Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Book Dishes Dirt on 2012 Presidential Election; Drug Reverses Heroin Overdose; Morsi Trial Postponed; Northern Colorado Holds State Secession Vote; Man Sets Wife on Fire at Gas Pump; BlackBerry CEO Resigns, Company No Longer for Sale; Daycare Costs Could Exceed College Tuition
Aired November 04, 2013 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama says he's really good at killing people. And Clint Eastwood's unscripted performance at the Republican National Convention made Mitt Romney's top adviser vomit.
Those are just two of the revealing nuggets in this new book. It's called "Double Down: Game Change 2012." This is -- basically, it's an insider account of the behind-the-scenes drama that played out for the 2012 presidential race.
And our national political reporter, Peter Hamby, has read the book.
You have a couple of highlights you are going to share with us, Mr. Hamby, and the rest of every one on CNN.com. So, in addition to the president's quote on killing people, you note -- and I'm quoting -- the "White Knight Scenario" where some top Republicans flirted with trying to dump Mitt Romney as their nominee. You highlight what's called the Eastwood car crash, the Jon Huntsman debacle. His campaign got a lot of positive press and then fizzled, as we saw.
And then the Chris Christie moment calling Newt Gingrich a joke. So, where to begin, Peter Hamby? Let's begin with the president. Why did the president say he was good at killing people?
PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the authors of this book, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, have made a cottage industry of getting a lot of really great behind-the-scenes color of these campaigns. This is the sequel to the 2008 book "Game Change."
They go back and find President Obama in late 2011 drawing up a list of the things he's good at. The campaign is trying to figure out what he should run on. And apparently -- and this was in the wake of a drone strike that killed the American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki -- President Obama looked down at this list of people and presented it to his advisers and said: "Huh. It turns out I'm really good at killing people."
This was also in the wake, you remember, of Osama bin Laden being killed, so when this quote sort of leaked over the weekend, a lot of critics of the drone program, a lot of civil liberties folks on Twitter were sort of, you know, interested, intrigued by that quote.
Remember, President Obama has a Nobel Peace Prize, and here he's saying he's really good at killing people, so that was sort of one of the more interesting tidbits that's come out of the book so far, Brooke.
BALDWIN: So that is one tidbit. The other is the empty chair, Clint Eastwood moment at the RNC.
Tell me what happened, according to these, you know, guys. What happened while Clint Eastwood was on the stage, behind the scenes?
HAMBY: Right, well, it's already been reported, you know, the Romney campaign was very scripted at the convention, but they kind of let Clint Eastwood freelance. They let him do what he wanted.
However, backstage, once they kind of saw how bizarre this is, Clint Eastwood sort of doing a performance art act, talking to a chair, the campaign freaked out. They ran to the control room to try to yank him offstage.
Mitt Romney himself thought it was funny at first and then was a little confused. And the book reports than Romney's top adviser, his top media adviser, Stuart Stevens, actually vomited backstage, he was so sort of frustrated and aghast at what was unfolding before them, this total train wreck that threw the convention completely off message and overshadowed Mitt Romney's speech at the convention in Tampa, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Yes, we were there. That was a moment, that's for sure.
Chris Christie, polls show he's clearly cruising toward re-election as New Jersey governor. He's a Republican. This is a very blue state. He supported Romney. He was even considered as his running mate.
What did Christie advise Romney to do when it came to Newt Gingrich.
HAMBY: Yes, there's an interesting scene in here. Remember, Newt Gingrich trounced Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary, when Romney really thought he was going to win that, a few days out, and it kind of threw the Romney campaign, reeling.
Apparently, Chris Christie got on the phone, the book says, with Mitt Romney, and said you've got to kick the blank out of this guy. Newt Gingrich is a joke, and he advised the campaign to just really go after him hard in Florida, which they did.
They might not have needed Chris Christie's advice to do that, but they totally nuked Newt Gingrich in Florida with a bunch of TV ads.
It just is interesting to go behind the scenes here a little bit and hear these two very prominent Republicans talking to each other about someone else, Newt Gingrich, our colleague here at CNN.
BALDWIN: That's right. He is our colleague.
Peter Hamby, thank you.
Speaking of, the former House speaker Newt Gingrich will be on "Piers Morgan Tonight," responding to Christie's apparent insult, so watch that tonight, 9:00 Eastern.
But let's talk politics now more with Donna Brazile and Leslie Sanchez. Donna is a CNN political commentator and a Democratic strategist, and Leslie is a Republican strategist. So, ladies, welcome.
Since we're on Chris Christie, let's begin there. This is a man clearly speaks his mind. Just ask Newt Gingrich as we've just hear. You know, he's a Republican, as we mentioned, in this, you know, blue state of New Jersey. Going after these, you know, voters aggressively.
Donna to you, assuming he wins tomorrow as a Democrat, is he the kind of Republican that maybe makes you a little nervous when you think about 2016?
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I don't think his personal appeal -- he's charismatic, very comfortable in his skin, but he's also anti-union.
You saw over the weekend where he screamed at a teacher. He's anti- gay. He's anti-pro-choice. So I don't know how far and fast he will be able to campaign across the country.
But look, he is someone that speaks his mind. People like that. He's tough on the issues. People like that. So, you know, I give him a 50/50 chance of running in 2016.
But remember the Republican primary, this is not the Republican primary of my grandparents' generation. This is a very difficult Republican party to succeed in.
BALDWIN: I know. Times have changed, as we've been reporting what's been happening within the party, but, Leslie, tell Donna why she's wrong.
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Because people like strong leadership. People like somebody that stands for what they believe in.
He's not going to kowtow to the unions. He stood up to the education unions. He stood up to a lot of other efforts to make New Jersey viable and strong.
He also reached across the aisle, which is what you see a lot of economic conservatives, a lot of moderate Republicans looking for some sort of coalition building to make government run properly.
That's really the platform he's going to be working on. I've managed to do it in my state, that's the appeal of somebody very strong, that strong leadership candidate of a Christie.
BALDWIN: OK, let's continue this hypothetical 2016 conversation with Hillary Clinton, because she picked up this endorsement over the weekend. She's not running, at least not yet. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: But 2016 is Hillary's time. Run, Hillary! Run! If you run, you'll win, and we'll all win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Senator Chuck Schumer, he is already in Iowa. He's endorsing Hillary Clinton for president.
Donna Brazile, is he getting a little ahead of himself there?
BRAZILE: Oh, look, Chuck Schumer has known Hillary Clinton for many, many years. They served together in the United States senate. He was at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa.
I'm sure his support and the support of others, including at least a letter that I heard was leaked from Democratic senators, will give her a great deal of support if she decides to run.
BALDWIN: Leslie Sanchez, does Hillary Clinton make you nervous?
SANCHEZ: I'm excited to see Hillary Clinton jump in the race again. I think that that's going to make for a very dynamic race. She very much has all the toys in her toy box, like she did before.
I think she's going to run like she did in 2008. She has all the resources, all the consultants, all the money, all the candidates. She's the Democratic titan, and many believe she's the inevitable nominee.
And for that reason, I think it was interesting more so that the senator gave a snub to his own governor, Andrew Cuomo, who has been quietly talking about building a 2016 campaign.
So there's internal politics on the left, very much -- and it's going to come down, again, to women voters. The female voter and gender gap is going to be all the talk in 2016.
BALDWIN: Ladies, thank you very much. Leslie Sanchez and donna Brazile, appreciate you today.
Coming up, a new tool in the fight to prevent drug overdoses, a drug that could help stop this epidemic. We'll show you how it works, a real-life scenario caught on video, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: If you have a friend or a loved one who is hooked on heroin, I think you'll want to hear this because it could provide a little peace of mind.
There is a drug out there now that reverses a heroin overdose, and we're about to see how it works. This is the real deal here. You're about to see an overdosing addict brought back from the edge of death.
Here's our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What you're looking at is pretty shocking, a heroin addict overdosing.
Her name is Liz. She's been using drugs since she was 11. Today, she's 29.
Adam Wigglesworth and Louise Vincent were both with her that night in august. They both volunteer with the program in Greensboro, North Carolina, that provides clean needles and other assistance to addicts.
ADAM WIGGLESWORTH, SAVED FRIEND WITH NALOXONE: She seemed to be pretty unresponsive. And we were noticing a blue of the lips, a lack of oxygen. Her breathing had become quite shallow.
LOUISE VINCENT, SAVED FRIEND WITH NALOXONE: Once someone is not breathing and not responding to stimulus, you give them breath, and at that time, I usually administer a shot.
GUPTA: Now watch what happens next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WIGGLESWORTH: We gave her about 60 units of Narcan.
GUPTA (voice-over): Narcan, also known as Naloxone, can reverse an overdose from heroin and other drugs, like oxycodone.
Another sternal rub, another shot of Narcan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go ahead and give her some more Narcan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Giving her the rest.
GUPTA (voice-over): And finally, Liz begins to come to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liz? Are you OK? You went out. We gave you mouth- to-mouth resuscitation. We've given you some Narcan. You overdosed. Can you sit up? All right, come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: When someone takes heroin, the drug locks onto receptors in the brain. It slows the body down. Lock up too many and you stop breathing.
Naloxone can free up the receptors, essentially bringing you back to life.
You might wonder, that video of Liz, is that real? We showed it to four emergency room doctors who said, yes, this is what a recovery with Narcan looks like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ, HEROIN ADDICT REVIVED BY NALOXONE: I can't believe that somebody cared about me enough or, you know, loved me enough to bring me back.
(END VIDEO CLIP) GUPTA: Back to right a life that somehow went wrong.
We met Liz on the day she went to rehab, packing up her things, taking another look at the album of her 19-month-old daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ: I felt so separated and disassociated from my daughter because I felt like, basically like I wasn't good enough to take care of her.
I can't finish school. I can't hold down a job. I can't, you know, do any of this like normal stuff that everyday people have absolutely no problem. Like, it's not a challenge for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Naloxone gave Liz a second chance.
It also gave Linda Wohlen a second chance. She remembers the day she found her son Steve face down in the front yard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA WOHLEN, SAVED SON WITH NALOXONE: My husband ran out and started rescue breathing, and I ran in and got the Narcan.
Right here, he was laying on his back, totally blue.
So the Narcan, as soon as it got into his nostrils, he started to stir and wake up, and came to. Thank God for Narcan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: Narcan, or Naloxone, is distributed as part of Massachusetts Opioid Overdose Prevention Pilot Program.
DR. ALEX WALLEY, MASSACHUSETTS OPIOD OVERDOSE PREVENTION PILOT PROGRAM: Initially, this program was targeted for high-risk injection drug-users. We soon started to hear about parents going to needle exchanges.
GUPTA: Today, the programs distribute the product to addicts, first responders, and Learn To Cope. That's a support group for parents of addicts.
Linda has been going to Learn To Cope meetings for the past nine years.
WHOLEN: Nasal Naloxone, Narcan, the overdose reversal drug, is available at every weekly at all LTC meetings. If you're in this room, you should have Narcan.
GUPTA: Learn To Cope has distributed hundreds of Naloxone kits to its members, who have managed to reverse at least nine overdoses.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Changing of the lips, fingernails, anything like that, also. If you --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's ready to administer, and it will go up one nostril.
WOHLEN: You must, must, must have Narcan if you have an addict. You must, absolutely, because the whole trick of it is to keep them alive until they finally get it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Sanjay Gupta reporting there. How about that?
Coming up, some counties in Colorado not really liking the new liberal initiatives in the state government, so they're thinking they might want to divide the state of Colorado into two separate states. That story is coming up next.
Also, the cost of daycare, parents, can you relate to this one? It eclipses the cost of a college education in parts of our country.
What's a mom and dad to do? We're going to break down the numbers for you right after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: The trial of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was postponed today just about as soon as it got under way here.
Morsi arrived for trial immediately invoking his status as Egypt's first freely elected president. He insists the court has no authority to put him on trial and that's about as far as things got there.
Morsi's co-defendants and supporters in the courtroom shouted at the judge. Others in the crowd shouted at Morsi's supporters. At one point, a scuffle broke out in the courtroom.
After taking not just one but two breaks today, the judge sent word that the trial has been postponed until January 8th.
Is America about to annex its 51st state? Some people in northern Colorado say they are being ignored in the state house and they say they've had enough.
Eleven counties are now pushing the state to split into two, becoming North Colorado.
Ana Cabrera is live in Denver for us. And, Ana Cabrera, tell me about this 51st state initiative.
ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you said, Brooke, it's about forming a new state in the 11 rural counties in northern Colorado. These are communities of farmland, ranchers. There are oil and gas facilities in these communities, and they are upset by what they're calling an urban-based, Denver-centric state legislature.
And they're really angry over some of the last legislative initiatives that have advanced, like new gun control laws. They're talking about the expanded oil and gas regulations, increased energy and renewable energy standards that they say are threatening not only their rural lifestyle, but also the rural livelihood for the folks that live in this area.
And so they have banded together to really have their voices heard. They believe they are being ignored. It's that whole idea of urban versus rural and Republican versus Democrat.
Here in Colorado, it is a Democratic majority in the house, the senate, and we have a Democratic governor.
And they say they have been ignored, they say they've been disrespected and this is their way to send a message that they're not going to accept the status quo, Brooke.
BALDWIN: So they want their voices heard but really, what's the likelihood this will happen?
CABRERA: That's a good question. Really, it's slim to none. It is possible, but extremely unlikely.
We do know nothing's going to happen immediately following tomorrow night's vote. Even if these initiatives actually pass, in these 11 counties, it's a nonbinding secession vote, meaning it's more or less a poll, an opinion poll, again, meant to send a message.
It could become official if, after tomorrow night, the state legislature approved this 51st state idea, and then it would have to go to congressional approval as well. That is very unlikely to happen.
You know, the last time there was a state to break away was West Virginia. That was back in 1863, and technically speaking, the last state to secede was North Carolina back in 1861. We're talking about the Civil War era.
But it does send a strong message.
BALDWIN: OK, Ana Cabrera for us in Denver. Ana, thank you.
You have to see this video here out of north Georgia. This is absolutely terrifying.
So it begins fairly routine, man and woman gassing up this pickup truck of theirs. But, suddenly, look at this. Suddenly, the man flicks a lighter, ignites the fumes, and here's the wife, covered in flames running away because he pulled out the nozzle and sprayed the woman with flaming gasoline.
Here it is again. Identified as the man's wife, she suffered second- and third-degree burns. This husband here faces one count of reckless conduct. Frightening stuff there.
Coming up next, in many states, the cost of childcare is actually higher than the cost of college. Find out by how much.
Plus, BlackBerry's big announcement and big firing could tell us the future of the company.
Stay with me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Couple minutes from the closing bell, I can tell you shares of BlackBerry taking another beating today on Wall Street, the struggling smartphone company announcing today it is no longer for sale.
It also said that the president and CEO, Thorsten Heins, is stepping down. Fairfax Financial, which intended to buy BlackBerry instead will pump $1 billion into the company. Blackberry still plans to lay off about 4,500 workers by the end of the year.
And parents, it costs almost a quarter million dollars to raise a child for 18 years and daycare during those early years is a huge part of that expense.
In fact, some people have been doing the math here and in some parts of the country, the annual cost of infant and child care is more than the college tuition.
CNN's Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. She laughed because she's a mom, and you know it's not cheap.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know. I feel the pain. I really do.
You know what? Ask any parent, especially the working parents, I tell you what, childcare is a huge chunk of their budgets, with daycare costs getting into the tens of thousands of dollars.
But get this, as you said, it can cost more than it costs to send your kid to college. This is coming from a new study from Child Care Aware of America.
And look at this. In 21 states, daycare actually costs more than median rent. Put two kids in daycare, it's more expensive than rent in all 50 states. In 31 -
BALDWIN: Wow.
KOSIK: I know, it's crazy. In 31 states, day care costs more than college at public universities.
How much? Well, it's really going to depend on where you live.
You look at families in the Midwest and South, they pay the least, $15,000 to $17,000 a year for two kids.
In the Northeast and West, they pay $18,000 to $22,000 a year, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Looks like the Northeast, I know, that's where you are, it is not cheap. But they say, listen, I'm not a mom yet, maybe one day, but I don't know. I don't know. I know it's worth it, but why is it so darned expensive, though?
KOSIK: Because the cost of living, Brooke, it really plays a big part in the costs. You know, daycare is cheapest in the South and Midwest because, think about it, pretty much everything else is cheapest there, too, housing, food, utilities, insurance. It also depends on state regulations. Just to give you an example, in Massachusetts, it's required that daycare centers have one teacher for every three infants, so it's more expensive in Massachusetts compared to, let's say, Mississippi, where it's one teacher for every five infants.
So, you know, you see where that dichotomy is. Just the cost of living really affects those daycare costs.
If you want to really check out how it is in your state, go to CNNMoney for more info.
Brooke?
BALDWIN: Alison Kosik, thank you very much.
And before I let you go, I just want to update you on a story we have been following out of Central Connecticut State University.
We can tell you that one person is in custody following reports of a gunman on campus. That is what we have from the school's Twitter account.
No shots were fired that we knew of. The shelter in place has been lifted. Classes are canceled for the rest of the day.
I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me on this Monday.
Let's send things to my colleague, Jake Tapper. "THE LEAD" starts right now.
