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CNN Sunday Morning
'Snowmageddon' Slams Mid-Atlantic; Weather Forces NASA to Scrub Endeavour Launch
Aired February 07, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Brooke Baldwin, back in for Betty this morning.
It is early, early - 6 a.m. in Atlanta; 5 a.m. in New Orleans, where some Saints fans...
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: ...getting ready for the big Bowl game tonight. Three a.m. in Los Angeles, where the big story there, rain, mudslides - we'll get to all of that in just a moment.
But really, the big story we were all over yesterday, the snow.
HOLMES: Continued to be a problem. The storm, for the most part, is moving out, but you see kind of the issue people are dealing with now. The cleanup is going to start in earnest today.
What you're seeing here is a church where the roof collapsed because of all of that snow. Two feet in D.C., and a lot of other places got much more than that. And we still have thousands of people without power. They are working around the clock now in the District of Columbia to try to get that city ready for the rush hour, for commuters tomorrow.
Reynolds Wolf is there for us. Do they have a chance of getting that area ready for that rush hour tomorrow, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Guys, it's going to be really tough, I'll - I'll tell you what.
In terms of the power, it is going to be really, really difficult. Hundreds of thousands of people without power this morning across the region. But I'll tell you, from our vantage point, here in Alexandria, Virginia, you can see, in Old Town, lights are on. It looks beautiful at this time.
But I'm telling you, there are many people that are in the dark and may remain in the dark for quite some time.
Now overnight, the skies cleared out. The snow, of course, is gone. But take a look: We still have snow on the ground. And what is here is now - engineers back at CNN, don't get back at me for this - look at it. It's like ice, solid ice. And that's going to be something that people are going to be cleaning up through a good part of the day.
Now we are, again, as I mentioned, across the river from our live-shot location yesterday. Roads are in pretty good shape. But again, by tomorrow morning, hopefully they'll be a bit better. Still, state officials are telling people in all the states in the region, I if you can avoid getting on the roads, by all means, do so.
All right. Let's send it back to you in the studio.
BALDWIN: Are you on King Street, Reynolds Wolf? Looks like King Street in Old Town Alexandria. Pretty - pretty place.
All right, Reynolds. We'll check back in a little bit.
But first, top stories.
HOLMES: We got a check of the top stories.
One of them this morning, we were hoping to bring you a beautiful dark, nighttime launch, if you will. But Shuttle Endeavour not going anywhere. They scrapped the launch this morning just minutes before that launch was scheduled to take place at 4:39 a.m. The weather was an issue; the clouds were just too low. Visibility was a problem there at Kennedy Space Center.
The next launch window is tomorrow morning at 4:14 Eastern Time. Again, that's 4:14 a.m. Eastern Time. Set your clock (INAUDIBLE).
BALDWIN: Well, some big news out of New Orleans. Nope, not talking football. Talking about a new mayor.
Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu was elected yesterday with 66 percent of the vote. He becomes the city's first white mayor in more than 30 years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITCH LANDRIEU (D), NEW ORLEANS MAYOR-ELECT: The people of New Orleans understand that it has fallen upon our shoulders to serve. We have been asked to serve, so we should respond, and say, 'yes.'
The people of New Orleans have called us to work hard, so we should accept the call. The people of New Orleans have asked us to sacrifice, and so we should.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
LANDRIEU: But the only way to do that is for us to seek, to find and to secure higher common ground, where we come together as one people and do what is necessary to secure our future.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: The new mayor replaces the outgoing one, I think Ray Nagin. Mitch Landrieu is the son of former New Orleans Moon Landrieu.
HOLMES: Well, Toyota Motor Company expected to unveil a fix for their Prius early this week. This is a separate issue, remember, from the other recall that had to do with those faulty gas pedals. This issue with the Prius is for their antilock braking system. Sometimes, it had some faulty software in it that can cause those brakes to lock up on you and not really brake like it's supposed to.
There are over 100 reported incidents dealing with these brakes in the U.S. alone. No recall necessarily just yet. It's not out of question, but still no talk of a recall just yet.
Of course, Toyota also fixing the faulty gas pedals and the floor mats in those other Toyota models. Some 2.5 million of those had to be recalled just last week.
BALDWIN: Well, millions of you in the Mid-Atlantic area, you know you were slammed by that monster snowstorm. And we're showing you some snapshots from that blizzard that hit, really, Northern Virginia on up through parts of Pennsylvania. That's a nice shot.
In Annandale, Virginia - are those scuba masks? Snow so deep you could actually swim in it, or at least that's what one little girl thought. So Daddy went along with it. He decked her out in full scuba gear, and they hit the snow hard.
They, by the way, got slammed with more than two feet in Virginia. They're looking at probably 25 inches. The little girl's mom said she just had to take these snowy pictures.
And to Philadelphia, where the snow simply would not stop coming down. Look at it. They set records there for the second time in six weeks. About 190,000 people lost power there.
HOLMES: I'm going to turn over to Karen Maginnis now. Karen is standing by, been keeping an eye on the storm for us this weekend. We'll check in, of course, with Reynolds Wolf in a little while as well. He's out in it up in the D.C. area.
But Karen, what are we looking like now? Is it cleanup time, or we still have to worry about some more weather?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, T.J., that is exactly right.
This is the third phase of this storm. One was getting ready for it. They were getting all the snow crews together. The governors were saying, 'All right, we've got a snow declaration or a state of emergency.' And that way, they could get the National Guard out.
And this is the - and then the second phase was actually living through the storm, getting all the preparations for your home, your residential areas.
Third phase is clearing off the roads and finally kind of making your way through the aftermath.
Want to just show you some of these very impressive snowfall totals. Dulles, at Washington, D.C., 32.4 inches of snowfall. That was a two-day snowfall total.
Take a look at Philadelphia, 28 inches.
Atlantic City was hit very hard. The wind was very gusty there. They told all the cars, any vehicles to stay off the roads, just because it was so exceptionally dangerous, 19-plus inches of snowfall there.
And we talk all the time about Dulles, also Reagan, and how the terminals stay open. But the airport - the airport is open, but no planes are going in or out. Well, they officially closed yesterday, at 11:00 in the morning. And they're going to be closed until 7 a.m. And that's when they think that they'll have some flights going in or out.
But officially, the now is gone. But the aftermath is what's going to remain, and that is, in most cases, two to three feet of snowfall. And we're looking at breezy weather conditions for the most part, and temperatures exceptionally cool - readings mostly in the 20s and teens this morning. As you can see, right around Charlottesville - 20 - 23 degrees right now. And those temperatures aren't going to be rising very much after that.
I'll be back in just about 20 minutes or so.
HOLMES: All right. We will see you then, Karen. Thank you so much.
BALDWIN: Well, I guess a different kind of bad weather. Low ceilings, right?
HOLMES: Yes, that's a problem.
BALDWIN: Prevented - yes, that's a problem - prevented space Shuttle Endeavour from taking off Cape - in Cape Canaveral. They had this whole idea of, I guess, bringing this extra room to the International Space Station. That is not happening this morning.
HOLMES: It's going to have to be delayed. A beautiful shot though, as always. It's gorgeous these - these dark launches, if you will, the nighttime launches.
They have scrubbed it. They were expected to do it at 4:39 a.m. this morning. Again, a beautiful, beautiful shot. They're going to try this again at 4:14 a.m. Eastern Time tomorrow morning.
John Zarrella keeps an eye on all things space-related for us. He's down at the space center.
And - and John, if you can, first, explain to people once more - you know, they tried it at 4:39. A lot of people think, 'Well, hey, why don't you just try it - wait an hour, see if the weather clears out?' It's not that simple. These are very delicate and very precise windows that you have an opportunity to launch.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they - they literally have a 10-minute window every day in order to get up to the International Space Station, in order to catch up to it, rendezvous with it at 250 miles up in space, they've got to launch at a precise time every day.
So, you know, we always kid them here, when the weather looks good, and we say, 'Well, why don't you just go now?' And, you know, of course, they can't do that. And if they could have, tonight, they would have been able to get off the ground.
Because, you know, it - this was a strange one, T.J., for the - all day today, they were saying 80 percent chance of beautiful weather, it's going to be a picture-perfect night. No problems at all.
Then suddenly, these low clouds began to move down from the north. And the percentage went from 80 to 60, and then all of a sudden to 30 percent chance. Then, there was some optimism that the sky, it looked like here the clouds were breaking up a little bit. And we're still here, Endeavour's still behind me. There was no way to go this - this evening.
But again, as you mentioned, going to try again 4:14 tomorrow. And we'll see if we can get off the - if they can get off the ground at that point. And when they do, they will be on their way, a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. The six-member crew delivering the last two major components of the space station, at which point it will be 90 percent complete - T.J.
BALDWIN: And - John, Brooke here, I just have one final question.
ZARRELLA: Yes, Brooke.
BALDWIN: This is also a significant launch because this is one of the last times we will see...
ZARRELLA: Yes.
BALDWIN: ...a space shuttle launching into space.
ZARRELLA: Yes, this is it. There are five left, including this one. This will - will be the last night launch in the history of the shuttle program, nearly 30 years. And the last launch, if everything goes somewhat on schedule, will take place in September. And that will be the end of the 30-year history of the shuttle program, and the three orbiters will be retired - Brooke, T.J.
BALDWIN: All right. And we'll be talking about the possible end to the Constellation program with someone from Space.com.
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: It's because of budget cuts, proposed cuts.
John Zarrella, we thank you for waking up early for us.
HOLMES: All right. Thanks, John. We'll see you, buddy.
Well, the "tea party" convention just wrapped up last evening. A lot of people saying, Who exactly is leading the tea party? Well, what about Sarah Palin? We'll have highlights of her keynote last night.
BALDWIN: And $80 billion into the Clean Energy Project. Josh Levs is at the Stimulus Desk tracking where the money may go - Josh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Is this the future of clean energy in America? What this is, and how your tax dollars are paying for it. We have answers at the CNN Stimulus Desk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC, MAROON 5, "SUNDAY MORNING")
HOLMES: We have, of course, been tracking your stimulus dollars here at CNN. We have another project to tell you about. This one: clean energy.
BALDWIN: Josh Levs on this one. He's been keeping watch at the CNN Stimulus Desk, really, all this past week. And this morning, Josh is profiling a company that is using $350 million in funding to create something almost unheard of: clean coal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: Well, President Obama and Vice President Biden met with governors a few days ago to discuss their plans for clean energy.
And during this meeting, the vice president said this:
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The announcement we're making today, Mr. President, builds on a - an unprecedented investment that the federal government has made in large part through the Recovery Act to deal with investments in clean energy and lessen our dependence on foreign oil, $80 billion.
LEVS: Well, at the CNN Stimulus Desk we've been looking into some of the clean-energy projects that are funded by the stimulus, by your tax dollars. And one thing we found is this: The administration believes this might lead to clean coal. I'll tell you what it is in a minute.
But first, let's go to this map. I want you to see where this project is. It's in Penwell, Texas, near Odessa, in an area with a lot of oil fields. There's a company there called Summit Texas Clean Energy LLC. And they're getting $350 million in funding, some of it from the stimulus, toward a $1.7 billion plant aimed at creating "clean coal."
Now, that's a controversial term. You can see we've put it in quotes there. Some people say there will never be such a thing as truly clean-coal energy. But this might be a step - this company expects more than 1,000 construction jobs, plus between 120 and 150 permanent jobs once the system that they're building is - is up and running.
And we can get back to that photo now. This that I've been showing you is called a gasifier. And the company doing this project says it can take out 90 percent of the carbon emissions that generally come out of smokestacks. So basically, the coal goes in, most of the carbon gets lifted out and doesn't pollute the air.
At CNN.com, we've actually reported on this idea of "gasification," and what scientists hope it will do.
Now, the company says that project would not have happened without stimulus funds. In fact, the company had pulled out because of the financial crisis. Now, they hope to have that plant up and running in 2014.
And we are keeping our eye on that and lots of other projects in the $862 billion stimulus bill, right here at CNN Stimulus Desk.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, as we told you this morning, Endeavour did not take off. It's only one of five shuttle launches left. They're going to try it again tomorrow morning. We have a beautiful live picture of it, as it still sits right now. I'm told the picture is not live, but still a gorgeous picture nonetheless.
They're going to try it again tomorrow morning. But after the five shuttle launches, what's next? We don't know what's going to happen to NASA. The budget - when - when are men going to space again - men and women?
BALDWIN: Men and women, absolutely.
HOLMES: Excuse me - going to space again.
BALDWIN: We'll talk to one of the writers with Space.com and talk about the Constellation program, talk about plans about going to the moon again and also a little bit of extra money though for - for the space program, differing kind of allocation.
What does this all mean? We'll find out in the next half hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Let's take a look at some of the top stories we're following this Sunday.
The big snow event, people shoveling out of this stuff, now turning into a big cleanup for many in the Mid-Atlantic states. Loosen up the muscles, get hard to work this morning. More than two feet fell in some areas. We're hearing actually somewhere between two and three feet.
The blizzard also has left thousands of people still without power.
HOLMES: At least 29 people dead in Mexico after severe flooding and mudslides. Several others still missing. Days of rare heavy rainstorms pounded cities and towns. Officials estimate at least 2,000 homes damaged.
BALDWIN: Three people dead after two planes collided yesterday just north of Boulder, Colorado. I-Reporter Zach Mitchell says he heard a loud bang, went outside and caught some of the aftermath you will see here. There's all the smoke.
Local authorities say one of the planes was towing a glider, a smaller aircraft at the time of the impact. That glider pilot did land safety - safely afterward. The FAA and NTSB are investigating.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Well, even the president himself came out yesterday in Washington at that meeting, called it "snowmageddon." Yes, we're talking about the massive snowfall over much of the Mid-Atlantic area.
And who knows all about that - we've stuck him in the middle of it, Reynolds Wolf, along what I think is a beautiful King Street in Alexandria.
Reynolds - oh, Reynolds isn't quite ready. So - where we going?
HOLMES: What's - what's going on with his cameras here?
BALDWIN: Oh.
HOLMES: Reynolds is getting ready. We - we can see him there putting on his...
BALDWIN: We see him.
HOLMES: ...putting on his hat. He's got the mike on. He looks ready, but I don't - we don't think he's quite ready.
BALDWIN: Oh.
HOLMES: Reynolds, can you hear me, buddy? Yes, he - he's giving me a thumbs-up and shaking his head.
WOLF: (INAUDIBLE)
HOLMES: There he is.
BALDWIN: All right.
HOLMES: Reynolds is always ready. I don't know why we ever doubted you, Renny.
BALDWIN: Hey!
WOLF: Absolutely, guys.
It - it is a - it's actually a pretty good morning, all things considered, in this part of the world.
We are just across the river from the - across the Potomac from where we were yesterday. Right now, we are in Alexandria, Virginia. And in this downtown area, you can actually see, if we pan around a little bit, a couple of cars moving through here. Some of these emergency vehicles, but I will tell you guys, just a little while ago, we actually saw a city bus, which is certainly some good news. Things - signs that - that things are starting to get back to normal.
Something else you're going to notice up here, some of the lights are - are operating, which is great news. But unfortunately, for many people throughout the region - we're talking about Virginia or Maryland, back into Delaware, even into Pennsylvania, we've got hundreds of thousands of people without power. And the problem is, we're going to see a lot of these people basically in that same situation for the next couple of days.
And speaking of the next couple days, I will tell you that Virginia officials have been telling people that many of them should pretty much get the idea of maybe going back to work, maybe by Tuesday or by Wednesday. And the reason for that is because, although these streets are OK, there are many side roads and many back streets that are completely impassible, due to downed trees, downed power lines. And all of this is going to take some time.
Another big wrinkle is that, although skies are looking pretty good, and off in the distance you might be able to see the sun starting to come up a bit, there is trouble in the forecast, and that trouble may be that we could see another round of possibly heavy snow back here in this same area.
So by the time they start digging out a bit, they may have that other shot from Mother Nature bringing in the additional snowfall. So certainly some rough stuff.
Roadways, I can tell you that on the way here, things were pretty good for the most part, crossing over the Potomac and getting to this site was - was fine. But there are still many slick spots.
Right here on the road, I want you to notice, we've got some patches of snow here and there, but then you run into this stuff. Looks like you can just see the concrete, which you can. But right on top of that, a thick layer of very black ice. Cars get on this stuff, you're going to be spinning out all over the place. So certainly, if you don't have to be on the roads, by all means, don't do so.
Another troubling prospect about this is, we have to keep going back to money. I mean, keep in mind, the state of Virginia and many other states around it, are only certainly - in their budget, a certain amount for snow removal. Now, in the state of Virginia, $74 million. That' what they had. Leading up to this storm, they had already spent about $84 million.
So again, at a time where we have this huge recession, where people are struggling financially and certainly states are, this certainly is not going to help matters. With the idea of more snow possibly in the forecast, it causes you just to tear your hair out.
That's the latest we got for you. Let's send it back to you in the studio.
BALDWIN: You have to know, those people still working around the clock, because people got to get to work tomorrow morning.
HOLMES: We'll see how that goes.
WOLF: Absolutely.
HOLMES: Reynolds, thanks, buddy.
WOLF: Absolutely. (INAUDIBLE), guys.
HOLMES: We're going to be checking in with - checking in with you plenty. We do appreciate you, as always.
Again, we continue our coverage of "snowmageddon." We can give you a live look at a few different places this morning.
I think Philadelphia first. The airport here I do believe we're taking a peek at. That is going to be an issue for you all still. So you need to make sure you check - even though some of these airports are technically open, all the flights are canceled.
We have another live look from Baltimore, I do believe, as well this morning. We checked their Web site, Baltimore, the airport there. You - they have the departures listed on that front page. You scroll down, everything says "canceled." The first flight you get to that's on time is going to Montego Bay.
BALDWIN: Nice.
HOLMES: So you lucky folks who are on that flight, have a good one.
And D.C. as well, they're going to be digging out. Looks like the snow has stopped. But a gorgeous shot of the Capitol this morning. They're going to have some problems in the morning, as Reynolds was just telling us.
We'll continue to check in with Reynolds Wolf. Also, Karen Maginnis is in our Weather Center telling us exactly what the problem is now.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: Good morning, again, everybody, and welcome back to this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BALDWIN: Good morning. I'm Brooke Baldwin, sitting in for Betty this morning.
HOLMES: Well, some of the top stories we're keeping an eye on:
They got all dressed up, but they're going to have to wait to go. Shuttle Endeavour sits, and it will sit there until about 4:14 a.m. tomorrow morning, the next scheduled launch. The weather did not cooperate today, so they had to scrub it. That flight was supposed to take off at 4:39 a.m.; that didn't happen. They canceled it just minutes before the launch.
There was a low-cloud ceiling at Kennedy Space Center. That's an issue; you got to have good visibility to take off for these things. Their mission is to the International Space Station. It's supposed to last about 13 days, when they finally do go. And they do hope to go, 4:14 a.m. Eastern Time tomorrow.
BALDWIN: Well, New Orleans, as of this morning, has a new mayor today. Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu was elected yesterday with 66 percent of the vote. He becomes the city's first white mayor in more than last 30 years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITCH LANDRIEU, MAYOR-ELECT, NEW ORLEANS: The people of New Orleans understand that it has fallen upon our shoulders to serve. We have been asked to serve, so we should respond and say yes. The people of New Orleans have called us to work hard, so we should accept the call. The people of New Orleans have asked us to sacrifice, and so we should. But the only way to do that is for us to seek, to find, and to secure higher common ground where we come together as one people and do what is necessary to secure our future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Landrieu is replacing outgoing Mayor Ray Nagin, facing term limits in office. He's the son of former New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu, also, his sister, you know her name, Mary Landrieu. She is a U.S. senator for the State of Louisiana.
HOLMES: Toyota may have a fix for the Prius this week. They are telling dealers they should expect to get some kind of a fix for the brake problem happening with the 2010 hybrid sedan. Now, the problem here is that the anti-lock braking system, its software can be faulty, which can cause difficulty in braking. There have been over 100 cases where of issues just as this, in the U.S., with a few accidents reported.
Now, no talk of a recall just yet, but it is still a possibility some say. Of course, you know, Toyota is still reeling from the other issue with the faulty gas pedals and floor mats in the 2.5 million recalled Toyota models from the massive recall we saw a week ago. Now to some politics, Tea Party politics. Sarah Palin working the crowds last night at their first-ever Tea Party convention.
BALDWIN: Yes, Sarah Palin served as the keynote speaker last night in Nashville. Our own Mary Snow tells us if she gave them what they can came to hear.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For all the talk of big spending dominating the Tea Party convention, it was national security Sarah Palin targeted first in her speech of policy issues. She took aim at the Obama administration's attempted handling of the attempted Christmas Day bombing attack, and blasted the fact that suspect Umar Abdulmutallab was read his Miranda rights.
PALIN: We need a commander in chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern.
SNOW: She then turned to the issues that brought many here. A call to crack down on government spending and she slammed the stimulus package. And said the Tea Party movement is at the forefront of preserving conservative values.
PALIN: This is the movement and America is ready for another revolution. And you are a part of this.
SNOW: The convention's organizer hopes that revolution will bring conservative victories in 2010 House and Senate elections. In a question and answer session, Judson Phillips (ph) asked Palin her top three priorities should that happen. She listed reining in spending, jump starting energy projects and what she described as getting America back to its roots of being a God-fearing nation.
PALIN: We don't have all the answers as fallible men and women. So it would be wise of us to start seeking some divine intervention again in this country.
SNOW: But the most forceful response from the crowd came when Palin was asked about 2012.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can think of two words right now that scare liberals: President Palin.
(APPLAUSE)
SNOW: There were plenty in the crowd endorsing that idea.
CROWD CHANTING: Run, Sarah, run!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would love to see her run. If she doesn't, I'm sure she'll be right where she needs to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think she has a lot of people to still win over. It was disappointing for her to mention she was still going to be loyal to Presidential Candidate McCain. SNOW: "Daily Beast" Columnist John Avlon, who attended the dinner, says it is clear Palin is leaving the door open to running for president.
JOHN AVLON, AUTHOR: The fact that she spent so much time on foreign policy says she's aiming higher than just the Tea Party movement. She knows this wave, she may be able to ride the wave into the Republican nomination. She's going to surf that wave as far as it can take her.
SNOW (on camera): While Sarah Palin cautioned the audience against following any one leader in the Tea Party movement, she intends to have a part in this movement. She announced that she is going to be taking part in a number of events in coming months. Mary Snow, CNN, Nashville, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Also coming up, Tuesday on CNN a "LARRY KING" prime time exclusive. He has the first lady, Michelle Obama. The first lady talking about the first family's first year in the White House. Plus, she's getting tough on childhood obesity. She is going to explain why you should as well. That's "LARRY KING LIVE" Tuesday night, 9:00 Eastern, right here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEIL ARMSTRONG, APOLLO ASTRONAUT: It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: America first, stepping foot on the moon. That was July 20th, 1969; 41 years later, proposed budget cuts will end NASA's plans to return to the moon.
This morning Endeavour was set to liftoff for what would be the fifth to last shuttle mission, but the launch was scrubbed because of low ceilings, the weather issues. Astronauts will try again bright and early tomorrow morning. Tariq Malik is the managing editor of Space.com and he's joining me on the phone this morning, from Kennedy Space Center.
Tariq, thanks for waking up. I know you were watching for that Endeavour to take off. It was scrubbed. I also want to talk, though, specifically about the proposed scrubbing of the Constellation program. We heard President Obama talking about his 2011 budget and in that he talks about ending the Constellation program, which called for the return to the moon by 2020. What is your reaction to that?
TARIQ MALIK, MANAGING EDITOR, SPACE.COM: Well, you know, it was a surprise to the entire program was canceled, as it wasn't in the first budget that he released Monday, last week. There was some writing on the walls from his independent panel from last year that there would be major changes, but the announcement last week really sent the agency, a lot of the workers and folks in Congress, in shock and some are upset.
BALDWIN: Well, we heard a lot from Congress members, both specifically from Texas and from Florida, who are up in arms, sort of divided geographically instead of politically over the issue, because some of their concerns relate to jobs. '
MALIK: Exactly.
BALDWIN: How many jobs -- how many jobs, Tariq, would be on the line if this thing goes through if these programs are scrubbed?
MALIK: Several thousand jobs are actually on the line. Both with the ending of the shuttle program, later this year, as well as those that were invested in the Constellation program overall. NASA was cutting several 100 jobs over the last few years with the shuttle program ending, but they had something like 4,000 jobs with one contractor alone that are going to be done gone with the shuttle program ending and the last of the Orion spacecraft.
BALDWIN: Which is crushing news to a lot of these people who are relying, of course, on these jobs for their livelihoods; but at the same time, we heard that NASA administrator Charlie Bolden came out and say this will give us a different kind of road map for the future of the space industry. And some optimistic views, the fact that Obama said he'll allocating an additional $6 billion over five years to develop what they are calling these space taxis. Essentially, commercial companies ferrying astronauts into space. What's your take on that idea? And how does that work?
MALIK: Exactly.
Well, what the president has done is ordered NASA to really embrace more fully the idea of private spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station and into orbit. That would get NASA out of the low earth orbit business, which is where the shuttle goes right now. The idea is to basically free NASA explore the technology it needs to break out beyond orbit, to go back to the moon, or to an asteroid, or to the moons of Mars.
There are two companies right now that have NASA contracts. They are for unmanned spaceships to take cargo into flight to the space station. They hope to be able to compete in these contracts to launch astronauts into space, but it would be a different change for NASA to get into that business as a customer, not a builder.
BALDWIN: A huge change. And I think, Tariq, it is important to point out, you know, these are proposed cuts. We still have to wait for Congress to give the final stamp of approval. Tariq Malik, joining us from phone, managing editor of Space.com. Appreciate your insight on the future of the space industry.
HOLMES: We'll turn now to our Karen Maginnis, also our Reynolds Wolf in just a second. He is out there in the middle of a mess with the weather.
Karen, we have been talking so much about the Mid-Atlantic and what's happening up the coast, essentially, with the big snowstorm, but you have something to chat about with Florida.
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I do. That is we can kind of see where the cloud deck is. The weather wasn't terrible, it was just the cloud deck was a little lower than what they had anticipated or wanted. Usually, they want a cloud deck of above 8,000 feet, but it lowered to 4,000 feet. That was the problem.
Look across the Mid-Atlantic, temperatures in the teens and the 20s, but look at the wind chill factor. We have single digits in some cases affecting the Mid-Atlantic.
As if you didn't have enough to deal with already, and you have the bitterly cold temperatures with Richmond at 9 degrees. Dulles is waiting to open in less than a half hour. They closed at 11:00 yesterday. We rarely see these airports say they are closed. Usually they will say the airport is open, but there are not flights taking off or landing. Yesterday they were not taking off or landing and the terminal was closed as of 11:00, but it will reopen at 7:00 a.m. today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
BALDWIN: We know flights aren't coming and gone going for the airports, but what about road travel? Reynolds Wolf is standing in the middle of the road on top of snow and black ice there in Alexandria, Virginia.
Reynolds, big key here, clean up.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's absolutely right. The roads here in Alexandria are pretty good, for the most part. The power is on here, certainly some good news, but still hundreds of thousands of people in the region without it this morning. It is going to be rough going for the next couple of days.
We'll give you the full story coming up. You are watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Stay warm.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: That's a Christmas song.
BALDWIN: It is kind of Christmasy. It is kind of Christmasy looking, I guess, for a lot of people if you are waking up in D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and parts of Pennsylvania, you are getting the shovels ready. You are going to need it if you are trying, at all, to get out to work tomorrow. Hopefully a lot of kids will have snow days. Maybe parents aren't excited about that, but the kids are.
HOLMES: Because parents have to get the kids - it looks like we lost Reynolds' shot. We are having issues with Reynolds. But Reynolds is out in that, he is in Alexandria, Virginia, right now.
The issue is it is one thing when the storm comes, we talk so much about it with flights and so forth, but now you have to clean this mess up. You have to deal with the clean up. You know, there's a money factor here. People -- these towns has expended their entire budget for this kind of stuff already. We still have a little ways to go in the season. As tight as they are right now, cities, this is the last thing they need.
BALDWIN: It is tough. And this was a huge snowfall. This is somewhere between two feet and three feet. I think the most snow, I think the D.C. record was back in like 1922, it was something like 28 inches. They almost, they almost hit that. Pretty pictures coming out of the White House.
We saw Obama yesterday talking at the DNC meeting. He braved snowmageddon. A lot of people having fun, a huge snowball fight in Dupont Circle. Still, it is going to be a mess for the next few days trying to get out and about.
HOLMES: Again, we are showing you a couple airports. This is Philly, but you need to check with your airline. Most of these flights, just looking at the web sites, are canceled again today. A shot of Baltimore as well. I was telling you about this one earlier. BWI, you go to their front page, it has departures listed and just about every one says the flight is canceled.
The first one says it will be leaving on time is one heading to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Congratulations, folks. You are getting out of the mess, but you just mentioned the big snowball tight.
BALDWIN: Yes, this is my old stomping grounds. This is Dupont Circle, right in The District. I think we have pictures of the big snowball fight that was organized. Look at this. Let's listen for a second.
So here's the deal. I guess the teams here, there were teams. They were divided by neighborhood. Like I said, this wholes mass of snowball fight were organized by Facebook. As soon as the weather hit, people said no hitting police. You think? Use common sense. I wonder how many people -- it looks like a 100 to 200 people out there.
HOLMES: A few hundred folks out there, no doubt. Those things can be so fun.
BALDWIN: It looks like the good kind of snow, too. You remember we saw Reynolds in it yesterday. It looks like good snow. Getting the camera guy, too.
HOLMES: It is amazing how you can organize something like this, just by spreading the word on the Internet like that, Facebook. It just spreads. That's a good time.
BALDWIN: Such a good time. I'm so jealous.
HOLMES: We'll see if they are having a good time during rush hour come tomorrow. That's a different issue.
Tonight is a big night. The "Super Bowl" finally is here. Usually you have two teams playing for the championship. It is a little different this year. The Saints are playing for a lot more than just the Lombardi Trophy. They are playing for an entire city.
BALDWIN: That being, of course, New Orleans. Given everything happening in the history of the city, Hurricane Katrina, I'm sure they will be talking about the rebuilding. A lot of pride, especially among Saints fans. And I'm sure they are hoping for a massive party on Bourbon Street.
But how Hurricane Katrina showed Saints Drew Brees, it was his calling to live in New Orleans. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: What time is kickoff? 6:30?
HOLMES: 6:35, I think it is.
BALDWIN: 6:35, yes. The biggest day of the season for the NFL, one team hours away from "Super Bowl" glory.
HOLMES: Just in case you have not turned on the television, or picked up a paper, or don't know anybody, the Colts are going up against the Saints. You've got essentially Peyton Manning, probably the biggest star in football, going against Drew Brees, who is a very popular guy down there in New Orleans. CNN's Joe Carter joins us from Miami this morning.
Joe, of course, you have a smile on your face. You just woke up in Miami.
JOE CARTER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Just woke up in Miami and I have a big smile because it is game day. Finally we are here. A big reason why the Saints are playing in tonight's game is because of quarterback Drew Brees, but that's not the only reason the city of New Orleans loves their quarterback. Drew Brees signed with the team seven months after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city and immediately Drew Brees started rebuilding the city both structurally and emotionally.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW BREES, NEW ORELANS SAINTS QUARTERBACK: I felt like coming here was a calling. I felt like it was my destiny.
When you are a Saint, you belong to New Orleans.
CARTER: The sounds are different these days in New Orleans. The cries are gone and the cheers have returned. Much different, even from when Drew Brees signed with the Saints in 2006, just 197 days removed from one of the greatest tragedies in American history.
BREES: That was definitely a defining moment in my life, and one that brought me to New Orleans with the sense that, you know, this is a calling for me. This is an opportunity that I have to not only come to a city and be a part of the rebuilding of an organization, but also the rebuilding of a city, and a community, and a region. CARTER: When he signed with the Saints, Brees was coming off major shoulder surgery. His career at a crossroads. The Big Easy provided a chance for both the city and its quarterback to make a comeback. It would have to be big and certainly not easy.
BREES: At times, you know, God is going to put you in a position where you kind of wonder, man, why is this happening to me? Or why is this happening to us? And yet you know it is happening for a reason. You know it is there to make you stronger and to give you the opportunity to accomplish something later on, which here we are.
CARTER: Through his Brees Dream Foundation, Drew spent years working just as hard off the field as he has rebuilding the Saints on it. And in a city familiar with voodoo, Brees has found a kindred spirit in his head coach, Sean Payton, who has pumped life back into the team's fans and money back into the community.
SEAN PAYTON, HEAD COACH, SAINTS: I think all of us as coaches and players have that responsibility to help. And certainly in that city, at that time, in that region, not just that city, it pulled on you.
CARTER: It pulled Brees and Payton to help in places like George Washington Carver High School in the Upper Ninth Ward, where they were part of raising over $1 million to build a new sports complex in an area ravaged by the hurricane.
BRIAN BORDAINICK, CARVER HIGH SCHOOL: The rebuilding process of the school and to this community is certainly -- it was not on the job description, I'm sure, for those guys. But it is something they have really embraced and are doing a great job at it.
JOHN DESHAZIER, WRITER, "TIMES PICAYUNE": When you do that kind of thing, you become a part of the fabric immediately. You say, look, I don't just play here, I live here, I love here. I want to be here and I want to help make the situation better.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARTER: In just about 12 hours Drew Brees will be taking the field for Super Bowl XLIV. He said he'll be carrying the hopes of the City of New Orleans on his shoulders. He says it is not a burden, but a responsibility he gladly accepts.
HOLMES: Joe, after seeing that story and listening to that, how can anybody in this country pull against the Saints? Of course, you have Colts fans and people in Indiana, but I don't think they would be upset to see New Orleans win this game.
CARTER: Guys, they are certainly the sentimental favorite. We talked about it yesterday. Anybody who doesn't have a direct tie to New Orleans, you ask them who they want to win, they say, I'd like to see the City of New Orleans and New Orleans Saints win "Super Bowl XLIV.
BALDWIN: The city, the whole city. HOLMES: Yes, not just the Saints winning the whole city is winning this game.
Joe, thank you so much. You enjoy Miami, and you enjoy the game. Talk to you again soon. Thanks so much.
BALDWIN: Well, from a guy with a big old smile on his face since he is waking up in Miami to another guy who has had a big smile on his face despite the fact that we stuck him in the middle of the snow. In Washington, D.C., Reynolds Wolf, there you are.
I was going to ask you, you didn't have the gloves on earlier. I was going to ask if it wasn't as cold, but you just answered my question.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not sure what the question is, but if it had anything to do with the cold, I have all the answers for you. My ears are frozen. Please forgive me.
Right now in Alexandria, we have really cold conditions with a lot of snow. Let me tell you, this area really did luck out in many ways. What I'm talking about, if you look around you can still see some of the trees are lit up with some of the lights. We have power on in this particular section. That's great news because we have hundreds of thousands throughout the region that are waking this morning in the cold, no means of heating up their house. Certainly some bad news.
Gerry Moorhead (ph) is the guy behind the camera, if you look way down toward the end of the block, you can just make out the Potomac River, on the other side is Washington. That is where we were yesterday. But here, on this side of the river, the roads, for the most part, are still pretty bad. The main thoroughfares, like this one, we have seen some cars drive through the downtown area. The interstates are OK for the time being, but it is the back roads that they are most concerned with. State officials here have been telling people that if you don't have to get on the road, by all means, don't so do so.
We are also telling people you may not get back to work until maybe mid-week. We are talking Tuesday into Wednesday. And then there is another chance that we might have another bout of some heavy snow.
Let's back around this way, Jeremy. We'll show people up the street. Again, a pretty shot, but it will be a frustrating day for a lot of people as we dig out from the big blast of winter weather. Back to you in the studio.
BALDWIN: All right. Pretty to look at, not pretty to stand in, I imagine. Reynolds Wolf you are our hero this weekend. Thank you so much.
We will have a look at the top stories coming right up right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: And now a look at your top stories.
Snowplows and snow shovels, oh, yes, it will be a busy day for you waking up in the Mid-Atlantic States this morning. A blizzard dumped as much as 30 inches of snow in some parts of the nation. D.C. getting nearly two feet; thousands of you without power this morning.
And at least 29 people are dead in Mexico; almost two dozen others missing following severe flooding after mudslides last week. Check out some of these pictures. Days and days of heavy rainfall washing away roads and causing boulders to slide in the middle of highways. It is estimated that thousands of homes have been damaged.
Three people have died after two planes collided in midair yesterday north of Boulder, Colorado. iReporter Zach Mitchell says he heard this loud bang, went outside, and saw a giant fireball. There it is in the sky. Local authorities say one of the planes was towing a glider at the time of the impact. That glider pilot did land safely afterward. The FAA and NTSB are investigating.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hey, there, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BALDWIN: I'm Brooke Baldwin, back in for Betty this weekend. It is 7:00 a.m. here in Atlanta; 6:00 a.m. where Saints fans waking up, getting ready for tonight's Super Bowl; 4:00 a.m. on the west coast, L.A., homeowners cleaning up mudslides.
Thanks for starting your Sunday with us. But the big headlines still, I guess the snow storm and really the cleanup today.
HOLMES: Yes. If you look really closely at this live picture from the White House, you can see President Obama shoveling some snow there on the sidewalk. Our floor director actually looked up. I'm just kidding, he's not out there.
(LAUGHTER)
BALDWIN: Remember, we saw the presidential snow blowers out yesterday.
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: He definitely has people doing that for him.
HOLMES: But they've got a mess, two feet of snow in some places, three feet in other spots as well. Philadelphia here -- looking at the airport. We'll show you a picture of Baltimore as well. All these airports are still a mess, technically open. Flights, however, most of them are canceled.
We still have thousands of people without power as well. And they are working their butts off right now, especially in D.C., trying to get ready for the Monday morning commute. We shall see if they get it ready in time.
We do have to check some top stories that we're keeping an eye on.
We are keeping an eye on shuttle Endeavour. We didn't have to look around too much for it. It stayed in the same spot.
But it was supposed to take off this morning, 4:39 a.m. Eastern Time, but that launch was scrubbed because the weather just did not cooperate. Low cloud ceiling was the issue, that's some visibility problems. The mission, of course, to the International Space Station that's going to last about 13 days. When they do takeoff, which they hope will now be tomorrow, early morning, 4:14 Eastern Time.
BALDWIN: Big news out of New Orleans this morning. And I'm not talking about the Saints. I'm talking about a landslide victory in the mayoral race. Democrat Mitch Landrieu has been picked to take the place of Mayor Ray Nagin with 66 percent of the vote in yesterday's race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITCH LANDRIEU (D), NEW ORLEANS MAYOR-ELECT: The people of New Orleans understand that it is falling upon our shoulders to serve. We have been asked to serve, so we should respond and say yes. The people of New Orleans have called us to work hard, so we should accept the call. The people of New Orleans have asked us to sacrifice and so we should.
But the only way to do that is for us to seek, to find and to secure higher common ground where we come together as one people and do what's necessary to secure our future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: He is about to be the mayor, but most recently, his job was lieutenant governor for the state of Louisiana. He hails from somewhat of a political dynasty. His dad Moon Landrieu was mayor of New Orleans about 30 years ago. And his sister Mary is, apparently, a U.S. senator.
HOLMES: Toyota is still working to clean up its image after that massive recall of 2.5 million cars. Now, they're dealing with the problem with its Prius, very popular hybrid. Well, they're expected to announce early this week a fix for the Prius. This applies to 2010 Prius sedan.
The problem here is faulty software on the anti-lock braking system. That can cause problems when you are trying to brake. That's not what you want in a car. Over 124 reports of that happening in the U.S., a few accidents reported with that as well.
They don't -- I'm not going as far as having a recall on the Prius just yet, but a lot of people thinking maybe that could come. Again, they are also started fixing those faulty gas medals and floor mats on other Toyota models after that huge recall they saw. I want to turn back into the weather now. "Snowmageddon" as it's been dubbed, and this is why. I saw you some more of these pictures. We've been showing them to you all weekend.
Essentially, a blizzard hit the Mid-Atlantic, left two feet of snow in most places that it did hit. Three feet in some spots as well.
Power is out to thousands of people from Virginia to Pennsylvania. Maryland's governor is among several officials in the region urging people to stay off the highways. So much snow though that getting to highways and secondary roads cleared could take time. It might not be ready in time for tomorrow, the Monday commute.
But a lot of people not letting it stop them. They have a little fun with it. This is Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of people got together, had a little snowball fight.
These people weren't just walking past each other however on the street and started throwing snowballs. They organized this through, what else, Facebook.
BALDWIN: The Internet, Facebook.
HOLMES: The Internet and all that good stuff.
BALDWIN: Yes. Well, we were talking yesterday in terms of power outages, something like hundreds of thousands of people without power. Obviously, it didn't stop them from going outside enjoying the snow, but we'll talk to Karen Maginnis, because she's keeping her eye on what things are looking like flight-wise in the region and everything else.
But first, I want to check on conditions in the D.C.-Virginia- Maryland area. We sent meteorologist Reynolds Wolf out and about -- joining us from, it seems like a brightening daybreak there in Alexandria, Virginia.
Reynolds, what about metro? Any word if Metro is going to be up and running back today or what?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Brooke, that's a great question. And I'll tell you, it's pretty similar to the same situation yesterday. They got full service with the railway that's going to underground. But everything that's exposed is still going to remain shut down due to all the snow that is still leftover, that's all over the place.
You know, right here in Alexandria, we're really in the footsteps of greatness. I mean, this is where Washington and Jefferson and Madison, so many greats from the American history hung out. Well, I'll tell you this morning, people are waking up feeling like they're back in the 1970s. There are people there without water. Water pipes are broken. There are few without power this morning.
And, you know, for someone who might want to get out and get away from the area, maybe drivable (ph). Think about that. Let's put that in the mind of somebody want to get out.
Well, let's go out, we're going to get our car keys, going to walk over to the car -- and, yes, this is what people are finding. They are trying to get to their car and it's underneath snow. It's got you know, of course, the roads had been plowed up, or is kind of hard to get to it. Opening the door of this car is going to be virtually impossible.
And keep in mind, with temperatures rolling on the cool side for the next couple of days, there's not going to be an improvement. Even if you look up the street this way, you look past this old transformer, of course, the CNN truck, you can see the steeple. As far as the eye can see, plenty of snow, snow in the trees.
And when those trees get weighted in with that heavy snow, they become awfully heavy, the branches tend to snap, they snap, they hit the poles, they hit the power lines. Power line, causes power outages. So, it's going to be really a big issue for a lot of people.
You know, we've been talking about how the governor was telling people, or at least in Virginia, that they can expect to wait a couple days before they even could think about getting back to work. Well, same goes for the power, too. And with many of the tree line streets that you have in the region, in Maryland, in Virginia and even into over parts towards Delaware and even as far as north as New Jersey, think about all those tree line streets, all those outages.
There are going to be lots of people that are still going to have power that will be going out over the next couple of days. Even though the snow is gone, you still have those trees, they're very heavy.
So, this is going to be -- a problem is going to continue for quite some time and still, another chance for more snow on the way. The last thing they want in the forecast, and unfortunately, we have to take whatever Mother Nature dishes out.
Let's send it back to you, guys.
BALDWIN: I'm feeling for that guy or gal whose car is buried.
HOLMES: Yes. Reynolds, could you even tell what kind of car that was?
WOLF: It looks like something. Let's the igloo with wheels, if we can. Let's say I'm trying to find my cell phone, trying to find my BlackBerry. You know, maybe trying to go to Dominoes for pizza. And -- yes, I don't know where the snow ends and the car begins.
It looks pretty good. Hope there's no one in here. There's definitely no one here, but still, it's certainly going to be a scary time.
Can you imagine being stranded on the freeway or something in a situation like this? How terrifying that might be?
BALDWIN: No.
WOLF: But this is a -- this is nothing unusual. This is -- there have been reports -- I will tell you that the guy holding the camera, Gerry Moorhead (ph), send in an iReport, his wife did yesterday. They live over in Maryland.
And get this guys -- the snow was actually piled up through the roof of the car. And that was around 10:00 yesterday morning. So, then, with the additional snowfall for the midday hours, we're talking snow way above.
And, again, coming out, you got this nice crust of ice, and I'm trying to break through that to get in the car and try to go to somewhere. So, it's going to be a rough time for a lot of folks. Pretty tough.
HOLMES: Well, Reynolds, if you feel like being a Good Samaritan, maybe you could dig the car out for them and have it ready for them when they get ready to takeoff tomorrow morning.
BALDWIN: He's like -- no.
HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: It's a long morning, T.J. It's a long morning, dude.
BALDWIN: Thanks for that.
WOLF: I mean, I'm a Good Samaritan. We'll do what we can. I'll bet you a million bucks with my (INAUDIBLE) is going to come on and you're going to see the fuzz all over the place and also me off to the pokey.
HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: It could happen.
HOLMES: All right, buddy.
WOLF: T.J. is bailing me out. Right?
HOLMES: Yes. We'll see you again here shortly, Reynolds.
(CROSSTALK)
BALDWIN: We don't want him in trouble.
Let's go to Karen Maginnis.
Where, Karen, did I hear Reynolds right, did he say there maybe more snow in the forecast?
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, but this does not look like a system that's going to be anywhere near this system that we just saw that has paralyzed the Mid-Atlantic as we just saw. And I'll give you a good idea of just how cold those temperatures are. We're looking at the Mid-Atlantics with 20s and teens now. But with the wind chill factor, we've got single digits outside. Look at this, Richmond, it feels like 10 degrees. Washington, D.C., Reynolds, it feels like seven degrees outside. That's why that snow is so rock- hard. And it feels like minus 10 for Pittsburgh.
Well, the other story, while we were just heavily covering the Mid-Atlantic with the blizzard conditions, the heavy snowfall. In some cases, three feet. Dulles reported 32 inches of snowfall. A two-day total there.
Well, they were dealing with mud slides across southern California. We got some pictures of the La Canada Flintridge area. Look at this.
Now, most areas saw two to three inches of rainfall. And they had some 800 homes evacuated across the region. They'll get about a 20 percent chance of rainfall for today. A little bit of drying out situation. So, that will be some good news for them.
We'll be back and keep you updated on the weather.
Brooke, T.J., back to you.
BALDWIN: Karen, thank you.
The other big story, the tea party in Nashville and it was the convention's biggest night last night.
HOLMES: Yes. Sarah Palin was there. She closed off the show and she says America will be less secure and more in debt with the Democrats in control. You'll hear for her comments -- coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BALDWIN: Stop lecturing and start listening -- that is Sarah Palin's message to Washington via Nashville, Tennessee.
HOLMES: That is where she was, the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate, giving the keynote address at the first ever tea party national convention last night. Now, she was ripping into Democrats and the Obama administration -- and the crowd was loving her for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: They need to get government out of the way.
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
PALIN: If they would do this -- if they would do this, our economy, it would roar back to life. And, for instance, on health care, we need bipartisan solutions to help families, not increase taxes. Remember that red reset button that America through Secretary Clinton, she gave to Putin, remember that? I think we should ask for that back and hand it instead to Congress and say, no, start all over on this health care scheme and pass meaningful market-based reforms that incorporate some simple steps that have broad support. The best idea is not backroom deals but things like insurance purchases across state lines and the tort reform that we talked about.
(APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
PALIN: Those things that are common sense steps towards reform that the White House and leaders on the Democrat side of the aisle in Congress, they don't want to consider. So, it makes you wonder: what truly is their motivation, what is their intention, if they won't even consider these common sense broad-base support ideas that would work?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Sarah Palin called the tea party movement a ground up call to action that's forcing both parties to change the way they are doing business.
And coming up: Tuesday, right here on CNN, a "LARRY KING LIVE" primetime exclusive with the First Lady Michelle Obama. She will be talking about the first family's first year in the White House. Plus, she's getting tough on childhood obesity. She will explain why you should, too. That's "LARRY KING LIVE" Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, here on CNN.
HOLMES: Well, every expert, every former player and fan is predicting the winner of the Super Bowl right now. We are not going to hear from any of them. We're going to hear from Sister Jean Kenny.
It's a tradition we have here. We have her here every year. She gives us her Super Bowl predictions and she's been pretty good, got a good record.
BALDWIN: Sister Jean, Super Bowl queen, she writes poetry about the Super Bowl, but is she right? And how often? Let's ask her -- coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right. Well, we are talking about the Super Bowl.
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: And you know what? You can predict all you want about tonight, but the Saints and the Colts will, of course, ultimately decide who actually wins Super Bowl XLIV down in Miami.
HOLMES: Of course, we know. The game is tonight. We always like to be the first to report here at CNN. So, this moment, we're going to give you the final score. We need some help in giving it to you, however, from Sister Jean, our Super Bowl sister. Here with her divine projection as always. Sister Jean, good morning to you once again. Good to see you. Before we have you reveal your pick, explain to our viewers who probably know you by now, but still, how do you come up with your predictions? And you have a pretty good record. We're going to tell people that as well. But how do you come up with your predictions?
SISTER JEAN KENNY, SUPER BOWL PROGNOSTICATOR: Very easy. "Pro Football Weekly."
BALDWIN: So, you're an avid reader.
KENNY: Religiously every week. It gives you everything you need to know. It's concise, readable and simply the best.
HOLMES: Now, everybody out there has access to that same information. And you got a lot of experts out there, but you have compiled, do I have it, was it 18 and six?
BALDWIN: Eighteen and six your record. So, you've predicted 18 Super Bowls correctly.
KENNY: Yes, I like -- I like that average.
HOLMES: That's a really good average. Vegas likes that average as well. Now, what do you think -- I know you've been asked this question, we ask you always -- but what do you think about people out there taking Sister Jean's prediction and going to Vegas and trying to get rich?
KENNY: Well, that's their choice. And I wish them luck.
BALDWIN: Sister Jean, let me just ask you: how did you get into this in the first place? How did you get into football? A big Bears fan, right? Chicago.
KENNY: Yes, back in 1985, William Perry was a huge success in Chicago, and I wrote a poem about him. And I won an award on "Monday Night Football" that came to my classroom at Mother Guerin High School and taped my poem about him.
BALDWIN: And you've been writing Super Bowl poems ever since, right?
KENNY: This is my silver anniversary edition.
HOLMES: Oh, wow.
BALDWIN: And, do you share this with your students? I know you are a teacher, P.E. and arts.
KENNY: Yes, they enjoy it.
HOLMES: I have to ask as well, Super Bowl party, what is your Super Bowl party like? What kind of people do you have over?
BALDWIN: Yes, where you're going? HOLMES: Do you have the standard beer and chips and all the stuff?
KENNY: Well, you're going to like this. I'm going to stay at the quiet confines of the convent...
BALDWIN: Oh, yes?
KENNY: ... so we can actually watch the game and commercials. We are going to have guacamole, Pepsi and I haven't figured out the rest of the menu yet.
HOLMES: OK.
BALDWIN: So, are you getting the other sisters on this? I mean, is it just a bunch of ladies watching the big game, watching these guys on the gridiron?
KENNY: Sister Nicole (ph) and I are avid football fans.
BALDWIN: How many other people you're going to have, your party, your Super Bowl party with your guacamole?
KENNY: I'm not sure at this point. I'd say, I want to keep quiet at the convent. That's the best way.
HOLMES: Well, Sister, let's not wait any longer. We -- now, we have a link we're going to try to get to your poem. It's a little long so we don't have time to read it all here. We're going to put it up so people can see it.
But you go ahead and tell us your prediction of who is going to win and give us the score and then tell us why.
KENNY: OK. I predict the final score of Super Bowl XLIV will be the Indianapolis Colts 31, and the New Orleans Saints 22. And I respectfully disagree with President Obama on the outcome of this game. Experience, experience, experience is the Colts' mantra. Go Colts!
HOLMES: Now, how difficult is that? I mean, the Saints -- they seem like a natural pick for the sister to go with the Saints.
KENNY: Definitely, but today, it's going to be Colts beat Saints -- even on a Sunday.
HOLMES: Even on a Sunday.
BALDWIN: I think she's going for the upset, I guess, in that regard.
All right. Sister Jean...
KENNY: Well, don't forget, the Colts are five-point favorites.
BALDWIN: Ah, OK. HOLMES: She knows her football.
BALDWIN: She knows her football. She's 18 and six -- hoping to be 19 and six after tonight.
Sister Jean, the Super Bowl queen, thanks for joining us from Chicago.
KENNY: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
BALDWIN: Sure thing.
HOLMES: We always get a kick out of having her on.
BALDWIN: You've had her on for quite a while. She's making the round. She's been on Conan.
HOLMES: Yes. She has. She's been out there, but she's doing this, 18 and six. You take that to Vegas, you're rich.
BALDWIN: Pretty good.
HOLMES: That is really good.
A lot of you who are out there, of course, you're going to be watching the game tonight. We want to know your predictions as well. We want to know what you think about the game, the commercials. Send it to us at Facebook, Twitter -- you know where to find us. By now, we're going to be sharing some of those responses this morning if we get a chance. But, please, send those into us, looking forward to.
BALDWIN: All right. So, yes, yes -- we absolutely want to have a good game tonight, but we also want to see the commercials, because it's just kind of fun. A big buzz, right? So, some of those ads that were hoping to air, they were a little too racy.
HOLMES: Too racy for morning TV as well.
Our Rick Horrow is in -- look at this.
BALDWIN: Oh, he's still got that third ticket.
HOLMES: He's got that third ticket.
BALDWIN: What he's going to do?
HOLMES: We're going to talk to him after the break and see if you can get your hands on that third ticket. We'll talk to Rick in just a second.
RICK HORROW, CNN BUSINESS AND SPORTS ANALYST: No.
BALDWIN: Yes, I know.
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HOLMES: Well, the game is the big thing tonight, but still, the Super Bowl is a big celebration, and the ads -- a big deal as well. There are some commercials that you won't see however, just deemed a little too racy for television.
Our Rick Horrow, business and sports analyst, joins us now. Also, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School because -- Brooke, when you think Harvard law...
BALDWIN: You think Rick Horrow!
HOLMES: Yes, you do.
All right. Rick, good morning to you, my man. We're talking about these ads, but we're also talking about just the economics of these commercials. This is big business.
HORROW: Big business -- probably $200 million, $250 million of revenue from this. Two years ago, there were 55 of these mega 30- second spots that people paid 3 million bucks for. Now, they're over $60 million. Next year, they're going to be over $70 million.
HOLMES: Wow.
HORROW: So, the networks figure out how to sell this time. And it's all sold out. So, it is huge.
HOLMES: Well, these ads, I assume they usually sell out every year, maybe nothing new there, including a tough economic times. But CBS -- again, I assume they're just not desperate to sell these, so they could reject some if they wanted to.
Now, for our viewers, we're going to show some of these. And they were pulled and some might find them offensive, but we want to go through a couple here, Rick. The first one I want to mention is this one that got a lot of attention, this Man Crunch is the name of this particular ad, but it had to do with a gay-dating Web site.
Now, how did CBS go about making decisions on which kind get in and which kind don't?
HORROW: Well, every year, it's a very subjective, tough decision. Kind of like the pornography debate in court where everybody says, I know it when I see it. Well, the issue is, it's up to the programming executives, the NFL weighs a little bit. But they decide where the line is and the line changes every year.
I don't know if this one ought to go on the line. But the line is, you're watching it now but you're not going to be watching it later today.
HOLMES: And another they're not going to be watching later today: Go Daddy. They always make some pretty -- racy ads. But this one had people a little bothered as well. Why?
Are you still with me, Rick?
HORROW: Oh, yes. I thought you were...
HOLMES: Oh, no.
HORROW: I thought we're going to listen to the ad. I want to hear the ad.
HOLMES: Well, we want to listen to you.
HORROW: So, you're seeing there. Well, here's what I'm going to say to it. Danica Patrick, who was in the Go Daddy ads last year, the bottom line is that they tried to cross the line but stopped just short. So, even if we talk about this, even if they don't show it, they've won.
HOLMES: They've won.
One more we're going to mention at least. E.A. Sports, Electronic Arts, cleaned up its "Dante's Inferno" ad. You're familiar with this one as well. So, now, they do have a version that will be able to air.
But again here, is it -- is it really a win/win. You can produce a racy ad that never gets air time and it could be worth it.
HORROW: Well, and it may be the strategy. Nobody has ever admitted this. But it's a $3 million ad. Ten times the cost of that to produce them. It's not beyond an agency to say, let's produce one over-the-top, let's have people tell us not to do it, and let's produce another one and we got a whole lot of publicity that week. And so, if that strategy works, why not continue to do that?
HOLMES: Yes. And I know a lot of people are still waiting. We've been talking a lot about the ad that Tim Tebow is going to be in. A lot of people is waiting to see that one this evening as well.
Give me your prediction right quick and I'll let you go.
HORROW: Eight million pounds of guacamole consumed, $9 billion of consumer stuff bought, and this is a black and gold ticket conspiracy. Saints 28, Colts 24 -- what do you think of that?
HOLMES: Twenty-eight to 24. Rick, we appreciate you as always. Enjoy the game, enjoy getting all that cash for that last ticket that we know you're going to sell out there. Thanks so much, buddy. We'll talk to you soon.
HORROW: You can congratulate me on the prediction when I see you next week.
HOLMES: All right, buddy.
BALDWIN: We'll do that.
More top stories at the top of the hour when CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues. But first, "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." at the start of the next break.
