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CNN Sunday Morning

Mourning a President; Tiger Woods Returns to Golf

Aired April 11, 2010 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Eight a.m. where we sit. I'm T.J. Holmes.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Brianna Keilar. Thank you so much for starting your day with us.

It's kind of a strange day. We are counting down the final moments until Texas Stadium is imploded, because in a few minutes, this chunk of history will just be a pile of rubble. The city of Irving is tearing it down to redevelop this 80-acre site. And people have been lining up since 2:00 a.m. to witness the old Cowboy's stadium come tumbling down.

When this happens live, of course, we will bring it right to you.

HOLMES: And we are expecting actually this to happen within I have a countdown clock up. They've taken it away but a minute probably we're away from this happening. You are seeing now different live pictures of fireworks.

For those of you who maybe haven't been to Texas Stadium, maybe haven't been to Texas and don't get it, this is a big deal. This is a piece of history, Cowboy history, but NFL history as well. This stadium has been around since 1971.

You see it there on your right. But the hole in the top, it's a dome with a hole in a roof essentially. It's kind of a strange design. But still, people got used to it. The Cowboys certainly had great success at this place over the years.

But we have an 11-year-old kid by the name of Casey Rogers who got the honor after he had actually won an essay contest, got the honor of hitting the button to bring this thing down.

Now, of course, you know you can't just light a stick of dynamite and throw it into the top of that place and expect it to come down. But this has been a long -- a year-long process and having to get all the seats out of there, to having to drill 3,000 holes to put different pieces of dynamite in. So, they are now ready for it.

You see all the celebration here. We're trying to hold on to possibly catch it for you live. We might have to get back to this in just a moment. But, really, it's been around since 1971. Of course, as we know, the Cowboys have the $1.3 billion new stadium in Arlington that they play in now. But a lot of people (INAUDIBLE). As Brianna like said, they've been tailgating since early morning hours. But that's what they do in Texas.

KEILAR: You actually were -- you know, if you were there, you could go to one of the parking lots they clear to tailgate. I mean, this is such an endeavor because we're talking about 2.5 million pounds of steel, 2 million pounds of concrete. And they've had to clear a lot of the things out of this building. Of course, installation, asbestos, all of these things, to make sure obviously that it's very safe to implode.

And now, they're just making, you know, a spectacle out of it. But it's been almost 40 years in the case of this stadium. It costs, what, $35 million to build when they did it. I mean, it's just a different time. It just shows you, because the new stadium, as you mentioned, is over about $1 billion.

HOLMES: And gorgeous and some people hate to see this one go. But, of course, you always have to move on at some point. We will move on ourselves.

Right now, we're keeping an eye on the live pictures. We hope to bring it to you live -- but, really, seconds away. But we will get back to that in just a moment. Hope to bring that to you live when it does happen.

Also, another live picture we're keeping an eye on. This one, no fireworks, and they certainly don't want them in space. These are the space shuttle astronauts, the shuttle Discovery astronauts performing a space walk, the second of three that they're going to have.

They're swapping out pneumonia tanks up there. They're a part of the cooling at the International Space Station. We're keeping an eye on their progress as well.

But also, some other top stories we want to tell you about from overnight. Poles today marking the two minutes of silence for their president, first lady and several other top government and military officials killed in a plane crash yesterday. The bodies of the president, Lech Kaczynski, and his wife are expected back in Warsaw within the next half hour.

Ninety-seven people died in that crash that was in Smolensk, Russia, yesterday. The country begins a week-long period of mourning tomorrow.

KEILAR: We also have a passing to report in the world of entertainment. Actress Dixie Carter, she has died. She was 70 years old. The Tennessee-born Carter made a career out of playing strong southern women. She's probably best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the TV sitcom "Designing Women." She is survived by her husband, actor, Hal Holbrook.

HOLMES: All right. We're going to take this live picture back to Dallas where we're expecting -- the fireworks have stopped. But we're expecting another set of fireworks now. Like I said, an 11- year-old boy got the honor, won an essay contest. He's going to get a chance to push the button to bring down Texas Stadium.

Now, you see all kinds of implosions of buildings, but this is a massive undertaking to bring down this huge stadium that sits some 65,000. It's been around since 1971. That's a ground level of it.

I am hearing some -- y'all let me know there in the booth if there's something we need to listen to. I hear a few voices on the background.

But people have shown up to this. People in Texas and, really, Dallas Cowboys known as -- by a lot of people, a lot of accounts as America's team. And people have followed this team. They have followed them through so many years and so many championships and so many records and so many hall-of-famers in that stadium, Texas Stadium, that sits in Irving, Texas.

Now, the plan now is to have -- we have a picture -- there he is. That's our guy.

KEILAR: Casey Rogers.

HOLMES: That's Casey, the 11-year-old we were telling you about -- looking around. He didn't really have to rehearse for this, if you will. He's just told to push a button at a certain time and when he does, everything is supposed to go boom. And if things go as planned, Texas Stadium, the old one, will come down. That's the plan.

Now, we have seen some implosions over the years, Brianna, not go so well with smaller buildings than this. But they're hoping this is going to work out. They certainly planned this thing out.

KEILAR: And this is such a huge undertaking. I mean, the way they're doing this is -- crews drilled holes, almost 3,000 holes in the columns of the stadium. And they put about 2,800 pounds of explosives into this structure for detonations.

So, this is going to be -- you know, it is quite an undertaking. And I guess we'll see exactly how it turns. But it all comes down to this 11-year-old boy, Casey Rogers, he gets to do the honors, press the button. He entered an essay contest, right?

And he's done a pretty amazing thing. He has a charity called Casey's Heart there in Dallas. He works with the homeless in Dallas, providing clothing, providing goods for them. He gets donations.

And then, at the end of every month, he goes around and, you know, makes sure that what he has, he can distribute to people who are in need. So, that's -- he's been doing that since he was eight and he's really well-known among some of the homeless population in Dallas. So, a very, very cool thing for him.

And he said that some of his friends are a little jealous he gets to do this. HOLMES: Of course, they are. Kids always sometimes like to play with fire and like to blow things up. You don't get a chance like this ever in your life to do something like this.

They had several dignitaries and also former players who were there for this, and also, a lot of fans. People have been lining up almost as if a game was happening today. They have been tailgating. Again, this is 7:00 Central Time that we're seeing this happen. People have been tailgating in these early morning hours. It looks like more fireworks and he just actually hit the button there.

(INAUDIBLE)

HOLMES: Wow!

(INAUDIBLE)

KEILAR: I think you would consider that a success.

HOLMES: I think so.

KEILAR: And it set off car alarms in the process, I think.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Texas Stadium now only a memory of the stadium --

HOLMES: Wow. You know, don't get too emotional, but I don't know, I didn't expect that. But it's kind of sad to see Texas Stadium go.

KEILAR: What -- yes, what an endeavor. And, you know, some people are going to feel sort of the pang of nostalgia, right, and then some people are going to be kind of thrilled.

HOLMES: Well, that was --

KEILAR: It's symbolic. Maybe they don't love the Cowboys.

HOLMES: That was one of the debates. Yes, I'm sure some Redskins fans are -- they don't have problems with this necessarily. Some Eagles fans as well.

But they have, of course, that new stadium that opened last year, $1.3 billion, gorgeous, state-of-the-art stadium. But this one had so many memories. Records have been made there. Legends have played at this stadium. It took, you know, some time in the planning and years to build it. And we just watched in a matter of a few seconds this thing go away and a piece of history is gone.

Now, I'm sure there might be a scramble. People try get to some of this rubble and take it home and put it up in their basements and whatnot. But just like that and it looks like we are re-racking it to show it again.

But Casey did his job. He hit the button. The series of explosions underneath.

It's amazing how they're able to engineer this. But it happened clearly without a hitch. And it came down like it was supposed to. But one button, thousands of explosives, and Texas Stadium is no more.

They can now have what they have Cowboys Stadium, the new state- of-the-art one. But people showed up for this. Texas fans and many across the country take their Dallas Cowboys very seriously. This is where they saw the glory days of the Cowboys, and that place is no longer there.

So, glad we're able to give that to you live. But there it is, one more time. Texas Stadium, going away.

KEILAR: A number of other stories that we are following today. Coming up: that plane crash that killed Poland's president and his wife.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: This is what we saw just a short time ago. This is in Russia. This is part of a ceremony. As we saw the body of the Polish president be put on a plane and flown back to his native Poland.

Of course, the plane crash we saw just yesterday that killed the president of Poland, also his wife and several other dignitaries and other high-ranking members of the government in Poland.

But this was part of the ceremony. These are Russian soldiers carrying the body of the president, putting it on the plane, and again, expecting to land back in Poland in just a matter of minutes, really about -- certainly under a half hour or so where people there, we saw those -- in watching those pictures as well, Brianna, people have been gathering in Warsaw, around the presidential palace, just an outpouring for a country in shock right now.

KEILAR: Yes. And, you know, we heard one of our iReporters say it was like a river of people that was just flowing there, trying to go and pay their respects.

And our CNN reporters are really -- they're all around the world and they have been telling us how they're feeling, what they're doing to honor this tragedy.

And Josh Levs has been following that.

What are you hearing, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and they're watching this intently as well. And I'm going to play you some sounds from that iReporter you're referring to. We are hearing from people all over the world, whether you are expressing condolences or whether you are one of the people who is really very much in mourning right now.

We're getting so many iReporters at CNN. Our CNN iReport team did something interesting. They took an interview with the woman inside Poland who is one of our iReporters, talking about what she's seeing, what's she's feeling, what this means to her and her country.

You're going to hear from her now. And along the way, you're also going to see some of the iReports that we've received from inside Poland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALGOSIA MINTA, IREPORTER: Oh, my God, it's the president, it's the first lady. It's -- the whole of bosses of the Polish army, some really good politicians. And it was just, you know, I couldn't believe it.

We lit the candles (INAUDIBLE) next to -- next to the palace, on the pavement. There was a really huge spot of light. And then, we were just strolling from the president's palace to the Pilsudski Square. The people were just going like a river. The people were going, (INAUDIBLE) more and more people. There were just people going and then lighting the candles. And I think, now, they must be tens of thousands of those candles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: She's right. There are tens of thousands of candles right there and there are also tens of thousands of candles at places all over the world. We're seeing all sorts of information about vigils.

Before I go here, I want to show you some iReports for us that we received from Berlin. One good example, you can take a look at it and see if we can get way in. People are leaving all sorts of flowers there.

This is in Berlin, taken at the embassy, the Republic of Poland there -- and just one of the many places that we are learning about from your iReports.

If you have photos, videos, stories you want to share with us, just go to iReport.com. It's very easy to do. Or if you just want to share your condolences, that's a good way to do it as well. We know, at times like this, there's going to be outpouring of grief. People look for places to express that and you want other people to hear you -- iReport is a good place for that.

So, Brianna and T.J., we'll be manning this throughout the day, sharing some of these great iReports with you.

HOLMES: All right, Josh. We appreciate you. Thank you. We'll see you again here soon.

LEVS: Thanks, guys. You got it.

HOLMES: And we have our crews in Russia as well as Poland, covering the story for us. We're getting reaction from both places after the break. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: All right. 2012 is still two years away, presidential election. But still, more than two years away, Republicans are already talking about trying to recapture the White House in this weekend's gathering of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

A single vote separated two possible nominees. Former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, barely edged out Texas Congressman Ron Paul.

Meanwhile, the GOP's national chairman says the party's momentum must not be derailed by his mistakes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL STEELE, RNC CHAIRMAN: I'm the first here to admit I've made mistakes. And it's been incumbent on me to take responsibility, shoulder that burden, make the necessary changes and move on. We've all had to do that from time to time.

(APPLAUSE)

STEELE: But the one mistake -- the one mistake we cannot make this November is to lose. The one mistake we cannot afford to make is to lose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: That's still, of course, has faced criticism over some questionable spending by the RNC, the embarrassment included a $2,000 tab at a bondage-themed nightclub.

We know the Masters at Augusta wrapping up today. All eyes have been on Tiger Woods. And a lot of people wondering where exactly he was going to end up on that leader board?

KEILAR: Yes. And we'll be talking about that. We're also going to talk about his effect on the Masters this time around.

Stay with us here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

KEILAR: There are 439 reasons for former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, to crack a smile this morning.

HOLMES: Yes. We're going to get more on that and explain there as we check in with our Candy Crowley, host of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," to see what's going on in New Orleans and also what's on tap for her show that's coming up in just about 40 minutes.

Good morning to you, first of all. You are down there in New Orleans with the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. RNC Chairman Michael Steele has been -- a lot of the talk has been about him down there. He got to speak himself last night -- not exactly in front of a packed house, though.

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": No, it wasn't a packed house. But to be fair, we are in New Orleans. It was around 6:00 at night. This was the last day of the conference. It was Saturday.

So, hard to tell how many weren't there because they are upset with the chairman and how many just wanted to either get out of town or get into town. So -- having said that, the people that were there, certainly, greeted him enthusiastically. You know, they were polite. They understood what he was talking about in that clip as you show when he said, "Well, I've made mistakes and we need to move on."

Certainly, from what we can tell, from talking to people and from calling around to state party chairmen, there does not seem to be any move to try to oust Michael Steele before these elections. His term is up in January. But it seems to be full-steam ahead here.

KEILAR: And, Candy, you talked to Governor Haley Barbour about another topic here, Justice Stevens' replacement. Let's take a listen to what he said and then we'll chat on the other side of the sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. HALEY BARBOUR (R), MISSISSIPPI: The president is going to appoint a liberal successor to Justice Stevens, who's one of the most liberal members of the Supreme Court. In fact, some feel like he's been the leader of the left wing of the Supreme Court from in recent years.

CROWLEY: But the president needs to do that.

BARBOUR: Well, everybody here, everybody watching your show understands that the president is going to appoint the most liberal person he can and he thinks he can get confirmed, and that that person will be a liberal. That's just a fact.

Do I think it will affect the election? Only to the sense that it reminds the American people something they already know, that this is far and away the most liberal administration that we've ever had in the White House and, candidly, in the Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And, Candy, you have much more ahead with your interview with Governor Barbour. But what did you make overall of his comments?

CROWLEY: Well, as far as the Supreme Court goes, I thought it was really interesting when he said he will appoint as liberal of a justice as he can and still get confirmed. And I think that pretty much sums up what's going to go on now between now and the time of the nomination. Republicans are going to be pushing very hard, talking about filibusters or talking about going -- looking at the nominee very closely. Because, in the end, what the reality of the White House is that 60 votes are needed votes and I have 59, including two independents. So, they have to pull on Republicans. But there are Republicans who have pledged that all things being equal, if the candidate is qualified, the president is entitled to his choice.

So, while you will not hear, I don't think, a lot of serious talk about a filibuster, you are going to hear a lot of talk along the campaign trail -- this is after all a campaign year -- of the importance of nominating -- getting a president who will pick the sort of nominees that Republicans would like to have and vice versa for Democrats.

KEILAR: Yes. No doubt, this is one of the most interesting opportunities for some of this Washington theater that we have when we have these Senate confirmation processes.

Candy Crowley for us there in New Orleans -- thanks, Candy.

HOLMES: And, of course, we all just keep right here for "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley. That's coming up in about 35 minutes, 9:00 Eastern Time, 6:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

KEILAR: Flags are flying at half-staff across Poland today. And our Fred Pleitgen is joining us now live from Warsaw.

Fred, you were at the presidential palace for a moment of silence, just about two hours ago. What was the mood of the people who are there?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, just absolute sorrow. I mean, you could see when the sirens began to wail here in central Warsaw, especially at the presidential palace, just public life came to a standstill. I was actually close here and people were just getting out of their cars, standing on the road, just observing that moment of silence.

We are, of course, right now waiting for the president's body to be flown back here to Poland. And what's going to happen is that, first of all, there's going to be a military ceremony at that airstrip and his body is going to be brought right here to the presidential palace, which is behind me.

But I want to show you something just to this side of me. You can see just the masses of people who are coming here -- literally tens of thousands of people and more and more are pouring in by the minute to this square in central Warsaw.

What you're seeing there is actually a street that's a -- a street that cars normally go down. And that's going to probably also be the route that the president's body is going to take when it gets brought to the presidential palace. So, certainly, there is a sense of great sorrow, of great loss here within Polish society, but also one of people really moving very close together in the face of this national tragedy -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And, Fred, I know, one of our iReporters said that was a river of people going there to the presidential palace. It certainly looks like a sea of people now. We know that you'll be keeping an eye on this as the body of the president comes.

Fred Pleitgen for us in Warsaw -- thank you.

HOLMES: Well, the Masters is going to be wrapping up today in Augusta, Georgia. And the focus has been Tiger Woods, his comeback to the game. How would he play, how would he deal with the pressure, with the distractions off the course? Or how about this -- he's in contention. He's in third going into the final round.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're trying to observe the ovation, the greeting for Tiger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And here he was for birdie eight and nine, to play eight and nine.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

HOLMES: Tiger Woods, his first tournament back is the biggest one of the year, the Masters tournament in Augusta. And he's in it. He could possibly win this thing today.

KEILAR: And this is after being away for five months from the game and comments about his personal life playing out right before him, he is now in contention.

HOLMES: Yes, he's on that leader board, four shots back from the leaders. But he is in third right now.

Michael Walker is a senior editor for "Golf" magazine. He's going to be live-blogging today's final round from the tournament. He joins us this morning.

Michael, thank you for being here. Just as a golf guy -- you tell me, what has been your reaction of how he has been able to come back from all he went through?

MICHAEL WALKER, GOLF MAGAZINE: I don't -- I'm not that surprised. I mean, over the years, he's just proven to be so much better than everybody else. And he's come back from layoffs before and played really well.

But I think that the fan reaction and the way he's kind of been embraced and embraced the fans back. That was something different. I didn't expect him to be more open on the golf course and acknowledge people and wave. And I think that's been the really kind of thing I didn't expect.

HOLMES: Did you expect as well -- he said he wasn't going to be more respectful of the game is what he said -- you want him to be more respectful. He has been known over the years for given some stares out to the crowd, for people some noise, for yelling out few four- letter words when he hit a bad shot. We saw some of that again yesterday. Did that surprise you, given that what he said, he wasn't going to do that anymore?

WALKER: I think it's going to be hard for him to change that. I mean, that's how he plays golf. That's how he played golf since he was 5 years old. I think -- I mean, you can say his curses maybe weren't as bad yesterday as they were. You wouldn't need to beep it, or, you know, you can call it PG-13.

But that's -- that's something that's going to take place over time. I don't think in the heat of competition when he really needs a good shot and he doesn't get it, you're going to hear him curse. And you know, you're going to see the fist pump when he does well. And I think maybe over time, he'll dial that back but it's not going to happen all at once.

HOLMES: All right. If somebody besides Tiger Woods wins this thing and he ends up in second place, third place, fourth or fifth, will the story -- the next day on Monday be the winner or will the big story still be about how Tiger Woods played?

WALKER: Oh, I think if Phil Mickelson wins, Phil Mickelson is the story. I mean, Phil has been going through his own thing. His wife has been dealing with breast cancer, his mother has. And Mickelson, a tremendously popular player, I mean, second to Tiger, but not that far behind Tiger at least among golf fans. And I think Phil is a big story.

I mean, certainly, Tiger, with everything that's going on in his life is always going to be the big story out of this event. But it's a great tournament. It always produces great drama and how whoever wins I mean, it's going to be exciting.

HOLMES: But what happens in the next tournament Tiger plays that's not so controlled as Augusta, where the patrons don't have the threat of having their badges taken away for life if they act up? What happens at the next tournament?

WALKER: I think maybe you'll see more -- more isolated instances of heckling. But the feeling I got at Augusta was, people felt that he had been through enough, that they kind of respected the fact that he was coming out here and playing again. I mean, you're always going to have people like occasionally get attention and heckle him.

But I don't think you're going to see regular except maybe if he plays in the Ryder Cup in Wales. Where you get very patriotic and it's sort of a fervor (ph) around there, maybe you'd see extended heckling there. But I can't imagine that -- that it would be that bad.

I think -- and the other thing is I think people feel he's talked enough about that. I mean, there are still answers about the accident we know or don't know about. But you know, if -- if the state police couldn't find out, you know a bunch of golf writers aren't going to be able to find out.

So I think it'll be back to normal relatively.

HOLMES: That's a good point there and we were showing that video of that -- I guess that was the only incident we could say we saw, was that plane flying over with that message behind that was directed, kind of taunting Tiger Woods. He said he didn't even see it.

So it's been amazing to see how this guy who is known for that focus, Michael, that he is able to come back and focus the way he has been able to. So we shall see; all eyes on the course today.

Michael Walker, senior editor for Golf magazine. Sir, we appreciate you being here and we'll be checking out your blog during the -- during the tournament today.

WALKER: All right, excellent. I'm looking forward to it.

HOLMES: Ok.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Well, he has been to the crash site; he has seen the debris from the crash. We'll be checking in with CNN's Nic Robertson for the latest on that plane wreck that killed the Polish President, First Lady and 95 others.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, Chicago just one of the places where Polish communities are expressing their grief and mourning the loss of Poland's President, First Lady and other dignitaries in that fiery plane crash yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MAREK RUDNICKI, POLISH IMMIGRANT: It is hard to imagine how much pain you can feel when people who very often reach the pinnacle of their careers suddenly must be gone.

RICHARD SLOSARSKI, POLISH IMMIGRANT: He was just trying to pay respect to the tragedy that happened 70 years ago. So it's tragedy on the top of a tragedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, the bodies of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife are expected back in Warsaw shortly.

And these are the live pictures now from Poland. They are waiting the bodies; they took off from Smolensk in Russia near where the crash took place. They took off from there a short time ago. We saw the ceremony as they were putting the bodies on the plane being flown back a short distance.

But they're going to go from here and going to be driven -- I believe to the presidential palace where tens of thousands have been gathering and they are gathered there right now in the streets, really mourning. They have been singing, we've seen crying, but lighting candles, leaving flowers and also messages for their fallen leader. KEILAR: We take you now to New Orleans where seven people were shot after a music festival in the French quarter. Police at this point, still looking for two gunmen; they say that the intended target was a 17-year-old boy. He was shot in the chest.

HOLMES: And NASA and a couple of astronauts, out there wrapping up a space walk on the International Space Station. They have been outside carrying out -- this is the second one we're going to see it. They've got one more I believe, it will happen on Tuesday, replacing an old storage tank for the station's cooling system. They're going to wrap this job up with a third space walk. Again, that's going to happen on Tuesday.

We're going to turn back to Nic Robertson now. He was at the airport there as the flag-draped casket carrying the President of Poland's body as it was loaded on to a plane to be returned to Warsaw. He joins us now on the phone.

Nic again, you were at that ceremony. Describe that for us, sending the leader off back to his home country.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, it was very, very, somber and solemn, T.J. the Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin stood there side by side with the Poland's Ambassador to Russia.

They watched as the casket of the President was carried out and put on a table at the end of a red carpet in the middle of the runway. And they stood at the foot of the casket for a good 15 minutes saying nothing to each other as the -- the military band played and soldiers and airmen and sailors marched past in tribute.

There were other official dignitaries there both Russian and Polish standing, watching this ceremony. It took about half an hour in all before the casket was finally carried aboard. two Russian soldiers, two Russian airmen and two Russian sailors carrying it at waist height onboard the Polish aircraft, which then (INAUDIBLE) at the end of the runway and took off.

But even after that, the Russian Prime Minister and the Polish Ambassador stood waiting side by side until the aircraft was well and surely up in the air clear that place that -- the President's plane had crashed less than -- just about 24 hours earlier.

And interestingly when I talked to the Polish Ambassador, he told me that although the president probably was being flown back home and some other bodies had been taken back already to Poland. He said that some of the bereaved families would have to wait longer to get the bodies of their loved ones back because the bodies have been taken to Moscow for the investigation which could take several more days -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, our Nic Robertson for us. An investigation will take probably some time after that. We appreciate you.

And again, we're keeping an eye on -- we've had our pictures up of what's happening outside at the presidential palace in Warsaw. Also keeping an eye on what's happening at the airport in Warsaw as well.

And this is the picture that -- that Nic Robertson was just describing as the president of Poland, President Kaczynski, his body was being loaded up for his trip back home to Poland.

KEILAR: What are people are saying on the Web about who will replace Justice John Stevens? I'll be talking with one of the top Supreme Court bloggers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Sunday morning masses in Poland filled with prayers for the 97 who died in yesterday's plane crash.

The Archbishop of Krakow led a mass today with a congregation, still in disbelief over the enormity of the tragedy. The country's president, first lady and other top government officials all died in that crash.

This morning at the Vatican, Pope Benedict extended his sympathies to the Polish people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE BENEDICT XVI, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): With deep sorrow, I received the news about the tragic death of Mr. Lech Kaczynski, the President of Poland and his wife and also of other people who are on board to the plane they died on their way to Katyn (ph), the place of martyrdom of thousands of Polish officers more than 70 years ago. I -- all of you -- pray for you and I am with you in the prayer and also with pilgrims gathered in the (INAUDIBLE) sanctuary and who pray to the Divine Mercy all over the world.

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HOLMES: And yesterday's plane crash came a little over five years after the death of his Polish-born predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

The web is just abuzz over what people are saying about who is going to replace retiring justice, John Stevens at the Supreme Court. We're going to be talking with one of the top Supreme Court bloggers.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While we cannot replace Justice Stevens experience or wisdom, I will seek someone in the coming weeks with similar qualities, an independent mind, a record of excellence and integrity, a fierce dedication to the rule of law and a keen understanding of how the law affects the daily lives of the American people. It will also be someone who, like Justice Stevens, knows that in a democracy, powerful interests must not be allowed to drown out the voices of ordinary citizens.

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JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: New justices often bring new energy, new ideas, and the fact that Obama will have two quick appointments really does give the liberals a tremendous shot in the arm.

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KEILAR: Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens had been hinting that he was thinking about stepping down. Well, this week, he made that official. He will be leaving at the end of this session, in June or July. And the court will lose a liberal judge, who is coincidentally, a life-long Republican, its only current World War II and also its only Protestant.

Now Kevin Russell is a Washington attorney and a contributor to scotusblog.com. Thank you so much, Kevin, for being with us.

I want to ask you, you know, especially on SCOTUS blog, what are you hearing? What is all the buzz about on the web. What are people wondering about who may replace Stevens and what it means that he is leaving?

Kevin Russell, contributor, scotusblog.com. Well, I think there are two things that are being talked about quite a lot. Of course, people are speculating about who the president will pick. But beyond that people want to know how is this going to affect the mid-term elections. And how are the mid-term elections going to affect the president's choice?

You heard in the clip that you played the president's reference to wanting to pick a justice who will side with ordinary Americans in its powerful interests. That's a stab at the Supreme Court's recent campaign finance ruling. And it indicates that the president at least would like to have a fight with Republicans about that issue.

But the question is, is he going to pick somebody who is also going to get him into a fight about more controversial issues, like abortion or gay rights?

KEILAR: Can his pick, though -- I mean we're looking right now at a couple of the different options. Elena Kagan, Diane Wood out of Chicago, Judge Merrick Garland out of D.C. Can any of these choices be stopped? I mean would Republicans really be able to do that?

RUSSELL: No, I don't think so. There hasn't been a successful filibuster of a nominee of the Supreme Court in 130 and that in a sense, it was a bipartisan effort. So it really is I think a question of how big a fight and what kind of fight the president wants to have. KEILAR: Ok. Let's pull up that graphic again of what we think are the three on the short list at this point: Elena Kagan, Diane Wood, Merrick Garland. What do you think? Who would be the strongest person for him to pick? Or does it just kind of depend on what he is aiming for short-term and long-term?

RUSSELL: I think it does depend on what he's looking for. Each of them, I think, are incredibly qualified people; each would be confirmed.

Merrick garland is the easiest. He would engender the least opposition, I think. But he is a male and doesn't add a lot to the diversity of the court.

Judge Wood, on the other hand, would please much more his liberal constituency but would cause a bigger fight because she has issued controversial rulings on issues like abortion and religion.

While, Solicitor General Kagan, on the other hand, is a bit of a blank shape and would give the president quite a lot of leeway to shape the debate on the issues that he would like to talk about.

KEILAR: And one of the things -- you know, one of the things I noticed covering the confirmation hearing for Sonia Sotomayor, because she lacked a record in some ways on certain issues, you are able as a nominee to kind of skirt some of those issues when you are getting tough questions. If this is a Democratic-appointed nominee, questions you are getting from Republican lawmakers.

What about in the case of Diane Wood with her record from the bench on abortion? I mean, that would be, you would think, a lot of fireworks there before the senate judiciary committee?

RUSSELL: I agree. And that's one thing that she has going against her. She has had controversial abortion decisions. One of which was reversed by the Supreme Court. That was a big topic in Judge Sotomayor's confirmation proceedings was that she had issued a decision on affirmative action that the Supreme Court ultimately reversed. And we would probably see similar criticisms in this case.

KEILAR: All right. Kevin Russell, quite the insider and the expert on the Supreme Court with scotusblog.com. Thanks so much for all of your insight on that.

RUSSELL: Thank you.

HOLMES: Daytona Beach, South Padre Island, Cancun; those spring break destinations will have to wait. Why more college students are opting to stay home.

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KEILAR: What anyone wants, right?

HOLMES: Vacation. KEILAR: Vacation. And, you know, in this tough economy, people are scrimping, this is affecting everyone. That includes students. Many of them are finding it hard to pay for spring break to go away.

HOLMES: Yes. And we think that on spring break, the college students take off. You know, they have to fund themselves, if you will. With some younger kids, I mean the high school students want to go on vacation as well.

And if you didn't know, this is Carl Azuz -- sorry if we didn't -- from CNN Student News.

What are students -- are you seeing a lot of them are having to stay home?

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: As far as our audience goes and this is middle and high school students, most of them are saying, they are staying put. They're either taking the staycation or the paycation, meaning they are staying home to work.

We have a full-screen graphic for you this morning. That's from our Web site cnnstudentnews.com, an informal poll we took. And you can see, 57 percent of them staying home and at least some of them are blaming the economy. They might be saying that one or both of their parents have lost their jobs. They can't afford to take a vacation this time around.

There are other students who are saying, their parents have jobs but they need the hours or they're insecure in those jobs and they don't want to be taking time off. So a lot of are stuck where they are. A lot of young people did spend spring break at home.

HOLMES: Spring break at home. I can't remember. Where do young people go? Did young people -- did you all -- did you go on your own? Or you always did something with your parents?

KEILAR: You know, I don't think -- I think I kind of did the staycation. But I think some people do -- they go away sometimes to camps, to dance camps or something. You know, I was talking to an unemployed man last week. And he said that his daughter wanted to kind of go away to one of these camps where she could do dance or maybe some other hobby and they just can't afford it and it was really tough for her.

So how are kids handling this?

AZUZ: Overall, I'd say pretty well. And there are a lot of students who said, despite the fact that I've been stuck at home, we're making things work.

The first comment I have for you today comes from a student named Yvonne. And she's telling us that she stayed home, she spent time with her family. She would rather be at baseball games; she's a big baseball fan. She said she will be watching them at home. But it didn't matter to her because spending time with her family was the best spring break she could have. And then another student named Jennifer was talking along the same lines. Jennifer was saying, "People need to realize spring break isn't always about going on vacation." She had a great spring break, also sitting at home hanging out with her family, having friends around, hang out. And then she goes on to say -- I love this part -- she goes on to say, "It was less costly. We had a blast. I think we should all try to do the same."

So you might not expect from middle and high school students so many of them appreciating that time with their family. But if you are a parent, you have a long summer coming up, you might have a long summer break with your student. Many of our student audience, many members of them are telling us, hey look, we are grateful for the chance to hang out, to play games with our folks. And that's something that's pretty refreshing.

HOLMES: Every weekend Carl, some of the best words of wisdom we get for the week come from the students you tell us about. We appreciate you. We appreciate them. Carl, good to see you, buddy.

AZUZ: Thank you both.

KEILAR: Thanks Carl.

HOLMES: All right, quick break. We are right back.

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KEILAR: "STATE OF THE UNION WITH CANDY CROWLEY" is coming up at the top of the hour.

But first a quick check of this morning's headlines.

HOLMES: And as we check those headlines, let me say thank you to Brianna Keilar for hanging out with us this weekend on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING. Appreciate you.

KEILAR: Always a pleasure. Always a pleasure.

HOLMES: Appreciate you as always.

But a quick check of these stories. A powerful quake with a 6.8 slammed the Solomon Islands just a little while ago. Most likely, it didn't trigger a tsunami. No threat to Hawaii they're saying right now.

Poland is beginning a week-long official mourning period tomorrow. The bodies of the president, Lech Kaczynski and his wife, were returned to Warsaw within the last hour. The Polish leader was among 97 people killed in the crash of their plane yesterday as it approached Smolensk Russia.

And seven people shot at a music festival in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Police are now looking for two gunmen. They say these two are still out on the loose. They say the intended target was a 17-year-old. He was shot in the chest and is now in stable condition but six other people shot. Among them was another, a teenager, 15-year-old. The other six bystanders are expected to survive.

Now time for us to hand it off to Candy Crowley and "STATE OF THE UNION" which starts right now.