Fight for SC: Democrats Make Final Push; GOP Showdown Candidates Debate
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thank you for being with us on this Friday 25th of January. This is a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. I'm John Roberts in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, where we are coming to you today from Alex's restaurant where you can get almost anything you want. Hey, Kiran.</s>KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, John. Good morning. You look great. I can't hear you yet because of some technical difficulties, so I'll just hand it back over to you for a couple of minutes.</s>ROBERTS: All right. A lot of people would say I got nothing interesting to see anyway. Hey, it's the last full day of campaigning for Democrats here in South Carolina before voters go to the polls in tomorrow's primary. Hillary Clinton is back in South Carolina after a couple of days stumping in the Super Tuesday states. Her super surrogate, Bill Clinton, has been campaigning in South Carolina on her behalf. Barack Obama also brought out his wife, Michelle, to help make his case. John Edwards needs a strong showing in the state where he was born to keep his campaign viable heading in to Super Tuesday -- Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Meantime, Hillary Clinton and John McCain are waking up to a new endorsement, this one from "The New York Times." This morning's paper says that Clinton would be a strong commander-in- chief. Quote, "Her new openness to explaining herself and not just her programs and her abiding powerful intellect show that she is fully capable of doing just that (leading the nation)." Now, about John McCain, the "New York Times" writing, he's "the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing. He would offer a choice to a broader range of Americans than the rest of the Republican field." Now, "The Times" also blasted New York's mayor, Rudy Giuliani, saying the real Mr. Giuliani whom many New Yorkers came to know and mistrust, is a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man who saw no need to limit police officer. Mr. Giuliani's arrogance and bad judgment are breathtaking." During last night's Republican debate, Giuliani seemed to wear the "Times" rejection as a badge of honor.</s>RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I probably never did anything "The New York Times" suggested I do in eight years of mayor of New York City, and if I did, I wouldn't be considered a conservative Republican.</s>CHETRY: "The Times" had endorsed Giuliani for reelection for mayor back in 1997 and praised him for his 9/11 role, but the editor said, quote, "that man is not running for president." Very interesting campaign season with some of these anti- endorsements as well, John.</s>ROBERTS: Yes. Absolutely, Kiran. Hey, there were five Republicans facing off in Boca Raton last night. Their final debate before the Florida primary takes place on Tuesday. The economy, a hot topic. But unlike the Democratic debate on Monday night, the candidates were surprisingly cool last evening. Here's CNN's John King.</s>JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite the high stakes or perhaps because of them, remarkably polite.</s>RUDY GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator McCain is right.</s>KING: At times, more economic seminar than debate. The leading Republican candidates called the new bipartisan stimulus deal a good thing, but said it doesn't go far enough.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just went -- I wish it went further.</s>GIULIANI: I will support it, but it doesn't go far enough.</s>KING: Four days until Florida votes, John McCain and Mitt Romney lead the pack, and the former Massachusetts governor did question his rival's history.</s>ROMNEY: I also support the Bush's tax cuts. Senator McCain voted against it.</s>KING: The Arizona Senator said he voted no for good reason.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact is that if had had the spending restrains that I've proposed, we would be talking about more tax cuts today.</s>KING: The struggling economy dominates now, but Mike Huckabee recalled how his rivals dismissed his alarms at a debate six months ago.</s>MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know people acted like I was the only guy at the U.N. without a headset that night. But the truth is I was the only guy on that stage who said, it may be doing great if you're at the top.</s>KING: No one brought up Barack Obama, but McCain said he would relish debating Iraq with Hillary Clinton.</s>MCCAIN: I'm so proud of the job that the men and women in the military are doing there, and they don't want us to raise the white flag of surrender like Senator Clinton does.</s>KING: Romney was asked what it would be like to run against both Hillary and Bill Clinton.</s>ROMNEY: I frankly can't wait because the idea of Bill Clinton back in the White House with nothing to do is something I just can't imagine.</s>KING: Giuliani is running third despite targeting Florida almost exclusively. He credited his rivals with running strong campaigns and tried a little humor.</s>GIULIANI: I believe that I'm going to have the same fate that the New York Giants had last week, and we're going to come from behind and surprise everybody. We have them all lulled in to a very false sense of security now.</s>KING: John King, CNN, Boca Raton, Florida.</s>ROBERTS: And stay tuned because this morning, we're going to be talking to Mike Huckabee. That's coming up at 6:30 Eastern right here on AMERICAN MORNING. And the Democratic field, now down to three. Dennis Kucinich is dropping out of the presidential race to focus on getting reelected to congress. He'll make an official announcement this afternoon in Cleveland. Kucinich faces four challengers vying to take over his House seat. And now, let's head back up to New York, and here's Kiran.</s>CHETRY: Thank, John. Well, President Bush heads to West Virginia today. He's going to be talking up the new economic stimulus plan that was unveiled yesterday. The House and the president have agreed to send rebate checks to about 116 million families. Now, individuals will get $600 checks if they earned less than $75,000 a year. Couples get checks for $1,200 if the household earns less than $150,000 a year. Those with children get an additional $300 per child if you qualify within those income ranges. And also, people who don't earn enough money to pay taxes will still get $300 rebate checks if they bring home at least $3,000. One of those checks going to be in the mail? That's the big question. Apparently, they're going to start going out by mid April. And now we go to our own Ali Velshi. He's traveling across the country on CNN's Election Express. Ali, I wanted to find out your take on this economic stimulus package.</s>ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kiran, we're driving across the country, so we've been actually asking people. We're in Abilene, Texas, right now. But we've been asking people what they think about it. Here are the questions that people ask. First of all, when are the checks coming? If they start rolling out in mid April, that's also the time that refund checks start coming out for taxes. So, as a result of that, it could take 10 weeks. It might be the end of June by the time some people get their checks. The second question is, what are people going to do with the checks? Assuming that they use them to spend money and stimulate the economy, it could be useful. But what if they don't? So many Americans are in debt that if they use that money to pay debt down, that's not going to help the economy. We talked to one man -- we actually talked to a number of people, but we've got this for you from one man who said he doesn't think it's going to be all that helpful.</s>RICK TAUTE: Personally, I think that money is going to be spent in two months or three months and we're going to be right back in the same position. I'm no economist by any means but in my opinion, I think it will be a quick injection of cash into the marketplace and after that, I think unless something else is done that we're in essence going to write that check and it's going to be spent and we're going to be right back in the same position.</s>VELSHI: And that's the question. What is the other thing that can be done? We're also expecting the Fed possibly to cut rates again next week. That might help people out. But we need something that is going to stimulate this economy. That's the concern of people we've been talking to across the south as we head from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean this week. People are concerned about whether these few hundred dollars in your pocket is actually going to be used for things to stimulate the economy. We'll continue our tour. We'll come back to you later on in the show, Kiran, with more about what Americans are saying, what they like the candidates to hear about the economy.</s>CHETRY: All right. Ali Velshi aboard the Election Express for us this morning. Thanks so much. And our Alina Cho joins us now with other stories that have developed overnight. Good morning, Alina.</s>ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran. Good morning to you. Good morning, everybody. We're going to begin with some breaking news. There has been a deadly blast in Beirut. Lebanese security forces say the explosion killed Lebanon's top anti-terror intelligence officer and his driver. There may be some civilian casualties as well. The explosion left chunks of twisted metal and burning cars, as you can see there in the video, was felt a half mile away. Replacing a wall with a human chain. Egyptian soldiers and riot gear are trying to stop tens of thousands of Palestinians that are border-crossing in Gaza. Other soldiers rolled barbed wire along the border and kept the crowd back with water cannons. The chaos comes just two days after Palestinians busted through a concrete and metal barrier and flooded Egypt for supplies. A 16-year-old is in police custody this morning, facing felony terrorism charges. Police say he planned to hijack a Southwest Airlines jet. Just 16 years old. He was taken off the flight in Nashville after being caught with a bag of handcuffs, rope and duct tape. That's according to authorities. Two CNN affiliates in Nashville have reported he planned to crash the flight into a Hannah Montana concert in Lafayette, Louisiana, but the Feds are denying that. A private viewing today for the family of Heath Ledger. It will take place at a funeral home in Manhattan. Details about the actually funeral not being released just yet, but there are new details about the timeline of events after a masseuse found Ledger's body. That's the woman there, the masseuse. Police say she called actress Mary Kate Olsen four times, not two, before calling 911. But police say the calls will not have a major bearing on the investigation because they think Ledger was dead before the masseuse arrived. For the first time, a federal judge is ordering the Bush administration to explain why they destroyed CIA interrogation tapes. The judge says the tapes could have been relevant to a case of a detainee in Guantanamo Bay. The judge gave the White House three weeks to respond. The tapes showed the interrogation of two high- level Al-Qaeda leaders and included the controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding, which simulates drowning. And a man caught stealing money that was meant to help the poor and the homeless finds himself sentenced to a night of living on the street. 28-year-old Nathan Smith admitted he stole a Salvation Army donation kettle in Painesville, Ohio. That's near Cleveland. Can you believe this? The judge offered him a choice. Ninety days in jail or three days in jail, and one night on the street.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE JUDGE: So listen, in this community and every other community, donate for that and you take that money. How sick is that? Get your coat. Get your hat, get your gloves, and I'll see you here tomorrow at 11:00. You find out and you figure out where you're going to spend the night. You figure out where you're going to eat, and you figure out where you're going to stay warm.</s>CHO: That judge certainly doesn't mince words. Smith, by the way, was fitted with GPS to make sure he didn't go home to spend the night. He later said he didn't think the punishment was too harsh. He was just hoping to find a warm place to sleep. But you saw there, Kiran, snow on the ground, 20 degrees. To add insult to injury, this happened on Christmas. Apparently, he was a bell ringer for the Salvation Army. At the end of his shift, took the kettle.</s>CHETRY: Unbelievable. All right. So, he doesn't think it's too harsh, though.</s>CHO: No.</s>CHETRY: People have to do it every day.</s>CHO: That's right. And three nights in jail, but he said, I did something wrong, punishment wasn't too harsh.</s>CHETRY: Creative judge, by the way. The judge was mad. Alina, thank you.</s>CHO: You bet.</s>CHETRY: John?</s>ROBERTS: Eleven minutes after the hour now. Kiran, of course, all the focus is on South Carolina -- tomorrow's primary. Then Florida coming up next Tuesday. And then we're on to California for a couple of debates. And the weather there has not exactly been California-like. Time now to check in with Rob Marciano who's tracking extreme weather along the west coast. What's it looking like today, Rob?</s>ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, same as yesterday. This thing just doesn't want to move. Hopefully it will be done by the time you head out there for those debates. But this is a slow-moving system and continues to batter much of the west coast to California. Here it is on the satellite picture. You see the blobs of clouds basically moving in to northern California. The center of the low is back here, and it's kind of drifting this way. So until it actually kicks out, we're going to be in this for a while. It looks like it will be through at least today, probably through tomorrow. And again, right in through San Francisco, right in through L.A., so the major metropolitan areas are seeing the most action this morning. Actually more rain right now than we saw yesterday. There was a report of a tornado that came on shore just north of Malibu Beach at Point Mugu. It did a little damage to the naval air station there and also some damage as far as heavy snow continues to fall across the Ventura and Los Angeles mountains. I-5, the Grapevine, still an issue. We're getting reports of over a foot of snow there at about 4,500 feet. Winter storm warnings remain posted for this area. IN fact, they've been extended back through this area. And high winds are going to be an issue today. We've really got some strong winds coming in through the mountains, not only snow, but winds in excess of 50 or 60 miles an hour, and another foot or two of snow possible in that area. Freezing rain advisories across parts of north Texas. I told you about that yesterday. It looks like most of the action will be north and west of Dallas. John, back up to you.</s>ROBERTS: Rob, thanks. If the weather were terrible in California, it would be pretty typical because literally, everywhere we have been going along this trip, the weather has been cold and awful.</s>MARCIANO: That's right.</s>ROBERTS: Thanks. Let's see if you can make it better somewhere else.</s>MARCIANO: All right.</s>ROBERTS: All right. Appreciate it, Rob. Thanks.</s>MARCIANO: You got it.</s>ROBERTS: Kiran?</s>CHETRY: Still ahead, the global economy depends on a strong financial situation in the U.S. World business leaders are getting their first look at the U.S. economic stimulus package now. Up next, we're going to find out what they're saying this morning at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Also, it's a house call without having to make a call. Veronica De La Cruz takes a look at how your cell phone could help you stay healthy ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.