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GOP Presidential Hopefuls; Wild, Wild Week for Traders Nears an End; Challenges Threatening Very Existence of U.S. Postal Service; Post Office Looking to Reduce Workforce; Drone Attacks in Attacks in Afghanistan/Pakistan Kill Indeterminate Number of Civilians; Unemployed Man gets Professional Help; Rick Perry To Enter GOP Presidential Race

Aired August 12, 2011 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we start this hour with a big name jumping into the presidential race. I'm talking about Texas Governor Rick Perry. He is set to make his announcement tomorrow during an appearance in South Carolina.

So who is he and why does he immediately become a major force in this campaign? Well, here's part of his resume.

Perry became Texas governor in 2000, when George W. Bush was elected president. After that, Perry won the election three times on his own. In 2010, he got 55 percent of the vote.

Perry has been a fixture in Texas for over a decade. During that time, Texas has made major strides economically. It's now the second largest economy in the U.S., just behind California. Texas totals more than a trillion dollars a year in total economic output and has added more than a million jobs since the year 2000.

But, to be fair, a lot of those jobs came courtesy of the federal government. You see, Texas got more than $16 billion in federal stimulus money.

Liberal author James Moore has covered Texas politics for decades. Here's how he describes Perry's early campaign strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES MOORE, CO-AUTHOR, "BUSH'S BRAIN": And in this particular election, one of the unspoken issues is religion. And Perry, of course, is front and center, wears his religion like a power tie. And what he's saying to everybody in the party, particularly in the primary process, the Tea Party individuals and the Evangelicals and the Christian fundamentalists, he's basically saying I'm not a Mormon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: CNN's Don Lemon is in Iowa. Just caught up with another possible candidate, Sarah Palin.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, we're going to talk about Tim Pawlenty in just a little bit. Our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, caught up with him.

But I caught up with Sarah Palin, the only person who's here today who wasn't on that stage last night. She hasn't declared.

And so when I caught up with her (AUDIO GAP) the Tea Party. So, in all fairness, I also asked her if she thought the president, whether or not the president's responsible.

Here's her response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FMR. ALASKA GOVERNOR: The president is responsible for the downgrade. And I would say yes, because from the top, the leadership starts from the top, the leadership of our country. And budgeting, granted, it is the Congress that holds the purse strings. But from the president not presenting a plan to -- well, he presented a plan that was dead on arrival to Congress, but from the president on down, those whom we have elected to Congress, too, have been quite disappointing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. Now on to the other woman who is in the race and who has declared, Michele Bachmann. I spoke with Sarah Palin about that. I asked her, "Are you a little bit jealous of all the attention she's gotten?" She said, "No. You shouldn't pit two women against each other."

And I also asked her about that whole Michele Bachmann thing saying that she is submissive to her husband and that's why she chose her profession. Here's Sarah Palin on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Do you agree with the submission part though?

PALIN: With her answer?

LEMON: Yes.

PALIN: That's her opinion. You know, her submission to her husband is respecting her husband. And, you know, I respect my husband, too.

LEMON: If Todd said don't run, would you not run?

PALIN: I can't imagine my husband ever telling me what to do, literally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. And you know what? I spent about 10 minutes talking to her in a horde of reporters. Again, she's the only one who is here, drawing the most attention, and hasn't declared. But a person who was on the stage last night was Tim Pawlenty, and our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser, caught up with him.

Was there as much media around him as around Sarah Palin?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Not as much.

Listen, Pawlenty is definitely in the spotlight, no doubt about that. And we saw that contentious debate last night between him and Bachmann. But no, not nearly as much media with him. He just spoke at soapbox, which is just behind the bus here, about 50 yards behind us.

That's where all the announced candidates are speaking, Drew. Palin, of course, not a candidate. But you know what? She says by September, or sometime in September, she hopes to have a decision on whether she runs for the nomination.

And where does she stand in the polls, guys?

LEMON: She hopes.

STEINHAUSER: Where does she stand right now? Out in the middle of the pack in the team. She has got a lot of supporters out there, especially Tea Party activists, other grassroots conservatives.

Hey, Drew, you know her just as well, if not better, than we do. You spent a lot of time with Sarah Palin up in Alaska.

GRIFFIN: Yes. You know what's nice to see? It's nice to see her stop, answer questions. We're not running after her.

But I want to ask you, Paul, does Iowa wipe any of these people out? Is anybody going to make or break it in Iowa? This is so early in the game.

LEMON: Hey, Drew, hold on. I think what you said is very important. Let me get in.

That's very important. And I actually said that to her during that interview.

A lot of people will stop and not speak to people, or try to avoid the question. I have to say, Sarah Palin, every single question I asked, and other people, she answered directly. Some people may not like her answers, but she did stop, and she was there for an hour -- she stood there answering questions.

Sorry. Go ahead.

STEINHAUSER: No, and you're right. And our Peter Hamby, our political reporter, after Don ran back here to the bus, Peter stayed with Palin, and he got some questions, and other reporters did as well.

So, I don't know, Drew, maybe it is a little different Sarah Palin. Maybe it's Don because he's so charming.

But to your point, yes, the straw poll tomorrow in Ames is in a way crucial. Why? Because it can break some campaigns. It may not make them that much, but it can break them.

Four years ago, Tommy Thompson, the former governor of Wisconsin, did very poorly in the straw poll. He dropped out a few days later. A lot of eyes are on what will happen this time around, guys.

LEMON: Yes. And Todd Palin said to me, "You know what? If I had 50 bucks, Don, for every question you asked Sarah, then I would be a rich man." But maybe the answer should have been a richer man.

GRIFFIN: I had to laugh when she said she respects -- I'm sure she respects her husband, Todd Palin. But I don't think anybody tells Sarah Palin what to do.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: And she said her husband doesn't either. And he smiled and said yes.

GRIFFIN: He's a smart guy. He keeps his mouth shut.

Hey, thank you, guys. Appreciate it.

Big news just in on the health care front. We want to tell you about this.

A federal appeals court here in Atlanta has ruled a key part of President Obama's health care reform package is unconstitutional. The court ruled that that so-called individual mandate which would require most Americans to buy health insurance, well, that exceeds congressional authority. The battle will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Less than two hours left in a week that Wall Street won't soon forget. Contrary to the pattern that started last Thursday, we may end up, up.

The Dow is up -- let's see -- 179 points. Looking good.

My colleague Alison Kosik is watching from her post at the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, for those traders, this could be just what they need. They'll have a weekend to sleep.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes. I'll tell you what, it's nice to get off that roller-coaster, get off that seesaw, and just watch the numbers go higher today.

Yes, the Dow holding its own, up 180 points. Yes, much calmer, but we did get some mixed signals on what consumers are feeling.

We found out that consumer sentiment plunged to a 30-year low. But at this point, Wall Street is focusing on the positive.

We also found out that retail sales rose a half of one percent in July. Also, the June report was revised higher. So this is all good news, and this is what Wall Street looks for.

These are kind of the cues showing that, while the economy may be slowing, we're also seeing some improvement here. Although consumers didn't go on big shopping sprees, though, Wall Street is happy to see that consumers are still out there spending their money.

But keep in mind, this could all change, because these numbers were actually from last month, before S&P downgraded the U.S. credit rating. So, as we can only expect, consumers may be really worried about the downgrade, about the stock volatility. But we'll get that reaction in next month's report.

At least until now, let's focus on the good stuff. We're seeing lots of green on the screen. Let's see if we can carry it out to the closing bell -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: And we will watch until the closing bell, because you never know after this week what's going to happen in the next minute, let alone the next hour.

KOSIK: You never know. Exactly. Yes.

GRIFFIN: Alison, thanks.

Now to the dire economic challenges threatening the very existence of the U.S. Postal Service. That is not from CNN's writers, that is from a Postal Service document. It aims to make the case for drastic cutbacks at the Post Office.

How drastic? Thirty percent of the USPS workforce, 120,000 layoffs, on top of 100,000 jobs that will likely be lost through retirements and people moving to other jobs over the next four years.

The Postal Service wants to quit federal health and retirement plans in favor of cheaper private plans, all of which means tearing up union contracts, which is going to require the approval of Congress.

I am joined by phone by Anthony Vegliante. He is executive vice president and chief human resources officer at the Postal Service.

And thanks for joining us.

Please explain to us why these cuts of jobs and this move away from government health care systems is necessary.

ANTHONY VEGLIANTE, EXEC. V.P. & CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER, USPS (via telephone): Yes. Well, let me just start by saying that it's not about abandoning health care to come up with a cheaper type of health care. What we're talking about is managing our legacy cost and managing our health care, and we believe that if we were able to run the program, which we don't do today, we would be able to use our leverage in the marketplace, be able to use private sector best practices, which we don't use today. And we believe that we can bring the cost and benefit, cost and value of our programs, which would benefit both the employer and the employee. So that's part of it.

I think the other thing is going forward, we need to, as I said, control legacy costs. We need to look at our retirement systems going forward and come more in line with the private sector. So we would look at moving from a defined benefit program to a defined contribution program.

GRIFFIN: Is this an either/or, either the U.S. Postal Service gets control of its benefits package and manages it how it wants to, or we lay off 120,000 people? Or do you need both for the U.S. Post Office to survive?

VEGLIANTE: What we're laying out -- or what the papers attempted to lay out are some of the things that we need to do to manage the Postal Service going forward in the future. This is about bringing expenses under the revenue line. This is about being able to continue providing service to the American public at an affordable price.

So what we're saying is we need to do some things just like a lot of private sector companies have done over the last 10 or 20 years. They need to get their organizational structures in place, they need to get control of the legacy costs, and you need to address those issues for the long-term viability of the organization.

GRIFFIN: So you're talking about both?

VEGLIANTE: I'm talking about both, yes.

GRIFFIN: Yes.

Let me ask you -- we had a member of the union on, Frederick Rolando (ph). And he tried to explain to us that the U.S. Postal Service is the only organization that has to pay up front its benefit costs. And if there was just a change in that, that the Post Office could be made whole.

Is that legitimate?

VEGLIANTE: What Fred was saying is we're the only organization that has to pre-fund our retiree health care at 100 percent. And no one does that. And its accepted practice would be 30 percent outside of the Postal Service. But that alone is not enough.

That would be kicking the can down the road. We need to look at the future. We need to make sure we're doing things today that in 10 or 15 years, there's a strong Postal Service.

That definitely is one of the things that we need to do, but it's not the only thing. People have to realize we're having -- in the Postal Service, in the communications industry, things are changing. We have a significant diversion to first class mail, which is not just a volume issue, but it's also a revenue and margin issue that we have to deal with going forward. And we don't see that slowing down.

So it's a change in the product offering, so to speak. And we need to adjust the organization to make sure that we're affordable, we keep our expenses below our revenue, and we're doing the right things going forward to be able to keep doing this as a service.

GRIFFIN: All right. Anthony Vegliante, we wish you luck, and the rest of the staff luck at the Post Office, facing a possible 120,000 layoffs across the nation.

Thank you, sir.

In Philadelphia, violent attacks by gangs of young people led to a strict new curfew for city teenagers. Next, we're going to talk live to the man vested with enforcing the curfew, the police commissioner there, Charles Ramsey. He'll be live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Tonight at 9:00 p.m. sharp, a weekend curfew is going to begin in downtown Philadelphia for kids under 18. It is a mandate announced this week after so-called flash mobs of violent young people have been attacking strangers in several areas of Philadelphia's Center City. In one incident, a gang of attackers reportedly included an 11-year-old. The curfew extends to 10:00 p.m. weekdays for children under 13.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter says his city is forced to do what some parents are failing to do.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL NUTTER, PHILADELPHIA: We, as a government, cannot raise people's children. You want to have children? You have to take care of them.

We can help you. We provided services, support, all kinds of stuff. But we are not going to tolerate this kind of senseless, stupid, ignorant, violent acts, even episodically, as they may occur on the streets of our city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: Joining us from Philadelphia, the city's police commissioner, Charles Ramsey.

Commissioner, thank you so much for joining us.

How is this going to work?

CHARLES RAMSEY, PHILADELPHIA POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, at 9:00, as you mentioned, Friday and Saturday, there is a special curfew for people under the age of 18, unless, of course, they're accompanied by a parent. We'll be enforcing that.

It's primarily our Center City district, which is our downtown area, and something called University City, which is further west in our city. These are the areas where we've had some issues with these so-called flash mobs, the groups of youngsters out assaulting people.

GRIFFIN: Will you actually be arresting these kids and holding them overnight, or bringing them back to their homes? And I just wonder -- you're closer to the community than I am -- when you bring these kids home, are you going to find parents who even care?

RAMSEY: Well, it's not really an arrest technically, although we do take them into our custody. We bring them to the station. We write them up for curfew. The parent has to come down and pick them up. If the parent does not come down, then our Department of Human Services takes over.

GRIFFIN: Will there be fines involved?

RAMSEY: Yes, it could be. I mean, the first offense is a warning, but any subsequent offense, there is a fine attached to it up to $300. So it's pretty significant.

Of course, a parent could be charged with neglect. You mentioned in the opening, the 11-year-old that was involved in an earlier situation. And the Department of Human Services is certainly looking at that aspect of it, because the child is so young.

GRIFFIN: Commissioner, so many -- I've heard so many psychologists, sociologists, social workers weigh in on what is actually going on here. Why is this happening?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, there are a lot of very bright people that will figure that out. I'm a police chief, so we've just got to keep peace in the streets.

If they come down, and if they start to assault people, they start to damage property, we are going to arrest them, period. I know there have got to be some issues involved. We'll sort all that out. But right now, we've got to re-establish a sense of safety and security in our city, and we will do just that.

This isn't a Philadelphia problem alone. I'm also president of the Major City Chiefs Association, and we've had these conversations as part of our meetings about the impact that social media has had on these young people and their ability to be able to move around and avoid police contact and cause problems for us. So it's a growing problem in this country.

GRIFFIN: Yes, we've certainly seen it in Chicago, even at the Wisconsin State Fair, I've been reading about it. It's a big task that you guys have to deal with.

Commissioner, we wish you luck tonight. We hope everybody just stays home and chills out and enjoys a nice Philadelphia weekend without any of these senseless and stupid attacks.

Commissioner, thank you.

RAMSEY: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: We have an update now on the disturbing story we first brought you last week. The Fullerton City Council meets today to see if an independent consultant should be hired to review the policies and procedures of the Fullerton Police Department. This, after parents of Kelly Thomas filed a claim against the city and the police department.

Kelly Thomas is a California man who was homeless, schizophrenic, allegedly beaten to death by six Fullerton police officers. I want to warn you, this picture is tough to look at.

This is what Kelly Thomas looked like before and after the alleged beating.

On July 5th, Fullerton police responded to reports of a man trying to break into cars near a bus station. Witnesses say what began with a search of Thomas' backpack ended with this. They say Thomas was kicked, tasered multiple times, hog-tied down, smashed against the concrete, his head slammed with a flashlight. He fell into a coma and died from his injuries five days later.

Meanwhile, protesters and community activists there are calling for the police officers involved and many others, including Fullerton's mayor, F. Richard Jones, to be fired. The six officers allegedly involved in this beating have been placed on paid administrative leave while they're being investigated.

Police Chief Michael Sellers put on medical leave Wednesday, and Kevin Hamilton is now the interim chief there. Hamilton was talking about the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Fullerton Police Department is coming under more fire, according to the "Los Angeles Times." Department supervisors allowed those officers involved in the alleged beating watch a video that captures the incident before writing their own reports about it. Many police departments don't allow that in serious use of force cases.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: You're about to meet someone who has helped serve a million meals to the needy in Knoxville, Tennessee. But that's not the only reason she's this week's CNN Hero. Well into her golden years, she's providing a lifeline for hungry and helpless in her hometown.

Meet Helen Ashe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HELEN ASHE, CNN HERO: Daddy worked hard for what we got. He taught us not to take the last piece of bread from the table. Somebody may come out that's hungry.

My name is Helen Ashe, and I am the happy founder of The Love Kitchen. We address the needs of the five ages, I say: the homeless, the hungry, the hopeless, the homebound, and the helpless.

Do you have the coffee and the cups out?

My sister Ellen (ph) is a blessing to me.

And how about those small tomatoes, Ellen (ph)?

The Lord sent two because there's so much work to do for one.

Want me to help you in?

We went to nursing school. You know, back then segregation was pretty rampant. I just saw the black people that was having a problem with transportation and food.

So what are we going to start off with this morning?

Every day on my way home I would tell my sister, "One day I'm going to do something about this."

We're getting ready to open the line.

The first day we served 22 meals. That was in 1986. And since that time, we've been growing, growing, growing, growing.

Everybody here is a volunteer. They enjoy doing what we are doing.

We deliver from 1,400 to 2,200 meals every Thursday to our homebound people. We was taught to work for what we got and to share what we did get. And we have so many people that are in need, and that's what keeps us going.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: You've got just a little more than two weeks left to nominate someone you know who's making a big difference in your community. Remember, every CNN Hero is chosen from people you tell us about. So go to CNNHeroes.com right now.

A judge has just ruled on whether or not Casey Anthony will have to return to Orlando. We're going to give you his decision after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: It's 32 minutes past the hour, time to check headlines of news you may have missed. Hundreds of thousands of postal workers could soon lose their jobs or face drastic changes to benefits, or both. The postal service appealing to Congress to remove collective bargaining restrictions in order to lay off 120,000 workers.

It also wants congressional approval to replace existing government healthcare and retirement plans. The Post Office claims it needs to eliminate more than 220,000 jobs altogether by 2015 for financial reasons -- 100,000 would come through attrition, the other 120,000 from layoffs.

Big news just in on the healthcare front. A federal appeals court in Atlanta ruled a key part of President Obama's healthcare reform package is unconstitutional. The court ruled that the so- called individual mandate requiring people to buy health insurance exceeds congressional authority. The battle is most likely going to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Federal health officials have just revealed that a 19-year-old man died of rabies last year after being bit by a vampire bat. The CDC says this is the first recorded human fatality from a vampire bat bite in the U.S. The report says the man was a migrant worker who was actually bitten in Mexico before coming to the U.S. But the CDC warns that vampire bats appear to be migrating north possibly due to climate changes.

Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murder, but we just learned a judge ruled that she will have to serve one year of supervised probation for a felony check fraud conviction. Anthony will have to report back to the department of corrections in Orlando no later than 12:00 p.m. August 26th. The judge ruled she will be able to keep her address confidential for her own safety.

Bert and Ernie may be best friends but Sesame Street's producers insist there will not be a same-sex Muppet marriage in their future. As ridiculous as it sounds, a recent online campaign and petition called the sesame street puppets to get married as a way to beat homophobia and encourage tolerance of gay people. And 90,000 people actually signed a petition.

Sesame Street says Bert and Ernie were created to teach preschoolers people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves, and as puppets they do not have any sexual orientation.

The phantom killers of the Taliban, but is the CIA downplaying the number Pakistani killed by these drones. We'll talk about the controversy with a counterterrorism expert right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Unmanned drone aircraft long been a major weapon in the U.S. battle against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan. And civilians have sometimes been killed by mistake. Now a report by a British and Pakistani journalist group says the civilian death toll has been far higher than the U.S. has acknowledged. According to the London-based bureau for investigative journalism, 2,292 people have been killed since 2004. And of those, the report says, 385 were civilians.

A senior U.S. official tells CNN that report is way of the mark. He says that since 2001, 2,000 militants have been killed in drone attacks in Pakistan and only 50 civilians have been killed.

Joining us from Washington to talk more about this is Brian Fishman, a counterterrorism research fellow at the New America Foundation. Brian, let me ask you, why such conflicting numbers? And whom do we believe?

BRIAN FISHMAN, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: I think the basic problem is that it's very hard for anybody, whether you're the CIA or you're a consortium of journalists, to understand exactly what's happening in Pakistan's tribal areas. This is a very difficult region to study with any degree of precision.

So I think, you know, it's implausible as suggested by the CIA, that for example that no civilians have been killed this year in drone strikes. I think that that's simply too optimistic. But I also think that it's very difficult for journalists in that environment to understand exactly what's going on because the Pakistani intelligence service does want to manipulate things and because oftentimes it's difficult to distinguish between a militant and a civilian.

And in that environment, I think you could probably have people that the CIA would consider combatants but that too many people in a local community might consider them civilians.

GRIFFIN: That is a hard sell in Pakistan itself. Certainly, the anti-U.S. side has used these drone attacks to drum up anti-American support. The question is, do these drone strikes help or hurt in the long run our efforts to try to fight or diminish the power of the Taliban?

FISHMAN: Yes. I mean, that's a great question. It's a really tough one to answer. I think the bottom line here is that the drone strikes are helping to suppress Al Qaeda and prevent Al Qaeda and groups like it from planning major attacks on the United States. It makes it a lot harder to train big numbers of troops in a camp, for example.

But at the same time, these attacks are extremely unpopular in Pakistan. Whether or not they're killing civilians, Pakistanis perceive them to be impositions on Pakistani sovereignty. At the same time, we've seen that some militants in the United States have used these drone strikes as justification for attacks here in the U.S. The example there is Feisal Shahzad, who tried to blow up a car bomb in times square a year ago.

So you've got this dynamic where the drone strikes are helping to reduce the risk of a major 9/11-style terrorist attack. But I think they increase marginally the risk of an independent loner that is upset about these kinds of things picking up a gun or making a rudimentary bomb and doing something like that. GRIFFIN: Let me ask you about the 9/11 anniversary, Al Qaeda, where we stand ten years later and the strength of Al Qaeda. Is there anything on the outlook that says Al Qaeda could be or is in any way capable of planning the type of attack that we were hit with back in 2001?

FISHMAN: Well, you know, I mean, on September 10th, 2001, I don't know that anybody would have told you that they were capable of an attack on the scale that they ultimately were able to pull off. So you always have to have healthy caution about a group like this. But I do think that that sort of attack is a lot harder for them these days because they've lost their safe-havens and they've lost their ability to plan with impunity.

Before 9/11, they essentially had total ability to plan for long periods of time in Afghanistan, and today there's nowhere in the world where they can do that with as much sort of a carefree attitude.

But I do think that there is a real risk of Al Qaeda being able to attract not just lone wolves but small groups of people that maybe are already living in the United States or they're living in the west or they're coming from somewhere else that are able to do something very rudimentary. I really worry about their willingness to use simple tools, firearms and those sorts of things, which can be very deadly, certainly not on a 9/11 scale, but we saw recently with the attack in Norway where a single individual with a relatively small bomb and a gun was able to kill 75 people.

GRIFFIN: Yes. It's an ever-evolving problem, ever-evolving enemy. Brian Fishman, thank you so much for joining us.

Up next, we break down how to survive the loss of a job you have and get the job you need. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: And in today's "Taking the Lead," we're talking about jobs, how to get one and how to survive losing one. We start with CNN's Thelma Gutierrez who went in depth to help a man who has been out of work for three years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ernie Casillas was living the American dream. He owned a home, drove a Mercedes, and had a great job until he was laid off.

ERNIE CASILLAS, UNEMPLOYED MORTGAGE BROKER: I'm Ernie Casillas, I'm a former mortgage broker, and I've been unemployed for three years.

GUTIERREZ: In three years, he says he tried just about everything to reinvent himself -- I.T., youth counselor, even jewelry maker.

ELI DAVIDSON, REINVENTION SPECIALIST: I'm a reinvention expert and I'm here to help Ernie get a great job.

GUTIERREZ: So we're going to hold her feet to the fire to see if she gets the job done.

(on camera): He's sent resumes, he's been interviewing and interviewing and interviewing.

DAVIDSON: Advertised on Craigslist.

GUTIERREZ: Advertising on Craigslist. What is he doing wrong?

DAVIDSON: The old paradigm doesn't work anymore.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): That's because jobs are few and competition is tight, so Ernie has to distinguish himself if he wants the job.

DAVIDSON: Part of what we're going to be doing is for you to get an absolute clear vision of where you want to be.

GUTIERREZ: But it's tough. He's been out of work for three years.

CASILLAS: Even my personal friends at work in the past, high school friends, have shut the doors. They think because I don't have a job, I'm going to ask for money.

GUTIERREZ: First, step one, personal transformation.

DAVIDSON: He is going to reinvent how he approaches getting a job. So guess what, you're going to be going on a diet.

CASILLAS: Already on a three-week diet.

DAVIDSON: No, no, no, my friend.

CASILLAS: I lost 20 pounds.

DAVIDSON: No. You're going to go on a diet from all the naysayers in your life.

GUTIERREZ: Ever since he had to move in with his mother, Ernie admits it's been tough.

CASILLAS: It's like nothing but negative stuff, starting with the person here in front of me. I'm not going to say any names.

DAVIDSON: Guess what? They don't get to talk to you for the next month. None of them. None of them.

(LAUGHTER)

CASILLAS: I'm happy, no barbecues with my family.

GUTIERREZ: Step two -- networking.

DAVIDSON: Are you actively looking for a job on Linked In?

CASILLAS: No. I don't even have a profile.

DAVIDSON: Oh, my gosh. Networking is the keyway Americans are getting jobs.

GUTIERREZ: Step three, the resume.

DAVIDSON: Ernie, I want you to burn your resume.

Sending a normal resume today is like playing an eight-track. We're going to do some very outside of the box pieces.

CASILLAS: Sure.

DAVIDSON: We may start a blog about how much you want to work there.

GUTIERREZ: Eli is confident she can put Ernie back in the driver's seat if he doesn't look back.

DAVIDSON: I want you to try and drive to the stop sign only looking in the rearview mirror. How far do you think you're going to get?

CASILLAS: First of all, I can't get out.

GUTIERREZ: We'll check again in 30 days.

The tip from Eli, she says if you're looking for work, don't tell people you're unemployed and looking for a job. She says tell them that you're looking for a great new opportunity. We'll check back on Ernie's progress and see if Eli is able to turn his fortune around.

Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: We'll follow that.

This week "Forbes" published an article breaking down how to prepare for a job loss. So to avoid getting into this tough situation you saw Ernie in, here's what they recommended at Forbes. Find other sources of income in cash, everything from applying for a line of credit against your home to asking your family for a loan. Learn everything you can about your current employee benefits. Research the insurance part of your employee benefits and stop spending. Finally, start sending your resume out and network both inside and outside of the company. You know, you can visit Randi Kaye's Facebook page at /RandiKayeCNN.com for a link to the entire article.

Getting the most out of the Post Office, do they need to deliver a major change? Our stream team is going to will weigh in on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) GRIFFIN: We've been talking throughout the show about the Post Office and plans to cut 120,000 jobs. The administrators say they need to cut the jobs to be financially viable. So how bad are they now? Try 8.5 billion in the red just last year. They're already looking at closing more branches and getting rid of Saturday delivery.

But one other thing could help get them in the black -- privatization. In 1971, the postmaster general was removed as a cabinet position, but the government still holds a lot of control over the postal service.

So that's a question for our stream team today. Should the Post Office be privatized? Joining me now CNN political analyst Roland Martin and also Mark Skoda, chairman of the Memphis Tea Party. Mark, you've worked with Fed Ex and UPS. Is this a job that a private company could do?

MARK SKODA, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, MEMPHIS TEA PARTY: Absolutely. Basically you could transition all the parcel delivery into a UPS or Fed Ex system essentially with little implication on numbers of hires. Much more efficient effective way in which we deliver those parcels and then separate the letter delivery, cut it down to five days a week and let these private companies who do a far better job of scheduling and holding, by the way, union and nonunion employees accountable to high levels of performance. That's the right way to go.

GRIFFIN: Roland, I have to ask you the same question. The United States postal service paid fed ex more than a billion dollars last year to deliver packages. I mean, is it a good idea to privatize this group?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: First of all, remember, when you talk about privatization and the private company, what you also have are companies making decisions to basically cut certain people off. One of the issues that you have to deal with, and that is what did you do about rural America? Not everybody lives in big cities.

So typically what companies would do, they will say hey, forget certain people, we're only going to go after the high dollar routes, if you will. I certainly believe you must have serious changes with the postal service because you can't be carrying 300,000 employees. You can't be lose the amount of money and operating as if you don't have the internet. You have the Internet today. You have a different cost structure. But I'm not going to jump and say, oh, Fed Ex will do it. They may say we don't want it.

MARTIN: Yes. That's a good question. This may be a losing business. If we get to $1.50, $2 to send a $2 card to grandma, I don't think a business will survive that.

SKODA: Let me say this first. Let's be clear first about the issue of rural delivery. I was on the team that actually was building out the ups next day air service as we had the letter and document services, 1982. This is a question that the Post Office tried to threaten, suggesting UPS doesn't deliver to rural area. It delivers to every single address every single day in America, the exceptions maybe being parts of Alaska.

Secondly, they're effective at delivering parcels, small packages to both rural, business and home delivery. The reason you want to have all of that, because at the end of the day, what's an important point is you deliver the businesses in the a.m., you deliver the homes in the p.m., and then you pick up in the late afternoons. So thereby there's a natural integration of home delivery to the business delivery. What I call Main Street versus backstreet.

Secondly, as it relates to the letters business, unquestionably, this is a big challenge. But that's where you transition workers to letter delivery. Stop letting them handle parcels which is far better handled by the UPS's and fed ex's of the world both in context of a five-day service and meeting the same standards of delivering to every household in America.

Lastly, you could integrate -- go ahead.

GRIFFIN: Go ahead, Roland.

MARTIN: First of all, Drew, I will say that one thing that also would help for the American taxpayer is that we need to be able to put side by side the United States and other countries. People complain about the postal service all day. But I will tell you, I traveled across the globe, and our system is a lot better than a whole lot of other countries.

And also I think you have, again, allowed the current management team to make the necessary moves. I think part of the problem is you have too many members of Congress who want to protect that nice Post Office. Remember the whole debt ceiling debate, they spent time actually voting on Post Offices versus trying to get a debt ceiling in place. So that's part of the problem. Politicians have gotten in the way of the postal service, not just the postal service.

GRIFFIN: Guys, I think that's one thing we can agree on. When the Post Office is going to Congress for answers, look out.

(LAUGHTER)

SKODA: Absolutely, Drew.

GRIFFIN: All right. Guys, thanks so much for joining us. Interesting issue. We'll see what happens to our postal service delivery and our postal workers as they go through a tough time. Thanks, guys.

Texas Governor Rick Perry set to join the crowded Republican race for the White House. Shannon Travis joins me now from Des Moines, Iowa. Shannon, how does the governor impact the race for this nomination? We'll have his answer after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: A lot of politics to talk about. Texas Governor Rick Perry set to join the crowded Republican race for the White House. Shannon Travis joins me from where everybody at CNN is now, Shannon, Des Moines, Iowa, at the state fair. The governor is announcing tomorrow. What's his impact going to be on this crowded race?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: It's going to be a huge impact. I mean Rick Perry's supporters view him as some sort of political messiah who's going to descend on this field, a field that some Republicans, some Republicans aren't quite happy with. So they see him as being able to unite different factions of the Republican Party, the economic conservatives, your Tea Party types, the social conservatives, and possibly even the people who are evangelicals, Christian evangelical. He had that prayer conference and meeting recently.

So he will dramatically impact this race. I have to tell you, Rick Perry, he's the longest serving governor in Texas' history. He's going to really stress his record on jobs. In the past two years, half of the jobs in the U.S. have been created in Texas. Now, his critics will say that's because there's always been a good economic environment for jobs in Texas.

Another note, Drew, one other thing that some of his opponents are issuing slams against Rick Perry before he formally announces. Last night, Bachmann's campaign said if Rick Perry is serious about running, why wasn't he here at the debate?

GRIFFIN: That's a good point, an interesting point. I bet he is probably ready to take a lot of shots. Let's face it, Shannon, probably the reason he didn't get in so early.

TRAVIS: Could be, could be. Also, that -- he says that he was contemplating and mulling it over. It could be that he wanted for the other Republicans to duke it out as long as they could, as long as they would before he formally jumped in. But now that he's in this race, Drew, you're absolutely right that they're going to be coming after him hard.

GRIFFIN: Let me ask you one more question about the other potential candidate who is cruising around that fairground, Sarah Palin. Any idea when, if she might test the waters here?

TRAVIS: Well, she has officially said by September some time that she will -- search will make a decision. But our Peter Hamby and Don Lemon, you saw earlier they were out talking to her. And she said you know what? It's a huge, earth-shattering decision that she has to make. And she wants to take her time.

GRIFFIN: Shannon, thanks a lot from Iowa.

Now we go to the CNN NEWSROOM, continuing with Brooke Baldwin -- Brooke.