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March 20, 2008
Morning Buzz
Posted: 06:51 AM ET

Morning folks…No one story is dominating the headlines this morning. In Top Stories…floods, a new Bin Laden message and V.P Cheney makes a stop in Afghanistan. In Raw Politics…you can get a re-cap of  Anderson’ s  EXCLUSIVE back-stage access to Barack Obama if you missed last night’s show AND Hillary continues to push for a re-vote in Michigan and Florida. BUT the story of the day…Is sin dead? Headlines everyday about scandal and extra-marital affairs…as we approach Easter, do people see themselves as sinners? Grab your coffee and take a look at today’s headlines….

Top Stories
Record flooding…
Residents of low-lying towns stacked sandbags or grabbed belongings and evacuated Wednesday as a foot of rain pushed rivers over their banks in the nation’s midsection. At least 13 deaths had been linked to the weather, and three people
were missing.

Pentagon divided over Iraq strategy…
By many important measures, the U.S. military has reason to feel better about Iraq. Violence has declined, casualties are down, the president is touting the current strategy and the public’s anguish has ebbed.

Cheney in Afghanistan…
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney met with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday to discuss ways the country’s fragile government can counter rising threats from al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.

Bush approval all-time low…
Five years after he green-lighted the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, President Bush faced strikingly low approval ratings as he reaffirmed his commitment to “accept no outcome but victory” in the war.

New Bin Laden message…
A new statement attributed to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden condemns European countries for siding with the United States in Afghanistan and for allowing the publication of cartoons considered insulting to Islam’s prophet, Mohammed.

Raw Politics
“This has shaken me….”
Sen. Barack Obama told CNN on Wednesday the recent uproar over his former pastor’s sermons has reminded him of the odds he faces in winning the White House.

Document dump sheds little light on Hillary…
Federal archivists Wednesday released 11,000 pages of schedules from Hillary Rodham Clinton’s eight years as first lady, but the material offered little to support her assertion that her White House experience left her best prepared to become president.

Clinton presses re-vote in Michigan & Florida…
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) shifted her schedule to make a last-minute visit here Wednesday, demanding that the state’s Democratic Party hold another primary vote or count the results of the earlier disqualified balloting, and she challenged Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to live up to his claim that he cares about making sure people’s votes count.

Economy may NOT be good for John McCain…
As the economy sours, voters are increasingly demanding immediate government relief — a boost for Democrats who propose just that sort of quick fix, but a problem for Republican Sen. John McCain, whose focus has been on longer-term solutions such as tax and spending cuts and free trade.

Crime & Punishment
Charges filed against boyfriend of girl stuck in toilet…
A man whose girlfriend authorities say spent nearly two years in a bathroom in their house, sitting on the toilet so long that the seat adhered to her body, has been charged with mistreatment of a dependent adult.

Sentence in racially charged killing angers victim family…
The family of a black man who fatally shot a white teenager during a racially charged confrontation was under police protection after the victim’s father blasted the man’s sentence as too mild and made what defense lawyers saw as a threat.

Keeping Them Honest
Why few finish high school…
When it comes to high school graduation rates, Mississippi keeps two sets of books.

What you WILL be talking about TODAY
Is sin dead?
Is sin dead? No, not by a long shot. Yet as Easter approaches, some pastors and theologians worry: How can Christians celebrate Jesus’ atonement for their sins and the promise of eternal life in his resurrection if they don’t recognize themselves as sinners?

A happy marriage = low blood pressure…
Marriage really can be a matter of the heart with a U.S. study finding that happily married couples have lower blood pressure than single people.

12 Comments
12 Comments
Mike McDonald   March 20th, 2008 7:11 am ET

Good Morning Anderson and hope you doing well. In reference to the ..is sin dead article. In The New Testament Bible it says in Romans Chapter 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to The Spirit.” What is your take on that? Have a great day and your show is by far the best.

bill   March 20th, 2008 8:26 am ET

Hillary cannot show everything. Some are blacked out not by her but by the courts. How many times have we tried to get documents only to get blacked out pages? So before you put a spin on this to favor Obama you need to look into that. As for not having everything listed well you know it would take a lot of pages to write down everything someone does in 8 yrs.

Brenda   March 20th, 2008 8:26 am ET

Barack Obama is to be applauded for opening a dialogue about closet racism and reverse racism. How about bringing issues to the forefront and working them out instead of pretending they don’t exist or that they are “someone else’s” problem? I don’t always agree with everything my loved ones say and think and feel — that’s a human characteristic. Do we denounce our mothers, fathers, children if we disagree with them? Why should Barack Obama be any different — why should he have to denounce a loved one (his pastor) just because he disagrees with him? Detractors will always find something to complain about.

Cindy   March 20th, 2008 8:40 am ET

I saw Anderson’s interview and tag along with Obama last night. It was great as usual. Obama came across as sincere and as really trying to quell any unresolved issues that he could. I found him to be sincere and didn’t think he was trying to hide anything or pander to one or the other side. This is the way he should always be instead of always doing those big speeches that really tell nothing. I’d still like for him to sit down and really tell his plans in detail on how he is going to change things because as of yet I haven’t heard that.

Hopefully Anderson will get a call from Hillary and McCain and he can do the same tag along and interview with each of them. Because I thought that the way he cut from Obama to what Hillary said and then had Obama reply to that was great. He should do that more often. Maybe he’ll get that chance soon.

Great job Anderson!!

Cynthia, Covington, Ga.

Michelle   March 20th, 2008 11:15 am ET

360 was awesome last night. Please continue to bring us
this type of programming. Kudos indeed. By the way what
ever happened to the political music you all were considering ?

nick thornton   March 20th, 2008 7:05 pm ET

I am an Obama supporter, but am now taking another look at Hillary Clinton. I am turned off by the way Obama has handled the Wright situation so far. I felt offended by the way he seemed to stereotype whites as racist in his comment about how his grandmother is a “typical white”. I felt inspired by his words and campaign of hope, but his essential acceptance of Wrights words in church casts doubt onto his judgment. I am now concerned if my judgment that Obama was the stronger candidate against McCain was correct. I hope the media continues to pursue this story, because I for one still have concerns about the inconsistencies in Obama’s story and the impact of this controversy on his electability in the general election.

melissa florida   March 20th, 2008 10:02 pm ET

Hi Anderson and Erica
I am very concern about this passport breach about Barack Obama hope to get more insight tonigt.

joseph   March 20th, 2008 10:10 pm ET

this might be one of the only time in history that we as american have a chance with senator obama it might never happen again , i think america wants a president that will take us the wrong way. because see sen. obama understanding and do the america public . but until america can see past 1700 jim crow and slavery we are going to bo alway divide

Fred K   March 20th, 2008 10:15 pm ET

As one of approx. 1.5 million Democrat voters in the State of Florida that voted in the last primary. I feel that everybody had the opportunity to vote. If a person didn’t vote that was short sighted on their part. The State of Florida has certified this election as a legal election. All of the Democrat Candidates were on the Florida ballet and all of the candidates did not campaign in the state. So what is the problem, no one had advantage?
I feel that Barack Obama would be very happy if Florida and Michigan would stay Disenfranchised as he feels that he can’t win these states and would cost him the nomination. If Florida and Michigan vote doesn’t count in the primary you can bet that the Republicans will have a field day here in Florida and in Michigan, they will win hands down because many of the Democrats will vote for John Mc Cain. I know I will and I have never voted for a Republican ever.

Fred
Ormond Beach, Florida

Anita   March 20th, 2008 10:33 pm ET

I would like to know how the Former person that worked at the state department knew that the persons that checked into Senator Obama’s file, only looked into the passport file. How did he find this information?

Anne in Alabama   March 20th, 2008 10:39 pm ET

I usually lurk on both CNN’s blogs and another news network’s blogs. I totally agree with the comments on the show tonight regarding the recent controversy regarding race relations and Barack Obama. Thank goodness for CNN and its viewers, and bravo for raising the level of discourse on difficult issues.

Elizabeth   March 21st, 2008 8:44 am ET

I was frustrated this am to hear the CNN news continue to reference Barak Obama’s explaining his comments about his grandmother. Apparently the show producers didn’t heed the advice of your panel last night which unanimously agreed that it was time to stop talking about it !

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