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American Morning

Kentucky Mine Explosion; 'Hot Topics' on Political Radar

Aired May 22, 2006 - 06:31   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening this morning, President Bush heads to Chicago. He's expected to talk more about Iraq's new government. On Sunday, the president said the new cabinet means a new day for the Iraqi people.
That's the Saddam trial there, by the way.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in Washington and meets this week with President Bush. The two expected to talk about Olmert's plan for the West Bank and Iran's nuclear program and the confrontation there.

The survey says gas prices down. The Lundberg Survey showing the average price of a gallon of unleaded has fallen a penny and a half in the last two weeks.

Don't spend it all in one place, folks.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It feels like a penny and a half, meaning not a whole heck of a lot.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, a smidge.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

At a coal mine in Kentucky, investigators are hoping to get underground today. They're trying to determine what caused a deadly mine explosion that killed five miners over the weekend.

Let's get right to CNN's Sumi Das. She is live in Holmes Mill, Kentucky.

Sumi, good morning to you. What do we know about this explosion?

SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Kentucky governor, Ernie Fletcher, says that it was caused by a methane leak. Now, that's really only one part of the answer. Something had to ignite that gas in order to cause the blast. Now, that's information that hopefully will be uncovered as a result of the investigation of the accident -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And when do they begin that investigation? I mean, do they have to get down into the mine to really make some headway, or is there stuff that they're doing outside of the mine right now? DAS: Well, it would appear that they're making preparations to get into the mine. It seems that the mine was closed in order for it to be ventilated. There is some concern that there are still pockets of methane inside the mine.

Now, once it's determined safe, state and federal officials will go into the mine, they'll begin their investigation. That's expected to happen today. And we can tell you that we were here late last night, and at around 6:30 in the evening we saw vehicles arrive here at the entrance to the Darby Mine. So it would seem that they are on track to begin the investigation -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Sumi, just like the Sago Mine, you're hearing word now from a survivor and also from family members concerned about not only the amount of oxygen that the miners have underground, but also, you know, were those -- were those breathers working. What do you know about that?

DAS: Yes, it would seem that three of the miners apparently were found with the respirators on, these emergency breathing devices. And according to reports from family members of the one survivor, Paul Ledford, his breathing apparatus only lasted for about five minutes. That's what he told his brother.

Family members are obviously distraught over this information. They want to know why the oxygen didn't last. And they're also hearing that, you know, the family members were trying to get out and they had these respirators on, but they weren't working as they should have. So some questions there.

The MSHA officials essentially took possession of all the personal items on the miners, including the respirators. They will be conducting their own tests. That's information that I got from the Harlan county coroner last night. So hopefully that will tell us more information about how long these respirators lasted -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Brutal, brutal news for the family members.

Sumi Das is following the investigation for us.

Sumi, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Also happening "In America," they're still digging, day six of the search for Jimmy Hoffa's remains from that Michigan horse farm. The FBI has a lot of modern technology on hand, as well as heavy equipment, and some people with shovels as well.

There are dozens of acres to search, however. The crime scene 30 years old. So far they haven't reported turning up anything.

Madonna has made a career out of crossing lines of convention. Well now she's crossed a union picket line, as well. Picketers set up a line outside the L.A. forum last night. Fans of the star both had to cross in order to get into her Confessions tour.

The son of Sam, David Berkowitz, is suing a lawyer for violating the Son of Sam Law. There will be a court hearing in New York today.

Berkowitz says profits from a book penned by one of his former lawyer should go to the victims. Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, killed six people, wounded seven in shootings from '76 to '77. The Son of Sam Law prevents convicts from profiting from selling their story.

Even after hours of surgery, Barbaro, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, faces only a 50-50 chance of survival. But the race horse was up on all fours and eating after the operation. The horse broke one of its hind legs in three places after Saturday's Preakness.

Well, careful when you tell this guy to take a flying leap, because he will take you literally. Professional stuntman Ted Bachelor marked the 30th anniversary of his strange career choice with this flaming jump off of a falls.

He did it in 1976 first on a bet. And then for some reason it became an annual tradition. And now he tours the country.

There you go. Out it goes. He sets himself on fire and he even holds a record for being on fire, which proves there is, in fact, a record for everything.

And this is the point at which I say, Chad, don't try this at home.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No.

M. O'BRIEN: OK?

MYERS: No, please.

M. O'BRIEN: You weren't tempted at all?

MYERS: I was not tempted. He had a lot of safety equipment on there...

M. O'BRIEN: He did.

MYERS: ... but it's still kind of a bad example for kids trying this at home.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: Considering some of the movies and the shows they put on video now on the Internet.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thanks.

Still to come this morning, sparks flying -- we should say again -- at the Saddam Hussein trial. We're going to tell you what happened this time around. That's an attorney involved. M. O'BRIEN: And talk about the comeback kid. Ray Nagin gets reelected. We'll explain how.

But first, here's a look what else is making news on this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Plenty of hot topics to share with you on the political radar this morning -- the president's approval rating, the confirmation of General Michael Hayden, and the reelection of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAY NAGIN (D), NEW ORLEANS: This is a great day for the city of New Orleans. This election is over, and it's time for this community to start the healing process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: John Mercurio is a senior editor at "The National Journal's" "Hotline." He's in Washington this morning.

Hey, John. Good morning. Nice to see you, as always.

JOHN MERCURIO, SR. EDITOR, "HOTLINE": Good morning, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Many people didn't think that Ray Nagin would ever get the opportunity to be making a victory speech. Why do you think he won?

MERCURIO: Yes. You know, I was one of them.

You know, I don't really think it's so much about what he did. I think it's what his opponent, Mitch Landrieu, failed to do. This is a classic example of a challenger who failed to distinguish himself against the incumbent that he was running against.

Any time a challenger is going to be successful, he has to give a reason for why the voters of the city or the state or the country need to fire the incumbent. And Landrieu failed to do that.

He ran a very polite, a very gentile campaign. A lot of people say that's more in his nature. But he failed to give a reason for people to actually fire Nagin. He said they were very similar, their approach to the recovery was going to be very similar.

I also think that Nagin -- and this is sort of interesting, because everybody's been focusing on the racial polarization that went on in the city, especially in the primary. But I think that Nagin actually increased his support among white voters, specifically conservative Republican voters who are a little bit leery of Mitch Landrieu, of his sister, Senator Mary Landrieu, and Moon Landrieu, the former mayor. I think that Nagin was able to appeal to them as he did in his first mayoral campaign in trying to increase support among them.

S. O'BRIEN: He's going to have to make nice with the lieutenant governor in the governor's office, obviously, if they want to do anything to try to fix all the problems that are still in New Orleans.

MERCURIO: Right. Right. Absolutely.

Well, I think it's sort of interesting. You know, Landrieu's going back to his lieutenant governor's job, Kathleen Blanco up for reelection next year. It's still an open question of whether or not she runs. And now, because Landrieu sort of didn't win this race, I think it's an open question as to whether or not he runs against Blanco in the Democratic -- for the Democratic -- well, it's an open primary there, but runs against her and challenges her.

S. O'BRIEN: Everyone's going to be watching it, including us.

Let's talk a little bit about the president's approval rating. Good news for the White House. It's up like that much.

MERCURIO: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: More or less. Thirty-six percent, I think, is the approval rating.

Is that within the margin of error, as they say, or do you think this is sort of the beginning of the climb?

MERCURIO: Well, I know it's definitely still within the margin of error. You know, it was 34 percent last week. It was -- you know, it's 32 percent, 36 percent. Whatever you're talking about, he's still in the mid 30s, and he's below -- more importantly, he's below 40 percent, which is where Republicans say they still worry until he's at least above 40 percent.

Not so much a worry for him right now immediately, but it's a worry for his party heading into these midterm elections. And he's considered at this point to be on average a drag of about five percentage points for endangered incumbents. And we've seen that field of races, house races specifically, expand dramatically over the past several weeks from just a few dozen to now more than 40 or 45 seats that Republicans now have to defend if they want to hold onto the House.

S. O'BRIEN: A silver lining for the administration, I guess it's fair to say, is General Hayden. His confirmation hearing seems to have gone -- I mean, he had to prove essentially that he was independent. And it seems like he was able to pull it off, right?

MERCURIO: Well, he definitely was able to pull it off. It looks like he'll be confirmed., or at least cleared out of the Intelligence Committee this week with several votes of the Democratic senators who had questions about him. But I think it's ironic. You know, he did -- he did move away from the administration. He was able to sort of distance himself from the administration. And that, I think, is one of the few administration success stories, but only with a nominee who was able to say, hey, I'll be independent of this unpopular president.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. How much of a success is that?

MERCURIO: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: John Mercurio, a senior editor from "The Hotline".

Nice to see you, John. Thanks.

MERCURIO: Great to see you.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, more trouble for Saddam Hussein's legal team. One of his lawyers gets tossed out of court, all because of what she did with her robe. We'll explain.

Plus, you saw how bad it got after Katrina hit New Orleans, but if a disaster hits your hometown, would you be ready? We have some alarming answers for you ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, President Bush praising Iraq's new government. He's expected to talk about Iraq's future during a speech in Chicago today. You'll see it on CNN.

In Kentucky, workers are reconstructing the ventilating system at a coal mine where five miners were killed in an explosion on Saturday. Part of an effort to determine what happened. One miner survived the blast.

Braxton Bilbry (ph) of Glendale Arizona, has some big plans. The 7-year-old, second grader, trying to become among the youngest people to swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco's shoreline. Apparently he will be the youngest to get in the "Guinness" if he does it.

He starts his swim at about three and a half hours. First dawn -- first light there.

S. O'BRIEN: That's cold. Having -- having swum many a time in San Francisco, that's cold water. That's a cold part of the day.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: That's just cold. It's cold.

M. O'BRIEN: It's cold.

Also going on this morning, some bloody battles between Palestinians on the streets of Gaza. That tops our look at stories CNN correspondents around the world are covering today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm John Vause reporting from Gaza. Here, forces of the new Hamas army are still on the streets. Three thousand strong, heavily armed, facing off against the regular security services under the control of the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Over the weekend, two key allies of Abbas were the targets of failed assassination attempts. The head of the general intelligence was badly wounded after a blast in this heavily-guarded headquarters, while a bomb was found outside the home of another senior military commander.

Some close to Abbas fear he, too, may be the target of an assassination. Abbas now plans to meet with Hamas officials later this week to try and diffuse this escalating crisis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ryan Chilcote in Baghdad. More drama in the Saddam trial. This time, one of Saddam's defense attorneys getting ejected.

She had just been allowed back in the court after an outburst back in April for which she was ejected. This time the judge telling her she better behave herself. That's when she started yelling at the judge. So he kicked her out.

Then Saddam stood up in her defense. The judge told Saddam to sit down, that he's only a defendant in this trial. That's when Saddam said, as he has said so many times before, that he still considers himself to be the president of Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: For more on these and any of our top stories, head to our Web site, CNN.com.

S. O'BRIEN: Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" coming up next.

What are you looking at?

ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": Soledad, Microsoft has a new plan for you to pay for a new PC by the hour. We'll explain how that would work coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: That sounds kind of interesting.

SERWER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.

Also ahead this morning, an early release program that let's so many inmates out early, even convicts say it's a slap on the wrist. We'll explain just ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: A look now at some of the stories we're working on.

The official predictions for the 2006 storm season being released this morning. We'll keep you up to date on that.

A new report concluding politicians were partly to blame for New Orleans' levee disaster.

Mayor Ray Nagin will once again guide New Orleans through another hurricane season. He won that election.

Federal agents find $90,000 in cash in a congressman's freezer.

And we're learning more about that deadly mine explosion in Kentucky. Investigators could get their first look inside the mine today. We, of course, are live on the scene.

Let's get a check of the forecast now. Chad Myers doing that.

Welcome back, Chad.

MYERS: Thank you. It was nice to be gone.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, stop it. You missed us, didn't you?

MYERS: But it's -- it's great to be -- well, I was fishing.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

MYERS: You know, a terrible day fishing is better than a good day working.

M. O'BRIEN: I know fishing -- yes. Did you have good weather and all that?

MYERS: It was 85, 90 degrees, and that seems like good weather, except...

M. O'BRIEN: No, it's too hot.

MYERS: ... it's too hot, yes. All the streams were so -- running so quickly because the water was melting, the snow was melting.

I think you had pictures of the mudslides, Schweitzer Mountain. That destroyed one of the condos when I was there. So, you know, it was kind of scary at some point in time.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: Back to you guys. S. O'BRIEN: All right. It sounds all right. Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you heard about those pre-paid phone cards. Is this the same deal essentially, Andy?

SERWER: It kind of is.

S. O'BRIEN: A computer -- a pre-paid computer card?

SERWER: Yes. This is a novel new program being rolled out by Microsoft, and it's called FlexGo. And they're trying it in developing countries first, Soledad. I guess if it works there you could see it here in the United States.

Here's how it works. You would buy a PC and pay for half of it up front. And then the other half you would sort of pay off by buying a pre-paid card from Microsoft, or Lenovo, the computer company that Microsoft is working with, which, of course, used to be the IBM PC business.

And then when you use the PC like you're using a phone, with a pre-paid card, you would be charged, debited off this card. The computer would not work if you did not have the card and the card didn't have any juice on it.

You would need to have at least some sort of dial up available for Internet use for this. They've been trying this out in Brazil, and they're going to be rolling it out in Mexico, China, Russia, and India, as well.

You know, to me, it sounds somewhat problematic. When you're talking about developing countries, people without a lot of money, without a lot of technological expertise, and you're talking about keeping track of the cards and the PCs and making them work and everything else...

M. O'BRIEN: And the Internet connectivity that you have to know on top of everything else.

SERWER: Yes. But, you know, Redmond, Washington, those folks up there want to get this thing working. So we'll see if it works. And maybe coming to a PC store near you after that.

S. O'BRIEN: It's kind of an interesting idea.

SERWER: Yes, we'll see.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Andy, thank you.

SERWER: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.

Well, those are the picture there, but obviously it's black. There we go. Hurricane forecast. Are we prepared for any of the storms that might be hitting the U.S.?

(WEATHER REPORT)

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