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First South Carolina Exit Poll Data

Aired January 21, 2012 - 18:00   ET

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world to this special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM. The polls close in South Carolina less than one hour from now.

I'm Wolf Blitzer at the CNN Election Center. We're counting down to the first results, and maybe - maybe - a winner in this critical contest. We have the most crews in the most locations, including our correspondents over at the candidates' headquarters. Anderson Cooper is here along with "The Best Political Team." Our analysts are in the studio and in the field.

But, right now we have Breaking News. We have the first exit poll information from South Carolina.

Let's go straight to CNN's John King, he's working these numbers for us. Tell our viewers what we're learning.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Most important thing, Wolf, South Carolina following Iowa and New Hampshire, this is a much more conservative state, much more influence of evangelical voters.

Among those voting in the South Carolina primary, 64 percent describe themselves as Born Again or Evangelical Christians, 36 percent no. That 64 percent is significant. That's up a bit from four years ago. It was about 60 percent then. So strong influence tonight from Evangelical Christians.

We didn't have a Tea Party four years ago, but remember in 2010 when the Tea Party sprung up, it was important hugely important in the governors' elections, other elections across South Carolina. Again, more evidence of the conservative electorate today 66 percent, two- thirds of those voting in today's South Carolina Presidential Primary say they support the Tea Party, 25 percent neutral on that question, only eight percent of voters say oppose the Tea Party.

So, again, Evangelicals, Tea Party, we have a conservative electorate tonight in South Carolina.

Let's bring this over just to help you see it more. Only two percent of those voting today describe themselves as very liberal, 37 percent say they are very conservative, 32 percent say they are somewhat conservative. So you get the flavor. We have a very much more conservative than Iowa and New Hampshire in there today.

And just by gender who voted today, men are the majority of the electorate in South Carolina today, Wolf, 53 percent men, 47 percent women.

Let's bring it over here for a second just to show as the results come in, here's what we're going to look for. We're going to watch this area right down in here, it's very important. We're also going to watch this area right up here across the top of the state, very important. Why?

Let's go back in time to show you why they matter. This is the 2008 South Carolina Primary. John McCain down here along the coast, the low country especially places like this, Horry County, right up here where Myrtle Beach is, about five percent of the state's population, more moderate to conservative Republicans here. Very important to John McCain four years ago.

This was Mike Huckabee up here. Greenville, Spartanburg, population centers, Wolf, with a lot of Evangelical and Tea Party voters critical tonight.

BLITZER: The state a little bit more diverse than a lot of people really know. We're going to be discussing this at length.

Let's go over to Anderson Cooper to help us appreciate some of these early numbers we're getting announced.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we're here with all our analysts, our Republican strategists, Democratic strategists.

James Carville, what are you expecting tonight?

JAMES CARVILLE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I mean, I expect uncertain, that's generally what it is and if one is to believe the final polls taken last night, Speaker Gingrich is in good shape. We were in the Green Room talking before this and I mean this has been a roller coaster ride unlike any other and I suspect it is going to provide us -

COOPER: You're thrilled by that fact.

CARVILLE: Oh, if - if the last polls are correct, if last night's polls are correct, yes, I think, yes, I would be understandably thrilled by that. Because I think Donna would probably be happy. It would be a happy side to take with it (ph).

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Absolutely, we're ready to, you know, take out some of the balloons that we've been storing away.

But, look, Anderson, this was a very interesting week in politics. Jon Huntsman dropped out, threw his support to Romney. Perry dropped out, threw his support to Newt Gingrich. Rick Santorum woke up one morning and found out that he won the contest in Iowa.

And, look, where are we today? We just don't know until we see the results tonight but we know one thing, the Republicans are not ready to settle on one person yet.

COOPER: And a lot of people are making up their minds at the last minute.

ARI FLEISCHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: That's right. That's one of the things we've seen in the exit polls, much more than four years ago, South Carolina voters voted on the basis of what they saw in the last week.

What did they see in the last week, Newt Gingrich surging. Last night, I predicted that Newt would win by five points and I still think Newt is going to win. The question is, is that surge going to continue, did it stop, is it going to go more than five? We'll have to wait and see what the finals are, but you get the feeling that Newt had a great week.

COOPER: And particularly because of those two debates, and debates playing such a critical role.

ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This - you know, we've always said for the past year this election is not about hope and changes. It's about strength and certainty. People feel the country is in decline. They want a strong leader to do something about that.

Mitt Romney was attacked this week. Kind of weakened response, confused on several issues. Newt Gingrich was attacked this week, very strong. So we're going to see I think tonight is, who emerges as the alpha dog coming out of South Carolina.

Gingrich is harder to kill that Rasputin. He's been dead three times in this campaign and you just can't, you know, the guy keeps coming back.

CARVILLE: The difference is Rasputin probably get more votes in the general election than Newt would. And then you all see a bigger day (INAUDIBLE) it's going to be a bigger day in presidential politics than last Thursday. It's going to be more news and more different stories drumming (ph) up. I've never seen anything like it.

COOPER: And also, I mean, it's extraordinary - and David Gergen and Gloria joining in - when you think about how this week has completely changed, you know, the narrative at the beginning of the week was the inevitability of Mitt Romney winning, no one is talking about that.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, this is - I mean I think this could be history here in the making. I mean we've never seen somebody win Iowa, somebody win New Hampshire, and then somebody different go on to win South Carolina. And then if Newt Gingrich turns out to be victorious, this evening, he's going to say nobody's ever won the nomination without winning South Carolina.

So, you know, we're really watching history here in the Republican Party, because if he is, if he does emerge as the winner it's going to be a very different race from anything we have ever seen.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Only a week ago we were talking about history in the making because Mitt Romney has looked like he was going to be the first person in history to win the first three contests. And now it looks like he may be - we may have the first time in history that nobody has won two out of the first three.

FLEISCHER: This is terrible for the coroner's business, because everybody said Newt was dead and it looks like he is coming back strong.

GERGEN: But the margins matter here a lot, how much, if there's a Gingrich victory, is it a small victory? Is it a big victory? Who comes in third? Who comes in fourth? There are a lot of sub- questions here that are extremely important.

COOPER: And a lot to go over, Wolf, we got a long night.

BLITZER: We certainly do. Two of the candidates especially we're watching those races very, very closely, the stakes enormous on this night for both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

Let's go to their campaign headquarters right now. Candy Crowley is over at Mitt Romney headquarters. Jim Acosta is at Newt Gingrich headquarters.

Candy, first to you, "Believe In America" we see the big sign right behind you. They're getting ready for something tonight, either a celebration or maybe not so much.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, you know, if this was the night that we're going to start talking about inevitability, it may not be.

In coming days, I think if Mitt Romney loses tonight, prepare to hear these two words "long haul" because over the past few days as Mitt Romney's numbers have fallen and Newt Gingrich's numbers have risen, his staff and strategists and his strategist and those outside the campaign supporting him have begun to talk about the fact that they believe he is better prepared, better funded and better staffed for the long haul, for all those races that come after South Carolina.

You can also expect a little something different from Romney. He has in the past couple of days really begun to press Newt Gingrich about reports from the Ethics Committee about reports of that investigation into Speaker Newt Gingrich. Today, he sent - the Romney campaign sent Newt Gingrich a 15th anniversary cake to mark the day that the House reprimanded then Speaker Gingrich for ethics violations, so in addition to the long haul expect some hardball, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. Getting nasty and nastier by the day.

Jim Acosta is over at Newt Gingrich headquarters. Set the scene for us over there, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I'm inside the room where Newt Gingrich hopes to deliver his victory speech later tonight and if he wins here in South Carolina, it will mark yet another trip back from the political dead for Newt Gingrich, after disappointing finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, he really seized an opening here in South Carolina, came back with a vengeance, and really, you know, really seized on a - on a venue that has paid dividends throughout this campaign for him and those are the debates.

When he turned those questions back on the moderators, back on the media, that really warmed the hearts of conservatives down here in South Carolina. Almost every voter I talked to have said it's those debates that has won this race or won this vote for Newt Gingrich.

And Wolf, I have to tell you, there's been all of this talk about how the Democratic Party only has eyes for Mitt, only seems to be talking about Mitt Romney. I could just tell you a few moments ago we saw the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz in this room so they're starting to pay attention to the fomer speaker.

BLITZER: What was she doing in that room, at Newt Gingrich headquarters? That's surprising.

ACOSTA: She's doing media interviews. She's talking to the press, talking about - I think Speaker Gingrich's record, you know, for the longest time they've really only been focusing on Mitt Romney. I thought it was notable to see her in the room here tonight.

BLITZER: Yes. Very interesting. All right. Jim, stand by.

Two other candidates are running of course, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, they're going for every vote they can get as well and they're likely to influence the outcome.

Dana Bash is over at Rick Santorum headquarters. Joe Johns is covering Ron Paul.

Dana, first to you. What's going on over there?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I want to tell you where I am. I'm in what will be in about an hour the war room for Rick Santorum. We are at the citadel in Charleston and it looks empty right now and the reason is because the real Rick Santorum headquarters is not too far from here in a town called Mt. Pleasant.

There, they are still - you know, polls are going to be opened for another 50 minutes or so, they're still working the phones trying to get every last potential Santorum voter to the polls.

But in a short while they're all going to be here. Now, we just have a few people, three people here, but they are getting ready. They're actually setting up what they call the war room. It's all electronic at this point and they're waiting to get calls from Santorum volunteers and staffers who are at precincts all over the state, a little more than 2,000 to text them and to e-mail them and to call them with the results.

Tension here is pretty high because as you can imagine, they thought that they were going to do pretty well in South Carolina, but as we've seen from the polls, Rick Santorum is now in third or sometimes fourth place, which is not a good sign, but he still says he's going to carry on to Florida no matter what.

BLITZER: Yes. All right. Thanks very much, Dana, we'll get back to you.

Joe Johns is over in Ron Paul headquarters. They're getting ready for something over there as well, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's for sure, Wolf. Unconventional candidate, unconventional campaign party site. This is a saloon. It's called Jillian's, it's in downtown Columbia.

As you can see a lot of people here, many young people who fit the demographic of Ron Paul, the people who are his closest and most ardent followers, and it's a bar. It's also the place where he's going to end up on stage, hopefully, later this evening. Ron Paul had a huge rally here last night, hundreds of people so if that many people show up tonight, it should be quite an event.

Ron Paul has been very realistic about the State of South Carolina. He's been campaigning lightly here, even went up to Washington, D.C., to do a vote in the House of Representatives earlier this week. He is pushing hard, but looking sort of past Florida, Wolf, on to the caucus states in Nevada and Minnesota, has already made television ad buys there, and perhaps isn't going to spend a lot of money on TV ads in Florida.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: We'll be hearing all the speeches tonight as they unfold. Joe, we'll get back to you.

We're certainly counting down to the top of the hour, and the first results from South Carolina, the polls will close at the top of the hour. Will Newt Gingrich pull off his first primary win? Stay right here. You will find out.

COOPER: We get the first results from the South Carolina primary at the top of the hour, about 45 minutes away. We could project a winner then or it could be a long night. You wouldn't want to miss a moment of it, that's 45 minutes from now.

Right now, let's go inside some of the polling places for the final minutes of voting in South Carolina. Shannon Travis is in Greenville, South Carolina. Don Lemon is in Lexington.

Shannon, what are you seeing?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Yes. Hey there, Anderson. We're here at the Eastland Church in Greenville, in the County of Greenville. And about 800 voters have showed up here election officials tell me so far. That's less than half of the estimated 1,800 in this precinct, but although this is one of the smaller polling places, this county is huge.

We've been mentioning that Greenville County is the most populist and the most Republican, so this is where the candidates are fighting it out. This is where they want to win and this will actually be a bellwether for the results tonight. Whoever does well here, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich or whatever could forecast a really good night for them because of the number of conservative voters in this county - Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Shannon, thanks very much.

Don Lemon is in Lexington, South Carolina. Don, what are you seeing there?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're seeing a lot of rain earlier. It certainly didn't cooperate today and that really hindered the turnout here, low turnout across the state. We had been hearing from people at the polling place.

But the folks who did show, we want to talk about the process we heard so much about what happened in Iowa. What happens is they divide the alphabet in half here. You go here, you give one of these young ladies your driver's license and identification, they check your name, you sign it here and they give you one of these blue cards. You take the blue card, you hand it to this one of these gentlemen over here.

They walk you over and what they do is they take this thing, Anderson, that's called a PEB, which a Personal Electronic Ballot, they stick it in this machine. This records your vote, that records your vote, that way there is at least a double recording of your vote, they double check it and what you do when you come here just like any other polling place in the country, you grab one of these stickers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate you voting.

LEMON: It says "I Voted" stick it right here on your lapel and they tell you "Appreciate Your Vote" and you're on your way. But, again, the weather didn't cooperate this morning. We got here about 7:00 this morning. There were people lined up, middle of the day it started raining and that really killed things here and just about 45 minutes as you said, some people are starting to show up now that the rain has gone away, but they've only got a few more minutes, Anderson.

COOPER: All right. Don, thanks very much.

We'll continue to check and see how turnout is across the state and if the weather really has had a big impact and who that might help and/or hurt. We got about 40 minutes until the polls close, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. I suspect the weather did reduce it a bit. Let's see how much it wound up doing.

Let's go back to John King over here at the exit polling center. John, you're looking at these numbers and we're getting more information by the minute. What else is coming in?

KING: The numbers are fascinating. We told you a moment ago who voted today, 64 percent described themselves as Evangelicals, two- thirds said they support the Tea Party. So a very conservative electorate in South Carolina. What's on their mind as they vote? What is the most important candidate quality? Look at this right here. Forty-five percent, not quite half, but 45 percent of the voters today can defeat President Obama. South Carolina Republicans are looking for a strong general election candidate to beat the president. That's one thing on their mind today.

They also came, this - you get their mood, you want to know the mood. Are you worried about the economy? Look at this, giant number here, 78 percent very worried, 19 percent somewhat worried. Look at that, just about everybody who voted today more than 90 percent are very, very worried, 98 percent very, very worried about the economy.

So no surprise there then if they walk into the polling booth still worried about the economy, what is the most important issue? Not abortion. A lot of evangelical voters only eight percent say it's abortion. Twenty-three percent, the big Tea Party State, only 23 percent say it's the deficit, because, Wolf, they are worried four percent says illegal immigration. Six and ten South Carolina Republicans say they are worried first and foremost overwhelmingly about the state of what they view as a very weak and struggling U.S. economy.

BLITZER: So it's still "the economy stupid" - I'm not calling you stupid, but it's still the economy stupid.

KING: Call me what you will. On these voters minds right here, remember, 9.9 percent unemployment in the State of South Carolina. We know the economy will be the number one issue nationally. Not a surprise there at all.

This is a bit of a surprise because of the power of the Tea Party there. This tells you 9.9 percent unemployment, they are struggling, that's what they want.

BLITZER: All right. Let's go back - Anderson is with Erin Burnett.

It's a fascinating state, South Carolina, guys, and what we've seen have been some unique examples of politics unfolding in this state.

COOPER: Yes. And we've seen some dirty politics just in the last couple of days with fake e-mails that have been sent around, it's been a fascinating battle in South Carolina, which is about to be resolved within this hour. What are you checking on tonight?

ERIN BURNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we're looking at - John interestingly talking about the economy being the number one issue and you're driving across the state today you see it. This is a state that has still a lot of economic issues.

Almost everyone worried about the economy. Well, here's why. Just take a look at unemployment. We've broken this down by the four key regions in this battleground state, and as you can see, all four of them have unemployment rates that are above the national average, the national average 8.5 percent, as you can see the area that comes closest is the low country, where you have Hilton Head, you have Charleston and also a right to work state.

You've got a new Boeing plant there, Anderson. 787 Dreamliner is going to be coming off the assembly line starting in March. So you're starting to see a little bit of improvement there.

I want to zone in here on the midlands, this is where Columbia is the capital and what you can see here is where the capital is unemployment rate right in line with the national average. You've got government jobs. You have University of South Carolina education jobs.

The other side of the state, where I spent some time yesterday with Newt Gingrich, Orangeburg, South Carolina, 15.3 percent.

COOPER: All right. There is - there is some positive economic news in the state.

BURNETT: Yes. There is some positive economic news and let me bring that up, because this is - this might surprise people, housing prices. Now ground zero, biggest asset for - for almost every American is their home and the ground zero for the economy. And let's show you what we see in South Carolina.

So, OK Anderson. This doesn't look so great, right? Charleston area, where you've got the retirees, second homes, Hilton Head, a lot of investment properties, down 14 percent from the peak in housing prices. Ten percent in the center of the state, two percent in the Piedmont, unchanged up at Myrtle Beach and the P.D. (ph), OK?

But, compare it to what's happened nationally, 24 percent drop in housing crisis in the United States since the peak. So no matter where you go in South Carolina, it's better than that, and that's a little bit of a sign of hope for the state.

COOPER: All right. That's some good news there.

All right, Erin we'll continue to check in with you. Let's go back to our analysts over here.

How much are you watching turnout, and who will - if there is low turnout because of the weather, or lower turnout, who might that help?

It would be - it would be indicative that that matching - the 2008 numbers in Iowa and in New Hampshire in the Republican (INAUDIBLE) in half. They have to - they're supposed to be gassed up. They have to exceed those numbers.

I guess in - if you would take conventional wisdom, it would hurt Romney because his reporters - his supporters are believed to be less passionate than the supporter of the other people, but I would defer to my Republican colleagues about that.

CASTELLANOS: And also you're seeing, I think, more men than women, which is not often the case. Gingrich is stronger with men. Romney's been stronger with women. BRAZILE: But in South Carolina, men have clearly ruled in that particular state, but in 2000, 573,000 Republicans participated in their primary. In 2008 I believe it was about 450,000. So turnout is a factor.

Now, weather hinders elderly people from voting, less enthusiastic people from voting, and of course more passionate people tend to turn out if the weather is bad. So I think tonight you'll see a mix of perhaps the Ron Paul factor, you know, because they're the most passionate, but also the most organized campaign can typically turn out their voters as well.

FLEISCHER: Here's the trend you want to be on the lookout for. The Democrats had record breaking turnout in 2008 across all demographics and led to an overwhelming win. Democrat turnout, everybody says not going to repeat the magic that was in the bottle in 2008.

Republican turnout - and James and I differ about this, but Republican turnout was a record in 2008, got broken in 2012 in Iowa. Record in 2008 in New Hampshire, got broken in 2012 in New Hampshire.

Donna's right, 455,000 Republicans voted in 2008. Let's see if Republicans get a record tonight. That means three record-breaking night for Republicans. Do they get enough of a bump and there's enough of a decline in the Democrats that you get across?

CASTELLANOS: I hate to - I hate to agree with my friend James Carville instead of my better friend, Ari, but the Iowa turnout that was so big for Republicans, those were Ron Paul voters going in there. They weren't real Republicans and they're not reliable votes for us in the fall.

There is a little bit of dampening enthusiasm for our field, and that's something we have to confront.

CARVILLE: But Ari, if you would agree, if the Republicans match 2008 enthusiasm, that's not too good.

FLEISCHER: The line you got to look for is the Democrat decline, which everybody says is underway, a slight Republican -

FLEISCHER: -- lines cross.

CARVILLE: For now, Ari, it is generally referred to as the Democratic Party, but if you want to refer to it as the Democrat Party, that's your business -

FLEISCHER: I'm trying to save time.

CARVILLE: -- I would make the general point -

CASTELLANOS: I would say - I would say this, though, that the Democratic enthusiasm that we saw when Barack Obama was - electing the first black president of the United States is going to be hard to repeat. You're not - I think Ari's right. You're not going to get that. Losing your virginity the second time is just never as exciting.

CARVILLE: I agree, but he's got an 8.5 point margin here. I agree we're not going to - but we have some tolerance -

BRAZILE: But the - but the one thing Democrats will have going for them is this, that this Republican field, they have been so rabid, so appealing to the Tea Party base, that they're going to lose the middle. The middle will search for an alternative. That alternative will be Obama. He will repeat the same kind of turnout with those voters that came out in - in large numbers.

My concern is those first-time voters who showed up at the polls in 2008. Those are the voters that tend to be most unreliable when you try to get them out again.

COOPER: Right. We've got to take a quick break.

We are closing in on the final moments of voting in South Carolina. Stay with us through the top of the hour. We will bring you the - the first results, possibly even reveal a winner.

We'll see if we're able to do that at the top of the hour.

Also next, see for yourself some of the tough campaign ads that could make all the difference in the outcome tonight and certainly in Florida, where they go next. We'll be right back.

BLITZER: Welcome back to a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

This certainly could be a momentous night for Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney. We're going to get the first results in the hotly contested South Carolina Primary. That's coming up right at the top of the hour. Stay with us to see if we have a winner or a nail-biter. Stand by for that.

But, right now, CNN ballot cameras are at key polling places along with our political producers and reporters. We're going to bring you some of the first vote counting and the results live before anyone else.

Let's go to our political reporter Rachel Streitfeld. She's joining us in Charleston. What are you seeing over there, Rachel?

RACHEL STREITFELD, POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well, everybody is preparing right now for an influx of people. I'm at the Board of Elections right now, and in just about an hour we're going to start seeing people streaming in. A hundred and three people from precincts, polling stations all over this county are going to come in and they're going to hand over their vote totals, and that's all going to be tallied.

So we're going to see two things from them. They're going to have this piece of paper. They'll have everybody's name on it and how many votes they got. This is just a sample.

But one interesting thing to note, Rick Perry will still be on there, Jon Huntsman - everybody whose name was originally on the ballot will still be on this ballot.

One other thing if information is going to be this computer cartridge that everybody will turn in. That will be put in here, uploaded into this computer, and those tallies will then be posted. We're going to bring those tallies to you live, so as soon as this Board of Elections knows who is leading in this county, we're going to know, Wolf.

One other thing to point out, these absentee ballots here. These can be turned in right up until 7:00 Eastern Time. So people have like about 31 minutes. They can drive those ballots down here and get them in. That gets put through this machine here, and there's a printout that will then be integrated back into the voter total that we'll see.

Two other things to remember, John McCain did very well here. He won this district handily in 2008. But Mitt Romney also had a good showing, so we're looking to see if that happens again this time.

One other thing, I know there's been bad weather throughout the state. Charleston has been lovely - Wolf.

BLITZER: I guess that's good news for the folks in Charleston. Rachel, we'll stand by.

A lot of technology. John, I hope there are no glitches. I get a little nervous when I hear all about that technology. But you're getting more exit polling numbers coming in. What else have we learned?

KING: Well, we told you earlier, a very conservative electorate, the economy is on their mind, they want to beat President Obama. When did they decide? That's often a big impact when you get into an election?

When did South Carolina voters decide and what help make their decision? Let's look, when did they decide, 37 percent said they decided in the last few days, 16 percent decided as they walked through the polling place today.

If you add that up, that's 53 percent so a majority of those voting today in South Carolina decided within the last few days, and what influenced their decision? Well, we asked them, did the debates matter? Were the debates a big factor in your vote?

Remember a big debate Monday and a big debate here on CNN on Thursday, 88 percent, nearly nine in ten South Carolina Republicans voting today, Wolf, said these debates were a big factor in their decision.

Now the conventional wisdom in South Carolina, the energy when I was there was that Newt Gingrich used those debates to gin up energy and excitement. We'll watch and see if that plays out, but 88 percent, nearly nine out of 10 voters today saying, you bet, the debates were a big factor.

BLITZER: Yes, a lot of the pundits said Newt Gingrich did really well in those debates. He came back from the dead maybe in part because of those debates. Anderson, let's go back to you.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Wolf, as John has said, a lot of people making up their minds just in the last few days. We have seen this battle. It has been just as volatile, really the last few months as it has been the last few days.

Take a look in October. Mitt Romney was edging out Herman Cain. Remember him? Newt Gingrich jumped way ahead of the pack around the end of the year. Romney surged back into the lead this month, and then lost his advantage in the last few days running neck in neck with Gingrich.

The final poll out today shows Gingrich with a double-digit lead. Let's go over to Erick Erickson and Roland Martin who have the liberty tab room in Columbia in South Carolina.

Erick, I've been reading your tweets tonight. You think the rise in Gingrich has a lot to do with Gingrich, but also there's another factor here. What do you think it is?

ERICK ERICKSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think there's a resistance from base voters in South Carolina and elsewhere. We know this electorate is very heavily conservative.

They really feel like this should be a nomination fight not a coronation and they're pushing back on a lot of the Washington Republican crowd who have been telling them you have to take Mitt Romney.

They're not willing to take Mitt Romney. He got less votes in 2012 in Iowa than he got in 2008 and it looks like I would think based on the ground and the movement here and so many men turning out today, he's probably going to lose South Carolina.

COOPER: Roland, you agree with that?

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: To some extent, but here's what I'm looking for. Newt Gingrich wins, I want to see how fast Erick's wife texts him to tell him he's sleeping on the couch. She will not be happy if he wins. That's what I'm looking for.

ERICKSON: Including my wife.

COOPER: Erick, you're saying he has a wife problem?

ERICKSON: He has a problem with female voters and if Rick Santorum were to drop out, a lot of those women voters I think would go to Mitt Romney, that's my guess.

He has to figure out how to neutralize that issue because you know, men may be turning out heavily in South Carolina today according to the exits we've seen so far, but overall women typically turn out more than men.

And that's going to be a problem for him throughout the primaries and if he's the nominee of the general election.

MARTIN: Don't think that this is somehow going to be the trend for the rest of those states. Again, you look at 2008, women were the majority in nearly every single primary and don't think they are going to forget that answer, when he called his wife a liar Thursday night to the answer question from John King.

COOPER: We'll check in with you guys throughout the night. Wolf, it will be interesting to see how he does among women in South Carolina.

BLITZER: It looks like more men are voting than women based on these early exit poll numbers, but we'll find out soon enough. We can have a whole new Republican race for the White House before the night is out.

The polls close in South Carolina right at the top of the hour. Stand by for the first results. We're going to show you how some very, very nasty ads could make a difference in this contest, and the next big face-off that's coming up in Florida. You're watching a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

BLITZER: A little bit under 23 minutes until polls close in South Carolina. We may be able to predict a winner at that point or it may be a few more hours. We're just going to have to wait and see until those polls close. Let's look at some of the political ads that have been flooding the air waves.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, flooding is a good word. I was talking to Senator Lindsay Graham, the senior senator from the state the other day. He said to me, Erin, I want to see a car ad again. I mean, it takes a lot to say that.

All right, so I've got all of the candidates here. Just a sampling of the ad, almost $6 million, 19,000 television ads have been shown in the state over the past couple of weeks.

Mitt Romney and his "Super PAC," a good example of some of the negativity. Here is an ad clip played about Newt Gingrich.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Newt attacks because he has more baggage than the airlines. Newt was fined $300,000 for ethics violations, took $1.6 million from Freddie Mac and co-sponsored a bill with Nancy Pelosi.

BURNETT: And because we want to be equal, even when we're being nasty, let's play one that Newt Gingrich and his "Super PAC" played about Mitt Romney, here he is saying he's not electable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As governor of Massachusetts, he passed Romney care, the model for Obama care. Mitt Romney, not conservative, not electable.

BURNETT: And later on, we're going to break down who spent what, how much and find out whether all of this television ad money really mattered especially when it came to the debates, 19,000 ads, Anderson.

COOPER: It's extraordinary and of course, now the ad war moves to Florida where Governor Romney has had the advantage for a long time, he's been able to buy ads there. Alex, you know ads, you do ads as a Republican, a few. What do you make of the ads and the importance of them in South Carolina?

ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think it's just Republicans who are trying to contribute to the Obama recovery and get the economy going. It's how, you know, these are the six-shooters at the gunfight on Main Streets now.

This is how you communicate. You get a chance to jump in everyone's living room and talk to them. The internet is incredibly important now. It's a community building vehicle for you, which is still the way you get in someone's living room and talk to them is with a TV ad.

COOPER: What about the "Super PAC" ads, have they been successful, in getting out the message?

CASTELLANOS: Incredibly, they've changed the game now. Politics in South Carolina we've just seen is like NFL football. There's an offense for every team and a defensive team for every team.

And they have different players and coaches, but they all want the same thing. But now we've split the game in two like that. The "Super PACs" do the negative work.

COOPER: And now already who is running ads in Florida?

CASTELLANOS: Romney has been up a while and I'm not sure about Gingrich yet, but the question is Adelson, I think put about $5 million into Gingrich's campaign for "Super PAC ads," the billionaire out of Las Vegas backing Gingrich.

If let's say Newt Gingrich wins tonight and if he wins picks up, continues momentum, will more money pour into the Gingrich "Super PAC" and make Florida an interesting state?

COOPER: Right, the final votes right now are being tallied again about now, about 20 minutes left to go until polls close. There is a chance we may be able to project a winner at the top of the hour. Stay tuned to find out. We'll be right back.

BLITZER: Welcome back to this special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM. Take a look at this, only 16 minutes or so until the top of the hour. We might, repeat might be able to project a winner, maybe not. We're still going through all the numbers for the exit polls, the official numbers will start coming in at 7:00 p.m. Eastern at the top of the hour, once all the polls in the state of South Carolina close.

If this does prove to be a good night for Newt Gingrich, there may be only one person happier than he is, maybe that could be the president of the United States, because they've been really, really worried about Mitt Romney, if you believe what the Democrats have been saying.

Our chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin is standing by. Jessica, you're over at the White House. If this does turn out to be a good night for Newt Gingrich as opposed to Mitt Romney, what are folks at the White House saying about that?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it ultimately -- look, they want to be tight-lipped and careful, Wolf, but bottom line my sources tell me that an elongated primary, which is what Gingrich victory would mean, is ultimately good for the president for a couple of reasons.

First of all, it means that the Republicans will continue battling each other for a longer time, and that means they're spending more resources attacking themselves, not attacking the president.

But it also means that they're bloodying whoever the eventual nominee is. There is a lot of video that the president's team can use in ads down the line that can be pretty useful.

Newt Gingrich this week has picked up some attack lines that the president's own team had used against Mitt Romney, who the president's team has believed will be the eventual nominee.

Essentially accusing him of let me quote, "Mitt Romney will do and say anything to become president, anything." That sounds a lot like what David Axelrod or David Plouffe have said about Mitt Romney that he lacks no core.

Also picking up on the Bain attack that the Obama team has made on Mitt Romney so that's one way, if Newt Gingrich should be the eventual nominee, well, Mitt Romney has said he's an unreliable leader.

Can't you see that used in a team Obama advertisement down the line saying we don't have to tell you this, Republicans have said it about their own nominee. So there's that, and it also buys the president plenty more time for him to go out and sort of "be above the fray" selling his own agenda, Wolf.

BLITZER: Where is the president tonight, Jessica?

YELLIN: He is here at the White House and as you may know the White House likes to say that he doesn't focus on election terms. He has other business to do, but I'm sure he gets briefed, Wolf. BLITZER: I'm sure he is. All right, Jessica, thanks very much. Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: Gloria, you've been talking to establishment Republicans in Congress. What are you hearing about concerns about Newt Gingrich?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, they're worried. I spoke with one today who was worried that if Newt Gingrich is at the top of the ticket they lose the House of Representatives, period. They believe --

BORGER: Because they believe that he's so unreliable to use a Mitt Romney word that something could happen in a general election that would really hurt them, down ticket. And they're afraid of it, and they're not organizing yet against him, but you're beginning to hear this.

COOPER: What people in South Carolina are saying about him is he has fire in the belly and you saw that at the debates and they feel he can take on, what are the folks in Washington thinking they don't get?

BORGER: Well --

GERGEN: Listen, I think the people there in South Carolina are saying essentially, we like what we're seeing right now. People -- and they've just had two weeks of exposure, but people in Washington have had years of exposure.

And they've seen this instable quality, but I would ask Jessica to go back to her -- I wonder if there's not spreading the apprehension amongst some republicans and enjoy a greater satisfaction amongst some Democrats in the White House that two weak candidates could be emerging out of South Carolina.

Gingrich, who has got this baggage, plus Romney, who may be bloodied and weakened so --

COOPER: Let's bring Jessica back in at the White House. Jessica, did you hear David's query?

YELLIN: That there is pleasure that there are two emerging nominees or that --

COOPER: Too weakened candidates.

YELLIN: Yes, this is a dream scenario for the Obama team. Look, he's heading into an election year where the economy is down, where his own numbers are down and he's going to fight an uphill battle to win.

The one gift he's being handed is an incredibly weak Republican field in their view, and that's what they're getting n their view, and not only that they're beating each other up. The thing that Gingrich has going for him is he energizes the base potentially and he has a much more acceptable view on immigration that could turn out more Latinos in a general election than Romney.

So that's slightly concerning to them if he were to become the general election nominee. The bottom line is they're beating each other up, doing the Democrats' work for them. This is great news for them.

BORGER: But Jess, don't you think at a certain point and the White House won't say this obviously there will be a question about whether Republican enthusiasm for beating Barack Obama will trump anything, even in terms of a bloody Republican primary?

But that in the end, they just want to win so badly that they will vote for whoever becomes the nominee because they want to get Obama out of the White House?

YELLIN: There is Republican enthusiasm for that, but we all know that the vote ultimately comes down to the independents and the swing voters and whoever gets into this White House has to win that group. And that's --

COOPER: We got to take a break. We could be minutes away from projecting a winner in the heated South Carolina primary. Stand by for an update at the top of the hour. Quick break. We'll be right back.

BLITZER: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. The polls closed in South Carolina only a few moments from now. I'm Wolf Blitzer at the CNN Election Center.

The Republican race is down to only four candidates at a very intense showdown tonight between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. It could be, could be a nail biter.

CNN ballot cameras are strategically positioned across South Carolina to show you the voting and the results before any other network. We have the most crews in the most locations.

Our correspondents are out in force including Candy Crowley and Jim Acosta. Let's go over to Candy. She's over at Mitt Romney headquarters right now -- Candy.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I've just been talking with some folks inside the Romney camp. Let's say when it comes to expectations, lower them.

I was reminded that Mitt Romney four years ago came in with 15 percent here in South Carolina and so, quote, "we are not going to be surprised if we come in second." And then a immediate pivot to Florida where they insist they have a very strong organization.

They're looking forward to going down to Florida and they have, quote, big plans for next week. I'm told that there will be two targets here for Mitt Romney. You can probably guess, President Obama and Newt Gingrich.

I was also told that, quote, "a major speech will be given by Romney on Tuesday morning" as a kind of rebuttal to the "State of the Union" address, which by the president.

And Romney will give another speech Wednesday morning to react to the "State of the Union," and Romney will differentiate his economic policies from both Newt Gingrich and President Obama -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Candy, let's go to Jim Acosta. He's over at Newt Gingrich's headquarters. Expectations over there, Jim?

ACOSTA: Wolf, they are very confident here at the Gingrich headquarters. You can always tell that the candidate is confident when they're booking morning show appearances the following day.

Newt Gingrich is scheduled to appear on three morning shows including one on CNN on "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley tomorrow. I had a chance to catch up with the spokesman for Newt Gingrich earlier today who at that house up in Greenville.

Where we thought Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney might cross paths. I thought, is there going to be a barbecue eating contest at this restaurant? He said if there was going to be one. We would win that, too. So it was an air of confidence I would say inside the Gingrich campaign basically all day long -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll standby to see what happens over there. Jim Acosta, thanks very much. Anderson Cooper, of course, is with us throughout the night -- Anderson.

COOPER: It's going to be such a fascinating night. This race has changed completely from what it was a week ago. We're moments away from the top of the hour when the polls close in South Carolina.

That's where we're going to get our first glimpse of how this very important contest turned out since Rick Santorum won Iowa. Mitt Romney won New Hampshire. The Republican race could turn into a freefall is someone else wins in South Carolina.

John King is going to be mapping out the results on the magic wall and bring us the exit polling data. John, what are you looking at tonight?

KING: Anderson, this has never happened before in the Republican race. Somebody winning Iowa. Someone different winning New Hampshire. Someone different then winning South Carolina.

Our early exit poll data is fascinating. We'll be able to scrub it in just a few minutes once the polls close and tell you even more, but remember Mitt Romney had the support of the state's governor.

So one big question is, how was voters approve? Two thirds of the voters who went to the poll say approve of Nikki Haley. Let's see if she follows her endorsement. If they did, there's also Mitt Romney. How old was the electorate in South Carolina today? Pretty spread out throughout the electorate, the largest group, 50 to 64 and the senior citizens, 65. They make up about 30 percent. This is more important as you move through this year.

(Inaudible) and come right here now a very, very conservative electorate today, Anderson, 66 percent of the vote, 2/3 of those casting votes in the presidential primary today support the Tea Party and 64 percent describe themselves as Born-Again Evangelical Christians.

So how does this play out. We know it's a conservative electorate. Let's what this. If you have moderate conservatives in South Carolina, the more moderate conservative live here along the coast, Myrtle Beach and Charleston.

Up here, this is your bible belt up here. I just want to show you very quickly. Go back to 2008, John McCain down here, Mike Huckabee up here, that's what we're watching on the map -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, John, thanks. Also new for tonight, Erin Burnett's going to bring us battle ground South Carolina, a new way for us to show you how money is influencing the presidential race and a lot of money has been pouring into this race.

BURNETT: A lot of it has, Anderson and it's been on advertising phone calls. One guy had 11 robo calls on his answering machine when he got home. Television ads -- look at the wall here. You can see how much the candidates have spent.

Mitt Romney's campaign, more than $1 million in South Carolina. The candidate that spent the least at the campaign actually, Newt Gingrich, with $335,000.

Take a look at this, this is the real story, "Super PACs." When you add them in, look at these numbers, almost $7 million. Mitt Romney almost 2-1 over Newt Gingrich, all in, $2.7 million. The question is, will it be enough -- Anderson.

COOPER: It's amazing how much Mitt Romney has put into those ads. We're in for what could be a very long night. Our analysts break down the developments like no one else can.

Gloria Borger, David Gergen are working their sources along with the Best Political Team here in the election center. Democrats and Republicans, and our experts are in the field, at campaign headquarters and in Columbia, South Carolina -- Wolf.

BLITZER: We're watching all of this very, very closely. Let me go up to the podium over here, because as you can see, we're only 11 seconds away from the top of the hour. We want to see what we can specifically report when all the polls in the state are closed. Stand by for this.


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Budget Deal; Interview With Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings; Cell Phones on Planes

Aired December 12, 2013 - 18:00   ET

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A new budget deal, a deal that would prevent another government shutdown before the 2014 congressional midterm elections. Will we see a rare break in partisanship and gridlock?

We're watching the vote as it happens right now. We will bring you the results as soon as we get them. Stand by, important voting going on in Washington.

But, first, we're also learning that two federal agencies now are at odds over whether to allow passengers to talk on their cell phones in flight. It's a controversial idea that would affect millions of flyers all around the country.

Our aviation and regulation correspondent Rene Marsh is following all these developments for us.

And they're going back and forth. What's the latest?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, I will tell you, you have on the FCC, which just voted to consider ending the ban. On the other hand, you have the Department of Transportation considering blocking in-flight calls.

So, what does it mean for you, the passenger? Well, don't start dialing just yet.

MARSH (voice-over): Talking on your cell phone in flight could be grounded before you start dialing. The FCC vote 3-2 to consider lifting its ban on in-flight cell use such as voice calls and texting. The commission says new technology eliminates interference with cell towers on the ground, the reason for the decades-old ban.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't want somebody sitting next to me saying, hi, I'm on the plane.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It adds to more noise, more stress to the flight.

MARSH: One commissioner bombarded with letters from opponents.

AJIT PAI, FCC COMMISSIONER: A third wrote simply, "No!"

The FCC chairman says it's their job to worry about the technology, not what passengers want.

TOM WHEELER, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission: I'm the last person in the world who wants to listen to somebody talking to me while I fly across the country, but we are the technical agency, and we will make the technical rules that reflect the way the new technology works.

MARSH: Thursday, the Department of Transportation said it would consider possibly banning the in-flight calls. "The U.S. DOT's role is to determine if allowing these calls is fair to consumers," Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

In Congress, a new Senate bill also aims to ban the calls. It joins Republican Bill Shuster's House proposal.

REP. BILL SHUSTER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: These airplanes are confined, they're noisy already. To have dozens of phone calls going on while in flight I think is annoying to the traveling public and I just think it's unnecessary.

MARSH: But OnAir, which provides cell service on planes around the world, says passengers haven't complained. Most users text, and the $3- to $4-a-minute cost keeps calls short.

MARSH: All right. Well, either way this is a long process. It will be months before the FCC could actually lift its ban, and it would be months before the FAA to vote to impose a ban.

Of course, Wolf, we should mention that carriers in other countries, they do already have the equipment on board that do allow in-flight calls.

BLITZER: We will see what the final verdict is probably fairly soon. Thanks very much, Rene, for that.

Now a new account of Nelson Mandela's final moments from his ex- wife, Winnie. She was with him the day he walked out of prison and she says she was with him on the day he died.

WINNIE MANDELA, EX-WIFE OF NELSON MANDELA: I watched those figures going down and down so slowly. And then he drew his last breath and just rested.

BLITZER: Just days before Nelson Mandela's burial, there's no letup in the controversy surrounding his memorial service on the man who was hired to be an interpreter for the deaf. He's speaking out to CNN and denying allegations he's a fake.

Brian Todd has got more details.

Some pretty stunning allegations that he's a fake, and some stunning revelations today as well.

In CNN's interview and others, the translator, Thamsanqa Jantjie, said he's had mental illness and he made other stunning claims about himself. None of it has stemmed the widespread condemnation of this man and his actions at the ceremony.

TODD (voice-over): He's accused of being a fake interpreter, and is the subject of worldwide ridicule on venues like "The Tonight Show."

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": You know, I knew he was fake. Did you notice later in the speech? Watch what he did here. It's so obvious.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Madiba would emerge as the last great...

TODD: But Thamsanqa Jantjie is not laughing. He stands by his work, says he's a fully qualified sign language interpreter, that he's been trusted with other big events, but Jantjie also said if he interpreted anything wrong at Nelson Mandela's memorial, then he asks for forgiveness. And in an interview with CNN, he dropped a bombshell.

THAMSANQA JANTJIE, SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER AT MEMORIAL: I am suffering from schizophrenia, which is controllable. I'm under a treatment positively in Sterkfontein Hospital in Krugersdorp in South Africa.

TODD: He told "The Johannesburg Star" newspaper that during the ceremony he was hallucinating, hearing voices in his head. He told the Associated Press he saw angels coming into the stadium, that he had violence in his past and he had once been hospitalized in a mental health facility for more than a year.

Did the South African government, which staged the event, catch any of that beforehand?

HENDRIETTA BOGOPANE-ZULU, SOUTH AFRICAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: I don't think any of the people that provided the services on that day, the health profiles were discussed. So, I mean, if that was the case, then I might have missed something.

TODD: That officials says Jantjie is not a fake, but if he had those mental health conditions, and given that he was standing just inches away from President Obama and other leaders, even if he wasn't armed...

(on camera): Could he have been a threat to the president? JOHN TOMLINSON, FORMER SECRET SERVICE DEPUTY ASSISTANCE DIRECTOR: Clearly, he was in close enough proximity that he could have reached out and touched the president.

TODD (voice-over): The Secret Service relied on the host country to vet everyone on the podium before the event.

Former Secret Service official Larry Tomlinson says if this had been in the U.S., the Secret Service would have likely have prevented Jantjie from getting close to the president. But another big concern, that this interpreter grew irritated when asked to show off his sign language skills to CNN's David McKenzie.

JANTJIE: You want me to what? You want me to -- they -- the media calls me a security threat. You want me to call me what?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, I'm just asking you if you can show me some of the signs.

JANTJIE: No, no, let's be realistic.

TODD: Jantjie said he had been originally been hired by a company called SA Interpreters. We tried to contact the company. We couldn't reach anyone. And a South African official says the owners seem to have vanished -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Despite his claims, there have been complaints about him in the past, right?

TODD: That's right. He had claimed before all this -- quote -- "No one at all said I interpreted wrong."

But an African National Congress official said that last year after Jantjie interpreted an event staged by that group, the ANC, that there were complaints about him after that. So this has been going on probably for at least several months, but, of course, you know, none of that came to light before this event.

BLITZER: Weird story this is. All right, thanks, Brian, for that.

Still ahead, a critical vote on the budget under way right now on the floor of the House of Representatives. We're watching. We will have the latest breaking news. That's coming up.

Plus, is there any doubt that Republican Senator Ted Cruz plans to run for president? Congressman Elijah Cummings is joining us. He will tell us what he learned about Cruz's plans during that very long trip to South Africa and back.

BLITZER: You're looking at live pictures of the House of Representatives. They're voting right now on a bipartisan deal to continue funding the government for the next two years, right now, 171 in favor, what, 38 opposed.

Dana Bash is up on Capitol Hill, our chief congressional correspondent.

It looks like it's going to pass, Dana, right?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does look like it's going to pass. The idea is going to be, by how much? We still have a lot of members who still haven't voted yet.

And in fact that's part of a strategy, we're told, at least on the Democratic side that they were going to maybe hang back and see how the Republican votes are going, again not necessarily because this will be a decision whether this measure is going to win or lose, but how many Democrats can maybe vote their conscience and oppose what they don't think is a good deal.

Many of them don't think it's good because it doesn't include an extension of unemployment benefits, or whether they do what they think is right, which is to make sure this gets passed, but it's certainly moving toward passage. And we will watch on the Democratic side, but maybe more importantly, the Republican side and how much of a split there is. So far, 32 Republicans have voted no, and 93 have not yet voted, so we will see what kind of real split there is among the Republicans in the House, particularly after John Boehner made such a show over the past 24 hours of pushing back against conservative groups who are trying to encourage Republicans to vote against this.

BLITZER: Yes, the magic number 435 members of the House of Representatives who can vote. You need 218 in order to get a majority.

Gloria Borger watching these numbers at well.

They're already at, what, 196, Gloria, so it looks like they will get that number relatively quickly. But, as Dana points out, it will be interesting how many Republicans vote again what the speaker of the House and Paul Ryan are advocating, how many Democrats go against Nancy Pelosi, if you will.

And, you know, there are about 60 members of what I call the hell-no caucus who were for the government shutdown, defunding Obamacare. So far you have about 30 presumably of those members voting against this, Wolf. What was fascinating to me was Paul Ryan's speech on the floor of the House.

He said, look, we have to show -- we have been at each other's throats for a while, but we're going to have to win some elections. I think this is really a test about whether the Republican Party in the House is going to get serious about governing. I think that's what John Boehner was saying. He said, you guys had your chance, we need to get serious.

BLITZER: All right, 219, Dana, so it looks like it's passed unless somebody changes their mind. It looks like Paul Ryan and the speaker, they will get their way in the House of Representatives. So let's walk a little bit forward now, Dana. Where does it go from here? It goes to the Senate next week for a vote, right?

BASH: That's right. It goes to the Senate next week, and is expected to pass there as well.

And just to sort of take a step back and remind our viewers what we're talking about, we're talking averting a government shutdown, and that is no small thing, considering where we have been lurching from crisis to crisis. As Gloria was just alluding to, that's precisely why Paul Ryan, the Republican chair of the House Budget Committee, and Patty Murray, the Democratic Senate chair of the Senate Budget Committee, said they made this agreement in order to stop that, and to get everybody back to normalcy, as normal as Congress can be.

And that really is such a large part, Wolf of why you had members of both parties voting for this, not necessarily because they like the level of spending that is in this budget. Everybody has something that they can dislike, but just about the process, that this gives everybody an ability to breathe and not worry about the next crisis that is going to come, and allows them to perhaps -- let's just be optimists here -- perhaps work towards those very big-ticket items that are contributing to the deficit, like Medicare and Medicaid, which are not involved in this particular...

BLITZER: Good to see a little bipartisanship, Gloria, in Washington. Compromise used to be a bad word for some. Now it's a good word.

BORGER: Well, for some. I still think there are a lot...

BLITZER: For the majority of the House of Representatives.

BORGER: But I still think there are lots of Republicans, conservative Republicans who are unhappy about this, Wolf, and liberal Democrats as well, who don't like the fact that those automatic spending cuts, some of them remain in this budget proposal.

But I think they all understand that the country doesn't have any appetite to go over any kind of cliff again or shut down the government.

BLITZER: They're still voting; 46 Republicans have voted nay -- 16 -- excuse me -- 47 Republicans, 15 Democrats, but it has passed, and it will go to the Senate.

Just ahead: There was no escape for Republican firebrand Ted Cruz when a large group of African-American Democrats cornered him. Congressman Elijah Cummings is standing by to tell us the behind-the- scenes story of that long and vocal encounter on the flight to and from South Africa. Later tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, the CNN film "Unreal Dreams," the incredible story of an innocent man sent to prison for killing his wife and his fight to clear his name.

BLITZER: Senator Ted Cruz may have had some uncomfortable moments on the long flights to and from South Africa for Nelson Mandela's memorial.

The conservative Republican was on the plane with Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus. And we're told Senator Cruz got an earful.

And joining us now from Capitol Hill, Congressman Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, just back from the memorial service for Nelson Mandela.

Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: It's good to be with you.

BLITZER: Let's talk a little bit about the trip, the flights there and back. It was an interesting delegation, congressional delegation, including Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas.

I take it there was some lively conversations with him. First of all, did he make it clear -- do you believe, did you emerge from all those discussions convinced, as you apparently said, that he's going to run for president?

CUMMINGS: I asked him directly. He tried to skirt the issue, but basically said that he would be traveling throughout the country and that he would -- I asked him, was he going to New Hampshire, was he going to South Carolina, Iowa?

And he said he would probably be going to all of those places and he would doing the things that a presidential candidate would be normally doing, but he wouldn't say yes or no. But it was quite clear to me, Wolf.

BLITZER: It was quite clear to you that he definitely wanted to run for the Republican presidential nomination?

CUMMINGS: Definitely. Yes, I have no doubt about it, no.

BLITZER: All right, good. And you spent a lot of -- in those close quarters, you have a lot of time to chat.

BLITZER: I know that some of the discussions dealt with substantive policy issues. We asked him today how those discussions went.

He said this: "We had terrific discussions among the delegation on a host of issues. The entire discussion was lively, spirited, and productive, friendly throughout."

Can you take us a little bit behind the scenes? Tell us about those lively, spirited discussions.

CUMMINGS: Well, first of all, Wolf, I was surprised to see him on the trip. I didn't know he was going.

And when I discovered him, I said, you know, this is an opportunity for members of the Congressional Black Caucus to really let him know how we feel about the issues that we are so concerned about. So he so happened to be sitting beside Gwen Moore, Congresswoman Moore, who is not shy.

So, he was sitting beside her for some 20 hours. But all throughout, we had plenty time on the plane to talk. We were moving up and down the aisles. We had several stops for refueling. And then, of course, at the -- in Johannesburg at the event, the memorial service, we again had a chance to talk.

And I spent a lot of time talking to him about the Affordable Care Act, because I realize that we were diametrically opposed, opposite ends of the spectrum, he being against it and I being very much for it. And I tried to explain to him in clear terms why it was so very important to me.

And I told him, I said, look, I'm concerned about the one out of every four members of your Texas population that does not have insurance and about the ones in my area. And so we had a dialogue, and we basically said -- he said, well, Obamacare is not the proper way to go about this.

And I said to him this simple thing. I said, well, Senator, tell me what you would do. We need to go about fixing it. The president said that he's willing to sit down with anybody who's willing to work on fixing it. And he basically did not come up with an answer to that.

But I wanted him, Wolf, to understand that there are people who get sick and die when they don't have health insurance.

BLITZER: You think, Congressman, you had any impact? Do you think he changed -- you changed his mind on anything?

CUMMINGS: It's hard to say.

I think the main thing is I wanted to make sure that he heard what I had to say. And I noticed that John Lewis spent a lot of time talking to him, Maxine Waters and others. And I think we never -- it wasn't a concerted effort. It was not orchestrated, but I think everybody had an opportunity to actually get their point of view over to him.

Now, whether it sinks in is a whole 'nother thing. But, Wolf, somebody who is running for president and someone who is doing the things that he's doing with regard to the national -- in the national arena, I think they need to hear from every element of the population.

And certainly the Congressional Black Caucus represents some very, very significant views.

BLITZER: And most of the congressional delegation to the Nelson Mandela memorial were members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Did he have any impact on you? Did he change your mind about anything?

CUMMINGS: Not really.

I found out that we were both preachers' kids. I also found out that he was tremendously influenced by his father. And I told him how influenced I was by my father. And I made him understand that my father was a former sharecropper and one who only had a second grade education, but one who believed in Matthew of the Bible, which talks about feeding the hungry, and taking care of those in prison, and lifting up those who are down and out.

And so we did some comparative notes. And at that point, I found myself doing the talking. He didn't tell me his interpretation of the Bible, but I'm sure it's hopefully quite similar.

BLITZER: I think you and I and all our viewers will agree it was a nice gesture on our part to make the journey to Nelson Mandela's memorial. It was very nice that he went, very nice that you and your colleagues went.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

CUMMINGS: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Elijah Cummings joining us, the Democratic congressman from Maryland.

Please be sure to join us again tomorrow here in THE SITUATION ROOM for my special interview with the actor Will Ferrell, who plays the anchorman Ron Burgundy in the upcoming film "Anchorman 2." We're going to talk about a whole bunch of issues, including the new performance he has in "Anchorman 2" and maybe even some jokes about styling tips, facial hair, all sorts of other issues.

That interview will air tomorrow here in THE SITUATION ROOM tomorrow with Will Ferrell. I think you are going to want to see our conversation, hear it as well.

Remember, you can always follow what's going on in THE SITUATION ROOM on Twitter. Tweet me @WolfBlitzer. You can tweet the show @CNNSitRoom.

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Instability in Ukraine; Bostonians Preparing for Marathon While Remembering Last Year`s Terrorist Attack; Lunar Eclipses Causing Blood Moon Effect

Aired April 15, 2014 - 04:00:00   ET

CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, I`m Carl Azuz. It`s great to have you watching CNN STUDENT NEWS. This Tuesday, we are starting in Ukraine, a very unstable country. Some Ukrainians want closer ties to Russia. Others want to align themselves with Western Europe. The crisis is getting worse. Protesters aligned with Russia have taken over Ukrainian government buildings in certain cities. Ukraine`s government set deadlines for those demonstrators to leave or to be forced out by Ukraine`s armed forces. But these deadlines have passed without action by either side.

Ukraine and its allies including the U.S. blame Russia for stirring up instability. They`re concerned Russia may be trying to take over more of Ukraine after an annex the pro-Russian region of Crimea last month. Russia accuses Ukraine of war against its own people and says it`s the West that will determine whether civil war in Ukraine is avoided.

From Ukraine we are crossing land and sea, arriving in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a city shocked and in many ways strengthened after a terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon exactly one year ago. As runners and spectators prepare for the 2014 Marathon next Monday, CNN caught up with a runner who was affected by two terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A freshly painted finish line and with it a new beginning for 36,000 runners ready to cross it.

SALLY DUVAL, RUNNER: April 15th last year was the hardest day I`ve had since, you know, the fall of 2001, the emotions and feelings came crashing back.

FIELD: When the bombs went off at last year`s marathon, Sally Duval`s husband, a runner, had just reached mile 25. He was unharmed but she quickly became determined.

DUVAL: I knew pretty much right away after last year`s bombings that I was going to run no matter what and there was nothing that could stop me from being a part of it. It was such an emotional, crazy time.

FIELD: For Duval, it was all too similar to that September day almost 12 years before. Her brother, Teddy Maloney, who worked at the World Trade Center, never came home.

DUVAL: I think that I feel very strongly that they can`t keep us down, and these kind of events, these terrorist acts that keep happening, you know, we need to rise above them.

FIELD: This year, running the Boston marathon will still be a feat for the elite, but also a job for runners with unfinished business and an opportunity for anyone who saw the devastation and wants to help heal the heartbreak.

JOANNE POMODORO, CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER: This being my first marathon, I`m really thinking I`m overwhelmed at times, but then I say I have to practice what I preach so I`m healing myself.

FIELD: Joanne Pomodoro is a clinical social worker at Massachusetts General Hospital and a first time marathoner. She`s busy training, but also coaching other athletes for the mental hurdles they could face this year at every mile.

POMODORO: PTSD doesn`t come up until probably three months to six months after an event and many times if people don`t work on what the issue is, then they may re-experience it, so not being at the course, not training again on the course, and then all of that might become a flooding experience, with too many emotions.

FIELD: Putting one foot in front of the other, Duval has spent years learning how to move forward in the face of devastating loss. This year, she may help show others the way.

DUVAL: I think that you just have to stick with your routine and breathe in and breathe out every day, and the anniversary will come and be very, very emotional, but you move through it and you feel a sense of relief as you get past that day.

AZUZ: Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. Today, CNN STUDENT NEWS "Roll Call" is raving up in Dearborn, Michigan with the thunderbirds of Edsel Ford High School. From there, we are rolling east, at NHS school, Carlisle. We are saying hello to the bulldogs in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. And in the Orange State, it`s all about the Eagles. Parkland, Florida is where Stoneman Douglas High has made our roll. Today is tax day in America. It doesn`t sound like a holiday, and it`s not. For a good reason. It`s the deadline for Americans to file their income taxes with the government. About 146 million people share this deadline. It can`t be extended, if needed, but if Americans don`t pay their taxes, they could get in trouble with the IRS at best. And worse, they could land in jail. The 16 Amendment gives the government the power to collect income taxes. And here is what it does with them. Nearly a quarter of the revenue goes to Social Security, 22 percent to health and medical care programs, 19 percent funds national defense, and 12 percent is for safety net programs that help the poor. Veterans programs, interests on the national debt, research and education all factoring as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Time for "The Shoutout." What is an ambra? If you think you know it, shout it out! Is it a shadow, pigment, cover or bird? You`ve got three seconds, go!

An ambra is a shadow. You often hear about ambras during an eclipse. That`s your answer and that`s your shoutout.

AZUZ: Such as the one people in North and South America were able to see last night. It`s called the blood moon - that sounds kind of creepy. What happened is a total lunar eclipse, the Earth was between the Sun and the Moon, so the Moon was in the Earth`s ambra or shadow. The result, NASA says, made the Moon appear to be a burnt reddish orange color, hence - blood moon. Last night`s observers had to be up really late or really early. It wasn`t scheduled to start until around 2 a.m. Eastern time. The red color wasn`t expected until around 3 a.m., and that was supposed to last an hour, visible only if there were no clouds in the way.

If you missed it, no problem. You`ve got another chance. Though these things occur pretty randomly, by the luck of the draw, scientists expect we`ll see four blood moons over the next year and a half.

When you`ve seen news coverage of disasters, you`ve heard of assistance by the Red Cross, but you probably haven`t heard of Red Paw. You`ve seen shelters set up for people, but you probably haven`t seen one set up for pets. It`s something Jen Leary saw as a problem she could solve. She`s a CNN hero who`s helping people by helping their animals.

JEN LEARY, CNN HERO: I was firefighter in Philly for seven years. You get to a fire scene and the firefighters are there to put out the fire. The Salvation Army and the Red Cross assist the people once the fire is out. But there just wasn`t anyone there to help the other part of the family.

I would see how upset the people were about their animals. Now, where is my pet, and then where is it going to go? These are people`s children. They`ve just lost everything. They shouldn`t then be forced to lose their pets as well.

(on camera): We have a dog displaced by a fire, a Chihuahua. I`m headed to the scene now.

(voice over): We respond 24-7, 365 days a year. We do for pets what the Red Cross does for people.

Now, we went into the basement, found the dog hiding behind something.

Once the fire is under control, we are able to look for the animals and bring them out.

(on camera): Hi, baby. Come here.

(voice over): Red Paw headquarters is my house.

(on camera): High now.

(voice over): We`ve helped close to 1,000 animals. She`s been in my house, and the owner said she was pregnant. Everything that the animal needs .

(on camera): You are hungry?

(voice over): We`ll handle for free for them.

When we reunite the families, it`s a good thing. It`s like this void has now been filled.

LEARY: My hope is that it`s a fresh start that they can move forward together. After going through such a sad thing, it`s so good to have a happy ending.

AZUZ: You might have read about the celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras County, the Mark Twain classic. The race at this event in Alabama - not as safe. It`s a rattlesnake rodeo. They are not particularly fast at crawling, which is actually a good thing. They are sure not as safe to handle as frogs, but those who do handle them, say safety is key as is education. This event aims to teach people how to react if they have a close encounter with a rattler. So, this is a rodeo on a whole different scale. Maybe they didn`t all want to race, but there were no reports of a strike.

Onlooker thought it was really some fang else. Some might have even called it venomenal. Now that we`ve left our crawling card, we`ll sleep away from now and hope to see you Wednesday for CNN STUDENT NEWS.


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Breaking News: Thirty Five Years of CNN Part II

Aired December 2, 2015 - 04:00   ET

This is the second of a two-part special edition we produced on CNN STUDENT NEWS. It continues our look back at some of the major news stories that

have made headlines and history since CNN launched 35 years ago.

Teachers, we encourage you to preview this show. It contains images of some of the most tragic stories CNN has covered.

SUBTITLE: Breaking News: Thirty Five Years of CNN.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The horrors of this war, ethic cleansing goes on within view of United Nations patrols.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An explosion underground in the garage section of the World Trade Center has killed now three people. Hundreds of people are

still being evacuated from the twin towers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole south side of the building is going up in flames literally before our eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four million people driven from their homes by war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Oklahoma governor`s office says at least 19 people are dead, hundreds of other injured, and rescuers continue to search for

survivors in the rubble of the AP Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, THEN-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The bombing at Centennial Olympic Park this morning was an evil act of

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: French government has informed all of us that Princess Diana has died.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Earlier today, two masked gunman wearing all black begun shooting at least 18 people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the election law hopefully hanging chair (ph).

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The hand count is expected to begin shortly here in the room behind me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A plane has crushed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Saw a plane crashed into --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was described to me, the size of a 747 --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

AARON BROWN, FORMER ANCHOR: My producer called, he said, "You listen to the radio". And I said, "No". He said, "You should".

He said, a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center.

I didn`t know if it`s a big plane or a small plane, or it was an accident or it was deliberate --

PAULA ZAHN, FORMER ANCHOR: But when the second plane hit the South Tower, I think we all knew it`s the act of terrorist.

BROWN: At the Pentagon, a plane or a helicopter has crashed and the Pentagon is being evacuated.

The Boston Airport, like airports now across the entire country is closed.

All air traffic in United States has come to a halt.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And then we heard that there is another plane, maybe going towards the Capitol, another plane wanted to go the White

House. People were running out of the White House, people were running out of Capitol.

BROWN: There has just been a huge explosion we can see, a bellowing smoke rising and I can, I`m telling you that I can`t see that second tower, but

there was a cascade of sparks and fire and now, this -- it looks almost like a mushroom cloud explosion --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: United Flight 93, Newark to SFO, has crashed in Pennsylvania for United Airlines.

ZAHN: Some very brave passengers attempted to take control of that plane because they knew, from phone conversations, that they had had with family

members at the World Trade Center had been attacked -- can you imagine the courage?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good Lord. There are no words.

BROWN: It`s 1:00, 2:00 in the morning, it was late, and I was tired, and I was crying, and I was thinking about my daughter was sort of middle school.

And I thought, "God, her world is going to be totally different, is going to be totally different".

ZAHN: 9/11 forever altered the soul of our nation. We could never again take for granted our sense of security, and life has never been the same

since then.

AMANPOUR: I reported a few minutes ago about a second wave of attacks, they`re being described as more intense.

GEORGE W. BUSH, THEN-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes in Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve got a little problem on the Space Shuttle Columbia. It has been out of communication now for the past 12 minutes.

BUSH: My fellow Americans, this day has brought terrible news, the Columbia is lost. There are no survivors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More explosions have rock Baghdad after an unprecedented bombardment a few hours ago. U.S.-led forces had unleashed

their long awaited and punishing air assault.

COOPER: In Spain, at this moment, they are still counting the bodies. At least 190 people are dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hundreds are reported dead in Sri Lanka as a powerful earthquake of Indonesia triggers devastating tidal waves across parts of

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four separate yet simultaneous explosions, striking the transit system there.

COOPER: The real concern is the wind, and the rain, and any flooding that may cause.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A powerful hurricane appears to be setting its sights into the Central Gulf Coast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The winds are just incredible here in New Orleans. We can see the roof of the Superdome has been shredded.

COOPER: This is maybe the easy side of the storm but it does not feel very easy right here on the banks of the Mississippi River. I just want to show

you a little bit --

It`s a very strange feeling covering a hurricane, particularly one that was this size, got there really just as the first kind of rainfall was

The winds are really big up here.

I had a satellite truck with me. I had a crew with me and we were kind of on our own.

Because as you can see, it`s coming apart as we speak.

And people just come up to you in the Walmart and they`re like, have you heard about my town?

A woman at the Walmart said to me, you should to Gulf Coast of Mississippi, because we haven`t able to touch with our relatives in Waveland and no one

is reporting from there.

When I got to Waveland, that was unlike anything I`ve seen before. It`s just block after block was gone. People were starting to return and see

their lives gone.

It`s devastating, I mean, after this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A levee break the size of a football field is slowly flooding New Orleans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am looking over a scene of utter devastation and the entire neighborhood, this water has come up to the east of the houses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we got out there, you could hear screams of people still being trapped in the attics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we came across, people punching holes in the attic spaces because the water is filled up all the way up to their attics.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What are we doing now, doc, where are we going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to Charity Hospital.

GUPTA: Is this really safe? And we heard about the snipers earlier today.

GUPTA: We had to get a row boat and essentially row across from the parking deck across the street and to the ramp at Charity Hospital.

OK. Well, we made it.

GUPTA: Safely.

So, this is what a Charity Hospital looks like in the middle of the natural disaster.

When you get into Charity Hospital, you sort of immediately realize that it is as bad if not worst as has been described. It was completely crowded.

There was a smell in the air. When we started to walk around the hospital and realize that the staircase is not becoming filled with bodies as a

result of what was happening there, that you needed to start reporting.

One of the images that really struck with me the most was these people bagging patients, with been on ventilators who no longer had power, and

they would take shifts. And you couldn`t fall asleep and they have to just keep doing it and sometimes the patients would still be awake and are at

least cognizant enough to know that literally in my entire life right now is dependent on where this guy can keep bagging this bag of air into my

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some of these people had been waiting outside now for more than three days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No food. No water. Helicopter is flying all over here. It`s ridiculous.

COOPER: You know, someone actually said this to me in the days after Katrina. They said to me, "You know man, this is all going to be

forgotten. It`s all going to be cleaned up and washed away and forgotten".

But I certainly would never forget what I saw, and I don`t think a lot of people who were there, I don`t think any of them will forget either.