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American Morning
Senators Clinton and Obama One-on-One; Microsoft Making a $45 Billion Bid to Take Over Yahoo; Domino's Launched the Technology Called the Pizza Tracker
Aired February 01, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It is Friday, the 1st of February. I'm John Roberts outside of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Good morning to you, Kiran.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Kiran Chetry here in New York. It's funny George Clooney said there's few people that make me want to get up and do something. As if he's just sitting back and watching television. He certainly isn't.
He just returned from a couple weeks right there on the frontlines of what's going on with the refugee crisis in Darfur in Africa. But we'll hear from him a little bit more later. He's got a lot of neat things to say.
ROBERTS: Yes, he certainly does. Good interview and a good guy to talk to.
Hey, it was one of the most anticipated primary debates ever. Senators Clinton and Obama, one on one. Either way, history is going to be made on the ticket with the first black or female presidential nominee.
ROBERTS: It was pandemonium outside of the theater here in Hollywood -- the Kodak Theater where they usually have the Oscars. A lot of people outside there. A lot of Barack Obama supporters. Inside, didn't have all the fireworks that it did when we were at the Palace Theater in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina last Monday. But the voters certainly did get to hear an earful on the issues.
The two candidates took aim at a surging Republican frontrunner and John McCain was one of the topics of conversation last evening, along with the current occupant of the White House, President George Bush.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, was there in the theater last night, watching all of the action. She joins me now. So anybody who wanted to hear about policy certainly can't complain after last night's debate.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, they cannot. But you know, I mean, I did love literally the theater of it. I mean you had some Hollywood glitter eye. You had some politicians and you also had, as you said, some history being made.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CROWLEY (voice-over): Mr. and Mrs. Nice showed up on stage in Los Angeles, where it seemed they came not to bury but to praise each other.
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was friends with Hillary Clinton before we started this campaign. I will be friends with Hillary Clinton after this campaign is over.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The differences between Barack and I, pale in comparison to the differences that we have with the Republicans.
CROWLEY: Getting real, it was their last debate before the critical contest, Super Tuesday. So they did launch missiles, particularly on the subject of Iraq, she played her experience card.
CLINTON: It will be important, however, that our nominee be able to present both a reasoned argument against continuing our presence in Iraq and the necessary credentials and gravitas for commander in chief.
CROWLEY: But after she tried to explain her yes vote on the Iraq war, Obama went after her with a reminder that he opposed the war from the start.
OBAMA: Senator Clinton, I think, fairly has claimed that she's got the experience on day one. And part of the argument that I'm making in this campaign is that it is important to be right on day one.
CROWLEY: He suggested she was AWOL on putting together an immigration bill. She shot back that she worked on immigration before he got to the Senate. She said his health care bill was inadequate because it didn't cover everybody. He said hers was unworkable because you can't force people to buy health care insurance.
Still both campaigns had clearly decided that five days before Super Tuesday was a time to put the best foot forward, making for high-stakes, low-volume evening.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Senator Clinton, that's a clear swipe at you.
CLINTON: Really? We are having such a good time. We are. We are. We are having a wonderful time.
OBAMA: Yes, absolutely.
CROWLEY: They debated in the Kodak Theater where they give out the Oscars for best actor and best actress.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: Afterwards, John, I talked to some people on both sides. And what they said was what they loved about last night was they thought that viewers now are really focused. It is very clear one of these two people is going to be the Democratic nominee and they think for the first time each of them had a clear shot without the buffer gas.
ROBERTS: Yes, it is going to be a transformational primary here on the Democratic side of things. Do you get a sense that people are recognizing this idea of the grandeur of history involved here?
CROWLEY: I think so. And I think that you have that sense all along, but now it's just so crystallized because you didn't know exactly what was going to happen. But I recall standing out in very chilly Springfield, Illinois, when Barack Obama announced.
And a lot of people I talked to there "Oh, you're an Obama supporter?" I said no, but you know, this might be history. I wanted to bring my kid. Same with Hillary Clinton. I brought my daughter. You know, because I think this might be history. So they're definite was that, but now I think the whole country is kind of involved than it was before. We were sort of state by state.
ROBERTS: Yes. You caught some people by surprise. They suddenly said, "Oh, my God, history will be made this year.
CROWLEY: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Candy, thanks very much.
Let's go back to New York. Here's Kiran.
CHETRY: Thanks, John.
Well, we're following some breaking news right now out of Houston. These are some pictures coming to us from our affiliate, KTRK, of a house fire. Firefighters have been battling a three-alarm fire. It's in an apartment complex in the southwest part of the city. Southwest Houston broke out about 30 minutes ago. Firefighters, when they arrived on the scene, reporting heavy black smoke -- quickly calling for a first alarm that, quickly turned into a three-alarm fire.
As you can see there the blaze are still burning pretty good. You can see the orange glow of the flames in the left-hand part of the screen. Right now, we are not getting any reports of any injuries. But you can see that house is certainly fully enveloped there with the flames. We are going to continue to follow the story and as soon as we get new details on what's going on there in Houston, we'll bring them to you.
Meanwhile, we have more breaking news this morning. From the business world, Microsoft making a $45 billion bid to take over Yahoo. Stock futures have shot up on this news. They just came out about an hour and a half ago. Microsoft and Yahoo have been hit hard by the Google machine. Yahoo shares losing about a third of their value in the past year. We'll keep you up to date on any new developments as to whether or not this deal will go through or not. But of course, as we said, Wall Street is seeming to like the news. Futures up on the news this morning. And some breaking news out of Baghdad as well. Two explosions disrupting the relative calm we've seen there. Police say more than 60 people killed in two separate attacks. The bomber said to be mentally-disabled women who were detonated by remote. More than a hundred people were wounded. Those explosions happened about 30 minutes apart at two different pet markets. One market has been hit several times in the past year on Friday. That's the only day it is open.
A new report warns the U.S. military is not prepared to handle a catastrophic attack here at home. An independent congressional commission says that the National Guard and Reserves don't have the equipment or training needed to respond to a chemical, biological or nuclear weapons incident on U.S. soil. In response, the chief of the U.S. Northern Command says that the Pentagon is putting together a specialized team that would respond to such events.
We're also following extreme weather this morning in the Midwest. Winter storm warning now in effect for northern Illinois as well as northwest Indiana. Forecasters saying that snow, ice and strong winds expected to slam the region yet again. It is causing many delays this morning, as people are trying to fly out of area, airports including Chicago's O'Hare.
A nasty weather also causing some problems on the roads. In fact, in Oklahoma, one person was killed after an SUV skidded into a tree. Interstate 35 shut down after a tractor trailer jackknifed on the slick roads. And that same system left some 600 flights canceled at Chicago's O'Hare Airport yesterday as well.
Meteorologists there say snow totals so far this winter, 30 inches, which is eight above normal there. CNN's meteorologist, Reynolds Wolf, is tracking your extreme weather this morning and he is also in a snowy place today, St Louis, Missouri.
Hey, Reynolds.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Nine minutes after the now, Kiran. Two candidates running for one place in history. We'll break down how they did and take a look at what's ahead on Super Tuesday.
And the spotlight was on the candidate but the audience was full of stars. We caught with some A-listers. Their thoughts on the candidate ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It was the first-ever one-on-one debate for a party nomination between a woman and an African-American. And both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton struck a positive tone last night. Still, there were issues that were raised and with just four days to go until Super Tuesday. Did either candidate come out with an edge? Jeff Zeleny is covering the campaign for "The New York Times" and also joining us again is chief national correspondent, John King. So they came in last night positive. You know -- Barack Obama called Hillary Clinton friend and you can tell it was only going to go uphill from there. Do they have some sort of an agreement? Did Howard Dean call them up after Myrtle Beach and say hey, come on, let's keep this in a different level.
JEFF ZELENY, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I don't think it was Howard Dean but their advisors had images -- the mental images of what happened in Myrtle Beach in their mind and they did not want these pictures out there over the weekend as voters in these 22 states are deciding. They really wanted to make nice, if you will.
At the end of the debate Senator Obama, even pulled out the chair for Senator Clinton. That's not something we saw a week ago. I think he would have thrown it at her a week ago.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes but he pulled it out fast.
ROBERTS: But was this a conscious effort. Was this an agreement between the two campaigns?
KING: They don't need an agreement. I think both sides realize going into a Super Tuesday, 23 contests. The bitterness was hurting everybody. The Democrats, whoever you support have a great amount of energy and enthusiasm right now. And they need that for whoever wins this nomination. And you do not want to have the bitterness. Plus, they both came in to do their own business.
I thought it was striking how they niche marketed all night long. It was not nasty. But if you are a Democrat who wants universal health care, Hillary Clinton scored points against Senator Obama. If you are a Democrat, who is VM (ph) and against the war, Obama scored his points. The message he wanted to make against Senator Clinton. Saying I was right from the beginning. You don't just be ready on day one; you want to be right from day one. That was a critical point but he didn't have to do it in a negative way.
ROBERTS: Right. And in fact, let's take a listen. Let's listen to that exchange to see how it played out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: There were legitimate concerns about what he might do. So I think I made a reasoned judgment. Unfortunately, the person who actually got to execute the policy did not.
OBAMA: Senator Clinton, I think fairly has claimed that she has got the experience on day one. And part of the argument that I'm making in this campaign is that it is important to be right on day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Jeff, do you agree with John, that Hillary Clinton comes out on the losing end of the argument? Certainly, she does not want at this point in the campaign to be talking about Iraq at all. For the last year, she has been trying to deal with her war vote. And she really has to a large degree through Iowa and New Hampshire. And now at the end of it, she's talking about it and that's not a good thing.
ZELENY: Senator Obama is up on the air in Minnesota and other anti-war places with ads specifically targeting this. So she does not want to spend as much time talking about it in such long forums as she did.
ROBERTS: They got so deep into the weeds, John, on policy here. And I talked to some undecided voters going into this and they said, you know, we know all about their policies. We know about the issues. There's barely any daylight between them. What we want to see are those intangible moments that give us this idea of comfort in who we can vote for and who we would like to see in the white house. Who is electable? Did any of that come through last night?
KING: Well, I think to the policy point. Obama has always had this thing in his head that she is the president of the wealthy debate team. And he has to prove that he can go one on one with her on the specifics of policy. So he wanted to get into the weeds through a bit. But I also thought he was trying to convince Democrats that -- look, you want me to be your general election candidate. He took it to McCain several times, specifically brought up McCain's name.
He said he would relish a fight over taxes and spending and taking away the Bush tax cuts for wealthy Americans. His message to Democrats all night long was look -- at the beginning of the campaign you thought she was the best candidate for the fall. Look again. I will take to it McCain. I was right on the war. That was his whole thing.
It was not even about her. He was just trying to say, she's great. I have no problem with her. I think I'm better. And it is an interesting strategy. She has the institutional support on Super Tuesday. He was looking past Super Tuesday.
ROBERTS: Right. What do you think, Jeff? Was there enough there for people to be able to differentiate between how these people would be in the White House as leaders as opposed to how they are as policy wants?
ZELENY: I think by this point in the campaign the people who are watching probably already, you know, have heard them on issues and things. They were looking for who is presidential. Who is going to step up to the plate and be magnanimous, if you will. And John is absolutely right.
This is not just about next Tuesday. It is about the contest beyond there. Senator Obama raised $32 million in January alone. I mean, he's definitely going to telegraph his images from last night into ads and those -- it's beyond there and that's pretty remarkable.
ROBERTS: And John, very quickly. One of the biggest applause moments came not from an answer but from a question when Wolf Blitzer said a lot of people would like to see you as the dream team. Is that something that could happen? Or would their presence in the same White House just undercut the other one? Not because of what they are doing but just because they are there?
ZELENY: At this point, it is hard to imagine because things happen so acrimonious. But who knows. It's always a hard thing to turn down, I think. But I wouldn't look to that any time soon because the contest is just going to go on. I think for several weeks.
KING: This is far from over.
ZELENY: Neither wants that. The political calculations, you could see her picking him. I cannot see him ever picking her, because not only of the enmity in some of the earlier days, but also it doesn't fit his message.
ROBERTS: Yes, all right. John King, Jeff Zeleny, good to see you. Thanks. And John, travel safe. I think we've got some problems with the weather coming up.
Hey, at every stop along our tour in the battlegrounds, we have been talking to undecided voters about the issues that mattered to them and exactly what they are looking for to help them make up their minds about who to vote for as we were talking about here just a moment ago.
Plenty of undecided voters here in California ahead of Super Tuesday. But when you are in Hollywood, the undecideds might just be a little more familiar than they are in other places.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Is this your first debate?
CHRISTINA APPLEGATE, ACTRESS: Yes, it is.
ROBERTS: So what brought you here tonight? Why do you want to see this?
APPLEGATE: Because I need to see them both and I need to, some kind of assess the situation. I think there's a lot of us out there who are kind of vacillating between 60/40 a lot and in my own mind, I really need to see them both.
ROBERTS: So what is it that you are looking for that may tip in one way or the other?
APPLEGATE: Intuitiveness for me, really. It's a sense of something. I mean -- they both have incredible views. They have -- they share my views so for me that's given. I'm not exactly sure. They are both so incredible. I think that's why a lot of us are having...
ROBERTS: So they are very close on the issues, a little bit of nuance here and there. APPLEGATE: Yes.
ROBERTS: And one of those intangible things and you'll know it when you see it but you don't know what exactly it is.
APPLEGATE: Yes and I have always been right. So I think that I'm ready.
ROBERTS: What's the top issue for you? I mean, you said you are going to look at, see who you are most comfortable with, who's leadership. What's the issue that's most important for you?
APPLEGATE: You know -- their ideas about family and not having so many structured views about family. And I think family is a huge thing. And they both feel that way. So it is really hard for me to really kind of gear towards one thing. They both believe in the same thing that I believe in.
ROBERTS: Have you made up your mind yet who you will vote for?
JASON ALEXANDER, ACTOR: Probably. Probably. This is -- you know -- down to the two of them. It's very, very hard, because I think both of them are very worthy and very exciting and bring a lot to the table. You know, it's an embarrassment of riches. I'm happy either which way.
ROBERTS: So you've only got a few days to make up your mind, what are the cues that you are looking for here in these next few days?
ALEXANDER: I'm looking to see if anyone passes me money. I can be bought. My vote can be bought and frankly no one has reached out to me yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Of course, he was only kidding about that. But Jason Alexander says he was very excited about this. A whole idea of this being a transformational election.
Kiran?
CHETRY: A lot of buzz -- certainly is. Good job, John -- by the way, getting to talk to them. I know you're probably not that easy to catch up with when you are out there in the big crowds.
Hey coming up, we have more breaking news from the financial world this morning. It's all about the world's largest publicly traded company and how much money they made in just three months. Here's a hint. More than $10 billion with a "B."
And yes, it may be early. It may be 8:20 Eastern Time. But we are eating pizza here on AMERICAN MORNING. What we are actually doing is testing Domino's new technology from start to finish. From the minute you place the order until it arrives at your house. You can track your entire delivery on the web. In fact, our Veronica De La Cruz is right here, right now. She is ordering our pizzas online. Doesn't have to make a phone call at all. And then she will track it every step of the way until our pizza -- just in time, you know, Friday, before the Super Bowl, arrives on the set. We will show you how it works coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. You know, it's almost Super Bowl, Sunday, of course. And pizza places say that Super Bowl Sunday is their biggest sales day of the year. Soon millions of you across the country will be ordering your favorite pizza. Then you know what it's like. You wait around for the doorbell to ring.
But one pizza giant is trying to make that wait a little less painful just in time for the big day. In fact, Domino's is allowing you to order online but then actually track your pizza's progress online as well. Our Veronica De La Cruz testing out the technology right now at our online update desk.
All right, show us how it works.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, people are just -- they are so impatient these days. They are so impatient. So this is perfect for them.
Domino's has launched the technology called the Pizza Tracker. And you want to log on to dominos.com. Look for the icon "Track Your Pizza," and once you click there, you're going to get this window. And that's where you want to enter in your phone number. Now, you don't have to order online. You can also use the phone. You can even use your mobile device. Once you enter your phone number, the one that you use to place your order. This is what you're going to see. This is the actual pizza tracker.
Now, we have placed an order at 8:20. It is now 8:24 and here is where our order stands. We have placed the order and now it is prepping. Oh, it's just about to start baking. Once it finishes that, Kiran, it's going to be boxed and then delivered and Domino's says that the entire process takes about 30 minutes total. They say once it gets to the fifth step, the delivery process, it's going to take about ten minutes. So Kiran, the heat is on.
CHETRY: Literally and figuratively. All right, we're going to find out exactly how this whole entire process happens. Veronica is completing our order. And we're going to have a camera at the local Domino's right now, so you can see how it works.
Bob Machin is going to help us out this morning. He is the director of corporate operations for the Domino's in New York, about 14 blocks north of us this morning.
Bob, thanks for being with us.
BOB MACHIN, DOMINO'S PIZZA: Good morning, Kiran. CHETRY: All right. So we know our order is on the way right now. Tell us how you guys track every step of the process and still manage to get your work done actually making the pizzas.
MACHIN: It's rather easy actually. It's all fully-automated. Your order comes through online. It pops through on our make line over here. And as soon as we make it, we just hit one button on our computer here and the tracker starts tracking it through the oven. As soon as it comes out of the oven, we box it. As soon as we dispatch it, it goes right to the Internet. Within about 40 seconds to the customer. Customer knows that it is on its way. That's very easy.
CHETRY: I know you guys have been doing this online ordering because we have used it. I talked to a lot of my friends who use it and then it actually is kind of convenient. You can pick out all your toppings without having to say it to a person. Does it actually help you guys do it faster? Or is this only for the customer that it's more convenient?
MACHIN: It does help us. It motivates us. It pushes to get a little bit faster because we know that we are under the microscope now.
CHETRY: How long does it, by the way, from the time that Veronica just hit "send" for this pizza on average to make its way up here?
MACHIN: To make it from here to your door, less than 30 minutes.
CHETRY: All right and you know -- the other interesting thing about it, And I wonder why you do this as well, is you actually -- the names of the people that are actually making your pizza show up online as well. We know that Mohammed and Rob are busy making our pizzas this morning. Why do you guys do that?
MACHIN: Well, it's actually rather easy. It's just based on who is clocked in and what their positions are. And we know who the pizza makers are in the store. So, you know, the computer just does everything automatically for us.
CHETRY: All right, pretty cool. Hopefully, they won't get any angry phone calls, you know, if everything is not exactly the way it's supposed to be. All right, Bob, well, we're going to track it throughout the show. We're going to see how it goes. We're going to keep tabs on you guys during the process. And we'll keep checking the website and see how it works out.
How times have changed, John. How about it?
ROBERTS: Now, these days, we even go start using pizza tracker. Hey, you are watching the most news in the morning. George Clooney using his celebrity status to bring attention to the crisis in Darfur. The actor is speaking out about his new role as the United Nations' messenger of peace and what he hopes to accomplish. More of his one- on-one interview with Kiran, just ahead.
And Dr. Sanjay Gupta has an amazing success story this morning. That and today's headlines when AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING on this Friday. I'm Kiran Chetry. The morning after the big Democratic debate and of course, John, you were there to see all of it.
It's pretty civil though between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton last night.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: There certainly was a difference in tone from what we saw in Myrtle Beach a week ago on Monday. I'm John Roberts. We are outside of the Kodak Theater in Hollywood where it took place last night. The next stop, super Tuesday.
Last night Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama made their final arguments to a national audience on CNN before the big primary day. What almost amounts to a national primary. The debate was heavy on policy and heavy on politeness as well.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is a Hillary Clinton supporters and he joins me now. So, the mantra that Barack Obama was talking about last night regarding Hillary Clinton was you may be ready on day one but you also got to be right on day one. The suggestion is that she's not the right candidate for this time in America's history, what do you say?
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES: She is the right candidate at this time in American history, precisely because she does have the experience. She does have the track record. She got the strength and leadership that we need to chart a new beginning for America on the first day in office. I thought yesterday's debate was a great debate. We got a debate on the issues and not personalities. We were able to see the two candidates really handle a broad range of issues - healthcare, the economy, the war.
I thought the American people won last night. Two terrific candidates. But races aren't just about debates. They both did well. They are about record and they are about experience. And I think on that score, Hillary's head and shoulders above the rest.
ROBERTS: Let's take a look at that record. One of the sharpest exchanges came over her vote to authorize the use of military force in Iraq. Let's take a listen to what Barack Obama said about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think everybody, the day after that vote was taken, understood this was a vote to potentially go to war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Hillary Clinton insists that she did not vote for a preemptive war here. She has also not said that vote was a mistake. George W. Bush was dinged left, right and center by the democrats for never admitting a mistake. Should she just come out and say yes, it was a mistake but here's what I'm going to do in the future.
VILLARAIGOSA: I think what she said was at the time that was her best judgment. That she should move ahead in support of the resolution. I think what's important is she's opposed to the war and she's got a plan to get us out of the war as quickly and safely as possible. I think what is important is that she agrees with most democrats that our priority has to be to quickly and safely get us out.
ROBERTS: Of course, immigration, Mayor Villaraigosa, a huge issue in this state. Let's listen to what Hillary Clinton said about this idea of illegal immigrants taking jobs away from Americans in many of our cities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: I believe that in many parts of our country, because of employers who exploit undocumented workers, and drive down wages, there are job losses. I think we should be honest about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: We heard a lot last night with these two candidates about a path to citizenship and immigration reform. We didn't hear a lot about securing the border. Do you trust that Hillary Clinton would, in fact, secure this border before she took on what to do with the undocumented immigrants who are here in this country?
VILLARAIGOSA: I trust that she supports a comprehensive immigration reform that secures our border, collaborates with our neighbors. And to take on the issue of illegal immigration. And also provides a pathway for citizenship. Look, both candidates believe that we have to take on the challenge of immigration, that the system is broken now. And both candidates, I believe, are going to take that issue head-on. Hillary was the original sponsor of McCain-Kennedy. Hillary has always stood up for the idea that a great and good America has to secure its borders, enforce its laws, but also provide a pathway for citizenship for these people who are here working.
ROBERTS: And then very quickly, Mr. Mayor. Very heavy on policy last night. But did the candidates do enough to differentiate what's in here when it comes to leadership, electability?
VILLARAIGOSA: I think people loved the civil discourse so that we did have an ability to focus on policy. But I think they also got an opportunity to see the differences on health care where she has a plan that will assure every American and her opponent doesn't.
ROBERTS: You were saying that the difference between the republicans and the democrats is - the democrats know what's in their --
VILLARAIGOSA: Well, they speak to their head. They speak to their heart. We got to speak to both their head and their heart.
ROBERTS: All right. We will see if we can at least. Mayor Villaraigosa, thanks very much.
VILLARAIGOSA: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: Good to see you this morning.
We want to tell our viewers that we made numerous interview requests from representatives from the Obama campaign but despite our entreaties we were turned down. Kiran.
CHETRY: John, thanks. You know, just in right now. Unemployment numbers for the month of January. Ali Velshi joins us with more on that. Not to the trend you want to see.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: No. In fact, this is exactly the wrong thing. We lost 17,000 jobs. The U.S. economy lost 17,000 jobs in January. That is the first time since August of 2003 that the economy has lost jobs. Now, the unemployment rate dropped from 5% to 4.9%. But that measures the number of people who are available in the work force. So, it's not always a great indicator. One would think that if the unemployment rate drops that's a good thing. The more serious issues is how many jobs are created. We should be creating by many economists' estimates somewhere around 100,000 jobs a month. We are nowhere near that right now and negative job growth or the loss of net jobs is actually bad news for the economy.
So, the Dow is still -- futures are still looking up on major U.S. markets. But that's because we have a lot of other big news going on. Exxon Mobile as you mentioned coming out with the biggest profit for a publicly traded company in history for the year. Just above $40 billion. And Microsoft making a move to buy Yahoo. Bidding $44.6 billion. There are a lot of things that are pushing the market up today. But this news on the unemployment front is not very positive. Kiran.
CHETRY: Hopefully this month could be a --
VELSHI: These things (go by) and it could be an anomaly. So, it's, you know, that's why have you the track these things all the way.
CHETRY: All right. Ali, thanks so much.
Oscar-winning actor George Clooney in a new role -- United Nations messenger of peace. Clooney was recognized for his work in helping raise money and awareness for refugees in Darfur. I spoke with the actor yesterday and he told me that he's hoping that his celebrity status can be used to draw attention to the crisis in the region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Congratulations on this designation, the messenger of peace.
GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: Thank you very much. CHETRY: What does it mean? What exactly is the job?
CLOONEY: So far, it meant sleeping in tents and ditches which wasn't what I thought it meant when they told me. No. Actually, with any luck what it is is really to try to shine the spotlight on the successes and sometimes the shortcomings of peacekeeping.
CHETRY: You just recently are back from the region as well. What is the situation like?
CLOONEY: Chad is infinitely worse shape than it was two years ago when we were there. That's where a lot of the fighting was going on and the people were caught in the cross fire, they tend to be people in the internally-displaced camps and the people in the refugee camps.
CHETRY: So many people have recognized what a big problem it is. Yet, still the number of peacekeepers is not up to par. What is standing in the way of getting more people helping?
CLOONEY: There are difficulties and tricks when you're working within the United Nations. Because they are still members of different countries and the have different interests. The hope is that you can convince the countries that don't see - don't seem to think it is more of an internal or a domestic issue, that this is something that actually needs the international community to step in. It's hard. It's about slowly swaying people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And still ahead, an amazing success story. Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us about a man who was able to lose 192 pounds on his way to a healthier life. How did he do it? Sanjay's "Fit Nation" report sure to inspire you, coming up.
And just in time for the "Super Bowl." This is certainly a day that people probably stray from their diets. Pizza and pizza going high-tech. We're testing out this new online tracker from Domino's. They say from start to finish, you can check out your order. There is a shot of our actual AMERICAN MORNING order which says it is in the delivery stage right now. A live look outside of Columbus Circle. This is right where we are. Here in New York City, in the heart of New York City. And we are awaiting that pizza delivery. Will the Domino's man make it in time? We're going to find out ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Only four days left until super Tuesday. There are contests in more than 20 states. So, obviously, the candidates can't get to all of them. And that means a lot of TV ads will be running over the next few days. Does super Tuesday come down to who has the most cash to advertise? Jason Carroll joins us now with a look. Hey, Jason, good to see you.
JASON CARROLL, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you too. And you know, the money absolutely does help. As we head into the final stretch, if the leading candidates want to be competitive, they're going to have to hit the airwaves and doing that, it is going to come at a high price.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): With so many states to cover before super Tuesday and so little time, what may be the best strategy for a presidential candidate?
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is not a liberal America.
CARROLL: Spend millions on political TV ads.
EVAN TRACEY, MEDIA ANALYST, CNN CONSULTANT: Spending will set a record for super Tuesday's states because of the enormity of the contest. You know, we've never had 20-plus states on one day in a primary contest.
CARROLL: Analysts say the candidates will spend a record $20 million combined on super Tuesday TV spot. The democratic candidates fueled by donations are spending the bulk of it, some 90%. Senator Barack Obama raised $32 million just this month.
"Once we had a president - "
A recent Obama spot highlights Caroline Kennedy's endorsement. His ad will run in all super Tuesday states. Obama spent $4 million in the past week. Much of it on the delegate-rich state of California.
"A person you can depend on."
Senator Hillary Clinton's latest spot focuses on the economy. She spent $3.5 million over the past week and like Obama, much of it on California. Mitt Romney who has deep pockets, and is spending some of his own fortune plans to buy TV ads time in California and other super Tuesday states.
KEN GOLDSTEIN, UNIV. OF WISCONSIN: Obviously, things are still in play. And things are going to be very much decided on February 5th. Mitt Romney, obviously, had a very serious talk with himself. This is his last chance to derail Senator John McCain this Tuesday.
CARROLL: Senator John McCain does not have Romney's money.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm running for president of the United States because I believe I can keep America safe.
CARROLL: But he's still buying air time. The McCain campaign telling CNN late Thursday they will make a seven-figure investment on ads to run on 20 of the super Tuesday states.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CARROLL: And all the candidates have already spent a great deal of money on TV ads in New Hampshire and Iowa, an estimated total of $80 million. The leading democrats might have to spend even more if the nominee is not decided on Tuesday.
CHETRY: It's interesting, though. Karl Rove, the architect of George W. Bush's, re-election says, oh, you know, ads aren't as important as they once were because of the advent of the internet. What do you think?
CARROLL: Yes, I read about that, too. The point is, look, a lot of people will be going to places like the internet to get a lot of their information. The reality is TV is still as big as it ever was and if you want to make an impact, you are going to have to spend it.
CHETRY: All right. Break out the banks and start writing those checks. It's not cheap is it? Good to see you, Jason. Thank you. John.
ROBERTS: Coming up now, Kiran, on 15 minutes to the top of the hour. CNN NEWSROOM is just minutes away now. Tony Harris at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning to you, sir.
TONY HARRIS, CNN, ANCHOR: Hey, John. Good Friday to you. Good to see you. Big deal of the day on the NEWSROOM rundown for you this morning.
Microsoft making a move on Yahoo. What will Wall Street think of a buyout? Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama dashing towards super Tuesday. They tried to out nice each other at last night's CNN debate. The city wouldn't do it so a man painted his own cross walk at a busy intersection. He takes a walk all right -- straight to jail. Plus, Chevy truck closes in on 1 million miles. Like a rock. All in the NEWSROOM, top of the hour on CNN. Have a great weekend, John.
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Thanks very much, Tony.
CHETRY: Hey, we are having pizza for breakfast this morning. We are testing a new system from Domino's. They let you track the status of your pizza online. Just a few minutes ago, it does not seem that long ago at all, we went on. And we ordered the pizza. There is the pizza tracker saying it is getting close to delivery. And let's check out a live picture here.
What do we find? There we are. There's the guy. Just pulling up outside the Time-Warner Center on 58th Street in Manhattan. And there's the pies on their way in. We will check to see if they are still hot. When we come back on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: How about this? Politics, not the race we are talking about now. We're talking about the race to deliver pizza on time from Domino's. There we have our Domino's delivery guy. We placed this entire thing online. Veronica de la Cruz, from start to finish, place this order online. We never had once talked to them and here they come. Racing into the studio right now. There they are.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN, INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: It is going to be close. We placed this at what 8:20. It is now 8:49, 12 seconds. And hi, there.
CHETRY: You brought it yourself.
DE LA CRUZ: I certainly did. Nice to meet you in person
BOB: Likewise, thank you very much.
CHETRY: OK. So, when did we place this order, Veronica?
DE LA CRUZ: We placed the order at 8:20. Mamadu (ph) put the order at 8:24. At 8:27, Mamadu packaged the order. They placed it in this warm heat wave bag and at 8:31 our delivery expert.
BOB: Bob.
DE LA CRUZ: Bob, right into the car.
BOB: Absolutely, right into the car, on my way over here.
DE LA CRUZ: It took 20 minutes to get here.
BOB: About 15 minutes.
DE LA CRUZ: You are really out of breath.
CHETRY: He ran.
BOB: We hustle. We have to get it here in 30 minutes.
CHETRY: You didn't just do this for us. This is what you're going to be doing for everybody at "Super Bowl" Sunday, right.
BOB: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. We are going to have 1.2 million pizzas made on "Super Bowl" Sunday alone.
CHETRY: That's your biggest day of the year, right.
BOB: It certainly is.
CHETRY: Of course, we didn't forget the crew. Veronica, we ordered two more coming as well.
DE LA CRUZ: You know, Bob. I want to ask you, if you feel a lot of pressure. Your name pops up online. It says Bob is delivering your pizza and then I have to rate you when I'm done.
BOB: No pressure whatsoever. We get the pizzas into the driver's hands in 10 minutes flat.
DE LA CRUZ: It leaves 20 minutes to get there and our delivery areas are set up so we can get anywhere within 10 minutes. CHETRY: I love it. And when you order pizza online. You never have to talk to anybody. Not that we want to talk to you, Bob. But I'm saying it makes it's easier. It's easier when you are watching a big game.
BOB: Oh, absolutely.
CHETRY: Is this, this isn't your first "Super Bowl"?
BOB: Oh, no. Certainly it isn't our first "Super Bowl."
DE LA CRUZ: So, he's experienced the pressure before.
CHETRY: Well, Bob, you really, you actually made it work out. It is a bad day for John Roberts to be on location because the girls will have to tackle these by ourselves.
DE LA CRUZ: Wait a second. Didn't I order a Hawaiian pizza?
BOB: I think that's on its way. That's on its way. That order came in after this one. So, that will be here shortly.
CHETRY: Bottom line, we put you guys to the test. And I know you -- you guys were wanting to make a good impression because we were live on national TV. But you did you it from start to finish, 25 minutes.
DE LA CRUZ: And Kiran, we have to go through the process of rating every single step. You can do that online, too. What do you say, one to five stars?
CHETRY: For Bob here. For Bob.
DE LA CRUZ: Bob.
CHETRY: Absolutely but I have to take a bite first before I can really say.
DE LA CRUZ: Five stars.
BOB: Thank you.
DE LA CRUZ: Thank you so much.
BOB: Enjoy your pizza.
CHETRY: Thanks, Bob. Thanks for coming by this morning. We appreciate it.
BOB: All right. Have a good day.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: I'm amazed that you actually ordered a pizza at 8:20 in the morning. Most people wait until 9:20 in the evening. And now that you've actually tracked the pizza online maybe you can do me a favor and track my flight online. Because I want to make sure with the weather there I can get into New York.
GUPTA: It's 5:20 here. Those pizza looks pretty good stuff.
ROBERTS: Because it is still night here, Sanjay. Hey, heart disease is the number one killer in both men and women. When you're thinking about eating your triple-cheese pizza there. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us this morning with an amazing "Fit Nation" success story. It's a fellow who had a heart attack scare himself, right.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. he did. He actually had a sporting event when it happened. And you know, it got to the point he really thought that this was the time that her was not going to make it. He talked about the fact that he might not be there to see his kids. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): Just a few years ago, Phil Novak weighed in at 387 pounds. It wasn't until he and a buddy went to a Steeler's game that reality hit home.
PHIL NOVAK, LOST 192 POUNDS: We were walking back up to our seats. And I started getting winded and didn't feel right and just started sweating. You know. I didn't think I would make it back up. We got up there and my heart is beating a million times a minute. Wow, what's going on? I thought I was having a heart attack.
GUPTA: Luckily, it was not a heart attack. He was just badly out of shape. That day, Phil started his journey to weight loss.
NOVAK: I walked off my first 100 pounds. Walked it off. I gave it an hour day. I lost 100 pounds. Seven months.
GUPTA: Now 192 pounds lighter, Phil says his keys to success are a low-carb diet, a lot of exercise and a lot of determination.
NOVAK: I feel like a young guy. People always come to me and say you look good. I go, I feel a million times better.
GUPTA: So, would he ever allow himself to get that heavy again?
NOVAK: No way. I feel too good to do that. You know. There's no way. My name is Phil Novak and I lost 192 pounds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: You know, he was standing against this cold wall at the Steelers game. You know, he was having the pain, standing at the cold wall and thinking about how he was going to have to say good-bye to his wife and his kids. You know, it's interesting, John, because people have this switch that sometimes goes off and suddenly they realize OK, that's it. It's time to make a difference. That switch can come for a lot of different reasons, some sort of brush with your own mortality could be one of them.
ROBERTS: Right. And in terms of the symptoms as well, you know, his symptoms were pretty profound. You know, we're talking about women, too. Because they suffer a great deal of heart disease as well. Are the symptoms any different for a woman?
GUPTA: They certainly can be. And today is national wear red day. As you know, it's about reminding people that heart disease is the number one killer of women as well as men in this country. They can be different. They can be vague. Sometimes it might just be fatigue, unusual fatigue. It could be lower back pain. That's something you don't typically associate with the heart attack. The classis Hollywood heart attack is someone's hand to the chest and the crushing chest pain. But it can be very different, just sort of a general feeling of malaise.
ROBERTS: Well, thank goodness to the medical profession whose starting to recognize the amount of heart disease that women have in treating them when they come in for symptoms and not passing it up as stress anymore. Sanjay, thanks very much. Don't forget to catch Sanjay Gupta on "House Call" weekends. The politics of health care. Plus meet the honorary co-captain of the Giants, and Army Lieutenant Colonel who lost both legs in Iraq and is motivating the team to victory. "House Call," Saturday and Sunday morning, 8:30 a.m. Eastern. A look now at what's ahead on CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour.
HARRIS: See these stories in the CNN NEWSROOM. Back to back suicide bombings in Baghdad leave dozens dead. A wave of winter storms leads to car pileups and airport delays. Democratic presidential candidates keep it polite in the CNN debates. Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo for $44 billion in cash and stocks.
And we check in for a stay at a Beatle Mania Hotel. NEWSROOM at the top of the hour on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Throughout the show, the start to finish of ordering online and tracking the pizza online. Well, the results are in, the crew has certainly taken care of our three large pizzas. Veronica is eating the last of the meat lovers. This one is gone. This one is gone. And so now we know, the breakfast of champions the Friday before "Super Bowl" Sunday is - how about it pepperoni pizza. John, you always miss the good stuff.
ROBERTS: I do. But you know, you have plenty of time to get online and order more. A final check, this morning's "Quick Vote" question, we ask which team is going to win the "Super Bowl." 42% of you said it will be Eli Manning and the New York Giants. 58% of you think Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are going to win. To all of you who voted, thank you very much. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. Don't forget Soledad O'Brien and I will see you tonight at 8:00 for "Election Center." And she has got a big interview with Michelle Obama that you're going to want to see. So, make sure that you tune in for that. And Kiran, I will check back in with you on Monday from Chicago.
CHETRY: Yes. Hopefully the flights will have gotten all cleared up and you will be on time and you'll be ready to go. And we want to thank everybody for watching us this week. Have a great weekend. CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Betty Nguyen begins right now.
HARRIS: And good morning, everyone. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN, ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. Hi. I'm Betty Nguyen, in for Heidi Collins today. You can watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on this Friday, February 1st. Here is what is on the run-down. Do you Yahoo? Well, Microsoft does and it's making a $44 billion with a "b" play for the internet portal.
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