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CNN Saturday Morning News

Candidates Continue Campaigning; State of the Black Union; Credit Repair Scams

Aired February 23, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN, ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I am Betty Nguyen. It is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN, ANCHOR: I'm T.J. Holmes. We got some pictures here, pictures you just can't forget. Devastating hurricane in a community still trying to recover. Today, Hurricane Katrina is one topic at the State of the Black Union in New Orleans. We'll take you there live.

NGUYEN: Millions of you read her books. Well, now a romance novelist's new dream goes up in smoke. Let's start with politics and another full day on the schedule.

HOLMES: Here's a look at where the candidates are today. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both campaigning in Ohio. John McCain will be in Washington at a republican governor's dinner and Mike Huckabee will be in New York. He's actually going to be doing "Saturday Night Live" up there. Well, McCain says he wants to move past that "New York Times" article that linked him with a female lobbyists. So, how does he answer the question about some of his top advisors having special interests?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I square it one way by saying that the right to represent interests or groups of Americans is a constitutional right. There are people that represent firemen, civil servants, retirees, and those people are legitimate representatives of a variety of interests in America. It's not whether the individuals, many of whom are very honorable, it's whether a system or people have violated the trust of the people as the representatives. I'm proud of the record of many of my advisors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And actually McCain has seen a spike in online campaign contributions, about two million bucks since that "New York Times" story broke.

NGUYEN: Well, Mike Huckabee is trying his hand at comedy tonight. Yes, we told you he's scheduled to be in New York. Well, he's planning to appear in a skit on "Saturday Night Live." Can't wait to see that one. You will remember though that Barack Obama had a walk- on appearance at a Halloween skit last year on SNL. So, we'll see what Huckabee is up to tonight. And Hillary Clinton, she's trying to get some distance between herself and Barack Obama in Texas and Ohio. She took a swipe at Obama during a speech in Dallas, referring to his energy bill back in 2005.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can't vote for Dick Cheney's energy bill and then turn around and say that you're going to have a different energy policy. What I am going to do is to help us create clean, renewable energy jobs right here in Texas. And we're going to take on those special interests who stand in the way because we all know that the wealthy and the well connected have had their president for the last seven years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Clinton and McCain both voted against the 2005 energy bill and in 2007 both Clinton and Obama voted for the bill calling for clean renewable fuels. McCain missed that vote.

HOLMES: And Barack Obama as we know has gained great support from young voters and he spoke with a group of college students in Texas about the rising cost of education and the need for continuing education.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But as you point out first of all, a bachelor's degree may not be enough. Secondly, the way education increasingly is working, you may go, let's say to a community college for two years. You may work for a while, you may have a family, then you realize you want to upgrade your skills. You're going back, you may get a job after you get your bachelor's, find out five years down the road you need to get more skills.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Obama also talked about deceptive lending practices targeting college students.

NGUYEN: Putting an end to the rumors Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice clearing up speculation about a McCain-Rice ticket. Bottom line, don't count on it now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: I have always said that the one thing that I have not seen myself doing is running for elected office in the United States. I have -- elected office because I didn't even run for high school president. You know, it's sort of not in my genes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: As some would say don't count on it, but you're looking at that grin there, Rice says she's going to stick with her job until the end of the term then she plans to return to California. But as in politics, just stay tuned. HOLMES: Solving the crime problem in New Orleans, volunteers, activists and politicians are working to clean up the community and end the violence there. CNN's Sean Callebs is at the State of the Black Union Conference happening in New Orleans. Good morning to you, sir.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, T.J.. I would like to talk a little bit that you came to us right in the middle of the invocation, it's the moment of silence. So, in this giant hall where thousands of people gathered. You can understand it's a little difficult to talk extremely loudly right now, but certainly what is being said here today is going to carry a voice across the country. The state of the Black Union, this is the ninth annual event sponsored by talk show host Tavis Smiley.

Here, they're going to discuss a host of issues that affect people all over the country, but are specially important in the African-American community. What we're talking about crime, affordable housing, employment opportunities, more political activism. And who's going to be here today. It's really a who's who of business leaders, educators, activists from all over the country. A certain degree of controversy this year as well. Smiley invited all major presidential candidates. The only one who did say that she would attend, Hillary Clinton and she'll be here in a matter of hours. Smiley is not hiding his disappointment that Senator Barack Obama turned down the offer.

In a letter to Smiley, Obama said that he was going to be campaigning ahead of the very important races in Texas and Ohio over the next several days and he offered to send his wife Michelle as a surrogate. But Smiley said but people here want to hear from the candidates not from the surrogates. So, he politely turned that down. I want to bring in a guest now. This is Dr. Eddie Gluade and you're a professor of religion in African-related studies in Princeton. Tell me about this weekend, about the controversy, do you think a lot of the people here, the 6,000 who are registered, are they going to be disappointed that Barack Obama is not here?

PROF. EDDIE GLUADE, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Well, I'm sure there will be some disappointment, some disappointment that they want to hear him, hear what he has to say about these ideas. But I think many of these folks see these moments as kind of conflictual. The see them as consummate, they see this in some significant way this kind of swell of interest in politics, the swell of interest in the state of the black community around the country. So they don't see this as controversy.

CALLEBS: That's interesting. We'd also like to point out that Smiley took a lot of heat over the past few weeks because he has a very strong rhetoric.

GLUADE: Well, he did but you know, that's his role. I mean, he is in some significant way a media personality and his purpose is in some significant way is to provide an avenue or a venue to ask some difficult questions and I think that's good. And that's good. So he's supposed to take -- CALLEBS: You were talking about a column that a CNN contributor Roland Martin wrote, and he made the argument that Hillary Clinton has to come because she has seen her African-American constituency erode significantly over the last year. Do you believe that is the reason she asked to be here?

GLUADE: Well, not necessarily. That's only if you're thinking about it in terms of the national election. I mean, you know, right now everything hinges on Texas and Ohio. And we know that the state of the black community has an impact on those constituents in those two states. But it's not necessarily the case that she has to be here.

CALLEBS: Dr. Gluade, thank you very much for joining us here. I'll let you enjoy the conference.

GLUADE: I appreciate that. Thank you.

CALLEBS: Now, this is going to go on throughout the weekend. You're going to hear from a number of people early this morning and then this afternoon at 4:00 we'll hear from Hillary Clinton and they're going to have a news conference in just a short while, T.J., talking about how they take all this information and get it off paper and out into communities and really try to make a difference.

HOLMES: All right. Sean Callebs there for us in New Orleans. We're going to be checking in with you of course again next hour and hopefully we will come to you when the prayer is not going on. So, we appreciate you sticking with us through that. Thank you so much.

NGUYEN: Well, cal it a $1.2 billion oops. Yes, the Air Force says a B-2 stealth bomber crashed on the island of Guam, the western Pacific this morning. It is the first reported crash of one of the more than one billion dollar planes. The two pilots, they did eject before it went down, shortly after takeoff from Guam's Anderson Air Force base. They are in good condition. But the cause of crash, well that is still under investigation.

HOLMES: We will turn to weather now and nasty, nasty stuff. Nine inches of snow in New York City. Folks there digging out this morning, the roads, and sidewalk, it's all a slushy mess. Also take a look at some of these icy conditions. Are you seeing that screen on the top right, what started out as snow turned into a terrible ice storm in Pennsylvania. Of course, that made driving treacherous, as the storm made a mess for travelers all over the country. Also in Florida, some flights were delayed, others cancelled because of these same storms.

NGUYEN: Well, let's talk about the weather outside. And those frustrated passengers at the airport just waiting to get on a flight today. How many flights, do you know, still today?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: You know, thankfully, we have no major delays. There is some delays in Charlotte, I think there's about a 30 to 45 minute delay, but compared to what they had yesterday, no issue at all. But this is a snapshot that we have of the northeast corridor. Every airplane that you see right here on the screen, indicates that flights are either taking off, it's landing or it's in mid flight. Certainly, a busy day there and a lot of people finally getting a chance to go home, leaving for the destination they were hoping to get to yesterday. But the weather situation today is going to cooperate. That doesn't mean we're not going to see some snow in places like New York or Boston. There's a chance of a few flurries, a few flights here and there but certainly nothing too heavy.

If anything this storm has really become a big rainmaker in parts of Virginia and North Carolina. Here's Newport News back in Virginia Beach, they're here in the boom of thunder this morning. They are also into central Florida, certainly the rain just north of Orlando. At this point in Tampa and St. Petersburg, no action for you, but look at what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico. This frontal boundaries is going to sweep its way right in into your neck of the woods. Certainly, you're going to get some heavy rain, maybe even some strong thunderstorms. Out west from the four corners back over at the Sierra Nevada, it is going to be a snowy time for you, especially into the afternoon hours, through the weekend, anywhere from one to three feet near Truckee and Lake Tahoe, possibly two to four feet in the southern Sierra. That is a look at your forecast. Back to you in the news desk.

NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. We do thank you.

HOLMES: All right. By most folks, you're arrested one time and you're embarrassed by that.

NGUYEN: It's a huge deal.

HOLMES: He had two but still...

NGUYEN: Those didn't count.

HOLMES: But listen to this, folks, a guy has been arrested 416 times in his life.

NGUYEN: Hold on, 400?

HOLMES: Yes, we had to check and recheck this to make sure we had it right. 416 times. And now he's in jail. But you know what, even though he's been arrested that many times, he's going to be out of jail in less than a year.

NGUYEN: Well, meet the man. His name is Andy Davis. Hey there, Andy. Police in Tennessee are frustrated that he won't get locked up for good. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CMDR. ANDY GARRETT, NASHVILLE POLICE: We cannot just stop crime by arrest only. We can't arrest away the problem.

MINDY MOORE, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It is a revolving door. I don't know what the solution is. I mean, some people are just doing their life sentences five days at a time. (END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Davis or Andy as they call him, since he's been around for a while, especially in that jail. Been arrested on various crimes including public intoxication. Most recently, though, he was busted for pulling a box cutter on an undercover police officer. Andy, what are you thinking man, 416 times?

HOLMES: He's 60 years old so it's been going on for a while.

NGUYEN: They're calling him a lifetime criminal?

HOLMES: That would probably fit. But we'll see if that works out for the officers there. They don't have to see him too much anymore.

Well, every team is taught to win of course. Sometimes players go a bit too far. Look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, the championship was up for grabs and it turned into a major brawl. We'll tell you what we're looking at here.

NGUYEN: Plus a new autopsy leads to new questions for one man who's wife is still missing. Developments in the Drew Peterson story just minutes away.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Coming up at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, credit card delinquencies are on the rise, who's to blame, the consumer or the industry? Then, buying a foreclosure a big bargain or a big wonder? We'll break it down.

And getting the best return on renovations, we'll tell you what upgrades return top dollar. That's "Open House," the show that saves you money. 9:30 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: All right. We hear it, but what's exactly going on here? Here's what we know, a high school soccer player now faces battery charges for his part in a nasty brawl. It happened at the end of the championship game in Bakersfield, California. And some fans from the stands jumped on to the field to join that brawl. One player was treated for a broken jaw.

HOLMES: Sportsmanship of a brawl.

And a love story with a not so happy ending here. This fire you're looking at destroyed the dream of famous romance novelist Nora Roberts. She was turning the old hotel into a bed and breakfast inn with a literary theme. Well the fire broke out yesterday and spread to two other buildings, nobody was hurt here but the damage was estimated at $1.5 million. NGUYEN: Well, former police officer Drew Peterson, remember him? Well, he's facing some serious legal questions this morning. That's after an autopsy shows the death of Peterson's third wife was a homicide, not an accident as previously thought. Peterson's fourth wife disappeared mysteriously back in October and CNN's David Mattingly has more mow from Chicago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN, CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new autopsy confirms what her family believed all along, Kathleen Savio, the third wife of Drew Peterson did not drown accidentally in her bathtub, somebody killed her.

NICK SAVIO, KATHLEEN SAVIO'S BROTHER: It's really hard to swallow. I think we're happy that it's finally confirmed that it's a homicide and we just hope whoever did it will be brought to justice.

MATTINGLY: Ex-Chicago area cop and ex-husband Drew Peterson called the findings unbelievable. He has not been named a suspect in her death. He is however a suspect in the disappearance of wife number four.

JOEL BRODSKY, CLTV: We have a guy that has one wife who died of an accident and another one who ran off. Which may make him unlucky, but nothing mischievous about either of those two things.

MATTINGLY: Stacy Peterson vanished in October. Her husband says he believes she ran off with another man. Her family hopes the homicide of wife number three sheds new light on Stacy's disappearance.

PAM BOSCO, STACY Peterson's SISTER: It leaves one an eerie feeling of dread. We realize that Kathleen and Stacy had one common denominator, and that was Drew Peterson.

MATTINGLY: Concerns about Peterson apparently go back years. His second wife reportedly told the "Chicago Tribune," Peterson said he could kill her and make it look like an accident. The family of Peterson's third wife said she once filed a temporary order of protection fearing he could kill her. And Stacy, wife number four told her family she feared for her life days before she disappeared.

((END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: The niece of Kathleen Savio tells CNN that her family believes that Drew Peterson stood to gain millions from her death from businesses they owned and multiple life insurance policy. Reached at his home, Peterson declined to give any comment. David Mattingly, CNN, Chicago.

NGUYEN: A story that we continue to follow. I believe you have an interview.

HOLMES: David Freedman is going to be along, civil rights attorney and professor. Always help us out with a lot of the legal issues but certainly a lot of legal issues on this story. NGUYEN: That's in the 11:00 a.m. Eastern hour. So, stay tuned for that.

HOLMES: And we're going to be talking about your financial security as well. They offer you a fix but can debt repair companies really help improve your credit rating?

NGUYEN: Well, you know, they say they can, but should you trust them. Your personal finance editor Geri Willis has all the answers for you, that is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: The better business bureau has a warning out for consumers. Some so called credit companies are trying to take advantage of consumers who are seeking to clean up their credit. CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here to tell us how to avoid those scams.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, you probably heard, T.J., of these services before they advertised on the radio, TV, newspapers and especially the Internet. In some cases, consumers pay these companies big fees up front. We're talking about $1,500 in some cases. And in return these companies promise they'll erase any blemishes on credit records, get new social security numbers for clients or allow consumers to piggy back on somebody else's credit, believe it or not.

First of all, nobody can remove accurate and timely negative information from your credit report. And secondly, it's almost impossible to get a new social security number. Piggy backing, well that is a thing of the past. Now, this is a practice where you basically borrow somebody else's credit score to boost your own credit standing. The bottom line here is that anything a credit repair company can do legally is something you can do for yourself for free.

HOLMES: Well, that makes perfect sense there. So what are those warning signs, those red flags that should be popping up to let you know that, hey, this is not quite right?

WILLIS: Well, watch out, watch out if the credit repair company doesn't tell you what your legal rights are or it doesn't tell you what actions you can take yourself. That's a big red flag and don't trust you credit repair company, advising you not to contact their credit bureau directly. Make sure you don't pay for any services up front and don't do business with any company that encourages you to create an employer I.D. number instead of a social security number. Big red sign. Before you do business with any credit repair company, check them out at the better business bureau at welcome.bbb.org. T.J..

HOLMES: All right. And everybody or people sometimes forget, consumers forget they have rights in a lot of these matters. So, what are our rights here?

WILLIS: All right. OK. If you respond to a credit repair officer, by the law they have to provide you with a copy of your consumer rights. And you have the right to cancel a contract with any credit repair organization for any reason at all within three business days from the day the contract was signed. That's according to the Better Business bureau.

HOLMES: All right. And of course, it's the weekend. It's time for "Open House." So, we got coming up this weekend.

WILLIS: Well, coming up at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, we'll be talking about credit card delinquencies, they are on the rise, who's to blame? The consumer or the industry. Then, buy a foreclosure. I know your want to do it. Big bargain or is it a big blunder. We'll break it down and getting the best return on renovations. Also T.J., I want to tell you, next week is a very special week here at CNN, we're calling it financial security watch. We'll talk about your home, your investments, your job, your debt. We'll have answers for you as we work with you to manage your money and here is the big payoff. We're taking your phone calls, live. It's in the noon hour, Monday through Friday, it's called financial security watch. Join us right here and give us a phone call, we'll have answers to your financial issues.

NGUYEN: Well, promises and plans on the campaign trail, you have been hearing about a lot of issues from the presidential candidates. But are you finding out what you really want to know? Well, your chance is coming up, Josh is looking into it.

JOSH LEVS, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's going to be your chance to ask your questions about the candidates and you're going to get the facts not the spin. I will tell you exactly how to do that, coming up right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, the race for the democratic nomination can be summed up in two words. Money and delegates.

HOLMES: Yes, and by either measure, if somebody's ahead, somebody's behind, Josh Levs looking into both.

LEVS: Well, it depends on who you ask.

Today, it's the same somebody. But you know something? We keep hearing the race is historic. The truth is when the story of this race is written, someday, people will see that one of the things that makes it historic is the money. I mean, these are preposterous sums of money that they are raising. Let me show you right now what's going on Clinton's website today.

You know, right now, the pressure is on Hillary Clinton. She has to win Texas and Ohio. Her campaign has basically said so. Right there, front and center, she's saying help close the gap, she wants to raise $2.2 million in 48 hours to match Obama's ad buys in those two states. So far she's about 20 percent of the way there. Let's go to Obama side right now. He's still pushing the fund raising, front and center at the top. Putting it in a different way, he still has to 1 million people who own this campaign. You can see how close he is. John is about 37,000 people that they need to hear. Now, clearly he has won a bunch of races recently but the race is very, very close. I don't want people to lose sight of that.

Take a look at or "Election Center" here at CNN.com. The democrats need more than 2,000 delegates in order to win and if you can stroll down there, there are two numbers. They're off by 69 delegates. In a race for more than 2,000, it is a close risk because remember Clinton got the big state. So, we're inviting you to do something a little different today. If there is anything about these candidates that you don't know, that you want to know and you might vote.

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