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CNN Saturday Morning News

Barbour Defends Pardons; Romney Leads in the Polls

Aired January 14, 2012 - 07:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: And from CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is now one minute past 7:00. Good morning. I'm Deborah Feyerick.

We are hearing from former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour who this morning is defending his decision to pardon 200 prisoners. One prisoner is speaking out. A convicted murderer who says he deserves to be free.

And it's almost there. Two ships now just off the coast of Nome, Alaska, bringing through layers of ice to bring fuel to a cut off town.

And actor Gene Hackman is recovering after being struck by a car while riding a bicycle.

We start with former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour defending his decision to pardon more than 200 people. Among them were several murderers who were then released from a prison. Since he did early this week, a judge put a halt on prison releases and the legislature is considering changing the constitution to take pardon powers away from the governor.

So, what is Barbour saying now? Well, in his first public comments since issuing the pardon, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALEY BARBOUR, FORMER MISSISSIPPI GOVERNOR: The historic power of the gubernatorial clemency by the governor to pardon felons is rooted in the Christian idea of giving second chances. I'm not saying I'll be perfect, that nobody who received clemency will ever do nothing wrong. I'm not infallible and nobody else is. But I am very comfortable and totally at peace with these pardons, including those at the mansion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And you heard him mention the mansion there at the end. Well, what he's talking about are prison trustees who worked at the governor's mansion. Four convicted murderers who worked at the mansion were pardons, including Anthony McCray who's convicted of killing his wife in 2001.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY MCCRAY, PARDONED BY HALEY BARBOUR: I think I deserve a second chance in life.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you think people should be angry at Governor Barbour for releasing you?

MCCRAY: No, sir, because he treats us like we're his children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Judge Mike Smith presided over McCray's murder case. And our Martin Savidge asked him about the pardon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE SMITH, RETIRED MISSISSIPPI JUDGE: I was disappointed that he was pardoned.

SAVIDGE: Is there more to that or is that as much as we are going to say?

SMITH: I hope that the attorney general will be successful in having the pardon overturned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And here is more of what Barbour had to say about letting those convicted murderers go free.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARBOUR: I have absolute confidence, so much confidence that I have let my grandchildren play with these fine men. I have let them ride their tricycles out and on the drive way with them watching out for them. I have no question in my mind that these five guys are not a threat to society. But, you know, people like you can say, what if, what if, what if, until the moon goes down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Well, in all, Barbour says he granted clemency to 215 people, 189 of them already finished their sentences and were out of prison, 13 of the remaining 26 inmates have chronic medical conditions. Barbour says they were let go so the state would not have to pay for their expensive medical care.

Four of the Republican presidential candidates lost their bid to get on the ballot in Virginia. A judge ruled they waited too long to file claims to get their names added to the Super Tuesday primary. That means Virginia can only choose Mitt Romney or Ron Paul.

South Carolina is the next contest for the candidates, exactly one week from today. So, where do the candidates stand?

Here is CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, good morning, Deb.

One week to go until the South Carolina primary and the Republican presidential candidates are crisscrossing the Palmetto State.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What a welcome. Thank you.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to win in South Carolina.

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: South Carolina can completely change the whole tenor of this race.

STEINHAUSER: A new survey suggests Romney and Gingrich are battling for the top spot with Ron Paul in third place.

But expect more polls and different numbers over the next week.

You know, one thing is for sure, winning helps. Romney has gone two for two, edging out Rick Santorum to come out on top in the Iowa caucuses, and almost laughing the rest of the field Tuesday in the New Hampshire primary.

Those back-to-back victories propelled Romney back to the top spot in our brand new CNN/ORC national poll, far ahead of the other Republican presidential candidates.

Following a jam-packed weekend on the campaign trail, the candidates tee off in a presidential debate Monday in Myrtle Beach. And Thursday, they face-off again at a CNN debate in Charleston -- Deb.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Paul Steinhauser there. And you can see that Charleston debate live right here on CNN Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

And as Paul said, the Republican presidential candidates are all over South Carolina this weekend. The action starts with Rick Santorum's faith, family and freedom town hall in Greenville at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman also have several events today.

Ron Paul, he's not going to be on the ground in South Carolina, but his campaign is hoping to launch a special Internet fundraising effort this weekend.

And this month's scheduled felony trial of former presidential candidate John Edwards has been put on hold until late March. A federal judge revealed that Edwards has a serious heart problem. He'll have surgery next month. Edwards is accused of conspiracy and violating campaign laws during his 2008 presidential bid. He denies the charges.

Thousands of passengers and crew have been plucked from a crew ship. They ran aground off the western coast of Italy. And here, you can see the relieved passengers back in port.

But rescuers aren't done yet. They are still trying to clear the ship. As many as 4,000 people were on board when it hit a sandbar.

Here it is, the cruise ship is just now sitting on its side. Look at that. Some passengers fell off the deck into freezing waters when the ship started tipping over. At least three people are dead. But as crews work to clear the ship, and especially the parts that are still underwater, they fear that the death toll could rise. We'll have a live report coming up in the next hour.

And we've been following the progress of a fuel tanker and an ice breaker making their way through the frozen north of Nome, Alaska -- to Nome, Alaska. Well, they are almost there. The ships are just outside the harbor in Nome now.

It's the first ever attempt to supply fuel to a western Alaskan town through an icy sea. Nome is getting dangerously close to running out of fuel after bad weather canceled a delivery there last fall.

And the warm weather is -- well, you could say history. Instead, it's snow, wind, freezing cold temperatures.

Meteorologist Alexandra Steele, she's going to have the forecast coming up, just ahead.

And the first lady, well, she shows off her dancing moves. Michelle Obama thrills a school auditorium. She's going to appear on one of her kids' favorite shows. We'll tell you why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: And it's 10 minutes past the hour.

Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is in for Reynolds Wolf. And she's back with another check of the forecast.

So, you know, it was so warm at the start of the week, but now, it is very cold.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's what happens, right? You know, for a couple different reasons, we didn't have a lot of storm systems crossing the country and we didn't have a lot of cold air. Now, we've got both, so it's a recipe for winter.

FEYERICK: Winter.

STEELE: And snow.

All right. So, we got it. Let's walk to the wall and we show where that winter is.

We do have some snow. It's lake-effect snow. And, you know, it's a little bit of an oddity in a few respects. This is Lake Ontario on top. This is Lake Erie.

Lake Erie is the most shallow of all the lakes and it usually freezes every year. But right now, it's 40 degrees. That water temperature, usually, it's at 33. So, the lake isn't what we call closed, it's open. Meaning, we do have water. It's not fully exposed with ice. So, that allows for this cold, arctic air to roll over this warmer water and thus create that lake-effect snow.

So, there we go. We got it in the usual spots. It's great for these guys. They really need it, so much of their livelihood depends on it. Even the ski resorts in a lot of these picking up snow.

Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo, good morning to you. As you walk out to get some coffee or the paper this morning, one to three inches. Four to six around Cleveland.

Also, the wind is a huge factor. They have been incredibly strong. Now, that strong wind is imparting and bringing in that cold, arctic air.

But here are the temperatures. Right now, Montpelier feels like 12 degrees. Albany feels like 23. These temperatures will warm up. But it's strong and very cold wind will make the wind chills today, feel a lot colder than the actual air temperature, which really isn't that high anyway -- 24 in Albany, and 19 in Syracuse.

All right. So, if you are going to watch the game or go to the game, take a look at what we're going to see in Detroit, San Diego, kick off this afternoon, temperatures 36. It will feel colder than that. Of course, also, in Foxboro, by kick off tonight at 8:00, temperatures will feel about teens or even single digits certainly by the end of the game.

So, in terms of the big picture, why we got this really cold air? This jet stream is dropping down. Very warm, though, to the South and West. Denver, 56 today. Warmer than that tomorrow.

So, the heat is on in some areas, 15 degrees above average. So, you know, this dichotomy between 15 degrees above average and 15 degrees below average is really what we've seen this season.

And I think in the whole, that's what global warming or global climate change extremes. And that's' what we've got.

FEYERICK: All right, Alexandra, thank you so much. I know a lot of kids are going to be happy for the long weekend.

STEELE: Oh, yes.

FEYERICK: In certain parts of the country.

Well, President Obama has no shortage of star power behind his re- election campaign. He's getting the endorsement, sort of, from talk show host Oprah Winfrey. She said this during an interview in South Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: I don't need to endorse him because I am a 100 percent supporter of him. And I have already endorsed him and I've already, you know, everybody always asks me, oh, are you going to do what you did in 2008? What I did in 2008 I did because people didn't know really, my own friends didn't who he was at the time. They're like, who is this guy? You think that guy is going to be president?

I go, yes, I really do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, you're not publicly endorsing him is not a sign of disappointment?

WINFREY: Oh, absolutely not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And so, while Oprah isn't officially endorsing the president, she does appear to be his number one fan. She calls Obama a masterful leader and says, if his office called her, she would do whatever to be of service.

And watch out "Dancing with the Stars," first lady Michelle Obama has got some moves.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

FEYERICK: Obama showed off her random dancing moves in an appearance with the Nickelodeon "iCarly" cast at a Virginia school.

The first lady will appear on an upcoming episode of "iCarly." The daughters Sasha and Malia reportedly are huge fans. And the episodes highlights the first lady's campaign to support military families.

Well, Apple probably only expected iPhones to be flying of the shelves in China, not eggs off the windows. We're going to go inside the crowd as it turns violent all over the iPhone 4S.

And it was man versus machine during a New York philharmonic performance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This ring tone was going on and on and on. It was actually the loudest thing in the hall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: A prestigious symphony was no match for a cell phone. Find out who won the showdown, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: We're used to seeing the long lines of devoted Apple fans waiting outside stores for the newest iPad, iPod or iPhone. But watch this.

CNN's Stan Grant was right in the middle of the chaos outside a Beijing store.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The security is running down here, and the mob are continuing to follow them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Violent when one store did not open its doors yesterday. Dozens of police and guards pushed people out of the perimeter, dragging away those who resisted despite their screaming protest.

Apple is saying it didn't open the store because it was concern about safety with the particularly large crowd.

Well, we've all been that person, or been annoyed by that person whose cell phone rings at the most inappropriate, the worst time possible.

Well, this time, it happened during a performance at the New York Philharmonic. And the offender was sitting right smack dab in the front row.

So, what did the conductor do? Well, he called out the cell phone owner.

Tony Aiello from our affiliate WCBS has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN GILBERT, CONDUCTOR, NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC: This ring tone was going on and on and on. It was actually the loudest thing in the hall.

TONY AIELLO, WCBS REPORTER (voice-over): It was the iPhone interruption the maestro will always remember.

GILBERT: There was so much tension and there was such a stunned feeling I think for everybody in the room but certainly for the musicians.

AIELLO: Tuesday night at Lincoln Center, as Alan Gilbert led the Philharmonic in the mournful final movement of Mahler's Ninth Symphony -- an iPhone started ringing in the front row.

And it just kept ringing.

"Wall Street Journal" reporter Jennifer Maloney was seated nearly.

JENNIFER MALONEY, WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTER: Audience members started shaking their heads, sort of clucking, craning their necks to see who it is, but it keeps going and going and going.

AIELLO (on camera): That is the iPhone marimba ringtone. Muller didn't compose marimba.

(voice-over): It got to the point where Gilbert couldn't ignore it. GILBERT: Something had to be done, so we had to stop the music. You lose your bearings, and have to sort of orient yourself and that's how it felt to me. It's like 'OK, what do we do? We have to finish this piece somehow."

MALONEY: Meanwhile the audience was going nuts. They were shouting, and they were jeering, and saying "Throw him out!" The audience was really angry.

AIELLO: Finally, the guy switched off the phone and Gilbert got back to the music.

GILBERT: So, usually we grin and bear it and say, "OK, that's the price of living in the cell phone age." But there was just no way we could go on.

AIELLO: Gilbert can only hope this musical interlude never makes an encore.

At Lincoln Center, Tony Aiello, CBS 2.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: And unconfirmed reports say the offender slinked out of Lincoln Center after they turned the phone off.

Well, saving money and saving people. One woman is helping her neighbors one coupon at a time. We are going to show you how she does it.

And you have been weighing in all morning on the story that begs the question, would you force your kid to wear a sign that reads, I lie, I steal, I sell drugs, I don't follow the law? Would you do it as punishment? We're getting a lot of good insight from you since we first told you about this story. Keep tweeting me with your reaction @DebFeyerickCNN. We're going to take another look at what you think about this mom did in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Normally, at this time in the show, you know that we sit down with money expert Clyde Anderson who always gives us some sound financial advice. But Clyde was out on the road, instead talking to a woman who is using her talents for saving money to help others.

Our Natalie Allen has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Expenses for gifts and holiday meals can strain a family's budget. For many people, the costs of basic things like groceries can be overwhelming this time of year. One woman has taken the couponing craze and turned it into an opportunity to help people in her local Georgia community.

RHONDA SMITH, FOUNDER, SAVE IT FORWARD: I was doing it for my family. I was amazed at what you could get for free or almost free. And God just really laid it on my heart, why not use the same concept to help meet the needs of others?

ALLEN: So she created "Save it Forward," providing more than 60 families groceries every month using extreme couponing. That means collecting every coupon she can find and using them to cut her grocery costs.

School councilor Jessica High is familiar with seeing many students who don't have enough to eat.

JESSICA KAYE, SCHOOL COUNSELOR: I believe the pantry program supports their families by making the parents feel secure in knowing each month they're going to receive groceries and food.

ALLEN: Like Keith Braswell, whose wife had to stop working because of illness.

KEITH BRASWELL, PROGRAM PARTICIPANT: By them providing food for me and my family, it creates time for me to really be with them and do the things I need to do for them as a caregiver.

ALLEN: Financial analyst Clyde Anderson sat down with Rhonda Smith to find out just how save it forward works.

CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL PLANNER: So tell us a little bit. These are the bags that the families actually receive.

SMITH: Yes.

ANDERSON: How do you determine what goes into the basket?

SMITH: The thing that I love about extreme couponing is it allows us to love on people extravagantly. What people receive in our bags is not the normal food pantry type of food. We provide items, name brand items like brownies and fruit snacks for kids.

ANDERSON: How much have you actually saved with some of these receipts?

SMITH: On this particular receipt we spent $3.69 and we actually saved $63.36.

ALLEN: Volunteers help purchase groceries and stock the food pantry.

JENNIFER BROWN, VOLUNTEER, SAVE IT FORWARD: Save it Forward makes it super easy. They hand you an envelope and you go to the store, put it with your grocery list in your purse and you're done.

ALLEN: But no matter how much food fills the pantry, Rhonda is always looking for more coupons.

SMITH: In the economy that we live in, we're all trying to stretch every dollar that we can. And this is -- we make it easy for people to give back to the community without a significant impact on my wallet. ALLEN: Natalie Allen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Remarkable.

Well, how far would you go to punish your kid? Would you do this? An Indiana mom says the court system was too easy on her son. So, she's proving a point. But did she go too far? Your comments, those are coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Checking some of our top stories this morning.

Eighty-one-year-old Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman is home recovering after being struck by a pick-up truck. Police say Hackman was thrown from his bike in Florida yesterday after a driver hit his rear tire. Hackman's publicist says he's fine, just a few bumps and bruises.

New Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall is about to get a makeover. The interior secretary has ordered a correction of a controversial quote inscribed in the granite. It reads, quote, "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness," unquote. But critics, like and poet Maya Angelou, says it makes the civil rights leader appear arrogant and wasn't the exact quote.

Well, we have been telling you about the story all morning. And we have been asking for your feedback. We have been getting lots of great answers.

Well, an Indiana mom forcing her son to read a sign which reads, I lie, I steal, I sell drugs, I don't follow the law. She says it's his punishment since the court system was simply too easy on him. But it begs the question, is the mom going too far? Or would you do the same?

Well, here is what some of you said. First of all, Amber tweeted, quote, "At least sign mom is trying to help her son. More parents need to step up and not be a friend or scared." Good for her.

But Adeline Mochi (ph) says, quote, "Wearing a sign of humiliation can never be the solution. His mom needs to take her son for some kind of group therapy and love."

More top stories at the top of the hour when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.

But, first, "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." begins right now.