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GOP Looks to Pick up Iowa Senate Seat; NRA Slams Gun Group over Open Carry Demos; Apple Unveils New Apps

Aired June 03, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

From coast-to-coast, politics is taking center stage today as eight states hold primaries on everything from the Governor's Mansion to who will represent those states on Capitol Hill.

And for Republicans two contest are in focus. In Iowa, the party looking to flip that senate seat from blue to red with retirement of long time Senator Tom Harkin. The front runner, Joni Ernst getting support from two factions that are usually at odds -- the Tea Party and the establishment. In Mississippi, a controversy ensnares a Tea Party challenger after photos of his bed ridden wife who suffers from dementia are posted online by a supporter. Let's talk about these primaries.

John Avlon is a CNN political analyst and editor-in-chief of "The Daily Beast" and Larry Sabato is the director for the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Welcome, gentlemen.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Good morning Carol -- thank you.

COSTELLO: Good morning. John, how important are these primaries to the Tea Party?

AVLON: These are -- I mean the Tea Party faced a shutout last round of primaries here and the big fights between the Club for Growth and the Chamber of Commerce, the establishment wing really has been winning in these recent fights but this Mississippi race in particular is high stakes because the Tea Party candidate could unseat potentially, looking tight and could lead to a runoff, a six-term incumbent. And Republicans are privately concerned that if that's the case, it could put even Mississippi in play. So these are high stakes primary today and the Tea Party is looking to land one more knock on the jaw after a rough series of primaries in the past couple of months.

COSTELLO: OK so Larry let's concentrate on Mississippi because it has been a strange race. As I said allegations of Tea Party candidate supporters sneaked into a nursing home to take pictures of 76-year-old Thad Cochran's wife who has dementia. I'm not sure why. But it was all ugly. But it doesn't appear to be fatal for the Tea Party candidate or am I wrong, Larry?

SABATO: Well, right now the polls show that one very close and private sounding suggest that it's very close. If Senator Cochran manages a narrow re-nomination victory, I think we can attribute it to that awful incident involving the blogger and those photos. It turned off even some of Chris McDaniel supporters but don't underestimate how conservative the Mississippi Republican electorate is in this primary this is -- this is going to be a tight race.

COSTELLO: It should be interesting. OK let's switch our focus to Iowa shall we if only to show the pig castrating commercial. Iowa State Senator Joni Ernst is running to replace Senator Tom Harkin, you know, in the general election. And she sort of -- well she did her primary campaign thing up in style. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONI ERNST, IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm Joni Ernst, I grew up castrating hogs on a Iowa farm so when I get to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I don't know. That makes me laugh every time I see it. In addition to that interesting ad, Ernst has support from both the establishment and Tea Party factions. Both Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin campaigned for her. John is she the perfect modern day Republican?

AVLON: I don't know if a pig castrator is a perfect modern day candidate. But she's certainly done a great job of capturing a lot of media and uniting those disparate wings of the party. I mean any candidate who gets the backing of Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin shows real promise.

The Democrat Bruce Braley however is a real player here for Tom Harkin's liberal line of the senate seat. But this is very unique in that these fight -- these factions aren't fighting but actually uniting behind Joni Ernst in Iowa.

COSTELLO: Yes I was just curious what you thought of this candidate Larry because it is intriguing. She has support from both factions of the party -- because you don't hear that very often.

SABATO: Well there's a reason. She's played that campaign very, very well. Look, it is tough for a woman to get elected in Iowa. In fact, Iowa is one of only two states, Carol, never to have elected a woman to either the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. Guess what the other one is? Mississippi -- on the ballot today.

And what -- what Ernst has done that is fascinated me is she has run a tough as nails campaign. It's the first time in American history that hog castration may be the deciding issue in a senate race. But I think it's because she's trying to demonstrate to Iowans and to Republicans in Iowa that she is tough enough to be in the U.S. senate.

COSTELLO: OK. So I'm going to ask you both if you really believe that Republicans will take control of the senate, I mean, is it looking that way you know once these -- I mean is it looking that way, John?

AVLON: Look, I mean this is going to be a tight fight. We are still months out. But when other side can flip a seat particularly in a state like Iowa which is a classic swing state, a third Democrat, a third Republican, third Independent it puts things in play. It is far too early to say this is a fait accompli. This is a tough, tough fight.

Southern Democrats are doing better in the polls than many people expected. But we're still a long way out and there are a bunch of x factors for example the -- the coal EPA carbon emission advancement by the administration yesterday could have real implications in states like West Virginia and Kentucky.

So the Republicans have a real shot at taking the senate and having unified control over Capitol Hill. That's a game changer in the life of Washington. A week is a long time in politics. A couple of months is an eternity.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Larry Sabato and John Avlon, thanks so much for your insight. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM.

The NRA slams some gun right advocates calling their demonstrations downright weird. We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: The National Rifle Association, the NRA, is sending a stern message to gun lovers -- check your weapons at the door. These are just a few pictures of gun rights advocates who in recent weeks have entered popular restaurant chains like Chipotle and Chili's with guns in hand. It's all part of an open carry movement and now the NRA is speaking out. In fact the NRA says it's quote, "downright weird".

So let's bring in Tov Henderson. He's the public relations director for Open Carry Texas, the group behind many of these demonstrations. Good morning Tov.

TOV HENDERSON, PRESIDENT, OPEN CARRY TEXAS: Good morning thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. A lot of people have trouble understanding why your members feel the need to carry military assault rifles into family restaurants. Can you explain?

HENDERSON: Well actually as a group, as Open Carry Texas, we came together with three other major open carry organizations in Texas weeks ago and pro-actively came up with a new solution and a new game plan to achieve open carry legislation in Texas.

So I'm -- I was a little taken aback by the National Rifle Association's response in their statement being that we've already made these changes.

The way I see it is the National Rifle Association is a natural ally with us to work for a common goal of open carry legislation. So to me it seems like we should opening up dialogue and not releasing statements at all and just coming together and figuring out how we can push legislation pass the finish line.

COSTELLO: Well I think that the NRA came out is because so many people are becoming upset because there are people walking into restaurants with guns. I mean in a Jack in the Box what was it -- yes with the Jack in the Box at Ft. Worth, Texas, employees thought they were being robbed and they ran to the back of the store. I mean can you understand why people are upset by people carrying guns into restaurants?

HENDERSON: Well actually the Jack in the Box story was actually incorrect. And there has been -- the truth of that -- what happened that day actually has come out in a different release. There was no employees hiding inside the freezer. Actually Jack in the Box head of security came out and confirmed that in a public statement.

With that being said going back to my original point, how our methods in which we are looking to achieve Open Carry legislation has changed since those events.

COSTELLO: But the NRA just put out a statement yesterday. And I just want to read you part of it. The NRA says "While unlicensed open carry of gun laws is also typically legal in most places, it is a rare sight to see someone sidle up next to you in line for lunch with a 7.62 rifle slung across his chest much less a whole gaggle of folks descending on the same public venue with similar arms. Let's not mince words. Not only is it rare, it's downright weird and certainly not a practical way to normally go about your business while being prepared to defend yourself."

So why would NRA put this out if you changed your rules suddenly?

HENDERSON: I don't know. I mean our statement has been public. It's made the rounds in the media. So the National Rifle Association should be quite aware of our new guidelines, our new -- our new methods for achieving Open Carry legislation. I can speak on behalf of --

COSTELLO: So what is your new method? What is your new method?

HENDERSON: Well I mean what we decided to do is and it really is kind of a mirror of what we've done in the past. Any time we go into a restaurant in the past, it's with the blessing of the manager or the owner of the business. We don't just invite ourselves in. Because we feel as if private property rights or everybody as important as our right to keep and bear arms. I mean it's our inherent right. But we always respect the rights of private property owners. If they don't want our business, we're happy to take our money elsewhere. That's always been the case.

COSTELLO: So before you demonstrate, you're going to go into the restaurant and ask the manager hey is it OK if we bring our guns in your restaurant and that's kind of how it will work?

HENDERSON: Absolutely. That's exactly how it works. And we have to had certain businesses say, I don't think that's something I want in my business and we happily move onto the next business. And we never had an issue with that.

COSTELLO: What about the patrons? Because I must say if I'm eating something in Chipotle and someone sat down next to me with a gun, I would be uncomfortable. I'll just going to be honest with you. I actually would be uncomfortable.

HENDERSON: Well, hey on the simple thing on that is it is already open carry in 44 states and in most states we already have some form of conceal carry as well. So whether people -- so what this is, is actually a cosmetic issue. People are seeing a firearm even though technically around you in your daily lives there are people both armed legally and illegally -- unfortunately illegally.

But there are people already armed. So this is just a matter of a situation where people are seeing the firearm and being concerned.

COSTELLO: But you say it's a cosmetic issue. But if I'm with my child and a group of people come in and I see guns on them, I am nervous. I am so nervous it might hurt your own cause to try to convince people that this is somehow normal.

HENDERSON: Well once again, this goes back to my original point to you. We actually have made these changes so we're kind of talking about something that happened prior versus what's going on today.

COSTELLO: No I'm just talking about patrons. You say you're going to go and ask business owners if it's OK if you know you bring your guns in but still the patrons who are eating in those restaurants probably will feel uncomfortable.

HENDERSON: We no actually that's generally not the case. But with that being said, once again --

COSTELLO: You really think that's not the case?

HENDERSON: No this is something we actually did before. But we have an entirely new method of what we're doing now. So it's a different story today - a different game plan.

COSTELLO: OK I'm just trying to make it clear. You said you're going to go in and ask the manager if it's OK to bring in your guns but you're not going to ask every patron in the restaurant if it's OK if you bring in your gun.

HENDERSON: No, actually I said that was the method we did before. Like I said, we have an entirely new game plan which is we haven't made eating as part of our events. What it's been in the past is it was never about actually going to eat and making it part of what you call a demonstration. What we call a walk.

That was the fact that sometimes these walks were going on for hours and then of course naturally you get hungry. We were just going to eat after these events.

COSTELLO: Got you. So in retrospect, did you think that your group made mistakes?

HENDERSON: I could definitely say along the way we've been learning. I think that goes with any movement or any organization. You're constantly evolving and constantly learning and constantly changing the methods in which your organization works. We're no different. We're doing the same.

COSTELLO: Tov Henderson, thanks for talking with me this morning. I appreciate it.

HENDERSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a former comrade calls Bowe Bergdahl a deserter at best and a traitor at worst. We'll talk to that army veteran next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We saw an opportunity. We were concerned about Sergeant Bergdahl's health. We had the cooperation of the Qataris to execute an exchange and we seized that opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: This morning some fellow soldiers who served with Bowe Bergdahl are speaking out. They say Bergdahl is no hero and instead accuse him of being a deserter.

Former U.S. Army Sgt. Josh Korder served with Bergdahl in Afghanistan and said this. That he's quote, "at best he's a deserter, at worst a traitor." Korder joins me now by phone from New York. Welcome.

Josh, are you there?

JOSH KORDER, SERVED WITH BERGDAHL IN AFGHANISTAN: Hello.

COSTELLO: You are there. You can hear me. This is Carol Costello.

KORDER: I'm sorry. I'm having some trouble hearing you.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, let's try again. You called Bowe Bergdahl a traitor. I just wondered why you said those words.

We lost the connection. We are having technical gremlins this morning. Shall we take a break and come back?

All right. We'll take a break, we'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: Well, after all of the hype, there weren't new iPhones or iPads or futuristic smart watches unveiled at Apple's annual developers' conference. But the tech giant had plenty of big announcements to tell us about including the company's big step into the future and into our homes with a platform called Home Kit. You can apparently tell your smart device that you're going to bed and your home's doors will lock, the lights will dim, the garage door will close or better yet it could start brewing your morning cup of Joe when you wake up in the morning. Awesome -- right.

CNN technology analyst, Brett Larson joins me now with more. Good morning.

BRETT LARSON, CNN TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: Good morning Carol.

COSTELLO: Were you psyched by this?

LARSON: You know I was. I was really -- I think I'm with everyone else here. I was really hoping for a wristband or a new iPhone or some sort of thing. I think, you know, (inaudible) 9000 level control over our homes with Siri should be very interesting.

I can only imagine the myriad of things that could possibly go wrong when you say, you know, I'm going to bed Siri and she says "I'm sorry Brad, I'm afraid I can't do that" for those that remember "2001: Space Odyssey" -- A little nerd humor there.

But, you know, I think the peek they gave us under the hood and all the stuff they're doing now with smart phones is kind of great. I mean Home Kit is a great idea that's been needed for easily a decade. There are all these companies that make these devices that turn our lights on and off, that let our coffee brew, that unlock our doors that open our garage doors. Nice to see one of the larger tech companies sort of take all of that that in and make it all work under the tent, as they like to say.

Google is trying to do that with Nest and with Nest Home Automation Devices, the thermostat control and that fire alarm. That will be some definite competition there.

COSTELLO: OK. So, I want to talk about Apple Health because this was the part that really intrigued me. I like to keep track of how I'm doing. Explain that to us.

LARSON: I actually think this is really the hidden gem in everything they announced last night -- or yesterday afternoon, Apple Health. You know, there is all these devices that keep tabs on our vitals. I wear a heart rate monitor when I go for a ride on my bike. It not only knows where I've gone, it knows how hart my heart was pounding during the entire process.

Unfortunately until now that's just lived inside of an app. What they want to do is open all of those apps up to let them talk to one another. You can have your heart rate monitor talk to health kit. You can have your diabetes testing talk to health kit. You could have a blood pressure monitor talk to health kit. Suddenly this smart phone in the hands of the right people really becomes a medical device. I think where this is going to be really great is in elder care and as our parents get older, you can give them these smart phones that are going to be great for communicating but also for keeping tabs on their health and it may actually let you skip those sort of check ins with the doctor because you are constantly being monitored.

COSTELLO: That's awesome. OK, I'm going check in on that. Brett Larson, thank you so much.

LARSON: Thanks Carol.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From tech fanatics who keep their gadgets attached to their hips to the story of a bride who really attached her baby to her wedding gown. People are calling this stunt stupid, embarrassing, ridiculous, disturbing and yes, even cute.

CNN's Jeanne Moos has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here comes the bride.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OMG.

MOOS: Here comes the bride and baby attached to the baby's wedding dress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Horrible. Is it a real baby?

MOOS (on camera): It's a real baby.

(voice-over): Even some of the guests looked like they couldn't believe their eyes as Shona walked down the aisle to become Shona Carter Brooks with her one-month-old baby girl fastened to her wedding train.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't do that to a baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh that's disturbing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it padded? Or was she just going bump, bump?

MOOS: We don't know the details of how baby Aubrey was attached but we do know it caused Internet insults to be showered like rice upon the Tennessee couple. "Why not just tie it to the bumper with some cans and old shoes? Poor kid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's so ridiculous and embarrassing too.

MOOS: OK. Not everyone thought it was outrageous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's cute. MOOS: Another defender posted, "When I was a kid I loved when my friends and I dragged each other around-the-house on the blanket. I'm sure the baby had fun riding on her mom's wedding dress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that a baby?

MOOS (on camera): Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Jesus.

MOOS: That's funny you should say that because that's kind of her reasoning.

(voice-over): The bride wrote on her Facebook page, "We do what we want, when we want, as long as Jesus is on our side. Everything worked out fine. One-month-old was awake and well secured on my train."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She shouldn't be a mother.

MOOS (on camera): How did the baby behave on her trip down the aisle? Only thing we have to go on is a comment from an apparent wedding guest on the bride's Facebook page.

(voice-over): "I thought it was unique, all I wanted to know was how she stayed so calm, LOL."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a stupid idea.

MOOS: The bride didn't respond to CNN's request for comment but she e-mailed Buzzfeed saying everyone entitled to their own opinion, so all I have to say is God bless you.

Could the brouhaha launch baby trains as a wedding trend? Jokesters photoshopped, while others quipped, "No child left behind".

We asked Jerome about the special lady in his life.

(on camera): If she said to you, honey, I want to get married and I want to put my baby on the wedding --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that's not going to happen, not on my watch.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right. There you have it. A quick programming note before I go. On Tuesday, June 17th, CNN's Christiane Amanpour will monitor a live town hall with former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton. That town hall will follow the release of Clinton's new book, "Hard Choices" and she'll take questions from Christiane and from you. No subject is off-limits. Be sure to tune in -- that's Tuesday, June 17th, 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Carol Costello. "@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA" starts now.