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CNN Sunday Morning
Big Guns: Clinton, Obama Pump Up the Volume; Shuttle Launch Scrubbed; The Mormon Faith
Aired December 09, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well good morning, everyone. From the CNN Center right here in Atlanta, it is December 9th. I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello everybody, I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could be here.
Lets with a beautiful prime picture this morning of the space shuttle "Atlantis" looks great. It's hoping to take off this afternoon, supposed to. But there are questions about whether or not that will actually happen. We're going to go live to the Kennedy Space Center.
NGUYEN: And a lot of you are waking up to a day of extreme weather out there. So there is the good and, of course, there's the bad. And then you get the down right ugly. Look at those cars, black ice causing major problems on the roads this morning. We're going to get you up to speed on this Sunday morning.
HOLMES: But we are certainly following a story just in this morning.
A shooting at a missionary training center just out side of Denver. We are told at least four people are wounded and right now authorities are searching for a gunman.
NGUYEN: Police say he walked into the training center in Arvada, Colorado early this morning and started shooting. There's no word yet on the condition of the wounded and it's still unclear whether they are staff members or students. This happened at the youth center or the youth with admissions center and according to the centers web site, young people from around the world come there to train as Christian missionaries.
HOLMES: All right. We'll continue to follow that story as they search for the gunmen.
Also today, we're not the only ones who travel commercially that have flight delays. The space shuttle itself --
NGUYEN: It's always delayed, it seems.
HOLMES: It seems like it is. It's finally scheduled to take off this afternoon. Or is it?
NGUYEN: That's always the question. They have filling the fuel tank this morning, so that is a good sign. But Houston may still have a problem. CNN's John Zarrella is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a new development on this. Big question, is it going to happen today?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Betty, Houston does have a problem.
NGUYEN: Really?
ZARRELLA: Yeah. It does not look good at all. Last Thursday, we were talking about the shuttle's external tank and how they began to fill it with liquid hydrogen and then those sensors, numbers 3 and 4 sensors failed. Well, they started filling this giant external tank with that liquid hydrogen this morning at about 5:55. Things were going great. Well, at about 6:40 this morning, these are those sensors, there are four of them, and we showed them to you yesterday, they were immersed at that time in liquid hydrogen. Sure enough, sensor number three has, again, failed.
And by the rules that NASA imposed itself yesterday, they said they would not fly if any of the four sensors failed, although they have not officially declared this a scrub yet. It appears that it is over for today for any "Atlantis" launch attempt. Again, sensor number three has failed again. That's that hydrogen sensor at the bottom of the giant fuel tank. They're going to continue to fill the tank now, but they're doing this now, Betty and T.J., as a way to do sort of a tanking test, to try and get some more information, to try and get some more science and insight into what the heck is going wrong, because they've had this problem in the past on a couple of shuttles, but when they've retanked, the problem all the sudden went away.
This time, it didn't go away and I can say guarantee you the engineers at NASA are scratching their heads, trying to figure out what they can do, so a serious setback today. It does not look like a launch here at the Kennedy Space Center, but no official word yet on a scrub, but we're sure that's coming quickly. Betty, T.J.
NGUYEN: It has to be frustrating John, I mean you know there's a problem, you just don't know what's causing it. But let me ask you. If it hasn't officially been scrubbed yet, what's the chance of it making this with that one-minute window? That's not a lot of time should this be able to go up today.
ZARRELLA: Well, the one-minute window is not an issue. They could get everything lined up to get into that one-minute launch. The weather looks great.
NGUYEN: Really?
ZARRELLA: Oh, yeah. The weather looks great. They would count it down and get off at 3:21. That would be easy to do. They've done it a million times before in short windows, so not an issue. The issue, though, is this sensor. With one of the four failing now this morning, it -- and this brings into question, can they even get off the ground at all within the rest of this launch window which takes them through next Wednesday/Thursday. After that, they have to stand down until after -- until the beginning of next month. So we'll have to wait and see about that, as well.
NGUYEN: This is a big deal because if the sensors don't work, then the engines won't fire up because they need that fuel.
ZARRELLA: That's possible, right.
NGUYEN: Thank you, John. We do appreciate it.
HOLMES: Now to what seems to be a perpetual state of investigation in Washington. We have another investigation to tell you about. This one having to do with interrogation. Videotapes that were destroyed. The effort underway now to find the answers, the Justice Department and CIA starting a preliminary investigation into the destruction of those CIA tapes. They showed interrogations of two al Qaeda suspects in 2002. The tapes were destroyed in 2005 despite the apparent objections from officials from both the White House ad the CIA. The CIA says they were destroyed to protect the identities of the interrogators. The tapes were made after President Bush approved severe interrogation techniques.
NGUYEN: Well, a Pakistani man from Baltimore says he was tortured for three years at secret CIA prisons before ending up at Guantanamo Bay, and the man's lawyers want a judge to tell the CIA not to destroy any evidence related to his interrogation.
HOLMES: The government calls Majid Khan a high value terrorist who once worked with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is the man behind the 9/11 attacks. A CIA spokesman denies Khan was tortured, but says he was interrogated as part of a small, carefully run, lawful and highly productive program.
NGUYEN: Well, in other news, a young, successful woman goes missing and days later, her body is found. Chicago police now say they have arrested her former boyfriend for the murder of Nielah Franklin. She is the pharmaceutical sale rep who was reported missing back in September. Police say they have charged Reginald Pots Jr. with first degree murder in Franklin's death. They say a high technical analysis of his cell phone records conflicted with his alibi. Pots, though, denies any involvement in Franklin's death.
HOLMES: It is holiday season, of course everybody, a lot of people going shopping, going to the malls.
NGUYEN: Trying to get those gifts.
HOLMES: We just had the mall shooting last week in Omaha that scared people. We have another mall shooting to tell you about. This happened in a mall in Columbus, Ohio.
NGUYEN: Police are still looking for the gunman in this shooting. And witnesses say two men, here is what happened. Got into a fight yesterday afternoon and one man shot the other in the leg. Shoppers, of course, panicked and ran when the shooting started. The victim wasn't seriously injured, but was taken to the hospital for treatment. HOLMES: Scary stuff there. Shots flying when you're trying to shop. Shoppers are back at that mall in Omaha, Nebraska, days after that deadly shooting spree. The 19-year-old gunman was Robert Hawkins, he gunned down eight people at West Worlds Mall, Wednesday, and then he killed himself. The city's mayor says the community is coming together after the tragedy now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MIKE FAHEY, OMAHA, NEBRASKA: I think it's important that we show the solidarity, that we're all here for both the employees and the customers. From my perspective, we should not allow this one individual to define our city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The store where the shootings actually happened, it's still closed. Some of the victims will be remembered today. There are wakes and vigils planned, also funerals set to start tomorrow.
NGUYEN: Well disaster relief is on the way for parts of the Pacific Northwest. President Bush issued a federal national declaration for 11 counties in Oregon and Washington that were just hard hit by severe storms.
HOLMES: So that now clears the way for federal aid. The region is still cleaning up from the flooding and mudslides and triggered by those storms.
Meanwhile, that sleets, freezing rain, icy conditions, that could be the situation today. All the way from Oklahoma into parts of Ohio.
NGUYEN: We've already heard scattered reports of ice on bridges and overpasses. So travel in the area today is going to be a little tricky. Be careful out there.
HOLMES: Reynolds Wolf, our meteorologist, just how tricky, sticky icky of a situation are we talking about?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Instead of telling you, why don't we show you how bad it's going to be.
NGUYEN: Even better.
WOLF: It's easier to show the picture. We have a shot from Colorado that shows cars flipping off the side of the road. Do we have that image from Longmont, Colorado? There we go. Right there, right in the median, you see one, two, three, and four -- there are a lot more than that around the country. Slippery conditions there along parts of I-70. We'll see that not just into the Rockies, but now across the southwest, and the Great Lakes and it is all due to the same storm system.
This is the storm system now starting to leave parts of the Rockies, but we're not done with the snow yet. We can still see a few inches of snow fall back near Salt Lake City, back into the Denver area. This will be our big focus for the rest of the day. Not necessarily in the form of snow, but rather ice. Just a little bit, about a .1 to .2 inch of ice south of Chicago, near Indianapolis, back over to St. Louis, even into Oklahoma City.
But the issue is that ice will keep things very slick. It is really going to weigh down a lot of trees and power lines; we are going to deal with some power outages. Right now, we're just seeing scattered showers along parts of I-70 into St. Louis just south of Champagne, Illinois. But from Springfield back over to Quincy, you see that transformation. That pink you see there to the white, who indicates your snowfall, all of that drifting from west to east, it will be a yucky day.
In Chicago right now, take a look at this live image that we have for you from Chicago, WLS, night is in dark. I guarantee you the skies are cloudy and should remain so for the rest of the day. That's a look at the forecast. We'll have more on that big picture for you coming up in a few moments.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Reynolds.
HOLMES: Well we're getting some good weather pictures in from our I-reporters, as always. We have an ice sculpture on the roof of one house. This comes --
NGUYEN: It's naturally made. That is beautiful, though.
HOLMES: Oh, wow. This is from Derek --
NGUYEN: Until it takes down your roof.
HOLMES: He likes this. He says the ice sculpture had been growing for four days, took a shot of it and sent it to you.
NGUYEN: Thank you for sending that in.
Well more to tell you about on this story. Because he came out of humble beginnings, made himself into a multi million heir and now has his eyes on the White House. But how well do you really know John Edwards? He's our focus this morning in our candidate close-up.
HOLMES: Also, what do you do when a 600-pound cat breaks a tooth? Well, you do what you do when you have a problem. You call a dentist.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Folks, if you're confused about your choices for presidents, we are going to try to help you out here. You can try this, go to vajoe.com and fill out what they are calling the candidate calculator.
NGUYEN: All right. So let's walk through it. For example, say you support No Child Left Behind and federal funding for stem cell research, but you oppose building a border fence, you do support, though, citizenship for illegal immigrants and you are against the fair tax.
HOLMES: According to the candidate calculator, your guy is that guy, Democratic John Edwards of South Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice over): From Mr. Nice guy as vice presidential candidate to Mr. Tough guy running for the White House.
JOHN EDWARDS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Unless I missed something, Senator Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes.
HOLMES: John Edwards has amped up the rhetoric as he chases the Democratic nomination for president. The 54-year-old former senator is one of the front-runners and like Barack Obama is running to grab the spotlight from Hillary Clinton.
EDWARDS: My dad worked in the mills. When I was born, he had to borrow $50 to bring me home.
HOLMES: Born into humble beginnings, Edward was the first in his family to graduate from college. Later becoming a successful and wealthy trial attorney, elected to the Senate in 1998, he served one term in Congress and later ran as the number two man on the unsuccessful Kerry/Edwards ticket.
Now, running for the top spot, Edwards talks of building one America by rolling back the Bush tax cuts, providing universal health care and pursuing energy independence.
On social issues, he supports abortions rights but opposes gay marriage. Even though he voted as a senator to use military force in Iraq, he now says that vote was a mistake and calls for U.S. troop withdrawal from the region.
EDWARDS: I'm here in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans to announce that I'm a candidate for the presidency of the United States.
HOLMES: After officially kicking off his presidential campaign in Katrina ravaged New Orleans, John and Elizabeth Edwards surprised many by choosing to continue with the race after her cancer returned. And she since raised her profile on trail by publicly taking on Hillary Clinton and Ann Coulter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And we are going to be doing this again next hour when we profile Republican Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.
NGUYEN: In the meantime though, Hillary Clinton is going after female voters with a little girl power of her own.
HOLMES: Joining Clinton on stage in Iowa yesterday was her mother, Dorothy and her daughter, Chelsea. This was Chelsea Clinton's first stump appearance with her mother. NGUYEN: Poll show Latino voters have been growing more conservative over the years, but displeasure with President Bush's policies may be pushing them towards the Democrats.
HOLMES: GOP candidates will try and woo Latino voters tonight in a bilingual debate in Miami. The questions and responses will be translated simultaneously into Spanish.
NGUYEN: You definitely want to stay with CNN SUNDAY MORNING, for more on the campaign trail Suzanne Malveaux is live in South Carolina as part of the best political team on television.
HOLMES: So gaining political clout with the famous face near by. Our Josh Levs pretty famous face around here. He joins us with a look at this. Good morning to you, sir.
JOSH LEVS, CNN DOT CO. DESK: Thanks for that, T.J.
Do celebrities really help politicians win vote? One celebrity calls that concept loony. I'll have that, coming up.
Betty.
NGUYEN: All right. Well if you don't like the weather outside, you can't beat the cold, just jump right in. We'll dip into the polar plunge, right after this on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: It's about 20 minutes past the hour on this Sunday morning. Good morning folks. Let's get to quick hits now. Divers could be used today to investigate a mid-air collision that happened over the Florida Everglades. The wreckage of two small planes is spread over a large area with some of it under water. There have been no signs of the survivors, if any, and it's unknown how many people may have been on those planes.
HOLMES: The Natalee Holloway case may be nearing an end. Certainly not the one her parents and friends are hoping for. The prosecutor set an end of the year deadline to file charges in the case. When he set that, he had just arrested or re-arrested three of the suspects. But there are now no longer any suspects in custody. The three men that were re-arrested last month have all been released for lack of evidence.
NGUYEN: Well, a really big tiger is on the mend this morning after having some delicate dental surgery. The 600-pound cat broke a canine tooth and had to have a root canal. We're not sure what he broke that tooth on, but he was brought from the Oregon Animal Preserve to Lodi, California, to one of the few dentists in the world who specializes in tiger teeth. Can you imagine how much laughing gas it took to put that thing out?
HOLMES: He does not seem to be in a good mod right there.
NGUYEN: He's relaxing, they're petting him. HOLMES: That's how I look at the dentist. We all look like that.
NGUYEN: Knock me out and get it over with.
Well from tigers in California to polar bears in Connie Island, New York. These are the people who like to jump in cold water for some reason. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club is the oldest in the world, starting the madness over 100 years ago. I've always wondered why. Why?
HOLMES: We should do that one year, just to say we did it.
NGUYEN: No. Why don't you do that?
HOLMES: Next year. We're going to run a marathon next year, right? We might as well do that, as well.
NGUYEN: All right.
HOLMES: All right folks. Here yesterday, you saw that we have George Lopez on professing his love for our very own anger, Betty Nguyen. He's not the only person in love with own of on our anchors. Queen Latifah, you know the actress, Grammy Award winning singer, she has a new movie out. Well she dropped by the newsroom not to long ago to talk about that new movie. But who would you guess that Queen Latifah would be crazy about at CNN?
NGUYEN: You.
HOLMES: No, not me. Check it out. She couldn't stop talking about who else? Wolf Blitzer.
NGUYEN: The Wolfman.
HOLMES: Wolf Blitzer.
QUEEN LATIFAH: He's sexy, isn't he?
He has a reindeer name and one that is in a pack would kill a reindeer. Wolf, let's go to Wolf.
LATIFAH: Wolf Blitzer. Donner and Cupid, you dig?
NGUYEN: A reindeer name.
HOLMES: Only she can say that. Not us, Wolf.
NGUYEN: Serious business. That's a local team on television. Had to get it out there.
HOLMES: Don't mock it.
NGUYEN: I'm not. I'm just telling you, this is Wolf Blitzer.
That's better than Bonn. What's your name?
HOLMES: Wolf. Look at Reynolds over here in his best Bonds pose.
NGUYEN: What is that Reynolds?
You are Mr. Wolf. It's not the same, but --
WOLF: I'm Wolf. We run in a pack. She could have easily said express love. I love Queen Latifah. I'm just throwing it out here. I'm just saying, man.
NGUYEN: It's not exactly a reindeer name, though. Reynolds Wolf.
WOLF: I know, I know. But you know, guys, we do have some reindeer weather. Coming up, we're going to talk about all kinds of cold weather, we got all across the nation, we can talk about the heavy snow falling in parts of the Rockies, and it is nice and pretty. Now we've going to talk about the snow and the ice you can see across the mid west and south of the Great Lakes. Which is not necessarily pretty but can cause you all kinds of headaches. That is coming up in just few moments.
NGUYEN: Just for the record, we love you, Reynolds.
WOLF: Love you guys, too.
NGUYEN: Like president of your fan club, just so you know.
HOLMES: My goodness, a little too much love here this morning.
NGUYEN: Just trying to make him not feel left out.
All right. Let's talk about something very serious today, he shot into a crowd of people and took off. We do have an update on the manhunt that is going on in Colorado as we speak.
HOLMES: Also, this morning we were talking about the roots of the Mormon faith straight ahead. And straight from the top church leader.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, hello again and welcome back, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
We want to update you on story just in this morning. A shooting at the Christian Missionary Training Center just outside of Denver. We are told at least four people are wounded and authorities are searching for the gunman. Police say he walked into the youth with a mission training center in Arvada, Colorado, early this morning and started shooting. There is no word yet on the conditions of the wounded and it is still unclear whether they're staff members of students.
Also this just in, NASA is scrubbing today's shuttle launch. That coming in just a couple of minutes ago. NASA noticed another problem with some of those troublesome engine sensors while they were filling the external tank this morning. Basically, the sensor could cause the engine to shut off before the shuttle reaches orbit.
HOLMES: This puts now the whole shuttle schedule in jeopardy. If NASA engineers can't figure this out, they could miss the launch window which runs through the middle of this week. That would keep this shuttle mission on Earth into the next year.
NGUYEN: Well snow, floods, mud, there is messy weather across the country this weekend.
HOLMES: And some areas are cleaning up, others digging out. Ski resorts are cashing in. The story now from CNN's John Lawrence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Snowboarders wasted no time getting to the slopes in Arizona on Saturday as ski resorts across the west got resounding thumbs up. From the plains in upper Midwest through the western mountains, snow is either expected or already hitting the ground.
Meanwhile, weather has only brought heartbreak in parts of western Washington. Torrential downpours earlier in the week in places like Lewis County caused severe floods. One vegetable farmer fears the worst.
MIKE PERONI, FARMER: It is not in the tens of thousands. It's certainly in the hundreds of thousands of dollars that it's going to take us to get back where we are.
LAWRENCE: The economic toll is widespread. Local officials estimate up to 1,000 cows in Lewis County alone died as a result of the flooding.
I'm John Lawrence, reporting from Atlanta.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And our Reynolds Wolf in the Severe Weather Center tracking all this nasty stuff for us this morning. What's happening out there?
WOLF: You know more nasty stuff. We are going to see a touch of snowfall still in the Rockies, the high elevations, and that's great for the ski resorts, the more the merrier for them. But for everyone else that has to go out and scrape the walk and try to drive through it along parts of I-70 and other major thorough fares. Lets be honest I mean it is a pain.
Take a look at this video that we have for you, these great images from Blue King Ski Resort in California. Wow that looks just awesome. You see a few of the snow machines still operating; they want to keep that base up and going. You see the moms, dads, kids all having a good time. That is what it is all about. (WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well, a big weekend for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton had her husband, you know, the former president, out stumping for her in South Carolina. You can see here the popularity still as strong as ever, that strong, personal appeal.
Meanwhile, the candidate herself was busy in Iowa drumming up support among women voters, and she was joined by a couple of special guests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I also brought two other people who I'm thrilled are here with me. One is my mother, Dorothy Rodham, who...
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: ... is traveling with me today. And the other is my daughter, Chelsea Clinton.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Wow. Hillary Clinton certainly -- a lot of polls, national polls, at least, has a decent lead. Some of the state polls, it's a lot closer. But Barack Obama, he's bringing out the biggest gun in his arsenal -- the mighty, mighty Oprah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: The first time you sit down and you listen to Barack Obama, you get to witness a really rare thing.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We might just win! America, our moment is now. We have to seize this moment.
WINFREY: One government. One Congress. One president. And because we only get to choose one, I came out in the cold today to tell you why I believe that choice needs to be Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Is it possible to have a bigger celebrity endorsement than Oprah? Who could it possibly be?
NGUYEN: Who would that be? And not only did she come out in the cold, people came out in droves. They didn't care rain, sleet or snow. They were going to see Obama and Oprah.
HOLMES: But who were they really there to see?
NGUYEN: Oh come on. HOLMES: Poor Obama. No, I'm just kidding.
NGUYEN: Well, I mean, we'll see how it shakes out, because there's a lot of hype over Oprah being the draw and are they truly going to be Obama fans at the end of the day.
HOLMES: But at least he reaches that audience, which is supposed to be the point. She brings them in, and then hopefully...
NGUYEN: Got to get your message out some way, right?
HOLMES: ... he gets the message to them in some way. So we see that a lot, celebrities, candidates out on the campaign trail. It seems like everybody has a celebrity candidate -- a celebrity endorsement of some kind. But the question is, do these things even help if you have a celebrity on your team?
NGUYEN: Exactly. Josh Levs has that for us. He's "Keeping Them Honest" today.
And you know, that's what a lot of people are going to be asking, especially after this weekend, did Oprah do it for Obama? Do these celebrities really work?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know who else is asking that? Oprah herself.
I mean, it was interesting to watch her yesterday, because she was saying that she doesn't know the potential impact of her coming out for a candidate, and it could be somewhat of a cost to her career because it's a divisive thing to do. But she clearly made the calculation that she can help.
Well, I'm going to show you now that the only numbers we have so far leave that question very much up in the air.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS (voice over): It's the political marriage rocking the presidential race, the first-term senator and the -- well, Oprah. But is all the talk about this media magnate's potential effect overblown? Celebrities are good for fund-raising, but political history is littered with failed attempts to include a dash of star power in a recipe for victory.
Tommy Lee Jones' nominating speech at the 2000 Democratic National Convention didn't exactly skyrocket his one-time Harvard roommate. Still, it seems everybody is doing it.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... Chuck Norris.
LEVS: Oprah Winfrey may be in a league of her own, but he polls suggest her endorsement alone did not change the race. In September, 15 percent said it made them more likely to support Obama, just as many said it made them less likely. The rest said it had no impact.
Many assume she is swaying other people. Sixty percent said her endorsement would help Obama.
Now Oprah is the draw to get people in early states to hear him. If his poll numbers jump, should we expect his chief rival to pull out her own mega star supporter?
BARBRA STREISAND, SINGER (singing): ... here I am.
LEVS: Free Streisand concerts in Iowa and New Hampshire, perhaps? No talk of that. Senator Clinton does have a political rock star stumping for her.
Among those hoping the political scene does not become a celebrity slugfest is this guy. As Pat Sajak spells it out, "The idea of choosing a the leader of the free world based on the advice of someone who lives in the cloistered world of stardom seems a bit loony."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: For now, it's really a matter of seeing what that Oprah effect ultimately may be. And guys, if it turns out there is a bump, then it's possible that we could see a new era for pursuing celebrity endorsements.
HOLMES: Huh, Chuck Norris or Oprah? What is going to help you more?
LEVS: Or Queen Latifah.
NGUYEN: Well, you know, and sometimes -- that's what Oprah is wondering, to see if this is going to work. Sometimes it could back fire on you, both the candidate and the celebrity. So we'll be watching.
Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: You got it.
NGUYEN: Well, Democratic rival John Edwards doesn't seem too concerned about all the attention Oprah is attracting for Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Any presidential candidate has a right to bring somebody out who's supportive and who (INAUDIBLE). That's what politics do. There's nothing wrong with that. But I don't believe voters decide who they're going to vote for based on what Hollywood star or television star is supporting them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: All right. So, just for the record, Edwards has been endorsed by Harry Belafonte and actor James Denton from "Desperate Housewives."
I know what you're saying. HOLMES: You know what I'm saying.
NGUYEN: Versus Oprah.
HOLMES: You know what I'm saying. Who knows if he would have given that sound bite if Oprah was on his team. You know?
Well, we're going to get -- yes, we saw that picture, we can get it back up there of the shuttle. We've got some breaking news actually happening out of Florida. NASA scrubbing today's shuttle launch. That just came in officially minutes ago.
NGUYEN: And you know what? CNN's John Zarrella is at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
And you told us this was probably going to happen. Bam, there it is. It's scrubbed once again.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Betty, no surprise at all, because NASA had said yesterday by their own new stricter rules that if any of those four hydrogen sensors, eco sensors, as they call them, had failed during the tanking process, they would have to scrub. They weren't going to fly with less than all four of them working perfectly. Well, sensor number three did fail, and we got the official word just a few moments ago that NASA has, in fact, scrubbed for today.
The question now is what next? Is there any way that they can go within the next few days in this launch window?
What they're doing right now is draining the external tank down, and they're performing some troubleshooting to see if they can get any new data, any new information on what the heck is going on back down there with those hydrogen sensors. Trying to preserve any hope that they can get off the ground between now and the 13th or 14th, which is kind of their cutoff. After that, they'll have to wait until the new year.
So we'll keep you posted throughout the morning and the day as to how things shake out here at the Kennedy Space Center -- Betty, T.J.
NGUYEN: All right. But for today, it's a no-go.
Thank you, John.
HOLMES: Well, folks, what do you really know about the Church of Latter-day Saints? Well, with Mormon Mitt Romney vying for the White House, we thought you might like to know.
What Mormons believe is the focus of today's "Faces of Faith."
NGUYEN: And missing no more. He left home in a canoe and was gone for five years until suddenly showing up at a police station. Now he and his wife, well, they could be in some big trouble.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: In our "Faces of Faith" this morning, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, talked about his religious beliefs in a speech on Thursday. He is a Mormon, and that raises some eyebrows among some conservatives. Speaking in Texas, Romney tried to reassure Christian conservatives he shares their religious values.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What do I believe about Jesus Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind. My church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths. Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. These are not bases for criticism, but rather a test of our tolerance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, certainly too early to tell whether Romney's speech on his Mormon faith will win over Christian conservatives. Some on the religious right strongly disagree with Mormonism, and they've been unwilling to join his campaign.
To understand how Mormons differ from other believers in Christ, you have to go back to the roots of Mormonism. And that starts in a small town in Upstate New York.
Our Jim Acosta reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Far from Utah, near the tiny town of Palmyra, New York, the roots of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are on full display. The story told here is what separates Mormons from other believers in Christ.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. This is a recreated log home.
ACOSTA: Missionary Joanne Sorenson (ph) took us on a tour of a replica of the log cabin where a farmer named Joseph Smith founded the Mormon Church. In the 1820s, Smith said an angel named Moroni appeared to him and later guided him to this hill called Cumorah where he said he discovered golden tablets detailing how Christ visited an ancient civilization in the Americas. The tablets are the basis for "The Book of Mormon."
The story is reenacted in this elaborate package staged in Palmyra every year.
(on camera): And do you realize that there are millions and millions of Americans out there who don't know this story?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do. And for some people who hear the story, I'm sure they're going to think that's very strong. And yet I believe it and I know that it's true. ACOSTA: This is the most visited site in Palmyra, the sacred grove where Joseph Smith says he saw God and Jesus Christ in the flesh. It is a vision that sets the Mormon Church apart from other Christian faiths.
DAVID COOK, CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS: We have certain other beliefs that may be different than other -- others in traditional Christianity.
ACOSTA (voice over): David Cook, one of the highest-ranking Mormon leaders in the Northeast, knows his faith will be getting plenty of attention these days because of the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney.
ROMNEY: I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it.
ACOSTA: But Cook worries Romney is being judged unfairly by some conservative evangelicals.
COOK: I know that there are some that view us as not Christian.
ACOSTA (on camera): Is that accurate?
COOK: No, absolutely -- absolutely not.
ACOSTA (voice over): Romney has witnessed that hostility firsthand.
ROMNEY: Hello, sir. How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm one person who will not vote for a Mormon.
ROMNEY: Oh, is that right? Can I shake your hand, anyway?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
ACOSTA: Mormonism, says religion scholar Jan Shipps, is undergoing a political test.
JAN SHIPPS, MORMON SCHOLAR: Certain very conservative evangelicals have been conducting a campaign to convince the world that the Mormons are not Christian.
ACOSTA: That's something Mormons vehemently deny. At the birthplace of their faith, they, too, have a nativity scene.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Palmyra, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And tomorrow a big day for suspended Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. He faces a sentencing hearing on the federal dogfighting charges. Also, how did he get to this point? We're going to be taking a look at the case and how it may have affected the game. And a show of fireworks. We all like a fireworks display, but hey, this one wasn't supposed to happen. We'll tell you why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We'll talk more football here. This ain't good football news, really. Michael Vick is going to learn his fate tomorrow. A judge set to sentence him on federal dogfighting charges. Vick, however, already in prison. He turned himself in just before Thanksgiving, trying to get a jump-start on his sentence. But tomorrow, he'll find out how long he has to stay in prison.
CNN Sports' Larry Smith takes us through this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Michael Vick's legal troubles began in April after his cousin was arrested on drug charges and gave Vick's Surry County, Virginia, home as his address. Authorities searched the property and found 66 dogs, 55 of them pit bulls, and what appeared to be a dogfighting operation. As the investigation intensified, Vick denied any wrongdoing.
MICHAEL VICK, FALCONS QUARTERBACK: It was my property, but I was never there. You know, so it will work itself out, man. It's just -- I've just got to watch the people that I keep around me, man, and, you know, just do some things differently from here on out in the future.
SMITH: But less than three months later, Vick was indicted, along with three others, by a federal grand jury in connection with dogfighting. The details about what allegedly took place on Vick's property were horrific. The indictment stated that some dogs who Vick and his cohorts believed wouldn't be good fighters were killed by drowning and hanging.
GEORGE DOHRMAN, SPORTSILLUSTRATED.COM: At one point, they talk about Vick and two other men slamming a dog on to the ground until it was dead. So I think, you know, that was stunning to me. Dogfighting in itself is gruesome, the act is gruesome, the killing of dogs is gruesome. But this was even more gruesome.
SMITH: The NFL suspended Vick and ordered him to stay away from the Falcons. While his teammates opened training camp on July 26th amidst protesters and fans, number 7 was in a Virginia courtroom, where he and his three co-defendants entered pleas of not guilty. Though he had yet to be convicted of a crime, sponsors distanced themselves and Vick jerseys and memorabilia were pulled from the shelves.
ARTHUR BLANK, Atlanta FALCONS OWNER: These charges are extremely serious. This is not about him playing football in 2007. This is about him having a life and having a life going forward, and I would -- you know, my only personal suggestion to Michael is that he focus on his defense.
SMITH: Within weeks of pleading not guilty, all three of Vick's co-defendants agreed to plead not guilty and cooperate with the prosecution, saying that Vick was the financial backer of the operation and was directly involved with the killing of dogs. With pressure mounting, Vick changed his tune, and on August 23rd, pleaded guilty, admitting to conspiring in a dogfighting ring and assisting in killing pit bulls.
The former pro bowl quarterback denied, however, betting on actual dogfights.
VICK: I accept the responsibility for my actions and what I did, and now I have to pay the consequences for it.
SMITH: The Falcons, who signed Vick to a 10-year, $130 million contract in 2004, are seeking repayment of more than $20 million in bonus money.
In a surprise move, Vick turned himself in just before Thanksgiving and began serving time behind bars at a Virginia facility. On Monday, the 27-year-old will find out how long he'll remain there.
Larry Smith, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, hello there. Good morning, Betty.
NGUYEN: Good morning.
HOLMES: Good morning, everybody out there.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Sunday, December 9th. And I am T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Hope you're having a good morning so far.
Hello, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
We want to thank you for starting your day with us.
All right. Big names again on the campaign trail. In this hour, former president Bill Clinton speaking live in Charleston, South Carolina, but can he grab the southern spotlight from this woman?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WINFREY: I'm not trying to tell you what to think. I'm here to ask you to think seriously about Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Oprah not being shy about her presidential pick. She and Obama were in Iowa yesterday. They're in South Carolina today. And the love fest, it just goes on and on. But we do want to start in Florida, where there has been another set back for NASA this morning, got more trouble with space shuttle engines.
NGUYEN: And we thought it was coming in fact it did, a one inch long sensor is keeping the massive shuttle "Atlantis" from lifting off today and possibly even for the entire year. John Zarrella is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning. I guess the big question is, we have known about the sensor and NASA has been investigating, the problem is what's causing it?
ZARRELLA: That's exactly right, Betty. The answer to that is NASA really at this point does not know. On Thursday as everyone knows as they began filling the giant external tank in the space shuttle, two of these sensors in the hydrogen sensors and give the viewers a look. This is the external tank and a half million gallons of liquid hydrogen oxygen, as it fills from the bottom it reaches those sensors. Two of them tripped and they don't know if the sensor is bad and it's wiring, but they scrubbed the launch and they went back to the drawing board, management meeting to try to figure out what was wrong.
Here's an example on this shock plate that they have of the four sensors. They would be mounted inside the compartment. They decided to try again today and as they began fueling and the fuel comes up in the tank and it submerges these sensors. That's when they will be triggered or not. One of these sensors, sensor number three, the same that failed back on Thursday failed again. Under the rules that they imposed on themselves, they said look, we are not going to take any chances unless they are working perfectly. At 7:24 this morning, NASA officially scrubbed the launch and we are waiting for a quick briefing from the launch director Doug Lyons. He will give us a briefing from the firing room. Tell us what happened and tell us what they saw.
Right now they are doing some trouble shooting to see if they can gather more data to get a better idea of what's going down there. At about 9:00 a.m., the mission management team will huddle and the program manager tried to figure out where to go next. Can they get off the ground between now and Thursday? Is there something they can do or worst case scenario, they will roll the vehicle off the launch pad in order to burro into the giant tank and dig those sensors out and that will mean a long delay for the shuttle "Atlantis." Not good news here today and we will keep everyone posted as we get new developments as to what the next course of action will be for the U.S. Space Agency.
Betty and T.J.
NGUYEN: So John, if the shuttle doesn't take off on Thursday, will it take off this year?
ZARRELLA: No, not at all. They cannot find a way to get off the ground with a patch work on these sensors or flying as is, which is not likely to happen. They can't go until after the first of the year, which would be their next opportunity. They have a beta cut out that means once they get up to the space station, they don't get enough sun on the shuttle and it's not tilted the right way at the end of the year and they don't want to be flying over into the next year because you have the computer issue with change over from one year to the next. So, no, not until next year if they can't get off the ground by Thursday.
NGUYEN: Thursday is crucial. We will be watching. Thank you, John.
New this morning, want to tell you about this. A man hunt is underway following a shooting at a missionary training center outside of Denver. Police say a gunman walked into the center in Arvada, Colorado and started shooting. We are told at least four people are wounded and there is no word on their conditions.
It is also unclear whether they are staff members or students. According to its web site though the youth with admissions center trains young people from around the world to be Christian missionaries and again four people shot and wounded. Police say the gunman apparently escaped on foot and they are looking for him right now.
HOLMES: Well live here from the Royal Missionary Baptist Church in South Carolina. Folks will be filing in as they always do on Sunday to go to church service, but this is different at the pulpit today, Bill Clinton will be giving a speech and a preach in there. We will carry his speech live when it begins. We are expecting it maybe within the hour.
NGUYEN: In the meantime, the Barack Obama-Oprah Winfrey political road show rolls into South Carolina this morning. The Democratic presidential contender and talk show queen are appearing today at the 80,000 seat University of South Carolina football stadium. That's happening after noon. Take a listen though.
Oprah was out in full force with Obama yesterday where Oprah mania helped draw cheering crowds and she said she worries about the direction of America and she also expressed hope and the change of Obama's campaign offers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY: I have never taken this kind of risk before nor felt compelled to stand up and speak out before. There wasn't anybody for me to stand up and speak out for. It's different with Barack Obama. The first time you sit down and listen to Barack Obama, you get to witness a rare thing and see a politician who has an ear for eloquence and a tongue for ungarnished truth. I'm not trying to tell what you to think. I'm here to ask you to think seriously about Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: It is very clear where she stands, Obama did speak after ask the crowd they wanted Oprah as vice president. You can imagine what they said. Winfrey will also campaign with Obama today in New Hampshire. Imagine that for a second.
HOLMES: My goodness.
NGUYEN: That are is quite a ticket. Obama as president and Oprah as vice president. I don't know if she would do it, but man, the possibilities.
HOLMES: Oprah/Bama. We would have bumper stickers.
We will talk about the GOP now and those candidates on the Republican side that will be debating tonight in Miami. Latino vote is the primary audience, Latino vote is a large and powerful block and ignore at their own peril.
NGUYEN: A problem for Republicans has been sending conflicting messages to that same group and CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: When Republican candidates participate in the univision debate this weekend, which voice will they use? There is the tough voice they use when they debate illegal immigration.
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I said no to driver's license for illegals. I said number two; we'll make sure that those who come here don't get a tuition break in our schools.
SCHNEIDER: There is also a compassionate voice they used to reach out to Latino voters.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): It is very important that we as a party communicate on how much we value immigration.
SCHNEIDER: Latino voters have noticed 8 years ago Democrats had a 33-point advantage over Republicans among registered Latino voters. Then under President Bush, Republicans started making inroads into the Latino vote. By 2006, the Democratic advantage was noticeably smaller at 19 points. This year, Republicans have taken a u-turn. The Democratic advantage among Latino voters is back up to 34 points. It happened even though President Bush and other prominent Republicans endorsed comprehensive immigration reform.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We tried and we failed. I appreciate the president's efforts. He comes from a border state too. What we have learned is that the American people want the borders enforced.
SCHNEIDER: One reason why Republicans speak with two voices is that Americans have two values.
DAVID WINSTON, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: They have a real conflicting set of values. One we are a country of immigrants, two we are a country of laws.
SCHNEIDER: When President Bush and Senator McCain spoke with a compassionate voice, they faced the fierce backlash.
WINSTON: To some degree they got out in front before there was a clear resolution in the American publics mind. SCHNEIDER: The poll warned Republicans they could be facing a backlash from Latino voters. Unless they learned to talk about border security in ways that Latino do not find culturally insensitive.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Sill ahead this hour, a closer look at Republican Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.
Well gunfire in another shopping mall? Are you kidding? This happened in a mall in Columbus, Ohio. Police are looking for a gunman this morning. Witnesses say two men got into a fight in the afternoon yesterday and one man shot the other in the leg. Shoppers started running when the shooting started. The victim was not seriously injured. He was taken to the hospital and treated.
NGUYEN: Well a young successful woman goes missing and days later her body is found. Now Chicago police say they have arrested a former boyfriend for the murder of Franklin, she is the pharmaceutical sales rep who was reported missing back in September. Police say they have charged Reginald Pots Jr. with first-degree murder in Franklin's death and they say a high tech analysis of his cell phone records conflicted with his alibi. Pots though deny any involvement in Franklin's death.
HOLMES: We will turn to some weather now and weather that could make conditioning a little trickier on the road today. Snow and ice and freezing rain all in the forecast.
NGUYEN: Four cars check this out, slid off the interstate near Longmont, Colorado yesterday. Roads were just covered in black ice. That is tricky because many times you don't know how slick it is.
Also, snowy weather causes troubles in Southern California. A man and his daughter had to be rescued after the mini van skidded off an icy road and going down an embankment.
HOLMES: You don't really think snow when you are talking about southern California. We have issues all over the place.
NGUYEN: All over.
HOLMES: Reynolds Wolf keeping an eye on things happening all over the place and we talk about ice. I'm reading your banners.
WOLF: Freezing rain advisory.
HOLMES: Meteor showers?
WOLF: No meteor showers.
HOLMES: I'm reading your banner.
WOLF: I see you did something there. We have meteor showers on Thursday night and we are dealing with meteors behind me.
NGUYEN: I'm glad you clarified.
WOLF: Now we are seeing the same thing. What's in that coffee? We have a freezing rain advisory in effect right now. You have rain that will fall through the atmosphere in the form of water, but when it hits the surface in many places like say Oklahoma City; it will bond right to the roadways. That means slick conditions. That will happen and you have to be really careful.
Do we have the image from KOCO in Oklahoma City? There it is. Goodness. We have so to zoom in and out. As the cold air comes in, it will get nasty. Anywhere from a quarter inch to a half inch of ice on the trees there is no question you will have problems there when the trees get heavy with the ice they break, you get power outages and it's almost like a domino effect.
Let's go back to the weather computer. We will zoom in on a few things. We will zoom in back to parts of Missouri where the show me state is not on I-70 yet, but parts of I-55 from Lebanon south to Springfield we go and even in Fayetteville. They are seeing scattered showers there in the foothills. As you make your way to the freeway right long 55, you are seeing a combination of the rain, sleet, the snow, and even the ice on top of that.
You follow 55 all the way from St. Louise, the same situation mainly rain there for the time being, but the father the north you go, the cooler air you will deal with and with that that is where you are going to get that snow up in Chicago. Not a lot of activity as of yet, but south we are seeing snow flakes, Evansville on 64 mainly a rain event for the time being. That is a look at the forecast. We covered from meteors to possible car accidents to shaky cameras in Oklahoma City.
NGUYEN: CNN is comprehensive.
WOLF: We cover all the bases.
NGUYEN: The most trusted name in news and now you know why.
HOLMES: All right. Mitt Romney, you want me to take that?
NGUYEN: You might as well. You do it all anyway.
HOLMES: I do it a lot of times anyway. Mitt Romney is one of the front runners are if the presidential nomination, but does faith hold him back? Mitt Romney's beginnings right after this.
NGUYEN: This is where I say it. But first here's a preview of today's "House Call" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. Thanks. A chemical in cans of baby formula that could be bad for your kids. We will have the latest on that. Plus difficult diagnosing on our power patient series. How to make sure your doctor gets it right.
And finally, you may know it, but the flu is here. We have some information that you need to know. That and more on "House Call" at 8:30.
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HOLMES: So many candidates and so many issues and so little time. How do you choose? We found a useful tool for you maybe. VAJOE.com could help you decide and they call it their candidate calculator.
NGUYEN: Let's run through it OK, so lets say you are against abortion and you favor the death penalty and you are against citizenship for illegal's, but you do support building a border fence and you think the fair tax is a bad idea.
HOLMES: So according to the candidate calculator, your ideal guy is former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My campaign is based on a three-legged stool if you will. Strong military, the strong economy, and strong family. I believe that the coalition of conservative strength was what was responsible for Ronald Reagan's win when he ran for president and I believe it will power my campaign to the White House.
HOLMES (voice over): Mitt Romney is the only Republican candidate with Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy in the same campaign message. He is conservative like the former Republican president and he faces a political battle because of his religion like the former Democratic president.
ROMNEY: I believe in god and I believe that every person in this great country and every person on this planet is a child of god. I believe we are sisters and brothers.
HOLMES: Not everyone believes a Mormon should president.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): I'm one person who will not vote for a Mormon.
ROMNEY: Can I shake your hand anyway?
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): No.
HOLMES: Mitt Romney grew up in Michigan where his father served three terms as governor. He married his high school sweetheart and graduated from Brigham Young University and Harvard School of Business, after working as a business consultant, he decided to follow in his father's footsteps. In 1994 Romney was unsuccessful in unseating Senator Ted Kennedy. He traveled to Salt Lake City to clean up the Olympic scandal and putting on a respectable international event at the Olympics.
In 2002, he sought and won the gubernatorial seat in Massachusetts. It was then in 2003, men and women from the bay state left to serve in the war on terror. Only serving one term, he enters the presidential race.
ROMNEY: I would welcome the America that didn't have abortion.
HOLMES: Mitt Romney opposes abortion rights and same-sex marriage and the Bush backed guest worker plan for illegal immigrants. Romney supports the presidents tax cut, war in Iraq and on health care, there is this.
ROMNEY: I said the people need to buy health insurance if they can afford it, if they can't afford it we will help them buy it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Much more of the best political team on television.
NGUYEN: That's no laughing matter.
HOLMES: It is not. We get to say it a lot. We do say it a lot and they are and we should. Suzanne Malveaux is joining us next hour from the Oprah/Obama extravaganza happening in South Carolina.
NGUYEN: And not to forget live this hour, we do expect to hear from former President Bill Clinton, he is also in South Carolina speaking at a church in Charleston.
Ocean waters weighed down with whales.
HOLMES: Thousands of gallons of crude oil washing ashore in South Korea. Volunteers on the beach are helping with the clean up.
LEVS: It is the 25th anniversary of something that changed the world. Not CNN this time, it is something that fits on the desk right next to me. Don't peek. I will tell you about it coming up right here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well about 20 minutes past the hour on this Sunday morning and we have a couple of quick hits for you.
Divers could be used today to investigate a mid-air collision that happened over the Florida Everglades. The wreckage of two small planes spread over a large area with some of it under water. No sign of survivors and it's unknown how many people may have been aboard those planes.
NGUYEN: Well I you were thinking about heading to the beach today. Look at this muck. Thousands of volunteers are trying to help contain South Korea's worst oil spill. Nearly three million gallons spilled out of a super tanker after being rammed by a run away barge. One of South Korea's most popular beaches is now covered with the thick black oil.
HOLMES: We will take you to Bolivia now where environmentalists let 50,000 baby turtles loose trying to replenish the endangered river turtle population. These little turtles were all bred in captivity. They let them go and they are supposed to find their way back into the river, but why didn't they just dump them, take them out and just dump all of them in the river?
NGUYEN: It's a better shot this way. They can crawl and they say are so cute.
HOLMES: They are supposed to figure it out on their own.
NGUYEN: OK. The personal computer has become as common place as a television, telephone, but it also or hasn't always been that cake.
HOLMES: It really began exactly 25 years ago with a clunky piece of machinery called the Commodore 64.
NGUYEN: Josh Levs of the dot com desk has all about this.
LEVS: Do you guys remember this when we were little?
NGUYEN: It was a huge machine.
LEVS: It was. It was a giant machine. I remember being little and wanting so badly. We have video to show you what it was like back 25 years ago when people were using it. That was what it was with a huge floppy disk. Guess what. I am proud to say I have right here next to me right now. The one and only, the Commodore 64. Let's take a look at this, we have a shot.
It took like 20 people to try to get this set up. We have the keyboard and let's see if we can get a shot of the screen itself. You can see what it looked like in the classic days. This is the best kind of set up that we can get. We can't find where the deletes are and stuff. This is the Commodore 64 people, and here you go take a look at this, we got the box. This is the Commodore 64, and if you take a look at this huge disk drive over here. Can we get a shot of this? This for young kids out there, this is how computers happen.
Quickly, we have I reports and a clip from the I report that we want to show you. This is him getting when he was 8 years old. He is giving it a hug and he sent a video from 25 years ago.
One of the top stories of the week and we are hearing from hundreds of people, about how much they miss and love their Commodore 64. Happy birthday. Look how far we have come.
NGUYEN: These laptops, you can fit them in your pocket compared to that thing.
LEVS: I can literally get more information now into that media card that goes in my cell phone.
NGUYEN: This is true. We have come a long way, baby. Thank you, Josh.
HOLMES: We have a homecoming coming up that you just have to see.
NGUYEN: A hurricane Katrina survivor back where she belongs in New Orleans.
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