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CNN Saturday Morning News
South Carolina Polls Are Open; Republican Candidates Campaigning Hard in Florida; Has the Body of Stacy Peterson Been Found?; Controversial Plan to Motivate Students; Fire Yesterday in a Las Vegas Hotel
Aired January 26, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, you there. Good morning, everybody, from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, it's January 26th. That's Betty. I'm T.J. Welcome back. Good to have you back.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: I love it when you miss me.
HOLMES: I hate admitting it but I miss you terribly when you're gone.
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen. And we do appreciate you're starting your day with us. It is 7:00 a.m. on the East Coast.
And in South Carolina, the polls have just opened. Yes, Clinton, Obama, Edwards needing and wanting a win.
And in Florida, the Republicans are all campaigning hard for Tuesday's primary there. We are covering the candidates and the issues all morning long.
HOLMES: And this story here, a developing one out of Chicago, police say, a woman's body has been found, or there is speculation now that it could be that of the missing Stacy Peterson.
NGUYEN: Plus, a controversial plan to motivate students, how about this? Getting paid $8 an hour, just to study after school. Will it work? We are Keeping Them Honest.
HOLMES: And hello all of you folks who are just waking up, better than just getting home after being stuck in this mess of a traffic jam. That story coming your way here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
NGUYEN: Well, it's happening right this second, yes, the polls, they are open in South Carolina. This is the first southern battleground for the Democrats and oh, what a battle it has been.
HOLMES: Yes, a lot of battling, a lot of bickering, a lot of back-and-forth and now, it's time for the candidates to shut up. The voters get to speak now. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux also gets to speak right now. She's live from a polling place in Columbia, South Carolina. Good morning to you, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, T.J. I get to speak a little bit, too, here. And the voters, you're absolutely right, they're going to speak this morning. They're already heading to those polling stations. They'll be open all day. And as you know, South Carolina really is a critical state for Barack Obama.
He has been working very hard in this state to win over the undecideds. He's had a packed schedule and what we're seeing here, he obviously has to show that Iowa was not a fluke, and he is working very hard to do so. The polls are showing that he is actually ahead, but his campaign knows you can't take those for granted.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): Obama needs this one. Winning South Carolina will put him back on equal footing with Senator Clinton. He needs to prove to voters his Iowa victory three weeks ago was not a fluke.
THOMAS MANN, POLITICAL ANALYST, BROOKING'S INSTITUTION: To maintain a position of rough parity with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama needs to win in South Carolina.
MALVEAUX: Obama is talking issues with the folks he's got to work a little harder for, veterans.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I passed legislation to provide them with services.
MALVEAUX: Women.
OBAMA: A lot of those kids are raised by single mothers.
MALVEAUX: And older voters. His grassroots background has helped him organize college students and young African-Americans eager for change. His audiences are usually diverse. While Senator Clinton and her husband, the former president, have leaned heavily on the black establishment such as civil rights leaders and pastors for support, most polls show Obama beating Clinton for the African- American vote, an important feat, considering nearly 50 percent of likely Democratic voters in South Carolina are black.
But some polls suggest, even if Obama wins this state, he may discover he has a more formidable challenge ahead. A new poll shows Obama leading Clinton by 8 percentage points, Edwards by 19, but broken down by race. Obama gets only 10 percent of the white vote, while Clinton and Edwards evenly split the rest. A potential problem for Obama, looking ahead.
MANN: The concern all along has been the possibility of Obama, in spite of his broad non-racial appeal of running poorly among white whites.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now, T.J., there's an important note about this poll. That is 14 percent of the white voters are unaccounted for or undecided. So, if they go for Obama, that could significantly shift his position in this race. Also, Obama aides I talked with say that they don't believe that South Carolina necessarily is an accurate litmus test for how he's going to do propelling ahead and that is because of the role of John Edwards.
As you know, he won this state the last go-round back in 2004. This is his birth state. He's spent a lot of money and time here, so, they think that Edwards is going to perform a bit more strongly here than in some of those further states -- T.J.?
HOLMES: Well, what's next? South Carolina is wrapping up today, and we know at least a couple of them are vowing to move on or will be moving on. Edwards, who knows where he's going to end up but he's saying, he's going to move on as well. But where do you start now? And you've got a 20-something states now coming up February 5th and a lot of work to do.
MALVEAUX: Oh, sure. Well, Edwards says that he's in this until Super Tuesday. So, we'll see how that plays out. We do know that Clinton is heading to Tennessee. We know Obama's going to hit some of those critical southern states, Alabama and Georgia and then, they'll head back to Washington for the State Of the Union, and then, it's going to be no-holds-barred, T.J. I mean, it's going to be an incredible ride up until February 5th.
HOLMES: All right. And Suzanne, we have to ask you, where are you? It looks like you're in a field and something could come out of those weeds and attack if you you're not careful. Where are you right now?
MALVEAUX: Where am I? I'm in the place to be, I'm in South Carolina, where people are going to be voting all day, but yes, you know, I am in a field at the moment.
HOLMES: Suzanne, we're just concerned but, my dear lady. Well thank you so much. You are in the place to be. We'll see you again soon.
MALVEAUX: I'll be with Obama later today, so, you watch.
HOLMES: OK, we will be watching. We'll see you soon, Suzanne.
NGUYEN: (INAUDIBLE). Hey, it was apparent she's standing in front of a field this morning and not a polling place. All right.
On the Republican side, the focus is on Florida, that critical all-or-nothing primary is coming up on Tuesday, and the candidates are taking full advantage of their last full weekend to campaign there.
CNN's Mary Snow is live for news St. Petersburg, Florida, this morning and she joins us now.
Good morning, Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty and I'm not in a field this morning. The sun's just coming up, the candidates are going to be canvassing Florida.
This is a crucial state for the Republican candidates ahead of Tuesday's primary, and the candidate who has so much at stake here, Rudy Giuliani. He has spent most of his time campaigning in Florida, and polls show that he's been running about third in this state, which is really a tough situation for him, because he has really based his campaign saying, I'm going to win Florida and then move on to Super Tuesday.
What he's been saying now is that he is the unconventional candidate, and that he's trying to make the case that he will have a 50-state presidency, trying to make the case that he's the best candidate to beat Democrats. He's also taking some, making some criticism of his top rivals, Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney, for some of the criticisms they've lodged against one another.
Senator John McCain in Florida yesterday who has been leading in the polls in a tight race with Mitt Romney, trying to portray Mitt Romney as a manager, saying that he is a leader. Also, Senator John McCain picked up a key endorsement yesterday from Senator Mel Martinez of Florida, which could help him win some support from Cuban- Americans.
So, Mitt Romney is also in a tight race here. He's been trying to portray himself as the best candidate to lead in terms of the economy, and he is touting his business credentials. Mitt Romney also making some criticism of Senator John McCain, saying, he doesn't know enough about the economy as much as he does. He's going to be here in St. Petersburg later today, talking to a manufacturing company, and employees here.
And also, Mike Huckabee is going to be campaigning here in Florida, but to kind of give you a sense of where, what he's looking at, he's going to be heading to Alabama and he's looking forward, ahead to Super Tuesday, and the day before the primary, he's going to be campaigning in Tennessee -- Betty?
NGUYEN: It's definitely a busy weekend. All right. Mary Snow joining us live from St. Petersburg today, thank you.
Well, CNN'S "BALLOT BOWL" is back again this weekend and our special political coverage gives you the chance to see the candidates unfiltered on the campaign trail. "BALLOT BOWL" kicks off today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
HOLMES: Also, folks need to be sure to stay with us for the complete results of today's South Carolina Democratic primary. Join that guy, Wolf Blitzer and the best political team on television from the CNN Election headquarters in New York. Special coverage gets your way - gets under way at 6:30 p.m. eastern time.
NGUYEN: We want to tell you about this, the pilot of a small helicopter was killed late last night in a fiery crash on a highway in south Los Angeles. These are the pictures. It happened about 11:00 p.m. L.A. time and shut down the southbound 110 Freeway. Traffic has backed up for miles. Look at that. Can you imagine being stuck in that, backed up for miles while authorities recovered the body and then cleared the debris, which was scattered all over a wide area.
HOLMES: Turning to Chicago now. Authorities working to identify the frozen remains of a decomposed body believed to be that of a woman found yesterday along the railroad tracks.
NGUYEN: Yes, the big question there is whether the remains are Stacy Peterson, who disappeared last October from her suburban home about 20 miles away. Her husband's attorney, though, is adamant that the body is not her, but offered no explanation.
CNN's Susan Roesgen has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Chicago Police are calling this an act of crime scene -- this industrial area here where on Friday afternoon, a city inspector discovered human remains, the remains of a woman badly decomposed, frozen to the ground.
Again, this is an industrial area; on one side is a shipping canal. On the other side, are a set of train tracks and it was near those train tracks where the remains were discovered. The Chicago Medical Examiner's Office will perform an autopsy. All they can tell us right now, again, is that the remains were badly decomposed, the body of a woman with a reddish-blonde hair.
Also leading to speculation that this might be the body of Stacy Peterson is the fact that the city inspector says a blue container was found nearby, near where he found the remains. And the blue container is important because it has been reported that Drew Peterson and the relative took a large blue container out of his home the day after Stacy Peterson disappeared, and it's been reported that that container might have held a body.
Now, Drew Peterson has denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance. She was 23-years-old. He is 53-years-old, a former Bolingbrook police officer, Bolingbrook, Illinois police officer here, basically forced to resign when he became the main suspect. He, however, has denied any involvement in her disappearance.
Susan Roesgen, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: There were some scary moments for thousands of employees that visitors at a Vegas casino, check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We ran over to see what was happening. Everyone's yelling, and stuff was falling and hit a few of the cars right next to us, so, we ran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We'll show you the pictures from this scary site, not something you're used to seeing. You're used to seeing a lot of spectacle really on the Las Vegas Strip but this was something else. This was absolutely something else. We'll have the latest in the investigation of this fire on the Strip.
Also this morning, we've got Mr. Reynolds Wolf, the whole gang is here.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right, and in the Golden State of California, we've been talking about all of it in terms of weather, the rain, the sleet, the snow, and now, the mudslides. Take a look at this. It is certainly been a rough time out there. We're going to give you the very latest on what they can anticipate in the Golden State, plus more of your weather around the nation, including South Carolina's big primary day.
NGUYEN: Speaking of a big day and a big mouthful, check this out. What is that, what's going on right there? Yeah, visitors at an aquarium got an eyeful.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Look at pictures here, dramatic from yesterday who's watching this all day. And at the end of the day, nice to hear but remarkable to hear that there were only minor injuries from this thing, the black smoke and the flames pouring out of a Las Vegas hotel.
NGUYEN: Yes, the cause of the fire at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino is still under investigation and CNN's Kara Finnstrom has the latest now live from outside of the casino.
And we can see just a little bit of charring left on what were those, the penthouse level floors?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, the very top of the building on the roof. Betty, we spoke with Monte Carlo officials who tell us, there's no word on when this hotel and casino may reopen. Across the top of that building behind me, you can see there's fire yesterday, the damage from it, a fire that for hours captured the attention of everyone here on the Strip.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FINNSTROM (voice-over): It was a fire with all the spectacle of Las Vegas. Huge plumes of black smoke, falling chunks of burning debris.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We ran over to see what was happening, everyone's yelling, and stuff was falling and hit a few of the cars right next to us.
FINNSTROM: And firefighters are dangling out of windows more than 30 floors above the ground.
ED CAGALO, CLARK COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Our firefighters actually had to hang out the windows to try and cut the fire off or we directed our fire streams at an angle where we could make contact with the fires.
FINNSTROM: Flames charred the exterior of the top four or five floors of the Monte Carlo causing frantic moments as everyone evacuated from its 3,000-plus rooms.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, the alarm went off and I heard a bunch of you know, rustling out in the hallway. I got out and (INAUDIBLE) the fire escape. I went to the end of the hall, almost down there and looked out the window and I thought there's nothing going on but I could smell smoke and so, I hustled down the stairway like everybody else and got out, turned the corner and looked up and the whole top of the building was on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were asking what the alarms for and -
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we opened up the curtain and all of a sudden, I see this soot, this soot (ph) fall down to the ground and we look out and there's smoke everywhere and the fire department's coming. So, I took my kids, dropped our stuff and we hauled down the stairs and with the stroller, the kids, everything, and all I think about fire and I don't think I'm getting married tomorrow.
FINNSTROM: Lots of big plans may have been put on hold. But fire officials say, everyone was able to get out safely. There were some minor cases of smoke inhalation. Within about an hour, firefighters armed with special equipment for high-rise fire fighting, extra hosing and webbing to anchor them to the windows put the fire out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FINNSTROM: And firefighters do say most of the damage was limited to the exterior of the building and to the roof. We do know welders were working at the time the fire broke out on top of the roof, but Betty as you mentioned this morning, the official cause of this fire remains under investigation.
NGUYEN: Yes, they're going to be looking closely at that though. Kara Finnstrom joining us live from Las Vegas, thank you, Kara. And you can just imagine folks playing, you got a good hand, ready to win this, boom. The fire alarm goes off.
HOLMES: That is a great question though because people are serious about that betting on the floor of the casino. What do you do with the betting?
NGUYEN: You grab your chips and you head to the cashier.
HOLMES: I'm cashing out, see you later
NGUYEN: Hold on, I can get out in a minute. Let me cash my chips. OK.
HOLMES: Betty, that sounds about right. Reynolds ...
WOLF: It's good seeing you guys. NGUYEN: Finally, we're back together.
WOLF: It's hard to believe. Well, no one believes is whenever, you know, we're all working at different shows, different times. Whenever I work with a different crew I will always tell them what a family atmosphere we have. And it is. And in America, it is really. I mean, Betty is the mom, T.J.'s the dad and I'm the family dog.
NGUYEN: No, you're not. Get out of here.
HOLMES: Well, good to see you.
WOLF: It's good seeing you, too.
NGUYEN: You've been all over the place, its' just kind of like the weather's been lately. And they had a lot of that tough time in California.
WOLF: No question. Today, the big story is going to be the mudslides. There have been all kinds of issues out there. There have been some evacuations in some fire-prone areas where you have a lot of the vegetation that's completely gone. Big issue now is you don't have any of the strong root foundations to hold the soil in place.
So, when you have heavy rain and you have gravity taking its toll, what you get is you see these hillsides just fall off. I mean, that's pretty much is going to be the story in many places today, that's part of the climate in California, you have the big fires to deal with and you have all of the vegetation destroyed and you have the mudslides. It does happen and right now, we're seeing all kinds of different sorts of weather phenomena if you will, not necessarily mudslides at this point.
But we are seeing some heavier rainfall now from mainly north of San Francisco back into Marin County, they have some evacuations there yesterday due to some of the flooding. And now we see some rain, we see a few embedded thunderstorms off of the coast. It doesn't happen all that often in California. In the highest elevations just to the west of red bluff, we see a little bit of snowfall and just south of Eureka, we're seeing some scattered snow showers too, not a chance you get some snow from about 4,000 feet higher as you make you a way through the midday hours.
Now, I'm going to shift gears a little bit. We're going to go back to the other side of the country, to east or to be more precise the southeastern United States where we have rain this morning, splash and dash showers in the big (INAUDIBLE) south of Selma, right along 65, to America's Georgia, even into Albany. I-10 is going to be a wet if you're making a drive say, from Biloxi over to parts of Tallahassee.
But into South Carolina, we're seeing that combination of some rain, mainly some scattered showers, but some of this could be freezing precipitation, some sleet, maybe some snowfall from Greenville, southward to Anderson, maybe even into Columbia. We have a live image for you this morning out of Columbia, South Carolina, let's show you that shot that we have. It doesn't look too bad by the state capitol. What we can anticipate by late morning and into the afternoon, drier air moving in and the result will be partly cloudy skies.
Not all that bad on a big election day.
NGUYEN: Not bad at all. OK, Reynolds, thank you.
WOLF: You bet.
HOLMES: All right. We appreciate it and of course, yes, South Carolina primary keeping an eye on that. It's the first test for Democrats in the south. Well, who is likely to win the black vote and how will John Edwards do in the state where he was born?
NGUYEN: And just what do African-American women want? Well, we're going to talk to a professor of women's studies about why the black female vote may be a split vote. You're watching CNN: The best political team on television.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, what do black women want? It's the question I've been trying to answer most of my adult life but also, it's a question that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are trying to answer right about now. Yes, the spotlight once again on the ongoing national discussion over race in politics and which Democrat the black will support and a key part of that is of course black women. Here's now, CNN's Fredricka Whitfield.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Hillary Clinton's strong support among black women is similar to backing she's getting from females across the board and that says Spelman College associate professor of women's studies, Bahati Kuumba is fueling a debate within the African-American community.
PROF. M. BAHATI KUUMBA, WOMEN'S STUDIES, SPELMAN COLLEGE: It does show a gender gap within the black community that's always been there. It's just making it more visible.
WHITFIELD: Kuumba says, if some black women are leading toward gender over race it might be partly because of the civil rights movement.
KUUMBA: Black male politics has never sufficiently paid attention to gender politics, and so, on one level, that might be a reaction to the fact that just like you know, just as the civil rights movement prioritized race over gender.
WHITFIELD: The author says civil rights leaders, mostly men, put women's issues on the back burner, but Kuumba says, the presidential campaign has turned up the heat like never before.
KUUMBA: I think that there's been a concerted effort on the, in terms of the Hillary Clinton campaign to focus on women's issues, and that's not usual with respect to mainstream politics.
WHITFIELD: The professor says, Clinton's strong appeal to black women is two-fold. Her campaign hits hard on health reform.
KUUMBA: Across the board in terms of all classes, African- American women suffer greater from all of the ailments that it's possible for women to have, and die at earlier ages.
WHITFIELD: The second major reason for Clinton's appeal?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: William Jefferson Clinton.
WHITFIELD: Her last name.
KUUMBA: If she did not have that, I don't think that we would be having this discussion about her at all. I think she would be just about as popular as Cynthia McKinney is, who's running for the green party. We would not be talking about her at all.
WHITFIELD: Students on the Spelman campus appeared to be just as divided as the rest of black America. Spelman's student, Marquis Allston is president and founder of the young Democrats of Spelman. The group does not endorse candidates but her personal choice, Hillary Clinton. She says it's about the issues and Kuumba says, that's where the focus of this campaign should be.
KUUMBA: There is a kind of surface level attention to this race- gender dichotomy, and not as much attention to the issues, to the political priorities that African-American women have.
WHITFIELD: Fredricka Whitfield, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: We're going to give you a check of our top stories next, including the remains of a body found in a Chicago suburb. Why some are speculating that it may be Stacy Peterson, the missing wife of a former police officer.
HOLMES: OK. And our Josh Levs joins us now. I don't know if this is right. I mean, surely all of us would have gotten straight A's if we got paid to study.
NGUYEN: Yes, I think I'd still be in school if you're paying me.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the thing. I mean, in this particular case that I'm going to tell you about coming up. They're not even getting paid for good grades. They're just getting paid to show up, to be there during tutoring sessions. It's triggering some real controversy, and guess what? They want to take it national. Tell you all about that coming up right here, CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A woman's body found near some train tracks in Chicago, could it be the missing mom, Stacy Peterson? Well, her husband's attorney says, no, it is not.
NGUYEN: And let the voting begin. The polls opened about 30 minutes ago in South Carolina. The Democratic voters making their picks for president. We are bringing you the latest from there and everywhere else on the campaign trail, all day today.
Welcome back, everybody, and good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. So glad you to be with us on this day.
There are plenty of storylines that's coming out in South Carolina today. Is it going to be race, gender, generation gap, are those all going to be big factors at voters choose their presidential nominee? The stories playing out right now in South Carolina, as we heard our Suzanne Malveaux say, earlier it is the place to be and CNN deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser is at the place to be.
Paul, good morning to you, sir. Good to see you. Tell us, no matter what happens today really, is it going to make anything clearer in this race? We know that Obama and Clinton are going to be moving on. Edwards is vowing to move on as well. So, is anything going to be cleared really today?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, I think one of the big storylines today, could be the African-American vote. You know, half of the voters here in the Democratic primary here in South Carolina are African-Americans. It will be interesting to see, you know, if they all swing for Obama or vast majority swing for Obama and on the flipside the white vote.
Remember, Obama won Iowa, and he did at a dramatically white state and he won the white vote there. Will he win the white vote here? You know, polls indicate no that he's doing poorly among white Americans here in South Carolina. So, race has been a big deal in this race here in South Carolina, and we'll see what the results show tonight.
HOLMES: That split and him losing that white support there in South Carolina has been directly attributed to the fact that race has become a factor now. It's been talked about so much, so now there is kind of a racial divide. Is that the talk on the ground?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, that is the talk on the ground. You know, we saw this right after Iowa. In New Hampshire, we saw, started seeing race coming up and saw the back and forth between the Clinton and Obama campaigns. This week it was a pretty divisive week.
Remember our debate at Myrtle Beach got a little tough there, a little rough and for the next two or three days afterward, both Clinton and Obama camps were really picking up the rhetoric. It has calmed down though in the last two or three days. Even Bill Clinton has calmed down a little bit and has become more civil in the last day or two here before the voting.
HOLMES: Bill Clinton has calmed down, yes, a lot of folks talking about him getting worked up the past week or so. Let's talk John Edwards. This is a big deal for him today.
STEINHAUSER: Sure.
HOLMES: I guess it's been disappointing since Iowa really; he came in second in Iowa and hasn't done so well since and actually been a distant third even in some of these contests. What does this day mean for him? Is this is a make or break day for him?
STEINHAUSER: He says he's going to continue on no matter where he finishes here. Remember, T.J., this is the state where he was born. He is the native son here and in 2004 he won the primary here in South Carolina. This week it's been interesting. His theme this week has been hey, I am the adult in this race.
While Clinton and Obama are going after each other, I'm the adult here, I'm the one talking about the issues and he's also been emphasizing here his native roots. So, he is hoping sure, for a second place finish, he would love that. But I think, regardless the Edwards campaign says, they'll go on through Super Tuesday, that's only about 10 days away and maybe you know, they'll go after certain states and hope to get some delegates.
HOLMES: Paul, any sign that strategy is working, to say, hey, I'm the native son, I'm the adult here, any signs he's really gaining traction on that?
STEINHAUSER: He's gone up a little bit, if you believe the polls and we'll see if they're right, we still have about 13 percent, 14 percent undecided but he has a slight uptake this week in the polls. Will it make a difference today? We'll find out tonight and we'll find out in our prime time coverage tonight.
HOLMES: Yes, we will all of that kicks off at 6:30 as a reminder for you, folks. Paul Steinhauser, sir, it's always good to see you. We'll be checking in with you again. Thanks so much as always.
And of course, Democrats in South Carolina and Republicans are in Florida but they are all together in one place today. CNN's "BALLOT BOWL": Bringing you the candidates in their own words on the campaign trail. BALLOT BOWL kicks off today at 2:00 Eastern and like we just mentioned you need to stay with us for complete coverage, complete results of today's South Carolina Democratic primary.
That man, the man, Wolf Blitzer and the best political team on television, he'll be at the election center, election headquarters in New York for us. Our special coverage gets under way 6:30 p.m. Eastern time.
NGUYEN: Well, this has a lot of people talking. Listen. Georgia has begun a bold experiment in education, actually paying students to study. Yes, children selected for the program could pocket close to $500 for doing what their classmates do for free.
A controversial proposal sparked a whole lot of talk this week and our Josh Levs has been looking into it. I mean, a lot of people looking at this going, why didn't they have this when I was in school? LEVS: Yes, well, Betty, I know, because a lot of us did fine without being paid by school.
NGUYEN: I wasn't paid. My parents didn't pay me to study.
LEVS: Yes, neither did mine. And a lot of people are talking about that now. And even, granted some people's parents give them rewards if you get all A's you get this kind of thing. But in this case, what we're doing is talking about the school doing it. This school, actually two of them now, are giving kids cash not for specific grades, but just for showing up, for tutoring.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS (voice-over): Kids study to learn, get good grades, get into a good college, but should they study for money? At Creekside High near Atlanta, these kids are getting eight bucks an hour to be tutored in math and science.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two times three ...
LEVS: An experimental program targeting promising students with low grades.
ROBB PITTS, FULTON COUNTY COMMISSIONER: If we don't do something, we're doing a disservice to our children.
LEVS: The idea came from Newt Gingrich. There's no taxpayer money involved. His daughter heads a foundation sponsoring the program.
JACKIE CUSHMAN, LEARNING MAKES A DIFFERENCE FDN.: Is it possible it might work? Yes.
LEVS: Some people wrote the "Atlanta Journal Constitution" calling the program unfair to kids who work hard to begin with and one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. Some experts say, it could make kids less interested in learning when they're not being paid.
ALFIE KOHN, AUTHOR, "PUNISHED BY REWARD": Rewards aren't just ineffective. They're counter-productive and we've seen this over and over again.
LEVS: Some studies suggest rewards for grades or test scores may work, but these kids get paid for showing up, two hours, twice a week.
(on camera): There are about 2,500 students at the school. But for this program, only 20 were chosen.
(voice over): As for the money ...
PITTS: In many instances, these kids are working because whatever they earn, their families need that.
LEVS: Organizers say, kids with jobs could cut back work hours, but for some ... ALEXIS YARGER, 11TH GRADER: The money doesn't really matter. I just need extra help in math.
LEVS: Fourteen-year-old Jailyn Brown is in the same program at a nearby middle school. He has plans for the money.
JAILYN BROWN, 8TH GRADER: I probably give it to my mom. She needs.
LEVS: After 15 weeks, organizers will check all 40 students' grades and test scores.
PITTS: If the results are as we think they will be, all of those naysayer will go away and this program we'll be able to export this program nationwide.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: Which is why a lot of people all over the country are starting to take a really close look at this because as they're saying, if it takes off, Betty, it's possible that people all over the country could see their kids offered something similar.
NGUYEN: Well, but then you have parents saying, you know, my kid is doing well in school and they're not getting paid so, should they not do so well and go to this tutoring class just so they can get paid for it? And here's a question, this is a public school. What does the government say about the program?
LEVS: Yes, I called the Department of Education and I said to them, look, do you have a position on this? Why where do you stand on this? And they were stunned when even I told them about it because they did some research, they looked in into this and never heard of anything like this. They say, look, there are programs in which some schools offered an iPod if you do great on your SATs, that kind of thing.
But what they have never heard of, they're telling me at the department, a program that gives kids cash just for showing up to study. There are times they'll subsidize the cost of tutoring or even make tutoring free, but the idea of giving kids cash to even to them is brand new. So, what they're looking for here is does this pay off for these 40 kids who are in the program, if so, should they consider building on it and if it does, watch out for ...
NGUYEN: Cool. And what does it say to the other students who are doing well?
LEVS: Right. It could be negative message later on.
NGUYEN: All right, Josh, thank you for that.
LEVS: Yes.
HOLMES: Well, as a former "C" student, that's the greatest idea I've ever heard of. NGUYEN: In your life.
HOLMES: All right, folks, here I got a quick look at some other stories that are actually making headlines right now.
NGUYEN: Yes, the Egyptian riot police are tempting to clamp down on the rush of Palestinians crossing the border from Gaza, but thousands of people have been pushing past them anyway. Look at this, Egypt is trying to regain control of that border. First breached Wednesday by Palestinians trying to stock up on desperately-needed supplies. Egypt has invited Gaza political leaders to hold talks on this border crisis.
HOLMES: Back here on the States now. Three army rangers and army medic face federal charges of plotting to steal cocaine from drug dealers. Federal agents arrested three of the men Thursday in suburban Atlanta, while the fourth soldier allegedly covered for them at their north Georgia base. Bond hearing is set for Wednesday.
NGUYEN: So, where will Heath Ledger be buried? The funeral home, Ledger's publicist, neither of them saying anything about that. Yesterday, though, the actor's body was removed from a New York funeral home, but no word on where the body was headed. Some speculation: Ledger will be flown back to Perth, Australia. And Australia's prime minister says, he will do whatever he can to help the family.
HOLMES: All right. And we all remember the movie "Jaws." Do you remember this, the shark attacks people. The movie would have been different if the shark was attacking a shark. Yes, look at this. The sand shark has the much smaller reef shark in its jaws. OK. Essentially that's the big shark.
NGUYEN: Look at people taking pictures of it.
HOLMES: This is at an aquarium outside of Minneapolis. The little guy that's in the jaws of jaws right there, survived the attack, actually recovering at an ICU. There's the aquarium.
NGUYEN: They did mouth-to-mouth?
HOLMES: In a separate tank. Look at that.
NGUYEN: That is amazing. He was just swimming and I mean, what, I always wonder that, when you go to these aquariums and you see the sharks in the tanks. Why don't you see this more often?
HOLMES: Well, apparently the big shark was underfed, somebody missed his feeding time and he saw a little guy running around. I'm a big shark, that's little shark.
NGUYEN: I can't believe it survived.
HOLMES: It did and he's doing OK.
NGUYEN: That's good to know. Well, you may be getting some extra cash, yes, from the government a little bit later this year. An economic stimulus package is the big talk on Capitol Hill and we're looking at how exactly it is going to be passed, how likely it will be passed and who's going to benefit from it.
HOLMES: Yes and that extra cash has nothing to do with you studying or anything like that, folks.
Also, look at this graduation ring from a California high school, it was found after being lost for 20 years, but the thing here, that's one thing, it's gone 20 years but where it was found, we'll explain that to you. The last time this guy saw his ring, 20 years ago, just seeing it now and it was found somewhere completely other than where he lives.
NGUYEN: Its really an incredible story. You will want to stay tuned for that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Take a look at this, I-5 north of Los Angeles, is back open this morning. Boy, but was it a mess? It was actually extremely frustrating, especially over the last couple of days for hundreds trapped in Wrightwood, California, yes, they were trapped. Snow closed to 40-mile stretch of the freeway. Many were just happy to get back on the road.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAMON DREW, STRANDED TRAVELLER: I'm going home. I'm going home! I've in enough of this. I mean -- nylon pants and tennis shoes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Yes, that's not going to make it in blizzard-like conditions. Right now the highway patrol is escorting drivers over the mountain.
HOLMES: Yes, weather is a major concern. There were actually three avalanches in that area yesterday. One person killed. Another person critically injured and this morning, three people are still believed to be missing.
What are the possibility of winter weather today in the southeast, our Reynolds Wolf keeping an eye on all of the stuff. What does that say? I'm reading the headlines up there.
NGUYEN: Rain in California.
HOLMES: Rain in California, debris, warm up for the plains.
NGUYEN: What about us here on the east coast?
WOLF: That's a great question. You know, it's interesting as last weekend in South Carolina, we had an issue with the possibility of snowfall. Deja vu. You know, we're back to square one again. That could happen again today. Right now, we're seeing a little bit of rainfall in parts of the south Alabama and the part of (INAUDIBLE), right along the I-10 corridor there getting soaked at this time. Where was all of this rain when they desperately need it back in fall and during the summer months? Well, it's falling now and it's going to be quite heavy through much of the morning hours.
South of Selma, not far from Montgomery, all the way to Biloxi even into Mobile Bay, we're seeing these rain drops into southern Georgia and into the Carolinas, once again, we're some seeing a little bit of ice up in North Carolina but for South Carolina, big day for the primaries, mainly some scattered showers in the higher elevations in spots like Columbia, we could be dealing with a little bit of freezing precipitation, talking about some sleet, snow, but by mid morning and into the afternoon it's going to be much better, skies becoming partly cloudy.
So, no major issues when trying to get to the polls. Here's a live shot we have for Atlanta, Georgia, at this hour. Looks pretty good, kind of overcast and you see the cars zipping up and down parts of I-20 with no problems at this point. Let's hope it stays that way.
As we wrap it up, let's send it right back to you.
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. Thank you for that.
Hey, don't spend that proposed rebate check just yet. And although House leaders recently did (ph) an agreement with the White House over the economic stimulus package, the Senate, well, it could be a little more difficult. According to the Associated Press, some Senate Democrats want to include social security recipients, add on more unemployment benefits, heating subsidies and food stamp payments and President Bush wants lawmakers to pass the House version of the bill without delay and without changes.
Right now though, it looks like the rebate will be $600 per individual, $1,200 for joint filers and $300 per child. So, what would you do with all of that money? You can tell us at CNN.com/i- report. Later this morning we'll share some of your comments on the air.
HOLMES: All right. We know Super Bowl Sunday just a week and a day away. Brady versus Manning, almost ready. Got a party to get ready for, those two guys right there, Brady versus Manning. Football fans wondering who's going to pull off the big win in the big game and who would you know who we have to talk about this?
NGUYEN: Right here in-studio with us.
HOLMES: He's with us today
NGUYEN: With tickets in hand, mind you.
HOLMES: Pretty Ricky.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Here you go. It's as close as you're going to get to them.
NGUYEN: I actually got to touch them a minute ago. You're a little worried about it, weren't you?
HORROW: This is as close as they're going to get it.
NGUYEN: $700 face value?
HORROW: Yes, but not even close. We're talking about the numbers.
HOLMES: We will talk about it. And we'll put a mike on you so, we can hear what you're saying. Nobody heard any of that.
HORROW: Sorry.
NGUYEN: (INAUDIBLE) nothing out of the ordinary.
I also want to tell you about this, she's 95 and outspoken.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTA MCCAIN, JOHN MCCAIN'S MOM: Have you ever heard of other senators and congressman backing Bush over eight years? Find me, give me a name.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: John McCain's mom pops off, yes, hear what she had to say about her son in the next half hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Look at what we've got here, Pretty Ricky himself is in the studio. Rick Horrow, our sports business analyst, good to see you.
HORROW: Good to see you. I really appreciate. I'm really lighting you up, I don't know, of course Betty is more excited than I've seen her in a long time. I don't know what it is. It might be the water
NGUYEN: Because of what you have in your hand right there.
HORROW: Look at this folks. Here we go. Well, here's the bottom line of it, to answer the question he was about to ask. (INUADIBLE) OK. If you wanted these tickets and wanted to pay for them it would cost $3,000, $4,000, premium location.
NGUYEN: That's street value though.
HORROW: Street value, well, yes, but that's low. Today, if you actually wanted to get them premium-wise for club seats, $18,000 a ticket.
NGUYEN: Get out of here. HORROW: If you have a 20-yard line box and you want to buy it at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona -- $395,000 just for a game. So, go figure. So, you know, be nice to me and maybe we'll talk about these.
NGUYEN: And I thought the $700 ticket value was high.
HORROW: Well, it is but it gives you the right to go to the free market. This is the invisible hand, this is Adam Smith it's what we learned about in school and the invisible hand is right there. There's also $100 million exchanging hands for betting legally and lots more illegally. We'll talk a lot of that next week.
HOLMES: Well, tell me right here, 700 face value for this ticket. I went on the street, tried to sell those how much could you get for those tickets?
HORROW: Eight grand.
HOLMES: Eight grand?
HORROW: Right.
HOLMES: But of course that would be illegal so be careful.
NGUYEN: It's illegal, but yes.
HORROW: Yes, but if you wanted to do that, right. But seriously the corporate market for tickets is important, the secondary ticket market is a big deal, Ticketmaster, a lot of other companies that are billion-dollar companies because they engage in secondary selling, not scalping.
NGUYEN: We heard about that with the Hannah Montana, people getting early the tickets and selling them.
HORROW: But it's the biggest event. It's premium buy, it's appointment viewing and of course, with the writer's strike now, this is the major event because advertisers spend a lot of money on this because they have basically nowhere else to spend it. We'll talk about that next week.
HOLMES: What's the story line for this Super Bowl? I mean, people watch for the commercials sometimes, guys, we of course are into the game. What's the story line for people who really don't care that much, what is that soap opera going on, that human interest story in this?
HORROW: The relentless pursuit of Patriots' perfection. You've heard of the Brady bunch. This is the Brady boot, the guys around his supermodel girlfriend, somebody catches him, you ran it on CNN only about 9,000 times.
HOLMES: We did not.
HORROW: We see him limping around and people are wonder being that. But the bottom line is the Patriots are the number one value team in the NFL that still in the playoffs, $1.3 billion, why, because perfection sells and this is America's watched event and the story line quite clearly is, is that team going to be 19-0, and if not, the Giants' incredible run and so, you have two major markets watching this game, as if you need that. You're going to have a significant viewing anyway.
HOLMES: And also you're in town, we got to throw this in here. NHL, All-Star game happening right over here, next to us. Does anybody care?
HORROW: Well, you know, the NHL certainly does. Economically, the average franchise value now about $200 million. So, they're moving in the right direction. Except, 8,000 visitors for this. The International Poultry Expo is here in your city, 20,000 visitors. So, we got more feathers and cocks (ph), ladies and gentlemen.
NGUYEN: What does that say?
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. Really, the tickets, what's up?
NGUYEN: Yes, you have two, does that mean one for each of us?
HORROW: Yes, it means you and I will have some conversation a little later.
NGUYEN: That's illegal.
HORROW: Conversations are not illegal, as we know. The tickets may be but the conversations are not. We got a good Super Bowl week coming in. We've got advertising, economic impact gambling. This is a major story. The Super Bowl in the "Valley of the Sun" for the first time in a long time. So, we'll talk about those economics.
NGUYEN: And not to mention the Super Bowl parties.
HORROW: Not to mention you keep coming back to that.
NGUYEN: I know, that's where the fun is. OK.
HOLMES: Pretty Ricky, good to see you sir, good to have you here
NGUYEN: Yes.
Well, listen to this folks, he ordered criminals to wear chicken and dog suits but wait until you hear what a creative judge had in mind for a Salvation Army kettle thief.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, try this sir, you need to walk a night in their shoes.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. An Ohio man who stole money from a Salvation Army kettle got this choice from the judge. All right. Here it is, three months in jail or three days in jail. HOLMES: That sounds better.
NGUYEN: But to get the lighter sentence, you have to be homeless for a day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE MICHEL CICCONETTI, PAINESVILLE MUNICIPAL COURT: You figure out where you're going to spend the night, you figure out where you're going to eat and you figure out where you're going to stay warm, just like they do.
NATHAN SMITH, SENTENCED TO HOMELESSNESS: It's not a harsh sentence. I did it, now I have to pay the consequences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Yes, he does and in fact he did. Nathan Smith showed up in court yesterday half-hour early, mind you, just to beat the cold. He was looking a little worn after his night of homelessness. The GPS that he wore showed he basically wandered around all night long and he says he now has a new respect for the homeless. He better. Yes.
A high school ring in California, a beach in Italy, and a mystery in Missouri.
HOLMES: All right. Look at the ring in there, folks. It belongs to a Missouri man who lost 20 years ago. It's coming though. It was found on a beach in Italy. Brian Schiff recently got an e-mail from someone who said a friend had a found a ring using a metal detector.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN SCHIFF, RING OWNER: There are so many claim incidents but when I saw the actual photograph of the ring, I'd actually forgotten that I have a little skier part of that on the side, so, it's like snow skiing. When I saw it, (INAUDIBLE) I thought, oh, my God, it's my class ring. I can't believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes, that's amazing, sure enough. He lost his ring, it's come back after 20 years, but the thing here is that Brian Schiff never been to Italy.
NGUYEN: Is that crazy?
HOLMES: For more, losing that ring.
NGUYEN: If somebody found it, I wonder it's washed across the seas.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) It's pretty dramatic there.
NGUYEN: All right. HOLMES: All right, folks. The next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING coming your way back here.
NGUYEN: And good morning to you, everybody. Here at the CNN Center in Atlanta, it is January 26, I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. I'm so glad you could be here with us this morning, 8:00 a.m. on the East Coast.
A big day in South Carolina, polls are now open. I believe after (ph) listening from Democratic presidential candidates, the voters getting their turn to speak.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes and a text messaging scandal involving Detroit's mayor. Have you heard about this one? It is ugly involving love messages like I've been dreaming about you all day. I'm just reading what it says.
HOLMES: It didn't say do it in that kind of tone.
NGUYEN: (INAUDIBLE) extra.
HOLMES: We're talking about some extreme weather in the west. Mud slides, floods, avalanches, we're covering it all this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
NGUYEN: Right now though, it is time to decide on the Democrats in South Carolina. The primary polls opened up there about an hour ago and the first southern battleground, it is critical for all three candidates still standing.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joins us live from Columbia, South Carolina this morning and she is going to be watching this very closely today.
Hey there, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Hey, Betty.
Obviously this is still early in the morning, but voter turnout is really critical. It is key in this state and what we are hearing from state officials, they expect to break all of the records today, perhaps more than 300,000 people to come to these polling centers. Already if you take a look at the absentee ballots, 32,000 were issued.
So this is going to be a very important day. A lot of people engaged. The weather is nice. It's expected to be nice for the rest of the day and South Carolina really means a lot to one candidate in particular, that is Senator Barack Obama, really seen as make or break in actually trying to tie with Hillary Clinton. It is 50 percent African-American. The voters are expected to come out and this is really a duel between three candidates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The era of Scooter Libby justice and brownie incompetence and Karl Rove politics will finally be over next year.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to get back to fiscal responsibility. We're going to get back to the kind of economic policies we had back in the 1990s that worked for every American, not just for the few.
JOHN EDWARDS (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is personal for me. It is very, very personal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And Betty, the latest polls are showing that Obama is in the lead, but as everybody knows, you really can't count on those polls absolutely. So we're really going to see taking a look at voter turnout, who shows up today, whether it leans towards women, that would go in favor of Hillary Clinton, whether there's a high turnout with African-Americans, which we are seeing in the polls would favor Barack Obama and of course there's the big unknown here.
This is John Edwards. This is his birth state. He won back in 2004 and he's put a lot of money, time and energy into this state. We are seeing polls that show that he is actually making some inroads here, so he might appear a bit stronger than some of those other contests. So it's going to be a very exciting day to see, Betty.
NGUYEN: I have to ask you about John Edwards because it appears this may be a make it or break it for him. I know he says he's going to go until Super Tuesday, but how truly important is today's primary for John Edwards?
MALVEAUX: Today's primary is important because it's largely symbolic, but also he's going to at least get some delegates, he's going to be able to win some delegates and those delegates he's going to be able to trade. If he doesn't go all the way he's going to be able to either turn to Barack Obama or turn to Hillary Clinton and say, look, you're the person I support.
So in that way, the people that he actually is holding on to, the people who are supporting him may eventually go to either one of those other two candidates. That makes him a critical player. And South Carolina, big, big states when it comes to this symbolism.
NGUYEN: All right, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux joining us live today. Thank you Suzanne. And are young voting in -- are you I should say and young people voting in today's South Carolina primary? If so, we want to hear from you. Send us your i-Report videos and pictures. All you have to do is go to cnnpolitics.com.
HOLMES: And the Republicans not too far away, just a couple of states away in Florida, a chance there that the results in Tuesday's primary could thin the field a bit heading into super duper Tuesday. But no one's giving up just yet.
CNN's Mary Snow joins us now from St. Petersburg, Florida. Good morning to you, Mary.
SNOW: Good morning, T.J.
This is a critical test for Republicans, will it whittle down the field this weekend? They have packed, candidates have packed their schedules, canvassing the state. Largely there's a tight race between Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney with Rudy Giuliani has been trailing in the polls. One of the big issues that has been really forced to the forefront of course is the economy.
And Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney are kind of taking jabs at one another over who's best suited to handle an economic downturn. Here's a little bit of what they have been saying on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm suggesting that Governor Romney is touting his qualities and his experience and resume as a manager. I am telling the American people and they know it, that I am a leader.
MITT ROMNEY (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He said I still need to be educated in a broader range of economic issues, though. He said, let's see if I get it right. He says, I'm going to be honest, I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign politics.
I still need to be educated. That was in November of '05 with the "Wall Street Journal." I still need to be educated he said. Well then, more recently he said this in December of '07. The issue of economics is not something I have understood as well as I should. Now I think that's straight talk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Senator John McCain has been saying that he feels his experience on the Senate Commerce Committee better qualifies him than Governor Romney who's really been touting his experience in the private sector.
Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York who really has so much at stake here in Florida is saying that he is best suited to deal with both financial and economic security and national security. He's also trying to position himself as the unconventional candidate who would be best suited to win in a general election.
But he really has Florida, this is a make or break state for him because he pretty much has been basing his strategy on winning here and then going on to super Tuesday. But polls have been showing that he has been trailing and he really has some ground to make up before Tuesday. He and the other Republican candidates were also at the Latin builder's association yesterday.
Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, also trying to court Cuban American votes there. Mike Huckabee's plan for the economy, he's been touting to widen I-95, the interstate that runs from Maine to Florida. That's one of his economic proposals that he's been trying to tout in recent days. But to kind of give you a lay of the landscape, Mike Huckabee while he's campaigning here is going to be heading later on to Alabama and the day before Tuesday's primary, he'll be in Tennessee.
So clearly, he is looking ahead to Super Tuesday. But this is going to be a very busy weekend for all the candidates. We are here in St. Petersburg. Mitt Romney is going to be here and through this hour and then John McCain is going to be in the area later today -- T.J.
HOLMES: Yes. They are all over the place today ahead of Tuesday, next Tuesday for their primary. Mary Snow there for us in St. Petersburg. Thank you so much, Mary.
NGUYEN: John McCain says he is a straight talker and it looks like he may have gotten that from his mom. The senator has quoted his mother while out on the campaign trail and now she has a few things to say herself.
In an interview with Cspan, she was asked about the level of support her son is getting from the Republican base. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTA MCCAIN, JOHN MCCAIN'S MOTHER: I don't think he has any. I don't know (INAUDIBLE) -- maybe I don't know enough about it but I'm not seeing any help whatsoever.
QUESTION: So can he then go on and become the nominee of this party?
R. MCCAIN: Yes, I think holding their nose, they're going to have to take him. Now I'm really popping off. But he worked like a dog to get Bush re-elected. He -- he's backed Bush in everything except Rumsfeld. Have you heard other senators and congressmen backing Bush over eight years? Find me -- give me a name. And I have never seen any public recognition of the work that he's done for the Republican party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: All right. Well, she was also asked about actor Chuck Norris's comments that her son is too old to be president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
R. MCCAIN: That's just his opinion. And perhaps he's right. But let's take a chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: She didn't say perhaps he's right.
HOLMES: Why would you say that?
NGUYEN: All right. Can you see John McCain right now, here we go again. You will remember that John McCain threatened to have his 95- year-old mother wash Chuck Norris's mouth out with soap for that age comment. So you hear her response to it.
And you can hear much more from the campaign trail during CNN's "BALLOT BOWL." Our special political coverage gives you the chance to see the candidates unfiltered. "BALLOT BOWL" kicks off today, 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
HOLMES: Well, a grizzly discovery to tell you about out of Chicago. An autopsy is planned this morning on the body of a woman found frozen to the ground. Her badly decomposed body was discovered yesterday near train tracks on the city's south side.
This discovery did spark speculation that the remains could be those of Stacy Peterson who disappeared last October. Peterson's husband, Drew, the former police sergeant, has been suspected in her disappearance, but again, no official word from authorities there that they in fact believe it is or that it is that of Stacy Peterson. We will have to wait for results there.
Also, some pictures to show you out of Las Vegas. We were watching these all day yesterday, half the day there, only minor injuries but major damage to report from a fire at a hotel and casino in Vegas, the Monte Carlo you're looking at there. The fire sent thick black smoke pouring from the top of that casino. Officials went door to door having to evacuate guests. An ambulance company says 17 people were taken to the hospitals with minor injuries, most of those with smoke inhalation. Still waiting on word for what possibly caused that fire.
NGUYEN: I think I heard yesterday that they saw a bride running through. Can you imagine it being your wedding day and all of it going up in smoke?
HOLMES: That's a bad sign. I wonder if they had taken the vows before or after the fire?
NGUYEN: Please say they did before.
HOLMES: I don't know. Maybe that's a sign, maybe you don't want to take those vows now. I'm just suggesting.
NGUYEN: But we hope you have a wonderful life.
Do want to talk about this though, a wintry mess in California. Heavy snow, flooding, even mud slides in Wrightwood, which is just north of Los Angeles. There were three avalanches. One person was killed, another injured and three people are still believed to be missing.
HOLMES: Just north of that in the bay area, some residents being urged to leave their homes and businesses because of flooding. Authorities in the towns of San Anselmo and Fairfax issued a voluntary evacuation late last night because the area creeks are overflowing. Also concerns about mud slides, buckets and buckets of rain have created a soggy mess in the area. A mud slide shut down highway one for hours yesterday.
NGUYEN: Let's get a check of the weather this morning, seeing how it is doing today. I do hear Reynolds, there's still some bad weather in California to talk about.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: I know this is a concern of yours daily.
NGUYEN: Which is?
HOLMES: Your past can come back to haunt you.
NGUYEN: ... skeletons in my closet or something?
HOLMES: I mean that closet's yours.
NGUYEN: Would you stop it? Not true. But talk about things you may not want out there, Detroit's mayor, in trouble with the law all because of text messages from years ago. Oh, yes. You want to stay tuned for this story.
HOLMES: Yeah.
NGUYEN: Just begin to imagine what was written in those texts.
HOLMES: Goodness gracious. But first, we got a preview of today's "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, thanks. There's some mixed messages about caffeine. One study says it can protect against cancer, another says it can cause miscarriages. We're going to sort through all the confusion.
Personal finance editor Gerri Willis is going to join us with her top tips to save on health insurance. Plus, sneezing, running nose, a sore throat, sounds and feels like a cold. Could it be allergies? We'll help you tell the difference. Those and other medical headlines coming up on "HOUSE CALL" at 8:30.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well a quick look here at other stories making headlines.
NGUYEN: Check this out. Egyptian riot police are trying to clamp down on the rush of Palestinians crossing the border from Gaza. But thousands of people have been pushing past them anyway. Egypt is trying to regain control of the border first breeched Wednesday by Palestinians trying to stock up on desperately needed supplies.
HOLMES: There is something in the air in Charleston, West Virginia. Authorities worry it could make people sick. There's a mysterious blue haze. It smells like chlorine. Officials don't know what it is, where it came from. They're urging residents affected by the haze to stay inside, but still not quite sure what that haze is. NGUYEN: Well, police arrests, they are up, bar business, down. Now some bar owners in Fresno, California are tending out text messages warning regular customers where DUI checkpoints are located. Police not to be outsmarted say they may send their own text messages alerting bar patrons about phony checkpoints. The goal to make drunk drivers realize checkpoints could be any place at any time.
Speaking of text messages, they are at the center of a text and sex scandal in Detroit.
HOLMES: Yes, allegations that the mayor had an affair, then lied about it under oath. Text messages could be the evidence here.
CNN's Carol Costello has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is in deep trouble now possibly facing perjury charges. Last year he denied under oath that he'd had a sexual affair with his top aide. But new evidence has emerged suggesting otherwise. The evidence is among 14,000 text messages between the very married mayor and his chief of staff Christine Beatty.
This one from April of 2003. Mayor Kilpatrick. I'm at a Laker game. The security doesn't believe I'm mayor. Beatty and did you miss me sexually? Kilpatrick, hell yeah. You couldn't tell. I want some more, don't sleep. The "Detroit Free Press" uncovered the text messages.
M.L. ELRICK, DETROIT FREE PRESS: You don't have to get more than two or three pages into it before you realize you're reading something that nobody who wrote one of these messages thought any other living person would read.
COSTELLO: The Wayne County prosecutor is now opening an investigation into the messages.
KYM WORTHY, WAYNE COUNTY PROSECUTOR: We will not be rushed by anyone or anything. We will only be influenced by the evidence and the facts that develop and nothing, I mean nothing else.
COSTELLO: The "Free Press" obtained the text messages while investigating the aftermath of a $6.5 million judgment against Mayor Kilpatrick and the cash-strapped city of Detroit. A jury found in favor of Detroit's deputy police chief and another officer who claim they were unfairly dismissed. They had been investigating claims by two former body guards of the mayor that he used his security detail to hide the affair. The mayor denied it and the affair in sworn testimony and was angry when the jury ruled against him.
MAYOR KWAME KILPATRICK, DETROIT: I believe the verdict obviously is incredibly wrong and doesn't reconcile at all in my mind with the facts that were presented in this case.
COSTELLO: But one of the text exchanges in September of 2002 reads like this. Kilpatrick: they were right outside the door. They, the mayor's bodyguards had to have heard everything. Beatty: so we are officially busted, laughing out loud. Kilpatrick: laughing out loud, laughing out loud, damn that, never busted. Busted is what you see, laughing out loud.
As for what Mayor Kilpatrick is saying now, he issued this statement. These six-year-old text messages reflect a very difficult period in my life. It is profoundly embarrassing. My wife and I worked our way through these intensely personal issues years ago.
(on-camera): As for the alleged mistress, Miss Beatty, she says she will not resign. She will remain on the job. Carol Costello, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Wow. Those were some text messages.
HOLMES: We have been looking. We did find another one here.
NGUYEN: Did you find another one?
HOLMES: The one about I've been dreaming about you all day, about having you to myself for three days. They say the mayor wrote this on October 16 of 2000. Relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love, end quote. This is raising a lot of questions now about text messages. People are concerned about text messages, what can you send, where should send. These text messages would not have come out if they were on private devices.
NGUYEN: That's the key here.
HOLMES: This was on a company device and they're required to keep records of them.
NGUYEN: So the city was paying for it.
HOLMES: The city was paying for it, that's why there's a record.
NGUYEN: Got you, OK. We're going to turn to this story now, what would you do with an extra $600 from the government?
HOLMES: We have been asking you to tell us. Our Josh Levs been looking at some of your answers. You getting some good ones, Josh?
LEVS: What would you guys do?
HOLMES: $600?
NGUYEN: I think I would put it in the bank. I'm kind of lame. I would save it.
HOLMES: I don't know what I would do with $600.
LEVS: We're learning this morning is you could buy a tiny fraction of a seat at the Super Bowl. It's amazing what some people want to announce to the entire country. Your plans, hopes and dreams for those rebate checks and one woman takes this opportunity to send a message to her husband. That's coming up right here, CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
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HOLMES: The economic stimulus package now a done deal yet, but doesn't stop many of you from dreaming about your rebate checks.
NGUYEN: That's what happens when you throw some money out. People always wondering, what am I going to do with it? So we asked you what would you do with the money and we got an eyeful. People had all kinds of ideas. Josh Levs had been looking at that.
LEVS: They're all over us. People do not hold back when it comes to this kind of thing.
NGUYEN: You can dream. Everyone's got a dream.
LEVS: And where is better to dream than cnn.com, right. That's what I always say.
NGUYEN: That's what I say.
LEVS: A new motto. Hi, OK, so take a look at what I got here. We pulled out a few examples from what we've got at cnn.com where people are telling us what you want to do with your rebate checks. Let's start off with one we've heard Anna Juarez of San Lorenzo, California. With the economy in the condition it's in at this time, my rebate money will be in the bank. I have a son who needs braces so I will be able to pay off some of that cost. A lot of people talking about banking this money.
Let's go to Deb Nye now, New London, Wisconsin. My clothes drier just died so I need to purchase a new one. I also would like to enroll in tap dancing lessons and some fun exercise, way to kick off 2008. I'm telling you, T.J.'s giving me a face, people announced their desires.
NGUYEN: They're excited about this.
LEVS: But one more, I got to get to this. Stephanie Grosser, Arlington, Virginia. My husband thinks we will spend our refund on a 42-inch plasma TV. He is wrong.
NGUYEN: Super Bowl's coming up.
LEVS: Really we will spend half of it paying off school loans and the other half for airline tickets to go to a friend's wedding in California this July.
NGUYEN: A 42-inch plasma is way better. I think I'll side with the husband on that one.
LEVS: Keep them coming folks right there. Just go to cnn.com, click i-Report. You can't miss it. I feel bad if Mr. Grosser of Arlington, Virginia just got that news from me. Is that what just happened? Am I your wakeup call? Talk to your wife.
NGUYEN: Well, here's the deal. It's the gift that keeps on giving. You turn on the TV, it's always there. Those plane tickets, the wedding will be gone.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE)
LEVS: CNN all the time (INAUDIBLE) that shows what you're watching.
HOLMES: All right, folks.
NGUYEN: Such a bad influence.
HOLMES: Something else you can spend some money on, being a space cowboy riding off to the Milky Way.
NGUYEN: Get ready and suit up because you better bring your checkbook if you want to go on this costly ride.
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