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The Situation Room
Famous Faces in NYC Marathon; Selling America in India
Aired November 07, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning!
The president has found something to dance about on his 10-day tour of Asia. We'll tell you that he's not just dancing. He's got some contract deals to tell you about that he says will bring tens of thousands of jobs to the United States.
Also, we want to say good morning to New York City! In just a short time, about 45,000 people are expected to hit the streets of New York City for the New York City marathon. We will take you back there live. Beautiful shot of New York this morning.
But from the CNN Center, this is your CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
Give you a look at some of the things we are keeping a close eye on:
One thing, first of all here, I need to just give you an update on and remind you about, if you have not done it, if you are watching us right now, you haven't set that clock back an hour, you need to do it. Just go run and do it right now. Keep the TV on right here to CNN SUNDAY MORNING, of course.
So, for you, let's do the time check. It is 8:00 a.m. on the East Coast right now -- 8:00 a.m. in New York City and Atlanta. So, 8:00 a.m.
Seven a.m. for you folks in the Central Time Zone, including you folks waking up on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago this morning.
Also, Mountain Time, 6:00 a.m. out in Denver for you folks. Beautiful shot courtesy of our affiliate KUSA.
And for you folks on the West Coast, Seattle in particular, 5:00 a.m. for you people, just possibly rolling in from your night out, your Saturday night out.
So, wherever you may be, get those clocks right. Glad you to be here with us.
Some of you iPhone users may be having a few issues right. There's a software bug, a glitch that means if you have one of those recurring alarms on your iPhone or some of those iPod touches, it won't reset the way it's supposed to, and some places around the world actually has people waking up an hour late.
So, what you need to do is go cancel out your recurring alarms. You need to set a new one. Everything will be fine after today. But still, if you had that recurring alarm, some of those phones did not readjust at the end of Daylight Savings Time. So, just a heads up there that some people are actually having problems and yes, it's causing them to wake up late, even though we are falling back an hour.
Also, scientists have found evidence of damage to deep sea coral near the site of the BP Gulf oil disaster. Coral reefs, of course, vital link in the food chain, important for the survival of the ocean environment. We'll be certainly keeping a close, close eye on that.
But go back to New York now -- those long distance runners in New York City getting ready for one of the world's premiere marathon events. We want to take to you New York now.
Look at the streets right now, you don't see the runners yet, there's supposed to get underway -- the competitors here in about 30 minutes or so. They have several different waves that will start throughout the morning, but it attracts no doubt some of the best runners in the world. It also attracts people who just -- who just want to go out there for personal goal of running this thing, a lot of celebrities participate as well.
Our national correspondent, Susan Candiotti, is there, and she joins us with more and has more now on some of the famous faces that will be a part of today's race.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The celebrity king of this year's New York City marathon is Edison Pena, himself a huge fan of the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis.
The rescue Chilean miner shined on "David Letterman" and appears to be getting a kick out of all the attention.
EDISON PENA, RESCUED MINER (through translator): I have to take advantage of it in case I can, and I would be an idiot if I didn't do it.
SUZANNE ZUCKERMAN, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: It does actually seem like the Chilean miner is going to upstage any of the other stars running in the New York City marathon on Sunday, yes.
CANDIOTTI: Star gazing is half the fun of watching about 45,000 runners over 26 miles. Actors Anthony Edwards and Mrs. Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes; rapper/entrepreneur P. Diddy; rockers Alanis Morissette and David Lee Roth -- former Governor Mike Huckabee and TV chef Bobby Flay have all crossed the finish line. This year, Howard Stern's sidekick and new jogger Robin Quivers is challenging herself.
ROBIN QUIVERS, 15FOUNDATION.ORG: Runners always hit me after I stopped.
CANDIOTTI: For stars, running a marathon is hardly for laughs.
ZUCKERMAN: When celebrities are doing this, they're not just sort of running for their own glory, it's often to shine their spotlight on a cause close to the stars.
CANDIOTTI: Quivers who has her own foundation is running for two children's charities.
Last year, actor Edward Norton raised more than $1.2 million for charity.
JARED FOGLE, SUBWAY SPOKESMAN: Come on, how good is that?
CANDIOTTI (on camera): Good stuff.
(voice-over): Subway spokesman Jared Fogle, famous for dropping 245 pounds on an all sub diet, put the marathon on his bucket list.
(on camera): When you go over the finish line, what do you think you're going to say?
FOGLE: I'm going to say, it's done. It's over.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Quivers' boss Howard Stern told her, don't expect a day off Monday.
QUIVERS: I was like, come on, I'm running 26 miles. He said, don't die, but make sure you get to work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: For Edison Pena, (AUDIO BREAK) injured his knee during the time he was in that mine, and I'm not sure (AUDIO BREAK)
HOLMES: Oh, all right. Sorry to our Susan Candiotti there, having some issues with her shot going in and out.
Of course, there's a lot of activity, a lot going on in New York today. A lot of people, a lot of activity, a lot of signals going on all over the place. You got a lot of runners down there. You got a lot of news organizations covering this thing.
But, again, live pictures here from New York. We'll continue to keep an eye on them, but the competition, the New York City marathon, Reynolds, expected to get underway here in about half an hour or so. And then they'll have several other waves over the next couple of hours of runners taking off.
How is the weather going to treat you? Here we go.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Bring it.
HOLMES: What is good running weather in the first place? I'm not a runner. What do they prefer?
WOLF: Depends what you happen to be. I did do some running a long time ago, the nightmares, the cobwebs in my mind.
HOLMES: OK.
WOLF: You know, it depends on what you like. I mean, there are some people who really prefer the warmer conditions, some people like a cooler weather.
To mean, I mean, I think it's going to be ideal. You got temperatures that will be in the 40s and 50s. Right now, still, 40 degrees in midtown Manhattan, maybe a little bit warmer near some of the buildings, but you're going to have clear skies, no precipitation in the forecast, which is certainly some great news.
Very quickly, let's shift out a little bit. If you happen to do some traveling, we're not just talking about traveling on foot, we're talking about flying or driving, some of the worst weather in the country, go out towards the West, especially along the I-5 corridor.
Anyone tuning in who may be listening by satellite radio to CNN, well, I'll tell you what? If you're making a drive on I-5, you look out to your window and look out towards the east, you're going to see some heavy clouds hitting up the mountains of the Cascades, and heavy snow there if you're back in Eugene or Bend, same story for you.
But farther down the coastline we go and the rain is going to be really popping up in earnest in the San Joaquin Valley and then as you get back towards parts of, say, the Sierra Nevada, that rain is going to switch over into some snowfall, especially when it interacts with that cool air in the higher elevations.
Now, speaking of your temperatures across the nation, pretty comfortable in a lot of places -- 62 degrees your expected high in Minneapolis. Enjoy it while you can because winter is going to be coming on very soon. We've got 73 in Miami, 70 in Dallas, 62 in San Francisco, 52 in Portland and wrapping up where we started, New York City with 52 the expected high, with mostly sunny skies.
T.J., you're up to speed.
HOLMES: Reynolds, appreciate you always. And always a good reminder -- I always forget about the folks who we have listening to us on satellite radio.
WOLF: Yes, a lot of people all the place.
HOLMES: Yes, need to keep them in mind. Thank you for that as always. Reynolds, thank you so much.
The president, as we know, is on a mission, a 10-day mission -- trying to help bring more American jobs, bring more jobs here to the U.S., also spur some economic activity between Asia and the U.S. But on the trip, the president found a little something to literally dance about.
(VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: I'm not sure what you call that move, but we'll go in it. The president there with a group of school children at the major religious festival in Mumbai -- the student celebrating Diwali. That's the festival of lights.
But if there's any question who the better dancer in the family is -- now, this was yesterday, the first lady getting involved with some schoolchildren at Mumbai University. She told them she liked to dance when she was speaking to them and they took her up on it and they pulled her in and she took them up on it -- having a good time with the kids there.
Also got one more bit of video, do you recognize this one?
(VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Who can forget? This was back in 2007, President George W. Bush, he was dancing at a malaria awareness event happening in D.C. He got a little drum solo in as well.
But just on the topic of presidential dances, we decided to bring that back and show it to you.
Now, it wasn't all fun and games. Certainly not fun and games, and not just dancing on the president's trip -- even though he might have a little something to dance about. He's meeting with heads of state discussing billions of dollars in trade deals that should lead to thousands of jobs here in the U.S.
Our Sara Sidner joining me now live from New Delhi. That's where the president is now, it's his second stop on his trip.
Sara, hello to you. The president now able to announce something that says will literally translate into tens of thousands of jobs right here in the U.S.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., it is certainly by design that the president is really emphasizing the deals that have been announced here, the business deals between U.S. companies and India about $10 billion worth and he says that that will create somewhere around 50,000 jobs back in the U.S. How, you say? Well, basically, he says that some of the products being built in the U.S. will create jobs there that will then be sold to India, including a big deal with Boeing that will be making planes for one of the local Indian carrier SpiceJet.
And so, that has been a big focus of this trip and he did explain to an Indian audience exactly why that is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States has gone through probably the toughest two years economically as we've gone through since the 1930s. And this was a profound financial crisis and economic shock, and it spilled over to most of the world. India weathered it better than many countries. But, you know, most of the work that I did with Prime Minister Singh in the first two years in the G-20, we were focused on making sure that the world financial system didn't collapse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: He is also pushing India to open its markets to the U.S.? It's agricultural and retail markets. And there's a reason for that. Right now, India has some very, very, very high import duties.
I'll give you an example. Harley-Davidson is here. They're selling bikes that are made in America. But the Indian consumer has to pay 100 percent more to buy the bikes here because the import duties are so high. President Obama is really pushing to get those taxes, those tariffs down -- T.J.
HOLMES: And, Sara, one more thing. We saw the president and what he was up to yesterday, but now, he's made his way to New Delhi. What does he have on his agenda today?
SIDNER: He came by the U.S. embassy and then he went to a predominantly Muslim neighborhood where there is this fantastic, beautiful tomb in there -- Humayun's Tomb -- built in the 1500s. He went to see that.
We were able to speak with some who live in that neighborhood and they were excited to see that the U.S. president had chosen to the neighborhood of Nizamuddin. So, we went to see that. He said it was beautiful, which it very much. A lot of people are saying that was a precursor to the Taj Mahal -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Sara Sidner, we appreciate you, as always. We'll continue to follow you as you continue to follow the president on his trip. Thank you so much.
Well, it's 12 minutes past the hour now.
Usually here in the U.S., most people -- most casual horse racing fans don't pay attention until it's time maybe for the Kentucky Derby. But so many people in this country had their eyes yesterday on a horse race for a different reason. Zenyatta, the prized filly, is going for a 20-0 perfect career record. Well, she's 19 and won and you wouldn't believe how close it was to her making history.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Sixteen past the hour here now.
We -- as a lot of people know, Reynolds and I are big sports fans. A lot of people, though, horse racing, they don't pay attention until a certain time of the year.
WOLF: Absolutely, springtime. The Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont.
HOLMES: People were paying attention yesterday.
WOLF: Yes, they were.
HOLMES: This horse is something else, Zenyatta is her name, the race yesterday, breeder's cup, is trying to go for 20-0 for her career and be retired. That's her coming up literally -- some people called it a head short, some would even say a nose, but that was the photo finish yesterday.
WOLF: Unreal.
HOLMES: She came from dead last in the race, got a horrible, horrible start, had to really make up some ground but couldn't navigate through, had too many obstacles to get around but still almost pulled it off.
Reynolds, a lot of people questioning, well, if she's doing OK, why retire the horse? A lot say she could keep going.
WOLF: They can only be around for a finite amount of time. I mean, she's an incredible animal. It's on the blood, too. Her father was Street Cry, who won the Dubai classic in 2002. Her brother was Street Sense, who won the Kentucky Derby in 2007.
HOLMES: A lot of people know that name.
WOLF: There you go.
HOLMES: Came from way, way back. But this may over, I believe, $6 million, $7 million in her career. But trying to go 20-0 to wrap it up, 19-1, but still, a horse that will go down in history.
Also, another history-maker, a lot of people will at least know this name, Joe Pa. Even if you don't know -- Joe Paterno, 83 years old. He is now the Penn State coach with 400 wins.
He got his 400th win yesterday, did it in dramatic fashion, they were down unfortunately for Rick Horrow his northwestern team was up 21 points on Penn State, Penn State came back.
But it was all about Joe Pa. Again, it's amazing he's able to do this this long. Again, he's 83 years old.
WOLF: How long do you think he's going to keep doing this?
HOLMES: Who knows? I mean, they've been saying for 10 years he's going to retire.
WOLF: It's amazing.
HOLMES: Goes another year, goes another year. But he is the third winningest coach in NCAA football history -- a couple of others to have a few more wins, but that's a heck of a feat.
Also, overtime in college football is a little weird.
WOLF: Oh, my gosh.
HOLMES: It's exciting but it's a little strange.
WOLF: It is strange.
HOLMES: I won't try explain all the rules but Michigan yesterday set a record of its own, 132 total points scored in this game, but they won, beat Illinois after three overtimes. I watched this game, happen to be married to a Michigan alum. She doesn't really care that much about the Michigan team, but I was watching at least.
But it was an exciting game, but also, Arkansas has been involved in the two longest overtime games in NCAA football history against Ole Miss and also against Kentucky. Seven overtimes --
WOLF: Unbelievable.
HOLMES: -- we played at some point. And we always mentioned the Razorbacks. The Razorbacks were able to pull off a win yesterday against South Carolina and the old coach as you're seeing there.
And also football season is getting a little whacky now because Auburn pulled off the win they were supposed to yesterday but Alabama lost. I won't get too technical here but this means that the Boise State (INAUDIBLE) and TCU (INAUDIBLE).
WOLF: It is going to be a tough time. For Boise State and for TCU to advance, this team, the Auburn Tigers, has got to lose one of their next two games. They're playing the Georgia Bulldogs next weekend. It's an intense rivalry. Georgia has a bad year, but you never know. Georgia has owned the Tigers. They've won the last four games in a row. And then you have the Iron Bowl, Alabama and Auburn and Tuscaloosa, you never know.
HOLMES: All right, Reynolds.
Twenty minutes past the hour. Again, hope you got the right hour. Remember, we were supposed to fall back last night. Did you do that? Folks, so, hope you got the right hour wherever you are.
Quick break and we're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Twenty-two minutes past the hour. This is turning to the guy hour this morning. We just got to talking about sports and football. Now, we're turning to cheerleaders.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cheerleaders, yes. But, you know, women love the story.
HOLMES: This is a good one.
LEVS: This is a group of cheerleaders unlike anything you've ever seen. The women that you're about to meet here are neurophysicists and astrophysicists and doctors. Listen to this. (VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: This is called science cheerleader. Let's keep watching it here. And it's taking off. And what happened is these are former NFL and NBA pro cheerleaders who are now getting back together and they were recently cheering at this event basically where the Science Foundation got together and had this big event.
Let's listen to what some of them say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARLENE CAVALIER, FOUNDER, FORMER '76ERS CHEERLEADERS: -- cheerleaders are smart. They're funny. They're entertaining. They're engaging. But most importantly, they're an incredible source of inspiration to millions of young women. Go science! You get the point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: That was the woman who is the head of it.
I'll tell you what? We'll skip ahead a little bit and let's go back to that first video. I want you guys to see a little bit more.
What we're talking about here is -- they performed at something called the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington last month, and this video that they put together went online and now, it's getting thousands and thousands and thousands of clicks. People leaving all the great comments about it and they're saying all these great things about how basically they believe it's busting down stereotypes.
And, in fact, one of the things that you see in this video is them saying we're busting down the stereotypes. And these women talk about how much they love being cheerleaders and how much they've always been interested in science. Some of them are doctors now, nurses, taking on all sorts of different roles in different fields of science.
And the woman you saw who is the organizer of it, Darlene Cavalier, is a former cheerleader for the Philadelphia '76ers and now a science advocate. And so, they got together. They did this performance at the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington and I'll tell you, people are loving this.
And it's nice to see, these people come out and send a message to you on girls, to women in general, that science is cool and it's something to get into. Hey, anything it takes to get young people more and more interested in science in our country is a good thing.
I have all of it posted for you online at Facebook and Twitter. And if you take a look there, you'll see what some of the people are already talking about. Those are my pages JoshLevsCNN.
People who've watched the video are saying how much they're liking it, saying how much it means to them and saying that they really like the lessons that these women are giving.
So, T.J., it is indeed inspirational and surprising way. These are former NFL and NBA cheerleaders off in the science world an maybe saving some lives.
HOLMES: You know, and now, guys at the game with their wives have an excuse, I am admiring her because of her brain, when they're looking at the cheerleaders on the sidelines. There you go.
All right. We appreciate you as always, Josh. Thanks so much.
Well, coming up, we're learning the rules of the road from a young man who is too young even for a driver's license. Does that make sense?
Twenty-five minutes past the hour. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: I want to bring in CNN Student News anchor Carl Azuz, a friend of our show here.
Always good to have you.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Good morning.
HOLMES: You're telling us about it. It's always fascinating, your stories. But you got a young man who doesn't even -- not even old enough to have a driver's license but teaching us about safe driving? Is that right?
AZUZ: Yes, it's sort of a dichotomy. I mean, he's race car driver. So, he's 15 years old.
HOLMES: A race car driver.
AZUZ: Open wheel racing. So, he's hooked up with some of the people who helped discover Danica Patrick. The boy's got talent. He's used to driving fast, but he can't go to the grocery store legally without one of his parents sitting in the passenger seat behind him.
So, one of the first questions I asked him, you see him right here -- name is Zach Veach. These pictures come to us from Zach Veach Racing.
And one of the first questions I asked him was, how doe somebody -- you drive at 150 miles per hour, on the racetrack, how do you convince somebody like me who drives to the grocery store every day to be safer? And this is how he responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACH VEACH, SAFETY ADVOCATE: When we're out on the track, we have 100 percent of our attention on the other cars around us, our shifting points, our brake markers, and you know, really we're thinking of 1,000 things for each corner. And when you're driving a streetcar, you're not thinking as many things -- but it still needs to have 100 percent of your attention, because you don't know if there's somebody in front of you that's going to hit their brakes or there might be an accident you need to avoid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Wow. That makes perfect sense. He looks so young.
AZUZ: Fifteen.
HOLMES: Going 150 miles an hour around a track. But, I mean, how does he exactly get his message out? We're listening to him here. But how does he promote safe driving?
AZUZ: He's harnessed the power of the growing smartphone market.
HOLMES: Wow.
AZUZ: And so, he knows that more people are having these things. He knows that's one tool, one way he could get his message out. I'll let him tell you exactly how he's working it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VEACH: It's on the marketplace for 'Droid. It's called Your Text and it works as an autoreply feature. So, when you get in your car, you turn it on, and you either create your very own personal message or select one of the pre-made messages and you turn on My Application. And while you're driving, as you get a text message, you'll automatically send a reply back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: This is one of those things, T.J., that, you know, it's like why didn't I think of this? Why didn't I come up with this first?
HOLMES: Oh, my goodness.
AZUZ: But we've had so many kids in our audience, middle and high school audiences to CNN Student News, say they don't like to not respond to their friends. They always feel like when their friends text them while driving, they feel compelled to respond. They don't want their friends to be impatient or they're afraid their friends think they're ignoring them. So, this would kind of solve that with this app that Zach Veach has come up with it.
HOLMES: OK. You saw my reaction to that. Wow, that's brilliant. We should all do that. Because I guess you do feel pressure. You hear it buzzing. Oh, I need to check. I might need something immediately. That is brilliant.
AZUZ: It was a great idea. And especially, you know, you and me with our BlackBerrys.
HOLMES: Yes, all the time.
AZUZ: Do I check it? I'm driving, I can't.
HOLMES: He's going to be on the pro circuit one day. We're going to see him out there, one of the big dogs in the race.
AZUZ: The way things are going for this young man, I expect to see him do some remarkable things.
HOLMES: Carl, always remarkable story you bring us. Good as always.
AZUZ: Thanks, T.J. Appreciate it.
HOLMES: Carl, we appreciate you. Thank you so much.
We got a quick break here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Now taking a look at some of the stories making headlines -- an important headline for you -- if you haven't done it yet, you need to set that clock back one hour. Go ahead and do it right now, microwave oven, watches, you name it, get all that stuff in. Of course Daylight Saving Time ended this morning at 2:00 a.m.
Also President Obama he is in India right now, this is the first stop and as part of his ten-day visit to Asia, he touched down in New Delhi a couple of hours ago, he had been in Mumbai the day before.
And in Mumbai the president announced $10 billion in new U.S. contracts for exports to India. It's an aggressive push to show that his trip to Asia is delivering the goods back home. He says that $10 billion in contracts could mean some 54,000 jobs here in the U.S.
Also while there he took a little time out to hang out with the kids, visiting some schoolchildren there celebrating the religious festival of Duvali. They had the President and the First Lady dancing, this is the group of course of schoolchildren there enjoying their visit with the president.
I want to move now to a name you may not know, Helen Suzman, do you know that name? You might not know that one or most major players in South Africa's struggle against apartheid. While the struggle continued, Suzman worked relentlessly behind the scenes challenging the government consistently. This week an exhibition opened here in Atlanta to document her legacy.
Nadia Bilchik here, joining me to talk more about her.
Give us some perspective. Again, a lot of people might not know the name.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: No but I know you like feisty women and she is a feisty woman. HOLMES: A feisty woman, ok.
BILCHIK: She died in 2009, she would have been 90. But as you said, this week there is an exhibition that's going to go around the country on Helen Suzman. Now, she was part of the Progressive Party which was the only party that was the opposition to the nationalist government under apartheid.
And all the time that Nelson Mandela was in prison you had Helen Suzman fighting for rights. She went to go and visited him in prison. She -- he writes in his book "Long Walk to Freedom" she was the only woman to ever grace our cells.
HOLMES: Now while he was in prison, how prominent, even though a lot of people here might not know her, but was she --
(CROSSTALK)
BILCHIK: She's very prominent --
HOLMES: -- a very prominent figure there though.
BILCHIK: -- and I'll tell you why because so many people were banned and you couldn't hear what people were saying in South Africa. But because she was a member of parliament what was said in parliament was allowed to be documented. And when she went to visit him on Robin Island one of his guards was particularly cruel, and when she went to visit he said Helen, this guard is being very cruel. In fact he even has a Swastika.
So she said to him I am going to do something about it and she went to the head of prisons and said we have to remove this guard and the guard said absolutely not. She said well, I'll tell you what, then I'll talk about it in parliament and then the world will know --
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: With the government --
BILCHIK: -- and he was removed.
She was also incredibly funny. I mean, one of the things she said to the P.W. Bush that was president at the time, she said, why don't you go into one of the black townships, see what it's really like and go disguised as a human being.
HOLMES: Wow, oh my gosh. Now the exhibit we're talking about here now in Atlanta, is this the first stop or one of the first stops?
BILCHIK: It is actually about the 13th stop.
HOLMES: 13th stop.
BILCHIK: But it's going to a whole lot of other cities --
HOLMES: Ok. BILCHIK: -- and it's the Morehouse Library. People will have to make appointments to go and see it.
HOLMES: To see it?
BILCHIK: It's part of the Rabin King Initiative.
My other favorite Helen Suzman quote, was people say to Helen, you ask the most impossible questions. She says "It's not the questions that are impossible, it's the answers." And she really fought -- she was one of the first people who fought for Mandela to have books and blankets.
HOLMES: Wow.
BILCHIK: And just a feisty person. She was later criticized by the left for not being radical enough but she wanted to do it within the confines of parliament and spoke often interestingly enough about the Myanmar activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, who said this woman should be liberated and she often felt for her, and just another -- another realization of how extraordinary it is to live in a Democratic country.
HOLMES: Helen Suzman, a name that maybe if you didn't know before this morning you know it now and somebody worth checking out, again the exhibit opening up here in Atlanta. Nadia Bilchik we appreciate you as always.
Well, coming up here, they have made helping others their calling but now an inner city church needs a helping hand itself. We'll introduce you to a congregation that's in danger of losing its church.
Also they campaigned on bringing real change to the capital, but can the newly elected Tea Party-backed candidates deliver? I'm looking at their impact on Washington.
It's 37 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, 39 minutes past the hour.
We are at that time my favorite portion of this Sunday morning is when I get to talk to "STATE OF THE UNION" host Candy Crowley. She joins us this morning from Washington, D.C.
Candy, always good to see you. We just got past the midterm elections. But are we already in 2012 election season?
CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, CNN'S "STATE OF THE UNION": Sure.
HOLMES: Sure?
CROWLEY: I mean, absolutely. I mean, this is kind of the -- the never-ending election cycle. It just is, it's you know, presidential elections start right now, really the day after the midterms, because this is when people are kind of looking at those exit polls. We've -- we've been looking at them in terms of how should Congress respond and how should the president respond?
But if you want to run for president, you're also looking at what does this mean? What are voters trying to say, and we've already, we know we've been asking a lot of people among them, one of our guests today, Tim Pawlenty, the outgoing Mayor of Minnesota, kind of eyeing a presidential race.
So there are a lot of people we've been asking all along. And now is the time at least that they begin to play cat and mouse. Are they going to Iowa, they are going to New Hampshire, what's going on? What sort of signals are they sending out? So sure, it's 2012, a little early.
HOLMES: Well, a little early. Is anyone kind of taking responsibility if you will for what happened to the Democrats on Tuesday? People are accepting hey, this is just a natural cycle of things with the president in power, economy a bit down. This just happens or is someone out there kind of -- people are kind of pointing the finger at?
CROWLEY: Sure. I -- I tell you there are rumblings among Democrats who believe that President Obama kind of hung them out to dry on a couple of things, that he was not there, particularly for those House Democrats who took some really tough votes only to see their bills kind of die in the Senate.
So there's some resentment there. There are a number of people saying out loud, we don't think the White House gets it.
We don't think that they have, if you will, the common touch, so there's a lot of that, but if -- if you listen to the president, if you listen to the lawmakers on the Democratic side they have two arguments. One is well the economy is really bad, and the other is, well, we just weren't good at messaging.
I -- I think that there are a lot of people who would disagree with that. I've seen many, many politicians who lose and then say well, we just didn't message effectively. So people are really still trying to sift through this, I think, and figure out where they go. We hear the president talking about mid-course corrections. Well, what does that mean exactly? We'll see.
HOLMES: Ok and one more thing, you said people trying to sift through. Have people figured out quite yet -- we know the Tea Party had an influence on the campaign season but what kind of influence -- influence are they going to have on now governing?
CROWLEY: Well, certainly on the House side you have a number of people backed by the Tea Party, given Tea Party money and let's remember it's really kind of a wing of the Republican Party, but nonetheless these are conservative -- fiscal conservatives, people that want to go somewhat further than what we'd call establishment Republicans, people that have been in Washington for awhile. On the House side I think they have some considerable effect except for let's remember, Republicans may have about a 54-seat margin so they could afford to lose some votes from the Tea Party.
Much less so I think on the Senate side. We saw some very headline type Tea Party candidates go down in Delaware and Nevada and Colorado so there will be less of an effect I think on the Senate side because Republicans kind of look at the mix there and say, hey, there's some moderate Democrats and we could form some coalitions with them.
HOLMES: All right, Candy Crowley, I mean it when I say this truly is the highlight of my Sunday morning, getting to talk to you.
CROWLEY: Thanks.
HOLMES: You have a great show. And we'll be watching as always.
CROWLEY: All right, thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Candy Crowley coming up in about 17 minutes from now, 9:00 Eastern Time, 6:00 Pacific right here on CNN, Candy Crowley on "STATE OF THE UNION".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: On this morning's "Faces of Faith", Pastor Mark Mitchell started a church in one of Atlanta's poorest neighborhoods trying to serve the people who are less fortunate, offering free food, free child care and free counseling to help others.
And now they're in serious need of some help of their own. They could be losing their building.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Atlanta Urban Four Square Church is not your traditional church in the burbs. Pastor Mark Anthony Mitchell leads this congregation in Lakewood, one of the poorest areas of Atlanta.
MARK ANTHONY MITCHELL, PASTOR, URBAN FOUR SQUARE CHURCH: We've got Lakewoods all across America. We're about, you know, the heartfelt needs of the poor and underclass.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hallelujah, hallelujah.
HOLMES: Needs that include food for the hungry, mentoring.
MITCHELL: Jesus was here today, where would he be? He'd be in the Lakewoods of America, amen.
CROWD: Amen.
HOLMES: Spiritual guidance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Deliver us from evil. HOLMES: Even child care, all free of charge but the money is running out. Mitchell has been renting an older abandoned church that's for sale. They're months behind in rent payments and facing the same plight as many in their congregation, homelessness.
MITCHELL: Here we are living from hand and mouth. We give out more than we receive.
HOLMES: He compares neighborhoods like Lakewood to countries where many churches conduct mission work.
MITCHELL: We go across the train tracks and we have third world situations and if we put the same effort here, it would free us up so much. I want an urban/suburban connection.
Again, I just want to live out Acts 2:32, those who have give to those who have not, so nobody lacks.
HOLMES: Mitchell a former drug dealer earned his Masters in Theology from Harvard. He says this is his calling.
MITCHELL: I could be anywhere with my degree. But to me it's about, you can have -- I've been blessed to be a blessed; I've been given a second chance. And I have a real affinity for felons because I'm a felon.
HOLMES: The message seems to be working.
ANGELA DESAUTELS, CHURCH MEMBER: Without this ministry, I might still be on those streets using and going to jail and doing what I was doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I struggled every day. I fight with me.
MITCHELL: So it's down to the wire. We literally need a miracle.
XAVIER MOSLEY, MIRACLE MADE MENTORS: If we lose this building, we'll have to -- the people have nowhere to come. They will have lost complete hope.
HOLMES: So the church continues to pray.
MITCHELL: But God says what, if he be for us, who could be against us?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And joining me now is the senior pastor of Atlanta Urban Four Square Church, Mark Anthony Mitchell here in studio. We appreciate you taking the time with us. You said in there, we're in need of a miracle.
MITCHELL: Yes, we are.
HOLMES: Is that miracle coming? MITCHELL: We believe so and we hope so. And that's why we're thankful about the fact that you have us here today to make a shout out to the world for help.
HOLMES: Have you seen signs of that miracle yet, if you will? You can hope that somebody's going to come through but so far, has there been some sign that maybe you'll be able to come up with rent?
MITCHELL: At the particular moment, no, and so again we're still fasting and praying and believing that in this 11th hour something will happen to help us to be able to continually serve the community there.
HOLMES: Now, tell me, what did happen, according to United Methodist you're in their building, they own that building, you've simply been renting it from them.
MITCHELL: Correct.
HOLMES: They say and you don't dispute haven't been able to pay rent since June, now here we are in November. You had a grant that ran out.
MITCHELL: Correct.
HOLMES: What do you think should happen? You understand their position in that we've got a building here we're trying to pay for as well.
MITCHELL: Definitely and we have definitely tried to work with them. The building needs extensive work, and my denomination has come forward and said that if they would donate the building we've been trying to do that for the past ten months we would utilize that to bring it up to code.
It's going to take about $300,000 to do that and, again, we're just asking the church to be a church. We're saying, hey, we understand you want to sell the building, we understand that it's about monetary gain but we want to invest in souls and that's the purpose of the church, to invest in souls.
HOLMES: Did you make, did you have a backup plan? You knew that grant was going to be running out. Was there a backup plan for getting a stream of funding to keep you in that building?
MITCHELL: We've done several things. During the stimulus time looked at putting grant writers; I'm a grant writer myself. We're trying to put a team of grant writers to be able to get those resources. We also brought in tenants to be able to subsequently support a lease or mortgage, so we've been diligently trying to do that. We understood that and again we just ask the United Methodist Church to work with us to do the work of Jesus Christ.
HOLMES: So far do you believe they have been willing to work? We talked about it hasn't been rent since June and you are still in the building now. Do you think they have been pretty lenient, would you say?
MITCHELL: Yes, I do. Again, we don't have any beef with the United Methodist Church. We appreciate their efforts and again we just want to take it to the next stage and see if we could work something out, because of the poor, we have no place else to go.
HOLMES: Tell me, who loses out, how much will be lost in that community if you are not able to continue to serve?
MITCHELL: Well, again, we are a pillar in the community. We work with the indigenous people. We work with the people, the working poor and the underclass. They have nobody to champion their cause and so this is a plight that's literally across America. And we hope to address in the institutional church how do we get creative and again dealing with the plight of the poor, we literally have a Haiti in our own back yards.
HOLMES: Well, again, like you say there, you're trying to serve the community, a lot of them on hard times, unfortunately, you that are serving have fallen on hard times as well.
We've seen some stories like this around the country, a lot of people having a tough time just making the rent quite frankly. So sir -- certainly good luck to you. We appreciate you coming in.
MITCHELL: Thank you very much.
HOLMES: A quick break here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. We're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Time to give you a couple of updates about things to keep an eye on in entertainment. Yesterday, we told you about "Forbes" magazine, they named comedian Will Ferrell the most overpaid actor in Hollywood, but Ferrell proving "Forbes" wrong, at least for a week. Ferrell is the lead voice in the animated flick, "Megamind". It debuted at number one this week, took in some $12.5 million.
After eight months in prison for a weapons possession charge what is the first thing you'd like to do when you get out the jail? Well, the first rapper Lil Wayne does, he went to watch the hottest team in the NBA right now, the Miami Heat. The rapper was released just a day before his hometown team the New Orleans Hornets took on Lebron James and company. Good news for him, the Hornets beat the Heat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: They ran on the premise of bringing change to Washington but can they deliver? CNN's Brian Todd is investigating what's next for the Tea Party.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the energy of a high octane rock band they propelled the Republicans to historic wins. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY SENATOR-ELECT: Tonight there's a Tea Party tidal wave and we're sending a message to them.
TODD: Rand Paul headlines a slate of conservative Tea Party- backed candidates who are partying after victories. I asked Benjamin Sarlin who's covered the movement for "The Daily Beast" to rate the score card.
(on camera): Did the movement do as well some projected?
BENJAMIN SARLIN, "THE DAILY BEAST": Well, you can't say it was a bad night when you took a bunch of Senate seats and won the House. But there's no doubt they faltered in a few key races that a lot of their critics are going to say they could have otherwise won.
TODD (voice-over): Cases in point, he says, Tea Party defeats on the Senate side. Christine O'Donnell's in Delaware and Sharron Angle's loss to the man some called the world's most endangered incumbent, Harry Reid. Sarlin says voters' concerns about Tea Party extremism which Reid exploited against Angle slowed the movement's momentum Tuesday night.
Still with new high-wattage leaders like Paul and Marco Rubio in the Senate and nearly a dozen in the House, the movement has clearly impressed in its first major election.
(on camera): But now reality, Tea Partiers have to channel all that energy into pushing their agendas through in a town where that's known to be tough.
A lot of people argue, though, that it's hard to get things done in Washington once you move into a seat of power. Do you have a plan for really getting something accomplished -- a tangible plan?
JENNY BETH MARTIN, TEA PARTY PATRIOTS: We do. Immediately, we're going to have an orientation for the incoming freshmen from both parties so that they understand what the local coordinators expect of them.
TODD (voice-over): Jenny martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots says they'll, quote, "melt the phones Tea Partiers who don't stay on message". They'll push them to cut taxes and spending, even to repeal the health care overhaul.
But Sarlin says this about how the Tea Partiers distaste for compromise will play in Washington.
SARLIN: Saying as Rand Paul has that he will vote for nothing less than a completely balanced budget is basically saying you'll never going to vote for a budget ever. I mean it basically removes from you any serious discussion of actual deficit-reducing measures, at least as they pertain to a final budget.
TODD: Sarlin says if freshmen Tea Partiers like Rand Paul don't compromise they can still have an effect on the debate. Paul, he says, could use his credibility with the movement to demagogue hard against Republicans who cross over to the other side. That will at least give him symbolic strength.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Let's get a quick look at some stories making headlines. President Obama, as you know, on the second day of his visit to India; he's in New Delhi. It's all part of a ten-day four-nation tour of Asia; the president, of course, on an economic mission trying to bring jobs back to the U.S.
Also, a live look at New York City, where the New York City Marathon is just getting under way this morning. Quiet in the streets right now from that shot but you have literally tens of thousands of runners participating, just getting under way in several ways. We'll keep an eye on what is happening in New York City today.
Candy Crowley, though, keeping an eye on all things in Washington for us. "STATE OF THE UNION" right now.
