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: Dems Unify Message on "Better Off" Question; Measuring Obama's Economy; Gas Prices to Start Falling; Occupy Protests Big Banks in Charlotte; U.S. Halts Afghan Police Training; Dems Ready for Their Convention
Aired September 03, 2012 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you very much, Soledad.
Happening now in the NEWSROOM, are you better off now than four years ago? It is the question this morning as the nation's focus turns from Tampa to Charlotte and the Democratic National Convention. All of this as we wait on Friday's very important jobs report.
Runaway truck. Runaway truck. Amazing video to show you. A monster truck mishap, losing control and careening right into a crowd.
And how do you spell relief? As millions of us are taking a long Labor Day weekend, where are the lower gas prices that we heard about last week?
Plus, royal rappelling from high above London. The Duke of York, yes, almost 100 feet in the air. See what it's like going down the side of a skyscraper.
And Roddick stays alive. The tennis superstar staving off retirement just a little bit longer. Let's go courtside.
NEWSROOM begins right now.
Good morning to you. I'm Zoraida Sambolin sitting in for Carol Costello.
We begin this morning with President Obama on the road to Charlotte. That's what he's calling his campaign blitz through four key states as he heads to this week's Democratic National Convention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On Thursday night I'm going to offer you what I believe is a better path forward. A path that will grow this economy and create more jobs and strengthen the middle class. And the good news is you get to choose the path we take. Now you can go with their plan to give massive new tax cuts to folks who have already made it, or we can go forward with my plan to keep taxes low for every American who is still trying to make it.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP) SAMBOLIN: Senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash is in Charlotte, ahead of tomorrow's start of the DNC. Working really hard, I might add.
Dana, there have been some crossed wires on the Democrats' message. Tell us all about that.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, it's the fundamental question that has been asked since Ronald Reagan ran for president back in the '80s and that question is, are you better off than you were four years ago? It's a fundamental question that an incumbent president pretty much has to answer.
And surprisingly the president's top two advisers were out on the Sunday shows yesterday and they really didn't give a clear answer. But what made matters worse is that one of the Democrats, best spokespeople, at least they think, is the governor of Maryland and he gave effectively the wrong answer. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL SCHIEFFER, CBS NEWS: Can you honestly say that people are better off today than they were four years ago?
GOV. MARTIN O'MALLEY (D), MARYLAND: No, but that's not the question of this election. The question, without a doubt, we are not as well off as we were before George Bush brought us the Bush job losses, the Bush recession, the Bush deficits, the series of dessert wars charged for first time to credit card -- the national credit card.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: So that one word, no, that was very problematic. Republicans jumped on it. So Governor O'Malley came back in to CNN this morning. He had his broom. He wanted to clean up what he did and here is what he told Soledad O'Brien.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'MALLEY: Here is the reality of our situation as a country. We are clearly better off as a country because we're now creating jobs rather than losing them.
SOLEDAD O' BRIEN, ANCHOR, STARTING POINT: But you said no.
O'MALLEY: But Soledad, we have not recovered all that we lost in the Bush recession. That's why we need to continue to move forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now there are going to be a lot of very powerful speakers who are going to try to finesse that question over the next several days. The president's wife, Michelle Obama, and of course Bill Clinton, who the Democratic Party and the Obama campaign in particular are turning towards big time now to try to be kind of a validator for what Democrats can do with the economy because, remember, the economy was in great shape when he left office -- Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: Boy, that one little no, it's going to be very tough to recover.
Dana Bash, live for us, thank you very much.
And here is a look at some of the key speakers who will take the podium at the convention tomorrow. First Lady Michelle Obama will address the opening night of the gathering. On Wednesday former president, Bill Clinton, will give the nominating address. And, of course, President Obama delivers his acceptance speech.
CNN coverage begins tomorrow at noon with Wolf Blitzer. Submit your questions and get answers in real time live chat. Log on to CNN.com/roundtable to participate.
Well, it's an election year which means the truth probably lies somewhere in between the partisan talking points. So let's put politics aside and let's talk some numbers.
CNN business correspondent Christine Romans joins us now from New York.
You did a little fact-checking for us. I love that. What did you find out?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I've been looking at job statistics because, look, a lot of this, are you better off has to do with your job. It is the number one economic statistic for whether or not you feel better about your own economy. So want to first look at unemployment, the unemployment rate. You can see the unemployment rate when the president took office was 7.8 percent. Look at how it spiked up to 10 percent.
We'll pull up this chart for you, I hope. But -- well, you can see it go all the way up to 10 percent, that's right, and now it's back to 8.3 percent. This is why it's so important to have perspective when you ask this question, are you better off?
It depends. You're definitely better off than you were when it was almost 10 percent unemployment but you might not be better off today than you were in 2009. So let's look at jobs growth. This is something the Democrats are really trying to push this morning. Eight hundred thousand jobs were being lost every month when the president took office. That's what those red bars there on the left side of your screen show.
The most recent jobs report showed jobs gains of 163,000. It's about two years now of private sector jobs growth. But it might not feel like enough to you especially if you've got a job now back -- got your job back but it's not paying as well as it used to.
SAMBOLIN: And that is the problem, right? When we talked earlier this morning it was that those jobs that have been created are very low-paying jobs.
ROMANS: That's right. When you look at the National Employment Project says that 58 percent of the jobs created in a recovery 58 percent of them are low-wage jobs, meaning they earn something like $13.85 or less. That is a real issue for this economy that will not be cleaned up by just one president most likely.
I mean seriously if you've got so much of your job creation in this country coming from low wage jobs that has serious implications to whether you can afford to send your family to college, your kids to college, whether you can buy a house. So it means we've got to have better paying jobs and more of them. And that's something that's going to take time. We have structural problems in the American economy that did not start in February 2009.
SAMBOLIN: It's a really important point to make as well.
All right, Christine Romans, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
It is six minutes past the hour. President Obama is on the road today but he'll take a break from campaigning to tour Hurricane Isaac's damage in Louisiana. He'll meet with local officials and view their recovery efforts that are under way in and around New Orleans.
His presidential rival, Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, visited that state on Friday.
And six days after Hurricane Isaac made landfall big problems still dog much of Louisiana. Flooding concerns are rising along the Pearl River as it reaches its crest today. It is now more than five feet above flood stage and several thousand homes are at risk in that area.
In Plaquemines Parish many neighborhoods are still under water. The storm overtopped a levee there swallowing homes. And as much as 14 feet of floodwater. Much of the parish is without power and patience is simply running out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF LONNIE GRECO, PLAQUEMINES PARISH, LOUISIANA: Our citizens are holding up pretty good but you can see the concerns and the issues. It's like why are we the last again? We were the first here and we are always the last to be repaired. And it's a crying shame.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: Thousands of homes and businesses are still without power in Louisiana. Thirty five hundred people are still in shelters as well. This is across the state. So to find out how you can help, those devastated by Isaac, visit our "Impact Your World" page. That's at CNN.com/impact.
So a three-day holiday weekend is almost over and a lot of drivers were probably in sticker shock because of higher gas prices. Thanks to hurricanes and the summer blend of gas, we are paying almost 20 cents more now than this exact same time last year.
Alison Kosik is like in New York with more.
We were promised lower gas prices, Alison.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: So much for promises, right?
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
KOSIK: This one is certainly not being kept, Zoraida. And you know what we can pin these high gas prices on? We can blame Isaac for it. That's Hurricane Isaac. Now the good news is that there wasn't any damage to refineries, to rigs or to platforms that are in the Gulf of Mexico. But what had to happen before the storm hit was that all of that had to shut down or all of these refineries, these platforms, they had to cut back on production before the storm came and that downtime meant that oil that is produced there that is refined there wasn't being refined into gasoline and this is really a case, Zoraida, of the law of supply and demand.
There's less gasoline on the market that pushes prices higher. And remember the Gulf Coast is a major spot of oil and gas production in this country. In fact, 40 percent of the nation's petroleum refining capacity comes right from along the Gulf Coast.
Now we can't just blame Isaac for these high prices at the gas pump. Also there was a refinery fire at a Chevron facility in California. A deadly refinery fire at a major facility in Venezuela. These are other factors, Zoraida, that crimp supply and might have driving up oil prices and then those gas prices -- Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: I almost hesitate to ask this next question, but are the high prices here to stay or are we going to see them go back down anytime soon?
KOSIK: And of course that really is the money question, isn't it?
SAMBOLIN: Yes.
KOSIK: And you know what, it all depends on how fast the refineries that were -- that were shut down, that were cut back on how fast they can come back online. So here is where it stands right now. As of yesterday two refineries on the Gulf Coast were still shut down and that's about 6 percent of the total Gulf Coast capacity. Nine of those are still -- are beginning to ramp up or they're at reduced rates so you're not seeing things really running on full speed at this point.
And now there's some good news here, though. Analysts say once Labor Day is behind us, we usually see prices drop because demand goes down. That heavy driving season stops. Also by September 15th, Zoraida, refineries should be switching to less expensive winter blend gasoline from that more expensive summer blend so relief is on the way, just not too sure when it's going to happen.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Alison Kosik, thank you very much.
It is 10 minutes past the hour. Vice President Joe Biden is spending this Labor Day campaigning in Detroit. But without some of his usual stuff.
Listen to this, A U-Haul truck loaded with equipment for a VP event was stolen this weekend right outside a Detroit hotel. Biden speaks at a Labor Day rally after marching in a parade. He is scheduled to speak at the Democrat National Convention in Charlotte. That is scheduled for Thursday.
From Wall Street to North Carolina. Occupy protesters take to the streets ahead of the Democratic National Convention. We'll tell you why coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Checking top stories for you.
The Democratic National Convention kicks off in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a Labor Day celebration today. The actual convention starts tomorrow. Tuesday's highlights include speeches from First Lady Michelle Obama and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro.
In Pakistan today a car filled with explosives slammed into a U.S. consulate vehicle. This is in the city of Peshawar. Two American consulates staff were among 25 people wounded in that explosion. Take a look at those pictures. Two Pakistanis were killed.
And the founder of the Unification Church has died. The Reverend Sun Myung Moon was a self-proclaimed messiah whose church became famous for its mass weddings. The church says his funeral will take place on September 15th. Moon was 92 years old.
And in money news, Bain Capital is under investigation by the New York attorney general's office over potential misuse of tax loopholes. The company is one of about 12 private equity firms being investigated now. Mitt Romney's lawyer has issued a statement denying Romney's involvement in the tax strategy.
And in weather, tropical storm Leslie is churning over the Atlantic and could become a hurricane by Friday. Right now, it's on a northward track and might threaten Bermuda this probably over the weekend.
Thousands of campers in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California are evacuating because of a fast growing wildfire. More than 200 firefighters are battling the 3,600-acre blaze in the Angeles National Forest. The fire reportedly broke out near a camp site yesterday.
And security is tight this morning in Charlotte, North Carolina, ahead of this week's Democratic National Convention. Some say the precautions put into effect by local authorities are enough to qualify as free speech violations. The police say they are maximizing all efforts to keep everyone safe.
As Democrats gear up for their convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, so, too, are protesters. Occupy Wall Street took to the streets of North Carolina protesting the banks in this southern financial center.
CNN's Joe Johns has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PROTESTERS: Hey, hey, ho, ho, Wall Street has got to go.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Between 2,000 and 10,000 people were predicted for this march, only a few hundred showed up but they were loud.
PROTESTERS: Our children gets sicker, your pockets get bigger!
JOHNS: About what you would expect from a march against the banks that make Charlotte one of the country's leading financial centers.
PROTESTERS: This is what democracy looks like.
JOHNS: Honestly, it was the police who led the way but not far behind pushing a bicycle was an organizer from Occupy Wall Street in New York who had come over from Tampa where he had been protesting at the Republican National Convention. He said he'd lost some people after the event in Florida.
AARON BLACK, OCCUPY WALL STREET PROTESTER: We ultimately had a couple of buses and some other people found their own transportation. Now, as for numbers here, there are a lot less. Half the people ended up going back to New York.
JOHNS (on camera): Why did they do that?
BLACK: A lot of our people have jobs. A lot of people aren't interested in protesting Obama.
JOHNS (voice-over): For the police and the city, of course, the smaller numbers made the march more manageable. Political conventions of the past have often exploded in ugly confrontations. But not so far this year.
(on camera): What is the recipe for success with these marches? We've seen a peaceful march in Tampa and apparently a peaceful march here. Very different from what we saw in Denver and Minneapolis four years ago.
CHIEF RODNEY MONROE, CHARLOTTE POLICE: I think it's anticipation and communication. You've got to anticipate and have the willingness to meet with people, talk to people, understand what they want to do and then you try to negotiate yourself through it in order to make sure, at the end, everybody is safe.
JOHNS: Protests are expected to continue here over the holiday, including one demonstration featuring members of organized labor.
Joe Johns, CNN, Charlotte.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAMBOLIN: And the U.S. moves to limit attacks on troops by Afghan security forces. Just ahead, we'll tell you what the U.S. is doing to restore trust with Afghan police.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: It's 21 minutes past the hour.
The rise in so-called "green on blue" attacks on NATO troops in Afghanistan prompts a dramatic change. U.S. Special Operations forces are temporarily suspending their training of Afghan police recruits and re-vetting officers that are already on the force.
Our Barbara Starr joins us from the Pentagon with more on this. Are they actually looking at their vetting procedures and changing those, Barbara?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: They're looking at everything, Zoraida. That's what they tell us.
Now, the suspension involves about 1,000 Afghan police that are being trained, pulling them out of training, putting them to the side, re-vetting, looking at their security clearance status. Are they really suitable to be in the Afghan forces?
That's about 1,000. But a much deeper issue now literally, all 350,000 Afghan security forces getting another look because of this green on blue situation.
We have some statistics. Of course, these are lives. They are not just numbers, but they do begin to tell why the U.S. is so concerned.
I want to -- I want to show you some of them. 2012 so far had year just up to right now 26 U.S. troops killed in these so-called green on blue attacks, a total of 45 coalition forces. That's so far this year. Keep that number of 45 in mind. All of last year, 24 U.S. troops killed, 35 coalition troops -- 35 all of last year, 45 already this year.
And it's beginning to raise questions, of course, about the U.S. and NATO strategy going forward. Will the U.S. and NATO stay in Afghanistan through 2014 as they have promised?
A lot of questions being raised Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: What are the troops saying?
STARR: Well, you know, they are concerned. There's no question about it. But let's be clear, they're out in the field. They are a vast majority by all accounts doing their jobs.
But a lot of new -- you know, without any hesitation, without any change in how they operate in the field but it doesn't mean they're not concerned. There are a lot of new measures. Now when troops are sleeping, they earmark one troop, one soldier, marine, whatever, to stand guard to make sure there are no problems. That happens around sleeping barracks, chow halls.
We've reported that most of the troops are now carrying their weapons fully loaded at all times even on bases. So you're seeing this great concern now. And the question that still remains to be answered is why did it take so long for al these security measures to happen? Why so many incidents before they decided to tighten up?
SAMBOLIN: You're absolutely right.
Barbara Starr, live at the Pentagon -- thank you very much.
And the U.S. State Department says it is working to find out information about a missing U.S. journalist. Austin Tice disappeared more than two weeks ago while reporting in Syria. There's a picture of him there.
"The Washington Post," which hired the freelancer reports Tice is being held by the Syrian government. A Syrian ex-patriot group is among those calling for Tice's release, saying he faces inhumane conditions and possible torture.
So, are you better off today than you were when President Obama took office? It is the big question looming as Democrats convene in North Carolina for their national convention.
Our contributors, L.Z. Granderson and Will Cain are ready to jump right into this debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Good morning to you. I'm Zoraida Sambolin, in for Carol Costello.
Stories we are following in THE NEWSROOM:
President Obama visits Louisiana later today to see the damage from hurricane Isaac. Meanwhile, the rising Pearl River threatens to flood more homes. Can you believe it? In Plaquemines Parish, the power is still out to thousands of homes and businesses. And 3,500 people across the state are still in shelters.
If you would like to help, you can visit -- affected by Isaac -- visit our "Impact Your World" page at CNN.com/impact.
Tomorrow, a firsthand account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden will be released. "No Easy Day" will hit store shelves a week earlier than originally planned. It was written by a Navy SEAL on that mission, but under a pseudonym. The government says the book violates secrecy agreements, something the author's lawyer denies.
And check out some amazing video. Saturday night, this is right outside Eugene, Oregon. That's a monster truck that drives into the stands. It lost control on a dirt racetrack, hit a barrier, three people were hurt there.
And a college band misses its first game of the 2012 football season over a possible hazing incident. Clark Howard University in Atlanta suspended its band while it conducts an investigation. Details have not been released. A high school marching band performed that halftime show.
Democrats are going into their convention tomorrow with a big question looming. The question of whether you are better off today than you were four years ago. Republicans raised that issue at their convention last week, as you very well know. Now, it is the Democrats' turn to answer.
One prominent Democrat has already dived right in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB SCHIEFFER, CBS NEWS: Can you honestly say that people are better off today than they were four years ago?
GOV. MARTIN O'MALLEY (D), MARYLAND: No, but that's not the question of this election. The question, without a doubt, we are not as well off as we were before George Bush brought us the Bush job losses.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: And that was Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley speaking yesterday on CBS's "Face the Nation". Here is what he told CNN this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'MALLEY: Here's the reality of our situation as a country. We are clearly better off as a country because we're now creating jobs rather than losing them.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: But you said no.
O'MALLEY: But, Soledad, we have not recovered all that we lost in the Bush recession. That's why we need to continue to move forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: I know two folks who want to chime in here. Let's chat with our CNN contributors Will Cain who leans right and L.Z. Granderson who leans left.
So, L.Z., are Democrats having a hard time answering that question?
L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, because it's not the right question that should be asked.
SAMBOLIN: So what is the right question?
GRANDERSON: The right question is, why have there been for the past 40 years a dying off of the middle class? This isn't about four years of President Obama. This isn't about eight years of George W. Bush. The fact of the matter is the numbers have shown that the middle class has been shrinking not just in terms of its size but in terms of the actual income bringing to the home for the past 40 years.
SAMBOLIN: But the question was, are we better off, L.Z.? And the question was, are we better off? And they should have jumped on that answer right away.
GRANDERSON: That's a campaign question. That isn't a question about the real state of the economy or the middle class. That's the campaign question that throws red meat to people opposed to the Obama administration, and it's a question a lot of Democrats used to throw at George W. Bush. But it doesn't address the real issue which is what's going on with the middle class and that's been going on for 40 years. Not just four and not just eight.
SAMBOLIN: Will, are we better off today?
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No. As you asked that question, it's simple. It is a campaign question. But if it's asked that way, if Republicans ask it, the media ask it, the answer is no.
Median household income is down. Median household net worth is way down. Unemployment up. All of the objective metrics answer that question for you. The answer is no, you're not as well off as you were four years ago.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Gentlemen, Republicans have released a new ad attacking President Obama for saying the same thing that he did four years ago. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, POLITICAL AD)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are the steps that we must take.
There are plenty of steps we can take --
Right now.
Right now.
To start getting our country back on track.
To help create jobs and grow this economy.
If we are going to deal with our dependence on foreign oil --
If we're going to end our dependence on foreign oil --
We recruit an army of new teachers.
I want to recruit an army of new teachers.
Make college affordable.
Make college more affordable.
And repair our crumbling roads and bridges.
We've got crumbling roads and bridges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Great research and editing but, L.Z., is it fair, as some argue, that it will take more than Obama's first four years to turn the economy around?
GRANDERSON: You know, I'm really cracking up inside because I cannot believe they want to try to play that game, the videotape rewind because if you hold up Mitt Romney and do the same thing it would be even more hilarious in my opinion.
Now, to really address your question -- no, of course not. It took much longer than four years to get in the state we're in. It will take more than three-plus years to get us out of this mess and I think if you take a look at what the numbers were looking like in 2007-2008 as President Obama was heading into the White House, with the hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost, you look at it now and you see that for the past 25, 26 consecutive months, that we've had a job increase, I think things are turning around.
But he still needs more time. The country needs more time.
SAMBOLIN: Will, is it a fair ad?
CAIN: Yes, I think it's a fair ad to hold President Obama to the standards he set for himself. I think it's more fair, in fact, than asking are you better off than you were four years ago?
So, look at this -- President Obama is asking for four more years. We should ask ourselves the series of questions. Are we in the midst of a recovery? The answer to that it looks like maybe we are but, look, the American economy recovers from recessions. We do that in every recession. There's never been one we haven't recovered from.
Leading you to the second question is this as good a recovery as you could have asked for? Well, this is the deepest and slowest recession and recovery from a recession since World War II. It's the longest, most drawn out recession.
So do you ask yourself, is it heading in the right direction, does it need four more years to effectuate that recovery? I think you start asking yourself a third question, do you like the long-term vision of the country that President Obama has put forward?
Answer those and you can pick your choice in this election. For me, it's -- there was too many distractions, health care was a distraction from recovery. And I don't appreciate the long-term vision of the country that he's laid out.
SAMBOLIN: So, Will --
GRANDERSON: In all fairness -- I was going to say, in all fairness absolutely you're right about that, will. You have to mention there's been a high level of obstruction within Congress, within the Republican Party that helped prevent some of the things that President Obama wanted to accomplish during his first term.
I mean, think it's disingenuous to suggest it's all because of President Obama's leadership that we haven't gotten there. The Republicans, which has been documented by credible sources including "TIME" magazine, really went out of their way to block anything the president wanted to do to turn this economy around so that he'd look poor when it was time for re-election.
CAIN: Look, L.Z., President Obama got to lead this country through a $800 billion stimulus package, a massive health care bill. He had plenty of political capital to get a lot of things done. It is perfectly fair for the American public to now look back and go, how did you spend your political capital?
If your answer to that is I wish I could have done more because Republicans stood in my way, I couldn't do more of the amazing things I did get done -- and by the way, President Obama got amazing amount done for a Democratic president in four years. Now I think it's fair for us to judge him on what he got the done and the results of those things.
SAMBOLIN: OK, Will Cain, L.Z. Granderson -- listen, guys, I could listen to you debate all day long but we've run out of time. Thank you very much.
L.Z. Granderson, Will Cain, thanks for being with us this morning.
CAIN: Thank you.
SAMBOLIN: And CNN coverage begins tomorrow at noon with Wolf Blitzer and the best political team on television. Submit your questions and get answers in real time live chat. Log on to CNN.com/roundtable in order to participate.
E-mails from Michael Jackson's tour promoter paint a scary picture of the troubled star as he prepared for his final "This Is It" tour. We'll get all the details coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back. Forty minutes past the hour.
The promoter for Michael Jackson's comeback tour wasn't so sure the King of Pop was ready. E-mails in Sunday's "Los Angeles Times" show that the tour director believed Jackson was paranoid and obsessive and suggested that a, quote, "top psychiatrist" evaluate him ASAP.
Nischelle Turner joins me from Los Angeles. Nischelle, what else did those e-mails say?
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN SHOWBIZ CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what, Zoraida -- plain and simple they said the executives were really worried about Michael Jackson's health and his ability to perform. Now, the "L.A. Times" obtained these e-mails after they were gathered for an insurance company lawsuit. The suit is seeking to avoid a $17.5 million policy that was purchased by promoter AEG Live in case Michael Jackson was not able to perform 50 shows scheduled for London O2 Arena.
Now, we don't know how the e-mails were obtained, but they do show a very concerned group of promoters who thought the Jackson tour was in jeopardy either because of health issues or because, as one executive wrote, quote, "He is lazy and constantly changes his mind to fit his immediate wants."
Now these e-mails detail an encounter between AEG Live President Randy Phillips and Michael Jackson the day the pop star was to publicly announce the shows. The e-mail has Phillips saying, quote, "M.J. is locked in his room, drunk and despondent. I'm trying to sober him up."
And he adds, quote, "I screamed at him so loud the walls are shaking. He is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self- loathing and doubt now that it is show time."
Now that was back in March of 2009. On that day the promoters blamed London traffic for Jackson being 90 minutes late for the announcement. You know, when CNN reached out to Phillips later that year to ask about Michael Jackson's health he told us, quote, "He's as healthy as he can be. No health problems whatsoever."
But, of course, as, Zoraida, those e-mails detail a totally different story.
SAMBOLIN: Wow. Has his family responded at all?
TURNER: No. No response just yet. You know, we are on top of this. This story just breaking yesterday so we are reaching out to al parties involved but we haven't gotten a response yet.
SAMBOLIN: All right. Nischelle Turner, live in Los Angeles -- thank you very much.
And Nischelle will be back with us next hour with more showbiz headlines, including details from Prince Harry's wild Vegas vacation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAMBOLIN: Checking "Top Stories."
Hurricane Isaac's effects are still being felt nearly a week after it slammed into the Gulf Coast. Just take a look at these pictures. Forecasters predict the Pearl River will crest today posing a potential flooding threat to St. Tammany Parish. President Obama is set to visit damaged areas in Louisiana, that is, for later today.
And tragedy at a football game in Georgia this weekend when a fan fell over a railing to his death. 20-year-old Isaac Grub was killed after falling from an upper level of the stadium during a game between North Carolina State and Tennessee. There he is there. Witnesses say Grub was celebrating a touchdown when that accident happened.
And take a look at these amazing pictures, flames engulfed an abandoned hotel early Sunday morning. This is Portland, Oregon. Firefighters battled the flames from the ground and by boat. Luckily no injuries were reported there.
And Prince Andrew makes headlines. He rappelled down London's Shard skyscraper this morning to raise money for charity. He made the descent from the 87th to the 20th story in 30 minutes and then reportedly said he would never do it again. The Shard is the tallest building in western Europe.
And some people in the Midwest could see severe storms today and remnants from Isaac are still dumping rains in the east. Meteorologist Alexandra Steele joins us now with where the rain is falling or expected to fall.
ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, good morning, Zoraida. Good morning, everyone. Believe it or not Isaac still has a hand in the showers, the thunderstorms, the flooding that we're seeing. Here is the current radar picture and you can see all the way from southern Ohio through Kentucky and Tennessee, West Virginia, down through Alabama we're watching these showers and the problem is they're so slow moving. They're just snailing (ph) along, kind of training, following off really the areas coming after them. And also here through the mid-Atlantic and the Carolina coast you see some very slow moving storms as well.
So is there more rain in the forecast? You bet there is. It's really beneficial for some. And in about an hour we'll talk more details about the drought. But this is the next 24 hours; look, between two and a half and about four and a half inches of rain predominantly from Birmingham southward. But it's an affair all the way up the East Coast into the northeast.
Look at New York State really right along the New York State thruway potentially about four inches of rain through the next two days as well. So a lot of moisture, we've got energy from Isaac. We've got a cold front we're tapping into kind of extra lift and extra oomph to squeeze out more moisture so kind of all the ingredients together for that.
So here is a look at the big picture today, Northern New England a beautiful day for you. Again, along the East Coast we're seeing really muggy conditions. So temperatures seem a lot lower in the 70s and low 80s but boy Zoraida it feels a lot sticker than 81 degrees or 79 degrees in the northeast.
SAMBOLIN: It sure does. Thank you so much, Alexandra Steele, live for us.
And Democrats getting ready to hold their convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. We are going to take you there live to see what voters in the tossup state say are the issues that are important to them.
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SAMBOLIN: It is 50 minutes past the hour.
And it's the place to be for top Democrats and their supporters this week, Charlotte, North Carolina. One week after Republicans gathered in Tampa, Florida to lay out their platform and rally for the party's faithful, Democrats are about to do that exact same thing.
CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is in Charlotte and you arrived there and you had a full plate. Tell us about it.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Already the excitement is building here. Obviously the Democrats are trying to answer what the Republicans did last week. We're at the CNN Grill, Zoraida. This is, of course, where we're going to be talking to a lot of people over the next couple of days.
We really are at ground zero when it comes to voters. This is a critical swing state, you're talking about North Carolina here, Charlotte -- a lot of big issues that are on the table.
But this is a place essentially where it's a dead heat between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. And one of the things that we're seeing here playing out is social issues as well as economic issues.
I want to bring up a point here. It was four years ago that it was just 14,000 votes that separated the two. President Obama and he took those 14,000 and put it over the top out of 4.3 million voters. That was the first time a Democrat did back since 1976.
And one of the things that we're seeing is different here than the RNC is really the diversity here. A kind of the umbrella if you will of all of the people that are coming to this ground zero, this Bible Belt state.
We went to a couple of events Zoraida yesterday. One of them was the Charlotte Association of Black Journalists, a lot of folks are here on the ground covering this. And they talked a bit about the differences, the experiences that they are having here. Clearly there is more representation -- minority representation, Africa-American, Latino representation.
The other thing that we went to is we went to a unity event; this is for the gay community. It was a local grass roots group essentially promoting gay rights. I talked to a number of individuals there. And it was kind of funny to see some folks they were actually posing with the Obama cut-out. That was the kind of enthusiasm that was there. And it really was kind of a happening party.
But in all seriousness, some of the people said and I had a chance to talk to them. One woman who is a Republican who says that she is thinking of switching parties and voting for President Obama this go around. She voted for McCain last time and it was the issue over same-sex marriage. I want you to take a listen to how she explained her decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDIE FITZGERALD, VOTER: I love Obama for that and you know, it's actually, I mean, it's one of those -- it might be a deal breaker. So I may just go ahead and switch to be a Democrat.
ERIN GOLDSTEIN, VOTER: Love is love. We are all one love, we all love each other. And just because two women love each other or two men love each other or a man and a woman love each other -- it shouldn't matter. It's all love, we are all love.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So Zoraida, that's one of the issues that's playing out here in North Carolina. And there are some people, some Democrats who say that the President might be paying for this, for this stance, his position on supporting same-sex marriage, because there are a lot of Evangelicals and others who do not support that position. There may be a lower turn out in the African-American community because of that. And so we're really are going to have to see how that plays out.
But a lot of people believe that 15 electoral votes in North Carolina is going to make a very, very big difference in terms of how this actually unfolds.
Economics as well we can't under play that at all. We're talking about yesterday Charlotte a big banking town. It is the home of Bank of America. We saw from Occupy Charlotte protesters out on the streets yesterday making the point here that they are not satisfied with the way these banks have been handled. And secondly if you look at the state, unemployment 9.6 percent, one of the highest in the country Zoraida.
So ground zero here, a lot of issues, a lot of ideas and of course the President will be coming here to make his case before the Democrats -- Zoraida.
SAMBOLIN: All right, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux thank you so much. We appreciate it.
We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SAMBOLIN: Don't you love the music? Andy Roddick's pre- retirement run continues at the U.S. Open. Roddick beat Fabio Fognini in four sets yesterday to advance to the round of 16. The 30-year-old Roddick announced last Thursday that this would be his last tournament.
Nothing like going out on top.
NFL and its referees broke off talks on a new contract over the weekend and that means replacements will be on the field for Wednesday's regular season opener.
CNN's Mark McKay reports, those substitute refs have had mixed results in the preseason.
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MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As another NFL season gets ready to kick off, disaster could be right behind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correction on the reporting of the foul. Both teams were on -- both fouls were on the kicking team. Five-yard penalty.
MCKAY: The NFL and its referees have been in a labor dispute ever since the last collective bargaining agreement expired three months ago. The NFL walked out the referees and hired replacements called from the lower levels of college football as well as the high school ranks.
Though the NFL continues to provide on the job training for these officials, the results have been mixed with some embarrassing moments that could put the credibility of the league at stake.
TOM COUGHLIN, NY GIANTS HEAD COACH: We just hope that these officials know the rules, know how to enforce them and can keep the game under control and keep order.
MCKAY: There are 121 NFL referees. They are considered part time employees who have other careers outside the NFL. Last year officials were paid an average of $149,000 plus benefits.
BEN REITER, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: The NFL referees want a raise in their salary. And make no mistake, they are requesting a significant raise. They want more than double that over the course of five years. The NFL is countering with annual raises over the next seven years of five percent to 11 percent.
There is quite a distance between those. There is also some issues about pensions and a few other things. But at the end of the day, the problem is financial.
MCKAY: The NFL Players Association has criticized Roger Goodell and the league saying they are jeopardizing players' safety by using inferior referees. ADAM PODLESH, CHICAGO BEARS PLAYER REPRESENTATIVE: I think on the whole, it's just, you know, in the back of our minds a bit of a concern because, like we said before, these referees have never refereed in an NFL season game. That is a bit of a concern.
REITER: Laws are only as good as their enforcement, really. In this case, if a player senses they can get away with something, helmet to helmet hits.
If they sense that order is not being upheld, they will take advantage of that. Really it's a public relations thing. It's a perception that the NFL is not doing everything it can to protect players playing a very dangerous game.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first week of games could determine which side gets the upper hand in negotiations. If the games come and go without incident, the NFL will continue using replacements and the locked out referees will continue to lose paychecks. If not the outrage from fans, coaches, and players will put pressure on the league to get a deal done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAMBOLIN: No new talks have been scheduled between the NFL and the referee's association. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
