Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Mandatory Evacuation Near Pearl River Canal; Obama's "Road to Charlotte"

Aired September 01, 2012 - 19:00   ET

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

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN ANCHOR: You are in THE CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Gary Tuchman, in tonight for Don Lemon.

President Obama making his pitch to Iowa voters, as he gears up for Democratic National Convention next week.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney took part in what the campaign calls victory rallies. And running mate Paul Ryan visited the battleground state of Florida, riding the momentum, coming off last week's Republican convention.

A mandatory evacuation has been declared in parts of Louisiana St. Tammany Parish. Officials say a lock failure is imminent on the Pearl River diversion canal. That's North of New Orleans. Evacuation reportedly covers about 12 miles from the towns of Bush to Hickory. The St. Tammany Parish Web site says the evacuation orders is being issued because the river is expected to crest early Monday and more than 18 feet and could rise even higher.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

TUCHMAN: Syria's rebels are claiming a major prize in their fight for the country. The Free Syrian Army says it seized an air defense battalion headquarters in the eastern part of the nation. Rebels laid siege to the air force base for 11 days before attacking. Officers say the move was tactical to prevent airstrikes.

An apology from the company that makes the thalidomide. That's the medicine that caused thousands of birth defects in the 1950s and '60s. The head of the German drugmaker Grunenthal says he rejects the tragic side effects thalidomide caused and he admits his company has been silent in the 50 years since it was pulled off the market. The head of a thalidomide survivor's group says an apology after all these years is not enough.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

TUCHMAN: Penn State football, first game of the new season today. First game since the death of long time head coach Joe Paterno and they lost to Ohio University -- not Ohio State, but Ohio University. The once dominant Penn State program was punished heavily by NCAA sanctions following assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's sex abuse conviction.

One of the world's great song writers has passed away. Hal David's songs include "Raindrops Keep Falling on my head" and "What the World Needs Now is Love." He was an Oscar and Grammy award winner. The 90- year-old died today in Los Angeles from complications of a stroke.

Live pictures right now from Sioux City, Iowa. Barack Obama making a campaign stop in an important swing state -- Sioux City right on the border of Nebraska and northwestern portion of the state. Iowa, world famous for its Iowa caucuses, but also important this time around for nine states that are considered toss-ups right new.

We'll have more a little bit later from Shannon -- let's listen to what he has it say as he said good-bye.

Excellent timing. As soon as I stop talking, the president stopped talking. The president made his pitch to the middle class. It's all part of the lead-up to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Preparations are underway. And we will take you to Charlotte, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: President Obama is hitting the battle ground states, trying to build momentum heading into the Democratic National Convention.

CNN political reporter Shannon Travis joins me now from Charlotte, North Carolina, the site of the convention.

Shannon, thanks for joining us.

We heard a lot of talk going into the Republican National Convention about trying to humanize Mitt Romney. What's the major goal for the Democrats this week?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, I mean, when you think about it, it almost highlights the Mitt Romney and a lot of people are still being introduced to him. Not so much for President Obama. He's been the president for a number of years now. A lot of people know his biographies, his life story.

So the plan according to Democratic officials in this convention for the president is to make the case for reelection. We haven't seen any speeches, Gary, obviously. But you can expect for Democratic officials to file and basically play up what they see as economic growth that's happened under President Obama, even given the sour economy.

You expect for them -- we expect for them to play up the nation's healthcare law and say it is actually helping a lot of people, even though it is demonized by Republican opponents. You can expect of them to also play up the president's national security record, and national security, especially with the capture -- with the killing of Osama bin Laden.

So those are some of the things that you will see stressed throughout this entire week during the Democratic convention as they make their case for reelection for the president, Gary. TUCHMAN: Shannon, the Republican convention became a three-day convention instead of four because of Isaac. The Democratic convention plans to be three days, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. But I assume as soon as it is over Thursday, the president and vice president will hit the road.

Where are they going after the convention?

TRAVIS: Yes, it's all about momentum, right? Not wasting time, getting right back on the campaign trail. They made an announcement today that they will be going out, the four of them, and by four, I mean president, vice president, and their wives, will be heading to New Hampshire on Friday. Then they split up for the weekend, Saturday and Sunday. The president is going to Florida. Vice President Biden is going to Ohio. Again, crucial battle ground states. Two of them at each side wants to win badly, Gary.

TUCHMAN: Shannon, you mention New Hampshire, Ohio, Florida. I've counted on our CNN electoral maps, there are nine states nine states that are battleground states. does that mean that throughout of this campaign, we won't see the president or Mitt Romney for that matter going to the other ground states are crucial, right?

TRAVIS: You might se them go on to the other 41 states to fund raise. But in terms of rallying and rallying the masses, I mean, just keep an eye on those battle ground states. If you live there, you've already seen an inundation of campaign ads, campaign visits, whether it'd be by surrogates or the top nominees themselves. But, yes, those are crucial. But in order to get to that magic number that they need to win the presidency, they have to win those states.

TUCHMAN: Yes, we can't forget about fund-raising, Shannon Travis. Shannon, stay with us because we'll come back to you at the bottom of the hour. That's Shannon Travis, reporting from the site of the DNC, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Well, Isaac has moved on from the state of Louisiana. But the memories and the dangers are lingering. As we've been reporting, a mandatory evacuation order has been announced in Louisiana even though Isaac is gone. A live update, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: We are tracking a mandatory evacuation order near Louisiana's Pearl River. People there are urged to leave right now, because a lock failure is believe end to imminent on the Pearl River diversion canal. Rivers are swollen from Isaac's downpour.

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is following the story -- Karen.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. This has been in imminent danger of failing. They have buses in the area and they are taking people out.

Just to give you some idea, the St. Tammany Parish, this is this region right around Slidell. Here is New Orleans, you just have to go right across the lake. Let's zoom in across this area.

This is a diversion canal along the Pearl River and they are saying that from lock two right around here, extending all the way down to lock one, in the vicinity of Hickory, they are saying that lock two is in imminent danger of failing and for people to get out of that area immediately.

This is because in some parts of Louisiana, they have seen more than 20 inches of rain fall, thanks to what happened with hurricane Isaac. Right now, we are also staying on top of the some of some of the tornadic activity that seems to be erupting across the Midwest. The central Mississippi River Valley and these red shaded areas, that's where we have tornado watches. Lesser across central Illinois, where we get down towards Missouri and Kentucky, from Cape Gerardo, into Paducah. We are looking at the possibility of tornadoes. Even into Memphis, all the way down into northern section of Arkansas.

But most of these tornadoes, associated with the squall lines, which ordinarily would have been feeder bands associated with hurricane Isaac, have really spawned up just a few reports of some isolated tornadoes. There was some minor damage but no report of any injuries.

Over the next several days, what we ever looking at and what we can count on, primarily east of the Mississippi River Valley and I emphasize that because to the west of Mississippi, they are in desperate need of moisture, farmers and growers there. Now all we can expect it is moisture for some of those winter wheat crops.

But if you look across the Ohio River Valley, we are expecting between four to six possibly isolated areas of as much as six inches of rainfall as we go into the next 48 hours. This isn't strictly due it remnants of Isaac. It's associated with the funnel system and remnants of Isaac are kind of melding with that frontal system as it waves towards the east.

Well, temperatures in New Orleans, it's 88. But take a look at what the heat index is showing us. We had seen the heat indices up around 100 to 105. Right now, it feels like 99 degrees in New Orleans.

I just checked the number of people without power in New Orleans. And they are saying right around 110,000. Just in the New Orleans, but throughout the entire state, roughly 380,000. Most of them will be back in full-service as we go into Monday. But perhaps some leftover going into Wednesday.

So, Gary, not completely out of the woods, but Isaac was just this pest that continues to affect a good portion of Louisiana, with this evacuation now along the diversion canal. Canal number six or lock number two, I should say, but also into the Ohio River Valley where the rain fall could come down very heavy the next several days and the potential for tornadoes.

TUCHMAN: A brutal and difficult labor day for many. Karen, thank you very much.

Well, heartbroken people are struggling with the aftereffects of Isaac. Floods devour people's homes, their precious belongings and their pets, and as you just heard a new evacuation order has people on the move again.

George Howell joins us live from Belle Chase, Louisiana.

George, thank you for joining us. What are you hearing about the mandatory evacuation a little north in St. Tammany Parish?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDETN: Well, you know, Gary, again, we are talking about hundreds of homes that could be affected by this. Again, as you heard a moment ago, between locks one and two, they are on the Pearl River. This river is above flood stage. Flood stage right around 16 feet, river just above 18 feet from last we checked and expected to crest right around Monday.

So mandatory evacuation and officials are even using reverse 911 to reach people to make sure that they get out of the way.

TUCHMAN: George --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY NUNGESSER, PLAQUEMINES PARISH PRESIDENT: If we try it wait it pump it out, it'll take weeks if not months. By breeching the levy in strategic areas in low-lying areas, we will get the bulk of this water out in five to seven days, hopefully. Some projections are 16 to 17 days. But we are going to breach it in many locations to do the best job we can to get the east and west bank dry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Gary, so I want to set that up, what you just heard there. We heard from the president of Plaquemines Parish. He is talking about the situation just on the other side of the river. Over there, you can see by the tree line, that's the levee right over there. And on the other side of the levee, Gary, you find these neighborhoods that are under water. We are talking about the storm surge, you know, up to 14 feet of water. That certainly was much more than the eight- foot high levees over there.

So officials are taking time to pump out the water. They are doing that. But as you heard, he is also doing controlled breeches along the back levee there, the fastest way to get the water.

Now, I also want to speak with Gina Meyer. I have a person here who -- you know, you live over there. You just came back. I want you to tell people kind of the situation over there from what you saw.

GINA MEYER, SUPERINTENDENT OF EMS, PLAQUEMINES PARISH: The water is receding. The highest it got, 14 feet in my house, I'm six foot off the ground, about two, three feet in my house. Everything's topsy- turvy, upside down.

Majority of my sentimental things are still hanging on walls and are safe but my house is in bad shape.

HOWELL: Gina, you know, I went over there and I saw so many homes in that situation. You went through Katrina?

MEYER: I did go through Katrina. But we only got about three and half foot of water where we live. It did not get in my house. Wind damage I have from Katrina.

HOWELL: You get this sense of resilience for people who have lived through this and began through this. And the question that I have for you and I'm sure, many people ask, you know, how do you start that process to start over.

MEYER: Trust in God. Rely on your family. And it is not just the people who are blood related to you. It is the people you have grown up with, all your life. And that's what gets you through something like this.

HOWELL: Gina, thank you. Thank you for taking time with us.

MEYER: Thank you.

HOWELL: Gary, I also want it bring attention to one other situation that I learned from the president of Plaquemines Parish. He said there a plant on the other side of the river, a plant where there may be a leak, I should say, of hazardous materials. He is looking into that. Officials are paying very close attention to it.

But what you see today, that process of trying to get as much water out of that area and trying to get people back to their homes, to see where they will have to start over -- Gary.

TUCHMAN: George, seven years ago, I was there in Plaquemines Parish after hurricane Katrina. It was destroyed. And I wondered how are they going to rebuild this place. They did successfully. Now they are going through it again, those poor people.

George, thank you for reporting their story. Good seeing you?

HOWELL: Gary, thank you.

TUCHMAN: Well, as we've been reporting, a mandatory evacuation has been declared north of New Orleans, in parts of Louisiana's St. Tammany Parish. Officials say a lock failure is about to happen on the Pearl River diversion canal.

Suzanne Stymiest with the St. Tammany Parish government joins us on the phone.

Suzanne, what's the latest on that evacuation order?

SUZANNE STYMIEST, PIO, ST. TAMMANY PARISH (via telephone): We have received permission from the Army Corps of Engineers to begin relieve efforts in an attempt to prevent the failure. We have opened some valves. We are beginning to relief some of the pressure and we are hopefully.

However, the mandatory evacuation is still in place. We cannot -- we cannot determine total -- we continue determine we have yet been successful but we are beginning to take some steps to prevent it.

TUCHMAN: Now, my understanding, Suzanne, is that Pearl River is expected to crest Monday, two days from now, more than 18 feet, which is extraordinarily high level. Could the evacuation area get bigger between now and Monday?

STYMIEST: We certainly hope not. We are actually talking -- the Pearl River diversionary canal is a little bit to the west of the Pearl and the west pearl rivers. So this is a manmade canal with locks in it that was dug some years ago. And it is one of those locks that is beginning to stay open that is causing mandatory evacuation.

At the same time, we have a watch on the Pearl River and the west Pearl River. The west Pearl is supposed to crest sometime late Sunday into Monday at perhaps record heights. And so we are watching that entire area.

So we are asking a much wider area to be watchful of the Pearl and the West Pearl. But at this moment, our specific concern is between locks one and two on the Pearl River diversionary canal.

TUCHMAN: Suzanne, can you explain to some of us land lovers, what just -- what a lock does?

STYMIEST: A lock allows a boat to go from different levels in a river or canal from one to the other. Just as for instance, the most famous would be, of course, the Panama Canal, where you enter and go through a system of locks, you connect water bodies that are of different levels.

TUCHMAN: Suzanne --

STYMIEST: This allows for boat traffic or commercial traffic to go through there. At one time this was a commercial -- a commercial waterway.

TUCHMAN: I didn't mean to put you on the spot, Suzanne, but you explained that extraordinary well. I wish you and all of the residents of your parish a lot of luck, on what is a tense time. Suzanne, thank you for joining us.

STYMIEST: Thank you.

TUCHMAN: Well, the president of the United States spoke just a short time ago, and we will take a listen to what president is saying on his bus tour as he heads to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. That's coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You don't have to be in front after television to watch CNN. You can do what I do. You can stay connected. You can do it on your cell phone. Or you can do it from your computer at your work. Just go to CNN.com/TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) TUCHMAN: I'm Gary Tuchman sitting in tonight for Don Lemon. It's the bottom of the hour, actually 26 minutes precisely after the hour. Let's get you up to speed.

President Obama making two stops in Iowa today as part of his "Road to Charlotte" tour, pushing ahead to the Democratic National Convention which begins Tuesday. He made his case for his health care plan and called the Republican plan, quote, "An agenda better suited for last century," unquote. We will have more from the event he just wrapped up in just a moment.

Anyone who hasn't left the southern part of Louisiana St. Tammany Parish is scrambling to leave right now. A mandatory evacuation has been declared in parts of the parish north to New Orleans. Officials warn that a lock on the Pearl River diversion canal could fail at any minute. Evacuation covers about 12 miles from the towns of Bush to the town of Hickory. The river is expected to crest early Monday.

Taliban militants are claiming responsibility for a double suicide bombing that killed 13 in central Afghanistan today. One bomber attacked a joint U.S.-Afghan military base on foot before another detonated a truck bomb. Seventy-eight people have been hurt. No service members were killed in the attack.

Penn State football off to a disappointing start to the first post-Joe Paterno season. This era for the Nittany Lions began with a lose today to Ohio University, a team they haven't played since 1974, I'm told. Either way, it was expected a lose also today.

They Penn State football program was hammered by NCAA sanctions after the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.

Fans of the comic book/science fiction/horror flick universe is all in Atlanta for the festival of all things nerdy. It is called Dragon- Con. Zombies shuffled down the street side by side with super heroes like Spiderman at the this morning's Dragon-Con parade through downtown Atlanta.

Democrats won legal victory in the state of Ohio, one that could be pivotal in the race for the White House. A federal court is putting a new law restricting early voting on hold, saying that law could be unconstitutional. The law would have closed polls the weekend before Election Day. Ohio is a key battleground state and its electoral votes could be decisive in November.

President Obama has just finished speaking in Sioux City, Iowa. It's part of his push to the Democratic National Convention which begins Tuesday. He reiterated his stance of health care, the war in Afghanistan and the importance of taking care of America's veterans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know what? It is up to you whether we go back to a healthcare system that lets insurance companies decide who to cover them, when to cover it, whether they can drop you from coverage whenever you need most or whether we keep moving forward with a law that is already cutting costs and covering more people and saving lives.

They call it Obamacare. I like that name, because I do care. I care about all of the people that are being helped, all of the folks who are going to be helped.

And maybe they want it run on their "don't care" plan.

But because of this law, nearly 7 million young people are able to stay on their parents' plans. Your grandparents are saving money on their medicine. Women have gained access to preventive care like mammograms and contraception.

We don't need to refight the battles of the last four years. We need to go forward. We need to go forward.

(APPLAUSE)

Now this November you get to decide the future of this war in Afghanistan. Governor Romney had nothing to say about Afghanistan last week. Didn't mention it. Didn't offer a plan in terms of how he might end the war or if he is not going to end it. He's got to let the American people know. Because by the end of this month, we will have brought 33,000 of our troops home.

When I ended the war in Iraq, he said it was tragic. But you know what, I promised I was going to end that war and we did. I said, we would take out Al Qaeda and go after Bin Laden, and we did. I put forward a specific plan to bring our troops home from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. We are in the process of doing that right now. And when I say I'm going to bring them home, you know they're going to come home. And as long as I am commander-in-chief, when they get home, they know that well serve our veterans as well as they served us because nobody who fights for this country should have to fight for a job or a roof over their heads or descent healthcare when they come home. That's a promise we will keep.

And issue after issue, Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan, they are going to take us backwards. You know, the story of America is going forward. That's what we do. We go forward. You will have the opportunity in two months. To choose a path that will lead us to a better future. But I have to tell you over the next two months, the other side will spend more money than we have ever seen in our life times, and is basically the same thing they said a few nights ago. Economy is doing bad, it's Obama's fault. They won't tell you their plan because they know their plan won't work. Go figure, the raising taxes on middle class families to pay for a tax cut for me and Mr. Romney is not going to ply too well.

So what they are counting on, is that they can just feed enough negative information out there, you will get so discouraged, that at some point you will decide your vote doesn't matter. That you can't compete with the $10 million checks from wealthy donors. But you know what? I'm counting on something different. I'm counting on you. I need your help. I need your help, Houston. I need your help, Iowa.

First of all, if you're not already registered, I need you to register to vote. Young people who are in the audience, you know who you are, you need to go to gottaregister.com. That is not got to, that is gottaregister.com. Make sure you are registered to vote. Then go to gottavote.com. That's not got to vote. That's gottavote to find out how to cast your ballot early. Because here in Iowa, you don't have to wait until November 6 to vote. You can be among the first to vote on this election starting on September 27th. So that's gottaregister and gottavote. The reason you gottaregister and you gottavote, is because we've got more work to do.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Barack Obama speaking in Sioux City, Iowa, an important battle ground state. Before he began that speech, about an hour ago, he stopped into a sport restaurant bar where lots of young fans were watching the University of Iowa-Northern Illinois football game and at one point people watching the game started cursing when things weren't going well for Iowa. And the president was there eating pizza while that was going down. But Iowa won 18-17 so I guess the fans left that sports bar and restaurant happy.

Now, both presidential campaigns want to connect to you. A potential vote in their column. They even have apps for your smart phone but those apps may be sharing more about you than you realize. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANCHOR: Both the Romney and Obama campaigns are taking advantage of new technology. Each offer supporters apps that can easily downloaded to their mobile phones. The programs offer updates to the users but what are users offering up in return. CNN's Athena Jones takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the campaign trail, smart phones and tablets are everywhere. Now the Obama and Romney teams are taking this technology a step further. With apps that help supporters keep track of campaign activities and more. But the apps also raise privacy concerns. The Romney campaign's app which allows users to sign in through Facebook, can mine information from the user's friends from the site. The Obama campaign app helps data to help volunteers canvas.

(on camera): We are here in a Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., the Obama campaign app sends blue flags at the homes of registered Democrats. We are going to see if we can talk to some of those voters.

Does this concern you? I mean the fact that this is available, someone could walk up to your door -

CHARLES HYMAN, WASHINGTON RESIDENT: Of course I'm concerned. Sure. Yes. Yes. I'm very concerned.

I mean, you did it this morning. You walked up to my door. You knew where I was and what it was all about. I had no idea. JONES (voice-over): It is not just about maps. These apps can also get access to a lot of information from those who download them. We asked privacy expert Justin Brookman about this.

JUSTIN BROOKMAN, PRIVACY EXPERT: Contact list, friends, telephone number perhaps. Anything that you do with your phone is designed to be exposed to applications you download. So whatever they think might be valuable as far as data mining, as far as figuring out how to tailor a message to you as far as figuring out who has the most money. They have the ability to get. A lot of it, you can't say no to.

JONES: While the Romney campaign declined to comment. The Obama campaign says "This campaign has always and will continue to take great care with the information THAT people share with us. In this instance all of the information available comes from publicly available data and the campaign can take legal action against anyone misusing this public data."

Not everybody is worried. Another Georgetown resident we found using the Obama campaign app called it harmless.

JEFF KAMEN, WASHINGTON RESIDENT: Thirty years ago if you worked for any party, any campaign, and you wanted to find out where the registered Democrats in Georgetown, you would go downtown, make a copy of everybody's registration and go through the annoyance of looking through street addresses. Half a day's work. Now 30 seconds. The bottom line is I don't feel that my privacy is threatened by this.

JONES: Athena Jones, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: Well, it's just a few days until the Democratic National Convention where the first lady and her husband will speak before many thousands of people but recently the first lady answered questions one on one from CNN viewers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: First lady Michelle Obama wants you to stay fit and she's found ways to keep herself in shape. She took questions from i- reporters about her "Lets Move" initiative.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: Hi, I'm first lady Michelle Obama and I'm here to answer your i-reporter questions.

JOYCE CLINTON: Hi Mrs. Obama. We are out for our evening walk.

ANDY CLINTON: We were wondering, what's your favorite way of staying fit and healthy.

MICHELLE OBAMA: I try it find things that I enjoy doing. And I would recommend that to everyone. Find the thing that is the most fun for you. For me, I work out everyday at the gym. But I try to get some cardio in. I try to do some weight, some plyometrics but not everybody enjoys the gym. Not everybody enjoys being on the treadmill. So people don't have to make it complicated. Turning on the radio and dancing is a lot of fun. That's also something that I do with my girls. We dance around a lot.

SHAYAN FAZLI, I-REPORTER: Hi Mrs. Obama. My favorite healthy snack is gold fish. What is the President Obama's favorite snack?

MICHELLE OBAMA: The president, oh, one of his favorite snacks is guacamole and nacho chips. He has a - he has a weakness for those. If he is watching a game, he can eat a whole bowl of guacamole and nachos. That's one of his favorite snacks. But thanks for asking. And keep eating your vegetables.

SHARI ATUKORALA, I-REPORTER: I'm Shari from Sri Lanka. I wonder if your daughters, Malia and Sasha wanted to have fastfood like - huge burger, French fries and fried chicken. Would you allow that for them or do they always have healthy foods?

MICHELLE OBAMA: Malia and Sasha are like every kid in America. If they could eat burgers, fries, pie, cake, ice cream every single day, they would. Because that stuff really tastes good. I would too, if I could. But what we try to practice and what I try to teach our girls is balance. But it takes a lot of determination, a lot of willpower. We have a very clear expectations in our house. And sometimes no has to mean no.

MOHAMMAD MEHDI, I-REPORTER: I'm Mohammad from (INAUDIBLE) region north of Iraq. My question is, how do you manage to be the first lady in the United States and a mother for your children and a wife for a husband, all at once. Thanks.

MICHELLE OBAMA: You know, it's a balancing act. Trying to be first lady, a mom, a wife, a daughter. But I don't think that my balancing is any different from anyone else's out there. But I think the key first and foremost is making sure that I'm healthy because I found that if I'm at my best shape, if I'm feeling good, if I'm in good spirits, then everything else I do from being first lady to being Malia and Sasha's mom, I do it with a level of energy and authenticity that often works.

NICOLE COMPOLE (PH), I-REPORTER: What do you think is the best experience or best opportunity you've had since being first lady of the United States?

MICHELLE OBAMA: Oh, Nicole, that's a really tough question. The best experience, opportunity that I've had. There have been so many. It is really hard to pick just one. We've gotten to travel, to go to parts of the world that I would have never dreamed to go to. One of the things I enjoy the most is really just traveling around our country. Going into communities and to schools and to churches. And really hearing from people and what's going on in their lives. I could go on. But I've got a great job. And I'm serving a great country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: We want to give you a chance to ask a celebrity a question. We are now looking for questions for actor Lavor Burton from "Star Trek," "Roots" and "Reading a Rainbow" fame. Just log on to CNN.com/interview to submit a question.

A popular teen clothing store maybe in some hot water, three former managers are suing the store chain for racial bias. Their story, next.

And don't forget, everywhere you go, we go too. You can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Or even on your smart phone. Head to cnn.com/tv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: A trendy retail store called Wet Seal is facing a potential class action lawsuit. It comes after one of its store managers, who on paper, was one of its most successful, was fired. She claims because she was black.

Kyung Lah reports from Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Young, hip and trendy. This is the image of teen retailer Wet Seal. An image that Nicole Cogdell did not fit. At least that's what she says management made clear to her.

NICOLE COGDELL, PLAINTIFF: A brand image is one thing. However being terminated because you're African-American is something totally different.

LAH: Fired, says Cogdell, because she's black. In 2008, she was a manager in Wet Seal store in this mall in Springfield, Pennsylvania. A mall where there are more black customes. Cogdell says she did so well at her job that the district manager promoted her to a new store in a higher-end mall, the King of Prussia. Most of the customers there are white.

Then the vice president of the company came to inspect the store. That's when Cogdell says she heard this.

COGDELL: She literally looked to my district manager and said that's the store manager? I wanted someone with blond hair and blue eyes.

LAH: Four hours later, Cogdell was fired. Cogdell says her replacement at the King of Prussia mall was a white manager with less experience and poor performance record but paid more.

(on camera): There have been cases like this against the fashion industry before. What makes this one so different is that lawyers say they can trace the discrimination to a vice president at Wet Seal with an e-mail.

(voice-over): The e-mail was forwarded to Cogdell. She says it's from the very same vice president who says she wanted a blond manager with blue eyes. The e-mail from the V.P. who has since left Wet Seal says, "Need diversity. African American dominate. Huge issue."

(on camera): When you read that, what did you think?

NANCY DEMIS, LAWYER: I thought this is the essential smoking gun.

LAH (voice-over): Lawyer Nancy DeMis represents Cogdell and two other former Wet Seal managers who say they were either fired, denied pay raises and promotions as part of an unwritten but enforced corporate policy because black employees don't fit the brand image. The e-mail says DeMis is a window into the ugly secret of retail.

DEMIS: In retail in particular people are constant about making judgments about people based on their looks. And I think that they lose track of the fact that under the law you may not make decisions about employees based on their race.

LAH: They're asking a federal court in California to declare this a class action lawsuit on behalf of 250 current and former black managers at Wet Seal, Wet Seal would not speak to CNN on camera but released this statement. "We do not discriminate on the basis of race or any other category. We are confident that when all the facts come out in this matter, the public and our customers will see that African-Americans are well represented and valued members of our employee base including our management."

(MUSIC PLAYING)

LAH: Wet Seal's image campaign does include an African-American model. But Cogdell, who no longer works in retail believes this, like much of fashion, is just an image.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: The woman in that piece who says she was fired for being black will join me for an interview. Tune in for that tonight. That will be at 10:00 Eastern time.

It was a warm moment, a quick smile. A wave to the crowd and, oh, yeah, some music. Uh-oh, is there another artist unhappy with their work going political? A founding member of the Temptations weighs in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TUCHMAN: A speech, a smooch and strings from a hit from the '60s. They're elements in Anne Romney's appearance this week at the Republican National Convention. The question is could it add up to another artist's demand that politicians cease and desist.

Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was too tempting to resist.

ANNE ROMNEY, WIFE OF MITT ROMNEY: This man will not fail.

MOOS: The Temptation to follow up Anne Romney's speech with the Temptations, first a kiss, then a hug, then another kiss. Mitt Romney and his "My Girl." But how does this make the Temptations feel? After all, performers always seem to be telling Republicans "we're not going to take it."

Not to use their music. Twisted Sister's front man told VP hopeful Paul Ryan to stop playing their song "because there is almost nothing he stands for that I agree with." So will the Temptations mind sharing their 1964 hit?

(MUSIC PLAYING)

OTIS WILLIAMS, ORIGINAL MEMBER "TEMPTATION": Well, "My Girl" is our evergreen song. It's the Temptation's national anthem.

MOOS: Otis William is the only original member of the Temptations still with the group.

WILLIAMS: You know, it's like when we perform live and they first hear that boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom. I've got sunshine...

MOOS: Uh-oh, Williams is an Obama supporter. He's not going to like the Romney using his girl.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

MOOS: It's kind of their music to smooch to.

WILLIAMS: Wow, that's a great song to smooch to.

MOOS: Actually, Williams says he appreciates the Republicans using their music.

WILLIAMS: A great one, the song "My Girl" can just transcend all kinds of borders, you know.

MOOS: And the day after Mitt Romney led his girl off-stage.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

MOOS: On that same stage, this guy asked his girl to marry him. Bradley Thompson, convention's production manager used the big screen to pop the question to Laura Bowman, a production coordinator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

MOOS: An unconventional proposal at the convention. But there is one temptation maybe some Republicans should resist. When it comes to dancing, they're no Temptations.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN: Thanks Jeanne. Tonight, at 10:00 Eastern time, a priest who actually said it's children who seduce priests. We'll see what a victim of sexual abuse by a priest says about that. Plus this -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINT EASTWOOD, ACTOR: ... I can't tell him to do that -- can't do that to himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Clint Eastwood at the RNC. Should the Democrats book a rival Hollywood heavyweight for their own convention?

I'm Gary Tuchman at the CNN World Headquarters. "41: PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH" begins right now.