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American Morning
Death Toll Rising in Turkey; Liberating Libya; Tunisians Go to the Polls; Clinton Warns Iran; Arraignment in Iranian Terror Plot; Airline Doubted Pilot's Ability; Nevada Caucus Change; President Obama's Western Tour; Texas Ties World Series at Two; Search for Baby Lisa; Hunt for Killer Great White; Historic Day in Libya, Tunisia; Criticizing Cain; Earthquake Devastates Eastern Turkey; Liberating Libya; U.S. Meets With North Korea
Aired October 24, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Alina Cho. The death toll is rising in Turkey after a massive earthquake. At least 264 dead, 1,300 injured and dozens of collapsed building still haven't been searched. And rescue operations severely hampered by bitterly cold temperature.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Day of liberation. I'm Ali Velshi. A formal declaration setting up wild celebrations across Libya as the country takes its first big steps toward a future without Gadhafi on this AMERICAN MORNING.
CHO: Good morning. Good morning.
VELSHI: Good morning to you, Alina.
CHO: It's Monday, October 24th.
VELSHI: There's definitely something wrong with my seat. See this?
CHO: Yes, there is.
VELSHI: Right.
CHO: We need to put him on --
VELSHI: Christine and Carol are off this morning. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. This is a very strange seating situation, but we have a lot of news to cover and we will fix that momentarily.
First up, as Alina was talking about, this mounting situation in eastern Turkey. A devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake, now worst to hit the country in a decade has killed 264 people, 1,300 more are hurt and near freezing temperatures are making it hard to find survivors in dozens of buildings that collapsed when the ground began to shake yesterday.
Diana Magnay is near the quake's epicenter. She's reporting live from the town of Ercis in Turkey's Van Province near -- Diana. DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ali. Well, as you said, freezing temperatures overnight made the search and rescue efforts extremely difficult. We've just been to hospital across the road and the problem there is, of course, that that building was -- it is pretty much impossible to use anymore.
They were having to treat all the injured outside yesterday in the courtyard. So it is now stern with plastic yards of injections and all the medications that were needed. Around the back of the hospital today you have a horrific sight, relatives comes to identify the corpses, people in body bags and a lot of people in desperate situations there right now.
So the injured who are still being pulled out, those who are alive, are having to be transported to larger hospitals across the Van Province and further afield.
This is where the difficulties lie right now as well as restoring water and electricity to this region. Generally, houses are safe for people to return to given the earthquakes continue to happen there -- Ali.
VELSHI: Diana, you're talking about the tents coming in, one of the problems that's being faced. First of all, the tents would give them from immediate exposure. But you've taken off your vest you had on earlier.
It gets very, very cold at night. You're wearing a very warm jacket. Apparently when the sun goes down, the temperature drops precipitously and that, of course, is another problem they're going to have to deal with.
MAGNAY: Absolutely. It is freezing at night. But people here are very scared, and they don't want to return to their houses for obvious reasons as these aftershocks continue. During the day, as you say, it is quite warm, but at night temperatures drop a great deal, but people here are used to it.
They do have the clothing that is required. There are a lot of those drawn into the region. You've actually got teams here (INAUDIBLE) from Iran even though the prime minister who visited this area on Sunday.
And the evening after the quake happened after around 2:00 in the afternoon, Ali. He said we don't actually need they can cope with the situation on their own. You do see a fair amount of heavy machinery here.
A large number of search and rescue teams. They're all out here in force helping with this massive effort and of course, the Red Cross present bringing in 6,000 tents for the villagers in a nearby area in this town tonight so they can have shelter. Of course, the cold is a factor - -- Ali/
VELSHI: All right, Diana, thanks very much. We'll stay on top of the story with you in Turkey. Diana Magnay. CHO: The story we're following very closely this morning, Libyans are free at last from the one-man rule of Moammar Gadhafi. The National Transitional Council, which formerly declared the country's liberation set off wild celebrations across Libya.
People waving flags, honking horns, firing off machine guns to mark the historic day. The head of the NTC announced A two- year transition to democracy.
Meantime, there are new questions about exactly how Moammar Gadhafi died. This is a new video of his final moments showing a bloody Gadhafi being roughed up by his captors.
It's also a video showing congratulating a man they say killed Gadhafi. An autopsy has found that he died from a gunshot wound to the head, but it is not clear if he was killed in the crossfire or shot execution style.
VELSHI: History is also being made right next door to Libya in Tunisia where the so-called Arab spring began. There's a big turnout Sunday in Tunisia's national election.
The nation saying more than 90 percent of registered voters went to the polls. They are electing a 218-seat assembly, which will appoint a new government and write a new constitution.
The Tunisian vote is the first the popular uprising tossed out the country's long time dictator and triggered a wave of revolution across the region.
CHO: A warning from Hillary Clinton to Iran, don't get any bold ideas about Iraq. Now that President Obama has announced that virtually all U.S. troops will be leaving Iraq by the end of the year.
There is mounting concern that Iran will try to exploit that and expand its reach in the region. That would be a serious miscalculation, according to the secretary of state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: In addition to a very significant diplomatic presence in Iraq, which will carry much of the responsibility for dealing with an independent sovereign democratic Iraq, we have bases in neighboring countries.
We have our NATO ally in Turkey. We have a lot of presence in that region. So no one, most particularly Iran, should miscalculate about our continuing commitment to and with the Iraqis going forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: No surprise the plan for a rapid withdrawal for troops from Iraq has Republicans up in arms. Just listen to Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, both served on the Senate Armed Services Committee and both insist that the Obama administration is making a big mistake. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: There was never really serious negotiation between the administration and the Iraqis. They could have clearly made an arrangement for U.S. troops. Yes, I'm here in the region, and, yes, it is viewed in the region as victory for the Iranians.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Not being able to close the deal in Iraq is a very serious mistake. Celebrating leaving with no troops behind is a serious mistake. Ended Iraq poorly, fumbled the ball inside definite, I hope I'm wrong about what happened in Iraq, but they're dancing in the streets in Tehran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Senator McCain says, he believes the fact that we have many military bases in the region will not deter Iran from trying to increase its influence in Iraq.
VELSHI: A grenade goes off in a night club in Nairobi, Kenya injuring at least a dozen people. Now the attack isn't linked to any one group yet.
However, it comes exactly a day after the U.S. embassy in Kenya warned of an eminent terror threat. Islamist militants said they would retaliate after Kenyan troops were sent into Somalia to fight them.
The embassy says American travelers should stay away from Kenya. Kidnapping and violence on foreigners has escalated in recent weeks.
An Iranian man accused plotting the murder of the Saudi ambassador to the United States will be arraigned in New York today. U.S. officials say Mansour Arbabsiar tried to hire hit men to bomb a restaurant that the Saudi ambassador would visit. A second man indicted in the alleged plot is still at large.
CHO: There are new questions this morning about whether the pilot behind the controls in a deadly 2009 plane crash near Buffalo, New York, could handle the plane he was flying.
Lawyers for the victims' families released e-mails from Colgan Air that they call a smoking gun that showed the airline has concerns about the pilot's ability. Fifty people died in the fiery crash. Our Deb Feyerick is in Atlanta this morning with more on the story. Deb, good morning.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alina. You have to remember that this plane crash actually was moments from landing. Some of the families were waiting at the airport for the plane to arrive.
But we're learning now that six months before the crash, supervisors for Colgan Air were reviewing pilots they felt were ready to fly Colgan's new fleet of Q-400 planes and when the captain's name came up, the e-mails suggest there were serious misgivings.
Quote, "How about Renslow? There's something in the back of my mind." Colgan's Chief pilot, Bill Honan says, yes, you're correct. Renslow had a problem upgrading. Then the vice president of operations replies, anyone who does not reach the mins, which is the minimum requirements and had problems in training is not ready to handle the Q-400.
The chief pilot says, he, Renslow is already off the list. Now during an NTSB hearing, it was revealed that Captain Renslow never received hands-on experience with the safety system in the Q-400 called a stick pusher that activated to prevent the plane in stalling.
Renslow was FAA certified, but had failed five pilot tests three of them before he got to Colgan though he did not disclose that to the airlines. Colgan's parent company says that only after being fully satisfied that Captain Renslow was ready to transition to the Q- 400 aircraft was he allowed to begin Q-400 training.
The NTSB ultimately found that the crash was pilot error, and so Captain Renslow was at fault. Families, some of whom were waiting at the airport, say the e-mail suggests, supports their allegations that Colgan Air did not adequately train Renslow.
Again, they were so close, and because of icy conditions, it appears that Renslow had the plane on automatic. It should have been on manual, and rather than push back on the stick in order to right the plane, he was supposed to actually push forward. He did not do that, and that's when it went into a spin -- Alina.
CHO: And they say that that exacerbated the situation and doomed the airliner. Deb Feyerick, thank you. We will be speaking to a lawyer for five of the victims' families that filed a lawsuit later on this morning. Deb Feyerick, thank you so much.
VELSHI: Also, major election calendar drama has been settled. Nevada voted to shift the date of its Republican caucus to February the 4th. This after threats of candidates boycotting the state.
Nevada initially moved its contest to mid-January in hopes to play a big early role in choosing the nominee. That jumbled the entire caucus calendar and risked violating national party rules. We're going to talk a little bit more about that later in the show.
CHO: Meanwhile, President Obama heads to Las Vegas today. He'll be pushing new rules for underwater homeowners to refinance and avoid foreclosure.
He'll also be holding two fundraisers during a three-state tour of the west. He'll be dropping by Los Angeles later and on Wednesday, he will announce changes to make it easier for college students to repay their loans.
VELSHI: World Series now tied at two games apiece. The Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 last night. Ranger's catcher, Mike Napoli, was the hitting star with a three-run homer in the sixth inning. The Ranger's Derrick Holland pitched a gem shutting out the cards for eight-plus innings. Game five tonight in Texas.
CHO: St. Louis and Texas teams played across the streets just hours before last night's first pitching Arlington so the Ranger's Josh Hamilton and Cards Lance Berkman, they went across the street in full uniform to Cowboys stadium to help with the coin toss during the Dallas Cowboys and St. Louis Ramses NFL game. Berkman and the Rams won the toss, but both St. Louis teams were losers yesterday.
VELSHI: All right, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, new surveillance video capturing a mystery person coming out of the woods. It could be a break in the search for baby Lisa, the Missouri girl who went missing earlier in the month. We're going to have a live report from Kansas City next.
CHO: And Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is taking another big step in her recovery. More on the next phase, a potentially grueling one, in her miraculous recovery. We're back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
A possible break this morning in the search for Baby Lisa. New surveillance tape capturing a mysterious person could hold a clue about her disappearance. Eleven-month-old Lisa Irwin went missing from her Missouri home almost three weeks ago.
CNN's Sandra Endo joins us live from Kansas City. Sandra, what have we got?
SANDRA ENDO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, CNN has obtained surveillance video from a gas station less than a mile and a half of Baby Lisa Irwin's home and it shows an unidentified person walking down the street at 2:15 in the morning of October 4th, the day baby Lisa Irwin disappeared from her home.
Now, authorities, FBI and police are not commenting specifically on this piece of video, but they say they have all surveillance video from the surrounding area. And, of course, the investigation is ongoing.
But here is where the speculation sets in, Ali. This video could possibly match witness testimony saying that some people saw a man walking in the dark carrying a baby in a diaper that morning she disappeared. So, clearly, some circumstances that investigators want to look into, and the owner of the gas station says it is definitely very unusual to see somebody walking around that time of hour at night around his gas station. So that's certainly something they're going to be looking into.
Now, yesterday evening we saw an emotional Deborah Bradley, the mother of Lisa Irwin, appear here at the home for a very solemn prayer vigil. She was joined by the baby's father, Jeremy Irwin, as well as other family members, neighbors and friends. This is the first time we've seen the couple return back to their home. They're staying at relatives' homes, about six minutes from here. So this was a very important vigil for the family, and the message was that they are optimistic. They want Baby Lisa to return home -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Sandra, thanks very much. Sandra Endo following the story for CNN in Kansas City.
CHO: The prosecution is expected to rest today in the manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray. Then the defense will have its say trying to convince jurors that Jackson was responsible for his own death. Jury deliberations could begin by the end of the week.
VELSHI: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords continues her recovery in North Carolina. She arrived in Asheville yesterday. That's where she'll undergo two weeks of intensive rehab after being shot in the head during the Tucson rampage in January. Giffords will work with a therapist who also treated her in Houston. The mass shooting left six people dead and 12 others wounded.
CHO: Bobby Jindal easily wins a second term as Louisiana's governor. He won widespread support for his handling of this BP oil spill off the Gulf Coast. After a rollercoaster ride as a GOP darling back in 2007, Jindal fell off the short list of presidential hopefuls after making the Republican response to the State of the Union Address in 2009.
VELSHI: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, a second deadly shark attack off the Coast of Australia in a dozen days. The victim, an American man, killed by what authorities believe was a Great White. We'll hear from his family just ahead.
CHO: Plus, could Google take over Yahoo!? Talks said to be intensifying this morning. We're "Minding Your Business" next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-two minutes after the hour. Welcome back. We're "Minding Your Business" this morning.
U.S. markets are poised to open slightly higher this week. It's all about eurozone debt. Another big batch of corporate earnings reports and the closely watched U.S. third quarter GDP report. That comes out on Thursday and tells us which way this economy is going.
On Wednesday, Europe's top leaders are expected to announce a final agreement on a plan to fix that region's financial problems. All 27 heads of the E.U. met over the weekend to hash out a deal. Investigators feeling optimistic about this deal and the progress that's being made. That helped fuel a 267 point rally on the Dow on Friday.
Netflix is still expanding despite a huge backlash from the price hikes and the back and forth over the branding of its business. The company announced this morning it will launch streaming operations to the U.K. and Ireland early next year. This afternoon, it will reveal its third quarter earnings results after the closing bell. We'll see how those price changes have affected its business. Gas price is jumping five cents in the past two weeks. They were down 25 cents in the earlier part of the month. Analysts are blaming the jump on a slight increase oil prices as well as a big spike in the cost of ethanol, which is a component of the gasoline you buy at the tank.
Google is reportedly interested in buying rival search engine Yahoo! That's according to a report in the "Wall Street Journal." Both Google and Yahoo! declined to comment on the report.
A record-breaking debut for "Paranormal Activity 3," the latest installment of the horror movie franchise made $54 million at the box office this weekend. That's the best October opening ever and the best horror debut ever. Not bad for a film that cost $5 million to make.
AMERICAN MORNING back right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Twenty-eight minutes after the hour. Time for this morning's top stories.
Two hundred sixty-four people are now dead in Eastern Turkey after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook the country yesterday. Rescue teams hampered by bitterly cold temperatures overnight. But the search continues for survivors in those (ph) collapsed buildings.
VELSHI: It still not exactly clear how Moammar Gadhafi died, but we know what killed him -- a gunshot to the head. Gadhafi's body is now on public display in Misrata. The doctor who performed the autopsy isn't saying whether Gadhafi's fatal wound came in crossfire or at a close ranged execution style. There are suspicions that Gadhafi may have been killed that way by his captors.
CHO: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warning Iran to stay out of Iraq after U.S. troops withdraw by the end of the year. She says the U.S. has plenty of military bases in the region and it would be a big mistake on Iran's part to try to expand its influence there.
VELSHI: And a hunt is on right now for Great White Shark that may have killed an American man off the Australian Coast. Thirty-two- year-old George Thomas Wainwright of Texas died while scuba diving near Rottnest Island on Saturday. His friends first spotted blood in the area he was diving in and then saw Wainwright's body. Police say the bite marks looked like it came from a Great White Shark. His sisters say he was a skilled diver.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENDA WAINWRIGHT, GEORGE THOMAS WAINWRIGHT'S SISTER: I think it was just wrong place, wrong time, because he was very wise. I would trust him with anything to do with being on the water. Always had complete confidence in his skills.
WANDA BRANNON, GEORGE THOMAS WAINWRIGHT'S SISTER: He was an extraordinary person. He was one of a kind. And, you know, like my sister said, he's more than just a quick news spot. You know, he was our brother, and we loved him, and he will be missed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: This is the second fatal shark attack in Western Australia in two weeks.
CHO: Floodwaters are rising in Bangkok even chasing people from the city's flood command center at the airport. A huge portion of the Thai capital is under water, including one of the major airports and an evacuation shelter, which now has to be evacuated itself. And after water was diverted through city canals, flooding covered the surrounding suburbs. Nationwide, the flooding has already killed 356 people with nearly 9 million others affected in Thailand.
VELSHI: An ocean current of couches, refrigerators, cars, trucks, floating wood, even a helicopter and an airplane heading straight for Hawaii. Experts predict that up to 20 million tons of debris from Japan's March tsunami will hit the U.S. islands in two years, much faster than originally thought. A Russian ship came across the sea garbage, including a fishing boat near the Midway Islands last month.
CHO: Incredible.
Rob Marciano in the severe weather center watching things for us.
Hey, Rob. Good morning to you.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.
I want to start you off with thunderstorms over the weekend in Oklahoma. I'll show you some earlier, north Texas near Dallas. This is just over the river, and baseball-sized hail in some cases being reported in there. Roll that footage. Yes. Get that car and windshield into cover when this sort of stuff rolls through here.
Severe weather Saturday night into Sunday morning. And this stuff does cause you a headache in a hurry. Definitely get the ice pack out. Some of those storms had some rotation and were threatening to drop some tornadoes.
All right. We don't expect tornadoes out of this particular system that's moving across the Great Lakes right now, but thunderstorms exiting Detroit getting into Cleveland and weakening somewhat. This is part of a couple of storm systems that are going to roll across the nation's two-thirds of the eastern part of country.
Some warm temperatures start to cook into the Southern Plains, but eventually as we get towards Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week, some cold air is going to infiltrate from Canada and that will kind of get this part of the world into some action. And temperatures in places like Denver will go from maybe 81 degrees today, might not get out of the 30s by the time Wednesday rolls around and snow is in the forecast for parts of Wyoming, Colorado, and maybe even in through the Plains and the Midwest.
About 8,000 feet, 18 to 24 inches expected. We've got winter storm watches that are posted for this area.
All right. Still hurricane season even though snow is falling in the mountains. This is tropical storm Rina, formed overnight and looking very, very healthy this morning with winds right now at 40 miles an hour.
So, a very weak tropical storm, but I bet by the time the next advisory comes along, it will be a little stronger than that. We do expect it to intensify. It's a very, very warm area of the Caribbean. So, t here's not getting in the way of this.
North-northwestern movement is at about six miles an hour. It's slow mover. So, that will give it time to intensify as well. By the time it gets towards Cancun this week, the National Hurricane Center is thinking that it will be a category 1 hurricane by that time, maybe scraping the Yucatan coastline.
And eventually, a lot of our computer models do bring us to the Gulf of Mexico and potentially into south Florida by the time the beginning of next week rolls around. So, think back to six years ago. By the way, Rina replaced Rita back in 2005. Also in 2005, we had hurricane Wilma which developed right around this time of year in the very same spot. Took a very similar path and then went right into parts of southwest Florida as a category 3 storm.
We don't expect that sort of intensity but we can't rule it out at this point. It potentially will threaten the U.S. towards the beginning of next week. But, right now, the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico is under the gun -- guys.
CHO: All right. Rob, you've been a busy man. Thank you very much.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHO: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: the Republican primary calendar finally coming into focus. How New Hampshire just managed to secure its traditional spot in the leadoff position. We'll tell you about that.
VELSHI: And the GOP field is now ganging up on Herman Cain, even calling him names. We'll talk about that when we come back.
Thirty-four minutes after the hour. You are watching AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, time to go in-depth now.
The so-called Arab spring reaching a historic peak in the fall. In Libya, a formal declaration liberating the people from decades of tyrannical rule under Gadhafi led a joyous celebrations across the country. Look at that.
And in Tunisia, there were millions of people turning out to vote in the first-ever free elections.
We have two live reports this morning. CNN's Dan Rivers is in Tripoli and Ivan Watson in Tunisia.
We want to start with Dan live in the Libyan capital. Dan, good morning to you.
DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
Some more questions being raised about the death of Colonel Gadhafi here. His body remains on public show in Misrata at a storage facility, at a market on the edge of the city. People still queuing to see it, even though the autopsy has taken place. They put it back on public display.
The autopsy concluded that he was killed way gunshot wound to the head. But we had no detail whether that was at close range or as the NTC is maintaining that he was hit in the cross fire as they tried to evacuate him. And it is slightly overshadowing the declaration of liberation that happened here yesterday with critics saying this is tainted. The beginning of this effort to transform this country into a democracy, and tainted the NTC as well.
CHO: Unbelievable that that transition could take place in just two years, Dan, and to see those pictures in the streets, it's really remarkable.
Meanwhile, we are getting early reports about some apparent Gadhafi supporters found dead inside of a hotel. What can you tell us about that?
RIVERS: Yes, this is being flagged by Human Rights Watch, which says there are 53 bodies that they've counted in a hotel near district two in Sirte, which was where the last stand of Gadhafi loyalists took place. There are clearly concerns around the circumstances of these deaths and others in Sirte. They don't have anymore certain information yet, but it, again, it is another kind of instance of concerns about human rights abuses taking place in the middle of that fight for the final area of Sirte.
Amnesty as well has voiced concerns about the killing of Moammar Gadhafi, describing it as a possible war crime. So, these are pretty serious allegations leveled by two human rights groups, and allegations that the NTC, the new government here, has yet to really fully address.
CHO: CNN's Dan Rivers live for us in the Libyan capital with that report -- Dan, thank you.
Now to history being made in Tunisia. And for that, we turn to Ivan Watson. He's live in Tunis for us.
Ivan, good morning to you.
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alina.
Fabulous. That's the single word that the head of Tunisia's election commission used around midnight last night when I talked to him to describe the unexpectedly high turnout in Sunday's historic elections. Tunisians telling me that for decades basically it was single-party rule. There was only one box to check, really, when they went to the polls. And now, some of those ballots had up to 90 choices that Tunisians could pick from.
And it's hard for me to capture in words how excited people were. I saw people tearing up, they were so emotional. I saw a man run out after voting waving a Tunisian flag.
It was a festive atmosphere. People very excited at the chance at the empowerment that comes with finally being able to say yes or no to whoever would rule their country next -- a really historic feel- good moment in a turbulent part of the world.
The official results haven't come out yet. Even 16 hours after polls closed. We're expecting to hear something with the next 24 hours.
We do believe that the moderate Islamist party Ennahda probably did quite well. They were predicted, according to the polls to win big in his election -- Alina.
CHO: Ivan Watson, thank you for that update. We appreciate it. Live in Tunisia -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Alina.
Time to talk politics.
He may score high on the likability index, but his fellow Republicans are treating Herman Cain like a pinata these days. And that is life as a front-runner.
Let's get you caught up with Nia-Malika Henderson. She's "The Washington Post" national political reporter joining us this morning. And here in New York, Maggie Haberman, senior political reporter for "Politico."
Good morning to both of you.
Nia, Herman Cain is running into some trouble over his position on abortion. And he was doing some damage control in Iowa this weekend after something he says to Piers Morgan here on CNN.
So, let's listen to what he told Piers and then what he told a crowd at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition on Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's not the government's role or anybody else's role to make that decision. It ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make.
I would strengthen all of our current laws that prevent abortion. I believe that abortion should be clearly stated and illegal across this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right. Michele Bachmann calmed that a flip-flop. Rick Perry called it a liberal canard.
What do you think, Nia?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": And Rick Santorum is piling on. They're obviously trying to tear into what is Cain's support so far among conservatives. But it looks like that could erode because -- I mean, he really clearly articulated a pro-choice interview that he had with Piers Morgan. And, of course, now, he's trying to go back and have a mulligan and a do-over moment with that.
I think it's going to be really tough for him to recover for that. I think he had a really tough week last week in general. He had that talk over in Iowa obviously this weekend where he was trying to make up some ground. But I think conservative are looking at him to find a way to support him, find a reason to support him, in fact.
VELSHI: Right.
HENDERSON: He's doing so well in these polls. He's about 37 percent in Iowa, but I think we'll have to look next week, over the next couple of weeks, in fact, to see if this holds.
VELSHI: Maggie, this takes us into very unusual ground we haven't been in so much with this Republican race, because it's really been about the economy, about attacking the president, about talking about taxes, which we'll talk about in a second.
Now, it's coming back to Romney on one side with economic strength and a lot of social conservatives who don't believe he's all that socially conservative anyway and everybody else on the other side, and Herman Cain getting pushed into this position.
He did say to Piers Morgan before that that he personally is against abortion but he doesn't think the government has a role in that.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER, POLITICO: Right. That's the liberal canard that Perry is talking about.
VELSHI: Right.
HABERMAN: Which is essentially saying -- here's how I personally feel but I can't have government dictate what people do.
This is a real problem for Herman Cain. I think short of saying that he would work aggressively to repeal Roe v. Wade and saying it in that way, I don't think he's going to get the social conservatives to feel good about him. And we are entering a phase of the race where social conservatives are going to play more of a role in deciding who is going to be the nominee or who will be the Mitt Romney alternative that will challenge the nominee going through the primaries.
VELSHI: Nia, let's talk about the caucus and primary calendar, which is remarkably interesting for all of our political junkies watching this morning, remarkably uninteresting for everybody else.
So, let's talk about how Iowa is back to being in the number one spot on January 3rd. Tell me why it matters and why it matters particularly to Herman Cain, because, really, this is a Rick Perry/Mitt Romney race except for Herman Cain.
HENDERSON: Except for Herman Cain. And Michele Bachmann is trying to make noise in Iowa as well. I think she's about 4 percent or 5 percent in the poll, really had something of an implosion after her Iowa straw poll win back in August.
But, yes, this is going to kick everything off January 3rd. Social conservatives are going to make up about 60 percent of folks --
VELSHI: Wow.
HENDERSON: -- those who go to the polls that day and then, of course, following probably around I think it's going to be January 10th or something like that. They haven't set the date yet for the New Hampshire primary, but that will be, obviously, important, too. Romney is, I think, the conventional wisdom now is correct in the sense that he's got a real shot here, because he's got all of these other candidates there who are clearly going to split the social conservative vote.
Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Perry and Cain. So, they're going to be the not-Romney-vote and really split a lot of that social conservative home schooling vote, and so, I think Romney, he got about 23, 24, 25 percent last go-round, and he's, I think, in a pretty good position to get that, at least, if not more.
VELSHI: So, Maggie, what happens after this? There are four primaries and caucuses in January. After that, do the also run start to fall off? If Michele Bachmann doesn't have traction, Newt Gingrich doesn't seem to have a trajectory and nor does Ron Paul, and Santorum and Huntsman are just stuck in the low single digits. So that point, by February has just become a race between Romney, Perry, and whomever els
HABERMAN: Absolutely, you know, if that, by the way.
VELSHI: Right.
HABERMAN: You know, two dealing (ph) theories of this race. There's a theory that will go on for awhile and go to Super Tuesday.
VELSHI: Right.
HABERMAN: And then, there's a theory that'll be pretty clarified, right? I mean, I think by the time we get to South Carolina, you are going to see people dropping out even before the end of January. I think Florida is going to be the major test, January 31st. You are really going to have a pretty clear sense right after that of where this race is headed.
VELSHI: Nia, here's the part that frustrates me as a business journalist. Taxation is an albatross. It's a difficult problem. It's complex, and Republicans seem to be scoring points right now with answers that appeal to people who want simplicity and ease. So, whether it's 9-9-9 or Rick Perry where we're going to hear tomorrow about his flat tax plan, these are very -- these sound very appealing. If it were that easy, someone would have solved it already.
HENDERSON: That's right. And obviously, Cain has shot to the top of the polls with this, you know, slogan, 9-9-9 plan that would simplify everything and everybody. I mean, let's face it, taxes -- you know, during your own taxes, thinking about the tax code is a very daunting thing. So, people are looking for the simplicity.
And we'll see Rick Perry come out tomorrow in South Carolina and talk about this black tax plan that he has. The Tea Party crowd loved this. I've gone to several Tea Party rallies where they talk about the flat tax. They're passing out brochures about the flat tax. So, I think he's probably going to firm up some support among that crowd.
You know, but as we've seen with Herman Cain's plan, this 9-9-9, you know, the devil is in the details, to quote Michele Bachmann.
VELSHI: Right.
HENDERSON: And as you look at some of these plans, it looks like at least for middle class people, for lower income people, at least for Herman Cain's plan, it would be a tax increase.
VELSHI: Right. And that tends to be the case with flat taxes, Maggie, in general.
HABERMAN: That's right.
VELSHI: Because they tend to emphasize consumption and lower income earners use more of their income for total consumption --
HABERMAN: Correct.
VELSHI: Than higher income earners. But what we're not seeing is a Democratic alternative. So, there's a hunger in the country for simplicity in taxation, lower taxation but simplicity, and the Democrats haven't come up with something that competes with that. Why not?
HABERMAN: Well, I think, because as you're saying, Herman Cain has spent the past week trying to explain what 9-9-9, which I think Nia correctly described as a slogan actually means. And when you start picking it apart, these things don't work. So, the Democrats don't want to end up being in some kind of a race to, you know, the bottom in terms of details and having a plan kind of melt away.
This is a big test for Rick Perry tomorrow, by the way. It's not just about his tax plan. It's about can he deliver a cohesive policy message.
VELSHI: Right.
HABERMAN: As you know, he's been off his key message, which was supposed to be jobs, and it's going to be very interesting to see if he can get back on it now.
VELSHI: All right. Great discussion. Maggie Haberman is a senior political writer with Politico and Nia-Malika Henderson is a national political reporter with "The Washington Post." It's 48 after the hour. We'll be back in just a moment.
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CHO: Fifty-one minutes past the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
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CHO (voice-over): The death toll in Turkey climbing to 264 overnight. 1,300 more injured, and the government says both numbers are almost certain to rise after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake knocked down dozens of building in the eastern part of the country yesterday.
Libyans are celebrating their freedom as the country's transition to democracy begins. Libya's National Transitional Council officially declared the country's liberation from four decades of rule under Moammar Gadhafi.
A better than 90 percent turnout in Tunisia's first national elections since its independence 55 year ago. The country that launched the Arab spring movement is electing an assembly that will write a new constitution.
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CHO (on-camera): A meeting set today between U.S. officials and a North Korean delegation in Switzerland. The state department says it stems from recent discussions between North and South Korea. The last full round of six-party talk was back in 2008.
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CHO (voice-over): And in the world series, the Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals four, nothing last night to even the series at two games apiece. Mike Napoli's three-run homer and Derek Holland's eight shut out innings led the Rangers. Game five tonight in Texas.
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CHO (on-camera): That's the news you need to know to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING is back after this.
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VELSHI: Fifty-six minutes after the hour. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
So, in the end, Steve Jobs maverick approach to life may have actually hastened his death. According to Jobs biographer, authorized biographer, the late Apple CEO did everything he could to avoid traditional surgery when he first learned he had pancreatic cancer seven years ago. Walter Isaacson's authorized biography, "Steve Jobs" hits book stores today. In an interview that aired last night on "60 Minutes," Isaacson talked about the most important decisions -- the most important decision Jobs ever had to make and a decision to be ultimately regretted.
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WALTER ISAACSON, JOBS' BIOGRAPHER: He tries to treat it with diet. He goes to spiritualists. He goes through various ways of doing it macrobiotically, and he doesn't get an operation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why doesn't he get it operated on immediately?
ISAACSON: You know, I've asked him that. He said, I didn't want my body to be opened. And soon, everybody is telling him, quit trying to treat it with all of these roots and vegetables and things, just get operated on, but he does it nine months later. You know, I think that he kind of felt that, if you ignore something, if you don't want something to exist, you can have magical thinking, and it had worked for him in the past.
He regretted, you know, some of the decisions he made, and certainly, I think, he felt he should have been operated on sooner.
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VELSHI: Isaacson says Jobs was very aware of his mortality in the last few years of his life and that it focused him more intensely on his work and led to some of his finest inventions.
CHO: A fun moment before game four of the World Series in Texas.
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CHO (voice-over): Former President George W. Bush throwing out the ceremony of first pitch to Hall of Famer, Nolan Ryan, who knows a thing about throwing heat but not catching it. So, the pitch goes off Ryan's glove. Oh, too bad. Thankfully, there were no runners on base. Rangers' manager, Ron Washington, in a very good mood. President Bush and Ryan laughed it off, too, thank goodness, and the Rangers were all smiling last night.
VELSHI (voice-over): Yes.
CHO They went on to shut out the Cardinals. I think the score was four, nothing.
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VELSHI (on-camera): I know Ryan had a lot to do with bringing that team back. So, it was good moment. Feel-good moment at NFL, as well.
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VELSHI (voice-over): Green Bay Packers defensive backs, Charles Woodson, gets the second interception of the game. Then, look what happened. It's what happens after this that's good.
Hands the ball to a little girl in the front row. Take a look, when you see her -- look at that. Look at her face. She's smiling ear to ear. Waving ultimately in a moment. You see that waving like she's Miss America. There we go. She is -- there in Minnesota. She's a Packer fan. Probably for life now.
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CHO: Yes. You can bet. Lucky girl.
Possible break in the case of missing baby Lisa who is the mysterious person who wandered out of the woods on the night that she vanished? A new surveillance tape and lots of new questions. More in a moment.
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