For May 26, 2011, CBS

Chris Wragge, Erica Hill, Marysol Castro, Jeff Glor, Mike DeForest
CBS The Early Show
05-26-2011
CHRIS WRAGGE: And welcome back to THE EARLY SHOW. Sun coming up over Central Park here in New York City this morning. Good morning, everyone.

Welcome back to THE EARLY SHOW. I`m Chris Wragge along with Erica Hill.

And, coming up, Sarah Palin`s supporters have been telling her run, Sarah, run. And maybe now, she will.

ERICA HILL: Yeah. All these new signs out there, people say, are pointing to a presidential run. Reportedly, the former governor bought a home in Arizona. Next month a documentary about her term as Alaska`s governor comes out in Iowa. So, is it all a jumping-off point for a Palin presidential run? We`re going to ask those questions. We`ll also speak with one reporter who says he`s the only reporter to have seen this movie that`s coming out and get a better sense of what`s in it.

CHRIS WRAGGE: Also coming up, prosecutors get tough with Casey Anthony in her murder trial. Her former boyfriend testifies she didn`t cry or act any differently just after her little girl disappeared. So we`re going to get an update from Orlando coming up in just a couple of moments.

ERICA HILL: First though, we do want to check out some of the other headlines we`re following for you this morning. Jeff Glor is standing by at the news desk with that for us. Jeff, good morning once again.

JEFF GLOR: Hey, Erica, good morning to you. Good morning to everyone at home.

And, dozens of injuries are reported after another batch of severe weather overnight. At least, eighty-one tornadoes reported yesterday, and into the overnight hours. Indiana and Missouri got the worst of it overnight.

Tornado watches and warnings were posted in twelve states. The death toll from Sunday`s tornado in Joplin, Missouri, meanwhile, has now reached a hundred and twenty-five.

Europe`s most wanted war crimes fugitive is under arrest this morning.

Ratko Mladic is the former head of the Bosnian army. Mladic is sought by the U.N. for genocide committed during the Bosnian war. He`d been on the run since 1995. He was indicted for the massacre of eight thousand Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo.

An indefinite delay in the trial of Jared Loughner. An Arizona judge ruled yesterday that Loughner is mentally incompetent to stand trial. Loughner accused in the January shooting rampage in Tucson that killed six people and wounded thirteen, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will be sent now to a federal mental facility.

President Obama is in France this morning for the G8 Summit. Mister Obama arriving with the Russian President, was welcomed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The two-day summit in France will focus on, among other things, the uprising in the Arab world, nuclear safety, and regulating the internet.

It is thirty-two minutes past the hour now. Time now for more weather.

Here`s what`s happening outside your window.

(LOCAL WEATHER BREAK) ERICA HILL: Will Sarah Palin run for President? People have been asking that question ever since the 2008 election when she and John McCain lost to President Obama. Well, now, some recent developments are giving her supporters new hope. CBS News correspondent Whit Johnson reports.

(Begin VT) WHIT JOHNSON: In the strongest sign yet of a possible Sarah Palin run at the presidency, this week filmmaker Steven Bannon announced a million- dollar documentary, The Undefeated, about Palin`s term as Alaska`s governor.

SARAH PALIN: I will be honored to accept your nomination for vice president of United States.

WHIT JOHNSON: Ever since her meteoric rise on the national political scene, Sarah Palin has fueled speculation.

SARAH PALIN (Fox News, February 2010): I would if I believe that that is the right thing to do for our country and for the Palin family, certainly.

I would do so.

WOMAN (Entertainment Tonight): Are you going to run for President?

SARAH PALIN (Entertainment Tonight): You know, I have not decided what I`m going to do.

WHIT JOHNSON: After dropping out of the national spotlight earlier this year, Palin strongly suggested a possible run for the nation`s highest office in an interview last week.

SARAH PALIN: I want to make sure that Americans put back on the right track and we only do that by defeating Obama in 2012. I have that fire in my belly.

WHIT JOHNSON: Now come unconfirmed reports, Palin is buying a house in Arizona as a launching-off point for a national campaign. Not far from the home her daughter Bristol purchased last year. Whether the documentary is successful at rebuilding Palin`s image remains to be seen. Its premiere is in Iowa next month.

Whit Johnson, CBS News, Washington.

(End VT) ERICA HILL: And joining us this morning from Des Moines, Iowa, is Scott Conroy. He`s a political reporter with Real Clear Politics. He had an exclusive sneak peek at that Palin documentary. Good to have you with us this morning.

SCOTT CONROY (Reporter, RealClearPolitics; Co-Author Sarah from Alaska): Great to be here.

ERICA HILL: As-- as-- as Whit just mentioned, it comes out next month. What is her camp telling you this morning about a possible run?

SCOTT CONROY: Well, I mean, this is really the biggest news that we`ve had in a while about Sarah Palin in terms of her presidential prospects. It-- It suggests strongly that she`s been planning something all along. She`s been kind of quiet, as you said in that piece over the last few months for her, at least. But I`m told by-- by several reliable sources that over the next couple of days, we`re going to get another major indicator that she`s really thinking very seriously about this and is going to start acting more like a-- a candidate.

ERICA HILL: How big of a piece to that potential candidacy is this film?

You`ve seen it as you mentioned, obviously, coming out in Iowa, coming out in June--two potential signs there. What`s new in it? What will we learn?

SCOTT CONROY: Well, I think a lot of people--even Sarah Palin`s biggest fans--don`t really know anything about her record in Alaska. And that`s really what the film focuses on. Her record in Alaska as governor for the first two-and-a-half years that she was in office--the only two-and-a-half years--was very impressive for the most part. I mean, she accomplished a lot on oil and gas issues. She really was the kind of maverick that`s now become sort of a cliche. But that`s what attracted her-- her to the McCain campaign. She had approval ratings that were consistently above eighty percent. And-- and she accomplished a lot for the state. She was really a transformative governor in a lot of ways. So-- ERICA HILL: Mm-Hm.

SCOTT CONROY: --I think what the movie tries to do is it tries to reintroduce her to-- to people who may have already written her off. You know, she became sort of a firebrand for conservatives in the campaign in 2008 and afterwards. But this is really going to try to recapture her independent streak.

ERICA HILL: Uh-Huh. And that-- that`s going to be a point. I want to bring in now CBS News political correspondent Jan Crawford. She`s in Chicago this morning. Jan, good morning to you. One of the things that`s interesting is- - is what that film is doing. But also this is a major thing that Sarah Palin would have to address as a candidate, of course, the fact that she eventually quit her job as governor. What are you hearing rumblings of in terms of how that would be approached if, in fact, she does become a candidate?

JAN CRAWFORD (CBS News Political Correspondent): Well, I mean, that is the big issue, I think, for people who even supported her-- Sarah Palin, the fact that she quit. I mean, what does that say, kind of, about her fire in the belly to lead going forward--whether she was able to win the presidency? You know, this really reminds me, though, and we`re all looking at these clues, and of course people since 2008, November `08 after the election, have been wondering, is Sarah Palin been going to run for president? So, when you start seeing all these clues, it`s kind of like those inkblot tests, you want to talk about it, Erica, where, you know, one person can look at all these dots and see a face and another person can look at them and see, you know, a vase. So, we`ve all these clues today that, yeah, she`s going to run. So it makes some people think she is. But then I see so many reasons that she will not. For example, she`s had this lucrative speaking career. She`s really a national figure in the Republican Party, recommending candidates. No signs that she`s going to be a candidate herself. She likes that national stage. But no evidence that she`s actually stepping into a campaign to become a presidential candidate. And she does have, as I mentioned, negatives.

ERICA HILL: How would she affect the field, though, if she does step in, Jan?

JAN CRAWFORD: Well, she would have an enormous effect on the field because she`s enormously popular and she could immediately jump in. Her name recognition is sky-high, and rise right to the top of those polls on people who are looking for a-- an exciting, dynamic Republican candidate. But whether or not she could go the distance is an entirely open question.

ERICA HILL: Mm-Hm.

JAN CRAWFORD: She`s also very divisive. Some Republicans have started to turn against her a little bit, because as she resigned from the governor, and they worry that she`s too divisive to breat-- beat Barack Obama. And there are other people out there now who may jump in as Sarah Palin has kind of let this play out. And one of those people I think we really have to watch is Michele Bachmann. She could make a real difference in this race if she gets in.

Scott, is there much concern in the Sarah Palin camp? Are-- are you getting the sense, over a possible run by Michele Bachmann? Or is this, you know, actually a team that we could see coming together?

SCOTT CONROY: Yeah, you know, I think we have to be careful about some of these narratives that develop inside the Beltway over the last couple of months. We`ve heard a lot about Michele Bachmann and it looks pretty clear that she probably is seriously considering a run. But we have to remember, you know, Sarah Palin is someone who singlehandedly turned the 2008 campaign on its head. She can draw a crowd of tens of thousands of people, whenever and wherever she wants. So I mean she`s been very consistent, I think, since 2008, that she`s seriously considering a-- JAN CRAWFORD: Well, Okay, Scott, I`m going to-- SCOTT CONROY: --a presidential run.

JAN CRAWFORD: Right. I`m going to jump in here, because, obviously, she can draw crowds. And obviously she is a major player in the political scene and has a real impact on politics and talking about important issues. People listen to Sarah Palin, and she has important things to contribute. But Newt Gingrich can draw huge crowds, and most people think he`s not going to be elected President, either. Michele Bachmann--and I`m not, you know, saying she`s going to be but she is a serious person. She was a federal tax lawyer. She`s got a record of accomplishment. So, you know, don`t write her off when we`re all looking at Sarah Palin.

ERICA HILL: There will be plenty more time to discuss this. That`s the good news, because it`s just the beginning of the run-up. Scott Conroy, Jan Crawford, thank you both this morning.

SCOTT CONROY: Thanks for having me.

ERICA HILL: Just ahead, more disturbing testimony in Casey Anthony`s murder trial as friends and co-workers take the stand against her. You`re watching THE EARLY SHOW on CBS.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS) CHRIS WRAGGE: What kind of mother wouldn`t report her child missing for a month? That`s a key question in the trial of Casey Anthony, accused of killing her two-year-old daughter Caylee. And the defense and prosecution have very different answers. Reporter Mike DeForest of our Orlando`s affiliate WKMG is covering the trial for us. Mike, good morning.

MIKE DEFOREST (WKMG-TV): Good morning, Chris. On the first day of Casey Anthony`s murder trial, the defense tried to show that their client was the victim of abuse and a dysfunctional family. Yesterday, the state fired back, suggesting that Casey Anthony did not care if her daughter was alive, missing, or dead.

(Begin VT) MIKE DEFOREST: On day two of the case against Casey Anthony, there were questions about the twenty-five-year-old`s character and mental state during the time her daughter was allegedly missing.

The state began chipping away at the defense when they put Tony Lazzaro on the stand. Lazzaro was Casey`s boyfriend from May to July of 2008. He testified that Casey was protective of her daughter especially around water.

MAN #1: What did Casey do once she got too close to the pool?

TONY LAZZARO (Casey Anthony`s Former Boyfriend): What any other mother would do: try to stop her from getting from the pool. Stop, hey, stop, you know.

MIKE DEFOREST: Lazzaro was also with Casey Anthony the day little Caylee allegedly disappeared, surveillance cameras at a Blockbuster show the couple renting movies on the same day the defense says Caylee accidentally drowned.

MAN #2: When you saw her that night did she ever cry?

TONY LAZZARO: No.

MAN#2: Did she ever act scared?

TONY LAZZARO: Nope.

MAN#2: Did she ever act nervous?

TONY LAZZARO: No.

MIKE DEFOREST: Lazzaro`s three roommates did not know Caylee was missing either. During their turns on the stand Wednesday, the men said Casey always had a ready explanation when anybody asked where Caylee was.

CAMERON CAMPANA (Tony Lazarro`s Former Roommate): One time she said that she was going to Universal with the nanny, then another time was--the nanny was taking her to Cocoa Beach.

MIKE DEFOREST: Those same roommates were also with Casey when she was partying at the nightclub where Lazzaro worked though the defense claims Casey was actually working in those notorious pictures that show her having a good time. Other women employed as shot girls confirmed that.

ERICA GONZALEZ (Former Shot Girl): She`s kind of like our manager and she basically protected us.

(End VT) MIKE DEFOREST: Casey Anthony`s defense team may have scored one for building up her reputation but they missed out on validating claims that she had been sexually abused by her father. On the stand, Tony Lazzaro said that Casey Anthony had told him a secret suggesting it may have been about that alleged sexual abuse. But the judge would not let the ex-boyfriend talk about it, ruling that such comments would be hearsay. Chris.

CHRIS WRAGGE: WKMG`s Mike DeForest for us in Orlando this morning. Mike, thank you.

Still ahead here on THE EARLY SHOW, tears and cheers on the final Oprah Winfrey Show. We`re going to look at her heartfelt farewell message to her millions of fans, coming up next.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS) OPRAH WINFREY (from The Oprah Winfrey Show; Harpo Productions): Many of us have been together for twenty-five years. We have hooted and hollered together, had our ah-ha moments, we ugly-cried together and we did our gratitude journals. So I thank you all for your support and your trust in me. I thank you for being as much of a sweet inspiration for me as I`ve tried to be for you. I won`t say good-bye. I`ll just say, until we meet again.

CHRIS WRAGGE: You talk about the end of a TV era right there with that show, at least.

ERICA HILL: Yes.

CHRIS WRAGGE: She`s not going away like she said. She`s got her own television network. But, now what are millions of people going to do at four o`clock every afternoon, depending on your time zone? But, here in the New York at four o`clock-- ERICA HILL: Maybe you pick up your Oprah magazine at four o`clock and read it.

CHRIS WRAGGE: Oh, yeah.

ERICA HILL: I-- I`m-- yeah, I mean, just for so many people the end of-- of what was their day and everything they look forward to. But, will-- will be the start of something new too. So, we`ll take a look at all that when we return on THE EARLY SHOW.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS) END

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