Fight For Pennsylvania Continues; Economy & the Election; Getting the Youth Vote
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta. We're going to check on some stories making headlines right now. And that is dangerous weather. It is threatening the Midwest today. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is in the severe weather center. She's tracking it all for us -- Bonnie.</s>BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right, Don. We are watching for a line of thunderstorms and tornado warnings that are passing through areas, including Oklahoma, all the way through Kansas, into Missouri. Take a look at some of the latest warnings for you now and you'll see exactly where they're located as we zoom into the region. We are looking at tornado warning stretching all the way across Kansas, well into some parts of Missouri. There's a tornado warning right now for Dallas, Green, Polk and Webster County. And as we zoom into the region, you can see a particular cell we've been tracking because this tornado has been confirmed as a tornado and it's been on the ground for over an hour. So the tornado warning continues at least for the next 20 minutes or so. We've been seeing frequent lightning strikes with these systems. In fact, we have the track of the storms, as you can see, where they're headed. Now we're heading further to the west and we have tornado warnings north of Pittsburgh, Kansas. This one expires 12 p.m. Central Daylight Time, including the city of Crawford. So we're watching for that. The bigger picture, of course, Don, shows the threat for severe weather will continue straight through the afternoon. A watch box is up until 5:00 today. Back to you.</s>LEMON: Bonnie, that map looks very active. Thank you very much for that. A U.S. airline discovers a problem in the landing gear of some of its planes. A short time ago, United Airlines said it has found faulty wiring in three planes. All were Airbus A320s. Airline and government officials believe the faulty wiring caused a pair of runway accidents. There were a couple of minor injuries in those incidents. More news at the top of the hour or breaking news when it happens. I'm Don Lemon. Now back to ISSUE #1 with Ali Velshi.</s>VELSHI: Well, if there's an election about to be held nearby, chances are you'll see fine the CNN Election Express. It's that big motor coach. Right now it's parked in Center City, Philadelphia, as we count down to the Pennsylvania primary. Now if you go by the bus, you'll see a slimmer, better looking version of me, sort of thing. It's CNN Election Express producer Josh Rubin. He gives us an inside view of the state, its people and its significance this election year.</s>JOSHUA RUBIN, PRODUCER, CNN'S ELECTION EXPRESS: Welcome to Philadelphia, city of brotherly love. I'm Josh Rubin, producer for CNN's Election Express and Ali Velshi's bald brother. We're wheels down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the run-up to the presidential primary on April 22. Over the course of the next four weeks, we're going to be bringing you an insider's view of Philadelphia. CNN sent the Election Express here to serve as our Pennsylvania bureau, to allow us to cover the keystone state primary with unparalleled depth. Philly is the fifth largest city in America. It's a big town with a lot of history and a lot to offer. But it has a lot of problems.</s>MAYOR MICHAEL NUTTER, PHILADELPHIA: This is a city, Philadelphia, and many other major cities face the same problem, but we have a 45 percent high school dropout rate. Issues of poverty. Philadelphia has a fairly high poverty rate as a major city in the country. And so what I've been trying to say to the candidates is, you need to address these day-to-day issues and challenges that people face on a regular basis. I know that health care is critically important. There are many people in Philadelphia who don't have health care. I know the war is on people's minds in a variety of ways. There are other issues and challenges that these presidential candidates will face if they are elected president of the United States of America.</s>RUBIN: In Philadelphia, one-fourth of the citizens live below the poverty line. So for the people that live here, the economy is issue number one. This is where America was founded. It was here that our democracy was born. And on April 22, it's possible that the future of our democracy will be decided and CNN's Election Express will be here.</s>WILLIS: CNN senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, part of the best political team in television, has spent a good deal of time in Philadelphia leading up to the primary. Bill, what have you heard from voter there?</s>WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The economy, the economy, the economy. Two-thirds of voters in Pennsylvania, the state as a whole, believe the economy's in recession. It's the big issue in Pennsylvania. But there is a difference between the western and eastern parts of the state. The western part of the state is the old coal and steel area, as well as the northeastern part of Pennsylvania. Those parts of state have never really recovered from the end of the coal and steel age. They were the center of industrial America back in the late 19th century, but they've gradually declined and that decline has not been really reversed. The eastern part of the state, including Philadelphia, and particularly the Philadelphia suburbs, that's doing a little better economically. They've move into the technological era. And as one of my informants in Pennsylvania put it, the western part of Pennsylvania is like Ohio and the eastern part of Pennsylvania is like New Jersey. Politically, that's not good news for Barack Obama because Hillary carried both Ohio and New Jersey.</s>WILLIS: So, Bill, how big of a deal is Pennsylvania in this election?</s>SCHNEIDER: Very big deal. High stakes for Hillary Clinton. She's been ahead in all the polls by double digits. She's expected to win Pennsylvania. You know, her main competitor in this isn't Barack Obama, it's expected she has to do better than expected in order to win a significant victory and to gain new momentum, which means something close to 20 percent margin over Obama. If she were to unexpectedly lose Pennsylvania, by most people that I've spoken to believe, her campaign would be over.</s>WILLIS: Bill Schneider, thank you for that.</s>VELSHI: All right, all evidence points to more and more young people showing up at the polls than ever before and that would likely bode well for all of the candidates if they were to pay attention to young voters and their feelings on issue number one, which is the economy. Heather Smith is with Rock the Vote. Thank you for being with us, Heather. This must be great, particularly for Rock the Vote, in that it's an easier sell than it has been in previous elections. Young people seem to be flocking to this election. Why?</s>HEATHER SMITH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ROCK THE VOTE: They are, absolutely. I mean, the 2004 election saw the first major increase in young voters at the polls and they won the right to vote. It continued in '06. And now in '2008, it really 's a huge movement of young people, doubling, tripling, quadrupling their turnout from the last four years even.</s>VELSHI: Now the economy does tend to be one of the top concerns for young voters as well. In fact, we've shown -- you guys have shown that the economy is one of the big issues. The Iraq War is a smaller issue, but significant. Health care and college affordability. They're all in the same range. They're all double digits. Tell me a little bit about this. What are people -- what are young voters looking for in the candidates in terms of these issues?</s>SMITH: Well, the -- we do regular polling at Rock the Vote and have for years and we've found that the economy is the top issue for young people. It rose to the top in 2006 and it maintains its status as a top issue for young people today. And when we dig and say, what does jobs and the economy mean to you? What is this that's really motivating you, that you want to see the next president address? And it really is, it's all pocketbook issues. It's wages. It's finding a job that pays wages enough for them to support their families. It's health care, but it's really about affording health care. It's everyday expenses, like student loan and debt, tuition, child care. And it really is, it's driving people right now to participate in the political process because they are really worried about the economy.</s>VELSHI: Who benefits from that increased participation? Is there any -- are they going toward all the candidates? Are they going toward particular candidates?</s>SMITH: Yes, so they have favorable ratings of all three of the major candidates right now in the race. And what we found is that if a candidate goes out and addresses the issues, like the economy, if they talk to young people, if they show up on their college campuses, they knock on their doors, they keep them on their call list, and then young people will respond. So I really believe it's up to any and all the candidates to reach out to them, and they can, in fact, benefit from the youth vote.</s>VELSHI: How would you rate the candidates right now? Are they doing that? Are they getting the fact that these young people are interested in their campaigns and are they reaching out as effectively as you think they should?</s>SMITH: Well, there's always room for improvement. But, in fact, for the first time ever, we are seeing the campaigns really dedicate resources to targeting young people as voters and it's having an impact. That's why, you know, another reason you're seeing this huge increase at the polls. I mean, Obama has a wonderful youth outreach campaign. We've heard a lot about that in the news and the media. The Clinton campaign has the same thing. They're going out to college campuses and to communities. And, in fact, both Barack Obama and Senator McCain won the Rock the Vote Youth Outreach Award in 2005. So they're all candidates with a proven record of reaching out to young people. And in order to win in November, we know they're all going to need to do that again.</s>VELSHI: Well, that's only good news. Heather Smith, thank you very much.</s>SMITH: Thank you.</s>VELSHI: Heather Smith's the executive director of Rock the Vote.</s>WILLIS: All right, you've got time, grab a pen and some paper because coming up next, very important information to help you start and maintain a family budget and keep your family free of financial stress. Then we're turning the show over to you. Answers to your e- mails. The address, issue1@cnn.com.