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On the Story
CNN Reporters Describe Details Behind the Stories
Aired August 06, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good evening. I'm Carol Lin. ON THE STORY in just a moment, but first a look at what's happening right now in the news. Russian, British and American rescue workers are frantically trying to save the seven people on board a Russian mini sub. News agencies are reporting crews are now lowering an underwater vehicle to help save them. The air on that Russian mini submarine may be running out late tomorrow or Monday.
In Colorado, a ranger who's been missing for more than a week in the Rocky Mountain national park has been found dead. A hiker discovered the body of 31-year old Jeff Christensen today. Park officials say it appears Christensen had fallen during a routine patrol, but the incident is under investigation.
That escape from the burning Air France jet in Toronto was more amazing that we realized. Canadian investigators now say four of the plane's eight doors and emergency exits failed to open properly. All 309 passengers and crew safely fled the crash using the four remaining exits.
New insights into Marilyn Monroe's last days. The "Los Angeles Times" printed excerpts of tapes Monroe made for her psychiatrist. The tapes are gone, but a former prosecutor who investigated her death in 1962 took notes. They say Monroe had a one night stand with actress Joan Crawford and the former prosecutor believes Marilyn Monroe did not commit suicide.
That's what's happening right now in the news. I'm Carol Lin. Now to ON THE STORY.
JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR, ON THE STORY: This is CNN and we are ON THE STORY. On the campus of the George Washington University in the heart of the nation's capital, our correspondents have the stories behind the stories they're covering.
John Zarrella is on the story of the shuttle. He shows us what they cleaned up in space.
Jeanne Meserve is on two stories from Canada, big brother cameras and then the Air France plane crash.
Anderson Cooper shares a personal notebook from his travels in famine-stricken Niger.
Candy Crowley is back on the story of the campaign trail she knows so well, the road to the White House.
Richard Roth on the story of fighting for access to the newest United Nations ambassador.
And Elizabeth Cohen packs for camp to get the story on fighting fat with fitness.
Welcome. I'm Joe Johns. Joining me here today are two of CNN's DC-based journalists. Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve and senior political correspondent Candy Crowley. Our panel will be taking questions from the studio audience drawn from visitors, college students and people across Washington.
This week, the world witnessed a remarkable shuttle repair live from space. Our John Zarrella was there. Let's check out his reporter's notebook.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No question a big sense of relief here at the Johnson Space Center and for our viewers, this is a piece of gap filler. It looks a little bit like sandpaper, thick sandpaper, but it is very, very smooth and this is all Steve Robinson was going after to do today in what was both an historic space walk and one that he made look easy.
I've covered the space program for almost the entire quarter century that the space shuttle's been flying. So on the one hand, it was like, this was kind of simple compared to what they've done in the past and on the other hand, you sit there and you just marvel and you say, you know, they make this stuff look so so easy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, that came out very easily, probably even less force. It looks like this (INAUDIBLE)
ZARRELLA: We are seeing so much more than we ever were able to see before, because of all these cameras that they've brought up. This is the new NASA. They are exposing all their warts for everybody to see.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The brakes are on. Here I go.
JOHNS: John Zarrella joins us now from the Johnson Space Center in Houston. John, they seem very accessible now, but it hasn't always been that way.
ZARRELLA: No, it really hasn't been, Joe. They really have turned the corner I would say from the 1980s, '86. I covered the Challenger accident and in the aftermath of Challenger, I recall anecdotally one instance where the United States Coast Guard was involved in a lot of the recovery efforts off the coast of Florida for the remains of the Challenger. And at one point - and they were briefing us daily on what they had found - and at one point someone from the Coast Guard who we knew very well, he pulled us aside and said, look, no more. We can't tell you anymore. NASA's put a lid on us. The military's put a lid on us. They don't want us to tell you, tell anymore of what we've been finding.
So now, certainly in the wake of the Columbia accident, that has changed dramatically. Covering this mission, I've never seen such openness from the mission management team regarding what they think. For example, I brought my own gap filler today Joe, have a piece for everybody to see, a little gap filler and yeah, it's nice. And then also here's some thermal blanket and I say that - this is what was, they were going to try to repair if they did a fourth space walk underneath Commander Eileen Collins' window. But how candid they are. They came out and said look, we could do a fourth space walk, but quite frankly, once we get out there to try and repair this or do something with it, we don't know what we would do. So I mean that's the kind of honesty you never would have had before.
JOHNS: Your own audio visual aids. We have a question from the audience. What's your name? What's your question?
QUESTION: Hi. I'm (INAUDIBLE) from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. My question is, what was the atmosphere at NASA like during the space walk to remove the gap filler?
ZARRELLA: Oh, I tell you what we experienced was that everybody was so confident and I think from the standpoint of the media, the press corps that's here, we're sitting there going yeah, right, OK. It's going to be so easy. You guys always say that, but they were extraordinarily confident. They knew it was going to be easy to get that gap filler out. They had the other options where they had the forceps and they had the makeshift hacksaw that they did. But they were - I saw a level of confidence, at least in that particular exercise, that they knew it was going to be done and they knew that they wouldn't have any problem with it. But until they got up there and actually were able to pull it out, then it was, we told you so.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, this is Jeanne. The landing is Monday. Just how nervous are they?
ZARRELLA: I can sense that there is, as every day goes by, there's been a ratcheting up of the nerves. No question about it Jeanne, that as we approach early Monday morning, that sense of anxiety is really going to be at a level here that they've never experienced before. I know that I'm going to have an opportunity on Monday afternoon to spend some time with Leroy Caine (ph), who's the flight director for ascent and landing on this mission and he was also the ascent landing flight director for Columbia. And it's going to be extraordinarily interesting to hear and to ask him, what was going through his mind as Discovery was coming back this time? You definitely Jeanne, you get that sense that as the days get closer and closer to Monday morning, people are beginning to get more and more nervous anticipation.
JOHNS: John, another question from the audience. What's your name? What's your question?
QUESTION: Hi. I'm Antoinette from (INAUDIBLE) Pennsylvania and why do you think the American people have lost an interest in space exploration program, including the recent Discovery mission?
ZARRELLA: Why they haven't lost interest or why they...
QUESTION: Why they have lost interest. ZARRELLA: I don't think that they have, the American public. Every poll that you see out there shows that at least - now they have lost some, no question about it, 59 to 60 percent still think that space exploration, the shuttle program is worth it. But I think part of the problem to answer your question, has been that shuttles began to appear, all they did was to go up to a space station, service the space station and build a space station. So there wasn't any of this deep space exploration, humans landing on the moon, because the spirit of humanity is to explore and there isn't what you would consider a great deal of exploration involved in the shuttle.
But you know, it was interesting. I was talking to Scott Brezinsky (ph) a little while ago and Scott is an astronaut here and he's flown four times. He's preparing for a fifth mission a year from February. He's already started preparing with his crew and you talk to someone like Scott, who's done God knows how many EVAs up there in the space station building it and he will tell you, gee, this is great. I don't ever want to stop doing this. I'll go out there and fly as many times as they let me, but so - there still is a sense of excitement. I think you're clearly correct in saying it's not what it used to be because the level of excitement going outward, further outward in exploration hasn't been there with the shuttle program.
JOHNS: John Zarrella, thanks so much. We'll be checking in with you. Don't forget to watch the return of the space shuttle Discovery. CNN's live coverage begins Monday at 4:00 a.m. Eastern time from the Kennedy space center in Florida. Just ahead, a plane crash in Toronto and Jeanne Meserve turns on a dime to cover the news. We're back on the story from the George Washington University after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: All passengers and crew aboard the Air France flight that skidded off the runway and crashed in Toronto survived. But it was a dramatic scene at the Pearson International Airport with the media clamoring for details and survivors retelling their frightening experiences. Our own Jeanne Meserve was in Canada on a different story and dropped everything to get to the crash site. Here's her reporter's notebook.
MESERVE: I was working on a story about surveillance technology. I was in Ottawa when I got a phone call saying there's a plane on fire in Toronto. I ran to the gift shop to buy a map of Canada. My producer ran to the rental counter to get a car and we started motoring towards Toronto, a drive of about 4 1/2 hours. Our Blackberries were not receiving data. Our cell phones, the reception was iffy and we couldn't retrieve our voice model. Thank God for news radio. We heard interviews with Air France officials. It brought me up to speed on that story as we trying so frantically to get there. We didn't know where we were going. We called our satellite truck. They tried to vector us into where they were located. I got there 15 minutes before 10. It was talking (INAUDIBLE) talking about what elements I might have to deal with. They got my picture about 15 seconds before I was due to hit air.
It clearly looks like a catastrophe and clearly there is relief here that it was not.
When we first got that word that there was a plane on fire, you emotionally start bracing yourself for catastrophe. You know you're going to be dealing with a very difficult situation, difficult for the people you're talking to, difficult for yourself as a reporter. What a change. By the time we got to Toronto, we knew that everybody had survived. It turned into a good news story rather than a bad news story. Trust me, I'd much rather be covering a good news story.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So I always love watching pictures, because when you're on the scene, you sometimes don't have the greatest viewpoint. What did you actually see when you got there?
MESERVE: A satellite truck. Because we were lost, we actually had taken a swing up by the terminal and we could see there the buses onto which they were putting the survivors. We could see all the camera crews. We got a sense of sort of what the mood was at the airport, but as for the crash itself, I didn't see it until the next day when I was leaving. And the only reason I got to see it was because it happened right next to a highway and I could stand up and put my head through the sun roof of our car and gaze over and take a look at it. When you go to an air crash site, it's quite normal not to be able to see the scene because it's a scene of an investigation and in some cases, they're trying to retrieve bodies. This case fortunately, they were not.
JOHNS: Jeanne Meserve, we have a question from the audience. What's your name? What's your question?
QUESTION: I'm Nate. I'm from (INAUDIBLE) Connecticut. And were passengers immediately responsive and were they willing to take questions from reporters?
MESERVE: You know, I was amazed at how quickly they did talk. They had to go through some processing at the airport. They had to go through some customs and immigration issues. They had to be checked out medically. But in fairly short order, they were talking. I didn't personally speak to any until the next morning and they were remarkably cooperative, the ones who chose to talk and of course they were in a great mood. They, many of them knew, they just escaped death and were thanking God for it.
JOHNS: A little bit more about the story you were up there covering and I'd like the audience to sort of hear the - what goes into it mentally when you actually have to switch gears and drive across a country you're not really familiar with.
MESERVE: Well, I was working on a story that had to do with surveillance technology and privacy issues, had been deeply immersed in that for about a week when we got this phone call, plane on fire. It's just an automatic switch. We all I'm sure have done it. Most of us sort of thirst to cover breaking news and big stories. This was one. It was 4 1/2 hours away from me, much further away from any other CNN correspondent. You immediately start thinking about the logistics of how you're going to get there and then you think, how am I going to get the information? That was tough, because I was in Canada. I don't usually work in Canada. I don't have a Rolodex full of Canadian phone numbers and names. Fortunately I had some contacts down here in D.C. that were very helpful, but I didn't even know what their equivalent of the FAA was. What was their equivalent of the NTSB? We were really - it was a steep learning curve.
JOHNS: And the radio's your best friend, though. You're in a car.
MESERVE: Was it ever, especially because the Blackberries weren't working and there were some great all news radio stations. We heard all the briefings that were going on in Toronto and as I mentioned in that reporter's notebook, they had interviews with the Air France officials and some of the emergency officials who were on the scene and so you were getting first hand accounts of what was going on and informed information and of course I also was making phone calls. I was able to reach some officials and do reporting that I'd like to consider my own, which is how we all prefer to consider the story. But what can you do when you're on the highway.
CROWLEY: You know, in your other job as homeland security, when you're not covering plane crashes, it occurs to me, did you immediately - when I heard of it, I immediately thought terrorism. Is that something that you called your sources in Washington said, did you know right away (INAUDIBLE).
MESERVE: This is really interesting, because I cover homeland security and it never crossed my mind.
CROWLEY: You must feel safe.
MESERVE: No, I just think that I think that if something was going to happen on an aircraft, it wouldn't happen when it was on the ground. It would happen either when it's in the air or some other point in the process, never occurred to me.
CROWLEY: That's interesting.
JOHNS: All right. Jeanne Meserve. We'll be talking more. Thanks to Jeanne. We'll be watching reports coming in the days of course. Fighting famine in Niger coming up next. Anderson Cooper was on that story. His emotional account is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: We're back on the story. The United Nations is appealing for millions of dollars to fight famine in west Africa that is threatening thousands of lives. Anderson Cooper traveled to Niger to get a first-hand look at the tragedy. Here's his reporter's notebook.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dawn was just breaking when we left Niger's capital Niamey. We were heading for a town called Maradi where aid groups have set up feeding centers to care for the more than 3 1/2 million Nigerians they say are at risk of starvation. Maradi is an eight hour drive east of Niger's capital. We had wanted to make the drive last night but were warned the road wasn't safe because of road blocks and bandits. Niger's one of Africa's poorest countries. Considering the continent, that's saying a lot. It's a bit overwhelming when you first come to a center like this because there are just so many people, so many mothers who brought their children. Not all of them are starving, not all of them are severely malnourished. In fact, some of them look pretty healthy. They're smiling.
First off, a relief worker with Doctors Without Borders decides it's impossible to safely screen children in these conditions. What is the problem today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today the problem is that too much people and uncontrolled.
COOPER: The village elders are trying to restore some semblance of order, but they're not having much luck. There are just too many people, too many people trying to get food for their kid.
The crisis in Niger, it's not like any other I've covered. It's not instantly apparent. It's not all around you. You have to look close. You have to travel far. (INAUDIBLE) ready made for TV.
JOHNS: Our thanks to Anderson. Shocking pictures and a painful story to watch. Joining us now to discuss how journalists cover the tough stories from famine to terrorism is our medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. She's at the CNN center in Atlanta. Elizabeth, we have a question from the audience for you. What's your name? What's your question?
QUESTION: I'm Jordan (INAUDIBLE) and I'm from (INAUDIBLE) Pennsylvania. And my question is, as a reporter, how do you control your own emotions while on the scene of a tragedy such as 9/11 or the crisis in Niger?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sometimes it's actually very difficult to do that. Like 9/11 I was covering the families who were looking for their loved ones and it's interesting how Anderson said that it wasn't immediately apparent. It wasn't right around him. This was right around me. There were hundreds of people literally pushing us. I could move a millimeter sometimes wanting us to help them look, look for their loved ones. You can see here I'm holding up the pictures and it was all around me and there was a point during the coverage that I actually did cry, just talking to the first person about looking for his father. His father was a window washer was missing and he then learned of course that his father had died. So it sometimes can be very difficult. If you just keep your mind focused, I've got to keep doing this. I've got to keep doing this. I have a job to do here. It's important what we're doing here.
JOHNS: And the question though is capturing that emotion and not getting drawn into it. Am I correct?
COHEN: That's right. I mean you're a conduit and I kept thinking that to myself the whole time. I am a conduit. I was a conduit for those people who were surrounding me who wanted some help finding their loved one. I was conduit for that information. We've all seen this video many times. At the time, I was really one of the very first reporters out there with my producer, Mary Ann Falcow (ph) we were first team really to go out there and to have people telling us this story over and over again. No one really knew at this point on September 12, when we were out there, that there were hundreds of people who were gathering on this street corner, actually thousands of people gathering on this street corner, looking for their lost loved ones.
JOHNS: A question from up there.
MESERVE: I think we probably want to share what we've gone through too. We've had similar experiences. Candy.
CROWLEY: I think that the toughest one - I was up on the street for 9/11 and I covered one particular father looking for his daughter. And I spent the entire time not thinking of my father. I spend the entire time saying to myself, this is not my story. This is not my pain. This is his pain. What was -- what's most difficult for me is not when people cry, because I generally can say to myself, not your story. Your job is to tell their story.
JOHNS: You know, it's interesting too though. When there's a villain, there's also anger sometimes for a reporter, when you look at 9/11 and there's been a terrorist attack or here in the Washington, D.C. area, we had the issue of the sniper where people were running around and gunning individuals they didn't even know down. And I know there were a number of reporters who were so drawn into the story, they were very angry about it. That's also a factor, is it not?
CROWLEY: I've never been angry. I mean I know that - I get angry because it's too hot or it's too - I can't get the person on the phone I want to go on or somebody's late. But I've never been angry about a story. For me it's the emotional-
JOHNS: We have a question from the audience.
MESERVE: ... much more difficult and when I was anchoring for CNN, we had this little control here that controls the volume and if something was on the screen that I knew was going to make my blow my cool, even though it risked missing something from the control room, I would turn down the volume. I would turn my head and I would not watch until I could regain my composure, because I just didn't want to blow it on the air.
JOHNS: A question from the audience. What's your name?
QUESTION: Hi. I'm (INAUDIBLE)
JOHNS: And what's your question?
QUESTION: I'm from Virginia (ph). My question is, how do you prepare yourself mentally and also with the information when you're covering a story, a crisis situation?
CROWLEY: Mentally, the story sort of presents itself. I don't have a lot of trouble sort of in my mind saying I need to do this, this, this and this. Emotionally, I've been through enough of them that I mean what is hardest for me are the stalwart people, the people that don't cry, the stiff upper lip people. That's difficult. I was in St. Louis interviewing an Iraqi citizen and his wife who had lost all four of their children at a Marine checkpoint in Iraq and they cried through the entire interview. I wasn't prepared for that and I wasn't - and she was silent through the whole interview. But again, you know, I mean I think there's something that you say - look this is not your story. Tell that to myself as I go in and look, I also, 9/11 and also in this story, I would get in the car and cry all the way back to the hotel room. So it's not like I don't release it, it's just there's a time to release it and a time to listen.
MESERVE: I also set up zones for myself. There are certain things that I have predetermined in my career that I will not do. When I was a young reporter, I was scolded by a news director for not putting a microphone - see I'm getting upset talking about it - in the face of a family that was watching officials drag a lake looking for their child and I came back from that and I got scolded by my news director and I said to myself, I did the right thing. I'm never going to do this in my career. So I think all the sort of (INAUDIBLE) I hope all of us draw certain lines and determine when we're going to something horrible like the plane crash I was going towards this week, there are some things I will not do.
JOHNS: Jeanne, Candy, Elizabeth, thanks so much for that. Elizabeth, stay with us. We'll be back to you later in the program. Thanks for your perspective.
Coming next, diplomatic access. Our senior United Nations correspondent Richard Roth was involved in some delicate negotiations of his own this week. We're back on the story. Plus a check on what's making headlines right now after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Good evening. I'm Carol Lin. More of ON THE STORY in just a moment, but first, a look at what is happening right now in the news. Rescuers are frantically trying to save the seven crew members on that Russian mini-sub. A British rescue team has brought a rescue vehicle to help free the sub. And U.S. divers are nearby. Stay with CNN tonight for the very latest on these ongoing rescue efforts.
Thirteen people are dead after a Tunis Air flight goes down off Italy's Sicilian coast. Rescuers were able to save 23 others, but the remaining two people on board are still missing. The plane was supposed to make an emergency landing at an airport in Palermo.
Canadian investigators confirm what some passengers said after this week's Air France jet accident. Some of the plane's emergency exists and slides were not working properly. All 309 passengers and crew members managed to escape after the Airbus skidded off the runway.
Ten (ph) thousand people, including Stevie Wonder, rallied in Atlanta, on the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, parts of which will expire in a couple of years. The act keeps states from imposing restrictions on minorities and low-income citizens when they try to vote.
That's what's happening right now in the news. I'm Carol Lin. Now, back to ON THE STORY.
JOHNS: CNN's back ON THE STORY with our audience at the George Washington University. This week, President Bush bypassed a contentious confirmation process by appointing John Bolton to the post of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during a congressional recess. Richard Roth takes us inside the U.N. and Ambassador Bolton's first days on the job. Here's his reporter's notebook.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is where we spend most of our time here at the U.N. The stakeout, waiting here at U.N. headquarters. Now, we'll be waiting more than ever for John Bolton.
He arrived yesterday, right after President Bush said he was making Bolton a recess appointment. First time an ambassador from the United States has come here without a formal vote of approval in the U.S. Congress.
Bolton heard some (INAUDIBLE), as you might say, when he arrived on the streets of Manhattan, but that was from some passersby. He's not going to hear that from diplomats. They're not going to tell him what they might really think of him. That doesn't happen at the United Nations.
JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: I'm delighted to be here.
ROTH: There may be early jitters, but the U.S. mission is determined to keep photographers away from Bolton as much as possible. Down this hallway the other day, it was a real problem for me.
Ambassador, it's been so long, we've been waiting for you.
I could not bring my camera to Bolton, though other reporters were allowed to ask him questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here's the thing, Richard. We said unequivocally, no cameras.
ROTH: You said it's not your decision.
Got into an argument with the U.S. mission spokesman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No such thing. We said...
ROTH: Well, let's bring the two of you together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct.
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Richard Roth joins us now from New York. We have a question from the audience, Richard.
What's your name and what's your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name -- sorry, my name is Holly Slaughter (ph). I'm from Cleveland, Ohio. My question is, what has been the reaction of our European allies to this rather controversial appointment, and has there been any immediate response from Kofi Annan?
ROTH: Well, right now, Kofi Annan, who is in a tight spot himself, has to welcome the new U.S. ambassador. He just does not have a choice. The U.N. did it to themselves with their problems and scandals. There was a lighter moment as Bolton went on this charm offensive, he noticed Kofi Annan's arm in a sling from shoulder surgery, and he asked, "how is it going?" I mean, Bolton himself has been beaten up. It's surprising he didn't arrive with both arms in a sling.
The Europeans, they're going to be very tight-lipped. They're going to work with what they've got to work with.
JOHNS: Second question. There was someone else who wanted to ask a question, right down through here. Where were you? There you go. All right. What's your name and what's your question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Christian (ph) from Houmal (ph), Louisiana. My question is, with questions surrounding the relevancy of the U.N. and oil-for-food scandal, what type of reforms can we expect Mr. Bolton to press for, and how effective will he be?
ROTH: I thought you wanted to know how we covered these things. Anyway, the reforms, well, there are a lot of aspects of it. Permanent members of the Security Council, how many countries. Stripping clean the bureaucracy at the U.N. Bolton is perfectly timed for that. He's got his mission. The president has said, I want results. But the U.S. is still only one member of the U.N. A lot of Americans, I think, feel that the U.N. should do whatever the U.S. wants. There are 190 other countries who are not going to let that happen.
The next oil-for-food report, by the way, has been moved up to Monday. It's going to focus on the former director of the program.
CROWLEY: Richard, this is Candy. You've covered enough of these new ambassadors coming in to be able to give a comparative here. Was there any difference in the way that they -- they are clearly not going to say, you know, you don't belong here. But was there any difference in the way he was greeted?
ROTH: Oh, yes. You could just feel that it was almost as if it was a president or a king or a wanted criminal. I mean, you wait five months for this man. When the last U.S. ambassador arrived, John Danforth, we were the only crew out on the sidewalks of New York when we greeted him. This time, you had dozens of photographers. The word was really, "get Bolton," because there's this nervousness that he might say something, and everybody does not want to miss it. So I know you have a lot of interns in your audience there. I was able to dispatch several college interns and say, go to that entrance, you, go there; just call us on the walkie-talkie, tell us if you see him.
The U.S. mission doesn't want to give out his whereabouts. They don't want this whole gang of press. We're in for a tough fight just to cover him.
MESERVE: Richard, you know, when Bernie Kerik got the nod to be head of the Department of Homeland Security, those of us who covered the beat sort of rubbed our hands together and said, what a great story this is going to be! That's even before we knew about what was going to come out about his record.
Are reporters who cover the U.N. having the similar reaction to the entrance of John Bolton?
ROTH: I think print reporters have it a little easier than the television reporters, because we can't go everywhere they can go inside the U.N., and you can always walk alongside John Bolton. It's difficult for TV. The journalists from around the world do relish this story. They think he's going to blow up and do something or say something that's not expected, and they think they're going to be able to either say, "gotcha," or to be able to show that he was the wrong man, that he didn't have the temperament.
They may be waiting a while, though, because I think there's going to be a -- there's going to be a low profile from John Bolton, at least at the start.
JOHNS: Our thanks to senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth.
Coming up next, the campaign trail is already filling up with potential candidates for the 2008 presidential race. Our Candy Crowley is on that story, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: For most of us, the 2004 election is a distant memory. But is anyone ready to jump into the next campaign cycle? Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is, and she has the inside word on who is testing the waters. Here's her reporter's notebook.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: Believe it or not, the 2008 presidential election has started. It's like this stealth election that's going on. New Hampshire is like O'Hare on a crowded day. People have to get in there early, make friends, influence people.
(INAUDIBLE), what the heck, from his home in North Carolina.
Yeah, you're running for president.
JOHN EDWARDS, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: No.
CROWLEY: There's this campaign going on, that struck us as we were walking around. The old stickers are still on -- on the light posts, and they're still on the tree trunks.
New Hampshire is generally one of those places that winnows out.
It is increasingly clear that Dean has a real problem on his hands.
When you look back at New Hampshire, it becomes a make-or-break. We didn't want it to be over, because it was such a great story.
It is the best people-watching I've ever done. It beats them all every single time. It's just really great fun, because you fly all over the country, meet all different kinds of people, and it's a hoot.
The campaign to me is always a novel. And every day is another chapter. And you watch it progress, and you don't know what the end is going to be.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: OK, Candy, so who's hot and who's not in New Hampshire?
CROWLEY: Well, what's interesting is, there's not quite a buzz yet, because it is a little -- there's sort of this low-level hum. So the low-level hum right now on the Republican side is Mitt Romney. A funny story, there was a woman up there when he came over to visit, who introduced him to a woman's group in New Hampshire, and so she said, all right, he's, you know, the governor of Massachusetts and he's this and he's that. And she starts to walk off, and then she says, and by the way, Governor, you're not hard on the eyes.
So Mitt Romney is kind of giving that sort of movie star, you know, look over.
And on the other side, it seems to be Bill Richardson. You know, he's a sort of not all that well nationally known, but he has -- there is something about Bill Richardson. There is a sort of pent-up energy, and he has a little bit of a rock star feel to him. And he comes with an entourage. So he's creating the hum on the Democratic side.
JOHNS: We have a question from the audience. What's your name, what's your question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening. My name is David (ph). I'm from Washington, D.C. Are there any indications that Colin Powell will run in 2008? And if he did announce his candidacy, how would that affect the electoral landscape?
CROWLEY: Oh, wow. Anything, you know, will affect -- I mean, he's -- he's one of those 800-pound gorillas, like Hillary Clinton, like John McCain. Certainly, it would affect it. I cannot imagine. I think Colin Powell is very happy doing what he's doing. And more than that, I think his wife is very happy that he's doing what he's doing, and that's always a tell-tale sign. I don't see it.
JOHNS: The thing that always gets me is, whenever we start talking about presidential races, everybody is so coy about whether I'm running or whether I'm not. Why do they do that? Why don't they just come out and say, I'm thinking about running?
CROWLEY: Because then we really do watch them. I mean, they really want to fly under the radar. I mean, this is the time to kind of work out the kinks, and so everybody just loves New Hampshire. It's just a wonderful place to come by. Or Iowa, by the way. They're in Iowa as well. You know, John Edwards said to me, no, no, I'm just -- I'm pushing my anti-poverty program. And if you're pushing an anti-poverty program, New Hampshire is probably...
(LAUGHTER)
CROWLEY: ... the worst place to go. But OK, fine, you push -- and he did talk about his poverty program. But look, it's so early. And yet they have to be out there. So this is just a great -- it's so much fun to say, are you running for president? They just, you know, they usually get things like, so how often do you think you're going to come up here? And all these coy questions. So it's so much (INAUDIBLE) to say, are you running for president? Because then they're going to have to totally deny it, which is great fun.
JOHNS: There is a question from the audience. Yes, sir, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Michael (ph) from Flamena (ph), Texas. And my question is, to what extent is President Bush guiding the GOP towards selecting a 2008 candidate that will reflect his vision?
CROWLEY: I think President Bush has his hands full at the moment. I -- look, these are not -- there is a reason that lame ducks become lame ducks, and that's because no one cares anymore what they think. There are a lot of very independent people out there, who -- you know, certainly share -- certainly, the Republicans share a lot of the president's views, but they're out there to run for president on their own, and the first thing you want to show when you run for president is that you're thinking for yourself, and that you're not afraid to make decisions that are you know, outside of what the party orthodoxy has been. So I don't see that as being a huge factor.
MESERVE: So were they happy to see you or not?
CROWLEY: I don't know. I mean, I felt like John Edwards and I were in this -- we both enjoyed a deja vu together, because he looked at me and I looked at him, and the only difference was that I didn't have an overcoat on and my boots, and it wasn't snowing. I mean, it was a beautiful day in New Hampshire. And he sort of looked at me and I -- it was funny, because I wanted to -- they're running in, and so you have to just pop them a question, otherwise they are gone. So...
(CROSSTALK)
JOHNS: I got to ask you, before we go, before we go, we haven't said the three words. Hillary Rodham Clinton. What are people saying about her?
CROWLEY: You know, on the Democrat side, it's really a (INAUDIBLE), because I honestly hear the word "goddess" attached to her. She's kind of this -- she doesn't have to show up in New Hampshire for another three-and-a-half years, because she's such a presence there. I mean, she is, you know, again, she, like McCain on the Republican side, they already have -- look, they already have names, they already have networks. They don't need to be there right now. It's the insurgents that need to be in there now.
JOHNS: Thanks, Ms. Candy. It's a long road to 2008. We'll be watching the reports. Coming up, fighting fat with fitness. Elizabeth Cohen has the different side of summer camp. She's back on that story, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: CNN's ON THE STORY of fighting fat with fitness. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen packed her bags and headed to camp to find out how some kids are working on their waistline this summer. Let's look inside her notebook.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We chose to follow two kids to camp, because we wanted to see two specific kids and the trials that they face in trying to lose weight.
Here they are with behavioral counselors and with nutrition advice, and here they are with all the help you could possibly ever want, and we want to see how they did under these circumstances.
One of the challenges was that some of the other campers, not Nathan (ph) and Shana (ph), did not want cameras there, and they were not happy that we were there. And we completely understood that.
I talked to them just like I'd talk to a friend who's going through a struggle.
You've been very comforting to Nathan (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
COHEN: He's having sort of a hard time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, he is.
COHEN: My favorite time at the camp, they have these ceremonies every Friday. And if you written down everything you've eaten, and if you kept up with all your steps, a couple of other things, then you get lauded to the next level, with this sort of (INAUDIBLE) and this fire, and it sort of has a little bit of a spooky quality to it, but it's fun.
One thing I learned at the camp was very personal, which was a glimpse into how to be a good parent to a teenager, and it really made me think about, you know, 10 years from now, when my kids are that age, would I be as good a parent? I hope I am.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Elizabeth Cohen joins us now from CNN Center in Atlanta. We have a question from the audience, Elizabeth. What's your name, what's your question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Billy (ph) and I'm from Fairfax, Virginia. I was wondering, based on the responses you got from the children while you were there, what were some of the psychological effects of attending this camp?
COHEN: For a lot of them, it was actually quite difficult, because they had used food as a crutch, as a way of handling situations that were tough for them, and all of a sudden, just immediately, that was all taken away. The French fries were taken away. The ice cream was taken away. And so for some of them, I think that that really gave them some emotional difficulties.
JOHNS: This was pretty incredible access. But I imagine not all the kids were really glad to see the cameras.
COHEN: Oh, they absolutely weren't. And that was very unusual. We did not expect that. You know, all of you have shot at schools; I've shot at a lot, a lot of camps. And the kids fight to get on camera. They want to get on camera. These kids -- we have kids running away from us. And I understood. There were some 300-pound kids there, 400-pound kids. And they probably have been teased mercilessly. And so, cameras are not their favorite things.
JOHNS: Question?
MESERVE: Did the kids want to be at this camp?
COHEN: These two kids did want to be at this camp. They were actually scholarship kids. There is a handful of scholarship kids. And they competed for the scholarships, and they wrote essays, and they really wanted to be there. And in fact, Nathan (ph), here's something that we haven't talked about before, actually -- Nathan (ph) was initially turned down for the scholarship because he only weighed 200 pounds, and they had an applicant who weighed 400 pounds. And they said, Nathan (ph), we'd love to give it to you, but we can't, because you're half his weight. And eventually, they found money for Nathan (ph), and he was so happy.
Now, I can't speak for all of the kids. I get the feeling that some of the kids were definitely sent there and did not want to be there.
JOHNS: We have a question from the audience now. What's your name, what's your question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Jason Mogashe (ph) and I'm from Chainhooks (ph), California. My question is, do you think concern about the majority of Americans being overweight creates fear in parents who send these kids to this camp? COHEN: Oh, absolutely. I mean, when I talked to the parents, they think, you know, gosh, my -- my child is 13, 14, 15, and they weigh 200, 300 pounds. I'm very nervous that my kid is going to grow up to be an overweight or to be an obese adult, and they have reason to worry. Study after study shows, if you're obese at 13, chances are you going to be an obese adult.
JOHNS: Candy, did you want to jump in?
CROWLEY: You know, Elizabeth, what happens when these kids go home? It's one thing to sort of put them in an environment where nothing is there, but clearly, they've been in an environment before where everything was there?
COHEN: Candy, that is the million-dollar question, because you can lose weight at this camp. At he said, there's no -- there's no fattening food there, and they make you talk walks, and they tell you -- well, they don't make you, but they want you to take walks. They tell you to keep track of your exercise. And when they go home, what happens? Well, this actually -- we chose this camp, one reason we chose it, is that they do keep track of their kids. They say that the vast majority keep it off or more for six months. They don't know about after six months, though, and that is a big question mark. They're going to go back to all the foods they were surrounded by before, but they teach them behavioral tricks so that they can resist all of that.
Will it work for longer than six months? Don't know.
JOHNS: And some people are actually trying to get out.
COHEN: Well, actually, we did have our young man, Nathan (ph), who, the second day of camp, wanted to go home. Not because he wanted to be eating all the foods he ate, but because he was home-sick, and he begged us, actually, to call his mother and have her come home, which of course we couldn't do. And if you watch Monday night on "PAULA ZAHN" at 8:00, you will find out, does Nathan (ph) go home, because last time we saw him, he was desperate, desperate to go home.
JOHNS: So, you're not going to tell us now?
COHEN: No, I'm not going to tell you now. You have to watch "PAULA ZAHN," 8:00 Monday night.
JOHNS: All right, great. Thanks so much, Elizabeth Cohen.
We're back with what our panel is expecting ON THE STORY next week right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JOHNS: Keep yourself ON THE STORY at cnn.com. Our Web site tells you about the panel, the topics, and how to get tickets to join our audience.
Let's take a quick look ahead ON THE STORY. The big question now is, what do we do here in Washington, D.C.? It's August. The Congress of the United States is out of session. The Supreme Court is out of session. The president is in Crawford, you know? I mean, what's a news reporter to do? And I figured, I know what -- the president in Crawford is going to sign the energy bill. That certainly will be an issue. That we have the continuing issue, of course, of Judge Roberts, his confirmation, and which attack ad is coming out against him next. But how about you, Jeanne?
MESERVE: Well, we never know what's going to come up in homeland security. We're always ready to rock'n'roll. But we'll also be taking a look at the high-tech and low-tech in the department, looking some more at surveillance and how that's being done, some cutting-edge products that are being introduced. And also, low-tech. We're going to go visit some dogs.
JOHNS: And Candy Crowley.
CROWLEY: Well, when everybody leaves town, you know, you leave with them. So we've -- have done, and next week we'll air a story on the 40th anniversary of the riots in Watts. And we looked at a couple of people that were there at that time, and looked at the evolution of their life and how it affected it. And also, doing a story for later in the week, called "Can It Happen Here?" Which is off the London bombings, where British citizens, these young men who did the first -- or are alleged to have done the first bombing at any rate, were British citizens. So we're looking at second-generation Muslims, and went and talked to them, young people.
JOHNS: Candy, Jeanne, thanks so much. Thanks to my colleagues and the audience here at George Washington University. You've been great. Thanks for watching ON THE STORY. We'll be back each week, Saturday night and Sunday morning. Straight ahead, a check on what's making news right now.
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