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French Magazine Fuels Muslim Tension; Romney Makes Appeal To Latinos; "Fast And Furious" Report Due Soon; Food Recalls; Race and the Castle Doctrine Romney's Comments Anger Conservatives; Difference in Romney, Obama Defense Plans; Uterus Transplant a Success.

Aired September 19, 2012 - 13:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, hello, again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield This hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, breakthrough new surgery that allows a woman to get a transplanted uterus from her own mother. And more fallout from the Mitt Romney comments as the presidential candidate heads to Miami to smooth things over with Latinos. Let's get straight to it.

A French magazine stirs up more anger among Muslims. This satirical magazine, "Charlie Hebdo" published cartoons today depicting figure resembling the prophet Mohammed. The French Muslim council calls the cartoons insulting. French authorities have stepped up security outside the magazine's offices. They also plan to close embassies and schools in 20 countries tomorrow as a precaution that a cartoonist for the magazine says the concerns are overblown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUZ, CARTOONIST, "CHARLIE HEBDO": There was a big fire of paranoia -- French paranoia from the media that link us to -- that put us into this -- put us into the top of the news just right now. For the moment it's just -- it's just a big deal built by the media.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Last November, the magazine's office was firebombed over an issue mocking Islam. France has the largest Muslim population in western Europe.

Back in this country, Mitt Romney goes after the Latino vote when he appears on a Spanish language network tonight, but Romney may have to explain those secretly recorded comments from a May fundraiser where he joked that being Latino would help him win the election. Jim Acosta joining us live.

So, Jim, you know, Romney has a pretty sizable interview tonight on Univision's "Meet the Candidates Forum," and he may have to deal with this remark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- and I think a time of choice. Elections are always about choices, but I think the choice is many more stark relief, as you probably know, was the governor of Michigan and was the head of a car company. But he was born in Mexico, and had he been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot at winning this. He was born from Americans living in Mexico. They lived there for a number of years, and -- I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be Latino.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. He says -- he says right there, you heard on the tape, that he was joking when he said that, but he faces some serious problems gaining ground with Latino voters. So, Jim, back with us now, what do we expect him to say tonight to that audience?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we expect him to say, Fredricka, is, you know, he will be making an outreach to Latino voters. Obviously, he's been doing this the last several days. This all started out in Los Angeles on Monday when he gave that speech to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. And then, these videos came out of nowhere from "Mother Jones" and has forced his campaign to sort of play a couple of days of defense. Now, he is starting to turn that around. You're right. That video that you just showed, him talking about, well, maybe I might have a better time getting elected if I were a Latino, I would expect, yes, tonight at this Univision forum that Jorge Ramos, who is a very tough interviewer, will ask Mitt Romney to explain those comments. And I think we will hear, for the first time, Mitt Romney talking about that, so that should be very interesting.

But what is also worth noting is that just today and I think a little bit of yesterday, Fredricka, we're seeing Mitt Romney take those remarks that were in that videotape about the 47 percent of Americans being dependent on government assistance, being victims, that those are the people who are voting for President Obama. What we've seen from Mitt Romney in the last 12 to 24 hours is really the GOP nominee starting to own those comments and starting to weave those comments into his remarks.

We heard some of this last night in a speech that he gave down in Dallas at a fundraiser there. He's giving a speech at a fundraiser right here in Atlanta right now, and he is starting to use some of that rhetoric, although perhaps not put the exact same way as he put it in that video, but using some of that rhetoric in his speeches. And he's also doing a lot, obviously, with that audio that was playing on the drudge report -- that is on the drudge report right now, showing President Obama back in 1998 when he was then Senator Obama, talking about how he 'd like redistribution. That is now a new RNC Web video that they have put out.

Mitt Romney wrote an op-ed in "USA Today" where he talks about some of those things. And Paul Ryan was out on the campaign trail earlier this morning talking about the fact that he and Mitt Romney don't believe in redistributing wealth, they believe in creating wealth for all Americans. And so, you're seeing two things happen right now, Fredricka, you're seeing Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan really trying to capitalize on those comments from President Obama from 1998 and incorporate that into their speeches. And then they're also -- I would say they are trying to own some of those remarks from Mitt Romney in that "Mother Jones" video. They basically have no choice but to do that. So, they're not running from those comments, they're running with them -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jim Acosta, thanks so much.

So, for more on Romney's hidden camera moments and his attempt to win over Latino voters in particular, I want to bring in CNN.com Contributor Navarrette. So, when you hear, you know, Mitt Romney, Ruben, say he'd have a better chance if he were Latino and his comments on the 47 percent, what's the translation for you?

RUBEN NAVARRETTE, CNN.COM CONTRIBUTOR: Fredricka, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. You know, the underlying tone here is somehow here you have this rich white guy who thinks that his life would be easier and his path to the White House would be much smoother had he only been Latino. Oh, poor me. You know, you take it as the joke that it was meant, but there's also a lot of truth in here because you see it in the audience, there are a lot of people laughing and nodding their heads. They sort of get the same reference, and I think there's an element of folks out there -- I always have to remind myself of this, who really do think that, gee whiz, if I can only been born a Latino male or an African-American woman, man, I would have my pick of colleges, I could go to any job I wanted to, you know, the world would be my oyster. And this sort of hearken back to that really bizarre statement.

WHITFIELD: In fact, you write in particular, I'm tempted to respond with this, Mitt Romney thinks it would be helpful if he were Latino. Well, Mitt, I'm Latino, and it would be helpful if I were worth $250 million. Want to switch? You know, so what do you suppose that reception might be like tonight? You know, Univision's "Meet the Candidates Forum," a little cool?

NAVARRETTE: I think it should be a little cool. I think this was a devastating set of comments because it shows just how cynical Mitt Romney is, certainly he is not the only politician to be cynical to go before Latinos and speak a little Enspanol when they don't really have their best -- their best interests at heart -- the audience's best interest at heart. But this is now out in the open, and he has to deal with the fact that he treated, you know, such a trivial matter, this idea that we've never had a Latino president, it's never been the case of being Latino makes it easier to become president.

And I would just like to say, Fredricka, you know, to Mitt Romney, you know he is watching, primo, Mitt, OK, Mexican that we are together, I tell you, given that you feel picked on today, you feel like you've been betrayed and you feel like you're not being treated fairly. Welcome, you made it, you're Mexican. Terrific.

WHITFIELD: So, was he -- before these comments, you know, wasn't your feeling that Romney was gaining any ground among Latinos?

NAVARRETTE: Yes. To be fair, you know, one of the problems that Barack Obama has had is this deep sense of ambivalence among the Latino voters. They still like him and support him by a wide margin, but all those same polls show they are not sure they're going to get up and vote for him on election day, because they have very deep mixed feelings about his immigration policy, a policy that has torn apart hundreds of thousands of families and deported over 1.5 million people. So, there was always an opening for Romney and the Republican Party to take advantage of Barack Obama's support among Latinos which is an inch thick and a mile wide, but, boy, Mitt Romney has blown it. And he continues to blow it, because he doesn't get the beat. He doesn't understand the first thing about Latinos even though his dad was born in Mexico. Isn't that ironic?

WHITFIELD: Yes. And you know, simply put, you know, you write, you know, in your commentary that Romney's comments are clearly absurd and so it's hard to take him seriously. Did the rich white guy really claim to want to be Latino because he thought it would help him win the presidency?

NAVARRETTE: Right.

WHITFIELD: Well, that's strange, you write, being Latino didn't seem to help Bill Richardson, the former New Mexico governor that ran for president in 2008. And he didn't get beyond the primary. So, what, in your view, is this saying about Romney? You've kind of -- you know, you are inferring, you know, that he -- that there is this feeling that it's easier if you are non-white.

NAVARRETTE: Right.

WHITFIELD: And as you mentioned at the top of this interview, that he, Mitt Romney, is not alone, that you believe, in that kind of thinking, that everyone else is feeling that they're entitled if they're non-white, in particular.

NAVARRETTE: We get it -- I think we get it all the time. I say in my column, my -- Mitt Romney has two Harvard degrees, and I have two Harvard degrees, but I can guarantee you he's never gone through life saying -- encountering people who that he got into that school because of affirmative action. If you are an African-American, a Latino, and you've succeeded in this society, you hear all the time from folks who really think it's easy for us. That we have a -- you know, they think that we can have any job we want, we can get into any college you want.

WHITFIELD: You got that job, you got that opportunity because you're not white.

NAVARRETTE: Because you worked for it, because you're qualified. Yes. And somehow you have had t all backwards, and I think the people in that audience, again, that's the telling part, the fact that they were laughing, they were nodding, they got the joke. And there are folks out there who think that junior would have gotten into Yale, but, man, some black kid took his spot. It's just not fair.

WHITFIELD: So, overall, in your view, how damaging to his campaign was this moment, these two moments? We're talking about the 47 percent and we're talking about the, you know, if only I were Latino? NAVARRETTE: I think his support among Latinos now is cooked. I think that pretty much will cost him the election in the long run. People will look back on this. I don't think he can recover from this. I think the smart thing to do, though, is exactly what he is doing and sort of own the comments, take up this idea of entitlement, because, understand, we do have a problem with entitlement thinking in this country. People do think that they're entitled, for instance, to do jobs, not do jobs that immigrants end up doing. But what Mitt Romney missed it is the people, the fat cats in that audience, they're the most entitled of them all. They believe in entitlement. They think of themselves as victims. And so, you know, he sort of looked at them and winked at them and said, you know, present company excluded, but he should have included them in the mix.

WHITFIELD: All right, Ruben Navarrette. Thanks so much. You can read your op ed on CNN.com. Thanks so much.

President Barack Obama wasted no time answering his challenger's 47 percent comment. The president paid a visit to "Late Night With David Letterman" and said that Mr. Romney has it wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I promise you, you -- there are not a lot of people out there who think they're victims. There are not a lot of people who think that they're entitled to something. What I think the majority of people, Democrats and Republicans, believe is that we've got some obligations to each other, and there's nothing wrong with us giving each other a helping hand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And here's what we're working on for you this hour. A black Georgia homeowner shoots and kills a man who came on his property after allegedly threatening his son. Now the shooter is in jail, so why wasn't he protected by the self-defense castle doctrine? Is there an issue of race here?

And three people die after eating tainted cheese. Two others die from eating bad cantaloupe. Lots of food recalls in recent weeks. What you need to know to stay safe.

An amazing medical breakthrough, a mother giving her uterus to her own daughter so she can become a mom, too. Our medical unit will explain how it works.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We're waiting for a report from the U.S. Justice Department on the botched gun running plan known as Fast and Furious. The operation was launched in November of 2009 to help lead U.S. federal agents to drug trafficking kingpins in Mexico, but hundreds of firearms went missing, and two were found at a shoot-out that killed U.S. border patrol agent Brian Terry. Earlier this year, Congress voted to hold U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for not turning over documents related to Fast and Furious. Joe Johns has been following the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, everyone is waiting to see if Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has answers to the big questions surround this case, whose idea was the "Fast and Furious" strategy in the first place? Who knew about it and for how long? How high up did it go? And why didn't somebody stop it?

This is a story badly in need of an honest, impartial broker because the fast and furious story reached its peak in a political atmosphere during a political year. An inspector general's report is supposed to be about accountability and possibly contain information we haven't heard before because it is our understanding, based on sources, that the I.G. may have had access to documents and information that were not provided to some of the other entities investigating it.

As you know, a few of the key players involved in "Fast and Furious" from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have already resigned or been reassigned. I spoke to one of the ATF whistle-blowers just yesterday, Larry Alt, who said the agency has made some strides since Brian Terry's death. Though he also said there's still more work to be done. The question, of course, again and again that will be asked is, how high up this went in the Justice Department. And if it did, what will happen to those involved? That will be left presumably to the White House and Attorney General Eric Holder because we also should point out the inspector general does not have the authority to hire and fire, just to make recommendations.

Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Joe Johns in Washington.

All right, there have been three big food recalls in just the past few weeks, so we'll look at how you should protect yourself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, it seems like there's a food recall just about every week. And for those unlucky enough to end up with bad food on their plates, symptoms can range from gastric distress to, in very severe cases, death. So, how can you stay safe? Let's bring in Kat Kinsman of CNN's Eatocracy blog. She's joining us now from New York.

Always good to see you, Kat.

KAT KINSMAN, CNN EATOCRACY MANAGING EDITOR: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: So, first, you know, what foods are we talking about, because I think I've lost track.

KINSMAN: Oh, Fred, I swear -- I swear I'm not here to put you off your lunch. But, as you said before, if it seems like there is one every week or two, that's because you're paying attention. Just last week there were three deaths linked to imported Ricotta Salata Cheese. Just the week -- and that was tainted with listeria. Just a few weeks before that, two people were killed by salmonella in a contaminated cantaloupe crop. A couple weeks before that, 103 people were sickened by salmonella tainted mangos. And then a few weeks before that, 33 people were sickened by ground beef tainted with, again, our old pal, salmonella. And if you want to read even more cases of this, the FDA website does a fantastic job of keeping track of all the recalls.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. So from processed foods to produce.

KINSMAN: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: So what do we do as consumers? How do we play it safe? How do we pick the right things? How do we avoid getting contaminated?

KINSMAN: Well, you know, again, the FDA does a really great job of keeping track of a lot of these recalls, and they distribute that information to grocery stores and other vendors across the country. They do a great job of that.

There's a lot of stuff that you can do up front to be a really informed and safe consumer. A lot of that starts at the grocery store. First of all, you want to avoid cross contamination where you can. Those little bags that they give you with your produce. That's not just to keep your celery separate from your broccoli and keep it straight at the counter. That keeps -- helps keep things not cross- contaminated with each other. If something is tainted, it's not going to get on the other one. And that continues at home. You want to store these things separately in your refrigerator and any cutting boards you use, you want to wash all that in between, especially if you're working with meat, as well as produce.

The next step is, keep your hot food hot and your cold food cold. This starts the second you get home from the store. You can make sure that you're storing everything at the proper temperatures. That's going to vary somewhat, but generally you want to keep your produce -- the produce that does go to the refrigerator, you want to keep that below 48 degrees. When it is time to cook all of this, you want to make sure that you cook it to the proper temperature. Again, you can go to the FDA website, the USDA website, Centers for Disease Control, and make sure to put those leftovers away quickly and make sure that they get to the proper temperature.

Also, make sure you wash everything. Wash all of the produce that you get. Even if it's a chore, do it all at once when you get home from the store. Put it all in the sink and wash it. And also make sure to wash your hands and any utensil that you're going to use and that will keep -- you know, that will keep things to a minimum, ideally.

And also, the best -- really the best advocate that you have is you. Use your gut and, you know, really -- if something tastes a little funny at a restaurant, if you're just not sure, the last thing in the world a restaurant wants to do is to make its clients sick. So talk about that. You know, and make sure to talk to the produce people at your store and just be loud about it.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So, I wonder, are there -- are there foods or are there certain products that any consumer needs to consider and just say, you know what, I'm staying away from that because it just is likely too dangerous to consume?

KINSMAN: You know, everybody has their own particular metrics at this. I personally don't have a lot of boundaries with this because I'm really, really careful about where I actually get my food from. Now I spoke with a food safety attorney and food safety advocate Bill Marler, and he gave me his dirty list that he won't eat, and that includes raw milk, unpasteurized juice, sprouts, bagged salads, and ground meat of any kind. Now that is his personal list. You can also look up the dirty dozen list that is published every year, and that tends to include a lot of fruit that is consumed with the skin on and really, again, a lot of it comes back to the bag salad and leafy greens. Just make sure you wash the heck out of that stuff.

WHITFIELD: Wow, I was hungry until this segment. So, thanks a lot. Kat Kinsman.

KINSMAN: I'm sorry about that.

WHITFIELD: I do appreciate it. You're making us smarter. We need to know these things. Appreciate it. And I like the necklace. It says barbecue on it for those who are trying to figure out, what is that red stuff there. Barbecue. Like it. Thanks so much, Kat.

KINSMAN: Barbecue. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. In Georgia, black leaders in a town want to know why a homeowner who shot a man on his property is in jail. The man shot had allegedly threatened the shooter's son. So why didn't the castle doctrine kick in? We have a special report.

And, don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work, anywhere you go. Just head to cnn.com/tv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, it's class time again. About 350,000 public school students are in Chicago schools today for the first time in more than a week. The city's teachers ended an eight-day strike after union leaders reached a deal with city officials on pay and work conditions. Teachers will now get raises of about 18 percent over four years. The city won some concessions as well, including expanding the school day and overall school year. Rank-and-file union members are expected to vote on the contract in a couple of weeks.

An Arizona sheriff known for his tough stance on immigration is speaking out about a controversial immigration law in his state. Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County supports the so-called show me your papers law. It allows police to question people about their immigration status if they're suspected of being in the country illegally. Yesterday a federal judge ruled police can enforce it. Critics say the law will lead to racial profiling. Sheriff Arpaio denies that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: I would recommend to the detractors at least give us a chance and let us see how this works, instead of jumping to conclusion and accusing us already that this will cause racial profiling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It's unclear when Arizona police will start enforcing that law.

The castle doctrine just got a little bit more controversial. Of course, it is the law that thrust the name George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin into the headline. But a case in Georgia is raising some serious questions about whether race plays a part of self-defense laws. George Howell has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Your husband was given life in prison. Is it hard to visit?

ANITA MCNEIL: It's always hard. The hardest part is going to see him and leaving him there and knowing that he shouldn't be there.

HOWELL (voice-over): To understand Anita McNeil's frustration, you've got to go back some six years to the day her husband shot and killed a man. John McNeil claimed did he so in self-defense on his own property only after getting a call from his son who claimed that Brian Epp, a contractor who built the family's home, had threatened him with a knife. When McNeil arrived, the two men argued. As Epp moved towards him, McNeil fired a warning shot into the ground, then shot Epp. Anita says her husband did what any parent would do. But as she continues to fight for his freedom, she now faces her own battle with terminal cancer.

A. MCNEIL: Even though I am battling this disease, I'm free, and he is not.

DR. WILLIAM J. BARBER II, NAACP: Is the world to believe that you cannot protect your children and your property if you are black man in Georgia?

HOWELL: The case has become a rallying cry for civil rights leaders who question whether self-defense laws are biased. They insist McNeil should have been protected by what's known as the Castle Doctrine, legal protection for people who use deadly force on their own property if threatened with deadly force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whether it be Trayvon Martin in Florida or whether it be John McNeil here in Georgia, we are victims of both ends of the --

HOWELL: Prosecutor Pat Head says race had nothing to do with his decision to try McNeil for murder.

PAT HEAD, PROSECUTOR, GEORGIA, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: He shot a man who was coming at him and shot him when he was within less than three feet with no weapon on him or at least no weapon exposed. I don't believe that's justified.

HOWELL (on camera): McNeil lost an appeal to the Georgia supreme court, but he has since hired a new attorney, who recently filed a petition claiming that the state of Georgia is holding his client in violation of his constitutional rights.

(voice-over): The petition claims that McNeil was denied a fair trial because the jury was not informed of Epp's criminal record and that of at least one prosecution witness.

Anita insists her husband did everything right.

A. MCNEIL: He called the police, and he said, come. And he begged the man to don't keep coming up on me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: George Howell is here to talk more about this case.

So McNeil, the man who is now in jail, he wants out. Why is this case, now six years after the fact, kind of bubbling to the surface again? What is happening that might give him momentum to restate his case or claim?

HOWELL: Well, when you talk to members of the NAACP, they say this is a case that they've been watching. It's a case that deserves to be brought back to light. You have to go back to the day that it happened, some six years ago. On that day, Fred, the lead investigators in the case who looked at all the evidence, they decided not to charge McNeil. They decided that this was a self-defense case.

And again, it took some 274 days for that prosecutor to move forward on this case, but he says that it took time for him to look through although facts. He says facts did not add up. First of all, he says that McNeil's son claimed that he saw Epp move forward with the knife toward his father, but in court, the prosecutor says that the son changed his story, so Epp did not have a knife.

WHITFIELD: Was that knife even submitted as evidence?

HOWELL: Well, you know, it was part of the testimony. They did determine that a knife -- he had a pocketknife on him, but was the knife being brandished at the time that he approached? The prosecutor says no. Then also, he says the way that the shooting happened, it was at pretty close range, the shot to the head. And the prosecutor says that if it's a self-defense situation, typically it's shooting at center mass, not at the head.

WHITFIELD: Is there a chance for a new trial? Is this the direction it's moving?

HOWELL: The -- well, you talk to the prosecutor, the prosecutor is very confident in the case that he moved forward. But the new defense attorney, he says that he is pretty sure that he has a good case here. You know, he has filed that case in a local county to see a judge, hoping that that judge will rule in his favor. And he believes that his client just did not get a fair trial, that the jury didn't see the full story. He believes that if this case is brought back to light, it could get a better opinion, in his favor, he believes.

WHITFIELD: George Howell, thank you so much.

HOWELL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. On to politics. Mitt Romney's controversial remark about how nearly half of all Americans depend on government handouts is not just angering Democrats, but several leading conservatives. Hear some of the comments next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We mentioned that President Barack Obama appeared last night on Letterman. Besides campaign talk, the guys joked around a little bit. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You look sharp.

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN: You haven't seen me naked.

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: We're going to keep it that way.

(LAUGHTER)

LETTERMAN: Get him out of there because, I wanted to know, before we get started if you would like to say something to the empty chair.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Mitt Romney's comments about the 47 percent of Americans who are dependent on government are getting mixed reviews from Republicans. Some are applauding the remarks while others are trying to distance themselves from the comments.

Political reporter, Peter Hamby, joining us.

Peter, Peggy Noonan wrote a scathing editorial, saying, quote, "It's time to admit the Romney campaign is an incompetent one. It's not big. It's not brave. It's not thoughtfully tackling great issues. It's always been too small for the moment. An intervention is in order. Mitt, this isn't working."

That coming from Peggy Noonan. And the "Weekly Standard" says Romney's comments, quote, "appear to be the words of somebody who doesn't understand American conservatism," end quote. So how do comments like this affect the campaign and cause continued splintering within the Republican Party overall? PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Yes, Fred, to your first question, this necessitates a fundamental change in strategy, which is a problem for the Romney campaign. Remember, they had their convention just a few weeks ago. Typically, a convention is when you're supposed to introduce or re-introduce your candidate to the country with a compelling message. They sort of got sidelined during the Democratic convention. Romney sort of stumbled during the Libya debate, and then kind of had to come up with a new message. And they said they're going to retool their message just the other day. Now, before this, and in the course of week, we have the Romney campaign kind of backing into a new message and trying to reframe the debate. And no candidate wants to be in that position with less than 50 days to go in a campaign -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: So, on the other hand, there are some die-hard conservatives who are rallying around Romney. So I wonder whose voices are going to be heard the most by Mitt Romney. Will it be, you know, those dissenters within the Republican Party, or those who are saying, you know, you're right on?

HAMBY: Well, I mean, we are seeing some Republicans, especially in tight races in this country, back away from Romney's comments. They know they're probably poisonous in tight races. And in some of these states, like Massachusetts and Connecticut, you see Republican Scott Brown, a candidate in Massachusetts, and Linda McMahon in Connecticut, put some space between themselves and Romney. There are more undecided voters in these Senate races than there are in the larger presidential electrics. So they're actually competing for persuadable voters.

And just now we've heard from Dean Howler, the incumbent Senator in Nevada, who is also distancing himself from Mitt Romney, saying he doesn't view the world in the same way that Romney does.

So this could be problematic down --

(CROSSTALK)

HAMBY: You are also seeing that in some House races. You haven't seen a ton of Republicans running away, but are you starting to see it in those competitive districts because it is a problematic message.

WHITFIELD: You wonder how in the world might it change with just two months or so to go before Election Day.

HAMBY: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Peter, thank you so much.

HAMBY: Well --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Oh, you've got a comment on that?

HAMBY: I was going to say, Fred, that -- I mean, if Romney loses in November, this kind of presages, I think, some of the Republican infighting that you might see after the election. You saw that a little bit with John McCain in 2008 after he lost. But just by reading some of the conservative blogs and listening to talk radio, you're going to hear from conservatives, again, if Romney loses, this candidate didn't have the skills to compete. And, two, what was his message and did he really believe in conservativism? And I think you're starting to see some of those fights starting to happen. And if he does lose in November, can you see some full-blown civil war in the Republican Party -- Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right. Peter Hamby, thanks so much.

HAMBY: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Other comparisons being made between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, the president, well, when it comes to military plans, a very different budget plan for those two candidates. We'll give you an idea of how they differ.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This week, CNN will explore the issues that impact workers. Today, we take a look at President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's plans for the U.S. military.

Here's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): How many troops and just what weapons are needed to defend the nation? President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney, each are making a different case.

Governor Romney has said he wants to significantly add to our conventional forces.

MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must have a commitment not just to more ships and more aircraft but also, in my view, to more members of our armed forces.

STARR: President Obama wants a small are conventional force and $500 million in Pentagon spending cuts over the next 10 years.

OBAMA: So long as I'm commander in chief, we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known.

(APPLAUSE) STARR: Let's start with the Romney plan. The candidate says he favors a larger force of naval ships and aircraft, but has not said how he would pay for it. Romney has also said he wants to add 100,000 troops to the current force of 1.4 million.

Now, for a look at Obama's plan. As part of $50 billion in spending cuts, President Obama says he wants to get rid of older ships and delay buying new ones. He also proposes cutting the Army by some 66,000 and reducing the Marine Corps by another 20,000. Obama urges continuing use of small Special Forces teams and unmanned drones, a signature weapon of the last decade.

But Romney's surrogate and former DOD comptroller, Dov Zakheim, says not so fast.

DOV ZAKHEIM, ROMNEY SENIOR ADVISOR: There's no objection, no ideological objection at all to having drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned subsurface vehicles, all kinds of unmanned vehicles. The issue is to what extent do you rely almost exclusively on drones and on Special Forces?

STARR: For President Obama, secret CIA drone attacks against militants in Pakistan and Yemen have had results without risking putting U.S. troops on the ground.

He told CNN's Jessica Yellin --

OBAMA: It has to be a situation in which we can't capture the individual before they move forward on some sort of operational plot against the United States.

PETER SINGER, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I don't think whether or not whether Obama or Romney wins we're going to see this technology go away or see any greater minimized use of it because of their own approach. I think we've seen that President Obama is most definitely willing to execute this signature part from his counter-terrorism agenda. And it would be very hard for Romney to roll that back even if he wanted to.

STARR (on camera): Whether it's Romney or Obama in the Oval Office, the bigger problem with drones may be the international pushback from governments and human rights groups increasingly voicing their opposition.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: An intriguing new piece of history. A tiny piece of paper, or shroud, is yet again raising the big question of whether Jesus was married. A Harvard professor says she's been studying the three-inch writing sample that includes a reference to Jesus' wife. The fragment dates to the second century. The professor, Karen King, is quick to say that the fragment, quote, "does not provide evidence that Jesus was married," end quote.

And an amazing medical breakthrough. Women who need a healthy uterus are getting one, transplanted from their own mothers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Doctors in Sweden over the weekend performed not one, but two first-of-a-kind transplants. In both cases, they transplanted the uterus of a post-menopausal woman into the body of her own grown daughter. Both younger women didn't have a uterus. One was born without one. The other one -- the other woman had her uterus removed because of cervical cancer.

So we have got CNN medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, here to talk about this.

My goodness. The options are just broadened out even farther with this new advent.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Isn't it wild? We have been giving kidneys from one person to another for decades now. And this makes total sense when you think about it. You don't have a uterus. I'll give you mine because I'm done with it.

In this case, this was two mother-daughter pairs. So these were two daughters who didn't have a uterus. One daughter didn't have a uterus because she was born without one, which can happen, it is unusual, but it can happen. The other one lost her uterus to cancer, it had to be removed. So what they did, this is so amazing, really in its simplicity, they took the mom's, who obviously was done having children, the daughters with in their 30s so the mothers were obviously older than that, they took the uterus out of the moms and put it into the daughters and then left in there, sort of kept them open on the operating table for like 20 minutes, you can see it here, they sort of reconnected everything, took all the vessels and reconnected it into the daughter, out of one body, put it into the other body, into the daughter's, reconnected everything, sewed it in place, attached it --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: As far as they know right now, they're working. It's working.

COHEN: Working in the case of a uterus means it can hold a baby for nine months, and they don't know. They want to wait about a year, right.

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: Right. They want to wait a year until these women get pregnant. In a year, hopefully they'll know.

What is really crazy to me is that if these women do get pregnant, that baby is going to be in the same uterus that the mother was in.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.

(CROSSTALK) COHEN: So that mother was -- right. They're carrying -- that uterus is carrying their baby, they also were in that uterus. It is mind blowing.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. So has this ever been attempted before? And now it is down to perfection or was this a first all the way around?

COHEN: This happened in Sweden. And the Swedish doctors tell us it was tried twice, once with a living donor here, and once with a deceased donor they took from a cadaver. They took a uterus and gave it to someone. In one case, the woman didn't get pregnant and in one case they are -- no one has heard if she's gotten pregnant. There is no live birth from a uterus transplant. If there is a live birth from this, according to the doctors, it would be the first.

WHITFIELD: So they're going to wait at that point to see if, you know, effectively, these two women are able to use these new uterus before they're to perform any more surgeries?

COHEN: Oh, before they start doing more transplants?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

COHEN: Yes, I would imagine they're going to be quite patient about this because they tried this surgery out on rodents and then tried it out on larger animals. So I would imagine they're going to be quite patient about this.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. It is fascinating that is indeed a big old medical breakthrough.

COHEN: It is.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Elizabeth Cohen.

COHEN: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate that.

All right, he -- you recognize him right there -- huge movie star, with two Oscars to his name. But Denzel Washington isn't taking all the credit for his major accomplishments in life. We'll tell you what he says and who he says put him on the path to success.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Denzel Washington is known for playing heroic characters in many blockbuster films, including "Glory" and "Unstoppable." He says the real-life heroes are the men and women helping to improve young lives every day through the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. That organization provides children with an extra support system for their education and personal growth and sports as well.

Denzel Washington has been associated with the club since he was a boy, some 50 years ago. I asked him about how that experience has impacted his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENZEL WASHINGTON, ACTOR: One of the great things that -- about the Boys and Girls Club, especially -- or as I remember it in those days is that you thought it was all about fun. But you are actually being taught a lot of life lessons, and even through sports, you know, sportsmanship and how to accept defeat and how to be a gracious winner and things like that. So we never were, like, sat down and, like, you must learn to be, you know, it didn't feel like that. It felt like fun. And it was a safe place. It was a place where you could compete, meet kids from other neighborhoods that you never met before, and I loved it. I mean, they used to have to kick me out.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: So you really feel like it shaped you in a big way?

WASHINGTON: Absolutely. Absolutely. When I -- when I was, I think in the third grade, we were -- I was on a track team at the club, on the relay team. And I was, like, the fourth fastest guy.

(LAUGHTER)

And the new guy came in that was faster than me. And Billy Thomas, who was the coach of the team, he knew something was wrong with me. And I said, well, I'm worried about this other kid. He says, well, you know, Denzel, you got to understand, he doesn't know how to pass the baton yet. He doesn't know how to run the curves. What he said to me was your natural ability will only take you so far.

20 years later or 15 years later, I was about to graduate from college, I had started acting for two years, and I decided to go to graduate program and study more because I knew my natural ability would only take me so far. I remember that story and I applied it to my life as an actor.

WHITFIELD: And clearly it left an indelible impression. You remember his name, Billy Thomas, to this day.

WASHINGTON: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: You remember how it shaped you and what it did for you. So how do you suppose it changed --

(CROSSTALK)

WASHINGTON: I remember the name of the kid that joined the team. I was so --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Darn.

(LAUGHTER)

You'll never forget that.

Well, IT motivated you, so there you go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Denzel Washington. You can see more it of this weekend.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Fred. Thank you so much.

And hello to all of you. I'm Brooke Baldwin.