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CNN Saturday Morning News

Democrats in South Carolina; Republicans in Florida

Aired January 26, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everybody from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, good morning everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. We want to thank you for starting your day with us. It is 9:00 a.m. on the east coast, 6:00 a.m. out west and right now in South Carolina the polls, they are open. After weeks of listening to the Democratic presidential candidates, the voters, they are getting their say.

HOLMES: Also, we have this story for you. Two men credited with tipping off the FBI about a suspected terrorist. They wonder why they didn't get any of the reward money handed out this week. All $5 million went to another guy. That story and much more ahead on this CNN Saturday morning, but we will start with decision day for voters in South Carolina. The primary polls there opened about two hours ago. Lots of people expected to show up to help decide who could possibly get some momentum going into Super Tuesday. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux live in Columbia, South Carolina for us. Good morning to you Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning T.J. We're at our hotel a lot of people over breakfast were all talking about this election but the key question is whether or not they're actually going to come out and vote. Now I talked to state department officials and they said that they believe it's going to be a record turnout, more than 300,000. That could dramatically shape the outcome of the day. They already said that there are 32,000 absentee ballots that were actually submitted. So this is going to be a very interesting day, a very interesting contest. The weather is great, obviously South Carolina very important for a number of reasons. Specifically important for Barack Obama. He really needs a win here to show that he's on equal footing with Senator Hillary Clinton, to show that his Iowa victory was not a fluke, but all three of these candidates, John Edwards included here, a lot at stake when it comes to South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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 OF VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: T.J., this is the first southern state in those early competitive races so everybody's going to be taking a close look at what happens here. Nearly 50 percent of the democratic voters are African-American. Many people in polls showing they believe that that's going to favor Barack Obama. We're also going to be looking at how many women show up today. It's believed that that tends to skew towards Hillary Clinton. And the thing that could really put all of this in disarray is what happens with John Edwards. This is his birth state, he has been working very carefully, closely with the communities, a lot of money, a lot of time put in this. He may get stronger support than people actually expect. T.J.?

HOLMES: Cannot wait to see what happens when those polls close. Suzanne Malveaux, as she said earlier, in the place to be, South Carolina. Good to see you this morning.

MALVEAUX: In the place to be.

HOLMES: It's the place to be. Good to see you this morning Suzanne. Thank you so much. Folks be sure to stay here with us for complete results of today's South Carolina democratic primary. That guy, Wolf Blitzer, wherever he is, is the place to be and the best political team on television. They're going to be at the CNN election headquarters in New York. Our special coverage gets under way at 6:30 p.m. eastern time.

NGUYEN: Well 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. And CNN's Mary Snow is live with us in St. Petersburg, Florida this morning. It is a big weekend for Republicans there. Good morning, Mary.

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty and for Republicans, Florida really is the place to be. This is a crucial contest and the big question, this has been such a wide open race, will it produce a front-runner? Busy campaign schedules this weekend, we're in St. Petersburg, Mitt Romney is here as we speak. He's visited VALPAC which is the company that sends out those envelopes of coupons, he is talking with employees today. Also took a tour of the plant here. He's trying to convey the message that his business background will best suit the nation for an economic turn around. And he's really been hammering the theme that he has been in the private sector and this is what the country needs. John McCain has been taking kind of jabs at that saying that what the country needs is leadership, not a manager. And John McCain has been trying to portray himself as the best person to turn the country around in terms of the economy. But also touting his national security credentials. He will be having a national security town hall meeting in this area. But a very close and hotly contested race and John McCain and Mitt Romney at this point really seen as the front-runners here in Florida.

NGUYEN: Mary, let me ask you about this, Rudy Giuliani, he has put everything into Florida. How important is this for Rudy and can his strategy really work?

SNOW: Yeah, I mean that is the big question. And it has been asked all along as he was pretty much out of sight for those crucial early contests although he did campaign there. He's put his stake here in Florida and his strategy was, you know, that deviated from the traditional campaign trails thinking that if he could win here in Florida, he could go on to the other states. Of course that strategy is being questioned now because he has spent so much time and money here in Florida but he's been trailing in the polls. He's trying to use that to his advantage, telling supporters yesterday that he's always been unconventional and that is what is need to change things around. He's also trying to make the case that he is the candidate who could best beat a democrat. Also Mike Huckabee has been campaigning here. He's not concentrating so much on Florida these next few days. He was campaigning here, he already had an event this morning. But he is going to be heading to other southern states, looking ahead to Super Tuesday. Betty?

NGUYEN: All right, CNN's Mary Snow, joining us live this morning from Florida. Thank you, Mary.

And the Democrats as we know are in South Carolina, the Republicans in Florida. But they are all together in one place today. Where is that? Well, of course CNN's Ballot Bowl. We're bringing you the candidates in their own words on the campaign trail. Our ballot bowl coverage kicks off today at 2:00 p.m. eastern.

HOLMES: A grizzly discovery in Chicago. An autopsy planned there this morning on the body of a woman found frozen to the ground. Her badly decomposed body was discovered yesterday near the train tracks on the city's south side. Now this discovery has sparked speculation that the remains could be those of Stacy Peterson that you're seeing there. She disappeared last October. Her husband, Drew, the former police sergeant has been suspected in her disappearance.

NGUYEN: When you see the pictures, it's hard to believe there were only minor injuries, a fire at a hotel and casino in Las Vegas sent thick black smoke pouring from the upper floors of the building. Officials at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino went door to door evacuating guests. An ambulance company says 17 people were taken to hospitals mostly though for smoke inhalation. There's still no word on what caused that fire.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Another report to tell you about this morning that says more than three dozen Egyptian security personnel have been injured along the border with Gaza. Egypt's foreign minister says some of the injured are actually in critical condition.

NGUYEN: Yeah, tens of thousands of Palestinians have flooded into Egypt since militants blew up part of a border wall. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in the middle of all the chaos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A border threatens to become a battlefield. Egyptian forces are slowly attempting to bring order. At this crossing allowing Palestinians to return to Gaza, but not letting them go the other way. Precipitating a tense standoff that frequently erupted in stone throwing and cursing. Hamas militia men tried with dubious methods to control the crowd while others tried to control the media.

If the Egyptians --

(On camera): Clearly closing this border is going to be very difficult. The people here in Rafa want to get out, want to get to Egypt. But the Egyptians really have a hard time controlling the situation.

(Voice-over): A five minute walk away is a scramble over a wall into Egypt for people and others while the heavy goods enter overhead.

(On camera): One spot along the border they're not letting anybody in, but there are other areas where people are just crossing without any controls whatsoever. Clearly it's going to take more than riot police to close this border.

(Voice-over): Frenzy spurred on by fear this may soon all come to an end. They want to close us in again says this man. We want this border to stay open.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to see it officially legally open, people go in and out under inspection. Because some people, they brought items like food, computers, TVs, but some people also bring weapons, hashish, drugs.

WEDEMAN: Others accept the border may slam shut again but are just glad to have had the chance to get out, in some cases for reunions with families long separated by the wall. I'm happy I saw them says this woman. I haven't seen my sister's children in five years. I didn't even recognize them. As long as there's a way out, it's going to be hard to stop them. Ben Wedeman, CNN on the border between Gaza and Egypt.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And our Middle East correspondent Aneesh Raman is also following the chaos that you just saw there along the border between Egypt and Gaza. We are going to hear from him in our next hour.

HOLMES: Meanwhile, we got word this morning that an American woman has been kidnapped in Afghanistan. An Afghan interior ministry spokesman says gunman grabbed the woman from her car on the outskirts of Kandahar. He says police are trying to find the woman. The state department says it is aware of the kidnapping but has no further details. We will of course keep you updated.

Well, one man gets $5 million as a reward. That's a big deal for his help in the case against 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. NGUYEN: Yeah, but two other flight instructors who tipped off the FBI about Moussaoui's suspicious behavior, they did not get a dime and today they are asking what is the deal with that?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Here's some quick hits now on some of the other stories that are making headlines today.

HOLMES: Yeah, and stay with us on this one folks. A cat, a little kitty cat is being credited with helping Austin, Texas police find a stash of child pornography. The cat kept digging around in the kitchen. Police say the owner found a stack of DVD's where the cat was fooling around in there and now the previous tenant is charged with child pornography. The DVD's show girls ages 5 to 11 performing sex acts on adult men.

NGUYEN: In Colorado, taking I-70 to go skiing, it could cost you, under legislation being considered, skiers could be charged up to $12 just to travel I-70 between 6:30 and 8:30 on weekend mornings, or they could be sent a $25 check for staying off the congested highway. It's all designed to reduce traffic. That's not too bad. Getting paid to not go on a freeway?

HOLMES: Not too bad. Not too bad.

NGUYEN: It's a check.

HOLMES: You're all about the checks, aren't you Betty?

NGUYEN: Yes. We do have some serious news for you though, this dealing with the situation out in California.

HOLMES: We have been talking about that this morning, the avalanche out there that we have seen, seen a couple of them actually, have claimed a second victim. We told you earlier about one person being killed but now a second person confirmed killed in the avalanches out there. It's been heavy snow, been rain, some issues going on out there, but a second person, we also got word that three others were still missing. No word if one of the missing people is in fact one that has been confirmed dead now. But two people dead, a second victim claimed in those California avalanches and again, the word was at least three people missing still. So Reynolds has been keeping an eye on all that stuff for us. We'll be checking in with him, keep you updated.

NGUYEN: In the meantime though, there are questions this morning about how the government handled reward money in the Zacarias Moussaoui case.

HOLMES: Two men credited with tipping off the FBI about the suspected terrorist. They wondered why they didn't get any of the reward money handed out this week. CNN's Kelli Arena has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're good friends. Military veterans who work together at the same flight school in Minnesota. Hugh Sims and Tim Nelson are also the men who alerted the FBI about a suspicious student named Zacarias Moussaoui in August of 2001.

HUGH SIMS, FMR. PAN AM INSTRUCTOR: I explained to them that we had a student at the Pan Am Flight Academy that I think is asking for training that could become dangerous.

ARENA: In fact, of all the Americans Moussaoui ran into, Nelson and Sims were the only ones known to have called the FBI. In fact they were recognized by the senate for their bravery. So the men were shocked to learn that another flight instructor they worked with was just given a $5 million state department reward for his help in the Moussaoui case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was just totally dumbfounded.

ARENA: So just who is $5 million richer? Officials say its instructor Clancy Prevost. Prevost also noticed something odd about Moussaoui and asked his boss to call the FBI. But for him, it ended there until he testified at Moussaoui's trial.

TIM NELSON, FMR. PAN AM INSTRUCTOR: Are we paying people to testify or are we paying people to do the right thing.

ARENA: Sims and Nelson went much further, they called the FBI themselves bypassing their bosses who were reluctant to turn in a paying customer, risking their jobs and reputation. They got nothing. Prevost could not be reached for comment. The state department which awarded Prevost the money privately would not comment on specifics.

TOM CASEY, STATE DEPT. SPOKESMAN: The Rewards for Justice Program operates on the basis of nominations. So a U.S. law enforcement agency would have made a nomination of this individual.

ARENA (on camera): A U.S. official says it was the FBI that recommended Prevost. He says the bureau considered information about Sims and Nelson but only nominated Prevost. The FBI wouldn't comment. Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: home mortgages are still in the news after the up and down week for Wall Street.

HOLMES: Well if you haven't refinanced, now might be the time for you. CNN's Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis is going to be taking a look at that for us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: The fed slashed interest rates by three quarters of a percentage point. And if you've got a mortgage, you might be thinking is this a good time to refinance? We asked CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis that question.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well you know I spoke to some mortgage brokers this week and they told me they're already being inundated with phone calls from folks who want to refi. Now the good news is, mortgage rates are low and with more rate cuts likely on the way, we have this impending economic stimulus plan, rates could fall lower. A 30-year fixed rate is going for just about 5.5 percent. A fixed jumbo loan about 6.5 percent, depends on where you are, what your credit score is. But don't forget a refi typically costs one to two percent of the value of your loan. So it's not cheap, you don't get them for free. You have to pay some money for them.

HOLMES: So how do you actually make it worthwhile? How much of a rate decrease do we need to see before you know, hey, it's worth it to go ahead and do this?

WILLIS: Well I think half a percentage point to a full percentage point is about the right place to be. The difference between what your rate is right now and what you could get. But the devil's in the details here. It's much harder to get one of these loans now. You'll need 20 percent equity according to some mortgage brokers right now. You used to need only 10. Again, it used to be that a credit score of 660 might get you a loan, now it's 720. And I have to say again, this is not everybody, every loan, every lender. This is just some of the brokers we spoke to. One broker even told me that before the credit crunch, eight in 10 of his potential customers that would walk through the door would qualify for a loan, now it's only three in 10. Because these lending standards have become so much more restrictive.

HOLMES: All right Gerri. Plenty of things out there, a lot of information to consider. Anything else we necessarily need to be keeping in mind?

WILLIS: Well you know it's not going to be possible for every homeowner to refi because some people will find their home has lost value. They may owe more than a bank says their home is worth. But if you can, seek out a great 30 year fixed rate loan, the rates are really attractive now. It's worth checking out. Particularly if you're struggling with an adjustable rate mortgage reset.

HOLMES: All right, "OPEN HOUSE," of course 9:30 eastern time. We always have that to look forward to. And what do we have to look forward to in this installment?

WILLIS: Well T.J. coming up, we're going to answer the big questions. Are we headed towards a recession? Will an economic stimulus plan make a difference? I'll tell you what all of this means to you and your family. Then, recession proofing your savings. Everything you need to know now about protecting your money. And you know T.J., on a lighter side, the super bowl is coming up. We're going to tell you how to throw the ultimate super bowl party. I know you're going to want to see this, ok. It's really a good segment. HOLMES: All right, you know I do and I can use those tips. Big party and of course you're invited. We will see you at 9:30. Thank you so much Gerri.

WILLIS: Thank you T.J.

JOSH LEVS: A moment two years ago at Coretta Scott King's funeral is now taking on a whole new meaning today. I'm Josh Levs. What it says about the presidential race is coming up right here, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: All right so the polls in South Carolina currently show Barack Obama in the lead over Hillary Clinton among black voters.

HOLMES: Yeah, that might be hard to imagine just a couple of years ago. Josh Levs here to remind us of something we did see a couple of years ago. It was a heck of a moment.

LEVS: It's so interesting to look back on this now. You weren't in Atlanta yet, were you? But you were around, during Coretta Scott King's death two years ago? Yeah, I was one of the people there covering the funeral. There was a moment here in which both Clintons stepped up to the podium and someone in the crowd, you can't hear it, but someone in the crowd in reference to Hillary Clinton yelled the words future president. It's about five seconds into what I'm going to show you. Let's take a look at it happening and how the crowd responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON: I'm honored to be here with my president and my former presidents and when -- when -- when -- [ applause ]

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: And it keeps going and going. There you go there's thousands and thousands of people there, they're standing up and they didn't quiet down. So she finally did that. Now let's skip ahead two years to the political reality. The first time ever black voters were actually asked to weigh in. We're in South Carolina now. And a lot of things we didn't know at the time. Obama was specifically saying he would not run in 2008 and no one knew that he was going to win Iowa, convinced a lot of people he's a legitimate contender. No one knew there would be these two kind of ugly weeks of back and forth with some racial elements involved.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah, it's really interesting when you look back and you see the times today and this is being a big primary for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Huge deal and everyone out there taking part today in the primaries anywhere in South Carolina, we want your i-Report, take photos, send those stories, cnn.com. At the very top, you see a link that says "i-Reports," just click on it, send us your stories, we'll share them on TV and online.

NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Josh.

LEVS: Thanks guys.

NGUYEN: Well, coming up on the CNN NEWSROOM.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: We got a lot of stuff coming your way at the top of the hour. But don't go away, because OPEN HOUSE with Gerri Willis starts right now.

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