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CNN Saturday Morning News
Polls Open in Louisiana and Other States; Missouri Town Copes With Aftermath of Shooting Spree; Four People Still Missing After Sugar Refinery Explosion; Parts of the South Try to Pick Up the Pieces After Deadly Tornadoes; Stolen Organs in New Delhi
Aired February 09, 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: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, it's Saturday. We're raring to go.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: If people at home only knew, T.J. Oh, man. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. We thank you for starting your day with us. OK, so, three key races for Democrats today and one crucial issue. Who can bring the party together and beat the Republican nominee in November?
HOLMES: This morning, new polling numbers on which candidate does better against leading Republican, Senator John McCain.
NGUYEN: A candlelight vigil for the five people killed while attending a townhall meeting. This morning, we're learning new information about the shooter's motives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETTY MCCLUAN, TORNADO SURVIVOR: When we were laying on our children, he was on Chase and I was laying on hiding (ph). I looked back, you know, after the top came off the top, the top was ripped off, the shelter. I looked back behind and I could see our house blowing over our heads.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Can you imagine? We got incredible stories of survival to tell you about this morning as we're live in Tennessee's tornado alley as the recovery there continues.
NGUYEN: We want to start with politics. The polls are opening right now across Louisiana, it's one of five states in territories choosing presidential nominees today.
HOLMES: And it's time for Louisiana, and caucuses happening in Washington State, Nebraska, the Virgin Islands as well as Kansas. Louisiana is the only state holding a primary today, with voting on candidates from both parties. We'll have much more coming your way a little later. We've got some reporters out and about of course out there on the campaign trail. We'll be checking in with them throughout the morning.
NGUYEN: A lot of information coming in but in the meantime though, people in Kirkwood, Missouri still, trying to come to grips with a murderous rampage at city hall.
HOLMES: This is the video you're seeing from last night, residents there of the small community turn out for a candlelight vigil for the five people killed. Our Jim Acosta is live for us this morning in the town of Kirkwood.
Good morning to you, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, T.J.
The town of Kirkwood is in mourning this morning. According to local reports from last night's candlelight vigil, it drew thousands of people. They stood where we are standing right now and tried to come to grips with the violence that shattered their community.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Investigators say, the gunman shouted "Shoot the mayor" as he blasted his way into the city council meeting, killing five people, including two police officers, two council members and the local public works director. Also wounded in the rampage was Kirkwood's mayor. Witnesses saw the city attorney fight for his life and survive.
ALAN HOEPFL, WITNESSED SHOOTING: After awhile I was on the floor, I heard three, four, maybe five more shots, and then within a minute or so, he was having an altercation with the city attorney John Hessel and while Mr. Hessel was trying to protect himself, throwing chairs at Cookie, I saw my chance to leave the premises and I bolted to the door.
ACOSTA: Moments later, Kirkwood Police took down the gunman identified by witnesses as Charles Lee Thornton, known to friends as Cookie. He was a local business owner with a history of heated confrontations with city officials. Relatives say Thornton had a score to settle.
GERALD THORNTON, BROTHER OF SUSPECTED GUNMAN: My brother went to war with the people that were of the government that was putting torment and strife into his life.
ACOSTA: According to Gerald Thornton, the city had blocked his brother from speaking out at council meetings on municipal fines he wracked up at his business. Charles Lee Thornton took the matter to court on free speech grounds and lost at a ruling that came down just last week. Friends and family members of the victims are still trying to understand how small town city politics could turn so violent. One of the city's two slain council members, Connie Karr, was in the middle of a race to become Kirkwood's next mayor.
KATHY PAULSEN, FRIEND OF SLAIN COUNCIL MEMBER: I don't know if anyone will ever make sense of why our country has so much violence, but I think people should be committed to moving away from violence and moving toward resolution.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ACOSTA: As for the current mayor of Kirkwood, he is still recovering in the hospital this morning and funeral arrangements are being made for the victims who did not survive -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, on the scene there for us, Jim Acosta in Kirkwood. Jim, we appreciate you this morning.
NGUYEN: Well, a deadly campus shooting in Louisiana still has authorities baffled. Police say, a 23-year-old woman opened fire at a classroom at Louisiana Technical College yesterday, killing two female students before turning the gun on herself and committing suicide. Classes are canceled at least through Tuesday.
HOLMES: It's been a rough week for a lot of folks across many states hit by deadly tornadoes this week and many of the survivors are picking through the ruins this weekend trying salvage whatever they can.
NGUYEN: Yes, the storms killed 59 people in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Alabama, and some of those who survived have incredible stories to tell. CNN's Susan Roesgen is live in Huntersville, Tennessee, and she joins us with the latest.
Good morning.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty and T.J.
This is the wooden railing along the front steps that lead to this family's front door that isn't here anymore. This is or was the foundation of this family's home, and down there, about 50 yards away, is the house. The house was lifted off of its foundation.
Now, the family was inside this house Tuesday night. Mom and dad and two young boys, when the father just happened to be slipping around on the channels and he saw the local weather report and he saw a map and a graphic and he said that looks like a tornado is going to be right over our neighborhood.
So, he scooped up his family, got his wife and his two children and they went out the back door because they actually have an underground storm shelter. They got down in this storm shelter, huddled in there and the roof of the storm shelter blew off and this family watched their house literally fly over their heads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBIE MCCLUAN, TORNADO SURVIVOR: My little boy that's nine, Chase, he prayed out the whole time we were in there. He was saying "Please, God, don't take us, please, God, don't take us," just over and over repeatedly. It was all over with in about four minutes but it seemed like we were down there an hour.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: I bet it did seem like they were down there an hour. You could imagine the panic in there. A little bit later when we've got some daylight, I'm going to take you down into that underground storm shelter. The family had built it about five years ago when there were other tornadoes in this area.
They were worried about it, they were scared, so, they had this concrete bunker built down in the ground just like you see in the "Wizard of Oz." and they got in there but it did not turn out to be that much of a shelter in the end because this was a powerful storm that again, lifted their house, as you can see it, standing upright, it looks as if you could almost sort of live in it again if you repaired the roof but the truth is it's structurally unsafe.
It just landed upright and wait until you see what's inside it, the way this tornado picked up this house and moved some furnishings around while other things were not even touched. Really a crazy scene out here and we're going to be showing you some more of it later this morning -- Betty?
NGUYEN: It's really remarkable especially when it comes to tornadoes how, you know, it will just blow past a house, no problem, and then destroy another one and I heard yesterday, there was a baby that was actually found. He had been thrown in all of the storms that came through, so, it is really truly remarkable. I'm looking forward to hearing those stories throughout the morning. Thank you, Susan.
ROESGEN: You bet.
HOLMES: Well, the river is slowly started to recede in flood- swept parts of Ohio in Ottawa. Flood water has swamp streets and damage more than 300 homes but some sand bags kept some businesses downtown pretty dry. This is the second time in about five months that this area has flooded.
Well, in Findlay, Ohio, many of the homes damaged by floods last August were hit again this week.
HOLMES: Well, it is a brutally cold in the plains and Midwest. Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf has a look at our severe -- every time we talk to you it's severe weather.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, well, that's the reason why I'm here.
NGUYEN: Is that why you're here?
WOLF: I mean, yes, I mean you got to stay employed so obviously -
NGUYEN: So, you just conjure up the worst conditions possible and you bring it to us.
WOLF: Actually, to tell you the truth I wish that was the case but unfortunately we've had awful weather, we have terrible weather. Hats off to the poor people in Tennessee and of course people in Ohio, they're still dealing with these issues, but of Tennessee, I mean, it's just awful to see what they've been dealing with. And the thing that's so terrible in that situation is you can rebuild homes, you can replant trees but what they dealt with is going to stay with them for years and years. I mean, for the people who lived through this, every time they hear the boom of thunder or they see dark clouds, they're going to remember this point in time. They're going to go right back to when this took place and they're going to experience that terror once again.
It is a frightening thing to contemplate. Many of these people not much warning whatsoever. Thankfully, the ones that did get some warning were able to act accordingly and save their lives and help keep themselves and their family safe.
But many times is not often the case. The bottom line is when you have these storms, you get as low as you possibly can, if you have basement, a storm cellar, the best place you can be or at least an interior room in the house away from windows and away from outside walls and that usually will make a tremendous difference for you.
Things again, weather-wise at least in parts of Tennessee are going to get better. We're seeing the focus shift to parts of course, the Ohio valley, where many places are still dealing with the flooding issues although the water is beginning to recede. There is some moisture there.
We're seeing some scattered showers in Ohio. Not much in terms of rainfall, maybe a tenth of an inch of rain but behind right behind it, you see a lot of dry air. But there's something more to that, behind that frontal boundary you got a blast of frigid air.
We'll take you back into Friday, into today and into Sunday and notice that cold air is going to make its way into the Ohio valley, into portions of the midwest, even in the upper and central plains dropping temperatures right into the teens for much of the area that's been inundated with those floodwaters.
Back into Chicago and Green Bay, zero conditions and then subzero in parts of Minnesota and into the upper plains. Windchill factor what, a factor it's going to be in people's lives as we fast forward the clock from say, Saturday and into Sunday, notice the time, some of these locations, especially up in Duluth and back to the twin cities, some 50 degrees below zero in terms of windchill, certainly brutal times. Many people of course in the Ohio valley if you'll remember without power. It's going to be very difficult to stay warm.
That's the latest we've got for you. Let's send it back to you at the news desk.
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. We do thank you.
WOLF: You bet.
HOLMES: Well, folks the check is almost in the mail for millions of Americans, but even after it gets in the mail it's going to be awhile before it gets to you. It will be awhile before we can stimulate this economy really. Tax rebate checks could start arriving, but they are not starting arriving until maybe May, sorry.
Congress passed a $167 billion stimulus package on this yesterday, but the White House says, the president will sign it but under the plan, 130 million Americans will get checks ranging from $300 to $600 and for people with income up to $75,000 and couples making up to $150,000 will get $1,200 and there is an additional $300 rebate per child, but yes, it's supposed to stimulate the economy, which needs some stimulating right now, but again, once the checks even get in the mail, they're not going to get to folks until May, June.
NGUYEN: Exactly. And how much will they really spend of it? Will it stimulate the economy? A lot of People have questions about that.
HOLMES: Yes, some say, they just going to put it in the bank where they're going to pay off debt.
NGUYEN: Pay some bills.
HOLMES: So, it might not stimulate much but, hey, it's better than nothing.
NGUYEN: Listen to this though. This is a horrible story, it sounds in fact like something out of a horror movie. Just imagine this, OK, you wake up, you find your kidney has been stolen and police say, this man right here is at the center of an organ trade scandal. Hear what victims have to say in a live report from New Delhi.
HOLMES: Also, a refinery plant goes up in flames, several people are killed, several others are injured. The latest on just how much destruction this thing did.
NGUYEN: Getting to you some to some live pictures from Louisiana. Folks headed to the polls today. They are open. We want to stay with CNN, the best political team on television.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. A quick look and a quick listen to some other stories making news.
NGUYEN: A knee-slapper (ph).
HOLMES: You should see us right now folks. This is how I wake up in the morning and also how the crew of shuttle "Atlantis" woke up this morning to the sound powdered milk (ph).
"Atlantis" is closing in on the International Space Station due to dock with the station at 12:25 Eastern time. The station's first female commander, astronaut Peggy Whitson is celebrating today. It's her 48th birthday. I didn't get her anything.
NGUYEN: Oh, well happy birthday.
HOLMES: Happy birthday to her. NGUYEN: It's an out of this world birthday.
And you know, folks may be celebrating today too because we could find out whether the strike by movie and television writers will soon be over. Members of the writers union are meeting today in Los Angeles and New York to consider a contract proposal from the Hollywood studios. And if the writers approve of the deal, the strike could end as soon as Monday.
HOLMES: That would be some great news.
And also businessmen in China and the United States could be in trouble because of last year's tainted pet food cases. Federal prosecutors say, top executives of two Chinese businesses and the leaders, Las Vegas Bay Chem-nutra (ph) Company have been charged in separate but related indictments.
All right, this next story here. You know, people have all kinds of things stolen from them, you know, money, merchandise, all kinds of things.
NGUYEN: Exactly.
HOLMES: But an organ? Can you imagine waking up and you have a missing organ.
NGUYEN: A kidney.
HOLMES: A kidney is gone. But folks in Nepal, the authorities in Nepal and also in India say, in fact, that is what has happened and this is all too real.
NGUYEN: Yes, and at the center of this is a doctor accused of running just a gruesome and unethical trade in human organs. CNN's Sara Sidner joins us from New Delhi.
And Sara, I understand that the doctor has been apprehended by authorities, is that correct?
SARA SIDNER, CNN NEW DELHI CORRESPONDENT: That is correct, Betty. This case has garnered huge international attention and a lot of focus on India which has embarrassed the country.
We are hearing at this hour from sources that the Dr. Amit Kumar, man that is being accused of being the kidney theft kingpin, is headed back to India right now with Indian authorities, which is pretty amazing, since he was arrested just two days ago in neighboring Nepal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (voice-over): In Katmandu, police presented the man they say is at the center of what could be India's largest organ trade scandal ever. Amit Kumar sought defiance in Nepal, in India he's accused of buying, coercing or outright stealing kidneys from poor Indians and selling them to paying customers abroad, something he denies. AMIT KUMAR, SUSPECT: That is wrong, absolutely wrong, absolutely wrong. I have not duped anybody. I have not talked to anybody.
SIDNER: But police in Nepal say, Kumar has talked and admitted involvement in about 300 kidney transplants in just over a decade. But Kumar insisted that in itself is not against the law.
KUMAR: I have not committed any crimes and I have not.
SIDNER: Investigators say, Kumar was found in Nepal with wads of cash in more than one currency totaling more than $250,000.
(on camera): While police say, Dr. Kumar was found with all that cash, we found the meager home of one of his alleged victims, Shakil Ahmed says he can barely afford to eat now. "We are surviving on borrowed money," he says.
Shakil says, he hasn't been able to leave his bed since he returned, a hardship for his family who relies on his income. We first met him at the hospital, days after he said he was lured to a home, drugged and woke up in pain with a huge scar, only to learn later that his kidney had been taken.
Shakil, tell me why you're crying?
(voice-over): "I am crying because he has ruined my life. What is left to do except crying."
The he Shakil is referring to is Amit Kumar. At the moment, Nepalese police plan to charge Kumar with failing to report the large sum of money he brought into the country. Indian authorities also want to get their hands on him but they may have to wait as Nepalese police investigate whether Dr. Kumar may have performed any illegal operations there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: And again, we should mention we have just learned that it looks like Dr. Amit Kumar will be heading back to this country and could be in this country within the next few hours. We're hearing that from media reports, we're hearing from sources as well and that is the situation here in India. We should tell you, this is the headline of almost every newspaper on a daily basis. It's a big story here as well.
Live Sara Sidner, CNN in New Delhi.
NGUYEN: Well, Sara, it's really quite a shocking story to hear the man say, he woke up and his kidney was gone. And to understand this trade as we talk about the money that was found that the doctor had, I mean, how much does a kidney go for?
SIDNER: We're hearing different reports. It depends, I think, on what people could pay, what the patients could afford. We're hearing that many of the alleged patients were foreigners who were desperate for a kidney transplant and they found out if you get it for much cheaper here in India and so, somehow, got in contact with Dr. Kumar, according to police, and were able to get their operations done for maybe a few thousand, as opposed to many more thousands in other countries.
NGUYEN: My goodness, it's a couple thousand for a kidney. All right, Sara, thank you for the report. Of course, we'll be talking to you a little bit later in the show. But that just kind of gives you an idea of how much money is being transferred back and forth if he's got hundreds of thousands and kidneys only go for about a couple of grand.
HOLMES: And some of the actual victims were duped, saying, they're going to get and it would sound like a lot of money to some of them, like what you're saying, some of the poor people, Betty, just agree to get $2,500 or something, that sounds great to them and they don't end up getting all that money. (INAUDIBLE) But yes, we'll hear from her a little later in the newscast.
Also, we're going to be talking about Roger Clemens, a lot going on with him lately, the baseball great. He's been in Washington all week. He gave some testimony behind closed doors and also been going door to door with a lot of the congressmen up there. We'll see what has coming up his way next week. He'll be testifying again on Capitol Hill.
Another late twist in the story, Betty, his wife is possibly involved in this whole steroid HGH thing and some accusations that she was actually injected with some HGH. So, this thing just keeps getting stranger and stranger.
NGUYEN: All right. Well and some are saying it's two against one in the race for the White House. We're going to look at how Republican Senator John McCain stacks up against the Democrats.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Happening today in politics, voting contests in five contest and we're watching all of them of course. Here is a look at both parties taking part in the Washington caucuses and also, Louisiana primary. The polls in Louisiana opened in just about 20 minutes ago.
Also, we're watching a Republican caucus happening in Kansas today, a Democratic caucus happening in Nebraska, voting as well in the Virgin Islands. For the Democrats, now dealing with a new issue instead of the economy, economy or the war in Iraq, voters want to know who can beat John McCain.
More now from CNN senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, a part of the best political team on TV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): John McCain is the latest issue in the Democratic race. SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And for Democrats, who would be our best candidate to stand on the stage with Senator McCain?
SCHNEIDER: Two polls this month asked registered voters nationwide how they would vote if the choice were between Republican John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton? The CNN poll conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation shows Clinton three points ahead of McCain, within the poll's margin of error. Their "Time" magazine poll shows a dead heat between Clinton and McCain. Barack Obama believes he can do better.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've got appeal that goes beyond our party.
SCHNEIDER: Let's see. Obama leads McCain by eight points in the CNN poll, outside the margin of error. He leads McCain by seven in the "Time" poll. Why does Obama look stronger than Clinton?
OBAMA: I think there's no doubt that she has higher negatives than any of the remaining Democratic candidates. You know, that's just a fact, and there are some who will not vote for her.
SCHNEIDER: That was three weeks ago. Now only two Democratic candidates remain. Forty-four percent of the public say, they don't like Senator Clinton. That's higher than the 36 percent who don't like McCain, and the 31 percent who don't like Obama. The big reason why Obama does better against McCain than Clinton does? Men. Among men, McCain has an 18-point lead over Clinton.
Against Obama, McCain's lead among men nearly disappears. Women, on the other hand, vote for either Clinton or Obama by similar margins. Some Democrats may be worried about how Obama will fare with white voters. Let's see. Whites give McCain a 15-point lead over Clinton. Obama actually fares better than Clinton with white voters. McCain still leads but by a smaller margin.
(on camera): Obama argues that he can reach across party lines, and he does do a little better than Clinton with independents and Republicans, at least in these polls, but their big difference is that Clinton does not draw very well with men. Obama does.
Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And "BALLOT BOWL" is back again this weekend, folks, and it is your chance to see the candidates unfiltered in their own words. CNN's "BALLOT BOWL" kicks off today, 2:00 p.m. Eastern. A little bit later tonight, you can see all of the important results from today's primaries and caucus voting. Results and analysis live from the CNN Election Center. Our special coverage comes your way at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
HOLMES: And we'll continue to look at the devastation we saw across the south this week. Tornado survivors now facing the next challenge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REGINA COOPER, SURVIVOR: People, they just rebuild here and clean all this up one piece at a time? I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: How one storm victim is coping.
HOLMES: Also, our Josh Levs is here this morning, keeping it real for us with the delegate count and that's a complicated thing to keep straight.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know it is. Good morning, guys.
I don't want to confuse everybody's brains in the morning. But we're asking a pretty simple question today. Will the Democratic Party really be Democratic in choosing a nominee? We're hearing talk now of an arrangement to choose between Clinton and Obama. So, what does it say about all those voters? Will have the answers coming up right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, good morning, everybody and welcome back. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for starting your day right here with us.
We'll start this half hour with the search resuming this morning near Savannah, Georgia. Still, four people missing after a horrific explosion and fire at a sugar refinery.
NGUYEN: Yes, four people were killed in the blast. Dozens of workers were injured. Most of them badly burned and CNN's John Zarrella joins us from Port Wentworth, Georgia.
John, I got to ask you, any progress in the search for those four missing people?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Betty, as of last night, still the four confirmed dead, the four confirmed missing, possibly more. The search for those missing is resuming this morning. It had to be suspended last night at darkness, because it was simply too dangerous for the search teams.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): Fires still smoldered beneath mountains of debris, a day after the ear-splitting explosion at the Imperial Sugar Refinery, firefighters continued nonstop, pouring water on hot spots.
MATT STANLEY, SAVANNAH FIRE DEPT.: Because of the amount of water that we're having to put onto the building, onto the structure, it is jeopardizing again the structural integrity of the building.
ZARRELLA: What is left of the structure is charred. The rest teeters on twisted metal and fractured concrete. Joyce baker, who teaches first aid, just happened to be nearby. Her first instinct: Get to the scene.
JOY BAKER, WITNESS: I've never seen that kind of human spirit before. When you are burned so badly and in such tremendous pain and the only thing you want to know is, take care of him or where's my friend? That's the main amazing.
ZARRELLA: Thursday's explosion and fire left dozens burned.
DR. JAY GOLDSTEIN, MEMORIAL HEALTH UNIV., HOSPITAL: It was unbelievably tough just the number of patients.
ZARRELLA: Dr. Jay Goldstein runs the emergency room at Memorial Health. His team spent hours treating victims and comforting loved ones.
GOLDSTEIN: It's just such a recurrence and a significant amount of patients of significant amount of severe trauma, severe burns and after awhile it definitely becomes overwhelming.
ZARRELLA: Families of the missing workers came to the scene looking for answers and comfort.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God has a way to get waking people up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm praying for everybody, and I hope everybody get out of here safe and sound.
ZARRELLA: Heavy equipment will be brought in over the weekend to begin clearing debris. Fire officials say while rare, it's possible, sugar dust from the refining process ignited, causing the explosion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, federal investigative teams are here on the scene, and they will, of course, try to begin sifting through the rubble to pin down the exact cause of the explosion, and that intense fire and inferno that raced through that sugar plant, but it's going to take some time for them to actually get to the root of this.
And when you see those pictures, Betty, the aftermath there, it is amazing that so many people actually made it out with their lives. It is just a crumbled mass of steel, twisted steel and concrete. So really, amazing that to so many people thankfully made it out alive, Betty?
NGUYEN: Well, John, I understand, I mean, not only was there the explosion but didn't several stories come crashing down on top of each other?
ZARRELLA: Yes, it absolutely did. There's several levels to the sugar plant and after the explosion with the massive fire melting some of those steel girders and it literally started to just collapse on top of each other.
There were bottom areas with tunnels we're told, that with firefighters pouring so much water in there, that they actually filled those tunnels with water, so now, they've got to actually start to pump the water out of those tunnel areas to get inside there, thinking that perhaps some of those that may still be missing might be trapped inside those tunnels, a possibility -- Betty?
NGUYEN: My goodness. OK. John Zarrella joining us live with the latest there. Thank you, John.
We're going to turn you back to politics now: 158 delegates are up for grabs today in primaries and caucuses in four states and the Virgin Islands. You are looking at polling place in New Orleans where primary voting got under way just about 35 minutes ago. Caucuses are being held in Washington State, Kansas, and Nebraska.
HOLMES: And of course, we've got Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, nearly tied in the delegate count and there is increasing focus on the so-called superdelegates. Yes, there are about 800 current and former elected Democratic officials who are not committed to either candidate.
NGUYEN: So, you know, we may end up seeing intense wheeling and dealing behind the scenes by Clinton and Obama as they try to enlist as many superdelegates as possible, not exactly what most people think of as Democratic.
CNN's Josh Levs is here to Keep Them Honest. Some people go to the polls and I think that you know, they are voting as primary, their vote counts but then, you get the superdelegates who step in. How does that work?
LEVS: Ain't that crazy because we talking every week about how this is a big deal here because voting matters. Right? I mean, everyone's really energized, you seeing record turnout because finally voters are actually making a decision and now all of the sudden we're hearing, maybe they won't, maybe because it's a split decision, it could get to the point where there will be this arrangement behind the scenes.
So, we're going to do now is show you how this superdelegate process could play out and whether in the end it would truly be Democratic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS (voice-over): Senators Clinton and Obama are almost neck and neck in the delegate count and may split several primaries and caucuses over the next several weeks. If they slug it out well into the spring, that may hurt the Democrats as the presumptive Republican nominee begins to build a national campaign. Democratic Party chairman, Howard Dean says, if there's no clear winner by April he'll ...
HOWARD DEAN, DNC CHAIRMAN: Get the candidates to get together and make some kind of arrangement.
LEVS: Arrangement? Shouldn't voters determine the nominee? They elected the delegates but not the superdelegate: The lawmakers, governors and other party VIPs who get votes at the convention. There are 800, about a fifth of the total. Clinton has more on her side but most remain uncommitted and they can switch allegiance if it would help resolve a deadlock they just may. Obama wants to win them over.
OBAMA: If we come into the convention with more pledged delegates, then I think we can make a strong argument that our constituencies have spoken.
LEVS: Not necessarily. Take the Nevada caucuses, for example. In the vote, Clinton had a six-point victory but Obama got one more pledged delegate. They're not always handed out in proportion to the vote, so, maybe the arrangement would award the nomination to whoever gets more votes. That's one way Clinton said she won Super Tuesday.
CLINTON: Ending up once again with, you know, a total of more votes and more delegates.
LEVS: If party leaders considered overall votes would they include Michigan and Florida where primaries were held with to campaigning and no delegates awarded? There so many possible factors between the votes and ultimate decision. There could be passionate debates over just how Democratic the party selection process proves to be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: And this could become an issue between the candidates in the Democratic race. You know, we may see them or their surrogates start to pressure voters to get behind one candidate for the sake of party unity. But you know, Betty and T.J., we have to be wary about that. Because even that can draw away from Democracy, the idea is let everybody have a chance to weigh in whoever you want.
NGUYEN: It's almost like me, if I find out who the superdelegates are so you can lobby them, it's almost at that point, T.J. we have some control.
LEVS: Intense lobbying on both sides. They're literally calling superdelegates every day.
NGUYEN: Man, OK, Josh, thank you.
Well, if you prefer your presidential candidate straight up, unfiltered, well, CNN's "BALLOT BOWL" is just what you ordered. Hear them in their own words as they talk about the economy, the war, immigration and other important issues. Today's "BALLOT BOWL" begins at 2:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN, your home for politics.
HOLMES: It sounded like you were serving a drink there, straight up and unfiltered.
NGUYEN: Well, usually you know, cats are afraid of water, right? HOLMES: Not this again.
NGUYEN: Check it out. Not this surfer.
HOLMES: Oh.
NGUYEN: The video you have to see to believe.
HOLMES: How many things have we seen surf now? All right.
One of baseball's greats heading to Capitol Hill and our Rick Horrow, Pretty Ricky, is what they call him, is going to be talking about that with us and yes, he was at the Super Bowl last week. He has on the New York Giants champion hat there. He's going to have his thoughts on the Super Bowl, also a few strange stories happening in sports this week. We'll get into Pretty Ricky, stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: You know, they survived the storm and now, people in five southern states that got hit this week with those deadly tornadoes; they need a lot of help to recover. President Bush is promising some quick relief.
HOLMES: However, if past disasters are any guide, people who lost everything could be in for a long, long wait.
CNN's Ed Lavandera has the story from Huntersville, Tennessee.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Regina Cooper spent the last two days in the hospital getting storm debris removed from her body.
REGINA COOPER, SURVIVOR: This I didn't want to keep it but the doctor had a chunk of wood he took out of my arm.
LAVANDERA: At the same time she was checking out of a Tennessee hospital, Homeland Security chief, Michael Chertoff was touring the devastation just a few miles away, promising help.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We're all standing shoulder to shoulder with the governor, with local communities, so that we can begin the process of rebuilding.
LAVANDERA: But even before the storm's fury had died down, pressure was building on the government to react swiftly.
SEN. BLANCHE LINCOLN, (D) ARKANSAS: Moral support is important but a commitment to provide financial assistance is absolutely critical and I hope that we will move forward in that direction.
LAVANDERA: As we rolled into Regina Cooper's neighborhood, the magnitude of the damage shocked her.
COOPER: That was where the front door was. LAVANDERA: This is the first time she's seen what her home looks like.
COOPER: I don't know what people do, they just rebuild here and clean all this up one piece at a time? I don't know.
LAVANDERA: Cooper has reason to worry, because rebuilding after a violent storm has proven time and again to be a long, slow journey.
COOPER: That was my room.
LAVANDERA: Last year a twister all but wiped out the town of Greensburg, Kansas. Its population has dropped from 1,300 to 800 and businesses and homes are just now starting to be rebuilt. And in places like Deland, Florida, local officials had to fight the federal government to get financial help, slowing down the recovery and of course, thousands of storm victims from hurricanes Katrina and Rita are still struggling to rebuild their homes.
COOPER: Oh, my goodness.
LAVANDERA: Regina Cooper isn't think being the past right now but she does wonder if she's ever coming back home.
COOPER: We were thinking maybe by May we could have something else built here. But looking at this now I don't see how we could, all of the cleanup work. Now, let's see how we could. We lived here all my life, hard to imagine not living here.
LAVANDERA (on camera): President Bush declared five counties in Tennessee federal disaster areas and that includes this area here, which means storm victims will immediately qualify for financial help with temporary housing, and cleaning up this debris.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Huntersville, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: It's going to take some time for all of them to just get their lives back together. He talked about Greensburg, Kansas. I visited that area last year, and the tornado that struck that town just pretty much wiped out 95 percent of the town, but the good news is, despite all of that devastation, homes are going back up and what they're doing is something really remarkable. They are rebuilding green. They're trying to do it in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
So, when we look at the storm damage from them, these several different states that experienced a lot of death and destruction, what they can do is look at Greensburg and see that despite all that's lost, you can rebuild and you can rebuild in a way that's going to be sustainable for many generations to come and in a way that is going to help the environment.
Of course, we don't want anything to be wiped out, but you do want to know that there is hope in the future and I think Greensburg is the prime example of that.
HOLMES: And a good example for those folks to look at right now going through what they're going through. It seems impossible but you can do it.
NGUYEN: Yes, absolutely.
HOLMES: Now, we'll turn to some weather happening and seems like it's always extreme in one way, form or fashion. Reynolds Wolf standing by for us, he got some freezing temperatures you're tracking for us.
WOLF: We really do. We've got cold conditions across a good part of the country, mainly up in the northern plains into the Midwest but it's going to affect parts of the Ohio valley where many people this morning are still inundated with those floodwaters especially in Ohio. Some great news for them though is we that we do anticipate much of that moisture to move out of the region.
Still, maybe some scattered showers, maybe a few snowflakes as we get to the afternoon, wrapping around the area of low pressure but it's going to be very light precipitation, it's not going to add a great deal to those floodwaters and the floodwaters as we speak are beginning to recede.
Well, we have coming right behind that though is something that is not too comfy. We do see this foundry sweeping through this cold front right behind it from yesterday and into today. That cold air is going to march it's way into the Ohio valley, temperatures in the teens of the daytime high, as we get into Sunday, some parts of the western great lakes single digits and some places below zero, some spots up to 10 degrees below zero in the twin cities.
Meanwhile, take a look at this great shot of the upper Nashville. It will be a brighter day in Tennessee, this beautiful we have compliments of WZTV, there's the Cumberland River, there in the foreground, sun is coming up, beautiful shot.
Let's send it back to you at the news desk.
NGUYEN: Man, that is a pretty shot. Except for the fact that if you're there, it's pretty doggone cold.
WOLF: You got some talking now, there you go.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Reynolds.
HOLMES: Coming up next half hour of more profiling, longer no- fly lists, new information suggests that potential terrorists are entering this country from one of America's closest allies.
NGUYEN: Plus: A moose that has nowhere to go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And this moose is becoming quite a tourist attraction along this highway. As you can see, he'll walk right up to your car and stick his head through the window.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Looking for some food. More on this special attraction in one New England community.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, Mr. Clemens goes to Washington. The star pitcher, Roger Clemens is testified in private this week on Capitol Hill but he's expected to testify out in the open Wednesday and now a strange twist in this case, reports alleged Clemens' wife was also injected with human growth hormone.
We are joined by sports business analyst, Rick Horrow. Pretty Ricky what they call him, he's back in West Palm Beach, Florida this morning. Rick, let's start with this thing here, this Roger Clemens mess.
Somebody has put themselves in a position to go to jail because these two, Clemens and his former trainer, McNamee have given now sworn testimony that appeared to be conflicting. So, somebody surely has lied under oath at this point, is that right?
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Well, that may be correct. A couple major issues here. McCarthy, Watergate, Clinton impeachment, they're dramatic hearings with hundreds of millions of people watching where there is an opportunity to determine guilt or innocence of somebody, that's one issue the courts usual decide, here's Congress during an election year by the way and secondly almost as important, you do have perjury issues, DNA, whom injects whom. It is dramatic but there are also criminal consequences which make it serious.
HOLMES: OK. And now, we throw in this other twist. Do we know about McNamee's -- his motives yet? Unless he is telling the truth, what incentive does he have to be lying and now this thing comes out of left field that he reportedly told the committee up there under oath that in fact he injected Clemens' wife with human growth hormone before she did some "Sports Illustrated" edition back in 2002-2003 I think it was.
HORROW: Somebody's trying to sell books, regain credibility, make some money, maybe pitch again. And who knows who it is? The problem is that Americans will watch television and make their own judgment as well as politicians and this really does belong in the court system but next week, is this huge hearing it will be top of mine for a few days.
HOLMES: Any way he can clear his name, Clemens at this point? Unless McNamee just comes down and say, hey, I made absolutely everything up, is his legacy tarnished forever?
HORROW: Well, you know, you're watching the hearings and McGuire's legacy maybe tarnished forever because of his answers he gave before a Capitol Hill committee, so, this is pretty significant. We've got dueling PR agents and we'll just have to see.
HOLMES: All right. Let's turn to the Super Bowl now. We had you on before the Super Bowl. We will remind folks what Pretty Ricky said to us before the Super Bowl. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HORROW: As a Miami Dolphin fan, I'm predicting the Giants 21-17, because my heart isn't that perfect season of Dolphins. The bottom line is this pursuit for perfection will probably make this the most watched Super Bowl ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Wow.
HOLMES: That's pretty good, Pretty Ricky. That's pretty good. You got the hat on and everything.
HORROW: Well, look, the big winner, University of Phoenix, $20 million of exposure on their stadium, the Miami Dolphins the legacy lives on now. The Manning family, $20 million of endorsements and me, I win. I'm going to went rent Ouija boards, I'm going to do lotteries, political election, I'm going to do stock stuff. I'm going to go to Vegas. By the way, Vegas lost $2 million in their handle because of the bets. Somebody should have called me.
NGUYEN: This is why we don't like to admit when he's right. You know?
HORROW: Yes, that gets bigger.
HOLMES: OK. And real quick here, just a quick note from you, people who don't know the story, weirdest story in some time, kid out of Nevada stages his own recruitment, has a big press conference, he picks up a Cal hat, puts it on, looks like he's this major recruit. It turns out he made this whole thing up. He was never recruited by Cal, never recruited by Oregon.
What is going on, Rick? This is a sad story, but is this just, I guess, it shows us how much pressure we put on and so much attention we put on high school athletics in making these kids stars that he wanted this to be real so bad, he made all this up.
HORROW: T.J., that's the point because $20 million, $30 million is spent by corporations, high-school wise, two network All-American games for high school kids, you pick one hat or the other. And even if you're not worthy of it, you end up doing it anyway because kids want to be like what they see on TV. That's going too far. See you next week in Daytona by the way, we do the 500.
HOLMES: We got the 500. NASCAR season is coming around already. Pretty Ricky, it's always good to see you and we will admit when you were right. You were right on the Super Bowl prediction all the way. Real close on the score as well.
NGUYEN: All right. We've said it, we're done, we're moving on. Have fun in Daytona. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks, Rick.
Well, before you eat breakfast, we've got some diet information that you really need to know. Author Michael Pollan joins us live ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. His book "In Defense of Food" is number one on the "New York Times" best sellers' list.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. Who says cats don't like water? Check this out, a feline in Peru is all about the water, and when the surf is up, you can find her on a board with her trainer. That is really remarkable.
HOLMES: On, remarkable? Ridiculous is what I was going to say.
NGUYEN: OK, that, too. He says the hardest part was teaching her to swim.
HOLMES: Why, why, why?
NGUYEN: She's got nine lives, it's good. Don't worry about her.
HOLMES: All right, folks. We're going to turn from cats to a moose now. In New England, when you see one, that's not a big deal. But this one here is a bit different.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just going to say, hey, moose, come on over and we'll talk (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: So, that's how you call him, hey, moose.
HOLMES: That works, huh?
NGUYEN: He first showed up last fall near ridges at Vermont but when he didn't leave, well, words quickly spread to the mountains.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALBERT MACDONNELL, ROCHESTER, VERMONT: Well, as we talking to the lady that lives there and she says, we got a visitor last night and say, I know, we got a deer, I mean a moose. And she says, we can't get rid of it. Me, either. It won't go back into the woods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, locals took a lot of time and get a lot of thought and named him Rocky.
He appears to be healthy. However, they are concerned, he may have a brain disease. That causes him not to fear people, so, maybe not a good thing there. NGUYEN: Well, good morning folks. We got to tell you about on this Saturday morning. Welcome to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes, glad you could be here.
We're going to start with politics. We got the polls that are open in Louisiana, a key state for the Democrats with 67 delegates up for grabs, Betty, so a lot happening there.
NGUYEN: Oh, yeah, a lot is happening and it's not only the big state in play. Live coverage with the best political team on television. That is straight ahead. But first ...
HOLMES: Unfortunately we have to start with this story. Murderous rampage at city hall, five people dead. Police now looking for a motive.
NGUYEN: And a small Missouri town is just struggling to cope with this. We take you live now to CNN's Jim Acosta in Kirkwood, Missouri with the latest.
Good morning, Jim.
ACOSTA: Good morning, Betty.
According to local reports, thousands of people gathered at this plaza across the street from city hall to remember the victims from Thursday's rampage. That was when a local businessman Charles Lee Thornton shot his way inside an ongoing city council meeting killing five people before police eventually took him down. Thornton had a long history of heated confrontations with city officials over fines he had racked up at his personal business.
At one point during the shooting spree, the city attorney for this town actually tried to fight off Thornton by throwing chairs at him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN HESSELL, KIRKWOOD CITY ATTORNEY: He pointed both guns right at me. I picked up a chair and I threw it at him and I was lucky enough where the guns then, rather than being pointed at me, was knocked to his right. So I picked up another chair and I took a couple of steps towards him because he wasn't aiming any guns at me and I hit him as hard as I could with that chair. I picked up the third chair and threw that at him as I was then running back towards the dais and I was pulling chairs behind me hoping that that would cause him to stumble or whatever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: When it was all over, two city police officers, two city council members and a public works director were all dead. The city's mayor is still recovering in the hospital this morning. He was also wounded and this morning funeral arrangements are being made for those victims who did not survive -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right, Jim. Thank you for that.
Those killed in the shooting spree are identified as public works Director Kenneth Yost, Police Officer Tom Ballman, Williams Biggs, also a council member who was runner for mayor, Connie Karr and city employee Michael Lynch. Todd Smith, a local journalist is recovering from a gunshot wound. So too is Mayor Mike Swoboda.
HOLMES: The search and rescue crews going back to the rubble of a badly damaged sugar refinery near Savannah, Georgia this morning. They're looking for four people still missing after a massive explosion there. Four people were killed in the blast late Thursday night. It's believed the explosion was caused when sugar dust ignited. We'll have a live report from the sight.
Our John Zarrella is there. He's coming up for us next hour.
NGUYEN: Help is on the way for parts of the south just pounded by deadly tornadoes. President Bush has issued major disaster declarations for the hardest hit areas.
HOLMES: The storms killed 59 people in Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky and Alabama. Some of those who survived certainly have stories to tell. CNN's Susan Roesgen is in Huntersville, Tennessee listening to some of those stories. Good morning to you, Susan.
ROESGEN: Good morning T.J. and Betty.
This is really one of those incredible stories. I am standing in what was or is or what used to be what's left of a family's foundation. This is the foundation of the home and over there about 50 yards away, is where their home wound up. It was literally lifted up off of its foundation and carried some 50 yards and wound up upright standing as you see it over there.
Now this family, it was a mother and father and their two young boys and two dogs, actually three dogs, they were trying to get all together. They were in the house. They were watching television Tuesday night. When the father was just flipping around on the dial and he saw something on the weather channel on the local news reports that really scared him and he said, we got to go.
What he meant was, let's go over here to the family's underground storm shelter. They had put this in about five years ago because there had been tornadoes in this area before and they thought they needed something to be safe and it's really like the root seller in the "Wizard of Oz" where Auntie Em and everyone got in and Dorothy wasn't able to get it.
This is what it is. It's like a concrete bunker. There were stairs here, 10 stairs that the family raced down. They were able to get two of their dogs in, the third dog, a chocolate lab pulled away from them, they couldn't get it in. They had just shut the roof, the top of this bunker, this storm shelter when the roof blew off. Then they watched their family's house blow over their heads and they were afraid that they would be airborne next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOEY MCCLUAN, TORNADO SURVIVOR: When the top left, when the top got taken off, which was 15 seconds, maybe, after I closed it, you could feel, you could feel your shirt, the back of my coat was shaking, just like, you know, if you would have stuck your head out of a -- or been in the back of a truck moving. It just had a lot of force and you could actually feel the suction, like it was trying to suck you out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: You can imagine what it was like for this family, the boys especially were just terrified. When we came out here on Wednesday afterwards, mom and dad said the boys have had nightmares. They were worried about them, but they came back out here and they're trying to get over what happened to them.
The family came out to get a look at what's left and to really see -- yeah, that's right, that is our house over there that landed upright, but it's not structurally safe. It looks as if you could almost get back in it and live it in if you just repair the roof and some other things but you can't. The family is waiting for insurance now as so many other people are to figure out what they've got to do.
And they have decided that next time, T.J., they're not going to go with an underground storm shelter. They are going to rebuild, but they are going to have a full basement instead -- T.J.
HOLMES: That's one way to go. A lot of people of course in tornado alley have those basements. They have those bunkers, those shelters. But sure, many stories like that, Susan, that's just one of many I'm sure that you're hearing out there. We appreciate you this morning.
Folks in the Midwest, the plains are dealing with some weather issues of their own right now, brutal cold. Our Reynolds Wolf is standing by tracking this all for us.
Good morning to you again, sir.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: It's right across the bridge. I'm in West Memphis, Arkansas, but then that's the pyramid you saw there.
WOLF: Who loves you, man?
HOLMES: I appreciate the love, but the folks there would appreciate knowing that Memphis used to play at the pyramid.
NGUYEN: A little correction for you.
WOLF: They don't play there anymore?
HOLMES: They play at the FedEx forum now downtown, a new spot. That's all right. We appreciate the love.
NGUYEN: You can still work for the Chamber of Commerce. It's all good, Reynolds
HOLMES: Back to some politics now, folks, you may have thought, hey, we just had super Tuesday, we get a break for a while. Huh-uh, not the case, four states, the Virgin Islands are holding primaries and caucuses today. That includes Louisiana primary. The polls opened there just about an hour ago.
And CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser, who joins us now from Washington, D.C. Paul, good to see you, sir. Good morning, what's the story line today? What is it we need to keep an eye on?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: The story line is I was trying to cover that Virgin Islands contest. But I didn't make it, and neither did you.
HOLMES: Get the election express over there and I will follow.
STEINHAUSER: Get it off the pontoon (ph). There is a really good story line today. And you're right, lot of people maybe thought super Tuesday is over; this thing is over. It's not over, no and especially on the Democratic side. You've got Clinton and Obama, they're going to be fighting it out for a while.
Today's states seem like maybe they would favor Barack Obama a little bit more. Louisiana is up today. They started voting already in Louisiana. They're going to be going until about 9:00 tonight. And in Louisiana, almost half the Democratic primary voting population is African-American and we have seen from the contest already this year that Obama does very well with African-American voters.
In Washington state, another state that's -- that actually has almost 80 delegates at stake today. This is the big one today, the biggest of all. And you think that maybe Obama would do well there as well. It's a caucus state. Obama has done very well with caucus states and the population there, which tends to be, especially in the Seattle-Tacoma area, a little more liberal, a little more upscale. He's done very well with those kind of voters as well.
HOLMES: This all sounds like great news for Obama. Is this just a matter of time he's going to overtake that delegate lead?
STEINHAUSER: There are some states coming up too, some big ones early in March, March 4, Texas and Ohio where Hillary Clinton thinks she can do very, very well. Plus I wouldn't write her off at all today. I mean these two guys, these two candidates are going to be going down for a while. And it's going to be a tough campaign between the two of them. I don't think either one is going to be giving up any time soon.
HOLMES: And Paul, how about this? How much longer can Obama continue to be the non-establishment candidate? How long can he be the outsider? He's the one with the big name endorsements. She has some as well, but he's got big name endorsements, some big insiders, a lot of Washington folks. He's the one that's raising all this money. How long can he keep saying he's the outsider?
STEINHAUSER: It's a great point. It's a great point. He does have a lot of big endorsements. He just got the governor of Washington state. She of course has the two senators out there. So I guess they're kind of divvying up the big name endorsements.
But Obama, regardless of the endorsements he's getting from the Washington elite or the insiders in the Democratic party, he continues to run on this theme of change and it is a very popular notion with voters and I don't think that you're going to see any lessening of that as he gets more endorsements. That theme seems to be working. It's connecting with voters and the more he's out there, the more he's connecting with them.
Hillary Clinton continues to go on experience and that also, it seems to be working for her as well.
HOLMES: And real quick here, not talking Republicans a lot this morning because it seems like a foregone conclusion, no disrespect to Mike Huckabee who's still in the race, but is it pretty much a formality at this point with the Republican contest?
STEINHAUSER: You know, listen, I was listening to Mike Huckabee yesterday and he got that endorsement from James Dobson, who is one of the top evangelical leaders in the country. Huckabee sounded very much like he was going to continue on and I think you will see him continue on for the next couple contests.
HOLMES: Why? Why?
STEINHAUSER: He could do well in some of these states like Virginia that's voting on Tuesday with a large rural population and a large evangelical population in the southern and western parts of the state. I think he thinks he can do well there.
But you're right, at the end of the day, if you look at the numbers, if you add them up, he's not going to do it. He can continue on for a little while longer, but I think after a while, Mike Huckabee is going to realize the same thing Mitt Romney did, the numbers are just not with him.
HOLMES: Just not with him, all right, Paul Steinhauser, sir always good to see you, look forward to seeing back on the trail soon hopefully.
STEINHAUSER: You got it, T.J., take care.
NGUYEN: Screening, finger printing, no-fly lists, all efforts to keep would-be terrorists out of the U.S, but the threat is still there and experts say it is coming from one of America's closest allies.
HOLMES: And take a look at this here. We got some talented kids to show you. Check them out. Yeah. This is not just a regular soccer moves here.
NGUYEN: Wow. HOLMES: Oh, wow. Good luck beating that team. Moves like you have never ...
NGUYEN: My goodness.
HOLMES: That's impressive. And we had a surfing cat. This is what we should have been showing earlier.
NGUYEN: We're showing it now.
HOLMES: So stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, you might think the Middle East is the global hot spot for terrorists seeking to attack the U.S., but you would actually be wrong.
NGUYEN: One of the countries U.S. anti-terror officials are most concerned about is America's strongest ally.
CNN's Paula Newton has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): August 2006. British authorities bust an alleged terror ring in London that would have blown up several U.S.-bound flights. At the time, security sources tell CNN more than half of all potential terror threats to the U.S. already involve British citizens. The conclusion American officials have since come to, Britain has become a staging ground for terror attacks, something that even now Britain's home secretary can't deny.
JACQUI SMITH, BRITISH HOME SECRETARY: We have young men in this country who we're tracking through the security services who are plotting potentially terrorist attacks and as we have seen in the past when we have successfully foiled attacks, sometimes those are attacks which aren't just based in the UK.
NEWTON: In an interview with CNN, Jacqui Smith says he knows this has led to more and more profiling by authorities. In fact, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it's most concerned about Europeans it describes as clean skinned, no criminal record and no way of checking why they're coming into the United States.
That's because they don't need a visa to travel. People like Amir Hussain, a British native who a few weeks ago landed in Detroit to visit an ailing uncle but was never let out of the airport, told by U.S. border officials ...
AMIR HUSSAIN, BUSINESSMAN: I'm going to put you on the next plane back. At that moment I was enraged.
NEWTON: Enraged but then he says he was resigned to it. British authorities admit Amir's is not an isolated case, that every day British Muslims are refused entry to the United States with no explanation. As hard as it may be to understand, Amir says he's not angry.
HUSSAIN: No, because I see what's going on in the Muslim world, I see what's going on in this country and I'm desperate for some change.
NEWTON: But with security services all over the world now just doing their job, no-fly lists are getting longer and longer and more scrutiny means turning over more personal data for travel, including banks of fingerprints, something that privacy watchdogs insist will make us no safer, the analysis is too random and too time consuming.
GUS HOSEIN, SENIOR FELLOW, PRIVACY INTERNATIONAL: And we have seen these large scale systems applied, the wrong people always get identified and often they spend weeks in jail before they actually can be proven innocent, proven innocent. That's not how our legal systems work.
NEWTON: Still more and more countries including Britain say they will follow the U.S. lead, screening, scrutinizing and fingerprinting more people, insisting it is still the best deterrent to terror they know.
Paula Newton, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And you want to stay tuned to CNN both day and night for the most reliable news about your security.
HOLMES: Well, weather line, lots of snow means lots of snow angels and stuff like that, but that's not all that's going on. Some people getting creative with their snow. It's actually becoming a competitive sport.
NGUYEN: People have a lot of time on their hands and Josh Levs is here with some top videos on the Internet. Oh, man, the one behind you is really fascinating.
LEVS: Can anybody watching do this? Wait, let's give it a second. Let's see what this actually is. Oh man, we're not seeing the moves.
NGUYEN: Who are these guys? Are they professionals or something?
LEVS: I'm going to tell you the story behind the video. We'll tell you what they do in that video is even physically possible. We got the answers, but you don't get to find out until after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right so the Internet is always popping with unusual videos that get passed around by email.
HOLMES: And Josh Levs has a couple. We have seen this one. This is the one we're really wanting to see. Let's get to it.
LEVS: Just a second. We got to do another quick one. (INAUDIBLE) We'll just do it really fast. One of the viralist (ph) videos this weekend is an IQ test. It only takes 10 seconds, you're supposed to read a sentence and count the number of F's that exist in this sentence.
Apparently, almost nobody gets this right. You at home going to give you a second to count them. You only get 10 seconds here, count the F's in the sentence. Apparently millions of people are doing this this weekend to test their IQ and then they say how many did you come up with? I'm not going to put you on the spot.
NGUYEN: I was going to say three.
LEVS: Well they say most people end up coming up with three.
NGUYEN: There's six?
LEVS: Yep and you know why,
NGUYEN: ...because the PH?
LEVS: Because we train our eyes to not notice the word "of." It's like "the" and "if." We train our eyes not to see it. But they say if you spotted three then you're smart so three is a good thing. Almost nobody gets six. So there you go.
NGUYEN: You spotted four, so where does that leave me?
LEVS: Now let's get to the stuff that you guys are (INAUDIBLE) excited about this, soccer.
NGUYEN: Soccer guys.
LEVS: Let's show the video. First of all it's incredible. Watch what's going on here. These guys are on a rooftop. This is like Jackie Chan's playing soccer all over the place. It's astounding. So millions of people jumping all over this, people starting to wonder, what's going on here, what's the deal?
Here's what the deal is, this video is actually an ad for a video game (INAUDIBLE) so the international soccer federation. So (INAUDIBLE) is this new video game from Electronic Arts. Instead of paying tons of money to air on TV, they have created this viral video that everybody's seeing. At the very end of it they give you a link and let's go over the Web site.
At the Web site for this video game, (INAUDIBLE) you can actually see behind the scenes. They're refusing to say whether any of it was digitally enhanced but they show you these clips of the guys actually preparing, actually working.
NGUYEN: This is real for the most part.
LEVS: They're showing you parts that were real but they're not saying whether any of it was digitally enhanced. There's some stuff online where people say some of it must be fake. They're playing up that mystery. You can tell some of it is real. You can see practice shots. You can see them repeating some moves and not getting it right the first time, but they're not saying whether any of it is fake.
But yeah, I mean millions of people watching something. They don't have to pay for advertising time. Boom, people buy the game.
NGUYEN: Let me just tell you, recruiters out there are watching this video, going who's that guy? I need him on our team.
LEVS: These guys are amazing.
NGUYEN: Fantastic, all right, thank you Josh.
HOLMES: We need to turn now to Pakistan, news we are just getting in about an explosion that has happened in Peshawar at an election rally, at least 15 people are killed, another 20 that we know of injured. Again, this is an election rally. This is in the northwest part of Pakistan.
It happened today. A number -- all of them civilians we understand are the ones that have been killed and injured after the explosion. The bomb went off at a rally for the Awami (ph) national party, a secular ethnic group as it's described but an election rally that's happening there.
As we know, there's been some violence in anticipation of elections that are happening actually this month, elections that were delayed and rescheduled after the killing of Benazir Bhutto there in Pakistan. But a bomb exploded at an election rally there in Pakistan where we're just getting 15 dead, another 20 injured. We're following this story, bringing you the latest as it continues to come in to us.
We'll turn to diets now, low carb, no carb, no fat, low fat. Who knows really, what is the best way to eat?
NGUYEN: Well our guest says he knows. We're going to talk with best selling author Michael Pollan in the next half hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
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NGUYEN: Of course there's always a lot of snow in winter, but places like Elk River, Idaho are literally buried under the snow.
HOLMES: Yes, including a birdhouse as you see there, barely pokes above the nearly 11 feet of snow has fallen on the community in just the past few weeks. That's an interesting shot there. It looks like one of our i-Reports.
NGUYEN: Yeah, well, get this, about 16 feet of snow falls each year on Michigan's upper peninsula. So the engineering students at Michigan Tech go out to make good use of it. This annual snow sculpture contest dates back to the 1930s. HOLMES: Yes, the competition fierce actually. To give you an idea of just how fierce and how serious they take it, the official rule book has 67 pages to it.
NGUYEN: Get out of here.
HOLMES: All the sculptures are created in a single marathon session called the "all-nighter."
NGUYEN: Well, for sheer artistry, it's hard to top the Japanese. Yes, take a look, this year's Snow Festival features 300 sculptures made of snow and ice. Man, that's beautiful. Many of the creations pay tribute to the GA, that's the world's leading industrial nations. The GA will hold its annual summit this year in the city.
HOLMES: Well, Sapporo, the town here, didn't actually have enough snow for the festival. Organizers had to truck in more than 37 tons of snow from the surrounding towns.
NGUYEN: They should have just gotten some from Michigan.
HOLMES: Possibly, they got plenty.
Folks, we got a lot more coming up, of course on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING, including an explosion at a sugar refinery plant in Georgia. What happened there? Hear from witnesses in a live report coming up at 9:00 Eastern.
NGUYEN: But first, "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta starts right now.
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