More Snow Expected in Midwest; Author Weighs in on Mitchell Report
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Got snow? Don't make any weekend plans. More is on the way. And if you think you're out of the cold crosshairs, well, just keep watching. Mike Huckabee is full of surprises. First, moving from near worst to first in the polls, now another big move, this time with his campaign staff. Stay with us for live coverage from your best political team on television. Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Don Lemon is off. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Up first, the Mitchell report has rocked the world of sports. And now it's the talk of the nation. Ballplayers named in its pages are laying low today, but the scathing allegations of steroid use have fans speaking out, including one at the White House.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Like many fans I've been troubled by the steroid allegations. I think it's best that all of us not jump to conclusions on individual players, but we can jump to this conclusion, that steroids have sullied the game. And players and the owners must take the Mitchell report seriously. I'm confident they will.</s>PHILLIPS: Commissioner Bud Selig says that some of the players may be punished, and he says it will happen swiftly. Congress has scheduled a hearing next week, calling Selig, Mitchell and players' union chief Don Fehr. George Mitchell spoke today to CNN, defending the probe that named 85 players including MVPs, Cy Young winners and all-stars, past and present.</s>GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER SENATOR: There's direct eyewitness statements by participants. There are checks. There are money orders. There are telephone calls, and there are many admissions. At least 11 players admitted to us that they did, in fact, purchase steroids from one of the witnesses, as he said they had. So, I think it's quite wrong to say there's no concrete evidence. There's several hundred pages of evidence.</s>PHILLIPS: Most damning of all, Mitchell named the two brightest stars of the current generation, home-run king Barry Bonds and pitcher Roger Clemens, seven-time winner of the Cy Young award. Clemens's alleged involvement, described in detail in Mitchell's report by the pitcher's former trainer, Brian McNamee. The report said that it started in 1998, when McNamee injected Clemens approximately four times over a several-week period with needles that Clemens provided. The report says that, according to McNamee, Clemens' performed -- or performance showed remarkable improve. There's Roger Clemens' attorney.</s>RUSTY HARDIN, ATTORNEY FOR ROGER CLEMENS: He is really concerned and upset that he has been named in this report. It's based, the allegations are apparently, reading the report, are based on a trainer that he's had in the past. And it looks to us and seems to us that that's what it's based on. That's not a standard somebody should be held out in public to have done something as serious as using steroids in baseball.</s>PHILLIPS: We'd like you to think and then share your thoughts with us. In the wake of the Mitchell report, should kids think of players as role models? You can send us your response to CNNNewsroom@CNN.com. Also today, we're doing a QuickVote. Here's a Question. Will the widespread use of steroids among baseball players deter you from going to games? Last we checked, nearly half of those voting said yes. You can take part yourself at CNN.com. We're going to have much more on the pro baseball steroid bombshell. Coming up this hour, investigative journalist and author Lance Williams. Some say that his book, "Game of Shadows," sparked the Mitchell report. And next hour, Jim Bouton, a former 20-game winner and author of the book "Ball Four," which chronicled baseball's drug problems back in the 1960s. Both men joining me live, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Well, getting ready for round two, more snow from the plains to the northeast. Oklahoma and Kansas are still trying to recover from that disastrous ice storm earlier in the week. Several hundred thousand people still don't have any electricity, and Massachusetts is just one state digging out from under mounds of snow. Even more could fall before these roads are cleared. Chad Myers, tell you what, just keeps picking up. Well, depending on where you are, I guess.</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: OK. We're not even to winter yet. Boy.</s>PHILLIPS: Getting cooler here, though. That's good news.</s>MYERS: It is, it is. Finally, yes.</s>PHILLIPS: About 76 yesterday. And finally, we hit 50.</s>MYERS: Right. My paperwhites are going wait a minute. I thought this was spring. We missed it. Missed it by an entire season. Good afternoon, Kyra. And good morning to parts of the Midwest and the mountain states, where another storm is brewing back out here into Oklahoma and Texas, that will spread across the plains. But for now we'll talk a little bit about what happened yesterday from New York through Pennsylvania into Connecticut and Massachusetts, and our Reynolds Wolf is right in the middle of it, although Reynolds, I'm assuming the sun is probably out today. In between storms you are right now.</s>REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'll tell you, you know, Chad, we've been talking about how this is really a two-parter. We had the first part that came through last night. It's kind of a two-act play. Part one. Then we got part two coming this weekend. This is the intermission. And my goodness, what an intermission it is. It's beautiful here. I mean, we're at Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut. You can see behind me the state capitol, a nice little pond here we have. It's totally frozen over. I would imagine during a spring or summer day, this would be magnificent. But I'll tell you, in this winter-like setting, it is also phenomenal. Just a fantastic day here. Now, Chad, wasn't so pretty about 10 hours go. We had plenty of snow coming down here in the city, anywhere from six to eight inches of snowfall in Hartford. But some of the outlying areas had nearly a foot of snow. And I have to hand it to the city, they did a great job keeping the roads clear. People really had no issues getting around town, but that isn't to say they didn't have problems on the interstate, right along parts of 84, even along I-91. They had a lot of backups, a couple of jackknifed trailers. It was certainly a mess. Right now, as you've been talking about all day, we're getting a break, but we've got that second shot, that second shot that could come in late Saturday into Sunday and has people awfully concerned. But for the time being, they're enjoying that deep breath, that nice pause before the second part of that system. Back to you.</s>MYERS: Go get some popcorn and wait for part 2. Exactly. Have a good day. I assume you're probably parked there for the weekend. The weekend is going to be a real interesting one for you. It's going to start out as snow, then go to sleet, and then actually be a rain event for a while. And then back over to snow with significant winds. Winds could be 50 or 60 miles per hour. Here's some of those snowfalls that Reynolds was talking about from Whitman, Mass, through Connecticut. There you go. That's a foot of snow. And this was kind of a messy snow, as well. We have some tower cams popped up for you this afternoon. Wichita, Kansas, good afternoon to you. You look very different come 24 hours from now. Probably six to eight inches of snow for you. That's the top left screen there. On the top right, KMOV, St. Louis, Missouri, probably four to five inches of snow. Could mix in sleet. That will keep your snow totals down. Pittsburgh, you're going to get a rain event. That could very turn into an icing event. And that would not be pretty, because I've been to Pittsburgh. I love the city. And I really don't like driving the hills in the ice. It is just ugly getting up and down the incline. Otherwise, WCPB (ph) in Boston. You'll still see the snow on top of the buildings there. It's about ten inches of snow for you. A new record for the day yesterday. And a lot of snow at Logan Airport, and that was certainly an ugly afternoon, with airport delays exceeding three and four hours. Kyra, back to you.</s>PHILLIPS: Wow, that is just no fun, especially when it's -- you know, you never know when the end is going to come.</s>MYERS: Well, they're in between now. Get planes out. Get out while you can, because tomorrow's another story.</s>PHILLIPS: All right. Talk to you in a little bit, Chad.</s>MYERS: Great.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, we've seen it all week, some surprising twists and turns in the latest presidential campaign polls. In the latest case, South Carolina, one of the important early primary states, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll in the Palmetto State shows that Mike Huckabee now leading among Republicans with 24 percent. Fred Thompson is second, followed by former frontrunner Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney tied for third. Also in double digits, John McCain and Ron Paul. Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton's lead over Barack Obama has been cut in half. But she's still on top, with 42 percent, with Obama at 34 and John Edwards at 16 percent. Now, later in the NEWSROOM, our political analyst -- senior political analyst, rather -- Bill Schneider, will join us with a closer look at the presidential race. Well, on the campaign trail, an apology from Senator Hillary Clinton to her Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama. That apology after a top Clinton campaign advisor suggested Democrats should be wary of nominating Obama, because his admitted teenage drug use could make it hard for him to win the White House. The advisor, Bill Shaheen, has resigned.</s>SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, as soon as I found out that one of my supporters and co-chairs in New Hampshire made a statement, asked a series of Questions, I made it clear it was not authorized, it was in no way condoned, I didn't know about it. And he stepped down.</s>PHILLIPS: Bill Shaheen is the husband of former New Hampshire governor, Jeanne Shaheen. Stay right here for CNN, for Mike Huckabee's expected announcement next hour, that Ed Rollins will lead his national campaign. Remember that name? We're going to have live coverage when it happens. And for all of the day's political stories, go to CNNPolitics.com. Find out who's ahead in South Carolina and much more. Again, the address, CNNPolitics.com. A double homicide on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Two grad students were found shot to death last night in an apartment complex for married students. Both were from India. Both were Ph.D. candidates. One of the victim's wives found the bodies. Police are calling the attack a home invasion and searching for three men seen leaving the area. The university decided to keep the campus open but notified all students electronically of the situation. In prison, chained up in her own apartment. You're not going to believe how a Utah woman managed to get help. Here's a hint: it helps to write backwards. George Mitchell wrote the report on baseball and steroids, but Lance Williams wrote the book. We're going to get his take on the Mitchell report and what happens next. The first time the British visited the White House, they burned it down. This time, our Richard Quest arrived from London with a different objective, a holiday chat with first lady Laura Bush. You're live at the CNN NEWSROOM.