American Morning
Charles Gasparino – 'The Sellout'
From The Sellout
By Charles Gasparino
Chapter One: Fun and Games
Ask Pat Dunlavy to give you the defining moment of his long
career at Salomon Brothers—the point in time when he started
to really understand how the firm and the rest of Wall Street
really works—and he’ll tell you the story about “The Great Race
of 1978.” Dunlavy was thirty years old. He was making a good
living as a bond salesman in Salomon Brothers’ Cleveland
office. His customers were predominantly large pension funds
and other institutional investors in the Midwest that bought and
traded bonds. Because of his position, he had contact with
some of the firm’s power players in New York, including the firm’s
legendary CEO, John Gutfreund, and some of the most savvy bond traders he’d ever met, people such as Lew Ranieri and a brilliant and charismatic trader named John Meriwether, known throughout the firm simply as “J.M.”
The Cleveland office occupied one of the largest buildings in Cleveland, fourteen stories overlooking a decaying downtown of abandoned buildings and steel mills. Like most securities firms, Salomon Brothers had its share of loudmouthed former jocks, particularly at its sales and trading desks. Daniel Benton, a salesman and former high school football player, was one of those (though certainly not the worst bloviator of the bunch). Benton was growing tired of being ribbed about his expanding waistline. At one point he made an officewide announcement. He challenged anyone in the office to a race up the building’s fourteen floors. He said he would wipe the floor with any one of them.
David Plouffe – The Audacity to Win
Reprinted by arrangement with Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., from The Audacity to Win by David Plouffe. Copyright © 2009 by David Plouffe.
The Audacity to Win
By David Plouffe
Excerpted from Chapter 6: Roller-Coaster Time
On Friday, January 4, we landed in New Hampshire after
4:00 a.m. As we got to the hotel, it was nearly time for the day’s
first conference call, so I skipped sleep altogether. Instead I
checked our online fund-raising numbers; they were through the
roof, with over $6 million raised in the hours since we were declared the winner of the Iowa caucuses. It was like a lit
match had been dropped in gasoline. New donors and fund-
raisers were showing up everywhere, wanting to help a potential winner, and our previous
donors and fund-raisers were digging deeper as their initial investment was rewarded in Iowa.
Obama made it clear from the beginning that he did not want to be left shouldering a big debt. I had always managed campaigns that way, so we had prepared for the worst and had hoped for the best, budgeting conservatively post-Iowa and projecting only $10 million raised for all of January. We assumed that even with a loss we could cobble together enough money through our diehard supporters to execute our game plan in the remaining early states.
Now, we almost certainly would raise over $10 million in the first eight days of January alone and might raise over $30 million in January, giving us what we believed would be a huge financial advantage for Super Tuesday. In the space of a few hours, we had not just won Iowa but also considerably strengthened our ability to compete against Clinton in a drawn-out slugfest.
Gates is key part of Obama's inner circle
A bipartisan Cabinet. It was one of President Obama's campaign promises.
And he kept his word when he announced President Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, would stay on the job at the Pentagon.
In part three of our series, "The Presidential Brain Trust," Barbara Starr has a look at Gates' relationship with the commander-in-chief.
Steele: 'We're listening'
It was a big night for the GOP. The governors' mansions in Virginia and New Jersey going from blue to red – two states President Obama carried just one year ago.
What does that mean for 2010? Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele spoke to our John Roberts on Wednesday's "American Morning.
Joel Osteen: 'It's your time'
Excerpted from It’s Your Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase in God’s Favor by Joel Osteen. Copyright © 2009 by Joel Osteen. Excerpted with permission by Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
From It's Your Time
By Joel Osteen
Chapter 1
You’re Closer Than You Think!
While on vacation in Colorado, I woke up early for a hike. The three-mile trail ran to the peak of Beaver Creek Mountain. At the
base a sign said it should take about three hours to reach the top.
Looking up to my destination, I was intimidated. The trail was extremely steep. The altitude at the base was 8,000 feet above sea level. The peak stood at more than 11,000 feet.
Just walking up the first set of stairs, I began breathing heavier than normal. I had to remind myself to take it easy. At home in Houston,
I run several miles a few times a week and play a lot of basketball. But the elevation there is only fifty feet above sea level. The thinner
air in the Colorado mountains had me doubting whether I could make it to the top.
I started out with just my cell phone and a bottle of water. Determined, I set a pretty good pace. The first fifteen minutes seemed fairly easy. The next fifteen minutes were increasingly difficult. I felt as though I were carrying an extra load. I had to stop every so often to catch my breath.
About forty-five minutes into my hike, the trail got extremely steep—almost like I was climbing straight up. My pathway snaked skyward through thick stands of aspen and ponderosa pine. The view was both beautiful and daunting. Despite the fact I am in shape from running and playing basketball, my legs were burning
and my chest was pounding.
Protect yourself from medical mistakes
By Danielle Dellorto
Hospitals and doctors make mistakes. It's something we don't like to think about, but it happens. Some scary examples I've come across: Minnesota doctors removed the healthy kidney of a cancer patient while leaving the diseased one behind; California doctors removed the appendix of the wrong patient; one of the most experienced surgeons in a Boston, Massachusetts, hospital operated on the wrong side of a patient. All of these mistakes happened within the past couple of years.
Rest assured, if you are the patient, you can help avoid such medical errors. Start by checking out your doctor and hospital. There are several websites that rank hospitals and physicians. Try HealthGrades.com or LeapFrogGroup.org. Tell the nurses and doctors who you are and why you're having surgery. You might feel a little silly, but giving your name, date of birth and for example, which hip you're having replaced – it bears repeating. Make sure your doctor – not someone else – initials your surgery site, then confirm that site with your physician right before your procedure. Finally, train someone to be your advocate. You're likely to be anxious and a little out of it, so be sure that friend or family member knows these important tips too.
For more tips on how to prevent medical errors, check out CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen’s Empowered Patient column.
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