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Campbell Brown
Democrats Close to Passing Health Care Reform?; America's Education Crisis
Aired March 12, 2010 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, everybody. We have some breaking news tonight: tough words for Israel them the secretary of state.
Hillary Clinton said Israel insulted the United States during the vice president's visit. And that is topping the "Mash-Up" tonight.
Clinton blasted Israel's plan to build new settlements in East Jerusalem today. This was in an exclusive interview with CNN. Clinton called sir's announcement during Vice President Joe Biden's recent visit insulting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have to make clear to our Israeli friends and partner that the two-state solution, which we support, which the prime minister, himself, has said he supports, requires confidence-building measures on both sides. And the announcement of the settlements the very day that the vice president was there was insulting.
I mean, it was just really a very unfortunate and difficult moment for everyone, the United States, our vice president, who had gone to reassert America's strong support for Israeli security.
And I regret deeply that that occurred and they made that view known.
JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Do you blame him for that?
CLINTON: Well, I don't have any reason to believe he knew about it, but he is the prime minister. It is like, you know, the president or the secretary of state. When you have certain responsibilities, ultimately, you are responsible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Secretary Clinton spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier today to deliver the message directly.
President Obama's travel plans are getting delayed by health care. Today, the White House announced he will push back his trip to Indonesia and Australia for a final push on the bill. Democrats hoping to get it done before he leaves March 21. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president has been working very hard behind the scenes with these Democrats already, working the phones, also having meetings here at the White House, so they do believe that they can make some progress by spending additional time here on the ground, Wolf.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'm delighted that the president will be here for the passage of the bill. It's going to be historic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Behind closed doors today, Democratic leaders told Democrats to clear their schedules for the next week and expect a vote by next weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The vote is going to be very close, but Democrats believe that if all goes according to their very complicated procedural plan, the president will sign health care into law about two weeks from today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: House Minority Leader John Boehner told CNN's Candy Crowley today that Democrats do not have the votes they need to pass the bill. We're going to have a lot more on this coming up shortly.
New details on a New Jersey man suspected of being an al Qaeda terrorist who is accused of trying to shoot his way out of a hospital in Yemen over the weekend. Well, now we're learning he worked at five different nuclear plants in the U.S. between 2002 and 2008.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are getting a slightly better picture of this 26-year-old young man, an al Qaeda suspect under investigation by the FBI. And, as you indicated, we now have new information about what he used to do for a living here in the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a level of concern because Sharif Mobley was a contract worker at five nuclear power plants on the East Coast, as you mentioned.
CANDIOTTI: A spokesman says he did routine work, including maintenance at the plants. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission tells CNN that Mobley would have undergone criminal background checks and security checks before being hired.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officials believe Mobley may have been radicalized by extremist Web sites and then ultimately moved to Yemen in the hopes of linking up with Islamist fighters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Authorities in Yemen detained Mobley and 10 other al Qaeda suspects in a security sweep this month in the capital.
A federal court ruled today that vaccines containing thimerosal are not to blame to autism. But the court expressed sympathy for parents of autistic children who continue to believe there is a connection.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: A federal special vaccine court has just ruled -- stay with me here, folks -- that parents who said that their children's autism was caused by a preservative did not prove their case and they are not entitled to compensation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The theory of vaccine-related causation," they ruled, "is scientifically unsupportable. This is a case in which the evidence is so one-sided."
With those words, the more than 5,000 families who had come to this court, making the case that thimerosal had caused their children's autism, saw the legal door slammed on their theory.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We've already been getting e- mails from groups of parents who truly believe that there is a link between autism and vaccines. And they say that the deck was stacked against these families. They say this was a government court that was defending a government vaccine schedule, and they say there was no way these parents were going to get justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will surely be families who will continue to believe there is a link to thimerosal, until answers are provided. The NIH is now investing nearly $60 million of new money to try and one day provide that answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: More than 5,500 claims have been filed by families seeking compensation through the government's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
A Washington, D.C., school making history tonight. Natalie Randolph has just been named the new head coach of Calvin Coolidge Senior High's football team. She is believed to be the country's only female coach of a varsity football squad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Natalie Randolph got the clipboard and whistle today at a ceremony. She is believed to be the first woman named head football coach of a high school. She is a former wide receiver for the D.C. Divas, no less, a pro female team, and is the former assistant football coach for H.D. Woodson High School.
KATIE COURIC, HOST, "CBS EVENING NEWS": A former player herself in a women's pro league, she's pleased to have the job, but says it's not about gender. NATALIE RANDOLPH, COOLIDGE HIGH SCHOOL HEAD FOOTBALL COACH: While I'm proud to be part of what this all means, being female has nothing to do with it. I love football. I love football. I love teaching. I love these kids.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is certainly a trailblazer for female coaches at the high school level, but women have been breaking barriers at the lower levels as well here for years. Nearly 5 percent of youth football coaches are women.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, HOST, "NBC NIGHTLY NEWS": D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty declared today Coach Randolph Day in Washington. A rival football coach in D.C. said -- quote -- 'All I know is, I don't want to be the first one to lose to her."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And we're going to talk later to Natalie Randolph. She will be here with me on the show a little bit later in the hour.
Casual Friday came to the White House today when Press Secretary Robert Gibbs did his breaching wearing a Canadian hockey team jersey. Gibbs bet his Canadian counterpart that team USA would beat Canada in men's hockey at last month's Olympics. Gibbs, as you can see, lost the bet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I am making good on my aspect of my wager with Dimitri, my Canadian counterpart, who is somewhere several hundred miles north laughing.
I have one official government announcement: We've instructed the embassy, our embassy and our ambassador to make arrangements to deliver one case of Molson Canadian and one case of Yuengling lager from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, America's oldest brewery, to the Prime Minister's office today. I'm sure Dimitri will take most of that home and consume it.
I will say -- no offense to my Canadian friends here -- but we couldn't have done this fully without...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Robert Gibbs at the White House today.
And that brings us to the "Punchline" tonight. This is courtesy of Jimmy Fallon, who noticed something funny at one of first lady Michelle Obama's events the other day. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": Yesterday, Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton were at an event, and Michelle said that she almost referred to Hillary as President Clinton by mistake.
(LAUGHTER)
FALLON: And then Hillary was like, "Seriously, though, would you?"
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Jimmy Fallon, ladies and gentlemen. And that is your Friday "Mash-Up."
When we come back, more and more schools failing their students. Is the growing call to fire all the bad teachers the right answer, or does it just seem too easy? This is a huge debate we have been having all week. We're going to talk about that right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Should all bad teachers be fired?
There is frustration over failing schools nationwide, and the ironclad protection that keeps many educators working, whether they deserve to or not.
Evan Thomas writes about the problem in the current issue of "Newsweek" magazine. Also with me is Randi Weingarten, who is president of the American Federation of Teachers.
Evan, Randi, I believe, are both there, hopefully.
You guys there. There we go.
(CROSSTALK)
RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: We are.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: It took us a minute to pull you up. Welcome to both of you. Appreciate you being here tonight.
(CROSSTALK)
WEINGARTEN: Thanks, Campbell.
And, Evan, let me start with you.
You write that there is no other job, in your view, with so little accountability. Explain what you mean.
EVAN THOMAS, ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR, "NEWSWEEK": Well, teachers protected by the union have tenure and seniority. It's very hard to fire the incompetent ones. In New York City in 2008, of 30,000 teachers, three were separated for cause.
BROWN: And, Randi, I don't have to tell you that unionized teachers have been under fire a lot lately.
WEINGARTEN: Right.
BROWN: We have done numerous stories on this program just over the last couple of weeks. What steps are you taking to keep the bad ones out of the classroom?
WEINGARTEN: Well, as you know, Campbell, we actually have proposed a lot of different things, because let me bust up this myth.
Number one, no one wants incompetent teachers in classrooms, and no one wants bad teachers in classrooms. The people that are actually hurt the most, if there is a second grade teacher that is not pulling her weight, is both the second grade kids and the third grade teacher.
So, what we have actually tried to do is say, let's really deconstruct this problem and try to solve it, not try to win an argument, but try to solve it.
BROWN: OK, so be specific, then. How will you evaluate them? I know you're working on this plan. How do you sort out the good from the bad and get rid of the bad ones?
(CROSSTALK)
WEINGARTEN: So, the first thing you do is, you actually do some of the things that the countries that outpace do, which is you support and you nurture teachers. You care about them. You give them the tools and conditions that they need to do their jobs. That's what they do in Finland and Japan, where they actually outpace us.
But then, if we're seeing that somebody is not pulling their weight, we have to actually evaluate them fairly. We then have to help them. And, if we can't help them, we have to actually take the tough steps of counseling them out of the profession and do due process in a fair and fast way.
Let me just say one more thing, which is this. In terms of the whole issue about throwing out all teachers, we know that we have to turn around schools. But take crime in a city. If crime in a city goes up, what we don't do is fire all the cops. What we do, do is change strategies, and that's what we want to do.
BROWN: But I want to drill down on this a little bit, because I feel like we're talking in sort of vague generalities.
And, Evan, let me let you take this over. Of course, there are great teachers out there, but we're talking about how you get rid of the bad ones, and it's very hard to do under the current system.
Evan, why don't you respond to some of what Randi just said?
THOMAS: Well, I think it's great that Randi wants to get a solution here, and I think that she has said some important things.
But the facts are pretty tough. In Chicago, 0.1 percent of the teachers between 2005 and 2008 were removed for cause, in Toledo, Ohio, .01 percent, in Denver, zero percent. It's just virtually impossible, under union rules, to get rid of bad teachers. There are a lot of great teachers out there, but there are also some bad ones. And you just can't get rid of them.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: So, Randi, why don't we just get rid of tenure, I mean, seriously?
(CROSSTALK)
WEINGARTEN: Campbell, this is not about union contracts or not.
Frankly, there's a lot of places where schools are not as good as they should be, where you don't have union contracts. And, in places where schools are the best, like in Maryland, you have union contracts.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Address Evan's specific point, though, if you could.
WEINGARTEN: So, Evan's -- so the issue really is, we don't have a good evaluation system.
If you look at principals, principals recently have said, about 85 percent of them, that -- when asked, they don't know how to do classroom evaluations well. What we're talking about is, let's have a comprehensive, continuous, good evaluation process, where teacher development is embedded in it and where we have the evaluation.
BROWN: But...
(CROSSTALK)
WEINGARTEN: Campbell, let me just say over and over again, we want fairness, but we want to make sure that everyone is doing their job. And teachers want that as well.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Why not get rid of tenure?
WEINGARTEN: What tenure is, is simply -- tenure is not supposed to be a job for life. All tenure is supposed to be is that if somebody is told that they're not good, they have a hearing. That's all it's supposed to be.
And, in fact, what we are doing is that we have asked one of the foremost neutrals in this country, someone who has really been able to solve tough problems, Ken Feinberg. We said to him, help us. Help make this process both fair and fast, because we know nobody wins when the processes are not fast.
BROWN: And, Evan, you seem skeptical, an understatement, perhaps, that this is going to happen.
(CROSSTALK)
THOMAS: We will see. It hasn't happened yet.
Now, look, Randi gave a good speech in January which talked for the first time about using student test scores to evaluate teachers. Before this, in New York state, I believe a law that Randi lobbied for, that the schools were prohibited from using student test scores to evaluate teachers.
So, now they're saying something different. I hope that's true. We will see.
WEINGARTEN: Actually, that wasn't what we lobbied for, Evan. What we said was that we want to use student learning as part of an evaluation, but that specific test score that they wanted to use was a flawed test. We want to have multiple measures.
Look, the bottom line is this. We want teachers to succeed, we want kids to succeed. And, again, the countries that outpace us, what they do first and foremost is they give teachers the training and the time they desperately need to help all kids. We know we can't do it alone, but we want to do our share. That's what teachers are saying across the country. That's what the union is saying.
BROWN: Randi, I know you know this, but we did the story on the show recently that when failing -- a school in Rhode Island announced they were going to fire all the teachers because they had such a high failure rate, the president basically said, you know what, they did exactly what they had to do.
And you guys, I know, put out a statement sort of condemning his acceptance of that. Why -- what's your problem? I mean, the people who normally, I guess, in the past would have been very supportive of the teachers union are changing their tune. Do you feel like you're losing the president, you're losing the education secretary here on a lot of these issues?
(CROSSTALK)
WEINGARTEN: Look, I always -- I have spent my life representing people who want to make a difference in the lives of others, so I'm used to being the underdog.
The issue really is, Campbell, like in whether it's in Central Falls High School or another place, Central Falls is a place where the students have protested to save their teachers, the parents have protested to save their teachers. The teachers have actually come out with a really good plan which has now been the basis for them mediating a settlement for this.
The bottom line is this. That school had 22, 24 percent increase in reading scores. The math scores were abysmal, but they had six principals in seven years and programs going in and out. We all have to do better to give our kids a chance. That's what the union is saying.
BROWN: Right.
WEINGARTEN: More importantly than the union, that's what teachers are saying. We need people to support us and help us. We want to make a difference in the lives of kids.
BROWN: All right. It just seems like we're moving toward certainly more drastic measures being needed, given that this problem is reaching what appears to be just crisis proportions in this country.
I want to thank both of you, Evan Thomas, whose piece is worth a -- certainly worth a look in "Newsweek," and Randi Weingarten as well.
WEINGARTEN: Thank you.
BROWN: Thank you for your time.
THOMAS: Thanks, Campbell.
Still ahead: A surprise move by the president turns up the heat on health care reform -- a behind-the-scenes look at his final push when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: President Obama today delayed his trip to Asia for a final push on health care. After a week spent rallying nervous Democrats behind closed doors, the president's decision only turns up the pressure.
Meantime, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today hinted the vote was in the bag, saying she was -- quote -- "delighted" the president will be here for the bill's passage.
But top House John Boehner says there is no way the bill will pass. Listen to what he told CNN's Candy Crowley in an upcoming interview to air on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you think, because you're a pretty good vote-counter, does she have 216, the speaker?
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: If she had 216 votes, this bill would be long gone. They tried to pass it in September, October, November, December, January, February. Guess what? They don't have the votes.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: And joining us right now with the very latest is CNN senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash, and from "TIME" magazine, senior analyst and editor at large Mark Halperin as well from Los Angeles tonight.
Mark, let me start with you.
What is the president communicating by delaying this trip?
MARK HALPERIN, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST, "TIME": That he's going to have to be in sync with the House Democrats. They have been at some odds over the last few weeks on some of the issues of timing and messaging and how to get this done.
The president had to stay. It was sending a bad signal. Too much of the trip was about a family vacation, in effect. Now that he's staying, he can continue to twist arms, continue to work with the House leadership. I think they have gotten a deal now internally amongst the top people about how to bring this to a head at the right moment, just when they get the votes done. The president is essential in that process.
BROWN: And, Dana, Democratic leaders expressing confidence, at least on the outside, but do -- you heard Boehner say the votes aren't really there.
What's really going on? I know they have left town for the weekend, but it's been fairly intense there this week, hasn't it?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Very intense. And John Boehner at this point, in talking to Democratic sources, he is right. They would have passed it already had the votes been there.
And right now it is game on in terms of getting those votes. And Mark's right. A lot of why the president delayed his trip is symbolic, but it is also very practical. Democrats here in Congress made clear to the White House, look, if you want this, your top priority, done, you better stay here and get on the phone and call undecided House members -- and, again, it is important to remember we're talking about all Democrats, the president's fellow Democrats here -- call them down, call them on the phone. Make sure we have the needed 216 votes just to get this process through the House.
BROWN: And, Mark, to Dana's point there, the ball really all is in the Democrats' court right now. Should Republicans just basically pack up their bags and head home for a little early Easter break, maybe?
HALPERIN: No, I mean, look, I discount their vote counts because they're not involved in this process.
But the Republicans want to continue to try to work on the message. They have been extraordinarily disciplined. You watch any television appearance of any Republican in the leadership or rank-and- file. They are all singing from the same hymnal. That's important for them, because they need to shape this debate, because the process is -- the House vote is big, but there are steps after that.
And, in addition, of course, if it does pass, and all the various pieces of follow-on legislation pass, they want to have laid the groundwork to have this be the central issue in the fall elections. So Democrats will say, we passed it, it's good. The Republicans will continue to, say the Democrats have made a big mistake, both politically and substantively, from their point of view.
BROWN: And, Dana, with elections in mind, you talked about the phone calls the president is going to be making, has been making, you know, to try to close the sale. Talk to me about what he's got to say, because this is a real political risk for some of these Democrats who are looking at November.
BASH: A huge political risk, to Mark's point, about the fact that Republicans have been remarkably regimented on this issue and on this message. And Democrats know that.
I will just give you one example. I was talking to one undecided House Democratic lawmaker. He is very much on the front lines, very vulnerable, is in a Republican district. And he says, look, I understand that the message that we're getting from our leadership and from the White House is, it would be worse for you politically if this didn't happen, if health care failed. But, at this point, maybe it's even too late, because what I'm hearing from my constituents back home is, this is too big. This is -- all of the Republican points, so far, they have worked.
So, that's really what the president is up against with some of these vulnerable House Democrats.
BROWN: And, Mark, how nervous are Democratic leaders about anti- abortion Democrats led by Congressman Bart Stupak, who want more restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortions?
HALPERIN: Well, it makes the math more difficult.
The message, though, to those anti-abortion Democrats is the same as it's got to be to all of them. This is not too big to fail. It's too important to fail for the Democratic Party. That's the president's message.
He may lose a good number of those anti-abortion Democrats. He would have to make up the votes elsewhere, and he's got to do it with a bit of his hand tied behind his back, because some of these deals that in the past have been used by an administration to win these very close votes where you have to get the votes after you have taken the bill to the floor, they can't do, because there's been such a backlash against the deal made with Nebraska, the deal made with Florida.
So, the president maybe can appeal to those anti-abortion Democrats, promising some side legislation which they're still not dangling. But they are going to have to dangle something. If it's not to that group, it's going to have to be to a different group of Democrats.
BROWN: Mark Halperin and Dana Bash, we will leave it there. Thanks, guys. Have a good weekend. Appreciate it.
BASH: You, too.
HALPERIN: Thanks.
BROWN: And, coming up: vaccines and autism. Plenty of parents absolutely convinced there is a link, but new information, a decision by a court today that says no.
We are going to have the very latest on that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A court ruling has dealt a blow to parents who blame thimerosal, a preservative used in vaccines, for their children's autism. A special federal panel has decided there is not enough evidence to prove thimerosal alone is the culprit. The highly emotional debate over the vaccine autism link has been going on for years. So will this ruling finally settle things? Hardly.
Earlier I spoke with Elizabeth Cohen, CNN medical correspondent, about that. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: So, Elizabeth, break down today's decision for us. What exactly is the bottom line here?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Campbell, the bottom line here is that this special vaccine court heard arguments from three families who blame their children's autism on thimerosal, which is a preservative. They used to be used regularly in childhood vaccines. And three times the judge said no, no, no, thimerosal is not what's responsible for your child's autism.
BROWN: And needless to say, there are a lot of parents out there, though, who are convinced that vaccines and not the thimerosal in vaccines, in particular, does cause autism. Does this solve the debate, I guess, or end the debate for them in some ways, or no?
COHEN: You know what, Campbell, I don't think so. I've spoken to these parents for many, many years over and over again, and they are convinced, and no decision from the court is going to change their mind that there's a link between vaccines and autism. In fact, very shortly after this decision, we got an e-mail from one of these groups of parents that said that they said the cards were stacked. The deck was stacked against these parents. They said this is a government court commenting on a government vaccine schedule. They still believe that there's a link between vaccines and autism.
BROWN: And thimerosal is out of most vaccines, right? But I know it is in some, in the flu vaccine, for example, because we talked about it a lot when we were all debating swine flu vaccines.
COHEN: That's right. It's in some flu vaccine. It's not in all flu vaccine. And you can ask your doctor for a thimerosal-free vaccine and if you want it, hopefully they'll have it.
And it's interesting. You know, thimerosal was taken out of vaccine years ago, and since then, the autism rate hasn't gone down. It's gone up. And that's one of the reasons why researchers say, look, if it was thimerosal we would have expected the rates to go down once we took it out. So they say obviously there's no link if the rates actually went up.
BROWN: All right. Elizabeth Cohen for us tonight. Elizabeth, thank you very much.
COHEN: Thanks.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Your son has a new football coach and guess what, she's a woman. Those words might not be far off if one trailblazer has her way. Her story coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A historic day in high school football. Former women's professional football player Natalie Randolph is named head coach at Coolidge High School in Washington, D.C. She spoke about the achievement at a press conference earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATALIE RANDOLPH, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, COOLIDGE H.S.: While I'm proud to be part of what this all means, being female has nothing to do with it. I love football. I love football, I love teaching, I love these kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And head coach Natalie Randolph is joining us right now. Welcome to you, Natalie, and let me say congratulations. Not many high school coaches, I think, get this kind of attention. The mayor of D.C. even declared it Natalie Randolph day, I hear. How are you feeling right now?
NATALIE RANDOLPH, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, COOLIDGE H.S.: It's all pretty surreal right now.
BROWN: Yes?
RANDOLPH: It feels good, though. It feels great.
BROWN: I know you said just a second ago, or we just played your press conference from earlier where you said that being female has nothing to do with it. But you really are making history. Do you feel any pressure at all because of that?
RANDOLPH: I am staying focused. I'm staying focused on the kids. You know, history is great, but I put a lot of pressure on myself, so I really want to do well. I want the kids to do well. I want to do well for them. So I'm trying to stay focused on that. We have a lot of work to do. I can't wait to get started.
BROWN: Why do you think it's taken so long for women to move into this role, to become head football coaches?
RANDOLPH: Because, you know, women's football is fairly new in relation to how long men have been playing football, so, you know, it's a matter of time. And as we get further along in the sport, you know, these type of things will come.
BROWN: What kind of reaction did you get from the players when you were first introduced as their new coach?
RANDOLPH: When they did the formal introduction, they were all great. They applauded me --
BROWN: Yes.
RANDOLPH: Yes. There was a little buzzing before, you know, the official announcement, but the ones that, if they had any questions, they came to talk to me. You know, I'm not going to say what we talked about, but after we talked, they were all great. They've been nothing but supportive.
BROWN: And what about the reaction more generally? You know, the community, and even people outside of the community.
RANDOLPH: Actually, it's so new that I haven't even -- I haven't had a chance to hear too much. The people that are immediately around me, though, my family, my friends, the school, other coaches that I know have all been very, very, very supportive, and I'm really, really appreciative of that.
BROWN: What made you get involved in such a male-dominated sport in the first place? And when did you start playing football?
RANDOLPH: I've always loved football. I -- geez, from high school, before that. I wanted to play in high school. My father told me no. And I ran track in college, and then when I came back from that, I heard about The Divas, the tackle team that I played with, and I had to try out. I went to see them play and it was just like, oh, yes. I have to do this. Because I love the sport so --
BROWN: And that's, I guess, why you applied for the job, right?
RANDOLPH: Yes. Yes.
BROWN: And has it been, I guess overall, a difficult journey to get here, presumably? Like anybody, you're running into a lot of obstacles along the way. What were some of your biggest challenges?
It actually -- I would think teaching is probably more challenging than this. You know, the pieces kind of all fell together. It wasn't, you know, something I set out to do. That's just the way the cookie crumbled.
I mean, I started teaching. People knew I coached -- people knew I played football. At first when I first started coaching at my old school, H.D. Woodson, they asked me to come and help out because they knew that I had played. So it kind of just fell into place. It wasn't something that I set out and said, OK, this is what I need to do. These are the things I need to accomplish.
BROWN: I'm assuming, though, at some point in your career, players or other coaches have treated you differently because you're a woman. Is that fair?
RANDOLPH: I'd say that's fair. It's not been, you know, at the forefront of anything. You know, it happens just like people treat you unfair in any walk of life. But it hasn't been, you know, so pervasive that it's like a huge, insurmountable goal.
BROWN: Do you feel like you've had to work harder to prove yourself?
RANDOLPH: I work harder, anyway. And I kind of I don't set out to prove people wrong. I have a lot to prove for myself. I hold myself -- I hold very high expectations for myself. So I usually focus on that, and then, you know, opportunities come.
BROWN: And finally, what do you think is going to happen when you get out there on the field to coach your very first game?
RANDOLPH: I think people are going to be excited. I think the kids are going to be excited, I'm going to be excited. I mean, you know, I can't say how it's going to be, but I know we're excited now, so I'm sure we're going to be even more excited then.
BROWN: Well, Natalie Randolph, I know you're downplaying the historic nature of all this and just trying to be in the moment, but it's a big deal. And congratulations to you. Really excited for you. Good luck.
RANDOLPH: Thank you.
BROWN: And still ahead, new details in Tiger Woods' SUV accident and which upcoming tournament we just may see him back in action.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Coming up, we are learning more about the infamous Tiger Woods car crash. The report just now being made public. But first, we have more must-see news happening right now. Mike Galanos here with tonight's "Download."
Hey, Mike.
MIKE GALANOS, HLN PRIME NEWS: Hey, Campbell. First off, a California prosecutor is accusing Toyota of knowingly selling hundreds of thousands of defective cars. The Orange County district attorney is seeking a court order to stop Toyota from selling vehicles with acceleration problems. The complaint is the first by a government agency over the recalls, and it also names Toyota Motor Sales USA in the company's credit and financial services divisions. Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid's wife had surgery today after being seriously injured in a car accident. Doctors in Virginia stabilized 69-year-old Landra Reid. She suffered a broken neck, back and nose after a tractor-trailer rear-ended the minivan she was riding in yesterday. The driver of the tractor-trailer was charged with reckless driving.
Well, some cabbies in New York City have ripped off customers to the tune of $8 million in just the last two years. Officials say some taxi drivers switched their meters to double the rates, so, on average, passengers paid four and a half bucks more than they were supposed to. One cabbie is accused of single-handedly stealing 40 grand through these phony fares.
BROWN: Whoa. All right.
GALANOS: Great bucks. Campbell, back to you.
BROWN: Yes. Mike Galanos for us. Mike, have a good weekend. Thanks very much.
GALANOS: You too. Thanks.
BROWN: Still ahead, Florida police released their report on Tiger Woods' car crash. The surprising details when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: New details tonight about the Tiger Woods car crash episode back in November. A Florida Highway Patrol report has just been made public. It turns out the ambulance crew suspected domestic violence was in play. Police were also given bottles of pain pills that Tiger had taken that day, and there's more.
And we want to bring in right now national correspondent Susan Candiotti and also David Dusek, who is senior editor of "Sports Illustrated" Golf Group to fill us in on all of this.
And, Susan, you've been following this for a long time. What's been getting a lot of attention I think is what's been written about police suspicions of domestic violence. What did we find on this report?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's the first thing we're really hearing a bit about. It's really incremental in nature, but we knew that that night that Tiger's wife Elin did not get into the ambulance. Well, now we have one possible -- we want to emphasize -- reason why.
The Florida Highway Patrol and the record that was released refers to some information they got from paramedics that they interviewed on the scene that night.
BROWN: Right.
CANDIOTTI: And we pulled up a full-screen statement for you so you could see an excerpt from it. And it states that one of the crew stated that D-1's wife, and D-1 of course, is Tiger, could not go into the ambulance because this was a domestic. Well, of course, in cop speak, a domestic means a possible problem at home.
BROWN: Right. Right.
CANDIOTTI: But remember in his apology, Tiger has consistently denied that his wife ever hurt him, period, end of story. He says.
BROWN: What about also whether he was taking medication? Do we have an answer on that clearly? Or no?
CANDIOTTI: Well, we did initially know that the night of the accident that the paramedics did say that Elin told them that yes, he had had something to drink that day but she didn't know it was hours earlier, and that he does take certain medications. Well, this excerpt also indicates that that night she took, quote, "The paramedics asked about any medications and D-1's wife went into their home and retrieved two small bottles and stated that it was Vicodin. But we do know earlier that she said that he was taking Ambien, a sleeping aid --
BROWN: Right.
CANDIOTTI: -- as well as Vicodin, a painkiller.
BROWN: All right. Let me bring in David here because the rumors are also flying right now about his return or his comeback. What do we know?
DAVID DUSEK, SR. EDITOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED GOLF GROUP: Well, a couple days ago it was reported that he may be coming back to the Orlando PGA event which will be happening in about a week and a half. Invitation (INAUDIBLE) with his buddies Arnold Palmer. He lives in Orlando, all made a lot of sense. The report coming out now makes it sound much more like that Tiger Woods, if he's planning to return soon, will be doing it at the Masters in Augusta National. That would basically be the second week of April.
BROWN: That's pretty bold, though, to do such a high profile thing as for your return.
DUSEK: It is when --
BROWN: Yes.
DUSEK: First of all, it is. You know, because it's one of the most prestigious events in the calendar, why would you make your first appearance there? But there's three reasons that I can think of where it would be actually a really smart move for Tiger.
Number one, he knows the course from a golf perspective --
BROWN: Right.
DUSEK: -- like the back of his hand. He's won the Augusta National four times. They haven't changed the course. He knows it perfectly. Number two, there's not going to be a lot of outside like non-sport in golf media that will be at Augusta National. But to get in there, to get a media badge, they've already closed off the application process. Mine came in by e-mail.
BROWN: They're true golfers, right?
DUSEK: True golf people. You're not going to get the TNTs. The tabloids are not going to be gained access. He's protected from that. Number three is the fans. The people who are going to be at Augusta National, get those prestigious guys to go there, are not going to be holding up big signs with all kinds of things. They're not going to be yelling things out of Tiger. They are the golf's purest of the pure. So they actually are the kind of people who want to see Tiger Woods perform. They're interested in the athlete, not the circus side show, nearly as much as people at a regular PGA tour event, late in the afternoon, have a couple of beers and all of a sudden this stuff starts coming out.
BROWN: Right. I was going to ask you about the reception, but based on that analysis, it sounds like of anyplace it would be there.
DUSEK: If he's going to get a positive reception some place, the warmest welcome he's probably going to get would be at Augusta National.
BROWN: David, appreciate it. And Susan, as always, thanks very much, Susan.
"LARRY KING LIVE" starts in just a few minutes, but first, a Haitian orphan finds a best friend and a brother in his new Colorado home. This is a great story. It's just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: It has been two months since that devastating earthquake struck Haiti, destroying a country and so many families. But for one little boy, the unimaginable tragedy came with a silver lining, speeding his American adoption from a matter of months to a matter of days. And tonight, Amber Lyon has this heartwarming story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is 12-year-old Swolbee (ph), earthquake survivor. Next to him, his new brother Cason. These boys are two weeks apart in age, and they're inseparable.
LYON (on camera): Who is this?
SWOLBEE: Akon.
LYON: Oh, Akon. You're a big fan of his.
CASON NOWLIN: There's a lot of different artists. He likes the song so much that he wrote down every word. LYON: Can you sing it for us?
SWOLBEE: And I knew we're alone. Sorry for the time that I had to go. Sorry for --
LYON (voice-over): After the quake struck, Swolbee and his sister Marla were rushed from their orphanage, put on a plane and flown to Colorado Springs to live with the Nowlin family. A picture says a thousand words, huh?
There is Dad Greg, Mom Melissa. We have Riley, Cason, Alex, Henley (ph) and we can't forget little Cai (ph).
LYON (on camera): Oh, my gosh. That's the cutest thing I've seen all year.
What is it like having seven kids now, all of a sudden?
MELISSA NOWLIN: The noise has gone up. The number of socks that I need to wash has gone up. You know, the food.
LYON (voice-over): With six brothers and sisters, Swolbee is surrounded by laughs and luxuries, but nothing can replace Haiti.
(on camera): Do you ever miss Haiti?
SWOLBEE: I do.
LYON: You do?
SWOLBEE: Yes. I miss my mom. I miss my family and the nuns, and my friends.
LYON: The nannies.
SWOLBEE: Yes.
LYON: Oh, the nannies at the orphanage.
SWOLBEE: Yes. And my friends.
LYON: That makes you sad.
SWOLBEE: Yes.
LYON (voice-over): So what's easing the sadness and helping him adjust to his new life? We sent Swolbee a digital camera and we sent him on a mission to snap pics of things in his new country that bring him happiness.
SWOLBEE: (INAUDIBLE)
LYON (on camera): (INAUDIBLE) at the button. Isn't that pretty cool?
SWOLBEE: Yes. LYON: Do you ever stand out there and just hit the button and make it you go up and then down and up and down?
What's that?
SWOLBEE: That's my chocolate milk.
LYON: Oh, let's go back to that. Oh, that's your chocolate milk?
C. NOWLIN: He loves chocolate milk.
LYON: OK, then, who's this little guy?
SWOLBEE: (INAUDIBLE)
C. NOWLIN: From the zoo (ph) market.
SWOLBEE: Yes.
LYON (voice-over): We couldn't help but notice that almost every pic Swolbee took was of a pet rodent.
(on camera): What do you call this?
SWOLBEE: It's the market.
LYON: The market?
SWOLBEE: Yes.
LYON: Why do you call it that?
SWOLBEE: Because they have a lot of animals.
LYON: In Haiti, most of the stores are markets.
SWOLBEE: Yes.
LYON: So this store has animals.
SWOLBEE: yes.
LYON: So Swolbee calls it the zoo market. It's your favorite place, right, in Colorado. Apparently his parents tell me he comes here a couple times a week.
SWOLBEE: I love it.
LYON (voice-over): No surprise, he tells us he had a pet mouse in Haiti, Jerry (ph).
SWOLBEE: Look at him on his wheel. That one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You got him?
SWOLBEE: Yes. SWOLBEE: So cool.
LYON (on camera): Is it cool having him around?
C. NOWLIN: Yes, I love him around. He's awesome. When he came, I almost cried. It was awesome. I was so happy. Saw the first people come off and then I was like, he's coming.
SWOLBEE: I want a guinea pig.
C. NOWLIN: You want a guinea pig?
LYON (voice-over): But the more time we spend with Swolbee, the more we noticed what comforts him the most are not guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils.
C. NOWLIN: Show me another one.
We don't use that a one a lot, though.
LYON (on camera): Well, I can see why. That was painful.
GREG NOWLIN: Oh, it's kind of like the buddy system. Cason has been helping Swolbee out.
M. NOWLIN: Cason shows him all kinds of stuff, helping him. But then Swolbee teaches him a lot of things, too.
LYON: It doesn't look like these guys get along at all, you know. Considering that there over here, there's a huge, empty couch.
G. NOWLIN: Yes.
LYON: Yet they choose to sit on that chair together.
G. NOWLIN: Yes. Well, you'll have to look at the picture that I gave you of them falling asleep on the bed. That's how they woke up that one day when I think Cason was sleeping on Swolbee, and they're just buddies. And they were brothers before they even knew they were brothers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: The Nowlins said shortly after the earthquake they learned that Swolbee and his sister were alive. They were living in tents near the rubble, and with help of U.S. officials, they were able to expedite the adoption and bring their children home to safety.
A quick programming note before we say goodbye tonight. Tune in to CNN's two-hour documentary, "Her Name was Steven." It is the story of one man's lifetime struggle with gender and how he changed everything. That's Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
That's it for now. We will see you back here on Monday. Have a great weekend everybody.
"LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.
