Amendment One Passes; Bomber was Undercover Agent
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And a very good morning to you. Hello there. This is EARLY START. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.</s>ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. We're really happy you're with us this morning. We are bringing you the news A to Z. It is 5:00 in the East. So, let's get started for you here.</s>BANFIELD: Up first, the people of North Carolina overwhelmingly passing a constitutional amendment on same-sex marriage. The White House opposed Amendment One, but it was backed by 61 percent of North Carolina's voters in last night's primary. That means their constitution will now read, quote, "Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state." CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser is live in Washington, D.C., this morning. And, boy, has this been playing out. We first heard the Vice President Joe Biden. He says that he endorsed marriage equality and he is a Roman Catholic. How is this going to play out politically in Washington?</s>PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: You know, you're right. It puts President Obama, in a way, in a bind because Vice President Biden and other top members of the administration have come out in support of same-sex marriages. He has not. He's OK with civil unions. He has not fully embraced same sex marriage. No, the president does any measure like the one in North Carolina, which would discriminate or prevent other rights for same sex. So, it does put him in the bind in a way. What happens in North Carolina now? Well, this could have wide ranging impacts, and not just on same-sex couples but on male and female couples as well, because it will prevent domestic partnerships in the future and any attempt at civil unions. Remember, North Carolina also, Zoraida, a battle ground state, a state that President Obama won four years ago, he'd like to win again. It's where the Democratic Convention is going to be. Will this hurt him? Maybe. On the flip side, maybe it will wake up the supporters of same-sex couples and generate support come November. One other thing, where will same-sex marriage be on the ballot in November? Minnesota is going to have a very similar ballot to what we just saw in North Carolina. And Washington state as well will be vote to go ban gay marriage. Both those states considered pretty safe for the president come November -- Zoraida.</s>SAMBOLIN: You know, we were having conversations about this on Facebook and Twitter yesterday. A lot of people said, really, remember this is about domestic partnerships and civil unions, not just same-sex marriage. So, it's a good point. Thank you. And Indiana six-term Senator Richard Lugar defeated yesterday. You kind of feel bad for this guy, right? After dedicating 36 years to the Senate, is he going to go out silently?</s>STEINHAUSER: It doesn't seem that way. He had quite a statement last night that he put out. Lugar, of course, defeated by a candidate who was backed by the Tea Party movement, Richard Mourdock, who is state treasurer in Indiana. As you mentioned, six-term senator, longest serving Republican in the Senate. But times have changed for the Republican Party, and he was opposed because a lot of his controversial votes in favor of TARP, some of the votes in favor of President Obama's Supreme Court justices. Take a listen to what he said in his concession speech in Indiana last night.</s>SEN. DICK LUGAR (R), INDIANA: We are experiencing deep political divisions in our society right now. And these divisions have stalemated progress in critical areas. But these divisions are not insurmountable. I believe that people of goodwill, regardless of party, can work together for the benefit of our country.</s>STEINHAUSER: Besides that speech, he also put out quite a statement. And it reads here, "Bipartisanship is not the opposite of principle. One can be very conservative or very liberal and still have a bipartisan mindset. Such a mindset acknowledges that the other party is also patriotic and may have some good ideas. It acknowledges that national unity is important and that aggressive partisanship deepens cynicism, sharpens political vendettas, and depletes the national reserve of goodwill that is critical to our survival in hard times." Some tough comments there from Lugar. You know, four moderate senators, those who are known to reach across the aisle, are retiring as well. So, it could be a different and even more partisan Senate next year, Zoraida.</s>SAMBOLIN: All right. Paul Steinhauser, nice to have you at 5:00 in the morning. Appreciate it. We'll see you at 6:00.</s>STEINHAUSER: Thank you.</s>BANFIELD: And it is four minutes past the top of the hour. We've got some new information this morning for you on this story. The FBI investigating two different air scares to find out if they're links. Here's what's strange: both -- they were bomb threats. Both against two Southwest airlines flights from John Wayne Airport in California to Sky Harbor in Phoenix last night. The FBI says that one of the flights was searched in California before takeoff. Officials cleared everybody off the plane and brought in the bomb squad and the bomb sniffing dogs. And another flight was searched in Phoenix after it landed. Both planes were eventually given the all clear.</s>SAMBOLIN: Drones, an undercover agent, and undetectable underwear bomb, the Saudis in a search that is far from over. The thrilling story of a busted terror plot is still unfolding this morning. Our Fran Townsend, a former homeland security official has now confirmed that the would-be bomber in a thwarted plot to blow up a U.S. airliner was actually an undercover agent working with Saudi Arabia who infiltrated al Qaeda. The device they were going to use was similar to the one used by the so-called underwear bomber back in 2009, but it was much more sophisticated. Over the weekend, a U.S. drone strike in Yemen took out a key leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Fahd al-Quso, believed to be involved in this attack. But the terror group's expert bomb maker is still out there. Congressman Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee told Anderson Cooper that all these leaks could actually jeopardize that search.</s>REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: I've been briefed on this. As far as I know, this isn't in any way declassified by the CIA or the administration. It's really to me unfortunate this has gotten out because this could really interfere with operations overseas.</s>SAMBOLIN: That new al Qaeda bomb is now at the FBI lab in Quantico for analysis.</s>BANFIELD: The mother and ex-wife of kidnapping suspect Adam Mayes are in police custody this morning. Sixty-five-year-old Mary Francis Mayes and 30-year-old Teresa Mayes are now charged in connection with that abduction of Jo Ann Bain and her three daughters. The sad fact is the body of the Tennessee mother and her oldest daughter were found dead in Mississippi over the weekend. Authorities believe the two other young girls are still alive and with Adam Mayes today. His former sister-in-law spoke exclusively to CNN's Anderson Cooper about the suspect.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: If Adam is guilty of these crimes, do you have any idea why he'd do this?</s>BOBBI BOOTH, SISTER OF TERESA MAYES: No, I don't. I've known Adam for at least 25 years, and he's always been weird and unusual -- and when I say weird, like listens to different type of music. He's just a different type of person all together, the whole family is. But I never dreamed he would do something like this.</s>BANFIELD: Police and the FBI are asking for the public's help to track down Adam Mayes and those two girls, and they're offering a $50,000 reward for any information in this case.</s>SAMBOLIN: A wall of fire now threatening homes in Los Angeles County. Dozens of people in the Acton area forced to leave their homes. Fire officials are working through the night to try to get to all those hot spots. And so far, more than 120 acres have been burned. Crews have now contained about 40 percent of the blaze. So far, no injuries have been reported.</s>BANFIELD: So better check your Twitter this morning just to see if you are actually still in control of your account. Hackers claim they broke into 55,000 Twitter accounts and posted the passwords online earlier this week. Twitter confirmed the hack attack did happen and said it was taking action but also kind of suggested that it was a weak attempt, pointing out that half of the accounts that were stolen were spam, were already suspended, and only a tiny percentage of the sites of 140 million active users. Well, tell that to the person who got hacked who isn't a spam site. My advice to you folks, always, go change your password this morning just to be extra safe.</s>SAMBOLIN: That is good advice. And this just in. Gas prices are dropping. AAA just posted on their Web site the new national average for a gallon of gas is $3.75, down more than a cent over the past 24 hours. The price of oil is down about 9 percent in the past five days because of fears of an economic slowdown. So we should be seeing gas prices drop even lower over the next few weeks. Don't kill the messenger. I put this out yesterday, and people upset at me, saying, they're still high in my town.</s>BANFIELD: They're going after you for saying they're dropping.</s>SAMBOLIN: I put it out as good news. They're like, it's not good news for us.</s>BANFIELD: You know something? I'm trying to remember a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about almost $4 gas. Did we get to $3.90 something?</s>SAMBOLIN: We were almost at $5 for a gallon of gas.</s>BANFIELD: Christine Romans is turning over at her desk saying, I can't get through to that Banfield. We were right on the cusp of it.</s>SAMBOLIN: And look where we are now. Good news.</s>BANFIELD: And getting better hopefully.</s>SAMBOLIN: Yes.</s>BANFIELD: And then Memorial Day will come. Sorry. Buzz kill. Nine minutes past 5:00. Still ahead: snuggle with them, smuggle with them? Seriously? Wait until you see what screeners found stuffed inside an itty bitty teddy bear and a sweet little Mickey Mouse.</s>SAMBOLIN: And we get it. Your child's cute and gifted and you like to tell everyone online. Up next, a new study on why we brag in general, but specifically on Facebook. You're watching EARLY START.