Return to Transcripts main page
Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien
England Celebrates Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee; Trial Begins for Jerry Sandusky; Final Day Of Diamond Jubilee; Celebrating Queen Elizabeth II; Colorado Wildfire Wipes Out 200+ Acres; Student Arrested For Explosives; Van Der Sloot Extradition To U.S. Must Wait; Study Connects Fever And Autism; Most Effective Birth Control; "Fat Chance"; A Recall With National Implications; Obama And The Wisconsin Recall; "God, No!": Penn's Commandments; Woman Steals Souvenir From Boy
Aired June 05, 2012 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN HOST: Welcome, everybody. Our "Starting Point" this morning, a historic day in London. The culmination of the queen's diamond jubilee. We'll take you live in festivities this morning.
And swing state showdown. Is today's recall vote a dry run for the November presidential election? Will Wisconsin's Tea Party backed Republican governor get booted out of office or will he get to keep his job?
Plus, Coach Jerry Sandusky on trial, just hours away from jury selection, but can both sides find 12 impartial jurors? A key decision from the judge has a huge impact on the alleged victims. We'll tell you what he's done.
Plus, a high school student, football star, walks the stage at graduation, but instead of his diploma, it's kind of a brutal punishment. We'll tell you what happened. It's our "Get Real" this morning.
It's Tuesday, June 5th and STARTING POINT begins right now.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
O'BRIEN: I like that segue out of our show music right into the classical music, because we are talking about the queen's diamond jubilee celebration. It will reach its peak today, four days of festivities, marking 60 years on the throne. It all wraps up today.
The ceremonies began with a service of thanksgiving at St. Paul's cathedral. Then a formal carriage procession through the streets of London before the queen and her family will finally give the royal wave from the palace balcony.
Let's get right to CNN's Richard Quest, he is live at Buckingham palace for us this morning. Richard Quest, good morning, how has it gone?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. It is an overcast but still dry morning. Welcome. I'm actually up the road from the palace in Trafalgar Square, where I think you might be able to see there are several hundred people watching what's happening on big screens. The reason we're in Trafalgar Square, throughout the day, the queen is literally commuting through the square, backwards and forwards, palace, Manchester house, down to Westminster for the lunch, and then later this afternoon, Soledad, up Whitehall and back home to the palace for that royal wave. On the balcony, only six or seven of them -- they're limiting the number of people that had be on the balcony. Just the queen, the immediate line of succession, Charles, Camilla, William, Catherine, and Harry.
O'BRIEN: So, up next from the calendar that I've read, the queen has left St. Paul's where they did the service this morning and really is headed to a lunch with some of the royals as well. And it will all sort of wrap up later this morning for us and afternoon for you with another sort of procession and celebration. What can we look forward to seeing live?
QUEST: That's it, yes. Yes, what will happen is at about 4:0 this afternoon, after lunch, 3:00, she will come up Whitehall in the 1902 state landau, assuming the weather holds nicely. With her will be the Prince of Wales and Camilla since, of course, Philip is not with her today, he being in hospital. And that's your big one. That's your 200 horses, your guards, your bands of the household cavalry regiment. That's the British pomp and ceremony at its very best.
And then the whole day will end. And a late addition to the schedule, the queen is to make an address to the people at 6:00 tonight. We understand it was recorded at Buckingham palace yesterday afternoon during the concert. That will be played out tonight, 6:00 London/1:00 eastern.
O'BRIEN: We're looking at live pictures as you're talking. A moment ago we saw the queen walk in. It seemed almost a little sad without having Prince Philip by her side. She's small, and it looks a little lonely as she enters, you know, the church there.
QUEST: And that, I think, Soledad, you put your finger exactly on what the feeling has been created. Yes, as she walked down St. Paul's cathedral aisle on her own, it did have a certain poignancy. You say sad, I say solemn and poignant, which emphasizes the role Prince Philip has played next to the queen all those years. Now of course he's in hospital. It's not, we don't believe, that serious. But any time a 90-year-old goes into hospital with an infection of any kind, they usually have to have intravenous antibiotics. So yes, a serious but very much poignancy for her majesty, looking lost, maybe a little lonely on her own.
O'BRIEN: I agree. Richard Quest for us. We look forward to checking in with you throughout the morning.
Want to turn to Zoraida Sambolin for a look at the look at the day's top stories. Hey, Z, good morning.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad. Polls in Wisconsin open in less than an hour and you'll want to watch very closely because many call the race a dry run for the November election. For just the third time in U.S. history, a governor is facing a recall vote. Republican Scott Walker, a union- busting fiscal conservative and a Tea Party darling, vying to keep his job against Milwaukee's Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett. Here's a look at one of the latest polls showing Walker with an edge over Barrett, but it's a lot tighter when you factor in that margin of error, and many expect this to be a very close race. Coming up in the next half hour, we'll talk live to Mayor Barrett white before the polls open. You won't want to miss that.
And President Obama getting an assist from Bill Clinton to pick up some big campaign cash in the big apple. The Democratic duo kicking off a night of fund-raising including a gala at glitzy Waldorf Astoria hotel with Bon Jovi headlining. They raised more than $3.5 million for Obama campaign. And Clinton told supporters a defeat for Democrats in November would be calamitous.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The Romney Republican plan is austerity and more unemployment now. And blow the lid off later, just at the time we'll be worried about high interest rates. What's the difference here? Shared prosperity versus continued austerity and high unemployment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Meanwhile, Mitt Romney's been laying low. No campaigning yesterday. Just one campaign stop today in Texas after finishing a massive fund-raising swing through California.
New this morning, Canada is now working to extradite a self- proclaimed porn star accused of killing and dismembering a college student. Luka Magnotta was arrested at an Internet cafe in Berlin where he told officers, "You got me." Canadian officials say it could take years before he's in their custody. Meantime police are investigating more crimes he might have committed.
Gas prices down to $3.57 for a gallon of unleaded, a drop of 1.5 cent overnight. Prices are down for the 20th day in a row now.
And actor Kevin Costner and Stephen Baldwin set for a courtroom showdown. They're duking it out over millions of dollars connected to a deal to create oil spill cleanup technology. Costner and partners developed that technology when the deep water horizon in 2010. Costner filed an $18 million deal with BP to help clean up the mess. Baldwin and a New Orleans businessman say they were squeezed out of millions when they sold their shares in the company.
And 15 percent of TSA workers at southwest Florida international airport in Gt. Myers have been fired or suspended. An internal investigation revealing they failed to perform mandatory random screenings on hundreds of passengers during a two-month period last year. Five agents have been fired, 38 others suspended in what may be the largest disciplinary action taken in the 10-year history of the TSA.
Passengers at Dulles Airport doing a double take going through customs. They're being welcomed into the U.S. by Paige, a life size hologram.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is one of the most incredible things I've even. I travel a lot around the world and I've never seen that before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Life like, so real. I thought it was you for a minute.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was looking at her eyes. I didn't listen to what she said. That's usually the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: She's beautiful, too. The virtual travel assistant gives passengers important information about the airport and what they need coming off an internal flight. Imagine meeting one of those. You would do a double-take, wouldn't you?
O'BRIEN: I don't get it. Why not use a real, actual person? How many millions of dollars has been spent on that technology? You cannot tell me -- someone run the numbers on that.
SAMBOLIN: It's a one-time pend and you're done. You can use her over and over and over again everywhere.
O'BRIEN: Or just hire an employee to stand there and do whatever it is Paige does.
SAMBOLIN: I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm for humans getting the jobs.
O'BRIEN: Still ahead on STARTING POINT, the jury selection in a case everybody's watching, former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky. The judge says the victims' identities will be public. Sara Ganim won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the story will join us next.
And Green Bay Packers star Donald Driver throws his cleats into the stand at a charity softball game. A 12-year-old boy, his biggest fan, hatches them before a grown woman grabs them away. We'll talk this morning to Donald Driver live, find out exactly what happened. And then what was he able to do about it? Leading with my playlist, kicking off the morning, Luther Vandross. What a better way to start your morning "Power of Love."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: In roughly an hour, jury selection will begin in the trial of Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky is accused of sexually abusing ten boys over 14 years. Prosecutors say he met some of his accusers through Second Mile, a charity for underprivileged kids. The judge in the case has ruled that the identities of the alleged victims will be revealed during the trial.
Sara Ganim joins us. She won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of this story. Thank you for joining us. So let's talk first about what the judge said about revealing -- naming the names of the boys, the alleged victims in this case. How do you think that's going to affect this trial?
SARA GANIM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, they are going to have to state their name for the report when they take the stand and testify against Jerry Sandusky, however, not before that. That's an issue the judge has been very sensitive to, all through the pretrial motions. The defense has even agreed not to reveal their names in open court during hearings or any kind of subpoenas they issue to the public.
However, the judge ruled yesterday, despite the victims' wishes in many of these cases, they will have to state their names for the record when they take the stand. Up until that point they'll be anonymous but when they take the stand, they'll have to state their name fort record. Now, some of the attorneys for those men were considering whether or not they were going to appeal that issue. As far as we know, none of them have. Some of them have told me they don't want to risk delaying the start of this trial. These men want to take the stand, testify, and essentially get this over with.
O'BRIEN: When you take a look at the ten alleged victims in this case, many people are pointing to number four, a 28-year-old man, to be the strongest case, 28 years old now. Tell us about his case, this youngish man and what the prosecution and defense could do with his story.
GANIM: With victim number four, his story is that Jerry Sandusky was like a surrogate father to him, but he was also molesting him at the same time. That's the allegation. He's expected to actually be one of the first to take the stand. His attorney, when the issue of naming these men came up, his attorney said, no matter what, he is ready to --
O'BRIEN: And as you can see, we just lost our satellite feed. So obviously, we'll try to get that back up so we can hear from Sara Ganim about the strategy of not only the defense but also the prosecution in this case. Let's see if we can get that back in. Sara, can you hear me? Your satellite took a hit.
GANIM: I can hear you.
O'BRIEN: Fantastic. Forgive me, you dropped out right when you were talking about the strategy with this 28-year-old man who said that Sandusky was not only a surrogate father but all the while was molesting him as well.
GANIM: Right. And Jerry Sandusky has denied all of those allegations that are of long-term abuse like this, a very graphic acts over a long period of time. He's saying he built his life on working with at-risk kids in his charity. So that was kind of the price he paid for devoting himself to children who were at risk, that this is what happened, that some of them accused him of things he didn't do. The prosecution says he targeted people -- men at this charity, and that, you know, like I said, he's expected to be one of the first to take the stand and testify.
O'BRIEN: Do you think it's going to be possible to find jurors who are not biased in a relatively small town in a case that's been on the front page of every national newspaper?
GANIM: Well, prosecutors wanted to bus in jurors from another county for that reason, mostly because they did a short calculation and found that one in three people in this county have some kind of tie to Penn State University because Penn State has become such a big part of this case, they didn't to want take that risk. But the judge decided to try, because Jerry Sandusky wanted --
O'BRIEN: All right, obviously, we're having tremendous difficulties with our satellite this morning. I appreciate your patience. That was Sara Ganim updating us. I think what she was saying at the end is actually prosecutors were hoping to bring the venue or bring in jurors from another county, but it was actually Jerry Sandusky interested to have the case tried right in that particular county. We'll see if they're able to, in fact, have a jury made up of people who don't have already an opinion on the case. By the way, Sara Ganim, she won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on this very story.
We've got to take a short break. Just ahead, a Georgia college student faces federal weapons and drug charges. Her defense? She likes blowing things up. That sounds reasonable to me.
Our "Get Real" this morning, a high school football star walks the stage at graduation. Kind of get a brutal punishment instead of getting his diploma. We'll tell you why.
And the team's heading in. Margaret Hoover is with us, Will Cain, nice to have you all. Welcome, welcome. Here's Margaret's playlist, Coldplay "Clocks."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
O'BRIEN: The Ramones "I Want To Be Sedated." Doesn't that sound relaxing? Nice to have you, thanks for being with us. Penn is a comedian and illusionist and author "God Knows, Signs You May Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales." It comes out in paperback.
PENN, COMEDIAN/AUTHOR: "I Want to be Sedated" is what we played to put my children to sleep.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: Margaret Hoover is with us as well. She worked in the G.W. Bush White House. Will Cain is a columnist for TheBlaze.com.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: I was up late. Woke up at 12:30, could not go back to bed.
CAIN: Women have insomnia twice as often as men.
O'BRIEN: I believe that. The minute you have kids, you listen for they will. I believe that. We'll talk about that later. We'll talk about our "Get Real" this morning, which involves yet another high school graduation. This time the young man at the center, lots of fans and friends in Cincinnati, Ohio, a very popular football player -- football star, fair to say, at Mt. Healthy high school. He was called up to the stage, graduation, lots of cheering from his friends and his family and his teachers in the audience.
So much cheering that the school actually thought it was excessive, like tons of cheering, apparently. They sent him a letter from the administration saying because of all the noise he will not receive his diploma until he performs 20 hours of community service. That punishment is not sitting well with Anthony or his mother. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's crazy to do that to you. I did not nothing wrong but walk across the stage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't understand how he's being punished for something he does not have control over. He's definitely not doing the community service. I'm definitely not doing the community service.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in college right now and I definitely need my diploma.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Needs the diploma.
CAIN: What does excessive cheering sound like? I want to see that.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
PENN: And why is community service used as punishment? That bothers me so much. Community service is supposed to be done with joy for helping others, and it's being turned into punishment and backwards thing only the government can help people. If you want to do it on your own it's punishment.
O'BRIEN: Or cheering for someone graduating --
PENN: Those are two different issues. He's being punished for being too happy by helping people. It's absolutely backwards. Being too happy should be a celebration.
CAIN: There's got to be more, right? O'BRIEN: Well, you know --
CAIN: His family celebrated too excessively so when he walked up to the stage, the principal says, I'm holding onto the diploma. See me later.
O'BRIEN: Apparently that's what happened.
PENN: The decision was made while he walked --
O'BRIEN: They did say there was a note saying -- this happens at a lot of graduations, keep it down, no craziness.
PENN: This is the last day of fun. No more fun. When you graduate, then go live your life and have fun.
HOOVER: Sometimes you have to admit, knowing you're not supposed to do that egg on the crowd.
O'BRIEN: It seems like it wasn't his cheering. There's no indication he was inappropriate --
HOOVER: He could have done a little of this, encourage them to root for him.
O'BRIEN: I agree. Last day of high school, do this all you want.
PENN: I can confess a secret. During my graduation, they gave a special award for a woman who had had not missed one day of school the whole time. And I organized a standing ovation that didn't stop. And they tried desperately to find out who started the standing ovation. Now it's been a few years. I can --
O'BRIEN: Maybe you should --
PENN: I denied it at the time.
O'BRIEN: Maybe you should do community service.
PENN: It was really embarrassing for her. It was a long standing ovation for someone who came to school sick. That was her accomplishment, she came to school viral.
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, showdown in the swing state of Wisconsin. What today's recall vote could mean for the presidential elections come November. We'll talk about Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett challenging Wisconsin's governor, Scott Walker. Join us for that.
And honoring the queen, I feel like when I do these teases, I should do them, yes, with the hand wave and the British accent. Piers Morgan will join us live from London with all the festivities.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: You're watching STARTING POINT, but it's hail to the queen this morning on her diamond jubilee celebration. It will wrap up today. This morning's formal service of thanksgiving at St. Paul's Cathedral is the crowning moment for the four-day jubilee festivities.
And then later there's going to be a carriage procession that goes right through the streets before we see the royal wave from the palace balcony from all of the royals.
Piers Morgan is covering it all, co-anchoring CNN's coverage. He joins us from London this morning in front of the palaces. Piers, where are you and how has it been over the last couple of days?
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, CNN'S "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": It's been fantastic, Soledad. I'm here outside Buckingham Palace, the queen's main residence. She will be here later after her lunch and in a horse-drawn carriage.
And will have all the pomp and ceremony that we Brits are so good at. I have to say to be back in my home country for the last few days had been a very special experience.
O'BRIEN: I have to tell you two things that I've noticed from this. One, to see the queen without Prince Philip, she seems very small and a little bit lonely as she walks through a lot of this. That she's usually escorted through with her husband.
And then number two, I want to know what you think of the princess, Kate, seems to really have changed the tone of the entire royal family. Am I wrong about that?
MORGAN: Yes, I think on the first point, it's obviously sad that Prince Philip is not here. I have to say, it was incredibly brutal on Sunday to be out in that weather.
You couldn't tell from the television, it was freezing cold, pouring with rain and he's 90 years old. He's 91 on Sunday. I think he found it pretty hard. He and the queen stood the whole way, you may have noticed.
It wasn't entirely surprising, I don't think, he would have had a bit of a turn afterwards for the worst, but he seems to be OK. He's in hospital. Apparently, they're not overly concerned, which is good.
As for Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, I mean, she's a revelation. I remember when Diana died, what this city was like, in particular, London. It went into a big state of mourning. Not just the banner, but I think many people felt it was the beginning of the end of the royal family. The debate over the monarchy began to rage ever hotter.
People saying it's time that we got rid of the royal family. And look at it today, you know, the ratings for the TV broadcasts in England have been through the roof in the last three days compared to 10 years ago for royal events.
Secondly, the crowds have been absolutely enormous. I mean, these people have been camping overnight here at the palace. We haven't seen that really since Charles married Diana back in 1981.
So I think what you're seeing, this is partly down to William and Kate and to Harry and the younger royals, but also the constancy of her majesty, the queen.
You're seeing a real resurgence in popularity for the royal family, not just here but worldwide. That's great to see.
O'BRIEN: It's been fascinating to watch. I love seeing all the pomp and circumstance because it's something we don't really have a lot of those opportunities here in the United States.
Piers, thanks. We're going to continue to check in with you throughout the morning. Want to check in with Zoraida Sambolin now. She's got a look at the day's headlines.
Zoraida, good morning. We're having problems with your mic. I'll do the news until your mic is fixed. Here we go.
As Zoraida said, a new wildfire is burning right now. It's happening in Northern Colorado. More than 200 acres have been wiped out. We're told one structure, about 40 miles northwest of Fort Collins is destroyed. More than a dozen others are at risk. There are crews there dealing with the hot, dry and windy weather.
A Georgia college student arrested for explosive -- this is a crazy story. Her excuse, she says she likes to blow things up. She's 23 years old. Her name is Celia Savage facing federal weapons and drug charges now. Here's a video of her blowing up a toilet. Yes, yes, there it is.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you for that.
O'BRIEN: So, she says --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all like to blow things up.
O'BRIEN: She told the agents she makes explosives as a hobby and her dad says the government should butt out of their business. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOMMY SAVAGE, CELIA SAVAGE'S FATHER: The government stay out of her business, my business.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: That's right. You blow up what you want. Savage's Facebook profile says, quote, "I despise all law enforcement and any governing authority. I'm not one for selective targeting but mass destruction." You can see why people might be visiting her with comments like that and also her ability to blow things up. All right, Zoraida, I think your mic is back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So smooth, right back to Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: I'll take it from here. Thanks very much, Soledad.
Joran Van Der Sloot may eventually stand trial in the United States, but it won't be for a long time. A ruling by Peru's Supreme Court says Van Der Sloot must serve out a Peruvian murder sentence before he can be extradited to the United States.
That could mean 28 years. He faces extortion charges in this country relating to the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005. Van Der Sloot is appealing his conviction in Peru.
This morning's "House Call," a new connection between autism and fever during pregnancy. A new study shows that women spiking high fevers while pregnant and don't treat them appear to be twice as likely to have a child with autism as mothers who treated their fevers.
While scientists were able to tie the fever and autism together, they could not figure out when exactly during pregnancy untreated fevers were the most dangerous.
Long-acting reversible forms of birth control are the most effective. That is according to an article published in "The New England Journal of Medicine."
Research found IUDs, under the skin implants and injections had a failure rate of less than 1 percent. Birth control pills, patches and rings had a more than 9 percent failure rate.
And New Yorkers saying fat chance to Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to ban the sale of supersized sugar drinks. A New York Marist Poll surveyed 500 New Yorkers and 53 percent of them called a ban on sugary beverages 16 ounces or bigger a bad idea.
Forty two percent actually supported it. If the mayor gets his way, New York would become the first U.S. city to limit portion sizes in order to fight obesity -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: So two things on that. One, 42 percent, I'm surprised that it's that high.
CAIN: I'm shocked it's that close.
O'BRIEN: I think the mayor should read good news into that because that to me seems like a really high number for something that I think a lot of people, at least --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For something that's crazy? That's what you're trying to say?
CAIN: It's not a slippery slope. New Yorkers are accepting their destiny.
O'BRIEN: But number two, she started by saying, fat chance. It's going to happen, right? The health board -- he appointed everybody, so there's no fat chance. It will happen. My guess is in two years nobody's going to care they only have a 16-ounce cup blah, blah --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can have two 16-ounce caps.
O'BRIEN: Or four or ten.
SAMBOLIN: They'll reverse the decision. The next health board comes in --
O'BRIEN: I guarantee you no health board is going to reverse the decision on 16-ounce soda. I don't think so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of a ratchet system.
O'BRIEN: Not in New York City.
SAMBOLIN: She's begging for a bet.
O'BRIEN: I know. I only do $1 bets so pinkie bet.
All right, we are just 30 minute away from polls opening in Wisconsin. It's an election that many people would say is a dry run for November's presidential vote.
It's an effort to recall Wisconsin's Republican governor, whose name is Scott Walker and replace him with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who is a Democrat. It's also one of the most expensive recall elections in American history. Millions spent on ads like these.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scott Walker promised --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two hundred fifty thousand new jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Scott Walker delivered nothing. In fact, last year, Wisconsin lost more jobs than any state in the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tom Barrett wants to spend more than $100 million on a trolley for Milwaukee. Now, that's the kind of reckless spending that left Wisconsin with more than a $3 billion deficit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The recall was sparked by Walker's efforts to curtail union rights and benefits. If the recall is successful, it will be only the third time that a governor has been kicked out by voters.
Democratic candidate for governor, Tom Barrett, joins us this morning. We have to mention we reached out to Governor Walker for an interview, he declined. So we'll start with you, sir. Thank you for being with us.
TOM BARRETT (D), MILWAUKEE MAYOR: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: So there are lots of polls out about this and several of them show that you are not winning. You're behind. It's tight in some cases. Marquette University Law poll shows 52 percent for Governor Walker, 45 percent to you. Why are you confident that you're going to be able to win this?
BARRETT: We have just seen over the past week, Soledad, the largest ground game we've ever seen in the state of Wisconsin. We're literally hundreds of thousands of volunteers were out on the doors.
I think what we're going to see is we're going to see a huge voter turnout here in Wisconsin today. So, a lot of the projections are based on 2010 elections where there was a very low voter turnout.
We are very, very confident today there are going to be hundreds of thousands of additional voters. That's what buoys our confidence so much.
O'BRIEN: In fact, in 2010, I think the voter turnout was 50 percent. Back in 2008, it was 69 percent. There are some predictions, estimates that for 2012 it could go high again to 65 percent.
But that might remain to be seen. Let's talk a little bit about the money that's been spent $60 million. Wow and some of that money -- a lot of that money coming in from the outside. What do you make of that?
BARRETT: Well, what we've seen here -- this is one of the reasons this race is getting tighter is that we've got a sitting governor who raised 60 percent to 70 percent of his money in the most recent filings from out of state.
That's not something that ever happens in Wisconsin. I'll be outspent in this race probably six to seven to one, maybe as high as ten to one, which makes it so remarkable this race is so close.
But what's happened is Scott Walker has become the rock star of the far right and has been able to raise literally millions of dollars from out of state contributors.
At the same time people are concerned because the job performance here, the job creation performance is just so weak, it's so anemic, and people are hurting. They want someone to focus on creating jobs here, but it's not interested in being the poster boy of the Tea Party.
O'BRIEN: So when Governor Walker was interviewed on Fox News the other day -- here's what he said and I'll ask you a question on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: People want us to move the state. They're sick and tired of the recalls, $16 million, $17 million spent of taxpayer money just to run this recall.
I think people are sick of it. They're sick of the attack ads, sick of all -- particularly in this last week. I mean, some real doozies in terms of the nonsense that's spent out there in attacking us.
People are tired. They will be ready to wake up on Wednesday morning and not be assaulted on television and they'll be ready to move on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Do you think that's true, not just the assault and attack ads, which I think no matter where you are, I mean, I personally find them annoying, but the recalls.
Wisconsin kind of leads the way in recalls. Twelve recalls election since 1990 and it is expensive. Does he have a point?
BARRETT: Well, there's no question people are tired of the recalls. There's no question people are tired of what I call this political civil war where neighbors don't want to talk to neighbors, relatives don't want to talk to relatives about politics because it's too bitter, too decisive.
But Governor Walker doesn't say is he was the one who, these are his words, dropped the bomb and attempted to divide and conquer. So he set out on a strategy to divide this state. He succeeded in dividing the state.
This state has never been divided as it is right now. So Wisconsin historically, traditionally, has not been this polarized state. That was the route that he took. It's sort of ironic to hear him say, people are tired of all the fighting when he was actually the one who began the fighting.
So, I agree with him that people are tired of the fighting, but I think the cause is to get rid of the instigator rather than to allow him to continue because I think this state will remain this bitterly divided if he continues in office.
I don't see how Wisconsin can move forward if he continues with the style that he's had for the last year and a half.
O'BRIEN: People have said that this could be a -- you know, sort of a predictor of where the national election is going to go. Yet, you don't really see President Obama's fingerprints in this at all.
I know that he sent out a tweet yesterday. It's Election Day in Wisconsin tomorrow and I'm standing by Tom Barrett. He would make an outstanding governor. Barack Obama on Monday.
But, you know, that's not exactly the president showing up and saying, this is my guy, vote for him. Come on, we need him to win. Do you feel like you've been a little ignored by the president in this?
BARRETT: Not one bit because this started as a citizens movement. There were literally a million people -- close to a million people who signed their name to a petition to have this election.
So, this is the largest grassroots movement this state has ever seen. It started out as a grassroots movement. It will end as a grassroots movement, as it should. I think there are some that want to make it a national election.
That's part of my gripe about this is, is I don't want Wisconsin to be the experimental dish for the right wing. I want Wisconsin to return to Wisconsin values. So, there are some particularly on the other side who do want to nationalize this.
I want this to be al about Wisconsin families, about Wisconsin jobs, about the future of this state, not the future of political dreams of people who don't live in this state or don't care about this state.
O'BRIEN: That might be the case, but I got to tell you everybody outside your state is watching your state on Election Day. So we'll see how it goes. Good luck to you. Tom Barrett is the Democratic mayor of the city of Milwaukee.
BARRETT: Thank you very much.
O'BRIEN: You bet. Still ahead this morning, Penn re-interprets -- that's such an interesting word, isn't it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it is.
O'BRIEN: It's like Ten Commandments 2.0. Throws out. Redoes the Ten Commandments in his book now in paperback, it's called "God No: Signs You May Be Already Be An Atheist and Other Magical Tales."
Also, we'll tell you this story of the NFL star Donald Driver tosses his cleat up to a kid. Look at that. Wrestled -- wrestled out of a little boy's hands by a grown woman. We're going to talk to Donald Driver up next.
Will Cain has got a little ZT top for us, "Legs." You're watching STARTING POINT. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: I don't believe we've had Elvis Presley on the show before.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to have Elvis.
O'BRIEN: I know -- with your own book that comes out in paperback today.
PENN JILLETTE, AUTHOR, "GOD, NO!": Doc Paul wrote "Viva Las Vegas" 11 years before he visited Las Vegas. He just knew what it was like to be in Vegas.
O'BRIEN: Do you live in Las Vegas?
JILLETTE: Yes, I do. We play 46 years there so it's hard to commute so I spend most of my time in Vegas.
O'BRIEN: Tell me about the book. It's on paperback, "God, No, Signs You May Be Already Be An Atheist and Other Magical Tales." Why did you write a book about the Ten Commandments for Atheists?
JILLETTE: Because like most things that are done, Glenn Beck told me to. Glenn Beck --
O'BRIEN: That explains that, doesn't it?
JILLETTE: Glenn Beck was making an argument that the Ten Commandments were more important than religion. They existed outside of religion.
And then said on his radio show that he wished his friend, Penn Jillette would write the Atheist version of the Ten Commandments and that could be put up in the state houses and so on.
So when Glenn Beck tells me to do something, for some unknown reason I did it. He handed it out at his rallies and stuff, an Atheist description of the Ten Commandments.
O'BRIEN: What did you discover?
JILLETTE: Well, I discover the -- first, you want to throw out all the ones just sucking up to God. Like no greater God before me, no idols and stuff like that.
Then you come down to don't steal, don't kill people. It comes down to pretty basic stuff. I just kind of laid it out that way and then kind of expanded --
O'BRIEN: Because it's really a memoir in between the Ten Commandments, sort of your life story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a lot of material to hang up in a state house.
O'BRIEN: He means literally like pin it up.
JILLETTE: Part of that right there, just parts right there, but the idea that morality is outside of religion, it's an idea that, you know, Richard Dawkins and the Atheists always take.
The fact we say God is good says by definition there is a good that exists outside of God. That's most of my point, is that the morality is more important than theology. O'BRIEN: It's a fascinating book. I love it for the memoir part and thank you for walking us through -- the Ten Commandments are similar to the biblical Ten Commandments. Thou shall not steal is don't steal.
JILLETTE: The gay sex is what you liked.
O'BRIEN: I did find that chapter very, very interesting.
Ahead on STARTING POINT this morning, NFL star and "Dancing with the Stars" champion Donald Driver, you can see here, tossing his cleat to a little boy in the stands.
Then you see the woman in the green t-shirt wrestling the cleat away from that 12-year-old. What was she thinking? We're going to talk to Donald Driver up next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: The Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver is already a Super Bowl champion on the football field and a hotshot on the dance floor. He won this year's "Dancing with the Stars."
His biggest fan apparently is a 12-year-old boy right there who went to see Driver play at a charity softball game in Wisconsin on Sunday. Now after the game, Driver took off his cleats, threw them into the stands. You can see it right there.
Little boy catches them and then there's a woman in the green t-shirt, holds them up and wrenches the cleats out of the hands of a 12-year-old boy. What is wrong with you? Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN WAGNER, FAN WHO WAS ROBBED OF SOUVENIR CLEAT: I thought I'm getting this. I had my arms around it like this. She grabbed it out of my arms and started to walk away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love that there is a flip cam of this to publicly shame that woman for having ripped of those shoe out of the boy.
CAIN: Slow down just a little bit.
O'BRIEN: I do support -- let's get to Donald Driver because he's on the phone. Then we can ask him some questions. Donald, thank you for being with us. Give me a sense of what -- you were throwing the cleat to the kid, right?
DONALD DRIVER, GREEN BAY PACKERS (via telephone): Well, first of all, thank you all for having me on. Yes. I was throwing the cleat to Stephen. Whatever happened after that, I didn't see until someone posted it on YouTube. That's when I saw the lady snatch the shoe from Stephen. O'BRIEN: Snatched is a kind word. She arm wrestled him to get the shoe.
DRIVER: You know, I think sometimes as athletes and sometimes celebrities, when you toss things up in the crowd, people react. I think she was reacting at the heat of the moment. She was excited. Once she realized it was a kid, I think you should have let go and let the kid have it.
O'BRIEN: A little kid. You wanted to track down the kid. How were you able to do that?
DRIVER: I got on Twitter. I said if anybody knew the kid was, please give me a call back and everybody was, like, I know who the kid is. Some people did know who the kid was.
Some people just wanted to talk to me. It kind of worked out. I saw Stephen yesterday. We had a great conversation and great time. He was happy just being at the game at first.
O'BRIEN: I know that you were able to give to him a pair of cleats autographed, a signed baseball bat, signed to my number one fan and true hero, signed jersey, three books that you wrote and autographed Packer's cups as well. So he must be happy. I know we learned more about the woman -- the arm wrestling woman.
DRIVER: Has she broken into his house yet?
O'BRIEN: No, she didn't. Apparently, I'm going to play a bit from Stephen's mom talking about the woman whose first name was Robin. I won't name her full name because I feel charitable today. Here's what Stephen's mom had to say. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARY WAGNER, STEPHEN WAGNER'S MOM: Very, very sorry and we tried to reassure her that we're not angry about or upset about. It was too excited fans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAIN: Please don't be mean to her, Margaret.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so glad you are the consolable one here.
O'BRIEN: Even the mom says, listen, they were two big fans.
JILLETTE: She's going to take the woman's side?
CAIN: I was looking -- can I ask Donald one question. How many Super Bowls have you won?
DRIVER: I've only won one Super Bowl. It took me 13 years to win that one. CAIN: I have seen video of you winning "Dancing with the Stars." We might even have that video. I know you can't see it right now. That one Super Bowl celebration that was a nine or ten on your book. What is this "Dancing with the Stars" celebration? I don't know that you ever celebrated like this for your Super Bowl wins.
DRIVER: No. I was excited before because that's the ultimate milestone for a pro dancer is to win "Dancing with the Stars" and for her to lose last year going out first and then to come back and win it the next year was big for her. I was excited. I shoved her out of the way.
O'BRIEN: I fully support showing this video forever.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's amazing moves there.
O'BRIEN: Selfless and he's really, really handsome.
JILLETTE: I was the first one thrown off "Dancing with the Stars." It's kind of humiliating for me to be here. I lost first.
CAIN: Did you wear a shirt?
JILLETTE: I was shirtless and stealing cleats from every child I could find and breaking into the house and stealing it from that little rat. No one is backing her. No one is backing Robin the cleat thief. That's too bad.
O'BRIEN: Good for you, Donald Driver. Thank you for joining us by phone. We appreciate it. I know you're able to raise like $200,000 for your charity so that's also an amazing thing.
DRIVER: Thank you so much.
O'BRIEN: We're going to take a short break and we're back in just a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
