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CNN Saturday Morning News
Bad Weather Heading to the Northeast; Ice in Oklahoma; U.S. Drops Objections to U.N. Plan to Curb Greenhouse Emissions; End of State of Emergency in Pakistan; Political Polls
Aired December 15, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, T.J.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Betty.
NGUYEN: How you doing today?
HOLMES: I am OK. I'm a little tired as you know. But I'm alright. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
NGUYEN: Can you believe it? Ten days until Christmas.
HOLMES: You good to go?
NGUYEN: No. I'm stressed! I really am.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. Thank you for joining us today. We do have a lot to tell you about including a cold day for many of you. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god! Oh, no! Oh!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: No is right. Thankfully, there was no car, when that piece of ice came crashing down there. Look out below. Talk about a serious situation. Falling ice, just one of the problems this morning. Power outages, snow, even rain. Lots of extreme weather impacting you today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED POLICEMAN: Compliments of the Police Department.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We have a story to tell you about. In labor, also in major traffic, during a big snowstorm. That's the best -- not the best scenario if you're having a child, not of you, I guess, but the Boston police came to the rescue. Want to stick around for this story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bad boy, bad boy, what you gonna do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: When they come for you. You know the song. I guess is ...
HOLMES: I know you know it, Betty.
NGUYEN: A spot on cops. More of that dash cam takedown ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We do begin with another weekend. Just a brutal and nasty weather outside.
HOLMES: Yes, especially for folks in Oklahoma and in Kansas. More than 280,000 homes and businesses still without power from Thursday's ice storm, and now they have snow on the way. They're hunkering down for a snowstorm that's coming their way today. Kansas may feel the brunt of this.
NGUYEN: Another winter blast is sighted in the northeast, too, where folks were still begging out a winter storm watch is out for much of Southern New England -- snow, sleet, freezing rain, on tap there late tonight.
HOLMES: So, the stuff is on tab there. So, where else would our guy be? Reynolds Wolf, where it's happening! In Boston. Reynolds, good morning, kind sir.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to all of you in Atlanta. It is freezing here! Absolutely freezing here. We're at pond Pavilion easy for me to in beautiful Boston, Massachusetts, right in Boston common. And this the interesting spot. We saw snow everywhere. And you have to remember in Boston less than 48 hours ago, they had rain and -- I'm sorry, heavy, heavy snow falling at a rate of one to three inches an hour which backed up traffic all over the Boston metropolitan area.
Now, imagine how frustrating it must be to take those kind of traffic conditions and just try to get from work to home, home to work, maybe going to see a friend, maybe going shopping and then compound that by imagine, just being nine months pregnant, you're in labor, and just trying to get to the hospital? That happened to one Boston resident. And here's that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED POLICEMAN: How's it going?
REPORTER: They're doing great now, but with most of Boston locked in snow when Eileen Ponce went into labor if not for the help of these Boston Police officers, little Jocelyn could have been born in a pickup truck here in the intersection of Tremont and Columbus street.
EILEEN PONCE, MOTHER: I was late. And I'm in pain. (INAUDIBLE).
REPORTER: One mile to go, 100 cars or more in the way.
OFFICER TIM COUGHLIN, BOSTON POLICE: A black pickup truck pulled up, husband said, my wife is in labor, can you help me.
REPORTER: Traffic across the city looked like this at the height of the storm, so police had to help -- on foot.
OFFICER BOBBY WARD, BOSTON POLICE: Some vehicles we actually had to physically push. They were stuck in the snow; push them out of the way.
RAMON PEPIN, FATHER: They all led the way. They were taking turns. Some getting out of the cars there in traffic, coming back in, you know, driving down the block and they'd get out again, clear traffic.
REPORTER: With the cruiser leading the truck, the officers banged on windows yelling this,
OFFICER TIM CRUZ, BOSTON POLICE: Woman in labor, woman in labor. They kind of figure it out as cops are running behind them with (INAUDIBLE) what's going on.
REPORTER: The officers going the extra mile on foot in the snow to get this couple to the hospital on time.
PONCE: They did a great job. They were really helpful. I'm really grateful for that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Guys, it is stressful enough just having a baby in a hospital. Can you imagine that kind of situation? The thing is, it could happen again. Not necessarily she having another baby, or trying to in the middle of traffic, but heavy snow may be on the way to parts of it's northeast. Boston could see another one to three inches of snow, maybe some freezing rain top in with that. But others parts of northeast could see up to a foot of snowfall.
Coming up, I'm going to give you a better idea of who's going to get what and what you can expect in your hometown as we make our way through the weekend. That's coming up in just a few minutes.
Let's send it back to you in warm, toasty Atlanta.
HOLMES: No, actually, they have a vent open. It's kind of cool in here. It's cold.
NGUYEN: You know, it's actually 75 here. It's not bad, though. All right, Reynolds. See you later.
HOLMES: And you all stick around for something else. We're going to be showing Reynolds Wolf in an incident -- can we call it an incident? NGUYEN: He's really not a violent man but he did take it out on really an innocent victim. And we'll show you what we're talking about coming up.
HOLMES: Yes, meanwhile, we got a falling ice. Just one of the problems in Oklahoma, after the temperatures warmed up there a bit. Chunks of ice fell from a 458-foot tall tower outside a Lawton TV station right into the building. (INAUDIBLE) and leaving workers a soggy mess to clean up, and check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, good Lord. Ah ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: This place is also being bombarded by ice. Falling from, yet another TV transmission tower. This one is in Oklahoma City. And who says this job isn't dangerous? I tell you, there's still a lot of cleanup to do from the storm a little bit earlier this week.
HOLMES: Yes, and Oklahoma crews working hard to restore power there. It's unlikely or rather it is likely they'll have to get through the storm in the dark. CNN's Keith Oppenheim has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Oklahomans are bracing for their second winter storm in less than a week while still reeling from the worse blackout in state history. Twenty-three deaths have been blamed on last weekend's ice storm, and 100,000 homes and businesses are still without power.
CYNTHIA HILL, OKLAHOMA CITY RESIDENT: It's been cold. By walls are wet. You blow smoke in the house, but I had on about four layers of clothes and blankets and I survived.
OPPENHEIM: Cynthia Hill is one of the lucky ones. After five days without electricity, her heat is finally backed on.
HILL: It just came back on about 20 minutes ago, and you'd have thought I won the lottery! I'm happy!
OPPENHEIM: President Bush declared a state of emergency earlier this week, making the state eligible for federal aid. Utility workers from at least six surrounding states are helping out.
BRENT SWADLEY, UTILITY WORKER: Yes. Thanks for your hard work.
OPPENHEIM: Every day has brought steady progress in restoring power. The tired crews have had little time to prepare for this storm.
SWADLEY: Trying to replace a lot of polls right now. The trees are horrible. We got about 25 to 35 mile-an-hour wind coming in. Next 24 hours, we're trying to prepare for that and get the trees cut back as we can right now.
OPPENHEIM: With up to six inches of new snow expected in some parts of the state, utility workers from Texas might find themselves spending the holidays away from home.
TERRY TRULL, UTILITY WORKER: At least another week, maybe a bit longer. Just depends on how long it takes to get all these people back on.
OPPENHEIM: Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Oklahoma City.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Just check out this I-reports from St. John, Kansas, I- reporter Suzanne Gervais sent these to us. She says cherry blossom trees are bent over from the weight of all that ice right outside her patio. These pictures were taken on Thursday when her power was off.
HOLMES: Talking about all this cold, showing all this ice. Now let's talk about global warming. A big breakthrough to tell you about this morning on that issue. The U.S. has dropped a long standing up objections to a U.N. plan to curb greenhouse gases. This is a major shift on a critical issue.
Now, talks can move forward on the global agreement to cut carbon dioxide emissions. The talk final day of agreement is 2009 that if it gets agreed on the new plan during the final day of the U.N. conference on climate change in Bali, Indonesia.
NGUYEN: The attorney general says no to Capitol Hill. Lawmakers want Michael Mukasey to hand over information about the Justice Department's probe into destruction of CIA interrogation videos. Mukasey refused saying, it would look like he was caving into political pressure. He also told Congressional leaders, he sees no reason right now to turn the investigation over to a special counsel.
HOLMES: Turning to Pakistan now. An end to the state of emergency there. Just a few hours ago, President Pervez Musharraf lifted his emergency declaration. It had been in effect since November 3rd. Musharraf has also restored the Constitution but with a few changes that have not yet been publicized. Opposition leaders have said they would boycott next month's elections if the emergency order was not lifted.
NGUYEN: New Jersey becomes the first state to mandate flu shots for preschoolers. State health officials say, the shots will reduce illness and even death. Flu strains can be especially hard on small children and elderly people. Some parents argue though against the mandatory shots saying their kids were getting too many vaccines. New Jersey allows parents to opt out for religious or medical reasons.
Two small children abandoned behind a strip club in Phoenix. Police say that's what happened. And now, they are trying to figure out why. One of the children is about 18 months old. The other is nine months old. Police have found their mother, but they don't know right now if she's involved in leaving them next to a dumpster. The boy and girl were found by a trash collector around 5:30 in the morning yesterday, and surveillance video shows they'd been there about 90 minutes.
HOLMES: Well, the family lost everything, but they're still together now, thanks to man's best friend. Her name is Ellie Mae, and when a fire broke out in her owner's Arkansas home, mom, Trista Smith grabbed her son but she couldn't reach her 17-month-old. So Ellie Mae, the dog went in, pushing her way through the fire and pulling the toddler out.
NGUYEN: Wow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF TRISTA SMITH, DOG OWNER: I love that dog. I will never -- she will be in our family as long as she lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well ...
NGUYEN: That's amazing.
HOLMES: Ellie Mae alerted the family with enough time with the grandfather who used a wheelchair was able to drag himself out of the house.
NGUYEN: What an incredible story. Yes. Man's best friend no doubt.
HOLMES: We need to nominate Ellie Mae for CNN HEROES.
NGUYEN: We should! I wonder what that acceptance speech would be like. All right. Well, he takes police for a ride and taunts them. You have to see this story. A driver in a van was chased for miles, then take it down, all caught on dash cam video.
HOLMES: Also, ice. Driver's invisible enemy.
And CNN's Rob Marciano, as always, going for a spin.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Millions of you out there dealing with a tough situation this morning. Snow, ice, freezing rain's -- so how do you stay safe on the road with all that stuff?
NGUYEN: That's important. Because it is a driver dilemma and our Rob Marciano went in search of the best tires.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: C'mon, I thought with all- season tires we don't need winter tires now.
MATT EDMONDS, VICE PRESIDENT, THE TIRE TRACK: Well, an all- season tire is good in everything but it's not great in anything. I mean it's going to give you some winter performance, but it's not going to give you the ultimate.
MARCIANO: Show me the difference.
So, this car has the all-season, non we're going to skid more tires. This is what you're going to find on really about 90% of the vehicles out there. Let's go see how we do pap speed of roughly 10, 11 miles an hour, you find yourself driving in your neighborhood.
I got nothing!
That was exactly what happened. In worst I'm going to hit and it's worst in this hockey rink and it still makes me nauseous not having that control.
EDMONDS: Yes, in the worst conditions. Slowing down makes a big difference. Slowing down, maintaining space behind yourself. Because if someone in front of you loses control you want the ability to get around them.
MARCIANO: So, we're in the red car with the better winter tires.
EDMONDS: As we go through the corner here, I think you'll definitely feel the difference.
MARCIANO: It's digging into the ice.
EDMONDS: They're barking. Listen to it, they're grabbing the ice, they're working. They're gripping the ice like it's pavement.
MARCIANO: So, here when I try to brake, it's just like driving down the road in a slick spot, and trying to avoid the person in front of you.
EDMONDS: Yes, you're coming up to an intersection, the ice is going polished by people stopping, that's what's really this simulates here for us. We've got the all-season tires. We'll see how it do compare that's great in the winter tires.
MARCIANO: All right, fancy pants tires. Let's see what happens over there.
EDMONDS: Get going.
MARCIANO: About twice as far.
EDMONDS: Yes. So you get -- it makes a difference. You know, getting on the brakes, the brakes are working. We felt the brakes are working, we heard them working, but the tires weren't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Yes, that's right. Rob tells us the new winter tire are not studded and don't damage the road. And he says the cost of a set of four, far less than most accident insurance deductibles. I would hope so! My goodness.
HOLMES: Well, it's a bit of perspective there. Folks in the nation's midsection will need to watch their driving today. Some places expecting snow, others ice. Right now, I think I get a live picture from Kansas City. Kansas City, you can make out some of the snow or what not on the ground then.
NGUYEN: Nobody's on the road.
HOLMES: Nobody's on the road yet. And then, as soon as we say that, somebody wants to pop up on the screen!
NGUYEN: Now they're all coming out!
HOLMES: Yes, just couple we're seeing there. Also, the other picture, we don't have it, from St. Louis, Missouri. We don't have the other from St. Louis. And maybe the ice got to the camera there and it's not quite working.
NGUYEN: We'll get that thing fired up shortly.
In the meantime though, from the Midwest to the northeast, it is just a mess out there. Meteorologist, Karen Maginnis, in the severe weather center this morning, tracking it all. What do you have?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Betty and T.J., we got a picture, a live power cam coming out of Enid, Oklahoma now. Oklahoma City, just a few days ago, they were suffering with the ice that brought down trees and power lines and made it very difficult for the roadways. Now, you can see that wind is blowing that snow around, they're expecting between one and three inches of rainfall. The outside air temperature in Enid is currently just about 21 degrees. Alright. Got a different perspective for you as what's happening in Oklahoma. I told you about the ice.
Well, take a look at this. This is the state of Oklahoma. This is from ETE.com. You see this flashing lights here? Where you see those red areas, that's where we got 500 people or more that are reporting no power. This has been going on for five days now. Well, I checked Oklahoma City and their grand total of homes without power now, running about 50,000. They're saying more than 100,000 without power right around that metro Oklahoma City area.
All right. Our area of low pressure is going to move to the Ohio River valley. Eventually towards the northeast, on the northern edge, the heaviest snowfall, interior sections of the northeast in New England could see up to two feet of snowfall. We'll keep you updated throughout the afternoon hours and let you know all about this wintry mix -- T.J., Betty?
NGUYEN: Thank you, Karen.
HOLMES: All right. Well, this is the stuff that dreams are built on. A sunken pirate ship, we need to tell you about first in our crickets. NGUYEN: This is a special one. Archaeologists from Indiana University say the wreck of a pirate ship abandoned by Captain Kid back in the 17th century has been found in the Caribbean.
HOLMES: Do we know Captain Kidd?
NGUYEN: Well, he's pretty famous.
HOLMES: Is he really? Who was he? (INAUDIBLE)
NGUYEN: Yes. You want the whole history?
HOLMES: Captain Kidd. Well, his ship found in the water 10 feet deep and less than 25 yards off the coast of Catalina Island in the Dominican Republic. There go coins, (INAUDIBLE) the ship can reveal a lot about the pirate, and his Caribbean adventure.
NGUYEN: We always see this!
HOLMES: Grown men. Grown men. You know, this is in South Korea. You know what they're fighting over, Betty?
NGUYEN: What?
HOLMES: A chair.
NGUYEN: A chair?
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: What kind? I mean, is that a special chair?
HOLMES: I don't know. Maybe a throne ...
NGUYEN: Certainly not worth this. Look, there's a woman in the middle of this.
HOLMES: There's a phone going. A phone! Oh, goodness.
NGUYEN: Maybe they'll try to call for help!
HOLMES: Well, this is happening at opposition party members trying to keep the speaker of the assembly, in Korea, from taking his seat. The opposition trying to stop the ruling party from bringing an impeachment vote against its top presidential candidate and that's what happened.
NGUYEN: I am baffled by that. It's a good thing our lawmakers don't get into feisty cuffs. But I don't want to put it out there too much to be messy next week.
HOLMES: You know, maybe we can get something worked out. Just go at it.
NGUYEN: It is an election season, right? Emotions are high!
HOLMES: Yes, one more thing here. Some more video, interesting stuff here you need to check out. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do ...
(END VIDEO CLI)
NGUYEN: When they come for you ...
HOLMES: We know the song from the show "Cops" and then we heard it plenty of times. But it was being sung this time by a real suspect. It happened in Florida. Police got a call that somebody crashed into a shopping center, they arrived to find the van.
NGUYEN: But the driver didn't want to talk, and actually took off. He jumped a curb, ran into a patrol car and then hit a fire hydrant. You think he's not going to get caught? Finally, the police did get close. Busted out his window and then collared him. Look kind of funny, though. Singing the song.
HOLMES: Even sang the song.
NGUYEN: OK. Some more time in jail there, buddy. But you think it's going to help you?
Mandatory down time to increase productivity. All about that -- one school is making classes like yoga. Sounds pretty good.
HOLMES: That is good.
NGUYEN: A required course, it's all about helping students deal with stress. I need some of that help.
HOLMES: Mandatory yoga in the news room. All right.
Also, steroids in baseball. Not really a shock. Let you know that steroids in baseball, but this week's critical steroid report from Senator Mitchell, will it really make fans think twice about the players or the game?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, did you know that more students will apply to college next year than ever before, and that means competition is fierce among those hoping to get into elite universities. But educators say that kind of pressure is creating a class of stressed out overachievers willing to sacrifice almost anything just to make the grade. So, to buck this trend, you might be surprised how far some schools are going.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN (voice over): When did yoga become a required course to reduce stress among students?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Underneath you ... NGUYEN: When a freshman like Natashia Von Kaeppler started spending four hours a night on homework. That's after three hours at basketball practice and a full day of classes preparing for final exams. The pressure can be intense.
NATASHIA VON KAEPPLER: It's really, like, OK. Have you studied for your test? Yes, mom, I studied for my test, but it's kind of like, do I study enough? Because I know if I come home with bad grades, they're not going to be that happy.
NGUYEN: It's enough to send some students to the breaking point. Stanford professor Denise Pope has seen the affects. She created a program that's helping reduce stress in 45 schools across the nation. It's called SOS, for stressed out students.
NGUYEN (on camera): Does the stress among students these days scare you?
DR. DENISE POPE, SOS FOUNDER: It scares me because of the suicide rates that we're seeing, and the real sense of hopelessness in kids. They are experimenting with drugs on a much higher basis. They are binge drinking. Not because they want to experiment with alcohol, but they're saying, I have had a stressful week. I need to get completely drunk this weekend. Much about this scares me, and as a parent, I have three kids. I don't want my own kids to go through this.
NGUYEN: But how do you prevent cheating, sleep deprivation, depression, even eating disorders among the nation's top students when there's enormous pressure to get into the elite colleges? Castilleja, an all-girls' school in Pallolato (ph), California that prescribes to Professor Pope's SOS plan. Along with required yoga classes. The school's building a new wellness center and also staggered classes so there are fewer each day creating less homework. Sonja Swenson, Castilleja senior who is at thrilled that finals are now in December instead of January.
SONJA SWENSON, CASTILLEJA SENIOR: I think that moving the finals up to before winter break has not only made the exams studying period less stressful, it's also really made winter break a true break.
NGUYEN: Lauren Schryver heads up the school's SOS task force.
LAUREN SCHRYVER, SOS TASK FORCE: About 80 percent of our students said that both the calendar change and the schedule change were definitely decreasing stress.
NGUYEN: There's even homework-free weekends and holidays, not to mention ...
VON KAEPPLER: Free periods, also, which really help, if I don't get to finish one thing, then I can finish it up the next day during my free period.
NGUYEN: The school also eliminated the stress of bells ringing between classes. Some argue this is just a way to coddle students who need to be prepared for the real world. Pope disagrees. She says the current system is turning kids into robots, only interested in spitting out the right answer, no matter what it takes, which ends up hurting them in the long run.
POPE: They're little robotrons. They're very dated middle managers but they're not good at being created, they're not good at thinking out of the box, they're not good at actually listening to criticism and accepting it and they're not good at working in a team. All of these things is what we need to succeed in a global economy.
NGUYEN: So, can the SOS Plans succeed in schools without sacrificing those all-important grades?
According to Castilleja High, the stress rates have drops but the grades have not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And you know, I think that's important because a lot of people will look at this and say, yoga, homework-free weekends and holiday, staggered classes.
HOLMES: Sounds pretty good.
NGUYEN: Not as much -- yes, on the plate, but the grades have not dropped. So, it means that they're able to de-stress for a minute, and then still get the work done, and, you know, especially with next year being the year when most students will be applying to college, more than any other year before -- man, that is so stressful. I talked to one student who spent five hours each night on homework. Five hours. She's applying to 11 different colleges.
So, these kids are under a lot of, a lot of pressure, and not only to make the grade, but to get into that college. And you know, you're just starting out your career. You know? If you think about college, you're not even in the work force just yet. Kids out there -- yes ...
HOLMES: You want to know stress? No.
NGUYEN: Come here. Kidding.
HOLMES: It's interesting that even stop ringing the bell in between classes to make it easy.
NGUYEN: Right. You know, funny that you say that. Because one of the students I spoke with said that kind of stresses her out because they always waiting for the -- do I go yet? Do I go yet?
HOLMES: Wow.
NGUYEN: So, yes, you know, it has its pluses and minuses. For the most part it is working at that school.
HOLMES: Where's that program when we were in school.
NGUYEN: Exactly, I could use a little yoga.
HOLMES: Reynolds Wolf is out braving the conditions and the cold in Massachusetts. He's cold. I don't know how stressed. Reynolds, how you doing?
WOLF: Doing fine. There's nothing about brave going on at all. This is absolute cowardice on my part. We are freezing out here. It's a beautiful day though in Boston commons. The sun coming out, temperatures obviously remained fairly low, in the 20s. And although the sun is shining, we are expecting some huge changes in the forecast coming up. Not just for Boston but for much of the northeast. We're going to give you the full forecast coming up very, very soon.
Let's send it back to you.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Reynolds.
And Josh Levs is keeping them honest on the campaign trail. Hit there, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Keeping him honest, you know. His freezing but he won't wear a hat. What's that about? Weathermen and that hair I got to call him.
All right, everybody. Well, on the trail over in Iowa, as much as they have to get on the trail on this snow and ice that's been over there. So, we were taking a look at this. What if the results of the Iowa caucuses have already been predicted? Coming up in just a few minutes, I'm going to show you what the polls at this point in the game really show. That's right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: The time is to take advantage of a tax credit for home energy efficiency. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 offers a tax credit about up too 10 percent on the cost of energy efficient building material.
But this part of the Act will not extend past January 1st so cash while you can. Upgrade to energy efficient doors and windows. All- energy star windows qualify for the credit. Replace the old furnace with a new greener version. And if you're willing to take the plunge, install a solar energy system including solar panels and a solar water heater. For more information check out the U.S. Department of Energy Web site.
I'm Gerri Willis and that's your "Tip of the Day. For more ideas, strategies and tips to save your money and protect your house, watch "OPEN HOUSE" today 9:30 a.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: Welcome back, everybody, on this December 15th, we are half way through the month, almost done with the year. Can you believe it? Thanks for watching us.
HOLMES: Yes, you almost done with Christmas shopping?
NGUYEN: No! I am so far behind. I don't even have the time. I'm stressed. I'm stressed about it!
HOLMES: Go to yoga class, like the kids.
NGUYEN: Breathe!
HOLMES: I'm T.J. Holmes, glad you could be here with us this morning. People in the plains in New England, bracing for another wintry blast.
NGUYEN: Yes, they are. More than a quarter of million homes and businesses are still without power from Thursday's ice storm. Now they are hunkering down for a snowstorm today. Kansas may also feel the brunt of it.
HOLMES: Also, a winter blast expected in the northeast, too. Folks still digging out, as you can see. The winter storm is, much of Southern New England. Snow, sleet, freezing rain, you name it, they got it. They are all on tap for later tonight. There it is.
NGUYEN: Reynolds -- out in the snow.
HOLMES: Hey, guys.
NGUYEN: Are you enjoying it at all? This is your forte! This is weather at its extreme.
WOLF: You know, it's beautiful. I mean, you can't complain for being here. I'm sure, it's cold, but it's not the absolute worst. The problem we're dealing with in Massachusetts here, especially in Boston is that you have so much snow that fell here, about 36 hours ago. Again, snowfall rates falling at about an inch to three inches an hour. That is a heck of a lot of snow.
The problem is, with temperatures still right around the 20- degree range or so, and with that nor'easter pulling out, what's going to happen, we'll see a lot of that moisture from the Atlantic fall through the lower levels of the atmosphere and a lot of that is going to freeze. We're going to see more in terms of freezing rain, more in snowfall and a lot of wind. Maybe even some coastal flooding. That's going to be a tremendous issue.
Now, in points that are further west, spots like Syracuse, New York, or even into Buffalo, the snowfall there could measure not in inches but in feet. That could be really some rough stuff about possibly a whole foot of snow falling in Buffalo. And Syracuse could see the same. And then, when you make farther in the west back in Kansas and into Missouri, that could be nasty there as well. So, looking at a pretty rough weekend. Of course, Karen Maginnis is going to give you the very latest on all of that coming up very soon.
NGUYEN: Oh, but you know what, Reynolds? We are not done with you. Not even close.
WOLF: Yes, we are.
HOLMES: We never really considered Reynolds an angry man.
NGUYEN: No. I've seen him in his violent mode, although, he apparently has one.
HOLMES: If he's taking it out, not on a fellow human being or anything like that. He took it out, on all things, a snowman.
NGUYEN: A helpless little snowman.
HOLMES: Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF: You won't be seeing much in terms of the -- the snow. I didn't mean for that -- that ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: That was brutal, Reynolds. You just made ...
WOLF: Oh, my gosh. Imagine the nightmares that they'll have? I can't wait for the e-mail I get from that. Sorry, Frosty.
NGUYEN: Yes, that was bad.
WOLF: There was no Frosty. I have no idea what you're talking about. There was never a snowman here. That's a figment of your imagination.
NGUYEN: Oh, this is bad.
WOLF: Whoa! It does appear that -- don't you love these golden moments of television?
HOLMES: Yes, that was golden.
NGUYEN: OK, Reynolds -- let me ask you this. Was that some little kid's snowman that you just obliterated?
WOLF: Somewhere this morning, a child is crying, and it's all because of me.
NGUYEN: Because of you.
WOLF: Yes.
NGUYEN: You better go back and build that snowman again.
WOLF: You know, I have to. Actually that was made by some of the great members here of the crew and I was the one to push it aside. Again, I -- who am I kidding? Yes, it was made by a beautiful young child, and I completely destroyed it. I'm the crusher of dreams. I am the killer of snowmen.
NGUYEN: You're the grinch that stole Christmas and the snowman along with it! All right, Reynolds.
WOLF: That's what they call me.
NGUYEN: We'll try to forgive you. And you repent of your sins. We'll talk to you a little bit later, see how you're doing.
WOLF: All right, guys.
NGUYEN: Yes, all right. In the meantime, polls of the life blood of politics. Just one survey of voters can raise the hopes or dash the dreams.
HOLMES: Of course, dashing the dreams. Right now, everybody's watching the polls in Iowa. Numbers are kind of all over the place.
NGUYEN: Yes, they are.
HOLMES: But can you trust these at all? Josh Levs, we can trust you, keeping it real for us, as always. Can you trust the numbers?
LEVS: Let me take a look at it. And I promise you guys, no latent anger issues. (INAUDIBLE) You guys are safe. Yes, that's what I want to know, these numbers, something we should pay attention to. Right? Because we're putting a lot of focus on them lately. So, what we're going to show you now is whether the numbers that we've got so far can actually predict the Iowa results.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MITT ROMNEY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There we go. Thanks.
LEVS (voice over): The final week before the pivotal Iowa caucuses, and if you believe the latest polls, Mike Huckabee is on the lead on the Republican side. While among Democrats, Barack Obama is neck and neck with Hillary Clinton.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I always knew it would be hard. There's no surprise about that.
LEVS: Could we easily see a surprise? Such as John Edwards winning, or do the poll as few weeks out accurately predict results? Let's look back. In 2004, just two weeks before the caucuses, Howard Dean led these polls followed by Dick Gephardt, then John Kerry, who went on to win in Iowa, while Gephardt dropped out and Dean, well -
HOWARD DEAN: Ah! LEVS: But that doesn't mean the polls missed entirely. The week before the caucuses, these polls were showing Kerry having pulled up or even edging ahead. The polls following the trends as many undecided caucus-goers pick their candidates. But this year's contenders face a whole new challenge. The caucuses are more than two weeks earlier than last time. The January 3rd date means candidates have to contend with Christmas and New Year's.
No one wants to be the grinch ruining the holidays by calling houses or knocking on doors during the respite voters are used to getting from the election onslaught. So, if campaigning slows down just days from now, do the feelings of caucus-goers freeze in place? If so, candidates know the latest polls might not be so far off.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: Of course, there are other factors. The weather, for example. If there's a big blizzard on January 3rd, then the results are going to be affected by who has the best infrastructure to make sure supporters even get out to the caucuses. So, it's not just the politics.
In either way, guys, Americans are keeping a very close eye, because a victory in Iowa really can be a huge boost to anybody's campaign to anyone.
NGUYEN: So you have speak out?
LEVS: Yes.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Josh.
HOLMES: Speaking of Iowa -- look at the election express. Look at that. You know what that shot's going to look like tomorrow, Betty?
NGUYEN: What is it going to look like, T.J.?
HOLMES: Just like that, except you're going to see my face in that picture.
NGUYEN: That is terrific. You are going to freeze to death. You think Reynolds looks cold, wait until you see T.J. tomorrow.
HOLMES: And the snow is going to the side. It is kicking there. I'm talking about early, I don't have a hat. So, if I can borrow one of yours.
NGUYEN: We'll work on that. Pink, preferably.
HOLMES: Going to be there in CNN election express. Hopefully tomorrow, state of the art studio facility on wheels to bring you the most complete political coverage on TV.
NGUYEN: Yes, you're going to have to compete with Bill Schneider, he's the man with all the hats. HOLMES: The man with the hats. Maybe, he'll let me borrow one. To Bill, I put you on notice.
NGUYEN: Bill, if you're watching.
HOLMES: All right. We've got much more ahead here, including some weird cats from South Korea.
NGUYEN: No, it is not Halloween, just glow in the dark cats. Can you believe it? I guess you don't have to worry about stepping on them while walking around in the middle of the night.
HOLMES: Also, we'll be talking about steroids in baseball. That's been the talk of the last few days. The last thing to expect from Thursday's bombshell. Buddy, joins us with his inside look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A critical look at baseball and steroids. Not exactly a bombshell, not exactly surprising to a lot of folks but still this week's report on performance-enhancing drugs and America's pastime did hit home. Congress promised to hear next week, but now that's been postponed until mid-January. The man behind the steroids report, former senator George Mitchell is expected at the hearing and he is already defending his work
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE MITCHELL, MLB STEROID INVESTIGATOR: There's direct eyewitness statements by participants. There are checks. There are money orders. There are telephone calls, and there are many admissions. At least 11 players admitted to us that they did, in fact, purchase steroids from one of the witnesses, as he said they had. So, I think it's quite wrong to say there's no concrete evidence, there's several hundred pages of evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. But will this report have any real affect on baseball? Sports business analyst, Rick Horrow joining us now from West Palm Beach, yes, we have a serious topic here though Rick. You just heard him say, 11 admissions from players. OK. We got a lot of players in baseball. We get 11 admissions. Does that really prove anything about steroids in baseball that we didn't already know?
RICK HORROW, SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: That's the tip of a very, very, very large iceberg, T.J. You know the deal is $10 million for the investigation, 400 pages, seven , MVPs, over 30 All-stars, World Series participants are implicated.
Now, when you look at the pages, it says, players linked to performance-enhancing drugs, and I'm not sure a court would be able to accept all of this, its a confidentiality interest issue versus the public interest and a lot of people today, they're talking about lawsuits on behalf of players, but the bottom line is baseball is coming clean in a way, and there's a positive upside to that, which we ought to talk about.
HOLMES: Well, how is that? We talk -- I mean, this is more hearsay, though. He said/he said hearsay and you are putting players' names out there. He thinks there's concrete evidence. But many of their arguing, all you have is one person accusing another person of using steroids and we get nothing accomplished here.
HORROW: Yes. We understand what hearsay is and we understand the press conference that Bud Selig had, saying 20 recommendations, the ones I can do myself I'm going to do myself. And here's the analogy. You know, baseball, if you hit rock bottom, like AA, admitting you're an alcoholic or the 29 crash if you are stock market analogy. Baseball recovers at a time of maximum pain. You also got to remember, $6 billion business compared to a little over a billion, when Phil Vincent (ph), the commissioner in 1991 wrote a report saying, let's do something about drugs.
We've come a long way, 80 million fans, last year, keep setting attendance records, 4 million kids. The big issue is franchise values of 15 percent -- $400 million a franchise. The point is -- baseball has a way to rebound and because of the Bonds issue and Mitchell Report, they may start on their way. Three years from now, you may say this is where baseball turned the corner. You can't see it today, but you may in the future.
HOLMES: I don't see it today, what are fans thinking about this? What are you hearing from folks you talk to? Is this going to have a real, definite impact on baseball? Like you said, the Cubs are doing well, baseball's doing well. Yes, you've got a few bad apples and Bonds, like you say, the face of the steroids era and whatnot. You know, really, is baseball going to be hurt by this particular report?
HORROW: Well, this particular report has a kind of an incremental effect and we talked about that. But I do think there's another issue that's even bigger than just baseball. What a month? Right, Vick, O.J., Marion Jones, Pac-man Jones, even Katrina in its own way, OK? And all of that adds up. Bottom line is - there was a survey that said 80 percent of us would rather see corporations sponsor buildings that don't talk rather than athletes that do.
More important, 70 percent of the California high school kids interviewed say they need to cheat to be recognized. And so maybe Martina Navratilova at ERP have it right. She just did an endorsement. She's retired. Seven of the top ten athletes making money are no longer in the game. So, maybe, we have Jesse Owens and Babe Ruth and Jim Thorpe endorse, you may have problems speaking with them, but they have no behavior problems.
HOLMES: All right. And 10 seconds fully, I got to make this 10 seconds. Clemens, his name in the report. Biggest shocker in there?
HORROW: Yes, biggest shocker in there. But let's see how he responds. He's already started responding.
HOLMES: All right, Rick Horrow, good to see you. See you next time. See you soon. Have a good one. HORROW: Yes, sir. Bye.
NGUYEN: All right. We have more on the baseball controversy. That's ahead this morning. Meantime, Josh Levs is here to explain what is coming up. Hey there, Josh.
LEVS: Yes, hey there. Things are about to get really busy and hot in here over at the dotcom desk. Because I'm going to let America know right now, if you have an opinion a thought on this issue, we know feelings are red hot here. You can send them to us. Here's how you do it Weekends@CNN.com, you can e-mail that while you can also use the I-report system, this I-report via dotcom. That means you can send this in by video and we explain it all CNN.com at the Web site.
So, here's what's going to happen, send in your thoughts or your opinions. I don't think there's anyone left in America who doesn't have an opinion on this issue. Feel free to let us know what you're thinking. And guys, already beginning next hour, we're going to start to share some of these on the air, so we'll be leafing through these to make sure. Keep it here at next hour so you can hear just some of what our viewers are thinking. Guys?
NGUYEN: Much more to come here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Stay with us, including this. Two little girls get the best.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: So many of you have probably heard of the Cheshire cat. Well, these felines, way better than that. Take a look. Yes. They glow. It's true. Scientists in South Korea manipulated the genes of one cat and then created clones.
HOLMES: What?
NGUYEN: Do you believe that?
HOLMES: The result is that all of them glow red under ultraviolet light.
NGUYEN: How freaky is that?
HOLMES: That's a little strange. You know, I got a couple of cats, well, I don't want my cats walking around the house looking like that.
NGUYEN: Can you imagine sleeping and for some reasons feeling the cat on you, waking up and seeing those eyes?
HOLMES: But it could work out. We all step on the cat gets under you, let's out that aaargh thing. So, this might be a good thing. Glow in the dark cats.
NGUYEN: Way to put a spin on it, T.J.
All right. In Kentucky, daddy felt bad about missing his daughter's birthday while on duty in Iraq, so he sent a big present for them to open up at school, tearing open the wrapping and -- surprise!
HOLMES: Wait for the -- wait for the ...
NGUYEN: There he is. Dad in a box.
HOLMES: Dad, being creative there. Sergeants Matthew Wilder, reporting for hugs! One of the girls, that all she wanted for Christmas was her Daddy in a box. Well -- his wife found out he was coming home, so he made the daughters' dream come true.
NGUYEN: Who knew? Wolf is out braving the cold in Boston this hour, I bet he likes some kind of shelter. Hey, maybe even a box but no such luck today. Good morning, Reynolds.
WOLF: No, see, the warmth from your love keeps me warm.
NGUYEN: Get out of here!
WOLF: That's all I need. Let me tell you. Hey, folks it is really the calm before the storm up here in Boston. We had over a foot of snowfall in many parts of Massachusetts, from the last storm. Now, we're getting a bit of a break and then round two comes later tonight and into tomorrow. We're going to tell you exactly what you can expect in the northeast as well as other parts of the country. That's all moments away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. We got Reynolds out there, braving the temperature but still Karen Maginnis is here in the studio and you got some stuff going on yourself over there.
MAGINNIS: T.J., I could spend about the next 20 minutes describing this severe weather event that's going to be taking place. Kansas City, this is our live tower cam. It's fairly quiet right now. We're seeing a little bit of snowfall, reduced visibility. A little misty. The temperature outside, is 21 degrees, but I want to show you a bigger picture that's going on. Right now, Kansas City is kind of transitioning from being a little misty.
There's another little area of snowfall that's going to be on its way, but that area of low pressure is developing across the South Central United States, as it develops, it's going to move through the Ohio River valley, then towards the Atlantic Coast, and then we're looking at our big, significant event taking place as we go into the overnight hours and then for the northeast New England, going into Sunday.
And these red shaded areas, along that i-90 corridor and i-95 corridor, winter storm watches, and warnings have been issued for a number of those areas. We'll zoom in a little bit more closely and give you a close are view. From Cleveland all the way up to Bangor, Maine, and the St. Lawrence River valley area. Some places could see, T.J. and Betty, as much as two feet of snowfall and winds gusting near 50 miles an hour.
Now back to you.
HOLMES: You're right. You could spend the next 20 minutes talking about the weather there! We'll see you again here shortly. Well, thank you, Karen.
NGUYEN: Well, good morning, everybody. From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, it is a very cold December 15th and much of the country. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. I'm so glad you could be here with us. Yes, they are suddenly just in time. We got snowing in again. (INAUDIBLE).
NGUYEN: Also, ready to implode. You know, we never miss an implosion on this show.
HOLMES: We do not.
NGUYEN: See that building? It is about to blow and we will bring it straight to you.
HOLMES: Also called snail mail for a reason, but come on, a Christmas card arriving 93 years late?
NGUYEN: Snail is right on that one. Let's start with this. We'll get this to you on time. The weather outside snowed in, cold as ice.
HOLMES: It's another wintry blast ready to pound the nation's mid section and parts of New England.
NGUYEN: This, before residents finished digging out from Thursday's storm. Snow, sleet, freezing rain are on tap there late tonight and into the morning in New England.
HOLMES: Also bracing for snow in the Midwest, live picture from Kansas City, Missouri, also, got another live picture for you this morning from Oklahoma. There it is. The lights are on there. The traffic is moving. And this is the calm, we should tell you, before the storm, the storm that certainly is coming.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim in Oklahoma City, where it is still calm, but it's on its way to you. Good morning to you, sir.
OPPENHEIM: Hi, T.J.
We're getting a little bit of precipitation right now. I'm not sure exactly what this is. It's sort of a mix right now between rain turning to snow, so, kind of yucky. And this is why it's a big deal. Walk with me, as we go back here. And you look at all of this damage. This all came from a huge ice storm that absolutely walloped the state of Oklahoma earlier this week. Look at all these limbs that have fallen on top of this house and made just a mess of this yard.
One example of what the state has gone through with cleaning up from ice all over the state. 600,000 businesses and homes were without power at one point. Now, that number has been reduced to about 125,000. So, the problem with the snow today is it's really going to really slow things down, maybe just about two inches or so in Oklahoma City. More like four inches of snow to the north of here.
But there are power crews and restoration crews from six states that are trying to clean up this thing. So, with slick roads and bad conditions today, it's not going to help because they are still, T.J., a good week or so away from getting power restored to everyone. And they obviously want to do it as quickly as they can.
Back to you.
HOLMES: A good week away? My goodness. If those folks had power and could hear you say that, they would cringe. But tell us, with storms like this, there's so much cleanup, so much damage even done, any idea of what this storm is costing that area?
OPPENHEIM: It's expensive. Governor Brad Henry estimates that the damage could be $200 million. Keep in mind that Oklahoma has had three really tough ice storms in the past decade. So, this has been a hard week for the state.
HOLMES: All right, Keith Oppenheim for us in Oklahoma City. We'll see you again soon. Thanks so much.
NGUYEN: And our Reynolds Wolf is braving this winter snow. He's in Boston today, joining us live. Not only is Boston experiencing this, not only some parts of the nation, but more people are getting it, Reynolds. He's going to be talking to us shortly about that.
In the meantime though, check out this video from I-reporter Max Codax in Massachusetts as we take a look at that car, want to show it to you, in and out, there you go, swerving on the snow. It almost hits a bus. He was watching all this from his apartment window in Boston on Thursday and could not help but grab a camera.
And this I-reporter Ben Log (ph) says traffic was backed up all over the city in Worcester. He says these photos were for us and he says that people abandoned their cars, because they couldn't get up (INAUDIBLE) the snow and up the snow and the hills covered and all that ice and muck and mess.
HOLMES: We keep trying, though. We keep on trying.
NGUYEN: You've got to get out of there. What do you do, you sit there and freeze? I don't know, call 911. I'm sure they're kind of busy.
HOLMES: Who do you call?
NGUYEN: Yeah, exactly.
HOLMES: ... they can get to you. Our Reynolds Wolf, he has made his way out to Boston. We've been checking in with him this morning. It looks gorgeous where you are, but it does cause problems for some folks there. How is it going there, Reynolds? WOLF: It's going fine this morning. It's business as usual right now in Boston common. We're out by the frog pond pavilion. Although it's icy out here, it's supposed to be icy. It's wintertime and this of course is the pavilion where kids are going to be out here ice skating before long, some adults too. It's business as usual. They've got the Zamboni out here, keeping the ice nice and smooth.
But nothing was smooth about 36 hours ago. As you saw in that video earlier, the roads were just clogged with tons of snow. Snow's been coming down at a rate of three inches an hour. Some spots around Boston had upwards of a foot of snow and that caused commutes for some people which would normally take about 15 minutes, some people were stuck on the roads for up to seven hours, including a couple -- the mother happened to be in labor and she had to get to the hospital. Imagine how stressful it is, having a kid in a hospital in a controlled environment. There's a young couple where the mother was actually starting to deliver en route to the hospital.
Some of Boston's finest actually got outside of their cars and were actually pushing the traffic apart to get this car to the hospital where the baby was delivered safely. It's been that kind of thing, that kind of crazy mess. The problem is, it could happen again. What we're dealing with a strong nor'easter that Karen Maginnis has been telling you about all morning long.
As that thing gets closer, what we're going to see is, we're going to see these blue skies vanish, more cloud cover and then we have the chance of that rain, that sleet and of course that snow coupled with the wind. It could be a tremendous problem for millions of people. Although we are getting a nice break for the time being, round two is on the way and it may be a knockout.
NGUYEN: That is not what we want to hear, Reynolds.
WOLF: Absolutely.
NGUYEN: But that is the situation at hand. Thanks for that update. Of course, we'll be talking to you very shortly.
In the meantime though, retiring the retirement home, 15-story apartment complex for seniors coming down in just minutes. Actually, just minutes ago. Here is new video of it in. It's in Savannah, Georgia. The Stubbs Tower has been vacant since a flood there three years ago. Plans are to build a park on that site.
HOLMES: Where does that rank in our implosions?
NGUYEN: Since we didn't hear it ...
HOLMES: It didn't have any sound.
NGUYEN: I would say it's at the bottom of the list.
HOLMES: We don't have any sound.
NGUYEN: It's a magnificent site to see coming down. But you almost just want to hear it.
HOLMES: You've got to.
NGUYEN: Got to hear it. It's part of the implosion.
HOLMES: We had the one where the guy said hee-haw or something.
NGUYEN: There was another one where they were pushing down a couple stacks that didn't implode and they started hacking at it.
HOLMES: The guy had to take off running.
NGUYEN: Right, because it started falling down.
HOLMES: We got to do a best of on our implosions.
NGUYEN: We'll do a year-end best of.
HOLMES: We should. All right.
We've got something else here for you folks. A couple crash landed about five miles off the Florida coast after the engine in their small plane failed. The Coast Guard was there in just minutes. Luckily, the folks were not hurt. Look at that, just floating around. It may have been luck or some experience. A neighbor says the couple had crash landed before while surviving a similar water landing seven years ago. If they offer you a ride in their plane, I suggest you just fly Delta or something else.
NGUYEN: The thing though, these guys have experience, right? They've done it before. They did it this time. They all survived.
HOLMES: I'm good at crashing. That's what you want to hear from your pilot. Yes. I'm an excellent crasher.
NGUYEN: Not exactly. All right. A Christmas wish delayed about -- 93 years. The post office finally delivering a holiday post card originally sent back in December 1914.
HOLMES: The local post master in Kansas says he's surprised somebody found it. Relatives of Ethel Martin were probably pretty surprised as well when it arrived in their mailbox. Can you believe?
NGUYEN: Hopefully, there wasn't a check in it. You can't cash that now. It's a little too late.
HOLMES: Did they have delivery confirmation back in 1914?
NGUYEN: Exactly.
HOLMES: We're going to stick with some politics, turn to some politics now in the polls, new numbers and new moves this morning. Who is up, who is down in South Carolina? We'll tell you.
NGUYEN: Also a little bit later, why this man -- let me show him to you very shortly. Oh, we don't have him. HOLMES: A man.
NGUYEN: A man. He's going to be the key to college educations for thousands of children not even born yet. You have to see this story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Some of the stories making news on the campaign trail. Rudy Giuliani striking out in a different direction, while other candidates are focusing on early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, Giuliani is in delegate-rich Florida. CNN's Mary Snow covering his campus speech this morning. She'll join us a little later.
NGUYEN: John McCain is in Columbia, South Carolina to announce major endorsements next hour. We're going to bring that story to you just as soon as we get it.
HOLMES: Also John Edwards, pulling some star power with him to three town hall meetings in Iowa, actor Kevin Bacon.
NGUYEN: Six degrees of Kevin Bacon, John Edwards.
HOLMES: "Footloose" was great, but I don't know. Oprah?
NGUYEN: Kevin Bacon.
HOLMES: Sorry. No offense, Kevin Bacon. Our Suzanne Malveaux is following them. We'll have a report coming up a little later.
NGUYEN: And in South Carolina, it is the first southern primary state to vote.
HOLMES: And our latest poll showing a shift for both parties in the state. CNN's Bill Schneider joins us now from Charleston to break down the new numbers. Good morning to you, sir.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning. Actually, Columbia, the capital.
HOLMES: Columbia.
SCHNEIDER: I'm here at the Columbia state, South Carolina state museum.
HOLMES: It's certainly no Des Moines. I know you were in Iowa for a while. We enjoyed seeing your hats. That's not the situation there. The weather is not the same. How is the political climate?
SCHNEIDER: The political climate here is changing at a stately southern pace. Since July, what we're seeing is Mike Huckabee surging in the polls of Republicans here in South Carolina. He is now number one. He went from 3 percent in July to 24 percent now in South Carolina. South Carolina is important for Republicans, because this is the conservative base of the party. When you prove yourself to South Carolina Republicans, you prove yourself to a lot of Republicans around the country.
We're seeing Rudy Giuliani's support drop. Some people are asking, could there be a connection to Hillary Clinton's problems on the Democratic side? Could it be that Republicans look at the Democrats and they say well, if Clinton may not be the nominee, maybe we don't have to go with someone like Giuliani, who we don't entirely agree with. Maybe we could go to Mike Huckabee, who speaks to the issues we really want to talk about.
NGUYEN: Well, Bill, let's talk about the Democrats as well because we look at those Republican numbers, how are they faring?
SCHNEIDER: Democrats are changing, too, a little bit more slowly. We're seeing Hillary Clinton's support staying about the same as it was last summer, but a jump in support for Barack Obama. You may recall that Oprah Winfrey was here for a big rally in South Carolina for Barack Obama. That was virtually a cultural event for the African-American community here. Tens of thousands showed up at that free Obama rally. They got lots of names out of it. And now what's happened is that Hillary Clinton's lead over Barack Obama here has been cut in half. It was a 16-point lead in July. Now it's just eight points.
As with the Republicans, South Carolina is a base state. The base of the Democratic Party is African-American voters. They're about half the Democratic voters here in South Carolina. How are African-Americans here voting right now? They're evenly split between Clinton and Obama. The betting, at least in the Obama camp is, if Obama can manage to win Iowa and New Hampshire, two overwhelmingly white states, then African-American voters here in South Carolina will be so excited at the prospect of the first black president, they're not going to stand in his way.
HOLMES: Wow, that's an interesting point there. Bill Schneider, of course and yes, South Carolina, Oprah. I guess that's all he really needs to do, just keep bringing Oprah out.
NGUYEN: We'll see, though because there has been a little criticism from Oprah fans on what she's been doing to stump for the vote for Obama. All right Bill, we do appreciate, of course and we'll be checking in with you throughout the election season.
HOLMES: And one more political note here, unfortunately, I won't be able to see Bill tomorrow. I was hoping to. I'm going to be right there.
NGUYEN: In the snow.
HOLMES: Why? Why did I volunteer for that?
NGUYEN: Hopefully inside the bus and not out. I have a feeling we're going to stick you out in the snow.
HOLMES: Going to be outside, going to be there, co-anchoring our show from the CNN election express bus in Iowa. So join us for this exclusive view of the campaign trail. NGUYEN: And there is much more still ahead right here, including drugs and baseball.
HOLMES: One man looking to make a major impact on the sport, trying to devise a new drug test to catch those cheaters. Our Josh Levs here now, always playing fair.
LEVS: Doing my best and I told you guys, what did I tell you? I told you as soon as I told America weekends@cnn.com is the place to send in your responses to the whole scandal involving steroids, we started immediately hearing from people. Whoa, coming up in just a couple of minutes, you're going to see Americans are not holding back. That's right here CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. This week is seeing some major trades in baseball. So, record contract was signed.
NGUYEN: A-rod.
HOLMES: A-rod, 10 years, $275 million, maybe another 30 plus.
NGUYEN: In the wrong business.
HOLMES: We are. But that's all back page news, actually. Why? Steroids.
NGUYEN: Of course. And former Senator George Mitchell released his critical review of drugs in baseball. It was not pretty. As CNN's Ray D'Alessio reports, there's still a long way to go to catch the cheaters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAY D'ALESSIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don Catlin used to be a baseball fan, but not anymore.
DON CATLIN, DRUG TESTING SCIENTIST: That's because I've seen so much crummy stuff, so much cheating that I just don't know.
D'ALESSIO: What Catlin doesn't know, he spends his life trying to find out. He was the first to develop a test for THG, the previously undetectable steroid made famous by the BALCO Labs and Catlin has now set his sights on finding a reliable test for human growth hormone and the rest of the next frontier in the sordid world of performance enhancing drugs.
CATLIN: They don't come with names on them and nobody sends me an e-mail that says watch out for drug X, Y, Z. We figure it out when they come.
D'ALESSIO: And they don't always figure it out fast enough. Olympic sprinter Marion Jones was tested dozens of times by Catlin's old lab at UCLA. She was never caught. CATLIN: When I read that so and so has been tested 100 times, a lot of those in my lab and we never caught them, that doesn't make me feel very good. Something is wrong with our testing. We have to get on to it.
D'ALESSIO: Catlin has received half a million dollars from major league baseball to try and find a urine test to detect growth hormones. Although easy to administer, a urine test is harder to develop. He can't or won't say how close he is to learn an important lesson about secrecy from the BALCO investigation.
CATLIN: It's not a good idea to go around telling the bad guys exactly what you're doing because they're always out there scheming, trying to figure out a way to beat whatever you're doing. We know that Balco, all our results went to BALCO and an hour later, we'd get a fax back showing that they had our data and were studying our methods and so forth.
D'ALESSIO: So Catlin tries to keep a low profile, certainly lower than the sports stars he's trying to catch, although those are not the cheaters that concern him most.
CATLIN: The pharmaceutical industry makes drugs. That's their job and they do a great job. But they're making drugs for legitimate reasons. But you can be sure that the people who abuse drugs are watching, more than I what's coming in the pipeline and checking to see whether there's going to be some activity in that drug that might enhance performance. That's the nature of the beast.
D'ALESSIO: And it's a beast the 69-year-old Catlin says will be hard to slay.
CATLIN: They're never going to stop. You know, maybe we can get a lid on it or get containment, which we're striving for, but so far it's not there.
D'ALESSIO: Ray D'Alessio, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right. Our inbox is filling up fast with reaction to the Mitchell report on steroids in baseball. We knew it was going to happen. We know a lot of people have a lot to say about this.
HOLMES: Got stuff to say and they don't mind saying it. Josh Levs is the one sorting through all of it. What are they saying?
LEVS: It's America's past time. It's about the fans. In this case, especially, a huge part of the story is what Americans have to say about this and how will it affect Americans view of the past time? So what I want to do right now bring you a couple that we just got this morning. It's at weekends@cnn.com. Send us what you think.
I'll read you the first one. This one just came into us from Rick in Cheektowaga, New York. He tells us, those players who were named in the report ought to be banned for life and records taken away from their names. I have lost $5,000 of my investment because all my baseball cards will drop in value overnight.
Let's do another one here. This is from Lee in West Virginia. So much for heroes. It seems that the greed for millions of dollars has caused the players and baseball itself to lose its integrity and its appeal to me. Listen to this guys. Lee says I think I'll just watch pro wrestling. I know in advance what to expect in that sport. You can tell, a lot of disillusioned fans out there.
Now this Saturday morning, some of you are just catching up on the news right now, I want to point out something to you that we have on cnn.com that really helps you to understand this and see which players were named as somehow linked, allegedly, within this report. We have this at cnn.com if we can show you. It shows you some of the faces, some of the well-known people who are allegedly connected.
There you go. You can go in, you can click along some of them. You'll see some big names along there. You'll see Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens. Also that page right there is from "Sports Illustrated" which is our partner site, sportsillustrated.cnn.com. They also have a really extensive look at the players, how they're allegedly linked.
Also reporting, obviously, as we start to get responses from players, from teams, from lawyers, others representing the individual players. Clearly guys, this story isn't going anywhere for a while and we're going to keep bringing responses. So two things you can do, weekends@cnn.com, that's the e-mail or just go to our Web site cnn.com. Click on I-report. You can send in your pictures, your videos, your theories, whatever it is you want and we're going to keep following this for quite a while because as I said guys, this is America's past time. People have a lot to say and we want to hear it. Betty?
NGUYEN: I think Rick brought up a really good point about the baseball cards, not only that, but other types of baseball memorabilia. I didn't even think about the fact that it could affect, you know, what that -- you can fetch those items for say if you were going to ever sell them or send them to auction. That could really decrease the value if this people, indeed, have done what the report says they have.
LEVS: Sure and when you buy tickets, you're thinking that you're buying tickets because you're seeing a game that's played under the rules and if it turns out it wasn't, there are a lot of people who have spent money, even if they're not card collectors, who feel that their investment along the way has been unfair. And some of what we're hearing (INAUDIBLE) been a sham. That's why you hear reference to wrestling there, a lot of really disillusioned people. There's going to be fallout for years to come so we'll keep following it.
NGUYEN: Yeah, exactly, especially if some of these possibly go into the hall of fame and then are they going to have an asterisk beside their name? Who knows.
LEVS: A lot of asterisks.
NGUYEN: Thank you.
HOLMES: All right. We got an embarrassing punishment to show you here. Yes, that's his punishment.
NGUYEN: Standing in that glass?
HOLMES: There's the guy there, yes. We'll tell you what this man did that landed him, yes, under the glass.
NGUYEN: Hopefully, he's got air in there somewhere.
HOLMES: Oh, yeah.
NGUYEN: And "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta starts in about five minutes.
HOLMES: Today he speaks about some of the most common doctors' mistakes. Not of his of course.
NGUYEN: Of course. He doesn't make any mistakes.
HOLMES: At 8:30 Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: This is quite a story today, topping our water cooler. Every newborn in Maine will get $500 for college.
HOLMES: This is a cool story. Philanthropist Harold Alfonse (ph). He died last month, but he established the fund because he never went to college. The program kicks off January 1st in Augusta and Waterville and goes state wide in 2009.
NGUYEN: OK, so here's how it shakes out. The $500 nest egg would be worth about $2000 when the child reaches 18. But if parents put in $50 a month, that college fund would swell to about $25,000. What a gift to leave behind.
HOLMES: Do you remember this?
NGUYEN: They're back.
HOLMES: The dancing robots, this time to perform for holiday shoppers in Hong Kong.
NGUYEN: Just programming the little bots to perform this synchronized routine took about three months.
HOLMES: That's all?
NGUYEN: That's kind of cool.
HOLMES: They're not going to do the soldier boy (ph) or anything -- come on.
NGUYEN: They're better than last year. A few extra moves. HOLMES: All right. Look at this here now, public humiliation. That will do it, right, to drive home a point? A stern message about drinking and driving, especially when holiday parties are going on. This is sort of a modern take on the wooden stocks used in colonial times.
NGUYEN: The man inside this giant converted (ph) glass in London was convicted of DUI. The point is very clear. One more glass can put you over the legal limit. I'm glad they show that sign. As you look at it, you don't see exactly why he's in there. And that was part of the whole punishment to tell folks, look, I crossed the line and look what I got because of it.
HOLMES: It looks like he's trying to get out. How do I escape from this thing? Don't know how long he had to stay in there. We'll try to track down that info. That was his punishment and we'll see if that works.
Weather wise, we've got a mess out there. Karen Maginnis here with us with more on where it's the worst right now. Hello there.
MAGINNIS: Hello, T.J. and Betty.
We're looking at are some snowfall accumulations that we anticipate over the next 24 to 48 hours. If you're traveling between Kansas City and St. Louis during along that interstate 70 corridor, you'll expect between three and six inches of snow.
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