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Lou Dobbs Tonight
Obama Wins Another Key Endorsement; Senator McCain Apologizes for Remarks Made by Bill Cunningham; Congress Wants Answers from the Food Industry
Aired February 26, 2008 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, one week before the Ohio and Texas primaries former presidential candidate, Senator Chris Dodd has endorsed Barack Obama and calls upon Democrats to come together. We'll have that, the latest on the Republican race as well, all the day's news and much more straight ahead here tonight.
ANNOUNCER: This is LOU DOBBS TONIGHT: news, debate, and opinion for Tuesday, February 26. Live from New York, Lou Dobbs.
DOBBS: Good evening, everybody.
Senator Barack Obama today won a key endorsement in his fight to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Former presidential candidate Senator Chris Dodd called on all Democrats to unite behind Senator Obama. Dodd insists he's not trying to convince Senator Clinton to abandon the race, however.
Meanwhile, Senator McCain today apologized for remarks made by one of his top supporters about Senator Obama. Radio show host, Bill Cunningham, told McCain supporters that foreign leaders who want to kill Americans would celebrate an Obama victory.
We have extensive coverage tonight and we begin with Candy Crowley on the Democratic battle -- Candy?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, you are right. Today Senator Dodd did endorse Barack Obama, seen as one of the most experienced men in the U.S. Senate, Dodd's' endorsement is a signal that he believes Obama also has the experience to be president. But there was more to it than that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY (voice-over): It's not just that Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd endorsed Barack Obama, it is what he said while doing so.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), CONNECTICUT: This is the moment for Democrats and Independents and others to come together to get behind this candidacy. I don't want a campaign that is only divisive here and there's a danger of it becoming that.
CROWLEY: Dodd says he had a not-comfortable phone call with Hillary Clinton last night. But he denies he is suggesting she ought to drop out. Dodd says he's just trying to cool down the trail. DODD: I know the temptation in the campaigns. Beyond the ability, the candidates themselves to control it, it can get out of control. We witnessed a little bit of that here.
CROWLEY: This is not what Clinton needs right now as her campaign seeks Tara Firma (ph) with twin wins in Ohio and Texas. In an interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network Clinton seemed alternately angry with Obama for what she says are distortions of her record and mystified by his appeal.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that there's a certain phenomenon associated with his candidacy, and I am, you know, really struck by that because it is, you know, very much about him and his personality and his presentation.
CROWLEY: A policy walk, Clinton is praised for her command of the issues sometimes panned as robotic and cold. In the interview, she agreed with the premise that she's misunderstood, suggesting it's a by-product of tumultuous times during her husband's presidency.
H. CLINTON: I think what happened during the '90s was incredibly hurtful for the country and for people directly involved to be caricaturized and in a sense dehumanized.
CROWLEY: She is certainly down, more certainly not out. She looks at the week ahead and sees possibilities. His candidacy is up but not certain. He sees the dangers.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just want to remind people I've got a long way to go. I don't want people to get any sense that we're getting ahead of ourselves here. What we've done successfully over the last month is take each contest one day at a time.
CROWLEY: This evening brings danger and possibilities to both candidates in the last debate before next Tuesday's critical primaries.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: Just this afternoon I was e-mailing with a Clinton aide and asked him to size up the state of the race as it is now. Very simple answer, Lou -- he said she's not out, and he's not in -- Lou?
DOBBS: All right, Candy, thank you very much, Candy Crowley.
Well, to sum up the shape of this race at this moment, the latest poll of polls shows Senator Obama with a clear lead over Senator Clinton among Democrats nationally. The poll of polls suggests Obama has 50 percent support among Democrats compared with 40 percent for Senator Clinton. The survey includes three major polls taken between February 20 and 24.
The polls also indicate as many as 70 percent of all Democrats now believe Senator Obama will be the Democratic nominee. Democrats telling pollsters that Obama is more electable than Clinton. Senator John McCain today quickly apologized for one of his leading supporters who used harsh language about Senator Obama. A radio talk show host told a McCain rally that Obama is, "a hack Chicago style daily politician." McCain immediately said he repudiates those remarks. He called his Democratic rivals honorable Americans.
John King has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first glance, perhaps a sign of progress, a conservative radio talk show host on hand to support John McCain.
BILL CUNNINGHAM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: All is going to be right with the world when the great prophet from Chicago takes the stand and the world leaders who want to kill us will simply be singing 'Kumbaya' together around the table of Barack Obama...
KING: Bill Cunningham is a local legend in Cincinnati.
CUNNINGHAM: Well, my fellow Americans, now we have a hack Chicago-style daily politician who's picturing himself as change.
KING: And an instant headache for a candidate who everyday promises a respectful tone.
CUNNINGHAM: It's going to peel the bark off of Barack Hussein Obama. That day will come. At some point the media will quick taking sides in this thing and maybe start covering Barack Hussein Obama.
KING: Senator McCain was on his bus at the time planning to focus his day on the economy and national security.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Strategy and I'm telling you it is succeeding. It is succeeding, and there is no doubt about that.
KING: But as he headed off stage after the event, top aide Mark Salter told McCain about Cunningham's remarks. The senator immediately and repeatedly denounced them.
MCCAIN: I did not know about these remarks, but I take responsibility for them. I repudiate them.
KING: McCain said local supporters arranged the program and that he had never met Cunningham.
(on-camera): Where do you draw the line? He called Senator Obama, he said he was a Chicago daily political hack and he twice used his middle name. Is Barack Obama's middle name appropriate in this campaign?
MCCAIN: No, it is not. Any comment that is disparaging of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is totally inappropriate, and I absolute repudiate such comments. Again, I will take responsibility. It will never happen again. It will never happen again.
CUNNINGHAM: I'm the warm-up act. I'm introducing him and I'm getting drilled by the candidate that I'm introducing.
KING (voice-over): Later on his WLW program, Cunningham read news accounts of his comments and lashed out at the media coverage and at McCain.
CUNNINGHAM: He said, "I repudiate him." He didn't even know what I said. How does he repudiate me without knowing what he's repudiating?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Now, local McCain supporters acknowledge that Cunningham is often a magnet for controversy, but Lou they said he was invited because in the past he's proven invaluable at ginning up Republican excitement and conservative turnout. Word of this of course quickly reached the Obama campaign. They said they accept Senator McCain's apology and they applauded him for so quickly denouncing and repudiating those attacks -- Lou.
DOBBS: Well John, thank you. John King reporting.
And speaking of repudiation, repudiation of "The New York Times" today for its reporting on Senator McCain's links with a lobbyist eight years ago. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the recent "New York Times" article amounted to a smear. Mayor Bloomberg told the "New York Post," "I think that the story alleged things either explicitly or implicitly that they had no evidence for." Repudiation I believe you would call that.
The war in Iraq remains a major issue both on and off the campaign trail. The Marine Corps tonight has called for an investigation into charges of gross mismanagement of a program to send mine resistant vehicles to Iraq to protect our troops. A Marine Corps technology expert says delays in that program led to hundreds of casualties in Iraq, casualties that could have otherwise been prevented.
Jamie McIntyre has our report from the Pentagon.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Back in the beginning of 2005 in response to increasingly deadly IED attacks in Iraq, a two-star Marine Corps commander dispatched a critical request to the Pentagon -- send more MRAPS. This form dated February 17, 2005, published in a just released report shows the major general asks for more than 1,000 of the heavily armored vehicles and marked the request urgent, needed ASAP. But his superiors, including now-retired Marine Corps Commandant Michael Hagee (ph) didn't think the threat was that dire. BRIG. GEN. JOHN CASTELLAW, DEPUTY COMMANDANT FOR PROGRAMS: I'll just say that General Hagee was in theater every two to three months personally assessing the situation.
MCINTYRE: General Hagee and his staff decided bolting more armor on Humvees would be good enough. It was not. The miscalculation was tacitly admitted last summer, more than a year later when Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered hundreds move MRAPS to Iraq as a top priority. At the time the Marine Corps was still in denial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We feel very comfortable that the process that we have in place allows us to keep pace with this threat.
MCINTYRE: It was just that kind of explanation that sparked a scathing rebuke from a civilian advisor to the Corps, Franz Gayle (ph), who wrote in his January report -- this culture has been criminally negligent in a way that has led directly to the unnecessary loss of hundreds of American and innocent Iraqi lives and countless serious injuries.
The Marines immediately disputed the report's conclusions and pointed out it was one critic's opinion, albeit one inside the Corps. But now to answer congressional outrage, assistant Commandant General Robert Magnus (ph), has requested an independent investigation by the Pentagon's inspector general, in particular, of Gayle's most serious allegations of gross mismanagement and possible criminal negligence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCINTYRE: Now the Marine Corps acknowledges its decisions in a time of war are subject to scrutiny and debate and in hindsight may strike some as unwise. But what rankles some of the senior leadership is the allegation that their judgments were so flawed that their incompetence was so great as to constitute a crime. And Lou, in appointing and ordering an investigation of themselves, they are hoping to be cleared of that charge -- Lou?
DOBBS: You know it's a shame if they think that's the greatest charge of all within that, that it's a crime because the charge that their ignorance led to the loss of American lives is the most severe and serious charge, I would hope, on their minds. Because not only did these leaders in the Pentagon, in the Marine Corps and the United States Army fail in bringing in MRAPS to Iraq in time and expediently as possible, they also failed to up-armor those Humvees in a timely fashion as well, costing lives and casualties again.
This military leadership is not, in my judgment, Jamie McIntyre -- they have no basis to worry about a crime. They should worry about simply carrying out their duty to the men and women who are serving this nation so honorably.
MCINTYRE: Well, the Marine officials in charge here believe that they were reading the situation on the ground and adapting. And, of course, the criticism is that they failed to grasp and adapt fast enough. And I think in retrospect, you can look at it and say, that was clearly the case. The question is were reasonable people making reasonable judgments at the time or was there a real lapse of judgment here?
And this is unusual because the Pentagon inspector general normally looks at you know instances of crime or misconduct or wrongdoing, bribes, that sort of thing. What they're really asking here is for someone to render a judgment on their judgment. Was it sufficient given the information they had at the time?
DOBBS: When we are not doing the utmost for our men and women in combat, the judgment is rather straightforward and it should be, in my opinion, immediate. It has not been through the conduct of most of this war, unfortunately. Jamie, thank you very much. And by the way, in terms of hindsight, we have been reporting on this very issue on this broadcast now for just about three years, Jamie, and relying on much of that for your reporting.
Mr. McIntyre, Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon, thank you.
New evidence today that the Army is stretched almost to the breaking point by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army Chief of Staff General George Casey (ph) told a Senate committee today the Army is quote, unquote, "out of balance." General Casey said the Army must restore its flexibility to deal with future challenges. General Casey also said he wants to shorten the Army's combat tours of duty from 15 months to 12 months by this summer.
Still ahead -- another story you won't believe. The state of Colorado wants to spend taxpayer dollars to hire farm workers from foreign countries with a few bells and whistles attached.
Bill Tucker has our report upcoming -- Bill.
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Lou, with no evidence that it's needed, Colorado may about to be going where no state has gone before, all in the name of cheap foreign labor -- Lou?
DOBBS: Oh, no, not in the name of cheap labor, surely. I can't imagine that happening. Bill, thanks, we look forward to your report.
And new charges that our food industry is continuing to put profits ahead of safety, consumer safety despite repeated food safety scares. We'll have that report.
And millions of people hit by a massive power outage in Florida, the very latest on that and what caused it. We're coming right back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Colorado state legislators are now considering a bill that would allow the state to bring in more foreign farm workers. The effort is in addition to an existing federal program that allows an unlimited number of agricultural workers into this country. That's right, I said unlimited. The action would almost certainly have a negative effect on American farm workers and benefit instead farm owners worried about their payrolls. Bill Tucker has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER (voice-over): Colorado farmers and ranchers say they don't have enough workers, so the state legislators are getting involved, even though the federal government already has an AG worker visa, the H-2A, a visa program with no annual caps. A bill pending in the State Legislature would authorize the state to seek agreements with foreign countries to help recruit and select agricultural workers. It would not replace the federal H-2A; rather it would attempt to expedite the program. Opponents are suspicious of the motives.
ERIK NICHOLSON, UNITED FARM WORKERS: I think the problem is, is that they want to fast track, bringing in foreign guest workers, again, at the expense of undermining conditions for domestic farm workers already in this country.
TUCKER: But the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union who helped craft the bill says quote, "The legislation is written so it does not displace available workers in our communities who seek and desire the opportunities available on farms and ranches throughout our state."
The Colorado bill would add a twist to the federal program. In an attempt to create an incentive for workers to return home, the state would establish worker accounts where employers would deposit 20 percent of a worker's pay to be returned once the worker goes back to their home country.
Farm worker activists say it's outrageous that farm workers would have their wages garnished. They note that most H-2A workers do return home and for those who want to stay, the 20 percent withholding would just be the price of admission.
JENNIFER LEE, MIGRANT WORKER ATTORNEY: Simply because the people who do stay behind are going to do so because their exigent circumstances or they need to do so and will do so at any cost.
TUCKER: Whether this legislation is even needed is debatable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER: For example, last year 245 agricultural employers in Colorado applied for workers through the H-2A program. Only eight of those employers were denied those requests. The denials resulted in a decrease of a whopping 28 H-2A farm workers in the state from the year before, Lou.
DOBBS: Well we don't want to get people in Colorado excited because we're dealing with the facts here. Because you know, this is all about race. This is all about economics. This is all about doing the right thing for those employers. Bull. This is about bringing in cheap labor to those ranchers, to those farmers, and the heck with the American worker.
TUCKER: Well, what we're seeing in Colorado is what we've seen at the national level, Lou. Your anecdotal evidence of employers saying, we don't have enough workers and the legislators saying, oh, you're right, you don't. There's no study. There's no proof and the facts go to the contrary.
DOBBS: Well in point of fact, there is a study. You just gave it. Twenty-eight workers denied eight employers in the state of Colorado last year. Is anybody listening in government anywhere in this country?
And when are the American people going to wake up and perhaps we should start with the people in Colorado in this instance and say, do your jobs. Use your mind. Use your brain. Actually do some work for a change, instead of pursue some sort of political socio-ethnocentric agenda. You don't suppose.
TUCKER: No, no.
DOBBS: Bill Tucker, thank you.
Maryland is one of a growing number of states taking action on its own to deal with the impact of our illegal immigration crisis. Today, Maryland state senator, E.J. Pipkin, introduced a bill to deny state services to illegal aliens in that state. Last night hundreds of pro-amnesty advocates rallied outside the State House in Annapolis.
They were there to protest that legislation. The keynote speaker, Janet Murgia, president of the National Council of La Raza. La Raza, one of the country's largest amnesty advocacy groups, blasting Maryland's efforts to actually assert some sort of authority over the state and worker rules and oh yes, legality of residents.
Another example tonight of the extreme rhetoric being used by the amnesty and open border advocates. This issue has not gone away, folks. People are trying to lull everyone to sleep, but meanwhile they're charging ahead. A California Congressman today said federal immigration raids were quote, "Gestapo like", stay with me. I want to repeat that, Gestapo like. Now if I used the expression Gestapo like, we would be hearing from every advocacy group that is pretending to be a civil rights group in this country.
But Congressman Sam Farr, a Democrat, made that remark at a House committee hearing. Farr was questioning Immigration and Customs Enforcement Chief Julie Meyers when he said, and I quote, "the public image of you becomes one of not this compassionate law enforcement agency but essentially a Gestapo-type agency that is knocking down doors."
Meyers to her credit responded angrily saying, "we are not the Gestapo and I will not let you call our agents that." Good for you, Ms. Meyers. Other congressmen of that committee also objected to his characterization. Farr did not however withdraw his remark. And he told LOU DOBBS TONIGHT he was simply discussing the impression of ICE among his constituents.
Farr said ICE employees told him directly that local residents view ICE as the Gestapo. Congressman Farr, you're welcome to come here any night, any time and we'll discuss this. And I really want to see the evidence of it and I really want to understand why you would not withdraw such an insulting statement. The White House is commenting on the government of Mexico's efforts to end the border and drug violence to no good effect. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino saying, "the president believes President Calderon is making very good efforts in trying to help secure the border."
That's the subject of our poll tonight. Dare we ask this question: Do you agree with President Bush that Mexican President Calderon -- can you believe the president of the United States first of all said this? Not to in any way, in any way color the response to this question -- is making very good efforts in trying to help secure the border? Yes or no.
How many more months of this ridiculous administration do we have to put up with? We didn't put that actually on there, just yes or no. Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results here later in the broadcast.
Up next -- Congress wants to know why millions of Americans have been put at risk from unsafe food. We'll have that report.
And the foreclosure crisis, no signs of abating and millions of American homeowners are losing their battles to keep their homes. We'll have that special report.
And a massive blackout leaves millions without power in Florida. We'll have the latest details.
Stay with us. We're coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Food industry executives today faced blistering criticism on Capitol Hill. Congressmen now demanding to know why unsafe food continues to be allowed to reach American consumers and why our consumers in this country remain at risk. Kitty Pilgrim has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our food safety system is broken.
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fourteen months, five subcommittee hearings later, it is the same story.
REP. BART STUPAK (D), MICHIGAN: Of so had-called voluntary compliance relying on the food industry to place safety before profits does not appear to be working.
PILGRIM: Today Congress lined up the CEOs of major food companies demanding to know why last year alone 22 million pounds of beef recalled, salmonella suspected in meat pies in 31 states, a nationwide recall of spinach, Peter Pan peanut butter sickened 425 people.
REP. DIANA DEGETTE (D), COLORADO: Every six months or a year, you folks are in with some new problem and our constituents are stopping us and saying what can you do to make our food safer?
PILGRIM: But it's not just food producers. Some testified that even after repeated warnings about imported food, the government also ignored safety.
DAVID EISENBERG, ANRESCO LABORATORIES: I was flabbergasted when I saw President George Bush on television plucking from a Guatemalan farm last year praising that industry for developing an export business for produce when his appointees knew a high percentage of the product violated FDA standards.
PILGRIM: And one former FDA official says the entire system is in crisis, but monitoring imports is critical.
CARL NIELSEN, FDA-IMPORTS.COM: It is absolutely a travesty that FDA knows so little and, in fact, recently have been extremely excited that they've accomplished 1,000 foreign inspections for the year, which means that about every two or 300 years every firm will be inspected. That's just absolutely unacceptable.
PILGRIM: And the FDA has lost valuable staff, 80 senior food safety professionals in the last two years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PILGRIM: Today was a day for excuses. ConAgra said its peanut butter contamination was because of a leaky roof. The CEO of Butterball said he had no idea how the potpies may have been contaminated. And there were USDA inspections at the Westland/Hallmark meat plant, but it was the same plant that issued the biggest recall in history, lots of excuses that won't reassure the American consumer -- Lou.
DOBBS: And if one had any hope at all that with these congressional hearings that these companies would change the way in which they're behaving or the agencies responsible for securing and assuring American consumer safety, I mean, there's just no assurance of that at all.
PILGRIM: Not at all.
DOBBS: Give us a list of some of the big companies that were there.
PILGRIM: The companies that were there were Dole, ConAgra, Bumble Bee, Butterball. Notably absent was the CEO of Westland/Hallmark who refused to appear. And the actually said they may have to subpoena the guy. This is the largest beef recall in history.
DOBBS: The meatpacking outfit that may never open its doors again according to some reports. Thank you so much, Kitty Pilgrim.
Well time now for some of your thoughts.
Joseph in Texas wrote in to say: "Lou, I am proud to announce I'm registering as an Independent. It's time that someone listened to the needs and interests of the American people. We need you, Lou." Well congratulations.
And Sandra in Texas: "Lou, thanks for pointing out what the candidates are not saying. Identity politics is the non-critical thinking politics."
And Michael in Arkansas: "Lou, the show just keeps getting better and better. Thanks for keeping me first and now my family informed. We have a rule at our house. The horses and the dogs have to be fed and all chores done by 5:45 p.m. Central Time. We do not miss Lou Dobbs. Thanks for a job well done. Semper Fi."
Thank you and Semper Fi right back.
We'll have more of your thoughts here later in the broadcast. Each of you whose e-mail is read receives a copy of my book, "Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit".
Up next -- millions of American homeowners are being crushed by our credit crisis, plummeting home prices and soaring mortgage payments. We'll have that special report.
And superdelegate Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Ohio joins us to tell us whether she plans to support Senator Obama or Senator Clinton. We'll also be talking about the devastating impact of free trade and see if she can make sense out of what either of those Democratic candidates are saying about the issue of free trade.
The Republican candidate presumptive front-runner nominee, Senator McCain, well he's the biggest free trader of all, he says. We'll be talking about that too.
And we'll be telling you about that massive power outage in Florida. New evidence of the vulnerability of our national power grid. We'll have the latest.
We're coming right back. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: A massive power outage this afternoon, blacking out large parts of the state of Florida. Millions of people there lost electricity. And at this hour, almost all of the power has been restored. The power company officials saying an equipment failure at a substation caused that outage.
Those officials have provided no further details of this failure, however, at this hour. The blackout caused traffic jams across the state's major cities -- Miami down to the Florida Keys without power. Jacksonville to the north suffering outages as well for about five to six hours.
Home foreclosures are skyrocketing in Florida and other parts of the country as well, of course. Nationwide now foreclosures are up 57 percent over the last year. Nevada and California had the highest foreclosure rates in the nation in January. In Nevada, the number of foreclosures nearly doubled, up 95 percent from a year ago.
A rising number of Americans are now facing a situation not seen since the Great Depression. They owe far more on their mortgages than their homes are now worth. One Massachusetts homeowner says she has no choice but to sell her home for a tremendous loss.
As Christine Romans reports, there are literally millions more homeowners facing exactly the same crushing decision.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the house in Worcester, Massachusetts, Heather Distefano says her family can no longer afford to live in.
HEATHER DISTEFANO, HOMEOWNER: This is my house that when I first moved in here my mortgage started at $1,300 a month. Now my mortgage is up to $3,100 a month.
ROMANS: She and her husband bought the house in 2005 for $306,000. After months on the market, today the only offer is for $240,000. Her adjustable rate mortgage payments have increased. She knew they would, but not this much.
And she never figured the value of her home would decrease. Their $79,000 household income isn't enough for them to hold on for the housing market to improve. After rising monthly payments, annual heating bills, taxes and health insurance for her family of three --
DISTEFANO: We were just drowning in debt.
ROMANS: There are almost nine million other Americans like her who owe more than the homes are worth. According to analysis from Moody's Economy.com, the largest share of homeowners since the Great Depression.
Goldman Sachs forecasts some 30 percent of all mortgages will be upside down by the end of the year, that's 15 million homeowners. Some tap the equity in their homes. Some bought homes they could never afford in the first place. Others want to sell, but are trapped by falling home prices.
LARRY SUMMERS, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY: We're in territory the likes of which we've not seen in this country in a very, very long time. Loans have been extended with much more generous terms, much smaller down payments than had been traditional, and the fact that we're seeing an unprecedented break in house prices means we're going to have more people with negative equity than we've ever seen before.
ROMANS: Summers says the voluntary plans from lenders and the federal government so far have not done enough to help homeowners. Heather Distefano says she spent three months calling banks and government hot lines to no avail.
DISTEFANO: I want somebody from the government, the state, somebody to please help us people that can't afford our homes. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: The family is desperately trying to negotiate what is called a short sale, turning the house over at a loss, for the bank to sell, the bank would lose money but avoid a potentially more costly foreclosure. No luck yet. The auction is set for June, Lou.
DOBBS: A couple of things. About how many homes are now estimated in this country to be under water? That is, people owing more than their homes are worth? And secondly, what percentage of the homes?
ROMANS: According to Moody's Econony.com, it's 8.8 million right now, and Goldman Sachs looking out for the rest of the year, it its chief U.S. economist said they're expect 30 percent, that would be 15 million homeowners.
DOBBS: The Goldman Sachs economists?
ROMANS: Yes.
DOBBS: I wonder if the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein knows the chief economist because this is the same moron who was complaining about the fact apparently, according to Liz Smith that I have a few questions and concerns about this economy and he sees the economy as just fine.
Perhaps Lloyd would like to come on here and show me the error of my ways and educate me perhaps from his lofty Wall Street perch on how millions of Americans are faring and what their prospects are. Lloyd, you certainly -- I would love to have you do it. I would love to have you come on and talk to my face, not to my back, partner. I know it's not the way you do it on Wall Street there, hot shot, but try it here. Come on down. Open invitation.
The idea that nothing has been done to this point, it's -- the heck of it is this government is such a mess we can't really hold out hope for anybody that anything is going to happen because nothing is happening with this government.
ROMANS: The former treasury secretary and a lot of other people are saying we've got to find some smart new ideas for this. It might have to be writing down principle. It might even have to be...
DOBBS: That's another problem because there's another genius from Goldman Sachs. What's his name? Paulson, the Treasury Secretary? God help us. Christine, thanks - Christine Romans.
Well, there may be more help on the way for Americans trapped in this mortgage crisis, hopefully. Congress is thinking about some new proposals that would help struggling homeowners.
Joining me now for more on the mortgage crisis is our own CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis. She is also author of the brand new book "Home Rich: Increasing the Value of the Biggest Investment of Your Life." Joining us tonight from CNN Center. Gerri, what is Congress going to do now? We've been talking about that, Christine and I, just now, about what can they do to help the struggling homeowners across the country?
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, Lou, the Senate right now is debating a bill which would allow bankruptcy judges to write down the value of mortgages for people that are in bankruptcy and foreclosure. Now the administration has already promised that they're going to veto that legislation if it gets anywhere.
And this is just more of the same that we've gotten for the last year. We've been covering this for 18 months now. What we've gotten is a lot of hearings, a lot of press conferences. In fact, my favorite, Senator Chris Dodd, actually put out a press release at one point that said, hey, I'm thinking about putting out some legislation, but nothing significant has happened to date. We're still waiting to see something thorough going out of Congress. It just hasn't happened yet.
DOBBS: Unfortunately, there's so many things we can say about Washington that hasn't happened yet. Gerri, thanks a lot - Gerri Willis. And the book is "Home Rich." Good luck with the book, go get 'em.
WILLIS: Thank you.
DOBBS: Up next -- the Democratic nomination may come down to superdelegates. We'll be talking to one and super congresswoman in fact, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio.
And is the media giving Barack Obama a free ride? I'll be talking about that among other things with three of the country's top radio talk show hosts.
Stay with us. We're coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: The primaries in Ohio and Texas now just a week away. The race between Clinton and Obama extremely close still. The party's superdelegates could still be the deciding factor between those two. And joining me now is one of those superdelegates, she's also Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio, superdelegate.
Well superdelegate par excellent, I'll just add something to that if I may, congresswoman. Good to have you with us.
REP. MARCY KAPTUR (D), OHIO: Thank you very much, Lou.
DOBBS: Why are you not declared at this point? Why haven't you made up your mind?
KAPTUR: The entire Ohio delegation, but for one, is uncommitted because we are holding our votes trying to invite the candidates on our side of the aisle to travel with us to three or four areas of Ohio that have been so hard hit in the economy, to meet with those firms and individuals who have been outsourced, who have seen their jobs go to anyplace else in the world but Ohio. And to get more into depth with them in conversation, not in rally style, but conversation about what has happened in Ohio as representative of what's happening in our country and what can they do help us do about it.
DOBBS: Congresswoman, I know you're like me. There's pretty clear evidence here. We're talking about 31 consecutive years of trade deficits, we're talking about millions of jobs lost. We are talking about millions of jobs outsourced. At what point does it become clear to these two senators, Obama and Clinton, what is abundantly clear to you and me and other thinking people in this country about changing the direction of these idiotic trade policies?
KAPTUR: Lou, I just happened to bring a chart with me this evening that shows that America is headed toward a trillion dollars in trade deficit. This is unbelievable. America has never faced this before.
And what's been sad about the race in Ohio to date is how the candidates have been pirouetting around the issue. They have been very, very thin on prescription. They've been identifying with some of the problems, but the programs thus far have not been very specific. I hope the debate tonight helps to get more detail. But neither has a real plan at this point. Of course, Senator McCain, we didn't invite him because he's on the other side of the aisle.
DOBBS: Of it would have been a very short discussion anyway. He says he's the biggest free trader of all. So I don't know what in the world we can expect from him that would be of any benefit at all to working men and women in this country and their families.
But in the case of Obama, we've seen him attack Clinton because she wants to modify NAFTA while he himself says it would do no good after he attacks her to change or to eliminate NAFTA. So I mean, I don't know what your party is going to be able to do here between these two candidates.
KAPTUR: Well, I think it's very interesting because both of them voted for the recent Peru agreement, which is modeled after the NAFTA. So we need a new trade model. We need to be able to aggressively export our products in open closed markets of the world.
For example, Japan is still closed to us. We need a president of the United States that will stand up for jobs in this country for a middle class way of life and not just for penny wage labor in all of these countries that really don't welcome our products.
DOBBS: Well you haven't given us much reason for hope as you've described precisely the positions of Senators Obama and Clinton and Senator McCain, he's an even bigger free trader.
KAPTUR: Well, that's why we're hoping that the Ohio primary will be ground zero in this fight. We hope that we can encourage them to tell the American people how they will change America when they become president of the United States.
DOBBS: All righty. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, as always, good to have you here -- thanks for being here.
KAPTUR: Thank you.
DOBBS: A reminder now to vote in our poll: Do you agree with President Bush that Mexican President Calderon "is making very good efforts trying to help secure our border?" Yes or no, cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results here in a few minutes.
Coming up at the top of the hour, the "Election Center" and John Roberts.
John, what are you working on?
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Lou, thanks very much. At the top of the hour on the "CNN Election Center" I'll be talking about Bill Cunningham. He is the Cincinnati radio talk show host who slammed Senators Obama and Clinton during a McCain campaign rally.
McCain came out later and repudiated Cunningham's remarks and apologized three times for letting it happen. Cunningham himself isn't so apologetic. We'll hear from him, Lou, coming up at the top of the hour.
DOBBS: Thank you, John.
Coming up here next, the media accused of treating Senator Obama with kid gloves and a leading McCain supporter and radio talk show host attacked Senator Obama. Three of the best radio talk show hosts in the country, certainly three of my favorite, join us for that and more. Stay with us. We're coming right back,
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: Joining me now three of the country's best and three of my very favorite radio talk show hosts.
From WGN in Chicago, Steve Cochran, he's working right now and letting us intrude. Good to have you.
STEVE COCHRAN, WGN IN CHICAGO: It's always great having you on the show. What else would I do with these 15 minutes, please.
DOBBS: And from Los Angeles, Doug McIntyre, KABC.
Doug, thank you for taking time.
And Mark Simone of WABC Radio here in New York.
Thank you all for being here. Let's start with this fellow in -- you're closest, Steve Cochran -- Cunningham, this hack that he referred to running for president. I couldn't follow it all quite.
COCHRAN: Well, I think maybe we know who the hack is in this story. Look, here's the thing. McCain's people made a mistake here and I'm sure somebody in Ohio in the McCain campaign is probably printing their resumes at Kinko's tonight because Bill Cunningham is on a radio station, WLW, which I'm sure you've talked about earlier in the station. It's a big station, and this guy is a big deal and a talented guy in Cincinnati, but he's a bit of a blow-hard.
You know, this is the Republican Rosie O'Donnell to some extent, and he shoots his mouth off. Everybody should have known that. So when you ask Bill Cunningham to introduce you, you're probably going to have trouble, which is what they had today. And so it falls on McCain, but if Cunningham really wants to get McCain elected, he didn't help him a whole lot today.
DOBBS: You think calling a fellow a daily hack is pretty bad stuff?
COCHRAN: Personally, we like our daily hacks. You know, city of Chicago runs pretty darn well so you can take all the shots you want, but we're pretty happy here.
DOBBS: Don't you like to see that kind of civic pride, Doug?
DOUG MCINTYRE, KABC IN LOS ANGELES: Well listen, I'll tell you Lou. I think John McCain was just so happy to find a talk show host that supported him that he was willing to put anybody on the air. The real bad news for Bill Cunningham is now he's been on TV, Century 21 wants that jacket back.
COCHRAN: Hello!
DOBBS: At this point, let's assume that this is a one-day story with Mr. Cunningham. The idea that Ralph Nader wants a piece of this action is going to be a lasting fable, going through now at least three election years.
What's your reaction, Mark?
MARK SIMONE, WABC IN NEW YORK: I think he's got a great talent for messing up an election for everybody. But I think he lost it in 2004. He didn't really do anything, didn't affect either side. Let's remember that he did affect the election in '92, but I think that's over with.
DOBBS: Yes.
COCHRAN: Well, you know, Lou, I'd have to throw in, too, he's got a right to run here. The two-party system is desperately afraid of anybody that comes in and stirs it up at all. Nader's got no chance at winning and his time may have passed, but we could certainly use an independent free-thinking American. I'm trying to think of who that would be, somebody we could all throw our support behind.
DOBBS: I'm with you. The Democrats are upset because he's entered the race because in 2000 -- Democrats forget that it wasn't just his attraction of votes in Florida that led to any dispute, it was the fact that Al Gore lost his home state of Tennessee that was --
SIMONE: I meant to say in 2000.
DOBBS: That's fine. We knew what you meant.
COCHRAN: You've got to win the home game.
DOBBS: The idea that Ralph Nader will bring if not a freshness at least an honest view on the role of corporate American politics, the importance of partisan politics to the mess we're in, we need some real, real truth talking here.
SIMONE: Except Ralph Nader is an odd sort of fellow.
DOBBS: He is.
SIMONE: He's never been married.
DOBBS: But Obama and Clinton and McCain are just regular folks.
SIMONE: Nader has never been married, never had a driver's license, never driven a car.
DOBBS: Well, that's independent.
COCHRAN: Did you see the research he did on the auto industry? Why would he have a car? He wouldn't go near a car.
DOBBS: What I love is as we sit here talking, I'm an independent populist and we start talking about a fellow and because he shows independence in his lifestyle and his thinking, people put him down.
This is a country that loves its orthodoxies, but are only in my honest belief is for us to shed these orthodoxies and look for people for what they contribute, for who they are and forget the rest of the nonsense.
Doug, your thoughts?
MCINTYRE: Well, I couldn't agree more. Everybody likes to pretend that we like grassroots movements or the independent thinker ,but in reality the Super Bowl ratings were as high as they were because the New England Patriots had won all those games. And the Oscar ratings were down because they nominated a bunch of films that no one went to see, independent films.
The truth is, McDonald's sells a lot more hamburgers than little, quirky restaurants with original cuisine. We like an ordinariness and a sameness and that's why so far, Barack Obama's campaign setting has been so fascinating because he talks with soaring rhetoric about change but in reality if anybody actually proposes change, they want to run him out of town with pitchforks and flaming torches.
COCHRAN: Here's the thing, too, and I think Hillary Clinton has really missed the boat on this and if she doesn't get this right tonight, it may be over. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be hopeful. What Obama has been able to latch onto in this country is this wave of people who are tired of being afraid and tired of not trusting their government on any level and actually believe at least right now that maybe there could be some change.
And I've got to tell you, that's not a bad thing. It's what we do with it afterward, whether it's Obama, Clinton, McCain, Bill Cunningham from Cincinnati or whoever gets the gig. Because the whole --
DOBBS: Ralph Nader.
COCHRAN: Or Ralph Nader, for that matter.
SIMONE: But he doesn't look like a winner. He drags that rumpled suit out of the closet every four years to run.
COCHRAN: I think Obama dresses very nicely, Mark.
SIMONE: In some ways, Obama has almost become the third-party candidate. He just looks different from all the candidates. He looks new, he looks refreshing.
DOBBS: He's having fun.
SIMONE: He's having fun, yes.
COCHRAN: Guys, you've got to get to "Where's the beef?"
DOBBS: Why wouldn't he have fun? Is it true, in your judgment, the national media has given him just a free pass, an easy --
SIMONE: He deserves his free pass because nobody is touching that Clinton war machine. If there is dirt, they'll find it and they haven't found anything.
COCHRAN: Nobody deserves a free pass. He deserves the same treatment everybody else gets. And frankly, he hasn't had it. But in the general election, if he wins the nomination, he will get that.
MCINTYRE: Listen, he's going to be asked tough questions. I believe he's been given a certain degree of latitude that other candidates wouldn't have been given. But on the other hand there's precedence.
He's running -- this is an amazing -- like the William Henry Harrison campaign in 1840 where they sang "Tippy Canoe and Tyler, Too." And they just swept the country along with them. So the longer you can run without having to say anything, man, that's a formula for success.
DOBBS: You know what? Steve Cochran has to go back to his day job and leave us to continue his show on WGN. But I also know right now, knowing Steve as I do, he will be trying to come up with that parallel to "Tyler and Tippy Canoe."
COCHRAN: I think they played second and short for the Cubs at one point. I'm working on it.
DOBBS: Yes, and I'm going to straighten McIntyre out about why that was the most watched Super Bowl. It had something to do with those New York Giants! Come on.
COCHRAN: Thank you, Lou.
DOBBS: Thank you very much, Steve Cochran. We'll be back with Doug McIntyre and Mark Simone in just one moment.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DOBBS: We're back with Doug McIntyre, KABC Los Angeles. Mark Simone, WABC New York City.
Mark, let me ask you this. Is it your judgment, can you fall in line with the conventional wisdom that Hillary Clinton is done, there's no stopping the Obama juggernaut?
SIMONE: Absolutely. In fact, she was done two weeks ago, nobody had the nerve to tell her. She lost 11 in a row by huge, huge margins. And Obama's campaign was all about Obama. Hillary's campaign is all about Obama. All she does is talk about what's wrong with him.
DOBBS: That's a very interesting way to put it. Doug, your thoughts?
MCINTYRE: I think Mark has hit it exactly right. Certainly March 4th is going to be the day. Lou, if she doesn't take both Texas and Ohio, I don't see how she goes on to win the convention unless she just pulls party disciplines, superdelegates, somehow manages to convince the party to allow Florida and Michigan to vote for her after saying that they wouldn't count. It's just a total mess for them if it gets down to Florida and Michigan.
So, what you'll really see is, if Hillary wins is a fractured Democratic Party. They can't afford it. Howard Dean is right. They have to settle it and it has to be the person who's got most of the votes, especially after the eight years about what went on in Florida in 2000. So, it seems to me, no way to stop Barack Obama at this point. The Democratic Party can't use a non-Democratic process for picking their nominee to run against the Republicans.
SIMONE: This is the only time we've seen Hillary as a chief executive running the campaign and apparently her style is overspending like crazy and running up a huge deficit, not the kind of president we want.
MCINTYRE: Perfect training for the actual job.
DOBBS: No, but it's the kind of president that we always have. The idea that we were re talking earlier with Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur of Ohio -- she said to this audience, point-blank, she is not yet as a superdelegate, endorsed either Clinton or Obama in part because she says neither one of those two candidates are talking about changing substantively, or significantly, trade policy that has impoverished her state and million of Americans around this country. What in the world are we getting from these candidates, whether it's free trade, whether it's illegal immigration, whether it is public education. We're getting rhetoric, but it seems to me very little in the way of substance.
SIMONE: What is it with the superdelegates, this ruling class, this little elite group that can overturn the popular vote? It's ridiculous.
DOBBS: Well actually in point of fact, the way it was set up to be an independent force that could overrule the folks there in the voting -- voter people who don't really count.
SIMONE: Exactly.
DOBBS: Doug McIntyre, you get the last word.
MCINTYRE: I don't think that you're going to see a process like this four years from now in the Democratic Party. You'll see the superdelegates gone.
DOBBS: All right, Doug McIntyre, thank you very much, great to talk with you. And Mark Simone, thank you. I appreciate it, good to see you.
And tonight's poll numbers - 88 percent of you do not agree with President Bush that Mexican President Calderon is making very good efforts in trying to help secure our borders. We'll have a full report tomorrow night here on the continuing escalation of those Mexican drug cartels and the threat they pose to the United States. Thanks for being with us tonight.
Join us here tomorrow. Good night from New York.
The "Election Center" with John Roberts begins now.
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