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Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry to Announce Candidacy From South Carolina; GOP Presidential Field Adds Yet Another Contender; Community Aid Workers Now Need Aid Themselves

Aired August 13, 2011 - 12:58   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM, where the news unfolds live this Saturday, August 13th. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All eyes are on Charleston, South Carolina, this hour. Texas Governor Rick Perry is at the Red State convention there, a conservative gathering, where he is expected to make the formal announcement that he is running for president in 2012. Perry's Web page already says that he is a candidate. He is expected to take the stage any minute now. We'll bring that to you live as he speaks.

So just who is Governor Rick Perry? Well, here's a quick biographical look to get you a bit more informed of him. He's a Republican and the 47th governor of Texas. He's a graduate of Texas A&M, the first Aggie to become governor.

Perry has signed budgets that reduce the general revenue spending in Texas. And on education, he introduced the largest teacher incentive pay program in the country. And on immigration, Governor Perry initiated a "boots on the ground" strategy. It coordinates local, state, county and federal law enforcement efforts. Rick Perry is a conservative who is against abortion and same-sex marriage.

CNN political correspondent Jim Acosta joins us now from Charleston, where you've been following him there. All right, any moment now, he is to take to the stage. But interestingly enough, his Web site has already made the announcement for him.

ACOSTA: That's right, Fredricka. And actually, I have a "Perry for President" press release in my hands right here. It says at the very top, "Perry President." And it also goes on to deliver some pretty withering attacks on the president.

Bringing up the recent U.S. downgrade of U.S. credit, it says, quote, "This is just the most recent downgrade" -- going on here in the press release, it says, "The fact is, for nearly three years, President Obama has been downgrading American jobs, downgrading our standard in the world, downgrading our financial stability," and so on and so forth. So you can see this is going to be a candidate, Fredricka, in this race for the White House who is not going to shy away from going after the president on the issues, especially on the economy. The Texas governor is pretty proud of his record down in the Lone Star state. If you talk to his supporters, they will tell you time and again that Texas has created a lot of jobs in the last two years. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 percent of all U.S. jobs in this country in the last two years were down in Texas. So you're going to hear about that from the Texas governor, I would bet, today.

Now, going on right now is the Red conference -- Red State conference here in Charleston, South Carolina. This is a conference for conservative political activists put on by our very own CNN contributor, Erick Erickson. He is going to be introducing the governor in just a few moments.

But this is going to be a pretty busy next few days for Rick Perry. He is going be going from here in South Carolina up to New Hampshire, talking to a Republican gathering up there, and then on to Iowa on Sunday.

So he is definitely in this race. You don't have to read it on his website or his press release. You can read it in the moves of this campaign right now. This is a presidential campaign that is on the move.

WHITFIELD: A moment ago, we saw on the right hand side of the screen kind of a dark room that is the room that is now behind you. Lights are down until he makes his arrival. There it is right there.

So interestingly enough, he certainly will be taking center stage there in South Carolina. He is separating himself already from the pack while the pack is in Iowa. What do his campaign people say about why this was the best strategy for him?

ACOSTA: You know, his campaign, I have to tell you and this is going to be interesting if we see more of this in the days to come -- is very tight-lipped. They've been very tight-lipped about what is going on here in South Carolina. They were confirming earlier in the week that this is indeed going to be his presidential announcement.

But in terms of strategy, I mean, really, Fredricka, you can just look at what's happening. The Ames, Iowa, straw poll is obviously the center of the political universe this weekend. All of the Republican contenders except for Rick Perry is there.

And Governor Perry did not have the organization on the ground to compete in Iowa for this Ames Straw Poll, which is nonbinding, really a beauty pageant for GOP contenders. So the Perry people thought, what's a good way to steal the thunder of this event happening in Iowa. Let's announce at this Red State gathering this weekend in South Carolina.

South Carolina is another one of those early voting states. It's going to come right after Iowa and New Hampshire. It's also a very prominent conservative state in the Tea Party movement. The governor of this state, Nikki Haley, was speaking at this event earlier this morning, she came out and talked to reporters after her speech and called this move by the Perry campaign to make this announcement today a brilliant stroke.

So the Perry people are already getting the attention of very big-name Republicans who are out there trying to figure out who they're going to endorse. Nikki Haley says she hasn't made up her mind yet.

But make no mistake about it, Rick Perry is going to be fighting very hard for this nomination. South Carolina figures very prominently in his campaign strategy. He may not able to win Iowa. That's Michele Bachmann's home state, as she likes to say time and again. He may not win New Hampshire because that is a state that is next door to Mitt Romney's Massachusetts. So South Carolina is very important to the Perry candidacy.

WHITFIELD: Then, I wonder, how does he stack up in the polls comparatively to all those names that you just mentioned?

ACOSTA: If you look at the latest CNN/ORC Poll that came out earlier this week, it's a pretty stunning development in this race, because Rick Perry has essentially come out of nowhere to jump into this field.

If you look at the latest CNN/ORC Poll, he is nipping at the heels of Mitt Romney, just two points behind Mitt Romney among Republican voters in terms of who their choice would be for president. He essentially pushes people like Michele Bachmann down into the middle of the pack.

You'll recall in the last couple of weeks, Michele Bachmann was very high in the polling and all of our polling as to who Republicans would like to see in the White House. She has slid back. Is that because of Rick Perry? The numbers sure make it look that way.

And so, you have to keep in mind, this is just an announcement coming from Rick Perry today. What will happen in a week from now? Two weeks from now, after Republicans start to listen to what he has to say in places like New Hampshire, in places like Iowa, does that shake up the field even more? Does that perhaps put Perry on top, make him a frontrunner in this race?

It's going to be fascinating to watch.

WHITFIELD: Is it too early to know how he stacks up, Perry how he would stack up against President Obama?

ACOSTA: You know, the latest CNN/ORC Poll shows something very interesting in that regard, Fredricka. Rick Perry is about five percentage points behind President Obama in and our latest polling in terms of who Americans would support, and that's very close to the margin of error of that poll.

So as you can see, a very conservative governor from a very conservative state. If you ask Americans out there who they would support, President Obama has something to worry about with Rick Perry.

Now, Republicans are going to want to get behind the person they think is going to win. So Romney people will make the case that he's the more elect able candidate if you look at the polling, Governor Romney does a better job of going toe to toe with the president right now in these polls.

But as we were just saying a few moments ago, Rick Perry is just getting into this race. So whether those numbers move even more in his direction remains to be seen. But it's probably not a bad bet that they will.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jim.

We're also going to be joined right now by deputy political director Paul Steinhauser who is joining us from Ames, Iowa, keeping a close watch on this as well.

You know, Jim just mentioned, Paul, Nikki Haley. She got great support from the Tea Party, she was already on the stage there at this conservative gathering. But you have to wonder, the Tea Party -- would the Tea Party and its backing of Governor Perry be as influential going into this race as perhaps the Tea Party has been backing other candidates before so much recent criticism of Congress?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. This is going to be fascinating how the Tea Party plays in the race for the White House on the Republican side, no doubt about it.

Remember, the Tea Party activists were extremely influential in 2010, last year, in the mid-term elections and influencing those Republican primary battles. They've got a lot of favorites, it seems, right now. Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from Minnesota, she is a darling of many Tea Party activists. Ron Paul, the Congressman from Texas, a lot of supporters in the movement as well.

Now that Rick Perry is jumping into the race, it's an interesting dynamic and a lot of these candidates will be making a pitch for that Tea Party support, those activists, very influential, Fred. We're seeing it play out here in Ames, Iowa, seeing it play out where Jim is in Charleston, South Carolina, as well.

WHITFIELD: Are there any rumbling amongst Republicans there in Ames, Iowa about Rick Perry's announcement taking place in South Carolina, the first southern state to have a primary? Are there any rumbling about whether he should be in Ames, Iowa?

STEINHAUSER: Yes, in fact, we heard Michele Bachmann ask that question just the other night in that Republican presidential debate right here in Ames, Iowa. Where is Rick Perry? Why is he not here? He's not a candidate yet -- or now he is, but he wasn't on Thursday night -- and there was some talk is he trying to steal the spotlight away from Iowa.

But there were complaints about that. But guess where Rick Perry will be tomorrow? Right here in Iowa. He'll be here in Iowa Sunday thru Tuesday and go to the state fair and he will campaign and he will talk to Republicans. So not only hitting South Carolina and New Hampshire but also Iowa -- Fred. WHITFIELD: OK.

And, Paul, we know that Rick Perry has entered the room there in Charleston, South Carolina, at this event. It seems as though he's shaking a lot of hands there. Clearly this is a room full of his supporters. Do we know -- who are some of the people who are behind Governor Rick Perry? Any particular well-noted influential Republicans?

STEINHAUSER: There are a lot of Republican operatives that will not be known. They're not household names. But he does have a pretty strong organization.

Remember, he's run for governor --

WHITFIELD: OK. Paul, actually stop it right there, because we're now about to hear the voice of Governor Rick Perry.

(INTERRUPTED BY CNN COVERAGE OF A LIVE EVENT)

WHITFIELD: Texas Governor Rick Perry declaring his presidency from Charleston, South Carolina.

Also, making some promises as candidates saying it is time to limit and simplify taxes. He will be repealing, if elected president, the governments health care plan. He's calling it, Obama's one-size- fits-all health care plan.

As president, he claims that he will help create jobs, build wealth, and innovate in science and technology, there with his family there. He mentioned earlier, introducing his family, his wife, Anita, and his two children, Griffin and Sidney, along with his daughter-in- law, Meredith, there in Charleston, South Carolina.

Our Jim Acosta is also there in Charleston, South Carolina.

So this presidential candidate getting a rousing applause several times there in this convention hall, making promises that he is the right fit for America to be the next president of the United States, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, Fredricka, this was a rousing speech. And it was received well here at this Red State conference. You might want to rename this conference the red meat conference because Rick Perry was throwing a lot of it out there today. And this room was eating it up. He went right after the president on a number of occasions talking about the recent U.S. downgrade of U.S. credit, saying it was just a long line of things being downgraded in this country, jobs, and the economy and so on.

He basically touched on just about every talking point that Republicans like to hear. He said he would bring down President Obama's health care law. He would work to balance the budget. He said he would try to bring tort reform to Washington, something a lot of Republican presidents have tried and failed to do. So this was definitely a speech aimed at conservative Tea Party activists in the Republican Party who are very influential right now and who will have a huge sway over who this GOP frontrunner is going to be.

It was interesting to hear Rick Perry begin his remarks because he really started to tell his personal story, as you said earlier, today Fredricka. A lot of Americans may not know much about him. But he talked about his humble upbringing. He grew up in a place called Paint Creek and described the town as a place that doesn't even have a zip code.

So this is part of the process that a campaign that is in its infancy tries to do. It wants to get that biography out there, talk about Rick Perry as the human being, not necessary the governor of Texas. But he is going to have to run on his record.

And he laid it out there today saying what he has done in Austin he would like to bring to Washington, D.C. and I think one quote that stands out almost more than any other at this speech is when he said he is going to work every day to make Washington, D.C. as inconsequential as possible in the lives of everyday Americans.

That is a line that works with conservative Republicans. They think that what President Obama has done in the last three years in office is basically bring the state into their lives, bring government into their lives, whether it be a health care reform law, whether it be the stimulus plan.

What Rick Perry wants to do is turn back the clock basically to 2008 and undo essentially everything that President Obama has done while he has been in office. And it's a message that is going to work with a lot of Republicans, Fredricka. It's going to be interesting to watch.

WHITFIELD: Jim Acosta thanks so much in Charleston, South Carolina.

Our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser in Ames, Iowa. And so Paul, you got a chance to hear that. Rick Perry perhaps spending as much time being critical of the Obama administration, calling President Obama a representation of rudderless leadership as he did trying to spend his time talking about his humble beginnings as Jim was outlining there, as you know the boy of a farming family, he eventually would become a farmer himself, cotton farmer there after growing up in Paint Creek, Texas, a place of no zip code.

Did he sufficiently kind of introduce himself to America, much of America who perhaps doesn't know anything about him and his principles, and his politics?

STEINHAUSER: Fred, as Jim was just saying he really hit a lot of the high notes to conservatives and other Tea Party activist that is he's going to have to make the case to over the next couple of months before he leads up to the primaries and caucuses, especially that anti-Washington theme.

The country, he said, is doing just fine. It's Washington that's the problem. That served him very well about a year ago when he was running for reelection as governor of Texas and he faced the primary challenge from Kay Bailey Hutchison the Republican defender from Texas. That anti-Washington theme worked for him then and it could work for him again in this primary on the Republican side.

You were mentioning Barack Obama just now. And the Obama campaign didn't wait very long at all. They put out a statement from one of their spokesman that said, in a Republican field that has already pledged allegiance to the Tea Party and failed to present any plan to benefit the middle class or create jobs, American needs to win the future, Governor Perry offers more of the same.

So you can see right there, the Obama campaign in Chicago not wasting any time. Fred, I tell you, it's already been a very interesting race for the Republican nomination and it just got a lot more interesting with Governor Perry of Texas jumping in.

WHITFIELD: And you know we talked earlier about the whole Tea Party, how influential it was in mid-term elections and now you have to wonder how influential it will be in this presidential election.

Governor Rick Perry did acknowledge Nikki Haley, he did acknowledge her. She got a lot of support from the Tea Party. Is that kind of his opening the door a little bit about, hey, Tea Party, come on in, support me, too?

STEINHAUSER: They are definitely a major factor in this run for the nomination on the Republican side. Yes and we already have a couple of candidates in the race that are well-supported by many Tea Party activists, Michele Bachmann, the congresswoman from neighboring Minnesota here, has a lot of Tea Party support among many of their activists.

Ron Paul, listen a lot of people say Ron Paul was the Tea Party before there was a Tea Party. And Rick Santorum and a few of the other conservatives also enjoy some support. They're going to be a factor in this race.

We'll see how it plays out as we lead up to the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and into next year.

WHITFIELD: All right. Paul Steinhauser thanks so much from Ames, Iowa. Appreciate that and of course you are going to be part of our continuing coverage throughout the afternoon, trying to bring to you any results from that Iowa Straw Poll that will be taking place today as well.

All right. Meantime, the rebuilding spirit of America, Joplin, Missouri, gets ready for the first day of school. It will be unlike any other. We'll talk to the school superintendent about where many of these students will be attending classes. It won't be in a traditional school.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Security cameras inside Joplin High School captured the EF-5 tornado that ravaged the area back in May. Take a look at those images. Do you remember that? The twister destroyed five schools in the district and damaged four others as well as the administration building.

School is to begin this coming Wednesday. So is Joplin ready? Joplin school superintendent C.J. Huff joins me right now.

Good to see you.

DR. C.J. HUFF, SUPERINTENDENT, JOPLIN SCHOOLS: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: Let's begin with where students will be attending class. I understand some will be in an industrial park, others will have classes actually at a shopping mall. Describe for me what first day of school is going to be like for a lot of these kids.

HUFF: Sure. We had 54 percent of our students after the tornado that didn't have a place to go to school. So we had to build out about half of our district in finding locations, it was definitely a challenge. We did find about 95,000 square feet of space at the local mall, and we built that out. We built out some warehouse spaces at two other locations.

Obviously, we brought some modular units in as well as combing some of our schools to make room for other schools. We've been successful in finding all of our space for our students to start school on August 17th.

WHITFIELD: And Dr. Huff how are the students doing? Are most feeling like they are ready to get back in school? So many lost their homes and feel a little detached in that respect, just as many of the school buildings were destroyed, so were so many kids' livelihoods at home.

HUFF: You know, we're really being cautious as we go into this next school year. Our kids and families have been through a lot. Our teachers have been through a lot. But overall, the general tone right now is that everybody's excited. We see this as a tremendous milestone for our school district and our community, getting everybody back on track and ready to start school is an important part, getting back to that sense of normalcy, feel very good about where we're at. The kids and teachers are excited.

Obviously, our administration is excited. We're really proud of what we've established as a team this year.

WHITFIELD: There's been a lot of generosity coming your way in so many different forms. You've got school supplies that have been donated. In other ways, how have organizations or private businesses helped you all out?

HUFF: We've had a tremendous amount of support. We still have a long way to go. Obviously there's a price tag associated with putting all of our buildings back together.

But we've received donations as small as a young lady that sent a dollar that she wanted to help out. I think it was an 8-year-old. And then, yesterday, received a donation of $94 from a second-grader who baked cookies all summer that he had been selling at a local business and then we've gotten larger donations from area businesses and folks from across the nation.

And then, most recently, a sizable donation from the United Arab Emirates to help us get our one-to-one initiative with a job in high school.

WHITFIELD: Wow that is incredible. And I understand if people want to they can actually adopt a student or adopt a school. Tell me how that works.

HUFF: We've two programs that we been running the "Adopt an Eagle" program, where you can actually adopt a student to help meet their needs. We have 3,000 kids that lived in the path of that storm. And we have so many children that we know that are going to come back and that are going to be missing a lot of things. We're trying our best to take care of our kids and our families.

We have the "Adopt a Classroom" program where folks can help support a teacher to get their classroom rebuild. We lost approximately 260 classrooms. We're getting ready to initiative an effort to provide house-warming baskets for our families that have been displaced as a result of this storm. So there's multiple ways to help out.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic. Dr. C.J. Huff, superintendent there of Joplin schools, thanks so much. All the best to you this school year as well to all the students and the families, still trying to piece things together.

HUFF: Thank you, appreciate the opportunity.

WHITFIELD: And once again, if you want to adopt a student, a classroom or help in any way in the rebuilding of the Joplin schools, go to Joplinschools.org.

Magicians use magic hats to pull objects out of thin air, right? But a new invention could give everyone similar power. Gary Tuchman has this technovation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imagine shopping online, seeing something you like and then just printing it out. It might sound crazy. But a new invention called the makerbot could change the way you think.

BRE PETTIS, INVENTOR: Normally when you need something, you think, where am I going to go shop for that? When you have a maker box, you can just make it yourself.

TUCHMAN: It's a personal 3-d printer that makes actual three- dimensional objects.

PETTIS: When you have a makerbot you can just make anything. Your imagination can go wild. TUCHMAN: Objects are made by melting plastic into thin spaghetti-like strings. Then layer by layer it's built into the desired object. Like this comb.

PETTIS: People can make coat hooks and replacement parts. It's really limitless with what you can do with this.

TUCHMAN: You can create your own designs or download others created by users around the world.

PETTIS: It's about as close as you can get to teleportation. It is like physical objects over the internet.

TUCHMAN: Turning visions into reality. Gary Tuchman, CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Iowa Straw Poll is a little different than most votes. You have to have a ticket to participate. How much does a ticket actually cost? Is it free, $10, $20, $30? We'll have the answer right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: So before the break, I asked how much does it cost to get a ticket to vote in the Iowa Straw Poll. Is it free, $10, $20, $30? Well, it's a little bit of a trick question because the ticket actually costs $30, but most of those voting in the straw poll have their tickets provided for free by the candidates' organizations.

So Rick Perry, while he has entered the presidential ring officially now, Sarah Palin has not, at least not yet. She appeared at the Iowa State Fair ahead of today's GOP Straw Poll. And our Don Lemon is there.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, Sarah Palin spent about ten minutes answering my questions here in Iowa from giving advice to the candidates who took part in the debate to who's responsible for the U.S.'s credit downgrade to whether or not she's stealing the spotlight by being here in Iowa even though she hasn't declared.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SARAH PALIN, (R) FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: I don't think I'm stealing any spotlight. If anybody thinks I am stealing the spotlight, go find the other folks and say hello.

LEMON: A lot of people are saying that the Tea Party is responsible for the downgrade in our credit?

PALIN: You know if it weren't for the Tea Party, the discussion would never have gone where it went. So I appreciate the Tea Party's passion for getting our federal government to realize it needs to live within its means. No, the last group or entity to be blamed for the downgrade should be the Tea Party. I think the question should be asked, is the president responsible for the downgrade? And I would say, yes, because from the top, leadership starts from the top, the leadership of our country.

LEMON: Why haven't you decided?

PALIN: I think that I'm not the only one who has not decided yet. And not ready to announce one way or the other yet. There is still, you know, there is still a lot of contemplation that needs to go into such an earth-shattering, life-changing decision for a family.

LEMON: A lot of people are pitting you and Michele Bachmann against each other. Do you think that's fair?

PALIN: That's passe to pit -- just because there may happen to be two women in the race that they would, as Michele put it once, get in the mud and engage in some cat fighting. That's ridiculous. It is even a sexist notion to consider that the two women would be kind of duking it out. No, if I'm going to duke it out, I'm going to duke it out with the guys.

LEMON: Are you at all concerned about the popularity, jealous?

PALIN: Not at all. I'm glad that Michele Bachmann is in the arena. I'm glad that she's had opportunity now to be on stage debating some good ideas. Proud of anybody, male or female, willing to put it all on the line and get out there and fight for what's right in this country. Michele is one of those.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Fredricka, no doubt that Sarah Palin is going to continue her bus tour all over the United States. When I asked her and her husband Todd what was in their future, Todd responded by saying, lunch.

Back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Don.

We'll be checking in with you a bit later. Straw Poll results expected tonight. Watch them live right here on CNN NEWSROOM special report. The Iowa Straw Poll with CNN's Don Lemon and Candy Crowley, that's at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A judge rules that Casey Anthony must return to Florida to serve a year's probation for check fraud. What do our legal guys have to say about all of this?

Earlier, I spoke with civil rights attorney Avery Friedman and New York criminal defense attorney Richard Herman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, she's going to serve it there in Florida. But I have to -- you've got to cheer for Chief Judge Perry. I mean, he did it exactly right. The fact is that there was a technical error. That's it. And what the judge did -- recall that I predicted administrative probation because you need to protect the privacy because of some of the wingnuts down there who want to do her harm.

The judge talked about it. He talked about Casey Anthony being, based on a poll, the most hated person in America, protecting her privacy, keeping control of her. I'm a former probation officer. You don't do probation in jail. Chief Judge Perry did exactly the right thing.

WHITFIELD: Richard?

RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Fred -- Fred, it's gone even worse than that. The judge has made ethical claims against Baez. What he said was --

WHITFIELD: Right.

HERMAN: -- at the sentencing portion on the check fraud case, this was extensively discussed, the issue of probation. All sides knew it was going to commence upon release from prison.

WHITFIELD: Right.

HERMAN: That was an argument that was raised and discussed at length. Therefore, when there was a, quote, "scrivener's error" -- that's what they're saying, Fred, "scrivener's error" -- it's a legal term -- for the judge, who was too lazy to sit and read his own order before he signed it --

(LAUGHTER)

HERMAN: What the judge is saying is the intent and the clear statement was she's going to serve it when she gets out. For Baez to argue differently and for him to allow some sort of purported probation to occur when she was in prison was wrong and unethical. He should have brought it to the attention of everyone. I think this judge is going to file --

FRIEDMAN: The judge did the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: You can catch our legal guys every Saturday noon Eastern Time.

All right. We turn now to some startling statistics, a record 46 million Americans are living on food stamps. That's one in seven people who depend on the federal program to buy groceries. And as the jobless rate continues to teeter above 9 percent, the number of food stamp recipients has risen a whopping 70 percent in just four years.

CNN's Brian Todd caught up with one man struggling to survive on $200 a month in food stamps.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a short walk to the grocery store with Frederick Mack, in the shadow of the capital, a bracing window into how tough life's been in recent years.

FREDERICK MACK, UNEMPLOYED: See right here, one of my daughter's child died.

TODD: A memorial to his eldest daughter a community aid worker who died of child birth complications. Frederick now lives in a transitional home for people struggling to get back on their feet. Unemployed, he tells me for eight months, on food stamps for a year and a half, he symbolizes the staggering rise of Americans in the food stamp program since 2007, a climb of about 70 percent to nearly 46 million people. Advocates who fight hunger say it is a perfect storm of hardship.

JAMES WEILL, FOOD RESEARCH AND ACTION CENTER: Unemployment has went way up in this state; wages are flat or down for really the bottom half of the population.

TODD: Frederick Mack's trying desperately to get back to his calling. He's got 35 plus years experience as a cook. In the meantime, he gets $200 a month in food stamps.

Is that enough?

MACK: No, it is not enough. I said I found a way to stretch it.

TODD: We duck into a grocery store where he shops. There is a lot in here that is off limits on your food stamp card.

Can't do it.

MACK: Can't buy it.

TODD: Why?

MACK: Because it is high.

TODD: And prepared.

What do you buy most of the time? Salad.

MACK: Salad and fruit.

TODD: Fruit.

MACK: That's the cheapest thing you can buy.

TODD: We combed through aisle after aisle. Frederick doesn't buy anything that's not on sale. This is one of the meat aisles where Frederick shops. He says you can pick out items from an aisle like this, but you have to watch out for sales. You can only pick out a little bit at a time. If you do that, you stand a good chance of tapping out your card every month. Basic stuff here toothpaste. What about that? MACK: Can't do it.

TODD: Can't buy toothpaste.

MACK: Can't buy toothpaste, can't buy soap, can't buy deodorant.

TODD: Why not?

MACK: Because it is not edible, you cannot buy it.

TODD: For those items, you have to use your own money, if you have it. Frederick says at 53, first time unemployed, his pride has taken a big hit from this.

MACK: I don't want to be - I have to eat to live. That's the only way I can do it these days. I can't go around begging or a sign on my chest, I need something to eat, help me I haven't eat today or help me I need something to eat.

TODD: This at least prevents you from having to do that.

MACK: From begging and panhandling, this prevents me from doing that. I do have pride. I am a human being.

TODD: As eager as he is to get out of the food stamp program, Frederick says he has other priorities. He has to first get out of that transitional home. To do that, like so many others, he's got to find a job first. So, like tens of millions of other Americans, he'll probably be on the food stamp program for a little while longer.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Coming up in about 30 minutes, we'll take a look at the urgent need at local food banks all across the country. More of you are going to your community food bank, not to volunteer, but to get basic essentials to eat and live.