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American Morning
49 Wild Animals Shot Dead in Ohio; Contaminated Cantaloupe; Perry Proposes Flat Tax; Cain on the Attack; Secretary Clinton in Afghanistan; The Fight for Sirte; Fourth Arrest in Philly Kidnap Case; Michael Jackson Death Trial; Lohan Probation Revoked; Sarkozy Welcomes Baby Girl; "Don't Screw Around With Me"; How to Make Money With Your Money; Perry Unveil Flat Tax; Clinton Meeting With Afghanistan's President; Happy Days Lawsuit Tossed
Aired October 20, 2011 - 05:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: An animal slaughter in Ohio. I'm Christine Romans. Police forced to shoot and kill close to 50 wild and rare animals after they're turned loose on the street. Now, the question, why were there so many animals there in the first place?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And Rick Perry proposes a flat tax. I'm Carol Costello. The Republican presidential candidate says he wants to scrap the current tax code. Is the idea of Perry's path to victory? We will discuss on this "American Morning."
ROMANS: All right. Good morning, everybody. It is Thursday, October 20th. Ali Velshi has the day off. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Nice to see you back here after a couple of days in Las Vegas.
COSTELLO: I had such a great time.
ROMANS: It was so fun. Your interview with Wayne Newton and Herman Cain and Ron Paul and --
COSTELLO: I know, but going to Wayne Newton's 52-acre ranch was the capper, 200 Arabian horses.
ROMANS: Wow, beautiful.
All right, first, it is all over but the questions now. Forty- nine wild animals, lions, tigers, cheetahs, wolves shot dead by police and sheriff's officials in Ohio after the owner of a preserve, a game preserve, killed himself and let them loose on the town. The one monkey they couldn't find, police say the cheetah ate that monkey.
COSTELLO: Authorities defending the decision to take those animals down saying it was us or them. Jason Carroll live in Zanesville, Ohio this morning. Good morning, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol and Christine. So many questions this morning specifically one, why Terry Thompson, the man who owned all those animals, why he opened those cages and set those animals free knowing that many of them would most likely be killed. This is a man who by all accounts, guys, really loved these animals. So that's one of the major questions that investigators are going to be looking at this morning and all 49 animals killed.
The pictures really tell the whole story. We see those pictures of those animals, those wild exotic animals that were killed out here. Sheriff's deputies telling me they were sickened to have to do what they did to put those animals down.
But they simply felt as though they had no choice. The story actually started to unfold. It was Tuesday, just about 5:00. That's when the 911 calls started coming in from people in the area calling the sheriff's department saying I see a bear on my property. I see a lion that just crossed my property. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: 911, where's your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Yes, there's a lion on Mt. Perry Road in Gratiot. There's a big horse farm on the right. I just drove by it and it walked out in front of me and it was standing there under the street light.
UNIDENTIFIED OPERATOR: OK, S.O. We got one of those lions that are missing out of Muskingum County.
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: It was heading west in a hurry.
UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCHER: All right, we'll get somebody down to that area. If you see it again don't approach it, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Sheriff's deputies were very familiar with Thompson simply because in the past some of his animals had actually escaped before. So they knew exactly -- they knew exactly where to go.
And one of the debates that's been occurring out here yesterday and even today has been why these animals had to be put down. Why were not tranquillizers used more in trying to subdue some of these animals?
Well, yesterday, I spoke with Barbara Wolfe. She worked with the Columbus Zoo. She has been working with animals all of her life. She told me what had happened when she came face to face just a few feet from a Bengal tiger yesterday morning. She explained the difficulty that she had in trying to tranquilize it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BARBARA WOLFE, COLUMBUS ZOO DIRECTOR OF WILDLIFE: About 11:00, we found one animal. This was the only animal that has been found alive in the light of day. It was a tiger, about 300-pound tiger, adult, hiding in the bushes. They took me down. The special response team took me down. I was loaded with tranquilizer and had to actually approach the animal within about 15 feet into the bushes.
I did shoot with the tranquillizer dart. Unfortunately, about ten seconds later it roared and got up and came toward me. The special response team had to shoot it.
CARROLL: I think a lot of people don't realize it is not like in the movies where you shoot an animal with a tranquillizer gun and the animal immediately passes out. It takes a long time depending upon the size of the animal for the drugs to get into the system and to take effect.
WOLFE: That's exactly right. We expected it to take five to 10 minutes. An animal that's that agitated and afraid can actually really fight off the effects of the drug.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Now Ohio's former governor, Governor Strickland, did actually have legislation in place to try to restrict the ownership of exotic animals. That legislation was actually allowed to expire this past April.
Many questions about how that law was going to be enforced. That's one of the reasons the legislation was allowed to expire. Ohio's current governor now says he will be pushing through legislation to restrict the sale and ownership of exotic animals here -- Carol, Christine.
ROMANS: And Jason, this morning so many people, animal lovers and people who just have been watching this story, are heartbroken that these animals had to be killed. Officials there are saying that there was simply no other choice. There was no other way to bring all of these wild animals in.
CARROLL: Right. If you think about what is involved in trying to tranquilize an animal, even if you hit that animal depending upon its size, how much it weighs, it still may have the opportunity to strike out at you or take off in a different direction.
They only had a few hours of daylight to try to get all the animals under control. If an animal was tranquilized and then takes off and then can't find the animal and hide something place in the woods.
And then it wakes up and it is allowed to be free again, then you have a very dangerous situation on your hands, which is why some of the sheriff's deputies out here felt as though they simply had no choice.
COSTELLO: Just such a strange psychology behind this, too, as far as, you know, this Thompson guy who owned all of these animals. We are going to get into that later as well.
ROMANS: Jason Carroll reporting live from Zanesville, Ohio. Thank you.
Now this story has also put Ohio's weak animal laws in the spotlight. Take a look at this map from "USA Today." The states in black ban private ownership of exotic pets. The ones in dark blue ban owning some exotic animals. The states in light blue require licenses before you can own one.
But the states in white including Ohio have no regulations other than veterinary documents. Someone can buy from a breeder, a monkey, for example or a Bengal tiger. The legendary wildlife expert Jack Hanna said it is like Noah's ark crashed in Ohio.
He's going to join us at 7:40 a.m. Eastern. He very heartrendingly said that they had to kill 18 Bengal tigers, Carol. There are only 1,400 that exist and 18 of them were killed yesterday.
COSTELLO: I hope will help us with the psychology of this man who kept so many wild animals on his property. Many of the animals weren't in such good shape. So he didn't exactly care for them as well as he could have. Yet, he loved them. I mean, it is such a strange story.
ROMANS: And then in the end, the police say he took his own life, but let all the animals go. Surely knowing that it could it put them in danger and other people in danger. So what was he doing? Why did this happen? What was the unraveling of this man?
ROMANS: We may never know.
COSTELLO: Jack Hanna will be with us though in the 7:00 hour of AMERICAN MORNING.
The FDA may have isolated a source of a deadly Listeria outbreak linked to cantaloupe. Officials say unsanitary conditions at a processing plant in Colorado. The Listeria outbreak is blamed for 25 deaths and another 100 illnesses in 26 states.
The tainted cantaloupes were recalled last month. The CDC says it is too soon to declare the outbreak officially over, but fewer cases are being reported.
ROMANS: Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry is proposing a flat tax. So far Perry is not offering details about how his plan would work. Speaking yesterday, he did say that he wanted to scrap the current tax code system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Starting over with something simpler, a flat tax. I want to make the tax code so simple that even Timothy Geithner can file his taxes on time. That's simple.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Perry has recruited Steve Forbes as an adviser. You remember Forbes supported a flat tax during his two presidential runs.
COSTELLO: No more Mr. Nice Guy for Herman Cain after Tuesday night's Western Republican debate in Las Vegas. Cain warned he would be taking the gloves off and going on the attack. He appeared last night on CNN's "PIERS MORGAN" tonight and he made Ron Paul his first target.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I respect all the candidates up there. Some more than others who I think would be better than others.
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, CNN'S "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": Who do you respect the most?
CAIN: Well, I would say that Speaker Gingrich and Governor Romney are the two that I have the greatest amount of respect for. That I would feel comfortable if I did not get it. But I am looking pretty good now, but I have a lot of confidence in the type of job that they would do.
MORGAN: Who do you have the least respect for?
CAIN: Let's just stick with the ones that I have --
MORGAN: No, no, no, no, no. Come on.
CAIN: I don't believe Representative Ron Paul would be a good president.
MORGAN: Why?
CAIN: Because most of his ideas and positions are eliminate end rather than fix. We need to fix a lot of things in this country. I don't believe in throwing the baby out with the bath water. We have more things that we can fix than things we need to totally eliminate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Cain says he's rapidly on a campaign staff around the country and he's fully prepared to compete in the early voting states of New Hampshire and Iowa.
ROMANS: All right, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is heading to Pakistan later today. Her trip will follow this morning's surprise visit to Afghanistan.
There Clinton is meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. On the agenda, America's commitment to a stable and secure Afghanistan. The trip follows her visit to Libya. The first for an American diplomat since Moammar Gadhafi was forced from power.
New developments out of Libya. Reuters is reporting that the Libyan transitional government forces are claiming to have captured Moammar Gadhafi's hometown and the last major stronghold of Sirte.
A front line commander says they are trying to chase down any of Gadhafi's forces trying to run away. Today's reported takeover comes almost three months after Gadhafi was ousted from power.
COSTELLO: There has been a fourth arrest in the case of four mentally disabled adults who were found locked in a basement boiler room last weekend in Philadelphia. The 32-year-old Jane McIntosh is facing multiple charges including kidnapping.
She is the daughter of Linda Ann Weston who has already been arrested in the case. Police say the suspects held their victims captive in an apartment house basement so they could steal their Social Security checks.
ROMANS: Prosecutors at the Michael Jackson death trial set to rest their case today against Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray. The state's final witness presented some dramatic testimony showing jurors a video of how to administer Propofol properly and telling them none of the safeguards were used by Dr. Murray at Jackson's home, which contributed to his death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. STEVEN SHAFER, ANESTHESIOLOGIST: When Dr. Murray agreed to treat insomnia with Propofol. He put Dr. Murray first not Michael Jackson. When he showed up every night with bottles of Propofol and bags of saline, he was not putting Michael Jackson first. He was putting Dr. Murray first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Murray's defense, which claims Jackson gave himself the fatal dose of Propofol will begin its case tomorrow. The jury could begin deliberations sometime next week.
COSTELLO: More legal trouble for Lindsay Lohan. She was led out of court in handcuffs after a judge revoked her probation for failing to fulfill her community service at a women's shelter.
Lohan later posted bail. The judge ruled she must now do community service at the L.A. County morgue before her probation violation hearing in two weeks where, of course, she could face more jail time.
ROMANS: All right, French President Nicholas Sarkozy is celebrating the birth of his fourth child. It is a girl according to a close friend of the family. It is the first child for Sarkozy with his wife of three years. He has three children from a previous marriage.
COSTELLO: Let's talk sports now, my favorite part of morning. The St. Louis Cardinals are up 1-0 in the World Series. They beat the Texas Rangers 3-2 last night in game one of the fall classic. Allan Craig, he actually came off the bench to drive in that winning run. (Inaudible) they just sort of died. They were like on fire against the Tigers. Congratulations, St. Louis fans.
ROMANS: All right, up next on AMERICAN MORNING --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's get it straight, guys. Don't screw around with me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Joe versus the reporter. Why the vice president took exception to a question about the tactic he is using to sell his boss' jobs bill.
COSTELLO: Plus, using your money to make money. Where to put your hard-earned cash to get the most rewards for your risk.
COSTELLO: And price check on honey. Adorable black bear cub goes shopping. This video --
ROMANS: Love this. Right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Fifteen minutes past the hour. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
The battle over the president's jobs bill triggering a tensed confrontation between Vice President Joe Biden and a reporter from a conservative news organization. Biden has been pushing the president's jobs plan by point to rising crime statistics in cities where police officers have been laid off.
Listen to the Vice President making that point in a speech yesterday followed by his encounter with reporter, Jason Mattera, of the news organization Human Events.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In many cities, the result has been -- it's not unique, murder rates are up, robberies are up, rapes are up.
JASON MATTERA, EDITOR, "HUMAN EVENTS": Do you regret using a rape reference to describe Republican opposition to the president's bill?
BIDEN: I didn't use -- no, no, no. What I said -- let's get it straight, guys. Don't screw around with me. Let's get it straight.
MATTERA: You didn't use a rape reference?
BIDEN: No. Let me -- listen to me. MATTERA: I'm listening.
BIDEN: I said rape was up three times. And they're the numbers. Go look at the numbers. Murder is up. Rape is up and burglaries. That's exactly what I said.
MATTERA: And if the Republicans don't pass this bill, then rape will continue to rise?
BIDEN: Murder will continue to rise, rape will continue to rise, all crimes will continue to rise.
MATTERA: Do you think it's appropriate for the vice president to use language in such --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got to go. I'm sorry. We've got to go.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: According to the Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Senate could vote on the president's $35 billion jobs bill which includes money for teachers and first responders. They could vote on that bill tonight or tomorrow.
ROMANS: All right, Carol, you've been complaining about banks. People complaining they're not getting any money. And in fact, they're just spending money on fees in banks. You know, never before have savers been rewarded so little for stashing their money in a bank account or a CD. Is there any place to park your money and make a little interest?
A lot of you been asking this, from the least risky to the most risky. Here's what it looks like. First of all, your mattress. People do it. It's the least risky, but it's really a bad idea, Carol. It's not guaranteed by the federal government. Your money wouldn't grow in your mattress. In fact, inflation means your money gets less valuable every year that you leave it.
So what about the bank? Putting your money in the bank. The problem is, it is insured by the federal government up to $250,000 per account. The con, you're only getting about a half a percent in interest in your money that's sitting in the bank. Unless you have a rocking online bank and there are some, you have a lot of money stashed in a jumbo checking account or combined savings checking and investment accounts, you're not getting squat.
All right. Your next option, slightly more risky, this is stocks with dividends. The company pays you money, Carol. It pays you interest on each share that you own. One example, Altria, for example, it's the parent of cigarette maker Philip Morris, it's going to pay you more than six percent to hold that shares. Others like Merck and Pfizer are going to pay you a dividend about -- of about five percent.
So you want to make sure you're looking for, you know, large cap, blue chip stocks, the history of raising dividends over the years. Then you can go to something called exchange traded funds. And here are a few of those for you. They've got more risk but they -- they can have high yield. You can pick a basket of -- of stocks basically that trade just like this. Under these ticker symbols and they are going to give you some yields as well.
And then there's something called high yield mutual funds. A lot of people use a professional adviser to help them do this. You know, mutual funds is where you contribute money to a mutual fund with lots of other small investors, where manager buys and sells stocks. These sorts of mutual funds focus on high yields. Taking your money, parking it somewhere, Carol, and hoping to get returns from it.
COSTELLO: So, you only make money -- you have to -- on riskier things.
ROMANS: Yes, yes.
COSTELLO: There's nowhere safe to put your money anymore.
ROMANS: No. And if you're somebody who's living on a fixed income you're really -- you're really having a hard time because interest rates are so low. No one is paying you to you put your money in a CD, to put your money in a bank account.
You know, a generation ago when the economy was rocky, you got paid for putting your money in a safe place. No more. And that's something that's really -- it really hurts a lot of people who are savers who don't like to take big risks, so even just a few --
COSTELLO: Or people who don't have all that much money --
ROMANS: That's right.
COSTELLO: -- to invest in those other things.
ROMANS: That's right.
COSTELLO: There's no recourse for them.
ROMANS: That's right. And we have an economy that is really geared against savers right now and that's a -- that's a real problem. But there are a few places to make money with money. And I will say there are some online banks that are giving some better returns and you're getting that half percent in a bank account. So you've got to do your homework.
COSTELLO: Christine, thanks.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: With all the bad animal news in the show today, here is something to lift your spirits. Take a look. It's a baby bear in the produce aisle. Look at that. The animal apparently walked through the automatic doors and wound up crawling around the veggies. This was actually in Alaska where black bears are known to show up in very strange places and no, no one kept this bear as a pet. The bear lives in the wild but just decided to take a detour into the grocery store for some veggies.
Rob Marciano has the morning off. Reynolds Wolf is in the Extreme Weather Center. And, whoa, it's chilly in the Midwest this morning.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, chilly. Even for bears like that. Not -- not too happy with the bear pictures. Those are horrible to see. The bears, let me tell you about them. They always use expired coupons. They always cut in lines. And then when the bagger asks paper or plastic, they just growl. You don't want to deal with the bear.
COSTELLO: And they get away with it.
WOLF: They -- they get away because they're so cute.
Today, and speaking of bears, it might be a day you want to hibernate especially if you happen to be in the Windy City. Chicago, it's going to be a rough time for you. Delays are all but a certainty. And some of them may stand upwards of an hour. We're talking of the wind, the rain and that's something you're going to deal with, not just in the Windy City of Chicago, but also New York metros, D.C. metros, all of them. Philadelphia getting some backups there. Also in Boston. And Detroit, you might have a rough time to say the very least.
Something else that may cause you to kind of move sort of slowly this morning -- the cold air. We've got plenty of it right across parts of the nation's midsection, back into portions of the Western Great Lakes and into the Deep South. We expect these freeze warnings and advisories to be in effect through Friday morning. Temperatures well below normal.
Current temperatures, we'll wrap things up, 37 in Minneapolis; 37 in Denver; 48 degrees in -- let's see -- New Orleans and 63 in Tampa; 66 in New York; and home of the Bears, Chicago Bears, by the way, 43 degrees. Expect the rain to lift out later in the day as everything drifts off to the northeast. So New York get ready. The rain is on the way.
Back out to the west, plenty of sunshine. In the northwest, some rain, nice and balmy for you in parts of Southern Florida and the Four Corners.
That's a wrap of the forecast. Let's pitch it back to you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you.
WOLF: You bet.
COSTELLO: We appreciate it, Reynolds Wolf.
Coming up, Starbucks going blond. Why their coffee is getting a makeover.
It's 22 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
The Fed's latest report on the economy says the economy is growing, but at a slow pace. That outlook pushed U.S. stocks lower yesterday. Also growing doubts overnight about the effectiveness of the new E.U. bailout fund. They're pushing European markets lower right now.
U.S. futures, though, still up. Investors are waiting to get a new read on the economy in about two hours. That's when we'll see just how many people filed for jobless claims for the first time last week. Economists expect that number to be slightly lower than the week before.
Anger over the country's economic crisis boiling over in the streets of Athens, Greece. The Greek Parliament -- wow, expected to vote -- take the final vote on a new round of top austerity measures to try to bring down the country's national debt. The people will bear the brunt of that vote, of course, and they're very unhappy about it.
We're also waiting for a bunch of new earnings reports. AT&T, McGraw Hill, "The New York Times," Philip Morris International will all release their third-quarter results before the bell.
Citigroup agreeing to pay a $285 million to settle claims by the SEC that the bank misled investors in 2007. The government charging Citigroup with marketing and selling securities tied to the struggling U.S. housing market and then betting against those securities to rake in profits of $160 million while investors were wiped out.
And soon you'll be able to go back into Starbucks and ask for a tall sweet blond. I'm not kidding. The coffee chain will soon offer a new blond blend. It's a lighter roast for people who can't stomach the dark stuff.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 30 minutes past p hour. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
Time for your top stories:
Forty-eight safari animals, lion, tigers, cheetahs, grizzlies shot dead by police in Ohio after the suicidal owner of the preserve killed himself and let the animals loose on the town. Authorities this morning are defending the decision to take the animals down.
ROMANS: The FDA says unsanitary conditions at a cantaloupe packing plant in Colorado may have contributed to the nation's deadliest listeria outbreak. Investigators found low levels of listeria on equipment inside the Jensen Farms' plant, along with pools of water on the floor.
Listeria outbreak is blamed for at least 25 deaths in 26 states. And that facility had just passed an inspection.
COSTELLO: We (INAUDIBLE) Texas Governor Rick Perry's big economic speech which he is supposed to give next week. Speaking yesterday, though the Republican presidential candidate said he plans to introduce a flat tax and while Perry was short on specifics, he did say he wants to throw out the current tax code and start over with something much simpler.
ROMANS: All right. Another day of rage in Greece. A massive general strike virtually shut down the country. The Greek parliament building has been the scene of violent crashes between riot police and protesters angry over a new wave of government austerity measures.
Let's head to Greece now, to Athens. CNN's Diana Magnay is there.
Give us an update.
ROMANS: All right.
COSTELLO: I think she is frozen in time in Athens. She turned into a Greek statue.
ROMANS: Tragedy unfolding. We could do so many of those terrible puns.
But I will say something about the thing that happening there. I mean, they had riots before. But this is -- a protest before. But people there really feel as though they are the -- those are live pictures. People feel like they are really bearing the brunt of a government that made promises it couldn't keep and has spent beyond its means for years. But the people have to bear the brunt of that. And they just don't think it is fair.
But you got all kinds of austerity measures that are going in there. There will be layoffs in the public sector, there will be retirement ages. People get less money in retirement. They are going to have to pay more in taxes. All kinds of things that are going to really hit people right away.
COSTELLO: Yes. And we'll get back to Diana Magnay shortly when we get those technical issues sorted out.
ROMANS: All right. The wind and rain may have knocked down the makeshift tents, but the weather did not dampen the mood at New York's Zuccotti Park. That's where the Wall Street protesters have been camping out for -- count 'em -- 34 days now. These are live pictures of the protesters.
Now, the crowd a little bit smaller than usual. Yesterday, most of the people were just trying to stay dry. We also have new pictures this morning of actor Alec Baldwin. You remember we told you yesterday he stopped by Lower Manhattan Tuesday night to meet briefly with those protesters.
COSTELLO: He may be one of the world's biggest rock stars but Jon Bon Jovi is also famous for giving back. He just opened "Soul Kitchen" -- a pay-what-you-can charity restaurant in New Jersey. No prices on the menu. Diners pay whatever they are able to.
Those without money can still eat provided they are willing to work in the restaurant or perform some sort of community service.
ROMANS: All right. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: the Republican race for president is getting personal and nasty. We're going to ask Ed Rollins and John Avlon how ugly things will get.
COSTELLO: Plus, a decision in the fraud case between the cast of "Happy Days" against CBS. There is a solution -- a resolution, I should say. We'll tell you what it is.
It's 33 minutes past.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 36 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
It turns out Tuesday night's Republican debate in Las Vegas may have been a game changer. Forget about civility, the race for the Republican nomination just got nasty with Rick Perry lashing out at Mitt Romney, and the former Massachusetts governor showing no reluctance to return fire, all while Herman Cain stayed above the fray, although he is promising to kick it into attack mode going forward.
So, let's talk about the tone of the race and where it's headed with Ed Rollins, Republican strategist and former White House political director under President Reagan. And John Avlon, senior political columnist with "Newsweek" and "The Daily Beast."
Welcome.
ED ROLLINS, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Good morning.
JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
COSTELLO: OK. Let's start with this nastiness between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Do you think it will continue? Or will they just straighten things out because, really, it's not --
AVLON: Oh, they don't get along.
ROLLINS: They don't get along.
AVLON: No, no, they don't like each other.
COSTELLO: Oh.
AVLON: I mean, it was amazing. You look at Rick Perry's eyes. I mean, this was -- this could have gotten physical if they were in high school. You know, that's OK. But they got real philosophical differences, but this time, it's personal. That's one of the things I think caused the fireworks with that debate.
One of the things that made frankly a real good debate wasn't just some policy. There were some personal animosity.
COSTELLO: There has been some criticism that Anderson Cooper should have stepped in and stopped the fight.
ROLLINS: No, no. I thought Anderson did a very good job.
Here's the bottom line: Rick Perry is the son of a tenant farmer. He had nothing. He just scrapped his entire life to get to where he was. He's never been defeated in 25 years in Texas politics. He's been governor for three terms, 10 years.
He sees a guy like Romney who sort of had everything handed to him. His dad was a governor. His dad was rich. Everything was handed to him, and even the organization of the Republican Governors Association which Perry has been governor of, when Romney was the chairman of it, he sort of quit midterm in his four-year term because he couldn't get re-elected and he started running for president to use the resources.
So, it goes way back. It's just this -- and there's the ideological difference. And I'm sure what Perry did is I'm not going to let the conservative wing of my party, I'm not going to let this guy walk off and not get a glove laid on him.
So, my sense is the tone was set. This is going to be the media, this is going to be the mail, this is going to be everything. It may not a public display like it was there, but this is going to be a down and nasty race.
COSTELLO: Woo! OK. Let's talk about Herman Cain because, you know, they kind of beat him up early on in the debate, but then they sort of left him alone. And everybody is talking about how Rick Perry called Herman Cain "brother." It was a very interesting article on Politico.com about Herman Cain and how exactly the other Republican candidates are having trouble criticizing him or fighting back.
And I'm just going to read you a bit. This is from "Politico": "They are in a bind. Like most insurgent candidates, Cain is an elusive target. He's not a politick with a record to pick apart. Rather, he is a highly likable figure who seems to be tapping into a deep vein of anti-Washington anger without seeming very angry himself.
There's also a complicated factor. He is a viable African- American candidate in a party that has a complicated history with racial politics."
AVLON: Complicated history, yes.
COSTELLO: Complicated history.
AVLON: That is true. Look, I mean, Herman Cain -- attacking Herman Cain runs real risk because he's so likable, most likable guy in the field. And because -- you know, right now, he has that surge.
I mean, the most significant thing that's happened in the last six weeks, I think, is that you have that 22-point swing from Rick Perry to Herman Cain, and a lot of the fighting is going to be over what happens with that 20 percent as the alternative to Romney vote, who's the real conservative in the race. But also, Herman Cain, yes, the whole pack descended on the 9-9-9 plan. And they eviscerated it and they moved on to Mitt Romney.
COSTELLO: Yes.
AVLON: But give Herman Cain a lot of credit for resetting the tone of this presidential campaign and debate with a policy idea, because now what's happening, Rick Perry is putting forward his flat tax plan this week. A direct response to 9-9-9. And I think a pretty important policy initiative.
COSTELLO: But as far as attacking Herman Cain -- let's talk about Mitt Romney, first.
ROLLINS: You can't attack Herman Cain. You do so at great risk. First of all, the party -- segment of the electorate he represents is much of the Tea Party, which is very important long term. You may take that vote back because you can see as the winner which Perry or someone else may be able to do, but you don't attack him.
I mean, he is someone that's become very symbolic in the course of these primaries. People love him. At the end of his campaign, people still are going to love him. And he's going to be very important part of that movement. I think that you do so at your own risk.
AVLON: Yes.
COSTELLO: OK. So, Herman Cain told me in Las Vegas that he is going to go on the attack. He is going to get nasty. So --
ROLLINS: A big mistake on his part.
COSTELLO: Really?
ROLLINS: A big mistake. He is a motivational speaker. He is a likable man. Why basically get down in the trenches?
He's not -- gotten ahead by being mean and nasty. He's gotten ahead by basically being articulate.
AVLON: Yes. And the moment when Romney and Perry crashed, there was booing from the crowd. There was booing for both guys. I think, for general, they kind of getting down in the mud. I don't think anyone came out looking good.
I think -- in the back of his mind, you know, Romney thought he was ripping off that Ronald Reagan line, I paid for this microphone. But there is a danger there that it comes off instead as sort of uptight and angry.
Herman Cain is staying above the fray, being a likable guy. That's the best place for him to be at.
COSTELLO: He's got them, doesn't he?
OK. Let's talk about Joe Biden for was just bit and I know it's kind of surprising you with this. But Joe Biden was talking about the part of the president's jobs bill that would fund police officers and firefighters. And he was saying if Congress doesn't pass that part of the bill, that we would have to lay off police and firefighters and that would make the crime rate go up as far as murder rate, and also the rate of rape that occurs in these different jurisdictions.
After this speech, there was a reporter from a conservative news source that confronted Joe Biden. So, let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Do you regret using a rape reference to describe Republican opposition to the president's bill?
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't use, no, no, what I said -- let's get it straight, guys. Don't screw around with me. Let's get it straight.
REPORTER: You didn't use a rape reference?
BIDEN: No. Let me -- listen to me.
REPORTER: I'm listening.
BIDEN: I said rape was up three times. There are the numbers. Go look at the numbers.
Murder is up. Rape is up. Burglary is up. That's exactly what I said.
REPORTER: And if the Republicans don't pass this bill, then rape will continue to rise?
BIDEN: Murder will continue to rise. Rape will continue to rise. All crimes will continue to rise.
REPORTER: Do you think it is appropriate for the vice president to use language --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got to go. I'm sorry. We have to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROLLINS: Isn't that the role of the federal government to hire police and firemen? And so, the absurdity of that -- these are local decisions being made. You know, the bottom line is protecting the public is the cities, states' responsibility, not the federal government.
AVLON: I think -- I respectfully disagree with my friend. When Clinton had the crime bill, Rudy Giuliani helped lobby for it. Putting those hundred thousand extra cops on the streets, is one of the things that helped reduce crime in urban areas.
And in this case, Joe Biden is talking about, you know, one of the seven major crime categories. So, there is no reason the vice president shouldn't use language like that.
Now, look, if you try to create budget negotiations, put a gun to people's heads effectively and say, if you don't do what we want budgetarily, it will translate into the human suffering, you can have the debate whether that's fair politics or whether that becomes emotionally extortive. But there is a role for the government to play to support cops and firefighters.
COSTELLO: Right. We can agree to disagree about that part of it. But the confrontation afterwards and the way Joe Biden handled it, some Democrats are saying -- oh, God, Joe Biden again.
AVLON: Stop being Biden. This is Biden-esque.
ROLLINS: That's Joe Biden. You have to always go back eight years ago, four years ago when we were in this very critical place in Iowa. This guy went out and delivered 1 percent of the vote. You know, he put on the ticket. He's -- Joe Biden is Joe Biden.
And outside of Delaware, he's never been a big draw for the simple reason he has a tendency to pop out.
COSTELLO: OK. So, you don't think he should be replaced by Hillary Clinton?
ROLLINS: I would -- I would basically think if I was a Democrat which I'm not, and I was a -- their strategist, that would be the first move I'd make. She would energize that base in that party again and it would be very strong.
COSTELLO: Oh.
AVLON: Things are looking tough for the summer -- he always wanted to be secretary of state. But I think when we get to that replacing the ticket speculation, we are moving so far ahead of the ball.
ROLLINS: They don't want our advice. The mere fact that I say that has probably put Hillary further in the hole.
COSTELLO: She's going to retire.
Ed Rollins, John Avlon, thanks for being with us this morning -- Christine.
ROMANS: They don't want his advice.
All right. It's 44 minutes after the hour.
Still ahead, from the pages of "Vogue" right to your closet, the latest designer clothes, they can be yours and the price is right.
But, first, Brooke Baldwin shows us how a revolutionary golf ball is making a splash in this week's solutions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maine is home to some of the world's best lobster fishing, bringing in millions of dollars each and every year.
But what's left behind is a lot of waste.
So, researchers at the University of Maine have come up with a way to put it to use. And it sounds like a hit.
You can't hear the difference, but this ball is made of recycled lobster shells. And it's 100 percent biodegradable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we really did was took the concept and reduced it and made a product out of it. Look like a golf ball, had to perform like a real golf ball as much as possible.
BALDWIN: The ball breaks down in the ocean and just about two weeks time and could be used for driving ranges on cruise ships. And the lobster fishing industry could really feel the upswing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're taking something that used to go to the landfill, and it now has value.
BALDWIN: The balls are currently being handmade in the lab, but the University of Maine is working on plans to get them into mass production and into the water soon.
Brooke Baldwin, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Forty-seven minutes past the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): Forty-nine safari animals, lions, tigers, cheetahs, grizzlies, shot dead by police in Ohio after the suicidal owner of a preserve killed himself after letting them loose on the town. Republican presidential hopeful, Rick Perry, says he wants to scrap the current tax code and replace it with a flat tax. Perry will speak more about his proposals when he unveils his economic plan next week.
Secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, will head to Pakistan later today after meeting with Afghanistan's president and other government officials there. She arrived in Afghanistan unannounced after visiting Libya yesterday.
Police say five men from France were arrested for breaking into a courthouse in San Antonio at 1:30 in the morning. They may have been pulling a prank. The FBI and Homeland Security are on the case to make sure there was no terror plot involved.
CBS says it's thrilled after a California judge threw out a lawsuit by cast members of the hit TV show "Happy Days." The cast was accusing the network of committing fraud by not paying them for years of merchandising sales.
The fresh prince returning to Philly. Will Smith now owns a minority stake in the Philadelphia 76ers. Will and his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith are part after group that just bought that NBA team.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (on-camera): That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Fifty minutes past the hour. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. For fashion conscious women, it's like a dream come true.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: The latest designer dresses and accessories for just a fraction of the retail price.
ROMANS: Right. Being online has changed everything, hasn't it? Rent the runway of the creation of a couple of savvy fashionistas and frugalistas, I would say, too. CNNs Poppy Harlow joins us now with that story. Good morning, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Good morning. I wish I could do this for work. I mean, look what I'm wearing today. This is a product of "oh, my gosh, there's nothing in my closet."
(LAUGHTER)
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: And what's interest thing is that this is how this company started. Jen and Jenny, two Harvard business school students, started this company, Rent the Runway, because one of their sisters looked in her closet and said, "I have nothing to wear." All women have gone through this, and it has resulted in a fascinating and very, very lucrative business for these two. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HARLOW (voice-over): Herve Leger, Robert Rodriguez, Moschino. They're all here inside this nondescript New Jersey warehouse. Well, the designers aren't here, but thousands of their latest props are. Ready to be rented out at a fraction of the retail.
JENN HYMAN, CO-FOUNDER, RENT THE RUNWAY: Right now, on our racks, we have close to 35,000 dresses. We have close to 20,000 accessories.
HARLOW: A product of the great recession, Rent the Runway has brought high fashion to, well, Main Street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This dress is a Nina Ricci dress that actually Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Aniston just wore.
HARLOW: It's yours for 175 bucks. For a few days at least.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The fact that you can wear it and then not have to worry about dry-cleaning and put it envelope and send it back, and then, it can be shared with someone else, I think it's ingenious.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is our repair section.
HARLOW: Jenn Hyman and Jenny Fleiss launched Rent the Runway as students at Harvard Business School two years ago testing the idea on undergrads.
JENNY FLEISS, CO-FOUNDER, RENT THE RUNWAY: From that moment, we knew we really had something, because it's one girl put on a sparkly, Tory Burch dress, and she twirled around in the mirror.
HARLOW: I heard that you didn't have a business plan. You just --
FLEISS: We're anti-business plan people.
HARLOW: Really? Why?
HYMAN: We think that so many people sit around all day and they strategize and they don't act. By no means has this business ever been perfect. I think our site has gone down more than any other site on the Web.
HARLOW: But they caught the eye of major VC backers to the tune of more than $31 million. 1.4 million members and growing, according to Rent the Runway, which is projecting three times last year's sales.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And this day and age with Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and all the pictures are being taken, my staples just weren't cutting that anymore
FLEISS: We have an analytic team that is looking at past accessories of different colors, styles, cuts, and incorporating (INAUDIBLE). HARLOW: Why would designers sell you their dresses so you can rent them instead of having customers buy their dresses? Why do they do that?
FLEISS: It's a customer acquisition tool for designer brands where younger customers are renting from us and are actually buying their dresses.
HARLOW: Their most popular brand, Herve Leger, says the partnership has brought a new awareness level to the brand. But if this model proves successful in the long run, you can bet on seeing a lot more than dresses from these two.
FLEISS: We have all of the technology to support it. We can go into many different categories.
HYMAN: And that's where the business expands, because we go from people renting a few times a year to renting dozens of times a year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: So, they talked about expansion. And I asked the girls what they meant by that, and I thought this was very interesting. They said, look, we have the tools, the technology to do this. We're going to expand hugely, not just in fashion. They said you're going on vacation, you want to rent scuba gear or nice camera. That might be what they do next which I found fascinating.
Now, you have to see this business model work. It's a very high front end cost. You got all that inventory, but if it proves successful, this could go international. They've already got competition, bagborrower, still (ph), adoring.com with trans (ph) luxury jewelry, but it'd be fascinating to see if people really change their habits not just for gowns and dresses but for things that they don't need every day.
ROMANS: And bridesmaids dresses, too, you said.
HARLOW: Yes. I asked if they had wedding dresses.
ROMANS: That's a really good idea.
COSTELLO: Why not?
HARLOW: Why not?
COSTELLO: Rent a Vera Wang.
ROMANS: Yes.
COSTELLO: You can get married -- that would be awesome.
ROMANS: Absolutely. So, bridesmaids dresses, so you don't have to buy one for every single wedding. All right. Excellent. All right. Poppy, what a great business thought. Great story. Thanks, Poppy. Nice to see you this morning. COSTELLO: Ahead in the next hour, Jack Hanna will be with us. He joined the effort to round up dozens of wild, rare, and extremely dangerous animals from a tiny Ohio town. He'll tell you what it's really like to shoot a tiger with a tranquilizer. Why all of those animals had to, you know, be shot and killed? He has a lot to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
