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CNN Saturday Morning News

East Coast States Prepare for Hurricane Sandy; Weather Forecasts Force Campaigns to Cancel Events

Aired October 27, 2012 - 09:00   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, good morning, good morning. I am Victor Blackwell.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christi Paul, in for Randi Kaye. 9:00 in the east, 6:00 for all you out west. Come on, you're stretching to get out of bed, I know it. Thank you for starting your day with us.

BLACKWELL: Yes, put your feet on the floor. That's where you have to start. Just put the foot down on the floor.

PAUL: No doubt about it.

BLACKWELL: Preparations are under way for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy. States are not only bracing for severe weather but also for power outages. In Maryland, they're already asking for around 2,000 people to come in from other states to help the power company. They're also opening a staging area at Baltimore's Airport to prepare for the storm's arrival.

PAUL: And in nearby Virginia, as many as 300 national guardsmen could be put on active duty. They will help with recovery efforts after Sandy passes through the state. Now a small number will be in place in the eastern shore area by tonight. Others are held in reserve until needed.

BLACKWELL: The storm is already having an impact on the presidential campaigns, especially in some key swing states. Both vice president Joe Biden and Governor Mitt Romney canceled campaign rallies in Virginia Beach that were scheduled for this weekend. The Obama campaign says Biden's schedule was changed so the police and emergency crews could stay focused on people and helping them through this storm.

First lady Michelle Obama has canceled a campaign rally in another critical swing state, New Hampshire. It was scheduled for next week at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, the campus there. The campus is closing for the storm.

PAUL: Forget the campaign events (INAUDIBLE) there are fears the storm could prevent some people from even voting altogether. Edison Electric Institute warned customers Sandy could knock out power for seven to 10 days, and that would include election day. Or could. Power outages could affect electronic voting while flooding and extensive damage could keep people from even making it to the polls. Sandy isn't just a dangerous hurricane, we want to point out. Obviously with that it could have huge political ramifications. Take a look at this picture that we've put together for you. It shows some of the campaign layers impacted by a major storm that hit the East Coast. Now as we told you, we've already started seeing campaign events canceled. We're also anticipating huge travel delays in addition to impacting millions of travelers, the campaigns may have to make some last -- minute maneuvering themselves.

For the major storms slamming the most densely populated section of the country could divert local and national media coverage to politics, moving it to weather news and updates which of course means less visibility for the candidates.

BLACKWELL: And less visibility is definitely not what the candidates are looking for, especially in pivotal battleground states like North Carolina.

CNN political contributor John Avlon is traveling on the CNN Elections Express, the big beautiful bus, taking a pulse of the voters in some of those key states.

John, you're in Winston -- Salem, North Carolina. What are the people there saying about the race?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Victor, you know, this is really one of the key swing districts in the swing state of North Carolina, which President Obama won by only 14,000 votes four years ago. So we've been talking to voters here. And it's fascinating. You know, the American people are smart.

And even the folks who are swing voters, folks who were leaning Romney are really thinking about the economy. They're saying, look, one of the gentlemen we spoke to said, "I really hope this moderate -- identity of the general election is where he really would be if he govern as president instead of the moving to the right in the primaries that he had to do to get the nomination."

One lady expressing real concern about the deficit and the debt, even though she said "Look, the government considers me poor, but I'm concerned about the borrowing." The Obama supporters, may say look they see improvements in the economy, slowly but surely, we're moving in the right direction.

Concern about foreign policy under the Romney administration. One woman said her brother's in the military. Concerned about what that might mean for him. And one independent voter who's voting for President Obama saying that she just doesn't believe Mitt Romney. And she isn't sure where his core is at. So very fascinating conversations with swing voters here. This has been a tensely fought state. The polls are really tight. They've been trending toward Mitt Romney but the Obama camp not far from saying (INAUDIBLE) all about early voting right now in Winston -- Salem, North Carolina.

BLACKWELL: And I want to talk more about the early voting. Because there's been a lot of focus on early voting. President Obama became the first president to vote early this week. Michelle Obama voted early. How is Hurricane Sandy affecting the plan for early voting?

AVLON: It's a great question, Victor. It's very important. Late last night the state put out announcement that two early voting precincts in two counties, in right along the coastal region of the outer banks, would be closed today for early voting. However, early voting stations in the rest of the state will be open today. So already you're seeing an abundance of caution, especially in those coastal areas, expect around 20 to 30 -- mile -- an -- hour winds. So there will be early voting stations shut down in those coastal areas. The rest of the state, early voting is open and it's on.

BLACKWELL: All right. John Avlon on the CNN Elections Express. I haven't had the opportunity to see it yet, but I hear that it's a beautiful, beautiful bus.

AVLON: We're having a great time on the battleground bus tour.

BLACKWELL: All right. Lexington, Virginia, is next, another key battleground in the race for the White House.

PAUL: All right. Let's get back to Hurricane Sandy. Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is here. I have to say, Alexandra, I don't know that I have ever heard anybody talking about a hurricane producing snow.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right. I mean this is an incredibly powerful hybrid storm. We've got the moisture from the tropical nature, of course, this is the hurricane, coupled with an area of low pressure that will develop, and that, of course, has all the wind energy. So the two together, fusing together could really be the ultimate perfect storm. 10 to 20 inches of snow on the back side on the spine of the Appalachians along that. And also maybe in the outer banks, 10 inches of rain potentially.

Forecasts, you can see this is the model guide. Expecting to make landfall on Monday, probably late on Monday, right somewhere between New York and Washington. And the worst coastal damages, John, just north of where that center of circulation makes landfall. But the worst in terms of inland flooding potentially will be mild. Hundreds of miles away from where that happens. Inland flooding potentially here. Of course, right along the coast, 10 inches of rain potentially.

But when this thing kind of gets its act together even further, fuses with that low, becomes this powerful hybrid. The potential for it to sit and spin and not have any forward momentum in western New York and western Pennsylvania. That's where we could see the most rain. Inland flooding huge. Also, power outages. But potentially you can see all here in the yellow, where we could see widespread power outage.

The potential for 10 million without power for seven to 10 days. So flooding, coastal erosion, of course, guys, power outages, and airports from New York to Boston to Washington impacted. So really, this is going to be a very rough four days.

PAUL: All right. Hey, thank you so much for the warning, Alexandra. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Ten days until the election, and the hurricane is heading right for the key battleground states.

PAUL: Yes, so you wonder how are Mitt Romney and the president changing their game plans? Look at some of these live pictures coming to us from North Carolina. Could this change the outcome of the election? Is it that severe? We'll find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Just 10 days until the election, and the race is as tight as they come. The latest CNN poll of polls has Romney at 48 percent, President Obama at 47 percent. It is essentially a dead heat within that tight margin of error. But a tropical storm, now a hurricane, is headed towards the key battleground states on the East Coast. Campaign events have already been canceled. Travel could be delayed, too. And weather news could trump campaign speeches.

CNN's contributor Reihan Salam and Errol Louis join me now from New York.

Ryan, let's start with you. Because it's difficult to put on attack ads, while people are suffering, while people are dying, while people are struggling with the storm. How are these campaigns switching up their game plans right now?

REIHAN SALAM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think it's very hard to say. I think it's a wait -- and -- see attitude. Partly because the last few days are crucially important. So the net effect is that both campaigns are having to suspend their activities. And so I think that the underlying dynamic of the campaign will continue to prevail. I don't think that there's any obvious strategic shift. Because again, the situation is still unfolding.

BLACKWELL: Errol, do you agree?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, with one exception, the president unlike his challenger has some real duties. Nobody's expecting Mitt Romney to show up if there's a storm devastated town somewhere on the east coast.

On the other hand, the president needs to be there. In fact, he very much needs to be there. He also will have to spend some time coordinating response if there's going to be a federal response just as a matter of doing his day job. So I think he's probably going to be a little bit more worried about what this storm can mean, and certainly his campaign team might be compared with Mitt Romney.

BLACKWELL: But no question, Mitt Romney, if there's an opportunity, the campaign will likely take that opportunity. As we saw, if I remember correctly, Governor Romney showed up in Aurora, Colorado, after the shooting at that theater before the president got there. So if there's a possibility, maybe we'll see that from his campaign.

But let's talk about the -- aside from the strategy of the storm, let's talk about the numbers. And the densely populated section of the country, this will divert attention from the politics, the national media. Local media will start to look at Sandy, weather news, the updates, meaning less visibility for the candidates. Who does this help, who does it hurt, with it being so close?

I have to say, I think it's extremely unpredictable. I think that really, the thing that matters the most is how many homes are going to lose power, et cetera. This is something that I think both candidates care very deeply about, not only because they want their supporters to turn out at the polls.

But this is going to be very tremendously expensive and very damaging, potentially, to the national economy. So I really think that we can't say at this juncture who it's going to help and who it's going to hurt.

I do think that the underlying dynamic of the race is what matters most, because this kind of event, you know, I don't think it's going to suddenly change what people believe about Barack Obama having been president for three or four years, for better or for worse.

BLACKWELL: Errol, go ahead.

LOUIS: I was going to say, victor, neither candidate wants is to have the split screen, where there are people fleeing for their lives on one half of the screen and the candidates, you know, telling jokes on the other side of the screen. You know, the campaigns are going to be monitoring this very, very closely. Just to avoid that outcome.

BLACKWELL: Yes, the challenge that the Republicans faced in Tampa when the storm was coming up on Florida. As these candidates try to grasp for any small advantage, let's talk about some of the efforts of the president's campaign to put an end to late night television.

And to put him on MTV, and some of the beliefs possibly that this president's going hard pop culture, is that where the president should be? We see here Sway sitting in the blue room at the White House. Is this where the president should be?

Let's start with Errol with this one.

LOUIS: Well, it's where he wants to be, and it's where he needs to be. And y,, look, in this age of micro targeting and narrow casting, you see a guy with a hat on, sitting in the White House. For most of us, it just kind of comes and goes.

But for young people, they lock into it. That is the secret of all of this stuff. This is why he goes on "The View," this is why the president wants to see in "Rolling Stone" or on MTV. For the rest of us and I'll be candid and say I don't watch MTV. It's not my thing anymore.

So he's reaching millions of people who -- you know, it's really no down side. There's nobody who's offended I think by the fact that he gave an interview to a guy from MTV.

BLACKWELL: Reihan, why has Governor Romney, why do you believe that in the last few days of this campaign, he's not doing some of the daytime, the nighttime interviews? He's kind of staying away from those sit -- down one -- on -- ones? SALAM: Well, I think Errol is broadly right, I think that President Obama is leveraging the fact that he actually has, oftentimes a very warm and receptive audience in some of these channels. I think in Mitt Romney's view is that he has to connect directly with his voters rather than through the filter of the news media, which I think is a very sensible for a Republican candidate.

BLACKWELL: I want to ask you, stay with you, Reihan, about Governor John Sununu, and he's backpedaling after suggesting that Colin Powell's endorsement of President Obama was at least partially, if not completely based on race. Lets listen to a sound bite. We'll talk on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. JOHN SUNUNU: And frankly, when you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama.

PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: What reason would that be?

SUNUNU: Well, I think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: And now let me read you the statement that came from John Sununu. "Colin Powell is a friend and I respect the endorsement decision he made and I do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the president's policies."

But that's not what he's saying in that sound bite. He said back on October 4th to Andrea Mitchell, that what we saw in the first debate was the president being lazy and incompetent.

What place does this have in this conversation, if it's about issues? Why are we hearing that from the national co -- chair of the Romney campaign?

SALAM: John Sununu is a surrogate who does a lot of interviews and sometimes is quite careless. And I think that that also partly reflects a generational bias. When you look at a lot of folks from 20, 30 years ago, the idea of group pride being something that would really motivate voters was an idea that seemed more credible in the past. So I think that that is really generational. I think that now that is seen as far less common and less likely to be true.

Also, Colin Powell did say that while he's spoken to Mitt Romney in the last few weeks, he's often had regular conversations with President Obama. This is someone with whom he has a long -- standing relationship and I think that probably did contribute to his support for President Obama and I think that's fair enough.

BLACKWELL: Errol, I want to give you 10 seconds on that. LOUIS: Yes, sure. I mean, look, keep in mind, as Colin Powell said, you know, Mitt Romney by siding with the neoconservative opponents of Colin Powell, he battled those guys his entire time in the State Department and he's not going to stop now. So you can put race on top of it but in the end it was a genuine political dispute.

BLACKWELL: All right. Errol Louis and Reihan Salam, thank you very much, both, for your opinions.

And next hour, more on the countdown to election day and our focus, the undecided state of America, is there one state, one particular group of voters that could be the whole ball game? We'll explore.

PAUL: Also, as Hurricane Sandy makes its way towards the U.S., people in its path are preparing for its impact. We're going to show you what North Carolina residents specifically are doing ahead of this storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Sandy has regained her strength. We want to take you to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, right now, where we find George Howell. OK. George, we've seen the difference in things with you the last hour or so. The majority of the storm impact is going to be north of you, though, right?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christi, we know that it will be further north. You know, that's where the big concern is right now. The major metro areas, we're talking about Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, that will be the area that they're paying very close attention to through this storm. But I also want to talk about where we are right now. We're right here along the outer banks. We will feel, you know, the first band as comes through. We're already feeling a bit of rainfall from that first band.

But we're seeing a lot of wind, too. And take a look. I mean evidence of that is right out here. You can see that churned -- up surf, I should say and there's even video. We have some video of people who were out there surfing. This situation will deteriorate as the day goes on. That will become more and more dangerous. The concern about rip currents. So people are making sure to keep an eye on what's happening with this storm as it gets closer to us.

PAUL: You know, George, when we see this video that you're showing us, of surfers, we need to point out, there's nobody else on that beach to go after them if something happens, right? They're out there on their own?

HOWELL: Christi, it's a dangerous practice. You know, now is not the time for this as this storm moves closer. Because, again, the winds can pick up to a point, you know, we're told anywhere from 40 to 50 miles per hour in this area, and as the storm moves in, we've heard of wind gusts up to 70 miles an hour. Just not a safe practice at this point. But a lot of people are just keeping a close eye, you know, just to see what happens, because the concern right now is for power outages, especially in this area, concern about flooding from the storm surge. That's what people are watching out for here. PAUL: Good heavens. All right. George Howell, take good care of yourself, you and the team there. We appreciate seeing what's going on. We've seen the deterioration just in the last hour, of those winds picking up and the surf, too. So take good care. Thanks so much for the update.

BLACKWELL: The East Coast is feeling the effects of Hurricane Sandy, as it barrels toward land. We just saw that. We'll check in with meteorologist Alexandra Steele.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: One more check of the weather. Meteorologist Alexandra Steele is here.

PAUL: Yes. What can people expect today specifically rather than looking too far ahead?

STEELE: OK. Let's take it today. Here it is, the center of circulation right now offshore off the Florida coast. Wind and rain right along the immediate coast. Storm surge, that will be a big factor, about one to three feet off the Florida coast, three to five feet off the Carolina coast. Then here's the time stamp Monday 2:00 in the morning. The center of circulation should come ashore between New York and Washington late on Monday night.

The worst coastal damage is always just where the center of circulation comes ashore just north of that. So that's the worst coastal damage. But watch what happens as we move this forward inland. It kind of circulates here. Doesn't have the forward progression. Biggest problems then, of course, inland flooding. This thing sits here in western New York, western Pennsylvania for 24 hours, dropping an inch of rain an hour, the potential, of course, is catastrophic. Biggest problems, of course, waves greater than 30 feet not out of the question. Coastal erosion. Inland flooding will be huge. And also, widespread power outages. We're talking the potential of seven million to 10 million people without power. Of course, disruption disruptions, airports, guys, you can only begin to imagine from Boston all the way down to Washington, as far west as Cincinnati.

BLACKWELL: Wow. All right. Alexandra, thank you very much. We'll be checking in with you again next hour.

PAUL: Yes, thank you so much for sharing your time with us today. Victor is going to go get a workout but I'll see you back at the top of the hour.

BLACKWELL: Squats "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" starts right now.