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American Morning

Tornado Tears Apart Joplin, Missouri; Man Arrested in Giants Fan Beating; GOP Ticket Firms Up; How to Be Smart About College Loan Debt; Volcano Erupts in Iceland, All Flights Canceled; President Obama in Ireland Today

Aired May 23, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. It's Monday, May 23rd. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Just tragedy in the heartland as the sun comes up trying to assess the damage from a monster tornado.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I mean six miles and three quarters of a mile wide. It destroyed 25 to 30 percent of Joplin, Missouri, by some officials estimating it. We were just listening to a news conference out of Joplin a few moments ago. They said at least 89 people are confirmed dead and 400 at least from one hospital alone treated for injuries.

Now, 50,000 people live in Joplin. Right now there is no phone service. Power lines are down. You're seeing fires crop up in the area. They were concerned about the situation, about fires being sparked in the area and the governor is now calling out the national guard and declaring a state of emergency.

ROMANS: The city's main hospital, St. John's Regional Medical Center, suffered severe damage, a direct hit some of the fire officials were saying. Windows blown out. Medical records and X-rays found 70 miles away from this hospital. At least 100 patients had to be transferred. Emergency crews are combing through a six-mile stretch of rubble and debris overnight, searching now for survivors.

Brian Todd is live in Joplin. Brian, what's the latest this morning?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, we're just seeing dawn break over the city getting a real sense of the scope of this damage. It is enormous.

Just over here you can see some cars on top of other vehicles here, twisted wreckage of other cars just littering the landscape over here. We'll pan over to St. John's Regional Medical Center. Our photojournalist John Persons (ph) is going to go in on this, because a-- this is -- you know, as dawn breaks here, we're getting a first really good look at it live. Look, you can see that the facade has been really torn apart. The top of the building, part of that has been sheared off. Everyone has been evacuated from this building we're told. But, there are significant dangers around here.

You mentioned the causalities -- 89 confirmed dead. That number expected to rise. City officials now warning there are dangers of people going back to their homes right now. They're warning people you may not want to try that just yet.

I'm joined by the two top officials of the city of Joplin, City Manager Mark Rohr is here and the Mayor Mike Woolston with us.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us.

First, Mr. Rohr, you told me a story, I want you to relate to our viewers if you can, about you and the fire chief coming across a church in just the minutes after this tornado hit.

What happened and what did you find there?

MARK ROHR, JOPLIN CITY MANAGER: I was at home dressed as I am now and he called and said you need to get out here. And I met him. I had to park the car and walk a few blocks to where he was at. We decided to get in his vehicle and do an assessment and we were going down the road and we got hailed by someone that needed some help at a church. And he and I went over and under his direction, he led an effort to rescue people that were trapped in the church.

We had to remove some deceased citizens to access those people that needed help. So, we did that. And access those people that needed the help and transported them to the hospital. He's the real hero, Fire Chief Mitch Randals (ph).

TODD: How many deceased citizens did you find in that building?

ROHR: Well, when we were there, at the point of time we were there, there were at least two, and we had to remove those individuals to get at the people that need help.

TODD: Mr. Mayor, can you give us a sense as dawn breaks in the city and we're getting a look at this for the first time, what are your feelings about what has happened to your city of Joplin?

MAYOR MIKE WOOLSTON, JOPLIN: The devastation is pretty widespread through that area, the path of the tornado. We took a driving tour about 3:00 this morning and limited by the darkness you can't see very well. And I expect as we get into daylight and a better view of things, we'll -- it will become more evident how wide the destruction is.

I think part of the danger we have power out in some parts of the city, not completely out in other parts of the city. People need to be careful about getting into their homes or getting around the city in that with the power still on we have natural gas leaks. Our water utility company has breaks in the lines and so there's a danger if we do start getting some fires, that we won't have the fire equipment and the water resources to put those fires out.

So those things are all critical and especially I think it's important that the people if you don't have to be out on the street, stay home. If you're out looking for a family member or something like that, if you're an emergency responder, if you've been called into work in an essential type of a business, certainly you're going to be out. But, we don't want to lose people with fatalities because our first responders can't get to them because of plugged up traffic.

TODD: Do you have enough help? Do you need more help from communities and jurisdictions nearby?

WOOLSTON: We've had an overwhelming response by roughly 40 agencies throughout the area and at this point we think we probably do have enough help. But now it's devising a plan to get those people out in the most essential areas first.

TODD: Mr. Mayor, thank you very much.

Mr. Rohr, thank you for joining us.

You guys have a big job ahead, we wish you luck.

Christine, obviously they're just kind of getting their arms around the devastation here, trying to get a read on casualties and the number of injured. Hundreds of people injured. The death toll expected to rise.

And again, as you just heard from the mayor, very severe warnings for people trying to go back to their homes. There are still significant dangers, possible fires, gas leaks, downed power lines all over the place. It's very, very dire right now.

CHETRY: Absolutely. There's still an active search and recovery mode. They're still going home to home looking for people. So, if you can stay away for now, I know it's a terrifying thing. But, just heed their warnings.

Brian Todd, we'll be checking in with you throughout the morning. Thank you.

ROMANS: Minnesota also reeling this morning because of a direct hit to Minneapolis from a devastating tornado. Northern Minneapolis feeling the brunt of it. One person was killed, 22 others were hurt. Entire blocks of homes destroyed there.

CHETRY: Also ambulances were lining up to try to take away victims. Thousands of people without power there, as well. The mayor warning everyone to stay out of the area so that rescue crews can reach all of the victims.

So we're hearing this repeated again and again. People want to return, they want to see what's left. In some cases like we're dealing with in Missouri, Rob, they may be trying to look for survivors at this point. But it's so dangerous in the wake of severe weather like this to try to go back too soon.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: In the case of what's going on in Joplin they're just trying to clear the roads, number one, get some of that heavy equipment in there -- get in there so the search and rescue crews can get around a little more, because right now they're just climbing hand over fist to get to the areas where they think --

ROMANS: And that's dangerous too. And that's dangerous, too. MARCIANO: There's all sorts of hazards. There's nails, there's glass, there's toxic fluids, and there's natural gas, as well. So there's a lot of obstacles these guys have to go through and it's going to be several days of search and rescue, I can tell you that.

ROMANS: And they say they know where some of these people are trapped so they're going one by one down their list, one of the officials said, down their list, one by one, trying to clear the area so they can get the people out.

MARCIANO: And right now, even as we speak, there are teams out from other towns and from other states that are converging on this area, search and rescue teams, with canine help and they'll be getting there today to help the effort. Unbelievable this is turning out to be.

CHETRY: Right. And I know it's an unscientific thing but everybody is asking the weathermen, the meteorologists what's going on. It seems like this has been a particularly brutal year.

MARCIANO: It has. You know, this is going to turn out to be the deadliest tornado year that we've had since 1953, and that's shocking considering the advances we've made in radar. This had over a 20- minute warning time. Lead time. That's, you know, about the average. But compared to 30 years ago, that's unheard of. But, you know, we live -- there's more people living and more congested areas and we just have horrible, horrible luck as far as these where the tornadoes have hit in such highly populated areas this year and it's -- and that's the unfortunate part of it.

ROMANS: Bad luck.

MARCIANO: I think so at this point. But, the number of tornados certainly around, guys, and it wasn't just yesterday. The day before yesterday, as well.

(WEATHER REPORT) CHETRY: Well, after an all-out manhunt Los Angeles Police now have a suspect in custody in connection with that brutal attack of a Giants' fan back on opening day. Police say that 31-year-old Giovanni Ramirez was the, quote, "primary aggressor" in this vicious beating that left the victim, Brian Stow in a coma. Ramirez is charged with assault with a deadly weapon. He's being held on $1 million bail right now and meantime Stow is still in critical condition.

Lance Armstrong's former teammate is accused the cycling legend of taking performance enhancing drugs while training for the Tour de France. Tyler Hamilton told "60 Minutes" on Sunday that he witnessed Armstrong inject banned substances, a charge Armstrong has repeatedly denied.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you actually witness?

TYLER HAMILTON, CYCLIST: I mean, I saw it in his refrigerator, you know, I saw him inject it more than one time. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You saw Lance Armstrong inject EPO?

HAMILTON: Yes, like we all did. Like I did many, many times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Tyler Hamilton turned in his gold med al after admitting to federal authorities he used drugs. Coming up in the 8:00 hour we're going to be talking about this story with Peter Flax, the editor of "Bicycling" magazine.

CHETRY: The way they make it sound, it's not -- it was just a systemic abuse.

ROMANS: He makes it sound as though this is the way cycling races.

CHETRY: Work, right.

All right. Well, we're going to talk much more about that.

Meantime, we're going to check in with the governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon. He's going to be joining us to talk more about the search and rescue, the devastation and the plan for the state. As we said, he activated the National Guard, getting all the help they can get because of this devastating tornado.

ROMANS: And also the impact of an earthquake and tsunami on a very big international company. Sony says it expects to lose more than $3 billion this fiscal year. We'll talk about that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Fifteen minutes past the hour. Back to our top story. We're following the latest details out of Joplin, Missouri, after the devastating tornado that hit just about 12 hours ago.

ROMANS: That's right. The tornado reportedly up to a mile wide hitting last night. Eighty-nine people are confirmed dead. Emergency officials say up to 30 percent of the city is destroyed.

Joining us on the phone from Jefferson City, the governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon.

Governor Nixon, thanks for joining us. Devastation for Joplin as dawn breaks, still trying to figure out what's happening next. Tell me what you're learning about conditions on the ground. The latest death toll we had was 89 people and hundreds injured. Is that the most recent information you have as well, sir?

GOV. JAY NIXON, MISSOURI (via telephone): Yes. We've got about 400 people treated for relatively serious injuries at Freeman Hospital. That doesn't count the other hospitals in the area. We have about 40 different agencies, called up the highway patrol last night. We also because of the lack of communication ability there, because all the wires are down and towers and what not, we put the highway patrol command vehicle in there last night so we have pretty good communication among first responders, just not great communication, external to that. About 2,000 buildings with very significant damage including hospitals, schools and others.

CHETRY: Is challenge of going door to door, trying to run down a list of people you believe may still be trapped, how is that process taking place this morning, governor?

NIXON: We'll begin the complete sweep. We have, for example, Task Force One down there out of Columbia, Missouri. That's the search and destroy team that has been deployed all across the country all the way to 9/11 at one point. We will -- the other pieces, if people are injured, or feel like they're out of pocket or out of home, they need to go to Missouri Southern at the Leggett & Platt building. We have a shelter set up there. That's a good place to give information. The bottom line is we're going to have to sweep the entire area and we'll use hundreds and hundreds of dogs and other methods to make sure that we don't miss anybody. You can't -- it's not just a complaint driven system. We have to give the area a complete search.

ROMANS: And it's still a dangerous situation. We're looking at pictures of, you know, downed power lines, of trees on homes. We're seeing also pictures of the gas fires as well, so this is a warning here, I guess, to people in the area, that the danger is not behind them. I mean, this is still -- this is still a very precarious situation for folks there, isn't it?

NIXON: Absolutely. With the gas lines that have been broken, fires have been breaking out all night. We do have -- the good sign is we have sufficient water pressure for firefighting. So the firefighters are able to deal with those issues. But we're going block by block and into lack of power. It's a very, very precarious situation. Folks should allow the professionals that are coming in to assist to get a full sweep there. Like I said, we stand ready to put additional guard boots on the ground if necessary. But it's going to be a stark view as people see dawn rise in Joplin, Missouri.

CHETRY: Governor, I know it's early. As you said, we're just starting to see daybreak and you're just starting to assess the damage. But in your estimation what you've heard so far, did the early warning system work? Was there enough time from when that alarm went off, warning of this tornado, to when people were able to seek shelter and it hit?

NIXON: They had as much as 17 minutes from the original on the one side of town, and so there was some initial warning which has assisted us. But the place this tornado hit, you know, it knocked out a hospital, Wal-Mart, Lowe's, high schools, it hit a very -- you know, right next to that downtown area is a, you know, some residential areas, so folks I'm sure heard the sirens. The other thing is it was engulfed -- this tornado was engulfed in a significant rain and hailstorm which made everything difficult to hear. The bottom line is we did have that initial warning, but it was really hard to hear with the size, strength and breathe of the storm.

CHETRY: Sounds like it hit in one of the worst possible places as well. NIXON: It absolutely hit in the worst possible place in that particular town that you could, especially with the hospital being knocked out. It's a town that has two functioning hospitals. When you knock one of them out, you've got to move the people out there. It's been a long night but first responders once again stepping up in a strong fashion.

ROMANS: A long night and certainly a long day ahead. Governor Jay Nixon, thank you, sir.

NIXON: Thank you.

CHETRY: Best of luck to you guys. He mentioned Missouri southern, the Platt building if you have no place to go or you need to find information. Obviously, again, these are the early stages but they're probably going to be setting up these triage areas and these sort of command centers so people who can't go back to their homes can find at least some information.

ROMANS: And it's just beginning to be very, very careful. Still very dangerous situation. A lot of debris and still dangerous conditions. So be careful, everybody.

Meantime, we're going to be joined next by Susan Molinari to help break down the GOP presidential contenders. She's going to drop by in just a few minutes and tell us what the field is beginning to look like.

CHETRY: Right. We have the official "I'm out" by the guy you see on your left there, Mitch Daniels, the official "I'm in" by Tim Pawlenty. And our question of the day, which Republican has the best chance to beat President Obama in 2012? They don't have to be currently running.

We just want to know what you think. E-mail us, tweet us, find us on Facebook. We'll be back in a moment.

It's 20 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Twenty-three minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" now.

The Dow posed for a selloff this morning. Futures are pointing lower. World markets are lower this morning after ratings agencies downgraded Greece and Italy late last week.

Also just in time for the summer travel season, the price at the pump is falling. Right now, the national average is at $3.84 a gallon. It's the 11th consecutive decrease and analyst says we could see another drop before the Memorial Day weekend.

Sony is expecting some major hits this fiscal year. Executives predict they'll lose more than $3 billion. It's a result of the devastating earthquake that struck Japan earlier this year and the recent hacker attacks. Sony will report its official earnings on Thursday.

"Pirates" take over this weekend's box office. The latest installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean" raked in $90 million. The comedy "Bridesmaids" came in second place bringing in about $21 million.

AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Los Angeles police now making an arrest in the brutal attack of a Giants fan. 42-year-old Bryan Stow was beaten into a coma after opening day on the L.A. -- for the L.A. Dodgers and police have been looking for a suspect ever since.

ROMANS: They have been. And it looks like they have someone out. Police put up more than 300 billboards. They offered $250,000 reward for information. It looks like those efforts are paying off. Thelma Gutierrez has the details live from Los Angeles.

And, Thelma, this is such a sad story. Bryan Stow, he's a trained EMT, he's a father, he's going to opening day. He ends up in a medically induced coma, beaten.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And, you know, Christine, this arrest is a huge score for the LAPD. Now 20 detectives were assigned to the case full time and according to the LAPD, 6,000 hours of police work went into this case.

Now early Sunday morning, 31-year-old Giovanni Ramirez was arrested in connection with the vicious beating of San Francisco Giants fan, 42- year-old Bryan Stow. Ramirez is facing charges of assault with a deadly weapon and he's being held on $1 million bail.

Now during the course of the investigation, police have received more than 600 leads but detectives say they got their break late last week from information they received from a law enforcement source. Detectives say Stow, a father of two, was leaving Dodgers Stadium with friends. Stow was wearing a Giants shirt and Ramirez and another man were wearing Dodger shirts. Police say Ramirez began taunting Stow in the parking lot. As they tried to walk away, investigators say they were jumped. Stow, a paramedic, was knocked to the ground and beaten. He sustained a brain injury and had to be placed in a medically induced coma. The doctors still aren't sure of his prognosis and detectives now are asking for the public's help in identifying a second suspect and a woman who was seen driving the men away in a light four-door sedan. There's also a $250,000 reward being offered for the information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Thelma Gutierrez. Thank you for that, Thelma.

CHETRY: And we're crossing the half hour right now. Time for a look at our other top stories.

A deadly gun fight breaks out after Taliban militants storm a navy base in Pakistan. At least 13 personnel were killed and two U.S. surveillance aircraft destroyed. Officials say it was the worst military attack since 2009. The Taliban says the attack is revenge on the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Two American hikers jailed in Iran had a chance to speak to their families yesterday. This is only the third phone call they've been allowed to make since their capture nearly two years ago. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal told their families that they launched a 17-day hunger strike after they were stopped from receiving letters. Their families said they sounded OK. Bauer and Fattal were charged with espionage on the Iran-Iraq border back in 2009.

And emergency officials in Joplin, Missouri, say up to 30 percent of the town may have been destroyed by a tornado that roared through the heart of town last night. 89 people confirmed dead. This twister reportedly a mile wide and left a six-mile path of destruction behind. In fact, we just spoke to the governor a few moments ago, Jay Nixon, who has called in the National Guard and declared a state of emergency and said those home to home searches will continue today.

ROMANS: There is that new video that captures the sheer terror of about 20 customers who were trapped in a Joplin convenient store when the tornado hit last night.

CHETRY: So the video is dark but if you listen carefully to the people you can hear the sounds, they begin to pray as they hear the twister approaching. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're going to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heavenly father, Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Heavenly father. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Those voices you hear, those people thought that was the end of their life. Isaac Duncan shot that video. He says when the tornado hit, he ran into that convenience store, wound up packed inside an industrial sized refrigerator with all those other people inside. You can't see the pictures, you can hear the terror in their voices.

CHETRY: He said if he wasn't inside the refrigerator he wouldn't be here this morning to tell us about that experience. Isaac Duncan joins us on the phone from Carl Junction, Missouri, right now. Thanks so much for joining us this morning under obviously some very trying circumstances. What was it like to be in there? How did you guys make the call to get inside that refrigerator which probably turned out to be a life-saving move?

ISAAC DUNCAN, (ON THE PHONE): Yes, well basically, we were just, you know, driving around town listening to the emergency broadcasts on the radio and we realized that they had said that there was a tornado about a block away from us and so we just pulled into the quickest thing that we could see which was that Fast Trip and when we went in, you know, the electricity was already out, there were about 20 people in the back huddled down, and everyone was kind of just deciding what to do and all of a sudden, the glass in the front of the building just got sucked out, completely blew out, and so my buddy, who was with me, kind of had the idea we should all like run as fast as we can and get in that cooler.

And so we all just jumped in the cooler and it's pretty small, so everyone was pretty tight. You know, everyone was getting kind of crushed. There was - it was, you know, to store beer so there was broken glass everywhere. Most of the people got cut pretty bad. You know, on their knees and hands and anywhere that was touching the ground.

ROMANS: And around you - when you got out of the cooler then, I mean, you could hear the tornado, the destruction around you, in the end was that convenient store still standing?

DUNCAN: Basically the only thing that was left standing was the cooler that we were in. Everything, everything around it was gone. You know, when - it actually tore a few holes in the refrigerator and so we climbed out of one of the walls at the end of the refrigerator and when we crawled out, you know, it was - everything was just flattened. Trees, houses, everything around there.

CHETRY: Amazing. You know, Isaac, let's listen to that video and take a look at it one more time. Because it is extremely powerful. I mean, you said that you and the others there literally thought you were going to die that this was it. Let's listen again to what it was like to be there through these moments of terror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're going to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jesus. Heavenly father. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Jesus. Oh heavenly father. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: What was it like after you - the dust had settled and you realized that people - you guys did, indeed, survive? What were those moments afterward like?

DUNCAN: Well, during the whole thing, it was kind of like a surreal moment. Like a lot of people there were completely, you know, obviously is freaking out. Me and my buddy, after we talked about it, we all just kind of decided it was almost like a strangely like peaceful feeling and then after it passed, we were still sitting there for probably 30 minutes just kind of trapped, trying to figure out what we should do and so we just, you know, eventually decided after we - the gas pumps were starting to leak all the gas so you could smell fumes really bad and we started to smell electrical fire and we decided to just - the smartest thing would be to get out. So we climbed out, tried to help the people out, but mostly, you know, people just wanted to get away from there because of the gasoline and everything. There's been fires around town because there's so many broken gas lines. We just wanted to get away, you know.

ROMANS: Isaac Duncan, you are one lucky young man or one very smart young man with your friend to go running into that fridge, that cooler at the convenient store. The convenient store is gone. The cooler still standing and all of you are alive. Congratulations. It's going to be a tough day for you, my friend, but best of luck to you, OK. Thanks for telling us your story, Isaac.

DUNCAN: Thank you.

CHETRY: Checking with Rob right now. He's joining us -

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Very smart.

CHETRY: Yes, I mean, that's the first thing they tell you to get into some protective area.

ROMANS: Right.

MARCIANO: You would be surprised. I mean, obviously, a cooler like that is pretty sturdy but you would be surprised just getting into your bathroom, getting into the bathtub with some blankets, a mattress, pillows, what have you, how that can be lifesaving. You can have your entire house crumble around you and the tub is still there, and maybe some of the tiles still there. You may have to do some climbing out, you may have some cuts and bruises, but it's remarkable how many people can survive if they just go into their bathrooms.

CHETRY: What kills most people in the tornado?

MARCIANO: Well, the flying debris. I mean, it's not the 200-mile an hour wind. It's what's flying around the 200 miles an hour or being crushed. So if you can get an area where you got some sturdy surroundings.

CHETRY: Right.

MARCIANO: You eliminate those two variables.

ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) if you're in your car in a hailstorm like the governor told us there was a lot of hail and crazy, crazy rain and wind at the time that this hit, I mean, people might not want to get out of the car because the situation is so dangerous around them but you should not be in a car.

MARCIANO: Yes, you shouldn't be in a car. I mean, typically hail and rain don't hit at the exact same time that a tornado hits. It's a different part of the storm.

ROMANS: (INAUDIBLE) not unusual if that was all synced like that.

MARCIANO: But it's just a matter of minutes, you know, between the two. So you got to know what to look for. Get out of your car. Get in a ditch. Get somewhere down low and cover your head.

ROMANS: Those highway overpasses you also hear people say they try to get under an overpass.

MARCIANO: That's not a horrible idea if that's the best you can do. Just get tucked up in there. We've seen people survive that as well. But just get out of your car, they will be tossed and flown some cases miles.

CHETRY: And you have a look of the map of how this went down yesterday.

MARCIANO: Yes, this radar is pretty remarkable how it actually blew up. We'll just run through this real quick. The tornado itself, the radar, just really ripped through Joplin after exploding across parts of southeast Kansas. So this wasn't a long-lived event where it went 200, 300 mile super cells like the last ones that rolled through parts of Alabama. It was enough to have all the ingredients in order for this to explode and notice it moved down to the south and east as well.

48 reports of tornadoes yesterday. We have 20 on Saturday. Also a deadly tornado in Kansas Saturday. Of course, our friends in Minneapolis we're thinking of you, several injured there with one fatality from a tornado yesterday. One of the 48 here. Here's where the action is today. This is not severe at the moment but it's rolling through parts of the Ohio and Tennessee River Valleys.

Later on today we do expect to see a threat for some severe weather if you are doing travel, there will be spots in New York where you have to deal with some drizzle, but the highlight of the area is there where we expect to see some thunderstorms. I think tomorrow, guys, we're going to re-set the atmosphere and the same areas that got hit over the weekend are going to be kind of the bull's eye again tomorrow, unfortunately. So we'll have to watch out for that.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Rob. Rob Marciano.

All right. Next up, 2012 Republican race, who's in, who's out. We're going to talk to Susan Molinari with her analysis of the GOP fill. That's live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The GOP presidential ticket. Here's the big question, who's in, who's out? Governor Mitch Daniels is joining the growing list of Republicans not running for president, he made that decision yesterday.

CHETRY: Meanwhile, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty plans to take on President Obama and his formal announcement set for later today. Republican analyst, former congresswoman Susan Molinari joins us live from Washington to break down the contenders. Susan, great to see you.

SUSAN MOLINARI, FMR. REPUBLICAN CONGRESSWOMAN: Nice to see you too. Good morning.

CHETRY: It's so funny to see so much written and this has been over the past few weeks about who's not running rather than who is. The latest is everybody bemoaning the fact that Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said no. How viable of a candidate do you think he was and how big of a loss will this be for the GOP field?

MOLINARI: Mitch Daniels enjoyed a lot of support throughout this country, and particularly with people who knew him and worked with him here in Washington, D.C.. So from an organizational standpoint he had really built up a pretty good brand in terms of political supporters, fund-raisers, people, strategists who wanted to work for Mitch Daniels. And you're absolutely right when you couple that with the announcements by Haley Barbour and Mike Huckabee that they're not interested in running, I can only conclude that the phone in Governor Christie's mansion is continuing to ring off the hook right now, today.

ROMANS: Well, you mentioned Governor Christie but also Paul Ryan is another one you keep hearing about.

CHETRY: Jeb Bush.

ROMANS: Jeb Bush. We keep hearing about Jeb Bush. And these are people who have said "No, this is not my year."

MOLINARI: Right. And you know, this is not unusual in the Republican tradition. We have two traditions for Republican party candidates. Number one, we're never really satisfied with our field. I mean, if you go back to even to Ronald Reagan, people were complaining about the field of candidates. And number two, we usually do coalesce around the frontrunner. So this is really not that unusual.

But the truth is with Mitch Daniels breaking out and the other sort of frontrunners leaving Mitt Romney out there, it does give a little more breathing room to Governor Pawlenty, perhaps encouraging Governor Huntsman to get in the race, waiting to see what happens with Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin in terms of if either one of them throws their hat in the ring. I think you're going to see a lot of movement and final movement now that it's starting to take shape over the next few weeks. And quite frankly, it has to.

CHETRY: Well, see, that's funny, you say that because there are others who say there are plenty of time. There's plenty of time for people to announce and we could see this throughout the summer. I mean, I understand when it comes to fund-raising earlier the better. How viable is Tim Pawlenty? What do you think of him?

MOLINARI: I think he is a viable candidate. He obviously has a great credentials as governor. He is sort of that, you know, tough talk and we need to make some difficult decisions type of governor and will be that type of presidential candidate. The fiscal responsibility message that the Republicans feel so strongly about in terms of discipline, reducing the debt, reducing the deficit, building businesses and jobs, he's got that in his background, so I think he is viable. The only thing, really, from a constructive standpoint, let's just take a look at it, Governor Mitt Romney has been running for president consistently for at least the last the seven years. And, I think that has to say at this moment right now, he is the -- has to be the presumptive frontrunner.

ROMANS: So let's talk about who he would be or any of these people would be running against, the president, President Obama. What is the view from insiders watching this race from the Republican side? Do they think that he's vulnerable or do they think he's unbeatable?

What kind of operating assumption do you work at this part of the campaign?

MOLINARI: You know, I think the operating assumption in this part of the campaign is, we'll see. If the election were held today, with obviously with the taking of Osama bin Laden, he is getting great credibility on that aspect of it and shown some real leadership capabilities.

On the other hand he stumbled into a very vigorous debate with the Jewish-American community over his comments last week in his Mideast speech. And again, what this all comes down to and no one knows better than you is what this economy will look like, what inflation's going to look like and what the job numbers will look like as we start to roll around into the beginning of 201.

So I think people are going to say so much is going to be planning a campaign that talks about reducing the deficit, creating jobs, fiscal responsibility and showing leadership. And right now that is a message that would take hold in America.

CHETRY: Interesting. We asked on our blog, who our viewers thought maybe would be a good viable GOP contender to perhaps beat the president.

Vicky (INAUDIBLE) wrote, "Jeb Bush, he's the sane Bush. People would like his middle of the road conservative views if he could get through the primary."

Any chance, I know that we've heard him recruited wistfully before, that he's going to run?

MOLINARI: You know what, I just read in the papers today that Jeb Bush said again, I think this past weekend that he would not run. But he is, I mean, absolutely an incredible candidate. He is -- was a very popular governor of Florida and is now continuing his work in trying to increase the capabilities of our educational system throughout the United States.

So he has kept his profile up on very important issues in the United States, but I think he probably feels he either needs a rest or if his name wasn't Bush, there would be more people who would be pushing him right now. But I think he will be a viable candidate in '16.

ROMANS: Oh, interesting. Susan Molinari, well, we have a lot to talk about the next four years.

MOLINARI: We have a lot to hope for.

ROMANS: Thanks so much, Susan Molinari. Thanks.

MOLINARI: Thank you for having me.

CHETRY: Well, first in Iceland, it was the volcano that nobody could pronounce, remember, that literally brought air traffic to a halt. Well, now there's another volcano that also is erupting. This is a more active volcano but now the ash blowing toward Britain, as well as other countries in Europe. Air travel at risk yet again.

ROMANS: That's right. That ash may reach over the U.K. by tonight.

Also, smart is the new rich. How to be smart about taking on your college debt so it stays good debt and doesn't become bad debt. I have some very important pointers for you seniors in high school and you seniors in college to make sure you're not making huge money mistakes.

Forty-seven minutes after the hour.

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CHETRY: Fifty minutes past the hour right now. Let's get you caught up on your headlines.

Live pictures now of Joplin, Missouri, after the tornado that ripped through yesterday evening. Right now at least 89 people are confirmed killed. Emergency officials say that up to 30 percent of Joplin may have been destroyed. Search and rescue efforts are under way right now.

An arrest in the brutal attack of a Giants' fan at the Dodgers opening game. Los Angeles Police say 31-year-old Giovanni Ramirez is the primary aggressor in the beating that left Brian Stow in a coma. Ramirez is now being held on $1 million bail.

New sex claims against former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Officials say that he asked two other hotel staffers to join him for a drink. Also reportedly made some lewd comments to a flight attendant. Kahn is charged with the sexual assault of a maid at a New York hotel last weekend.

And a volcano erupts in Iceland canceling all international flights in and out of the country. The cloud of volcanic ash is sweeping across Europe and could force more flight cancellations. Ash is expected to hit Scotland tomorrow and could reach France and Spain by Thursday.

And President Obama is in Ireland this morning, meeting with Irish prime minister and president. President Obama will also make a special visit to a small village, which his ancestors once called home. Ireland is the first stop in his week-long tour of Europe.

And you're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING will be back after a quick break.

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CHETRY: Fifty-three minutes past the hour right now. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates gave the commencement speech at Notre Dame on Sunday in front of 30,000 graduates. He addressed serious issues of national security and the federal budget, but he also had a couple jokes.

ROMANS: Yes. And not before cracking a few jokes at his own expense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: You've worked hard to get here, your parents are full of pride even if their bank accounts are now empty.

(LAUGHTER)

Standing here, I'm truly humbled by the fact that I'm following six sitting United States presidents who have delivered graduation speeches here at Notre Dame. I'm also keenly aware you may have been hoping for a more entertaining choice for commencement speaker. As an "Observer" editorial said, "Robert Gates is not Stephen Colbert, nor is he Bono." He has never appeared on the cover of "Entertainment Weekly" or been named one of "People" magazine's sexiest men alive.

(LAUGHTER)

Like I needed that reality check.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Self-deprivation also works.

ROMANS: Yes, it always does. But, you know, it's a hard time for these college graduates, because, look, they're graduating with more debt than they've ever -- any graduating class ever has. We now have, folks, more student loan debt than credit card debt for the first time in history. That's expected to happen this year.

CHETRY: Is it people having to borrow more or it just costs more?

ROMANS: It costs more. They're having to borrow more. They have less cash in the bank. Their parents don't have money in the house to tap anymore.

So, some advice for you in our Smart is the New Rich segment about how to make sure that college debt remains good debt, try to borrow less than your expected first year salary. That means if you are an English major, do not borrow $60,000 to graduate from school. You know, you've got to keep the loan value down to what you're going to get -- penny pinch your loan money. There's a loan adviser, a loan author I talked to a lot who says you've got to live like a monk in college instead of living like a monk after college. Don't drop out. The minute you drop out of school, you guys, that student debt turns into bad debt.

If you're a high school senior or maybe junior, couple things to remember to keep your costs down. Pick your major early. We do not have the luxury anymore of taking five years to get through school and changing your major three times. Earn CLEP and AP credits. Some 3,000 universities accept these credits that allow you to start accruing semester credits before you even get to college. And also --

CHETRY: That's smart.

ROMANS: -- try for a three-year undergrad. Not a lot of schools do it, but if you're going to go on to be a doctor or you're going to go onto law school or you're going to go on to some extended degree, try to get your undergrad in three years. In my book, I've got a lot of different schools that do do it and there are some schools that if you ask, they will let you model your own three-year program.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. College is not supposed to be a four-year party with some learning in between?

ROMANS: No, not anymore. For Generation X it was. Sorry, guys, we got to do that, but you don't get do it.

MARCIANO: This three year deal, are you working 25 percent harder to get it all crammed in?

ROMANS: You're working in the summer and you're working harder. You got to be serious. But think, if you're going to be in school for like seven or eight years, Rob, and it's going to cost $10,000, $15,000 a year, you can't afford to have a fourth year of undergrad --

CHETRY: At some point, you burn out. At some point you burn out.

ROMANS: I know.

CHETRY: A lot of these kids, also, four years, they're also working. I mean, we joke around, but they're also working to pay for it. So, you're waiting tables, you're trying to study.

ROMANS: That's true. But that shows a level of seriousness about a student that I think employers also like, too. They like to hear that, oh yes, I worked my way through college. They really like to hear that.

So, but look, we're the only country in the world that doesn't allow -- college is not some place to find yourself before you go into the real world. The rest of the world is going to college so they can eat our lunch. So we have to be a little more serious about it.

(CROSSTALK) CHETRY: Actually, Gates cheered me up more than Christine.

ROMANS: I'm sorry. I mean, come on. It's great.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Trying to save you money, folks. Just trying to save you money.

CHETRY: Thank you. We're going to take a quick break. Your top stories coming up right after this.

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