That's pretty much it.
This is clearly not an effort by the president to kill off the welfare work requirement. That's why even some Republicans have backed away. Governor Romney's claim doesn't work. We rate it false.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Forget about the election. There's another warning today that unless Congress gets moving, we are all going to end up a little like this. Come on. A little "Thelma & Louise" for you on a Wednesday afternoon.
I know. I know. We're not talking about movies. We're talking about reality. We're talking about this fiscal cliff we have been hearing so much about. Today's warning comes from just facts, no politics, number crunchers at the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office. And according to the projections there from the CBO released today, we are looking at another recession and unemployment topping the 9 percent mark next year unless -- this is a big italicized bold unless -- Congress puts the brakes on massive tax hikes and spending cuts that start taking effect in January.
Jill Schlesinger is joining me. Good to see you. Nice to meet you in person, editor at large CBS MoneyWatch.com.
Let's just begin. We have had this conversation and we have also heard this from the CBO as well, the big warning about the fiscal cliff and the recession. What is new in today's warning?
JILL SCHLESINGER, CBS MONEYWATCH.COM: It's just the official blessing of what we do all know.
When you think about it, if the government stops spending a lot of money and at the same time taxes go up for all Americans, that can't be good for the economy. And as a result, it will mean we are shrinking after growing. I know we haven't been growing by that much. We're only averaging about 1.7 percent growth in the first half of the year.
BALDWIN: Very slow recovery.
SCHLESINGER: Really slow recovery. Half the level what we see in post-World War II recoveries.
But that said, just those cuts and tax impact would push us into recession. And I know we don't like slow growth but we're going to like recession a lot less.
BALDWIN: I want to talk about the what-ifs if and when the fiscal cliff goes away and hopefully some good news as far as the economy goes.
But I was talking to Alison Kosik and she was reporting some new numbers when it comes to the housing market. CNN Money was reporting July home sales up 2.3 percent, which makes me think that is some good news. Perhaps we're shifting psychologically. Why is that and have we already hit the bottom?
SCHLESINGER: I think we're in a bottoming process.
It absolutely depends on where you are. It is location, location, location again, but here is what we know. From 2000 to 2006 home prices doubled. That's not normal. That's a bubble and it crashed in a big way.
Now we're in the recovery process, prices down nationally about 35 percent from the peak. I know these poor people in Las Vegas and Phoenix are saying, oh, no, a lot more than 35 percent here. But we're finally seeing signs of activity in the existing and new home market, low mortgage rates, prices down. People are coming back into the market.
But it will be a slow recovery. I promise you if we go into a recession there will be sort of a brick wall that the housing market hits.
BALDWIN: What about jobs?
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: It's been excruciating so far.
SCHLESINGER: Good news, we have created about 3.8 million jobs since kind of the low point in the job market, the beginning of 2010.
Bad news, we still have five million fewer jobs than we had from before the recession started. We are digging our way out. You know what I really want people to think about? This was not just your run of the mill recession. This was a horrible recession and it was accentuated by this big credit bubble, easy lending, easy borrowing, no finger pointing here, just a lot of bad behavior all around.
BALDWIN: Too easy.
SCHLESINGER: Too easy.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHLESINGER: Too easy. Now, when that exploded an started to melt down that created a situation where we were going to be looking at a long, awful recovery. That mean for jobs, for housing, for the general economy.
You know the one area that actually is doing pretty well?
BALDWIN: What?
SCHLESINGER: How about the stock market?
BALDWIN: Stock market. Hallelujah.
SCHLESINGER: How about that? We have seen stock prices basically double from the bottom. What you can really think about is that, of course, that makes sense because the stock market is a leading indicator.
It portends what will happen in the future. As a result people pile in. Things happen fast. It's a liquid market. In many respects, the stock market is actually at a better place than all other parts of the economy. We're not sure that's going to continue.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: Hopefully a harbinger of things to come.
SCHLESINGER: And these are good glimmers of hope.
BALDWIN: Glimmers of hope, but reality speaking, it's up to Congress to act when it comes to this fiscal cliff. Let's say they do act. Give me the picture of the economy.
SCHLESINGER: Let's say they act. If they were really helping us out, especially those of us who cover this, it would happen well before the holidays.
BALDWIN: Let's be realistic.
SCHLESINGER: That's not happening. Cancel your vacation that last week of December.
BALDWIN: You will be covering it.
SCHLESINGER: Exactly. Here is what we think could happen.
There's a few scenarios. One is they absolutely just kick the can down the road. Do-over, let the next Congress deal with it. We're not touching this. That doesn't do anything for us. What they also could do is they could actually come to some sort of conclusion and they say, look, we're going to make an agreement that some of the cuts go into effect. Some of the tax hikes go into effect, not everything at once, because the fragile recovery could not handle that.
I think that's probably the best-case scenario. People who are hoping for some magical la-la land where they all get together and fix everything at once --
BALDWIN: They're all smoking the la-la because that's not going to happen.
SCHLESINGER: I just don't think that will happen. Just look at where we are.
BALDWIN: We will be talking at the end of the year. I'm sure I will be working and I'm sure you will be as well.
Jill Schlesinger, thank you so much. Pleasure.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: So much for speculation the Obama campaign will keep the vice president under wraps next week. There's now word Joe Biden may be crashing the Tampa RNC party.
As promised, my friend Wolf Blitzer joins me live next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: As we mentioned at the top of the hour, Vice president Joe Biden announced yesterday, guess what, his campaign will take him to Tampa next week just as the Republicans are launching great their big convention.
Wolf Blitzer is in Washington.
Wolf, I just have to ask, you have covered many a convention, many a campaign. Is this something you really do?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I don't remember a time when a sitting vice president actually showed up in the city where the opposition party is holding their presidential convention. I could be wrong on this, but it is pretty extraordinary, at least in my recollection. It's not extraordinary to send Democrats to a Republican Convention to do what they always call their truth squad, to have spokesmen there, whether a chair of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, for example. I wouldn't be surprised if she were to show up or some campaign spokesman, David Axelrod or Robert Gibbs or Stephanie Cutter from the Obama campaign.
But to have a vice president show up in the middle of the Republican Convention, that is pretty extraordinary, I think. I will be curious to see if Paul Ryan for example shows up in Charlotte a week later at the Democratic Convention to do some speaking and try to draw a little attention way from all of the political convention. It is pretty surprising to me.
BALDWIN: If nothing else, this should squelch any speculation that the Obama campaign will try to keep Joe Biden under wraps, especially after his latest case in Virginia of loose lips, i.e., that unchained comment.
BLITZER: Yes. No, Joe Biden is a top, top-notch campaigner for this president. They're not going to keep him in check. He's going to go out there and he will speak.
I haven't seen him do a whole lot of interviews lately, at least national interviews. I'm hoping he will do some pretty soon. But he has been doing a lot of campaigning, obviously. And he's been saying a lot of things. Some of those things he probably wishes he could do a little do-over to remake some of those words, but you can't.
Everything is recorded nowadays. You really can't get away with anything. That's the nature of the beast. People always say some stuff they wish they could do a redo. You and I, Brooke, we're in the same business. We often wish we could redo some of the words we say.
BALDWIN: There are cameras everywhere. You got to watch what you say, watch what you tweet, everything.
But I do want to talk about Republicans. Because yesterday they specifically -- the platform committee approved this plank that calls for constitutional amendment banning abortion, zero exceptions. And I heard the GOP's Mark McKinnon say today these platforms rarely amount to a hill of beans, but this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK MCKINNON, FORMER MEDIA ADVISER TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Changed by this convention and this issue because of the timing. It's attracting focus to the platform itself, the abortion plank on the platform, which is more conservative than it's ever been in the language, the human life amendment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: It sounds like he's saying this is actually case where a platform could actually matter, this plank concerning abortion specifically, a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, no exceptions. It's relevant now.
BLITZER: Because of what happened in Missouri with the Senate candidate, Todd Akin, what he said the other day about legitimate rape, if you will, and then he had some cockamamie biological explanation that a woman who really didn't want to become pregnant as a result of -- quote -- "legitimate rape," she had mechanisms.
Because of all of that, it's an issue. Normally -- and I have covered a lot of conventions -- there are these platforms. The Democrats have their platforms. The Republicans have their platforms. Political nerds like you and me, we look at these platforms, we report about them. Most people don't read these platforms all that carefully.
The paragraph on abortion in the Republican platform this year is very similar if not identical to the way it was in 2008, 2004, 2000. This is the standard Republican platform paragraph opposing abortion, period. They didn't go into exceptions last time or eight years ago. They're not going into exceptions this time, although the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, he is on record now saying he does support exceptions for incest, rape and the life of the mother.
Until now, until he became the vice presidential running mate, Paul Ryan only supported an exception for life of the mother, not for incest or rape, but now he says because he's on the ticket he goes along with the position that Mitt Romney lays out and he will adhere to that.
BALDWIN: Wolf Blitzer, we political nerds will be in Tampa next week. I can't wait to see you, by the way.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: When do you get into town?
BALDWIN: Oh, wow. OK. I get into town Sunday. You going to hang out with me?
BLITZER: I get in on Saturday. But I will be there. I'm looking forward to seeing you at the CNN grill.
BALDWIN: I know. I will be there every day. I will be there every day next week anchoring my show live. I will see you then. Very, very excited to be in Tampa for the RNC. Wolf Blitzer, see you then.
BLITZER: Thanks.
BALDWIN: Meantime, a large spike in the number of cases and deaths from the West Nile virus. Coming up next, we will look at how this epidemic has reached nearly every state in the U.S.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: New numbers released today paint a very grim picture of the latest outbreak of the West Nile virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this year is one of the worst years for the virus ever in the United States. In fact, we have just now learned the state of Arkansas has just now added its first death this year from this disease.
Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has been following this one for us.
So Arkansas added now to the list. It just continues.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.
Most states in this country actually have had a human case of West Nile. If you look at other years, this third week of August, we have had more cases year to date than in any year previous to this.
So, let's take a look at these specific numbers that came out today from the CDC. Last week, they told us 26 deaths from West Nile. Now that number is up to 42. Last week, it was 693 illnesses. And now it's 1,118.
As I said, all states, I'm sorry, nearly all states have had some West Nile in them. However, there are five states that are sort of the hot spot and have had more cases than others -- 75 percent of cases are in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and South Dakota, with Texas being the epicenter of this outbreak.
BALDWIN: With all the numbers, I don't want to be sitting here and ringing some alarmist bell. How frightened should we really be?
COHEN: Exactly.
I want to put this in perspective. Out of all the mosquitoes out there in West Nile areas, maybe about 1 percent of them carry the virus. Most mosquitoes you come into contact with are not West Nile mosquitoes. But even if you do get bit by a West Nile mosquito, 80 percent of us are not going to get sick. We're not even going to know we were bit by a West Nile mosquito. We're fine.
And 20 percent will have mild symptoms, fever, nausea, things like that. You don't even necessarily have to go to the doctor. One in 150 people will have severe symptoms. That can mean paralysis, a coma or even death. And the most at risk are people over the age of 50 -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: I was talking to the mayor of Dallas. He said, yes, ma'am, I'm wearing my deet. Remind all of us what we need to be doing.
COHEN: Right. Deet is the first of the four D's. This is so important, especially if you live in one of those hot spots.
Wear an insect repellent with deet and secondly you want to dress in long sleeves and long pants. At dusk and dawn, be the most careful, because that's when mosquitoes are out. Drain standing water. That little kiddie pool that your kids swam in this weekend, I hope it's not still sitting out. You have got to get rid of that water because mosquitoes love to breed there.
BALDWIN: Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.
COHEN: Thanks.
BALDWIN: Patrolling the deadly and crime-infested Chicago streets. The violence there at an all-time high. We ride along -- CNN rides along with Chicago police and get a firsthand look at what is being done to curb the crime rate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Two 15-year-old boys and a young man whose older brother was murdered just two years ago were shot and killed just yesterday. These are just the latest victims of the gritty street violence that has some Chicago neighborhoods really in a stranglehold.
With about 350 homicides so far this year, the violence is far worse than what it was just a year ago. I want you to watch this.
This is CNN's Ted Rowlands. He rides along with police patrolling the streets of Chicago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a couple places I want to check out.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a Friday night on the streets of Chicago in the Inglewood neighborhood. Joe Patterson and Leo Schmitz have been cops here for 26 years.
LEO SCHMITZ, CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER: You go on these blocks, what you do is you scan everything. When they see that you're a policeman, if they're doing something wrong or got a gun, they start moving away or running.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have shots fired.
ROWLANDS: As we ride along, there's near constant reports of shots fired over the radio.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A person with a gun --
ROWLANDS: A call comes in that gets their attention.
SCHMITZ: Sixty-fourth and Loomis, shots fired. That's one block away from the police station.
ROWLANDS: It's also near a park where, in the morning, there's a community event planned.
SCHMITZ: Someone with a gun there. We know we got people over there setting up.
ROWLANDS: When we arrive, there's no sign of the person with the gun, and there's no time to linger. We leave as quickly as we arrive, because there's another call just a few blocks away.
SCHMITZ: Man with a gun on 6444 Bishop.
ROWLANDS: Several officers are there when we arrive. There's a man in custody and this gun, which was found in the house.
SCHMITZ: They're still working so -- but that's the name of the game. That's how we -- we stop the next shooting.
ROWLANDS: This year, the homicide rate in Chicago is up about 30 percent, which is not what first-year Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy envisioned would happen when he took the job.
GARY MCCARTHY, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: It's playing out not as well as I anticipated. We expected to make much greater gains by this point.
ROWLANDS: Chicago's overall crime rate is actually down 10 percent from last year. And like other cities, the murder problem here is concentrated in a few specific areas.
MCCARTHY: The entire city suffers when violence happens. This idea of "not in my backyard" is not OK. We have to make the entire city safe.
ROWLANDS: McCarthy's plan, which he's confident will work, includes holding gang members in custody, taking back specific street corners where drugs are sold, and using gang information to predict and stop retribution killings. But he says he needs more help from the community.
MCCARTHY: Law enforcement is not going to solve the gang problem in Chicago. Law enforcement is not going to solve the gun problem in Chicago. Law enforcement is not going to fix the educational system or the poverty rate or any of those other things.
SCHMITZ: Yes, you're close to home now. It's starting to get late, boys.
ROWLANDS: One thing we noticed on our ride-along was the amount of children on the streets after dark.
JOE PATTERSON, CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER: You guys are about to go in the house, right?
ROWLANDS: Thirty-four kids have been killed in the violence this year alone, including 7-year-old Heaven Sutton, who was shot in the head while selling candy in her front yard.
SCHMITZ: Juveniles are the ones getting shot. We got to get them home. That's where the parents can help us a lot.
PATTERSON: Quite frankly, we need the parents to step up a little bit more and take ownership, sincerely, of their children and raise them a little bit better.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirteen-year-old --
SCHMITZ: Stay here.
ROWLANDS: At one point, they pull over two men driving a car with illegal tailpipes.
SCHMITZ: You got a license?
ROWLANDS: They approach with caution and get them out. They end up being clean. No gang tattoos. Just two young men out trying to have a good time. The men may feel like they're being harassed. Leo and Joe say it's a part of the job.
SCHMITZ: Overall, we do a good job as a police department. And our numbers, although they might have bubbled up a little bit this year you don't know. By the end of the year, we might have that taken care of.
ROWLANDS: But that's easier said than done. And there's more work to be done in every way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shots were just fired.
ROWLANDS: Ted Rowlands, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Ted, thank you.
Make sure you tune in tonight, 8:00 Eastern, for more of Ted's reporting on "A.C. 360." Tonight, Ted shadows a trauma surgeon at a Chicago area hospital that's seeing a 20 percent increase in gunshot victims this summer alone, again "A.C. 360" tonight 8:00 Eastern only here on CNN.
Syria -- Syria's first lady, in fact, she's a self-proclaimed supporter of human rights. So, what is her reaction to all the violence, all the suffering and slaughter affecting the Syrian people for the last 18 months and counting? Two longtime friends weigh in on her silence.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The latest reports out of Syria say 80 people have died in the war there today alone.
In fact, take a look at this with me. This is just the latest video. It shows, as you can see, massive plumes of smoke, this explosion, people fleeing for their safety in the city of Idlib.
The United Nations humanitarian chief is accusing both sides in Syria of failing to comply with international law to safeguard the civilians.
We have talked at great length about the first lady of Syria, Asma Assad, before, the wife of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Well, it turns out she's not the champion of human rights she once portrayed herself as.
CNN's Ivan Watson tells the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Asma Assad stood smiling by her man as the Syrian president cast his ballot last February in a constitutional referendum held amid a backdrop of escalating violence.
She remains silent about the mounting death toll, even though it wasn't that long ago that the first lady of Syria declared herself a local defender of human rights.
ASMA AL-ASSAD, FIRST LADY OF SYRIA: This is a conflict that has been going on for too long and we have a choice. We can either sit by and we can sit and watch our TV screens and watch atrocities and see some really horrific images or we can get up and do something about it.
WATSON: Asma al-Assad issued that call to action in a 2009 interview with CNN during the three-week Israeli bombardment of Gaza that left more than 1,300 Palestinians dead, a vigorous Israeli response to months of Palestinian rocket attacks.
AL-ASSAD: Nobody is immune from what's happening. We've heard of women, children being killed, medics, journalists. It seems like this -- it affects everyone.
WATSON: The trouble is, for most of the last year and a half, Syrian security forces have been documented committing horrific abuses against Syrian citizens.
This month, CNN recorded Syrian war planes repeatedly bombing Aleppo, Syria's largest city.
CNN witnessed a hospital targeted twice by war planes on the same day.
And, last week, the organization Human Rights Watch documented the aftermath of more Syrian government air strikes against the rebel- held town of Azaz. At least 40 people were killed.
In the Syrian countryside, government artillery routinely pounds towns and villages like Injara, which we visited last month.
We feel defeated by the shelling, this resident told us. These are young children. What have they done to deserve this?
AL-ASSAD: Where is human dignity? Where are the rights of the rights of - the human rights that we all talk about?
WATSON: These were questions Asma al-Assad asked in 2009 when she joined the wife of the prime minister of Turkey, campaigning on behalf of civilians in Gaza, but they are not questions Asma al-Assad asks today after more than 17,000 Syrians have been killed throughout the uprising, much to the surprise of Emine Erdogan, who once considered herself one of Asma al-Assad's friends.
"I personally thought Asma would never accept these events," Erdogan told a Turkish newspaper this month. "I can't believe she's remained silent about all this happening."
Three years ago Asma talked about the responsibilities of being a first lady.
AL-ASSAD: What do you do in the position you hold? Regardless of how senior you are or how influential you, what is it that you are going to be doing?
Now, as a mother and as a human being, as I said, we need to make sure these atrocities stop.
WATSON: Inspiring words that today ring deafeningly hollow.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Ivan, thank you.
A top high school basketball player collapses in court after being sentenced by an Ohio judge. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- reports (INAUDIBLE) that the defendant shall serve a term of two years --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Find out why this young athlete who many thought would be headed to the bright lights, big playing of the NBA, now going to jail. We're "On the Case," next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: This high school basketball star collapses not on the court, but in a courtroom. One of Ohio's most recruited players drops down to his knees when he hears this ruling from a judge. Here it was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The defendant shall serve a term of two years in prison on that count.
As to count three of that case, the robbery, which is also a felony of the second-degree, the court orders the defendant shall serve a term of two years on that count as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: And there he goes, collapsing out of camera's view. This is Tony Farmer.
That judge whose voice you just heard there in Ohio sentenced this 18-year-old to three years after Farmer pleaded guilty to robbery, assault and kidnapping for an incident in April involving the ex-girlfriend.
But interestingly, this twist here, the ex-girlfriend testified on Farmer's behalf.
And an umpire about to work the U.S. Open is not going to make the matches when they start next week. She has been arrested and charged with murder.
Lois Goodman is accused of bludgeoning her husband to death with a coffee cup and, "The New York Times" is reporting, Goodman also stabbed 80-year-old Alan Goodman with pieces, shards from the cup in their California home.
Goodman was arrested in New York wearing her uniform for the U.S. Open.
Defense attorney Joey Jackson, "On the Case" with me and, my goodness, when I heard about a coffee cup, I thought, how the heck?
First, take us back because it was April when her husband dies. She says he fell down the stairs. Police didn't buy that.
JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Husbands beware. What happens is sometimes, Brooke, it takes a bit of time for the physical evidence to come up to speed with what you tell the officers that the evidence is.
So, you say it's a tumble down the stairs. They conduct an investigation. She's an upstanding member of the community. She gets to do what she has to do.
What happens? You further investigate. Now, you find that the blunt trauma is inconsistent with a fall down the stairs and then, when you add shards from the mug which are stuck, stuck, stuck in him, now, you have problem.
She's the person who obviously is under suspicion, was under suspicion. She's in New York. She gets apprehended. An arrest warrant is issued and, now, she's being held accountable and charged with murder.
BALDWIN: I'm just curious to the timing of her arrest. She's in uniform. She's traveling to New York. Why do it then? To make a statement? To make a point?
JACKSON: You know what? It's a crazy scenario.
But, oftentimes, you know police want to go about their business in a very careful way and a very methodical way and so, ultimately, once they figure they had enough probable cause to determine that she was the guilty party, irrespective of where she is or was, they said, let's lodge the warrant (INAUDIBLE) extradition from New York, back to California where she'll face charges.
BALDWIN: So, she's 70?
JACKSON: Yes.
BALDWIN: She's 70. Do prosecutors every take age into consideration when they're prosecuting cases? Do you think they'll say, oh, she's 70. Maybe we'll cut her a better deal.
JACKSON: It happens. I mean, as it relates to murder, it's a little hard to sell, but I think already prosecutors are talking about a million dollars, in terms of asking for bond or bail. Generally, Brooke, in cases like this, you have remand.
What does remand mean? It means there's no bail at all. And, so, on the issue of bail, you see, perhaps, that age is being taken into consideration.
But, in terms of the actual prosecution, it's a life sentence.
BALDWIN: I just have to ask. As a defense attorney, have you ever heard of a coffee cup?
JACKSON: You know, stranger things have happened, Brooke. Coffee cups, knives, shanks, you name it. People come up with some very creative ways, not to mention the pots and pans, so you have to be careful.
BALDWIN: Joey Jackson --
JACKSON: A fine line between love and hate.
BALDWIN: Yikes. Thank you.
JACKSON: My pleasure.
BALDWIN: Good to see you.
JACKSON: Thank you.
BALDWIN: It appears the GOP has suffered another setback on the effort to attract more female voters. How the fallout from this man, Missouri Congressman Todd Akin and his comments about "legitimate rape" could impact the female vote. Erin Burnett joins me live, next.
But, first, elections are just a couple of months away and all the talk of campaign funds and tax returns and money, money, money got us wondering who the richest folks in Congress are.
So, the political news blog, "The Hill," did some digging and we have the list, so take a look at this. Number five with a net worth of just under $86 million is Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner. Number four with a cool $91 million, Colorado Democratic Congressman Jared Polis. And ranking number three on the list, California GOP rep Darrell Issa at $140 million.
There are two others that take the cake here. Who are they? That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Let's pick up where we left off, shall we? Ever wonder who the richest people in Congress are? We certainly did, so, before the break, we laid out the top five for you. Here are five, four and three.
At number two, $198 million, Massachusetts Senator - Democratic Senator, I should add -- John Kerry. And the number one wealthiest member of Congress is -- topping every one, by the way, with at least $90 million is -- for the second year in a row, Texas Republican Congressman Michael McCaul at $290 million.
Staying on politics, talking about a guy we have been talking a bit about. Todd Akin says the mess he's in is the media's fault. To the chagrin of Team Romney, the Republican Senate hopeful says he will indeed stay in that race in Missouri despite the blow up over his statement that, for biological reasons, rape rarely leads to pregnancy.
So, now, take a look at this tweet. He's dropped this tweet. Quote, "I apologized, but the liberal media is trying to make me drop out," end quote.
Actually, his fellow party members are the ones begging Akin to quietly go away. They include these men. You have Mitt Romney. You have Romney's number two, Paul Ryan, and talk radio titan, Rush Limbaugh and another Republican explains why Akin is making the party squirm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK MCKINNON, REPUBLICAN MEDIA STRATEGIST: This is a time when the Republicans were trying to ramp up to the convention. We wanted to have a message of tolerance, diversity, big tent and we wanted to have a focus on economic issues.
So, suddenly, now, we're having the focus drawn back into issues that Republicans really don't want to be talking about, except for somebody like Todd Akin who has, you know, fairly prehistoric notions about some of these social issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Akin is just another blow to the GOP's efforts to draw those women voters. The latest poll from "The New York Times"/CBS News and Quinnipiac University shows President Obama comfortably leading Romney with women in three battleground states, Colorado, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Comfortable leads, 50 percentage, more or less, in each of those categories.
And joining me now, a fellow colleague of mine, Erin Burnett, to talk ladies. Hello, nice to see you.
Let's just first begin with Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, Republican, Tennessee, co-chair of the committee, the platform committee. The news yesterday with regard to abortion, no exceptions.
She voted for that, obviously, as the co-chair, but she's saying, hang on a second. I want to distance myself from that.
ERIN BURNETT, HOST, "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT": Absolutely. It's interesting, you know, and I spoke with her. She's the only woman in the key chairman roles, right? I mean, the platform is split, sort, 50/50, men and women. In terms of leadership, she's it.
So, I said to her, I said, do you support a position like Todd Akin where there would be no exceptions, no abortions in any case. And she said, no, I support exceptions in the case of rape or incest, as do many Republicans.
BALDWIN: Romney, Ryan --
BURNETT: Romney, well, Ryan --
BALDWIN: Well, lately, he's changed his mind.
BURNETT: Lately, he has.
But, you know, 67 percent of Republicans agree with that exception, 75 percent of independents and 59 percent of people who say they're pro-life.
So, obviously, most Americans agree with that point of view, but the words in that platform that she voted for, Brooke? You know, we looked at them, at this right here. This is what they want the amendment to say in the Constitution. "Affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right of life which cannot be infringed."
So, she said to me. She start - tried to dodge it. She said, well, yeah, I voted for that, but what that means is, that's our view is pro-life, but we'll put it to the states.
BALDWIN: But she voted for it.
BURNETT: That's right. We talked to Jeff Toobin. He said, if that amendment were to pass in the Constitution, the states would have no right, whatsoever, to allow for exceptions in the case of rape or incest.
So, there's a real, real fight going on in this party about what it stands for and how women feel. Women do feel differently than men on this issue in leadership. BURNETT: So, your show team, you guys pick up the phone. You call what, all five - call women in the Senate?
BALDWIN: All five Republican female members of the Senate.
BALDWIN: And they say?
BURNETT: OK, this is fascinating. Are you ready?
Lisa Murkowski, Republican from Alaska, she's basically pro- choice, does not want to overturn Roe V. Wade, against partial-birth abortion, but otherwise, pro-choice.
Kay Bailey Hutchison in favor of exceptions for rape, incest or life of the mother.
Susan Collins from Maine, always has been pro-choice, she tells us.
Kelly Ayotte, exceptions in the case of rape or incest.
And Olympia Snowe sent us a statement, "believes that the question of whether to have an abortion is a personal, moral and religious one." Pro-choice.
BALDWIN: What do you think - just a final question, just you and I marinating on this.
I mean, Mitt Romney, obviously, from their perspective, they have to make a dent in President Obama's lead when it comes to female voters in the polling we've seen recently and really what they have left is the convention and the debates.
And with this Akin story sort of muddying the waters, if you will, at the convention, it's the debates. I can't wait to watch to see --
BURNETT: I can't either because you know what? The numbers, Brooke, are incredible. If you look at the "men-versus-women" gender gap, if -- and how tight this is, if Mitt Romney can get that to move one or two percentage points, literally two percentage points, if nothing else moves, gives him the election.
BALDWIN: I cannot wait to watch.
BURNETT: So, the women's vote really, really can make a huge difference.
BALDWIN: And Candy Crowley, moderating.
BURNETT: That's right.
BALDWIN: She'll have some tough questions, I'm sure.
BURNETT: Our pride.
Good to see you.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
And make sure you watch Erin tonight, 7:00 Eastern, only here on CNN.
And because we like space, it is a big day for NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity. We have some cool new pictures and even, oh yes, animation of Curiosity on the Red Planet, making its first parallel parking job, if you will. Taking a spin. That is next with Chad.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Here's a question. Would you toss 80 hamburger patties, just chuck them in the trash? How about throwing 24 boxes of breakfast cereal into the garbage?
A new report says we waste 40 percent of our food here in the U.S. Each American wastes about 20 pounds of food every month.
The report points fingers at waste in all parts of the U.S. food chain from farms to warehouses to your plate and it says 17 percent of food served in restaurants is thrown away. An environmental group did this report.
And, if the situation can't quite get worse for the postal service, wait for this. Now, they have to figure out how to get rid of 700 million stamps featuring Bart and Homer and Marge, the Simpsons.
One billion stamps were printed in honor of the Simpsons' 20th season. The thing is, only a third of these things sold. So that is more than $1 million in printing costs wasted.
This is a big, big day for NASA's Mars rover Curiosity. It's been sitting on the Red Planet for pretty much two weeks now, getting ready to, you know, take it for a spin on the Red Planet.
So, I want to bring in Chad Myers who's been watching this voyage just as closely as I know I have. So, how did the first spin go? You know, testing the old wheels? How far did it go?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We're calling it "Driving Miss Curiosity" instead of "Driving Miss Daisy."
BALDWIN: Chad --
MYERS: It only went 12 feet.
BALDWIN: Yes, 12 feet.
MYERS: But that's a big deal when it takes 14 minutes to send the signal for it to get it and then 17, or 18 - whatever, 14 minutes for it to come back here.
But take a look, Brooke. There are the tracks. There are the wheel tracks. You can actually take it in full-screen if you want and be able to see those tracks a little bit better.
And on the wheels, do you know what the wheels say when they drive, Brooke?
BALDWIN: No. There's an imprint on the wheels?
MYERS: There's an imprint.
BALDWIN: I did not know.
MYERS: It was slightly secretive. No one really knew this was going on. As the wheel drives, obviously, there's some traction and, obviously, the lines --
BALDWIN: Does it say "Chad Myers was here?"
MYERS: Yes, it does. It says "BrookeBCNN - tweet me."
It says "JPL" in Morse code, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Morse code. So, in case someone was looking at Mars they could read "JPL" if they knew Morse code from like, you know, Alpha Centauri or something like that.
BALDWIN: Interesting. There's Morse code on "The Green Monster" at Fenway and now we know that there is Morse code on the tires of the Mars Curiosity rover.
MYERS: Cool pictures.
BALDWIN: I know you mentioned - hey, quickly while I have you, 60 seconds, I know there are like 16 different drivers. How exactly do they drive it?
MYERS: Yeah, actually, they send a bunch of commands to the Curiosity at one time and then Curiosity does all the things itself.
The 16 drivers are all going to be on shifts because this thing doesn't go very fast, doesn't go very far.
You understand you don't want to drive a $2.5 billion vehicle into a giant Martian pothole. You know, you just don't want to lose it right away. It takes a long time --
BALDWIN: Avoid the potholes.
MYERS: It takes a long time for this to go, so the engineers back at JPL sending the signal. The signal goes to that. It says, OK, I'll do that and it does maybe 10 or 15 feet, comes back, says, I made it. Got all the way here. Let's do it again.
And they send another signal the next day or the next day.
BALDWIN: Can't wait until they head toward Mount Sharp.
Chad Myers, thank you.
MYERS: You're welcome.
BALDWIN: We'll keep talking about it, I'm sure.
And that is it for me. I'm Brooke Baldwin here in New York. Hope you wake up with me because I'm going to be up bright and early, 5:00 a.m. on CNN.
In the meantime, here's Wolf. Your "Situation Room" begins now.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Brooke, thanks very much.
