President Bush Endorses John McCain; House Explodes in Pennsylvania
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: John McCain and Clinton. As Hillary Clinton makes a comeback, it is a wrap for the Republican presidential race, but the Democrats show no signs of slowing down.</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The big question, John McCain will face whom in November?</s>WHITFIELD: Good afternoon from the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.</s>LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. Lots of political news to cover, but, first, we want to get you to this, what appears to be a home explosion. It's coming from Plum, Pennsylvania. Here is what we are told. A house -- if you are in that area, it's in the Hollywood Park neighborhood of Plum, Pennsylvania -- destroyed -- destroyed -- again in what is believed to be a large explosion there, at least one neighboring home, at least one neighboring home also sustained damage. The latest information we got is that the explosion was reported on 1:30 on Mardi Gras Drive in Plum, Pennsylvania. Two civilians, we're told, transported from the scene. Not sure of their injuries. One home exploded, but several neighboring homes were also damaged as a result. The Red Cross and local utilities have also been dispatched to the scene here. As soon as we get more information, we're going to continue to follow this and we're going to bring it to you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM, but again, home explosion, Plum, Pennsylvania, and you are looking at the debris and firefighters trying to put out hot spots.</s>WHITFIELD: Hillary Clinton is trumpeting last night's primary victories in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island. Her biggest win, Texas, where she beat Barack Obama 51 percent to 48. We are still showing election results on the bottom of the screen, since the Texas caucuses are still in play. In Ohio, meantime, Clinton's margin was bigger. She got 54 percent of the vote to Obama's 44 percent. In her victory speech, Clinton pointed out that no candidate in recent history, Democrat or Republican, has won the White House without winning the Ohio primary. Nevertheless, Obama who won the Vermont primary, says hat the delegate count is what matters.</s>SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We went into the Texas and Ohio down 20 points. You know, we had won 11 straight. Senator Clinton decided that they can only contest in these two states where she had an advantage, and she did well. But as I said before, we emerged with the same delegate gap between her and me that we had essentially before we got in. And so, you know, we have constantly focused on the next states in front of us. We have got Wyoming and Mississippi this week. We think we will do well. And then we go on to Pennsylvania and the other states that follow.</s>WHITFIELD: Meantime, Clinton is looking ahead to a general election match up with John McCain.</s>SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think what is important here is that this campaign has turned a corner. It is now about who is strongest against the Republican nominee, John McCain. You know, people who voted a month ago didn't know who the Republican nominee was going to be. They didn't perhaps factor in that it will be about national security, because indeed, with Senator McCain, that is what it will be about.</s>LEMON: Eight years ago, they were bitter primary rivals. Now it seems they have put their differences behind them. John McCain and President Bush appeared this afternoon in the White House Rose Garden, where the presumptive GOP nominee got a presidential endorsement. Let's go straight to the White House and CNN's Kathleen Koch. Hi, Kathleen.</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, as you pointed out, what a difference eight years makes. Today, we saw lots of smiles, handshakes, a real feeling of warmth all of the way around, again, quite a change from 2000 when these two men were both competing to be the Republican presidential nominee. Now, today, the president literally rolled out the red carpet. He greeted McCain and his wife at the North Portico, an entrance that is normally reserved just for heads of state on formal visits. And then, in remarks in the Rose Garden, the president praised Senator McCain for his incredible courage -- quote -- "strength of character, and perseverance." And he gave him his endorsement.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a man who cares a lot about the less fortunate among us. He's a president -- and he's going to be the president -- who will bring determination to defeat an enemy and a heart big enough to love those who hurt. And, so, I welcome you here. I wish you all the best.</s>SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I appreciate his endorsement. I appreciate his service to our country. I intend to have as much possible campaigning events and -- together, in keeping with the president's heavy schedule.</s>KOCH: Now, the men both rebuffed questions about who Senator McCain's possible vice presidential nominee might be, though the president quipped, be careful who you put in charge of your selection committee. As you will recall, Dick Cheney was in charge of President Bush's. The rest of the questions really focused on whether or not this endorsement and the presidential campaigning for John McCain would hurt or help him. With the president's approval rating hovering at a mere 32 percent, still, the president said he wants McCain to win, that the election is about him, that the voters should be looking at John McCain and judging him. The president said -- quote -- "I have done my bit." But he added that whatever the senator wanted him to do or not do when it comes to campaigning, that he would certainly abide by his wishes -- Don.</s>LEMON: Hey, Kathleen, at least at this moment, maybe symbolically, it seems that the president's time is nearing. Obviously, we knew that, 10 months left in office, but this is a symbolic moment where he knows one more step to the end. He seemed a little bit more jovial than normal today. And I saw you at that press conference. Did you get that assessment as well?</s>KOCH: You did sense a bit of levity there. I don't know if it was genuine. I know certainly obviously both men knew how carefully they were being watched and wanted to certainly have the appearance of getting along, of -- that any of the hard feelings from 2000 were gone. But the president, you know, when it comes to the next 10 months, he says he is going to sprint to the finish. He is not done yet. He has a lot he wants to accomplish, but there could be a certain sense of relief as he sees the end nearing.</s>LEMON: Kathleen Koch -- thank you very much for that, Kathleen.</s>KOCH: You bet.</s>WHITFIELD: John McCain's lock is Mike Huckabee's loss. The former Arkansas governor bowed out of the GOP race last night, urging his supporters to vote for his former Republican rival in November. Our Mary Snow joins us now from Little Rock -- Mary.</s>MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fredricka. Mike Huckabee is now looking to work with the McCain team on how he can help get John McCain elected. This comes after Mike Huckabee told his supporters that he fought the good fight and he lasted in this campaign longer than anyone expected and also outlasted rivals with a lot more money.</s>MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would rather lose an election than lose the principles that got me into politics in the first place.</s>SNOW (voice-over): With that, Mike Huckabee exited the Republican presidential race and headed home to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he started his campaign staffed with just his family 14 months ago. Virtually unknown outside Arkansas as a former governor, he became known as the dark horse who shook up the presidential race with a surprise victory in Iowa on a low budget.</s>HUCKABEE: Basically, a dime to a dollar of what everybody else has had. And to have gone this far and outlasted so many others I think is a pretty remarkable story. Wish it had ended differently, but, you know, it is what it is.</s>SNOW: Huckabee shared his closing thoughts on his campaign with a press that traveled with him. His spirits remained high despite the defeat, even engaged in an impromptu game of bowling in the</s>HUCKABEE: I'm a young guy, relatively speaking, so who knows what the future holds. I am not going to rule anything out. The only thing I have ruled out for certain is I won't be running in a Senate race this year. I have made that about as clear as I know how to make it. If somebody needs a bass guitar player for their traveling rock band, I am available.</s>SNOW: So, does Mike Huckabee want to be John McCain's vice presidential running mate? Mike Huckabee says he doesn't think he's going to be asked, but his campaign director also pointed out that, when people are asked for that position, it is a question that they don't turn down very often. And, Fredricka, of course, there is always the possibility he may run again in 2012.</s>WHITFIELD: That is right. Anything is possible. All right, Mary Snow, thanks so much from Little Rock.</s>SNOW: Sure.</s>WHITFIELD: So, what perhaps is next in this race? Wyoming holds its Democratic caucuses this Saturday. Three days later, Mississippi holds primaries. Republican caucuses take place in the virgin Islands one month from today. And then another big state, Pennsylvania, holds its primaries April 22. All the latest campaign news is available right at your fingertips. Just go to CNNPolitics.com, plus analysis from the best political team on television, that and more, CNNPolitics.com.</s>LEMON: All right. Want to get you back live to that explosive situation we have been telling you about happening in Plum, Pennsylvania. Apparently, a house exploded there, injuring several people. According to the Associated Press, those who were injured, an elderly man and a 10-year-old boy. And this is what CNN is getting from local hospitals there. A Mercy Hospital spokesperson is telling us they have received two patients from the house explosion in Plum. One person is being airlifted to the facility. And they are not sure of the status of the second patient in this case. Just to give you a little bit of background, this neighborhood called the Park Hollywood -- Holiday Park, I should say, neighborhood in Plum, a home there destroyed because of a huge explosion. This home, if you are in the area, is on Mardi Gras Drive near Havana Drive, blown to pieces in a blast that happened around 1:30 this afternoon. At least one neighboring home sustained damage. We are also hearing possibly several others sustained damage. And you can see firefighters are at the scene now. They're sorting through that debris on the ground trying to extinguish the remaining flames. Now, here is what we are getting also according to one of our affiliates there. Affiliate WPXI is reporting that a medevac helicopter was called, this as medevac helicopters were called in the scene. A 4-year-old girl is being flown to one of the hospitals there, possibly Mercy Hospital, in critical condition with a fractured leg and facial burns. And now that report from WPXI, our affiliate, and then, according to the Associated Press, a 10-year-old boy and an elderly man, they are going to receive patients at the hospital, those two patients at a hospital, and not sure of their conditions. This is a terrible story.</s>WHITFIELD: Oh, it really is, so sad.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. We are going to continue to follow that. Meantime, some pretty devastating storms like that right there. Two tornadoes touched down in west central Alabama yesterday. We continue to watch the developments in this situation. One home was destroyed; 29 more were damaged in Greene County. And then in neighboring Tuscaloosa County, seven families are picking up the pieces. These fierce winds blew down a lot of trees in South Carolina as well, mostly upstate; 15 homes there were damaged, but no one was seriously hurt. That is good news. But more trees are down across North Carolina. Heavy rains have prompted flood warnings across the southwestern part of that state. Pretty grisly situation there. Farther north, snow and icy rain all causing lots of headaches.</s>WHITFIELD: Meantime, don, you have an update on...</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>WHITFIELD: ... another very serious situation.</s>LEMON: Yes, Fred and Chad, it's -- we were talking about that home that exploded. And just looking at the picture, it just looks devastating.</s>WHITFIELD: Yes.</s>LEMON: We want to get an update now, see how many people are injured and what is exactly going on, on the ground. Maria Leaf, 1020 AM News Radio in the area, what do you know?</s>MARIA LEAF, 1020 NEWS RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Right now, we know that there are at least two people injured at this point, a man. And I know that a young girl was carried from the house. When you look around the scene, I'm sure you can see the pictures there, there's just charred insulation everywhere. You can see -- I can see thick smoke coming up from the sky, flames from the house. We know of at least about a dozen homes that were damaged because of this, whether they had windows blown out or shingle damage at this point. The authorities are obviously keeping everybody quite a ways away as they try to figure out just what happened here. I actually have a neighbor with me right now. He lives just a few doors down. His name is David. He is going to talk to you right now.</s>LEMON: Hi. Dave, are you there?</s>DAVE HEISER, NEIGHBOR: Yes, I am.</s>LEMON: Hey, Dave, so, you live in the neighborhood, right? Do you live close to this house that exploded?</s>HEISER: Yes, I live three doors down from it.</s>LEMON: Tell us what happened.</s>HEISER: Well, I was getting ready to go out. And there was this loud explosion, and I thought my house blew up. But I ran around the house and looked, and there was, you know, some -- everything was blown off the walls and the chandeliers were blown off and my windows were blown out, but, otherwise, it was intact. So I ran outside to see what had happened and there was debris falling out of the sky, insulation, tar paper and things like that. And I saw up the street there was some smoke, so I ran up there to see if I could do anything. And one of the neighbor ladies was holding a little girl walking around out in the yard calling for calling for Lick (ph), I think she was calling for. There was the old man's name, her grandfather. But she -- apparently, the little girl had been sitting in their house on the coach, and she got blown out, landed in the yard. But the house is just leveled to the ground. There was nothing left when I got there.</s>LEMON: Goodness. Dave, so, obviously, you know these neighbors, not that you have to name them, but do you know if they are all OK? But some of -- we hear -- maybe the elderly gentleman that you're talking about has been taken to the hospital?</s>HEISER: No, I don't think they found him. At least before they chased me out, they hadn't found him. So, I don't think that he made it.</s>LEMON: So, this house obviously completely destroyed. We heard just from Maria, the young lady who handed the phone to you, that at least a dozen homes in the area are damaged from this?</s>HEISER: Yes, if nothing more than having all their windows blown out from the concussion, yes. There are at least a dozen of us.</s>LEMON: Yes. Are you talking -- obviously, the emergency workers on the scene, they were telling you guys back, right, telling you guys to move back out of the area, correct?</s>HEISER: Oh, yes. They won't let me in my house. And that is as far as they went on this side. So, that's three houses down from where the house blew up. They have got it all cordoned off.</s>LEMON: Real quickly, I have got to ask you, because in neighborhoods like this -- is it a fairly new development?</s>HEISER: No. It's very old.</s>LEMON: OK.</s>HEISER: It's from probably the '60s.</s>LEMON: I was just wondering if there was gas or if some areas have propane, so at least give us an idea of what might have happened. We're not sure.</s>HEISER: No, it is regular gas.</s>LEMON: Dave, Dave Heiser, right?</s>HEISER: Yes, it is.</s>LEMON: Dave, we appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much. Can you put Maria back on the line for us?</s>HEISER: I will. Thank you.</s>LEMON: Thank you.</s>LEAF: If you guys are still there, I actually have an update.</s>LEMON: Yes, go ahead. That is why we got you back, Maria. Go ahead.</s>LEAF: Yes, I just spoke with a firefighter who tells me that at least 15 moments were damaged. Four people have been taken to the hospital in very critical condition. Two of them are believed to be young children and two of them believed to be adults at this point. They are not saying a cause as of right now. We are waiting for official word at this point, but they are still trying to put out the flames.</s>LEMON: OK. Hey, Maria, real quickly, go slow for us again.</s>LEAF: Hang on one second. There is -- now I am hearing there's one or two fatalities.</s>LEMON: And you are hearing this from who?</s>LEAF: This is from a firefighter who is kind of not an official press person, but is just kind of giving me the information to give to you guys.</s>LEMON: OK. We have not confirmed that, but, Maria, if you can, go through your list of -- you said at least 15 homes. How many people injured?</s>LEAF: Right. We had heard at least 15 homes are damaged in some form. Four people were taken to the hospital. It now appears that possibly two of them are fatalities. We know the people who were taken to the hospital overall are in very critical condition and it is believed that children were among the people taken to the hospital. We do not know if they are the ones that may have not survived this explosion.</s>LEMON: OK. Maria Leaf from 1020 AM News Radio there in the Pennsylvania area, thank you very much for that, and also to Dave Heiser as well for joining us. It is just an unbelievable situation unfolding right here in the CNN NEWSROOM, Fredricka, getting an update from the radio reporter there from someone who is on the scene, who she says is an official about 15 homes, four people taken to the hospital and possibly two fatalities. We are going to try to confirm the information that Maria gave us, but, again, this is according to our affiliate there, our radio affiliate, 1020 AM News. We are back in just a moment with an update on this situation.