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Erin Burnett Outfront

Romney Campaign Ready to Spend; Tropical Storm Isaac; Interview with Governor Rick Scott

Aired August 24, 2012 - 19:00   ET

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

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OUTFRONT next, Mitt Romney is staring down a hurricane but it could be President Obama who is headed for very rough seas. We've got new numbers, new money, and a whole new fight.

A deadly shooting at the height of rush hour just outside the Empire State Building, New York police commissioner and an eyewitness OUTFRONT tonight.

And a Dallas woman is dead after she called 911, pleading for her life. Why did it take 50 minutes for police to show up? And why did two days go by before her body was found?

Let's go OUTFRONT.

Good evening. I'm Tom Foreman in for Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, a new storm warning. Forget the hurricane, forget the vice president cruising Tampa looking for a fight, forget everything you know about this election so far because in Florida tonight Mitt Romney's team is preparing to unleash a flood of money that could dramatically change the political landscape. Listen to him today sounding confident in his home state of Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't want four more years of what we have, do you?

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (INAUDIBLE)

ROMNEY: I want to get America on an entirely different track, a track of greatness and strength and vitality and prosperity and I know how to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: With the Republican Convention looming, new polls show the race is still very tight. Take a look. President Obama has a slight overall lead, two-points. That's in the margin of error. He's boosted with a 12-point edge with women, same margin with younger voters, a 29-point lead among big city folks. And he's done it with ads like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, POLITICAL AD: He's made his choice, but what choices will women be left with?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, POLITICAL AD: He supports Paul Ryan's budget which could cut education by 20 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, POLITICAL AD: Now Mitt Romney is attacking the president on Medicare?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: But consider the cost. To get that small overall advantage in the polls, the president and his supporters have had to outspend the Republicans, not just Mitt Romney, but also all those outside groups supporting Romney. Let's compare some of the spending just by the candidates alone in battleground states since April.

In Colorado, the president has spent $8.5 million, Romney, a bit more than four. In Ohio, again, the president has more than doubled Romney's spending, 21.6 million to 9.4 million, Virginia, same thing, 8.4 million to just under four million, Florida, nearly triple, 21.9 million to 8.5 million. All of that has left Mitt Romney with substantially more money in his campaign treasure chest, which over the next few days is kind of complex money there, but look at the bottom line there, cash on hand, 197 million for Mitt Romney there.

As this convention takes off, he's expected to start pouring that money out there. OUTFRONT tonight to talk about the impact of that financial storm, Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen -- glad you're here -- Republican strategist Reihan Salam, and "Politico's" Ken Vogel. Ken, let me start with you. You know Romney supporters have spent an awful lot on his ads, but why has he spent so little compared to the president?

KEN VOGEL, CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, POLITICO: Well because he's been able to rely on these outside groups that thanks to a couple of federal court decisions in 2010, are able to accept unlimited funds from people, corporations, even unions, though we see that more on the left, to air really hard-hitting ads attacking President Obama. And we've seen these groups give Mitt Romney air cover, bombarding the president with negative ads while Mitt Romney sort of sits back and stockpiles funds just waiting for the opportunity which is probably nearing for him to come out with his own advertising campaign.

It's a huge advantage that Democrats have been scrambling to try to offset by dispatching some of their stars to try to get their biggest donors to give money to outside groups set up on the left. But so far they have yet to come off the sidelines in a way that matches what Republicans have done.

FOREMAN: (INAUDIBLE) those Democrats right now, Hilary, let me ask you a question. In all fairness here, I know you're behind the president 100 percent. I know you have decried the influence of all these outside groups out there, but when this much money has been spent for an incumbent president and the polls are still this close and the opponent has this big bankroll waiting to go this has got to make you nervous? HILARY ROSEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It makes me really nervous and I think it makes the Obama campaign nervous. You know, in some respects it's money well spent. In many respects it's money well spent. One place I think gives me extra pause is in Colorado where the numbers are just not moving far enough towards the president than I'd like to see. But what we've -- what Democrats have done in spending that money has been to really define Mitt Romney in a way that has driven up his negatives.

I mean, you know he has much higher negatives in polling than President Obama does. And I think it was important, when you knew that you were going to face an onslaught of, you know, not just 100 million or 200 million, maybe a $500 million difference in advertising in this campaign that you kind of get first out of the box to define the opponent and that was the strategy of the Obama campaign. Define Mitt Romney first knowing that the negative advertising is going to come later and hope that you've built enough of a wall to sustain you.

FOREMAN: That's a big question there, isn't it, Reihan? This question of, is this too much money too fast and now in the homestretch suddenly here comes Mitt Romney and the Republicans chugging out the money. What do you think?

REIHAN SALAM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think Hilary made some great points. I think that that money has been pretty well spent and the Democrats have another big advantage that flows from one of those court decisions that Ken Vogel mentioned before. One of the lesser known provisions of the Citizens United decision is that before labor unions couldn't engage in direct voter contact with folks who did not belong to a labor union.

Now they can get their disciplined cadres out there to knock on doors, whether or not that household is a member of a union or not. And a lot of the ways that Democrats capitalize is by having those disciplined union folks actually getting out the vote in a very direct fashion. And that's something money can't buy. It's very expensive for Republicans to mimic that kind of thing just by hiring folks.

FOREMAN: Let me follow up on that with you, Reihan, because here's the other problem --

(CROSSTALK)

FOREMAN: -- for Mitt Romney it seems to me think about what he said today. He made this crack today that everybody said sounded like a birther comment about the president. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now, I love being home in this place where Ann and I were raised where both of us were born. Ann was born at Henry Ford hospital. I was born at Harper (ph) hospital.

(CHEERING)

ROMNEY: No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: The Obama campaign is already raising money off of this. They're calling it a cheap shot. They're calling it a new low. For all these advantages and money that Mitt Romney may be able to turn here pushing into the home stretch is this stuff hurting him or helping him?

SALAM: One thing that everyone will agree on is that in the final stretch of a campaign earned media counts for a lot. And if President Obama can turn a gaffe of that kind, a joke of that kind into a huge advantage, if the media covers stories about that rather than about unemployment, that's a huge advantage. And I think that the Obama campaign from their 2008 experience, from very bare-knuckle politics knows how to generate earned media very well, so again, money can be neutralized by ginning up stories of this kind and distracting folks.

FOREMAN: Let me jump back to Ken real quick here though. But can money really be neutralized? As a practical matter in almost every race, if you spend more, you win.

VOGEL: Yes, well, there are studies that produce mixed results on that and certainly we've seen self-funders who have put a ton of their own money into campaigns and lost because there is some backlash to it. The Obama campaign is trying to gin up that backlash. They're trying to use -- in the same way that they use that gaffe by Mitt Romney about the birth certificate, they try to use the spending disadvantage that they have with some of these outside groups to encourage their small donors and their ground troops, the folks who Reihan alluded to, whether they're in unions or otherwise, to become energized and become mobilized and try to offset that advantage that Republicans have in outside cash.

In the end, the outside cash is helpful. I should also add that money can, in fact, buy the ground game and that's one thing that the Obama campaign has invested heavily in, putting offices in a lot of these key states. In some places, some key states like Ohio, we see the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party there with four times more staff than the Romney campaign and the Republican Party, so that's an area where Democrats do have an advantage. And it is both a result of money and also having --

FOREMAN: I'm going to have to jump in real quick here. Hey, Hilary, really quick, a very short answer here. In the name of that, good idea, bad idea, sending Joe Biden down to campaign in Tampa while the Republicans meet?

ROSEN: Oh, good idea. You know, just keep them on their toes. I think we have to be in their face every time. And you know who better to do it than somebody with as much heart and energy and passion than Joe Biden --

FOREMAN: He'll say what he thinks, that's for sure. Thank you all for being here --

ROSEN: That's for sure.

FOREMAN: We appreciate it.

OUTFRONT next, new details on the path of Tropical Storm Isaac. Plus, we'll take you live to Haiti, a country which is bracing for the impact from this huge storm. Plus, details of an alarming threat made to a classmate months before -- months before James Holmes allegedly killed 12 people in that movie theater in Colorado. And a Dallas woman calling 911, screaming for help, but when police show up, 50 minutes later, they never even go inside. Two days later, her family finds her dead. The victim's sisters are OUTFRONT ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOREMAN: Our second story OUTFRONT Tropical Storm Isaac on target to hit Haiti tonight, soaking the country with torrential rain and whipping winds up to 60 miles per hour. Haiti no stranger to natural disasters of course already has hundreds of thousands of people still living in tents after that terrible earthquake back in 2010.

OUTFRONT tonight Martin Savidge is in Jacmel (ph), Haiti. Martin thanks for being here. Listen, when you already have a country still struggling as much as Haiti is right now how does that complicate the preparations for a storm like this?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well you know in some ways, it's almost simplified by the fact that most people here have either no money to spend for preparations or they have no place to go. They simply have where they are at and that's where most of them will spend tonight. Right here in Jacmel (ph), on the southern coast, it should be in theory feeling the brunt of the storm already, but it's been playing a nervous waiting game with Isaac just off shore.

It remains to be seen how severe the winds and especially the rains will be and that's the biggest concern, Tom, the rain. Water coming down from Haiti's mountains, rocketing down the mountainsides and flooding into say, Port-au-Prince where the huge tent cities are or into Jacmel (ph), which has a history of flooding. Those are the areas that are under the gun. The hope is right now since most people can't do anything about it is that Isaac will stay far enough away that the rain won't be so bad but it isn't much to pin your hope on -- Tom.

FOREMAN: We'll certainly hope that it does go that way, Martin thanks. Be safe yourself tonight and we'll check back in as the storm progresses.

In Tampa, Florida, site of next week's Republican Convention, they're of course keeping a very close eye on Isaac. OUTFRONT tonight Florida's Republican Governor Rick Scott is with us too. Very different, a lot of resources in Florida. I know from my own experience you have a lot of experience there dealing with storms. How are you getting ready for this one? GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Well, first off, your heart goes out to everybody in Haiti. They're going to get the brunt of this, the first part of it, but I've been leading briefings with the RNC, federal officials, state and local for the last two days, keep everybody informed, so everybody makes good decisions. Right now the storm track is east or west of Tampa, so Tampa will get looks like rain and wind.

But we're going to -- in the Keys we're going to have wind starting Sunday, landfall Sunday night, and then if it follows the track it's on now, we'll hit -- we'll have landfall and wind on Tuesday in the Panhandle. The key is going to be what happens in Cuba. As it goes over the land mass of Cuba, will it dissipate or not. And the more it dissipates, the less the wind and rain we're going to get in Florida.

FOREMAN: You're like every Florida governor I've ever known, you're about half meteorologist because you have to be there. I know it's going to be --

SCOTT: Oh, you learn.

(CROSSTALK)

SCOTT: Tom you're absolutely right. I know high pressure now, low pressure, I have learned all these -- all this now.

FOREMAN: Yes, of course there is the interest -- the first concern of course is people, their homes, their lives, all of that. Of course though there is the interest about the convention as well. This does not look like it's going to be a whole lot more at the convention than a lot of rain and some wind you have to be ready for otherwise, but right now it's fairly promising, isn't it?

SCOTT: Yes, we -- you know, we're optimistic. I'm responsible to make sure all 19 million people are safe. You know I think about we're a state that knows about hurricanes and we also know about hospitality, so we're prepared for the hurricane and when all these delegates and other visitors come down to see us, we're very good at keeping them safe, making sure they have you know a great experience.

FOREMAN: Let me ask you something as a Republican right now. This is the big party for Republicans and every Republican I know in the country wanted this party to be all week long about the economy and what you feel that President Obama hasn't done and what you can do. Instead, we're having discussions about hurricanes. We're talking about abortion rights. We're talking about the definition of rape. Is this tremendously frustrating if you're a Republican right now?

SCOTT: Well, I think you know when you get to November, when people go vote, in Florida, I know, because it's the exact same -- my election was very similar to this, it's all going to be about who is going to help me make sure I keep my job or get a job. So in the end when you go vote, it's all going to be about jobs. There will be maybe discussions about other issues but the voters are going to decide who is going to keep me working.

FOREMAN: All right. Well, Governor, I'll be down there joining you in a couple of days there, so keep your boots nearby and we'll see what happens. Thanks for joining us.

SCOTT: I look forward to seeing you. It will be a great event.

FOREMAN: All right, we'll see you there.

Ahead, Google is feeling lucky and hopes that you are too and look at this, Ann Romney opens up and she gets emotional.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S WIFE: So you just knew that that's where he was. It was like he was going to do anything he could to just say, I'm here, you're OK, just stay right there, and we'll be OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOREMAN: Are you feeling lucky tonight? Well, Google certainly hopes so. Perhaps you've noticed that strange little button below the Google search box that reads I'm feeling lucky. Frankly, I never really knew what this thing was for. But apparently if you enter a search term and hit that button, it takes you not to a list of search results but instead directly to a website related to your subject.

The problem is, very few of us ever feel lucky. Only about one percent of searches take that route for results. So Google is changing it up. Now, instead of offering just an "I'm feeling lucky" option, you can choose "I'm feeling playful" which can lead you to an old Google doodle game or maybe "I'm feeling artistic" which might lead you to images of art. Look oh it's art. I'm feeling more refined already.

And maybe "I'm feeling trendy" takes you to what's trending right now. Things there (INAUDIBLE) in the news, that sort of thing -- Lance Armstrong, all that. The whole point is to steer all of us clueless searchers toward more Google products and propel us to explore the Internet in general more than we do. Because just roaming around the Internet has become a very big business, the number tonight, 25 million.

That's how many registered users are on StumbleUpon.com. It's a service that helps users explore the Internet by taking them to Web pages and media that are associated with topics that you have an interest in. So say for example you like travel, StumbleUpon might take you to a travel blog or a slide show of America's greatest beaches. According to the company's website, users log on and have an average of 300 stumbles a month. That's an awful lot of stumbling. So that's our number tonight.

Still OUTFRONT one person is dead and eight are injured after gunfire erupt outside the great landmark The Empire State Building, terrified some people here this morning. Some of the injured may, may have been shot in the police crossfire. We just don't know yet. We're looking into it. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and a witness OUTFRONT next. And she called 911 screaming for help but two days later it was her family who found her dead. So what went wrong? Her sisters are OUTFRONT tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOREMAN: Welcome back to the second half of OUTFRONT. We start the second half of our show with stories we care about, where we focus on our own reporting from the front lines. Breaking news right now a verdict has been reached in the epic patent infringement trial between Apple and Samsung.

A federal jury in California recommending that Apple be awarded more than $1 billion in damages after finding that Samsung was guilty of, quote, "willful violations in a number of Apple's patents" in the creation of its own mobile products. It's kind of complicated but the bottom line is they're saying here that Apple was right. Given the complexity of the case, many weren't expecting a verdict on that until sometime maybe next week.

We've obtained new images of Iran's Parchin military facility. The image provided from GOI and ISIS shows two buildings covered with large pink tarps -- you can see them there -- it was taken on August 15th. The larger of those two buildings is suspected to be a high explosive test building. David Albright (ph) of the Institute for Science and International Security says the purpose of the coverings of the buildings could be to conceal further cleanup activity or to contain activity inside. Today, a meeting in Vienna between IAEA officials and Iran, which in part was to discuss access to the Parchin site, ended without any progress being made there.

We're learning more tonight about James Holmes, the man accused of killing 12 people in that movie theater in Colorado. According to court documents, Holmes had conversations with a classmate about wanting to kill people. That conversation happened months before the July 20th shooting. The documents also state that Holmes made threats to a professor after failing his graduate school oral boards. The details were made public in court documents filed by prosecutors who were trying to gain access to Holmes' educational records as they continue with their investigation.

Mexican federal police opened fire on an American diplomatic vehicle just south of Mexico City. A senior U.S. government official tells CNN that two U.S. citizens working at the U.S. embassy were taken to the hospital with nonlife threatening wounds. A Mexican marine who was also in the vehicle suffered light bruises. The federal police officers involved were being questioned by authorities and they might be prosecuted before all is said and done.

It's been 365 days since the U.S. lost its top credit rating. What are we doing to get it back?

It was a good day for stocks. The Dow gained 100 points. The S&P 500 rose by 9. Our third OUTFRONT story tonight: Gunfire right here on the streets of Manhattan.

This is amateur video of a chaotic and frightening scene outside the Empire State Building this morning. You can see the shooter, 58- year-old Jeffrey Johnson on the ground there. Police had just shot him moments before.

Johnson had pulled out a handgun and he shot a former colleague dead outside the Empire State Building, according to authorities. Eight other people were injured, caught in the crossfire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: He killed one person and at least nine other people were shot. And some may have been shot accidentally by police officers, who responded immediately. And while confronting the suspect and fatally shooting him, unfortunately, there may have been other victims as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: The victim is 41-year-old Steven Ercolini, according to the State University in New York here where he was a 1992 graduate.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is OUTFRONT tonight to talk about this.

What's the latest on this investigation tonight?

COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY, NYPD: Where are we on the investigation?

FOREMAN: Sure.

KELLY: We know that there was a long-standing despite between these two individuals. They worked at the same firm. It's called Hazan Imports. There was a dispute apparently centered on the fact that Ercolini was not selling, at least in Johnson's opinion, much of his product or what he designed as he wanted him to.

About a year, year and a half ago, Johnson was terminated as a result of downsizing. He continued to return to the firm because he was in their medical plan. He was somehow getting checks. And he would have a confrontation with Ercolini virtually every time he went back.

FOREMAN: Were there any harassment complaints filed against each other?

KELLY: There was a cross-harassment complain in April of 2011. So, this was an ongoing dispute. Apparently, Johnson determined to kill Ercolini. Today, he waited for him outside the place of business, 10 West 33rd Street. When Ercolini showed up, shot him without any conversation, shot him once in the head, and then shot him in the torso. He then walks East on 33rd Street and people saw him do the shooting. Construction worker and others followed him. He goes north on Fifth Avenue. They point out to two police officers in front of the Empire State Building that he, quote, "just killed a man around the corner". The officers go to approach him. He turns, takes out a gun -- his gun out of a briefcase, points right at the officers. The officers fire at him. He's struck and he expires at the scene.

Now, there were flower pots and other objects around. So when the officers did fire, their bullets fragmented and in essence that's what caused the wounds of the bystanders.

Now, a total of nine people were hit. Six of them had been treated and released. There's still three people in the hospital. But in essence, a result of fragments from the police fire.

FOREMAN: It's always a very difficult circumstance for police, particularly around a big landmark like that, where you have so many civilians, people who have nothing to do with anything whether happen to be in the area.

Are you satisfied with the response here? Because police departments always get challenged about this sort of thing.

KELLY: Yes, well, if you see the film, and we are in the process of putting it out, you'll see that the officers are confronted with this individual from about five feet away and he points a weapon right at them. They were told he had just killed somebody. I see no reasonable alternative for the officers other than to shoot.

FOREMAN: You had the incident in Times Square earlier this month, 12 shots were fired there with a man with a large knife. Same questions there.

You said you felt the response from the officers was correct.

KELLY: Yes. Well, each of these situations are different. This was a fluid situation. He had moved from 43rd Street down to 38th Street. He was threatening people.

We did not have a taser available because not every officer has a taser. But one was on the way. Sergeants and emergency services officers have tasers.

Two officers in the radio car tried to cut him off. They drove up on the sidewalk. He's moving south. He's threatening people with the knife in his hand. They get out of the radio car and they stand on the side where he's approaching. He lunges at them. They fired their weapons. He was hit.

Now, in the process, he was -- attempted to pepper spray him a total of six times. Obviously it didn't affect him. He could have stabbed other people in the area --

FOREMAN: One last thing I want to ask you about, when you have a circumstance like this today, obviously, you have to investigate every police shooting incident. You have to investigate it thoroughly.

Does that also always involve a review of your basic policies? Or is that more of a universal thing you do once a year or something?

KELLY: No, each shooting -- we certainly look at it, you know, in relation to our policies. We have, you know, a group -- just left the meeting where we would go through a thorough review. We talk to experts on our ammunition. We have our lawyers there. We have the commander of the area there who gives a in depth brief. We have our crime scene unit there.

So, it's an in depth examination. Now, this is just the beginning of the investigation. We have a firearms review process on our borough level and at the department level.

So it is a thorough examination. It goes before -- or goes to the district attorney who may, in fact, present it to a grand jury.

So we do more in depth examination of our officer's use of deadly force than any other jurisdiction I'm aware of. We have the lowest level of police officer use of force, deadly force, of any major city that I'm aware of.

FOREMAN: All right, Commissioner. I know it's been a long day for you and your officers, difficult day for some families here. Thanks for coming in and joining us and coming OUTFRONT.

KELLY: Thank you so much.

FOREMAN: Very good of you.

Curtis Horne was riding a New York City bus outside the Empire State Building when he heard these shots ring out, standing just a few yards from the shooter. He reacted with what you really can only call heroism and bravery, shielding a young girl and her mother from the shooting.

He is OUTFRONT tonight as well.

Tell me if you would, Mr. Horne, how did you se this evolve in front you? You were riding on the bus not thinking anything. And suddenly, what did you see?

CURTIS HORNE, EYEWITNESS TO SHOOTING OUTSIDE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING: Well, actually happened was a lot of shots just started coming. One, two, three, four, five. People on the bus started panicking and jumping down when the doors open. The bus opened up wide. It was chaotic.

And I got outside and see a young lady, a young girl, maybe 5 or 6 years old. She was in hysteria looking for her mother, I guess. Her mother must have panicked. I just grabbed her and hit the deck with her, almost like military instincts. Her mother found me and her and jumped down with us. Next time I looked up, was about a million police officers in the area. It was crazy.

FOREMAN: You have some training in these matters. So you're not entirely a civilian, as we might know it.

HORNE: Yes, I'm a peace officer, licensed peace officer through NYPD, working with the Metro Museum of Art here in New York City. And I was ironically going to see my doctor that day, cardiologist actually. After 9/11, I had a heart attack and I have a pacemaker, defibrillator, which did not go off, which I was happy about.

FOREMAN: So it's good news.

Hundreds of people were everywhere when all it started happening. Bullets started flying. Did you see people get shot during this?

HORNE: Yes, bodies laying all over the place. Actually, pastor lady that was hit in the leg, and she was laying down, bleeding, and another body in the middle of the street. As I got up, started looking around, I saw people taking pictures everywhere. So I started taking pictures. It's just an instinct --

FOREMAN: These are your pictures. Did you know where the bullets were coming from? And this is interesting because I think people always wonder what it would be like in the circumstance.

Did you know where the shots were coming from or who the shooter was? Which person in the crowd was shooting?

HORNE: Well, we didn't know who was shooting at that time. The bullets were come from like, the south, it sounded south, north, then all of a sudden, I didn't know where they were coming from. They were coming from all over the police.

So my eyes were just like, you know, a camera, just looking everywhere, looking for anything that was unusual, you know, as I'm trained to do. So, fortunately, everybody came out -- at least most of us came out OK so --

FOREMAN: Were you nervous during all of this?

HORNE: You know, instincts kicked in. I usually act really strong under pressure. It's weird, but I do. And it just kicked in. After everything was over and I sat back and analyzed everything, I got nervous about it. But --

FOREMAN: And then you went on to the doctor to have your heart checked out?

HORNE: Actually, he checked everything out. NYU doctor, by the way, Dr. Richard Hayes (ph). He did a good job checking me out. He thoroughly checked me out because my pressure was a little elevated, but he stabilized me.

FOREMAN: Well, I'm glad you're here. Again, a very difficult day for some people. Some very courageous action on your part to help some people out on, again, a very difficult day for folks here in New York.

OUTFRONT next: a woman is dead after she called 911 pleading for help. So why did it take the police in her town 50 minutes to show up at her house? And, a side of the Romneys we don't often see -- a very personal and emotional one. Ann Romney on her struggle with multiple sclerosis, an exclusive CNN interview coming up.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOREMAN: Let's check in with Anderson Cooper with a look at what's ahead on "A.C. 360" -- Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "A.C. 360": Yes. Hey, Tom, we're covering breaking news on the program tonight. An update on tropical storm Isaac expected within minutes. We're going to have a report to you live from two locations in Haiti, where the storm we believe is about to strike next. Also, what it could mean for the Republican convention in Tampa which starts Monday.

We'll also talk to Sean Penn who runs one of the largest relief camps in Haiti.

Also tonight, the deadly shooting today outside the Empire State Building here in New York. We'll speak with a man who took some remarkable video, the gunman on the ground surrounded by police moments after the incident. We'll show you his video ahead.

Also, the most famous name in U.S. cycling, Lance Armstrong, now banned from the sport for life after giving us his fight against charges of illegal doping. We'll talk about the case with the man who's known Armstrong for two decades and says he's now 100 percent convinced Armstrong is guilty.

Those stories and tonight's ridiculous, a lot more, Tom, at the top of the hour.

FOREMAN: All right, Anderson, fascinating show coming up.

Our fourth story OUTFRONT: an awful tale out of Dallas where police are under fire tonight, after a woman appears to have been murdered in her home while on the phone with a 911 operator begging police to help her. According to the "Dallas Morning News," Deanna Cook called 911 at about 10:55 a.m. last Friday to say she needed help. The call lasted 11 minutes.

But what happened next is what has caused so much outrage. Police were dispatched more than 30 minutes later at 11:29 a.m. Although the call was classified at urgent, it was not given the highest priority. And so, police arrived almost 50 minutes after that call was placed according to the newspaper.

Officers checked the outside of the house. They spoke to the neighbors. They found no signs of foul play. Reportedly, they then left.

Two days later, Deanna Cook was found dead in her bathtub. Her ex-husband charged with murder. Shortly before the show, I spoke with Karletha Cook-Dundy and her sister Valecia. I asked Karletha what it was like to hear her sister's call for help on that 911 call.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARLETHA COOK-DUNDY, SISTER OF MURDER VICTIM DEANNA COOK: I just heard her screams. I couldn't make out what she was saying. I could just hear he screaming.

FOREMAN: Was it clear to you that this was an urgent, urgent call at that moment, that it was really in the immediate moment a dire situation?:

COOK-DUNDY: She was screaming at the top of her lungs from what I could hear and I could tell that it was my sister just by her voice, so yes.

FOREMAN: So, Valecia, when you heard this from your sister, what was your response? When you heard about what had happened?

VALECIA BATTLE, SISTER OF MURDER VICTIM DEANNA COOK: I almost had a wreck because I was driving home from church. All I could say was, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. I think those are the only three words I said till I got back to Dallas from San Antonio.

FOREMAN: Were both of you aware of some of the difficulties your sister had had with her ex-husband?

COOK-DUNDY: Yes. We were.

FOREMAN: Give me a sense of what that was all about. What were you aware of? Apparently the police had been called before because of problems there.

COOK-DUNDY: Regardless of how many times she had to call 911, you know, this was the one time that really, really mattered. And they were not there for her.

FOREMAN: Valecia, do you believe that your sister could have been saved if they had responded immediately?

BATTLE: I think something could have been done. If they responded immediately, my nieces wouldn't have had to find their mother. That would make a huge difference. My sister and my mother wouldn't have had to see it. That would have made a huge difference.

FOREMAN: Karletha, you went to her house two days after this 911 call. You're concerned. You didn't know where she was. You contacted the police about this. What did the police tell you at the time when you were saying, "There's something wrong here?"

COOK-DUNDY: When we got there, my mom called 911, and the operator told my mom that she had a call from my sister from that address on the 17th and that they came out and no one answered the door. So my mom, of course, started to scream and say, hey, you know, send someone out. There's water coming out of here house.

And the operator told my mom that before they could send someone out, that my mom had to call the jailhouse, the prisons and the hospitals to see if maybe she was there. The operator proceeded to give my mom those numbers. So, I just took it upon myself to kick the door down.

FOREMAN: When you went to break the door down, what did you think you were going to find?

COOK-DUNDY: We could see the water, you know, coming out. It was something like a movie. Of course we wasn't expecting, you know, to see what we saw but -- it was pretty bad. When I kicked the door down, the smell came out so it was pretty bad.

FOREMAN: You found her body right away? I assume?

COOK-DUNDY: We had to -- we walked to her bedroom and she was -- we notice that her bedroom door had been kicked in. And that it was -- it looked to be a struggle. And we found her in the bathroom.

FOREMAN: Well, the Dallas police have since -- they say they've changed the way they dispatched their 911 calls since this happened. Presumably that might help somebody in the future. Does that satisfy you in any way?

BATTLE: Not at all. Not even -- not even a little bit, because my sister is still gone. My nieces are still motherless. And they still have to live with the sight of their mother.

COOK-DUNDY: A mother shouldn't have to find her mother -- her daughter after her daughter called 911 screaming and hollering for help. And daughters shouldn't have to find their mother. And a sister shouldn't have to find her sibling two days after screaming for help on a 911 call.

FOREMAN: All right. Well, I hope your family does the best they can getting through all this. Karletha, Valecia, again, sorry for your loss. Thanks for being with us tonight.

COOK-DUNDY: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: We asked the Dallas police to come OUTFRONT at talk about all of this. They acknowledge the call could have been designated a higher priority. They are investigating what went wrong here. But they declined to comment further.

I do want to point out a couple of stats however, not as an excuse but as a reference for you. Each year, the department handles about 2 million 911 calls. More than 140,000 are domestic disturbances. And take a look at these response times they provided to us from the Dallas police department. For priority 1 calls, the highest priority, the goal is eight minutes. They say their year to day average is 6.53 minutes. Priority 2, the goal is 12 minutes for response time. The actual year to date, 12 minutes. Of note, the call in the case of Deanna Cook was a priority 2 at the time -- although now presumably it might be something different.

Terrible story there. We'll see if there's any follow-up as the time goes on.

FOREMAN: Next, Mitt Romney revealed. A sneak peek of the CNN documentary you are not going to want to miss on the Republican nominee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOREMAN: Our fifth story OUTFRONT, an exclusive look inside the Romney family. You will want to join us on Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. when CNN kicks off its coverage of the Republican National Convention, with a very special program, "Romney Revealed: Family, Faith and the Road to Power." The Romney family opened up to Gloria Borger and, among other things, talked about Ann's struggle with multiple sclerosis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): It was just before Thanksgiving 1998.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She began to see some numbness on her right side. It began spreading. She was having more difficulty getting upstairs. We went to a neurologist.

BORGER: Romney's life was about to take an unexpected and unhappy turn.

ROMNEY: We went into his office and he performed an examination and it was very clear that she was flunking the examination. She couldn't stand on her right foot without falling over and so forth. He stepped out. And she began to cry. And I welled up tears as well. And we hugged each other.

And she said, you know, something's terribly wrong.

BORGER: At age 49, Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis -- an incurable disease that can shut down the central nervous system.

ANN ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S WIFE: You don't know how much is it going to chew me up and spit me out? Where is it going to -- and when is it going to spit me out? How sick am I going to get? Is this going to be progressive? Am I going to be in a wheelchair?

It's a very, very frightening place to be.

MITT ROMNEY: I know Ann was really distraught and distressed with the diagnosis, particularly as time went on, because she was really ill for quite a while. ANN ROMNEY: I really just was having a hard time and was very depressed and had kind of given up a little bit.

TAGG ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S SON: It was a tough moment for both of them. It was interesting to see the way he treated her as they went through that -- very caring, very loving, very frustrating for him not to be able to step in and fix it. But it was -- they drew even closer.

ANN ROMNEY: Even when I was as sick as that, he would curl up in the bed with me.

BORGER: Take a minute.

ANN ROMNEY: So you just knew that that's where he was. It was like he was going to do anything he could to just say I'm here. You're OK. Just stay right there. And we'll be OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: Gloria joins me very quickly from Washington, D.C.

Gloria, I know you've been working on this for months. It is a terrific show. And now, there's late news today that Ann Romney's role at the convention could be changing.

BORGER: Right. I think it's very clear they wanted her to get the biggest audience she could. They wanted to make sure the networks were covering her. So they may switch her evening to evening, Tuesday night, when instead of Monday, when the networks will really be there, because what they've discovered inside the campaign, and you just saw it, is that Ann Romney is someone who really humanizes Mitt Romney, tells their family story very well. And in a sense is the candidate's best character witness.

So they want -- they clearly want her out there talking to voters, particularly talking to women voters.

FOREMAN: And is this a secret weapon they've been holding on to or is it one they really think this is the moment, she's really risen into this moment?

BORGER: I think this is the moment for her. You didn't hear too much from her during the primaries. Once he got the nomination, clearly she started coming out there more and more, because the response to her from audiences has been very good. Whereas Mitt Romney can be stiff, she is the one who softens him up.

And she told me in our piece that the kids in the family call her the Mitt stabilizer, when he sort of goes off spinning like a top, she calms him down.

FOREMAN: All right. Gloria Borger, great, great show. Don't miss it. I'll be going to our convention coverage. I'll see you down in Tampa, Gloria. So, thanks for being with us. Hey, before we go. We have some breaking news. The New York Police Department, we talked earlier about that shooting outside the Empire State Building. They've just released some surveillance video of the shooting.

I want to warn you here. This is very graphic. I don't want you to watch it if you don't want to. So turn away if you don't want to.

But this does show the police shooting of this man, Jeffrey Johnson. Take a look at this video, what happens here. It's exactly what Ray Kelly told us about a while ago.

There you see him. It's a little difficult to see. You see he goes down. You can see if you watch a little bit closer, what the police said, you can see him pointing something. That's where all of this seems to happen.

So, it's a very dramatic moment in this video just released from the New York Police Department right now. You see a little bit of the pandemonium on the street that we've been talking about all day, a tragic event for so many people on a very difficult day here in New York City.

A lot of people facing a lot of challenges all over the country right now, but hopefully we'll all get into the weekend well enough.

Thanks for joining us here on OUTFRONT.

"ANDERSON COOPER 360" starts right now.