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American Journalist Disappears in Syria; Democratic National Convention Begins

Aired September 03, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And now hour two.

Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me.

We're keeping an eye on the urgent situation inside of Syria. And as we get word, CIA Director David Petraeus is just next door in Turkey, thousands of Syrians looking for safe haven there as the regime is targeting as you know their own people.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is on the border. We will take you to him in just a moment, but first this.

It Labor Day. Hopefully not too many you have are having to labor here. But it's also the unofficial start of the campaign season. That's how it's been in the past. But I want you take a look here. This is Mitt Romney. He's spending the day like hopefully most of you just hanging out. Romney took his boat for a spin on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee. No public events scheduled for Mitt Romney this week. He has debate preparations happening in private.

President Obama, Labor Day as in Toledo. He spoke within the past hour. He talked about his party's convention this week. It starts in earnest tomorrow and he critiqued the Tampa Republicans. He said Mitt Romney whiffed last week at his convention on the subject of creating new jobs. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When Governor Romney had his chance to let you in on the secret sauce of job creation, he did not offer you a single new idea. It was just a retread of the same old policies that have been sticking it to the middle class for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: President Obama as we mentioned in Toledo earlier today. He is expected to arrive in his party's convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, Wednesday.

I want to go to Joe Johns. He's there for me in Charlotte right now.

Hopefully a little cooler than in Tampa. Hopefully no storms for you in Charlotte. Just where are you, Joe, and what's happening behind you?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This is the intersection of Trade and Tryon in the middle of Charlotte, North Carolina. It's a big party, basically, street festival, CarolinaFest.

Nothing happening on the stage directly behind me. The next big act we expect to see this hour is Jeff Bridges. The Oscar winning actor and his band the Abiders, we saw them during a sound check earlier today, a little jarring to see this person so many people know just as an actor singing country music, but doing great job. The crowd will be looking forward to that shortly.

BALDWIN: Does a pretty decent rendition of "The Weary Kind."

But music aside, Mr. Johns, let's talk about the president, because you covered this, the President won North Carolina in 2008. It was a huge victory for him. A Democrat winning a state in the Deep South. I want to show this because there's a poll out today showing North Carolina now leading -- Mitt Romney leading North Carolina you see there by four points.

Our own polling shows North Carolina is pretty much even Steven. My question is does the Obama campaign expect to bounce in North Carolina by virtue of having the convention in Charlotte and why is the convention there in the first place?

JOHNS: Well, I think that's the reason they put the convention here because the president and the Democrats know they need North Carolina. They know he won four years ago.

They also expect it to be very much in play. I think those polls certainly reflect it. "The Charlotte Observer" poll showing the challenger Mitt Romney ahead by four points. The CNN/ORC poll not too long ago showing it basically a dead heat. There you go. They expect the state to be in play. They hope that this convention will give them the boost they need in the Tar Heel State.

BALDWIN: Finally, just what is the protocol on which party goes first and which party goes second in terms of holding conventions? You would think being the latter convention is advantageous.

JOHNS: The party of the president goes first. The party that does not control the White House -- the party of the president goes second. The party not in control of the White House goes first.

That's why the Democrats are going second. You're right. A little bit of an advantage there, hope they can get a boost coming out of this going straight into Election Day. We will see what happens.

BALDWIN: Joe Johns, let us know when the party gets rolling along there at the CarolinaFest in Charlotte. Thank you.

One question I know a lot of people are asking here is this, are you better off than you were four years ago? This question getting all kinds of attention on the campaign trail after comments from Democrats just over the weekend. Some of whom struggled to anxious the four year question on television. But the economy is a top issue for voters and the August jobs report comes out this coming Friday.

Christine Romans breaks down the numbers for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Let's start with jobs.

The unemployment rate, 7.8 percent when the president took office. It spiked to 10 percent and is now back down to 8.3 percent. Both of these numbers too high. Both mean you feel uncomfortable about your job situation but it's an improvement from the worst levels right after the great recession.

This is how jobs growth when you look at it every single month. And 818,000 jobs were lost when the president took office. This loss of jobs was very serious and very dangerous in the economy. Tried to get some momentum here and now it's been about two years of steady, but not spectacular jobs growth.

The most recent month, 163,000 jobs were created, home prices, a real important gauge for how you feel. There was a double dip lower in home prices. But look here. You have stabilization. When the president took office, the median price of a home, $175,000. It's now up to about $185,000. That double dip in home prices looks like it's over and the housing market while not robust is stabilizing.

Finally, let's talk about our national debt because you heard a lot of about this from the Republicans last week. This is the debt as the size of our economy. It was 54 percent of our economy in 2009 when the president took office. And then look. As we tried to get out of that horrible crisis, the spending exploded, 2011, 67 percent of the size of our economy, by 2012, 72.5 percent.

A lot of different reasons there, but the biggest driver of that, tax cuts, lots and lots of tax cuts that began back in 2001, the Bush tax cuts, which are now the Bush-Obama tax cuts, because the president was also cutting taxes for the middle class as well.

Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Christine, thank you.

Would you like to know what it's really like to experience the DNC from the inside? Guess who has certainly covered his fair share of conventions? This man, Wolf Blitzer. Tomorrow at noon you can join Wolf and CNN's political team online for the CNN Election Roundtable.

They did this last week in Tampa. It was so successful, they're rolling it out again in Charlotte. All you have to do is submit your question and you get answers in real time during our live chat. Where do you go? Go to CNN.com/roundtable.

More news developing on this Labor Day. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: As more die in Syria, an American journalist disappears and now we're getting word the Syrian regime may have him. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

(voice-over): Tourists on edge. One of America's most popular landmarks warns of a deadly outbreak.

Plus, a prince scale a skyscraper. Find out why,.

And President Obama revealed.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At 6:30, we want to be at the dinner table and I want to be helping with their homework.

BALDWIN: CNN gets extraordinary access inside the White House. You will see a preview of tonight's documentary.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Austin Tice is 31 years old and a freelance journalist from Texas and he traveled to Syria to share the rebels' perspective, but two weeks ago, silence. No one has heard from him. No one saw him.

The U.S. State Department says it's working to confirm reports of Tice's capture by the Syrian government. His family has released this statement. Let me read it for you -- quote -- "Austin is our precious son and we beseech the Syrian government to treat him well and return him safely to us soon possible" -- end quote.

In his hometown of Houston, dozens of people gathered in the peaceful protest to call for his safe return. One protester called Tice an American hero saying he left the safety of his country to show the world the atrocities happening in Syria.

Meantime, Syrians are getting out of their country by the thousands and they're getting out whatever way they can, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon. It's creating the crisis along these borders. Turkey though is really bearing the brunt of it all. More than 80,000 have been registered there. Jordan not far behind, now exceeding 70,000 refugees, and close to 229,000 refugees have left Syria since the uprising began.

And CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is on the Turkish-Syrian border -- Nic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A few people -- it really is just a few -- a couple of dozens vehicles have crossed through that border crossing behind me here. Some of the cars have been packed out with clothes, possession, suitcases, blankets stuffed into the cars. We have seen mattresses tied to the roofs, heavy bags tied to the roofs of some of the vehicles.

Every space taken up either by baggage or by people getting out of the country. But those appear to be lucky ones. On the other side of the border there about a few hundred meters away, there are about 4,000 to 5,000 families, men, women and children living in the open waiting for an opportunity to come in to Turkey.

Turkey has already taken about 80,000 refugees. They are building three more camps. They say those will be ready in a couple of weeks. They will be able to house about 30,000 people. However, already inside Turkey there are about 17,000 to 20,000 people living in schools, living in government buildings.

The schools here go back within a couple of weeks and the government will need to prioritize those new camp spaces, and the 30,000 will almost automatically be filled to two-thirds full by the refugees already inside Turkey. The others waiting on the other side, they're told they will be allowed in, but the concern is that many, many more will want to come.

It is tense on the other side of the border today, more Free Syrian Army members on the other side of the border. Concerns about the possibility of another attack. About 50 kilometers from the border here, a bombing strike that killed more than 12 people.

It's exactly those type of bombing strikes that are driving people to the border and making them flee. That was seen here today, people crossing over and getting out as best they can. Many more behind them waiting to get out.

Nic Robertson, CNN, on the Turkish-Syrian border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Nic Robertson, thank you.

Let's go to the live pictures, because look who we have now spotted in Charlotte. There she is, the first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama. We will talk to Wolf Blitzer and have him set the scene for us after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Before we move along and talk gas prices, just one more sneak peek. This is the first lady. She has now entered the Time Warner Cable Arena and this of course in Charlotte. As soon as she steps on to that stage, we will bring you more of these live pictures and we will bring in Wolf Blitzer. Remember, she's speaking tomorrow night in prime time, just a couple nights before her husband.

(FINANCIAL UPDATE)

BALDWIN: We showed you CNN's fascinating documentary on Mitt Romney. Now it's the turn for the president. CNN got just incredible access here to the White House, to all the main players, including this guy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAHM EMANUEL (D), MAYOR OF CHICAGO: Two months before a major election in 2008, do the Democrats tell George Bush, well, this is your banking problem, not ours? I remember being in the room until 2:00 in the morning negotiating with Hank Paulson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We will give you a preview next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just another quick look at the first lady.

She's way up there in one of the skyboxes inside the Time Warner Cable Arena there in Charlotte. Here she is. This is of course the eve of day one of the Democratic National Convention. She's speaking tomorrow prime time.

You know how this works. Really, any of these speakers whether they're the president, vice president, former presidents and the first lady, they like to go through and they like to check the podium height and sort of see how the stage is set for their big speaking appearance.

As soon as we see her on stage doing that, we will bring it to you live, check in with my friend Wolf Blitzer who is there and covering the DNC for us this week.

You know the Democrats are set to launch the convention here and just in time, because we have this up-close look for you at the candidate for reelection, President Barack Obama. We're calling it "Obama Revealed: The Man, The President."

It airs 8:00 Eastern tonight.

And with me right now from Charlotte is chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin.

Jessica, I'm excited and got the DVR set. Tell me what I'm going to see tonight.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke.

We decided to take a look and pull back a little bit from the day to day of the campaigning and look back over the last thee-and-a-half years of the big moments of the presidency to help people get a better understanding of both how President Obama has been as a leader and a little bit more about who he is as a man, because we found he is one of those people voters felt they knew a little bit better as a candidate and then when he became president they weren't sure they knew him as well.

Took a little closer look at him to help people understand who he is.

BALDWIN: In doing so, of course, you interviewed him. You asked him about something actually we hit upon last hour, that being really his reputation as being a loner, some say standoffish. Tell me about that.

YELLIN: The title is very literal, the president, the man.

One of the questions I asked him about is this reputation he has as being cool and aloof. And we look at whether that has helped him or hurt him or both in office. I asked him, is it fair that this description of him is cool and how has it helped, how has sit hurt? Here is part of his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Sometimes Michelle and I not doing the circuit and going out to dinners with folks is perceived as us being cool. It actually has more to do with us being parents.

When we're in town here in Washington, in the evenings, 6:30 we want to be at the dinner table with our kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: So, there's a lot more to that answer. There are a lot more opinions on whether or not his staying at home with the kids, if that's really the whole story, has sort of hurt him in terms of his relationships on Capitol Hill and with some of the power elites in Washington who could help him cut deals.

And we get into that and more in the documentary tonight, Brooke, interviewed a lot of people, and I hope you will watch.

BALDWIN: Sure, of course, painting a big picture of exactly, as you say, the man, the president, who Barack Obama is.

Jessica Yellin, we will be. Let's just remind everyone again you can watch "Obama Revealed: The Man, The President," tonight 8:00 Eastern only here on CNN.

In one man's lifetime, he married thousands. He claimed Jesus Christ spoke to him. And chances are, if you have ever ordered sushi, it impacted his wallet. You will hear about the corporate empire that Reverend Sun Myung Moon leaves behind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: He was a self-proclaimed messiah and he built his Unification Church into a religious and corporate empire that really spanned the globe.

The Reverend Sun Myung Moon died over this weekend. If you are among the younger set, the name, perhaps, doesn't ring a bell, but if you were around in the 1970s and the 1980s, you can't forget him. He's probably best known for scenes like this. Look at these crowds. Mass weddings in stadiums and arenas where he united thousands of couples who met just days or hours earlier.

He also claimed Jesus Christ once came to him and asked him and finish his mission on earth. That mission grew to include a worldwide following, some say cult, that numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

He cultivated relationships with world leaders, including the U.S. president, founded conservative media outlets like "The Washington Times" newspaper and reportedly had the worldwide sushi market cornered.

But his high-level contacts didn't keep him out of trouble. He once served time in the U.S. for tax evasion.

The Unification Church says Moon died of pneumonia in South Korea. He was 92 years old.

Each and every week, Dr. Sanjay Gupta introduces us to the innovators of the world and, today, Dr. Gupta talks to this one man who has turned his love of agriculture into aqua-culture or farming, sustainably, in the deep sea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN O'HANLON, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF OPEN BLUE: Our whole goal is to provide more natural, healthier environment for the fish. Eight miles off the coast out in clear blue water, (INAUDIBLE), the fish never see the same water twice.

It's a high-energy environment. The fish are constantly swimming. They are not couch potatoes just swimming around in a (INAUDIBLE).

Not only are we getting a cleaner fish, it's free of contaminants. It's free of any of those harmful contaminants that you commonly see in the news around seafood, such as PCBs, mercury, pesticides. It doesn't exist and we can prove it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We hope you check out more of Dr. Gupta's interview on "THE NEXT LIST." It's next weekend, Sunday, September 9th, 2:00 p.m. on CNN.

And, now, for some video we hadn't really seen before. A prince scales down a skyscraper. We'll tell you why.

Plus, Charlotte is known for its big banks, sweet tea and, these days, football star Cam Newton, but this week, President Obama and Democrats are calling it home and no one knows the city better than Jay Thomas, actor and Sirius radio host. He's going to join us live from the CNN Grill to tell us what to expect, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: When you're a member of the royal family, you do everything with style, including raising money for charity. And somewhere in here is Britain's Prince Andrew. You'll see him, rappelling down the side of Europe's tallest building for a good cause, of course.

The 52-year-old began his decent down The Shard on the 87th floor this morning. Here, he is, making it down 60 stories in 30 minutes. Yeah, I think I'd be taking my cool time.

In all, the prince and his group raised the equivalent of nearly half a million dollars.

North Carolina, swing state in 2008, you know the story. Obama won in an upset victory then. A swing state today in 2012. Take a look at the numbers. These are the latest polls here out of North Carolina, have Mitt Romney polling ahead of President Obama. The state's 15 electoral votes are just as crucial this year, of course, as they were in 2008.

I want to bring in Jay Thomas, actor and host of Sirius radio show, "The Jay Thomas Show," who knows Charlotte, so well. He's been there for 30 years. Also, Jay, full disclosure, you are an Obama supporter.

JAY THOMAS, SIRIUS RADIO HOST: Yes.

BALDWIN: And I've read you liken this presidency to a marriage which began with all the pomp and circumstance. That's the wedding, AKA the election day. Voters were so emotionally invested in hope and change.

Fast forward four years, honeymoon's over. Is that emotional investment still there, enough for him?

THOMAS: You know, I really think that he's done everything he can do and I don't think anyone else would have done anything else differently.

But it is truly the honeymoon period is over. I'd like him to still be the president, mainly because I don't think we should change horses in the middle of this.

But I really worry and, even here in Charlotte, I worry about it. I wonder if his original core that was so excited are going to really vote for him and get out there and work for him. They're not going to vote for Romney, but are they really going to continue voting for him and letting him continue the agenda?

You really have a choice here. Either you want the very, very, very conservative white guys over here or you want sort of the people that are more interested in what I think the country is going to look like in the future.

And, so, I look at it as a clear choice and I still like what Obama is doing and going to do in the future. I like him. BALDWIN: No, of course, you like him. I know a lot of people like him, but, you know, the Romney folks and having been in Tampa and hearing from them, it's sort of like they're, you know, talking to these people who voted for Barack Obama, especially those swing voters - so, so important.

They're saying, hey, we recognize what you did. We recognize that you were swept up in this allure of this man, but you know what? Four years later just about, it's time for change.

THOMAS: Well, you know, "The Wall Street Journal" had this. In the 20th and the 21st centuries, Republican presidents outspent government funding by 8 to 10 percent over any Democratic president.

You know, George Bush quadrupled the education funding, so they really have no history of this cutting, right, and this austerity that they talk about.

If I was on welfare, if I had social security, if I was getting Medicare, if I was getting anything from the government, if this guy Paul Ryan's plan comes in, they're going to be a lot of people hurting and I really don't think the United States -- I don't think people want to hurt as badly as it's going to take to put their plan into action.

That's what I think. I always like to guy that has the printing press that makes the money. I like that guy. I think they ought to just - so ...

BALDWIN: Let's talk about your guy. Let me talk about your guy because you know Charlotte. You know back in 2008 that then Senator -- his campaign official has been pretty quick to point out that his convention speech in Denver, who can forget that night, right? It sold out, boom, in 24 hours.

We are four days out from the president's big speech, you know, and he's got this 74,000-seat stadium and they have no indication they're going to be able to fill it up. What does that tell you?

THOMAS: It ought to be bobble-head night. They need to give something away, first of all.

BALDWIN: Is that really what he's going to have to do? I mean, in all seriousness, Jay Thomas? Bobble-heads? Come on.

THOMAS: They were accusing CNN of standing in empty seats. You know, the unnamed network of accusing you of making it look like Romney didn't have people at his convention.

I think, no matter how many people show up here at the stadium, I don't think anybody will be talking about that within three days.

How about if he take this Occupy people and just let them occupy the empty seats. Listen, I also live in Hollywood.

BALDWIN: Yeah? THOMAS: I live in Hollywood. CGI is there for a reason. God gave us CGI for a reason.

BALDWIN: Oh, my goodness, let's not hope. No CGI for either convention, but I want to ask you about this hot topic, Jay.

THOMAS: Sure. Now, the camera men are all nodding yes.

BALDWIN: Those cameramen.

Let me ask you about this question. It was Ronald Reagan who made it quite, quite famous. He used it very effectively at the time, the question being, are you better off than four years ago?

It's kind of hard in some respects for President Obama really to make that argument when you look at the unemployment rate and it's still extraordinarily high. The economy is still running on fumes, Jay.

THOMAS: You know what? I really don't think that Obama has put the facts up. I mean, if you really look at - and I'd have blackboards and pointers everywhere.

George Bush, I think they lost 3.3 million jobs. He really has put 3.4 million people back to work, but that's barely a percent of our population, so I don't think you really feel it

I also think the regulations against the so-called "bad guys" that got us into this, they haven't taken effect yet, so I really believe - go back to the honeymoon thing.

BALDWIN: Yeah?

THOMAS: I think you're four years in. I don't know if you're married or not, but four years in, you know, people start to smell differently and look differently and act differently, but you still love them.

BALDWIN: They get an inch.

THOMAS: You still want to stay with them.

BALDWIN: The itch.

BALDWIN: Yeah, absolutely. You don't want to be away from them. You still love them, but, you know, it's not as exciting as in the beginning.

This is really hard work and I'd like it to continue until the end of his term. And I also think that Mitt Romney is a nice guy and I like that they said Barack Obama is a good man, but not a good president. I like that that is starting to be said in the campaign, also.

BALDWIN: How do you think that romance is going to go, right there where you're sitting in North Carolina come November 6th? THOMAS: I don't think Obama carries North Carolina.

BALDWIN: Why?

THOMAS: I think he carries Charlotte.

Well, you know, I think this is still the South. I think they would rather dislike him than like him.

I also think you have a problem even with conservative black churches. You have many people that are against abortion and against gay marriage. I think the future of this country is gay marriage and choice, but right now, there are people that are selling something for right now.

The future looks more like Barack Obama's administration than Mitt Romney's administration than Mitt Romney's administration. I absolutely believe the 21st and 22nd century of the United States is not going to be two, square, white guys. I just believe that with all my heart.

BALDWIN: Who are you most excited hearing speak this week?

THOMAS: I can't wait. I want to hear Obama speak and I hope that Biden brings a chair up on stage and pretends he's talking to Clint Eastwood. That's all I hope.

BALDWIN: Jay Thomas. Jay Thomas, thanks for stopping by the CNN Grill. Enjoy it. Enjoy it for me.

THOMAS: And you know what?

BALDWIN: Yeah, go ahead.

THOMAS: The worst part of this is I have boycotted Chick-fil-A. I can't stand it anymore. My friends and I are going to hold hands. My friend Larry and I are going to hold hands and go and get a combo right after this, OK?

BALDWIN: All right. All right, Jay. You have fun with that. Thank you, sir. Have fun.

THOMAS: Thank you, Brooke, very much.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

THOMAS: Great talking to you.

BALDWIN: It is one of America's most famous landmarks, but now Yosemite National Park is warning tourists - and I'm talking about 10,000 of them -- that there is a deadly virus out there and it has a lot of folks on edge.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: One of the most serene places in, really, the whole country is now the source of a lot of anxiety. As many as 10,000 people may have been exposed to the hantavirus at Yosemite National Park.

California's Department of Public Health says six people have contracted it, two of who have died. All of them had visited Yosemite.

The CDC adds four of those sickened specifically stayed at the signature tent cabins of Curry Village in the park.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen on this and I never heard of this hantavirus.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. It's not all that common and what it is is a virus that in mouse droppings and urine and it becomes - I know, gross -- it becomes airborne, people breathe it in and they get so sick so quickly, Brooke, that, by the time they get to the hospital, many of these people are going right to the ICU.

BALDWIN: How common is this?

COHEN: You know, when you look back from 1993 till now, it's only about 600 cases, so not a lot, but here's the issue. About half of those people die, so that's a really high mortality rate.

BALDWIN: What do you do to prevent this? I mean, people want to go to Yosemite, et cetera.

COHEN: What's interesting is you not only have to worry when you go to a campground, but a lot of people who get this, it's in their own homes, so their are things that you need to think about.

So, first of all, look for holes and seal them up. Trap rodents. Clean up food. Don't leave it out because rodents want it, too. And disinfect surfaces.

And, you know, we just saw all those cabins. If you're entering a cabin that looks like it hasn't been opened for a while, open it up, air it out, give the mice a chance ...

BALDWIN: To go away.

COHEN: ... to go away. Right. And then come back, disinfect it. Spray disinfectant, leave and then come back again.

BALDWIN: Are these kids, adults?

COHEN: You know, it can be either.

BALDWIN: OK.

COHEN: And people who have pre-existing health problems might be more at risk, but I tell you, with a 50 percent mortality rate, it's something everyone needs to think about.

BALDWIN: Frightening. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

BALDWIN: And for more stories, of course, from Elizabeth Cohen and crew, head to CNN.com/empoweredpatient.

Tonight, President Obama visits Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac, but folks there are worried about a river cresting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A stolen U-Haul truck packed with equipment for Vice President Joe Biden's event in Detroit has now been found. The Secret Service says the truck was discovered near Henry Ford Hospital today. Agents have been assessing the contents of the truck just to make sure the equipment was all there, was all accounted for.

The union rally the vice president spoke at today went off without a hitch despite the missing equipment.

And very exciting, minutes away here from an extra-special "Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer. Wolf, the last time I saw you, it was Tampa. Bada-bing-bada-boom, you're now in Charlotte.

You know, and this really is the Super Bowl for political junkies. And I know we saw the first lady not too far from where you're, sitting moments ago.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": She's here. She's here at the Time Warner Cable Arena and she's doing some interviews, we're told, up in some of the sky boxes. There's - you see a picture. There, she is, right now. These are live pictures.

She's also checking out the place. She's going to be giving her big speech, obviously, tomorrow night, getting ready for the president, when he will do his acceptance speech Thursday night.

So, this is a lot of preliminary work that's going on. The Democrats will have their response, their opportunity to respond to the Republicans at their convention in Tampa last week.

And, you know, this question that Ronald Reagan used so effectively ...

BALDWIN: Yes.

BLITZER: ... in 1980 against an incumbent Democratic president, Jimmy Carter, has now been revived. Are you better of today than you were four years ago?

Reagan used that effectively in 1980, got himself elected, defeated an incumbent, as it turned out to be, a one-term President Jimmy Carter and, now, both the Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are beginning to ask that same question. So, we have the two chairs of the political parties, Debbie Wassermann Schultz in the 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican party, in the 5:00 p.m. hour, and we're going to go through this. Is the country better of today or was the country better off four years ago?

So good, serious discussions coming up. All the other political news and the worldwide news. We're not going to neglect that, even though we're here in Charlotte.

BALDWIN: Hey, Wolf ...

BLITZER: So, it's a good place. It's a convention.

BALDWIN: Just because I have you, I'm just curious, your take. I was talking to Ryan Cillizza who wrote that, just a - he wrote a great piece in "The New Yorker" sort of about the relationship between President Obama and President Bill Clinton.

I don't know if you had a chance to read it, but I'm just curious what you make of the fact that what normally would be the vice president's spot to speak at the convention on the big night before the president, it's now Bill Clinton. What are your thoughts?

BLITZER: Well, Bill Clinton is clearly the most popular male president, male Democrat out there, right now. I think his wife, Hillary Clinton, may be even more popular, higher favorability numbers, but she's the secretary of state. She can't even come here because she's supposed to be above the political fray like the secretary or defense or the secretary of the treasury.

She happens to be Indonesia, as we speak right now, so she's not coming here. I just suspect and I tweeted this earlier, maybe four years down the road, she'll be at the Democratic convention, but that's another story.

Bill Clinton is very popular. He will certainly help President Obama try to get himself reelected and that's why they're bringing him here. He has a lot of credibility on these economic issues, the jobs- creation issues and I'm sure he'll deliver a powerful speech Wednesday night.

You're right. Normally, the vice president does that on Wednesday night, but Biden is going to be speaking Thursday, as is the president of the United States at the big football stadium. About 60,000, 70,000 people will be there.

We're now here in the basketball arena. Maybe 20,000 people will be inside here, so that's why Bill Clinton is here because they see he's going to be a big asset.

And you're absolutely right that Ryan Cillizza piece in "The New Yorker" was terrific and it does underscore the once-strained relationship between Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, but it's clearly gotten better.

BALDWIN: Wolf, thank you. We'll see you in a couple minutes there from Charlotte.

And just, you know - well, conventions like these, you see, obviously, political folks, but you also have actors and actresses and musicians and, so, we just turned around some sound.

Look at this. It's "The Dude." It's Jeff Bridges. He was performing at "CarolinaFest." This is a DNC-event. Take a listen.

Jeff Bridges in Charlotte.

Want to talk, though, about the Gulf region because they really can now only watch and wait. People living in Saint Tammany Parish, Louisiana, are in danger of more flooding from the swollen Pearl River.

Parish officials are urging folks to stay away, even though the mandatory evacuations have been lifted.

In just a few hours, President Obama will get a first-hand look at the cleanup there. He'll tour areas where Isaac's storm surge pushed waters over the banks of Lake Pontchartrain.

` CNN iReporter Gerard Braud says floodwaters aren't the only issue facing people there living in Louisiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED BROWARD (PH), CNN IREPORTER: Alligators, a problem here. This is the fourth one they've caught on our block today. That's what it's like after the storm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, alligators, floodwaters, the Pearl River ...

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: "Skeeters."

BALDWIN: "Skeeters."

MYERS: Eventually, yes.

BALDWIN: When is it expected to crest?

MYERS: Well, that's the thing. You know, there's a lot of water that didn't just fall on Louisiana. It fell on Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and it all has to, eventually, if it didn't soak in - a lot of it did because there was a drought there.

It has to get down to the Gulf of Mexico and this Pearl River was a problem all weekend long. There was a lock up north of Slidell that the water was going around the lock.

There's the lock. It stops water from going in, so the boats can go up and down and keep kind of navigating up the river. Well, they had to open the lock a little bit to let pressure out because the water was actually going around in the dirt. They thought that maybe the erosion was going to take the entire lock and push it away and then, all the sudden, you lose the lock and you lose the ability to hold the water back and you have a bigger flood.

BALDWIN: What are you showing me?

MYERS: Here's New Orleans. Here's Slidell. He's the Pearl River Valley, all the way up to Bogalusa. Here's the Pearl River that we're worried about. Those big purple squares, those are where the rivers are now in major flood stage.

So, here's Bush, Louisiana. Here's the river. Here's the lock, right there. And that's what was happening. The water was going around the lock on this side and, if you erode the dirt, all the sudden you don't have any pressure here. You can lose the entire lock.

Farther to the South, this is where the water was going. They let some water out and, Slidell, you're going to get flooding.

On up here very close to the river, there's some neighborhoods here and here. You'll probably get about three-to-four-feet of water here, maybe one-to-two-feet of water, but I tell you what. Two feet of water really does an awful lot of damage, no matter what, in any house.

And then, if it keeps going up, Brooke, here's the I-10. They could actually lose part of the I-10. They may have to shut it down a little bit just to see if that goes up to 21 feet, the current forecast crest is 19.5, and, so, therefore they would not have to shut down I-10 at that point for a 19.5 foot surge crest.

BALDWIN: So, I just want to throw this at you. I was reading about this this morning, about at least one of the positives, if you will, from all of this rain from the storm is we've been talking so much about the farmers in the middle of the country and it rained and rained, at least for them.

MYERS: You would love to think that that helped the corn, but the corn was already done. There was nothing that was going to help the farmers and the corn because the corn didn't develop and, just because you add a little rain to undeveloped corn, doesn't mean it's ever going to come back.

It didn't pollinate properly. It didn't crown. It didn't dough properly. The corn crop is in deep, deep trouble. Obviously, only one - 21 percent -- 1 percent excellent and then, altogether, 21 percent good-to-excellent.

So, very little corn crop out there that's doing -- if it was already excellent, then that helped. The rain did help, but unfortunately, where it rained, the corn wasn't excellent.

BALDWIN: That's unfortunate. I was wondering if that would help them. Hey, just because I see it behind you.

MYERS: Yeah. Yeah, I know.

BALDWIN: The Democratic National Convention ...

MYERS: Can you - can believe it?

BALDWIN: The forecast, do I see rain?

MYERS: Yeah. This moisture that was still Isaac. I can't say where the center is because we can't find it, but there's humidity out there and that humidity is still going to come down in the form of rain.

So, there was rain that affected the RNC and rain that affected the DNC, as well.

BALDWIN: Oh, boy. They're going to have to bring those umbrellas come - what is it -- Thursday night.

MYERS: That's the big one.

BALDWIN: Chad, thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much for being with me here on this Monday. I hope you've had a wonderful Labor Day. We'll be back here, same time tomorrow.

Let's send you to Charlotte, though. Wolf Blitzer, "The Situation Room" begins now.

BLITZER: Thanks very much.