All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

You have to hand it to Chrysler. Their sales in the United States dropped 30 percent in October compared to October 2008, but they’re crowing that October was six percent better than September. I don’t know whether that says more about Chrysler or September. In fact September was a pretty bad month for all the carmakers because it was the first month up after the expiration of the popular Cash for Clunkers program. All of Detroit suffered a bit of a hangover when the deals stopped being done.

By comparison, GM and Ford did pretty well. GM, which had a 4.7 percent jump in October would have been up 11.6 percent, but it was dragged down by its Hummer, Saab, Saturn and Pontiac brands – all of which are being dropped eventually. Ford kept up its hot streak, recording a 3 percent bump in October sales. It’s already benefitting from positive consumer reviews of its products and fresh profits in the third quarter.

Auto industry writer Paul Ingrassia, author of the forthcoming Crash Course was impressed by both Ford and GM.

“The progress is welcome and it’s real,” he said in an interview. “There’s a long way to go, but you have to have a few first steps.”

And you have to step in the right direction, which is what Chrysler is not doing.

Says Ingrassia: “Chrysler is still in the deep woods here and it’s unclear what will happen.”

A look at their report for October shows incredible declines in almost all of its models except the Dodge Challenger. Chrysler Sebring? Down 69 percent. Chrysler Aspen? Down 68 percent. Town and Country minivan? Down 33 per cent. Zheesh!

This is a company in desperate need of a turnaround plan, which is exactly what its new owner, Fiat, will unveil this week. The word is that Fiat plans to introduce many smaller models to Chrysler showrooms.

Judging from the way its current lineup has been selling, Chrysler could use anything other than what it already has on offer.

Saturday Oct. 17 will be a date that could take up an interesting place in the history books. Because on that day – as far as we can ascertain – the world’s first-ever underwater cabinet meeting will take place . It will take place in the Maldives -- an Indian Ocean archipelago of 1,192 coral islets, most of which lie barely five feet above sea level. The idea of the conclave beneath the waves is to highlight any connection that may exist between global warming and rising seas.

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Dean Reynolds is a CBS News Correspondent based in Chicago.

Just as all of us in Chicago were beginning to recover from the city’s rejection by the International Olympic Committee comes news that is even harder to swallow:

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Dean Reynolds is a CBS News Correspondent based in Chicago.

To say times are tough economically in this country is an understatement. But the sheriff of Alexander County, Illinois has set a new standard for deprivation. Sheriff David Barkett had his official cruisers repossessed by the local bank in the county seat of Cairo.

Usually, when you see a lot of sheriff’s cruisers in a bank parking lot it means a crime has been committed. Say, a bank robbery. But not now. Four of Barkett’s five cruisers (the fifth one is in the shop for repairs) now sit humiliatingly in the lot of the First National Bank of Cairo, shorn of their emergency lights, antennae and even their seals. You can see the faint outline of them on the suddenly denuded cruisers.

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While the White House and Congress wring their hands over what to do next on the nation's health care front, there is a small pilot program in Detroit that directly attacks one of the problems that makes health insurance so expensive for all of us. That's because it addresses health itself, and the increasing cases of obesity, high blood pressure and heart attacks that are doing so much damage all around us.

To go back a few steps, Detroit – a city of some 830,000 people – has no major grocery store chain within its boundaries. No Jewels. No Safeways. No Kroegers. No nothing. Crime is one factor in the flight of food stores. Neglect is another. Whatever the cause, the consequences are devastating. So the economically hard-pressed state of Michigan is doing something about all of it, unveiling a $75,000 pilot program to bring food to the front door.

Called MI Neighborhood Food Movers, the plan is simplicity itself.

"There's no rocket science to this at all," said Lisa Johanan when we interviewed her last week. Lisa is executive director of the Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corp., and founder of Peaches and Greens grocery. "I mean it's a very simple thing – put some produce on a truck and you drive through the neighborhood."

And that's exactly what Peaches and Greens and two other suppliers do – bringing fresh vegetables and fruit into inner city neighborhoods bristling with derelict buildings, vacant lots and tons of liquor stores.

"In Detroit, 92 percent of food stamp recipients purchase their grocers from a liquor store or a gas station or a pharmacy," Lisa told us. "What kind of food do you get at a liquor store," I asked Lisa.

"You don't get anything fresh. That's for sure," she said.

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Dean Reynolds is a CBS News correspondent based in Chicago. He's covering the Barack Obama campaign.

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Barely a day after Barack Obama's campaign announced Oprah will stump with their candidate next month comes word that Hillary Clinton has snared her own celebrity endorser: Barbra Streisand.

All of which begs a question and I'll put it as gently as I can:

Who cares?

Well, evidently a lot of people think people they know will follow the lead of Oprah or Babs. The responses run something like this:

"Oh no, I wouldn't be affecterd by what some celebrity does or says, but my neighbor would."

That would be the shallow, dim-witted neighbor we all live near, I guess. The poor soul who cannot make up his or her mind without a little nudge from a star.

One lady we spoke to in Concord, N.H., said Oprah's Obama leanings must mean "that she knows something nobody else knows." That may be true, but it's not as if these candidates are mysterious to the rest of us, harboring secrets about their qualifications that only Funny Girl gets to hear.

Please.

The political calculus is that, yes, some folks are dumb enough to vote whichever way a celebrity tells them to. But there is also the fact that by listening to Streisand or Winfrey, people will stick around long enough to hear or read about the candidate they've endorsed.

It could be a factor in a close race. A very, very close race.

Dean Reynolds is a CBS News correspondent based in Chicago.

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Senator Obama is listening intently to stories of hardship at a roundtable discussion here in Des Moines. The middle-aged women arrayed around the table are dealing with health care, education and social security issues that confront all Americans.

His posture expresses concern but he is unemotional.

It's not easy. Across the state, at event after event, people grab a few seconds of his time to speak of cancer, of addicted or obese children, of aging parents. A few break down in tears.

How a candidate handles such moments can be revealing. President Bush is a world class sympathizer. Ditto his predecessor. The first president Bush was more detached, as was John Kerry.

In Burlington the other day, a woman rose to ask Obama about national security, specifically about the "threat" from Iran and the need to negotiate "before we get blown up."

But as she poses the question she dissolves into sobs. Obama calls her up to him and hugs her as she buries her head in his shoulder. He defuses the moment with a touch of humor, calming the woman and settling the audience.

Campaign professionals know episodes like these can show the person behind the politician's mask. Sometimes for good. Sometimes not.

Obama seems able to strike the right balance between concern and bathos.

It is just a moment, but it can be a window through which voters gaze as they make up their minds.

Dean Reynolds is a CBS News correspondent based in Chicago.

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Fairfield, Iowa this morning, and Barack Obama is on his game. Blue shirt and big smile upon entering to warm applause, hoots and hollers at an SRO community center here. And why not? A new Zogby Poll out today shows the race in Iowa is tightening. Three percentage points now separate Hillary the Leader from Barack the Challenger. Some suspect that's why Bill Clinton is campaigning in western Iowa today. A pretty decent surrogate.

Though his immediate target is Hillary, Obama's best-received lines before these Iowa Democrats mock the Republicans. He refers to the weird report recently that he and Dick Cheney are somehow distant relatives. "Every family has a black sheep," he says to gales of laughter. And he rebuts the charge that he lacks experience by pointing out that Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld had all the experience in the world and they led the country into a foreign policy disaster. "Longevity," he shouts, "says nothing about your judgment or your character." He says he will end the war in Iraq during his presidency. "It will be the first thing that I do," he said.

Then come the questions.

A woman asks him, "How are you going to beat Hillary?"

The crowd applauds, but Obama parries the question. "'Why should I win?' is the more important question." He answers by saying that he can bring the country together more effectively than anyone else in the race. Through his multi-ethnic background and his life experience, he says, he is better qualified than Hillary, who, he says, carries "the baggage of the 1990s" -- a reference to the highly partisan wars that erupted during the Clinton presidency.

Another questioner asks whether he supports impeaching Bush and/or Cheney. He does not, explaining that it would be a huge distraction when the two will be leaving office soon anyway; it would unite the Republicans but divide the nation. A big, unnecessary distraction during a year when Democratic chances to take back the White House look good.

He tells another voter he's against Michael Mukasey as attorney general. Torture is torture, says Obama. He can't support someone who is ambivalent or ambiguous about it.

Immigration comes up. Obama would do more to secure the borders, but also improve the way the govenrment verifies the employment status of undocumented workers. But he says it is not practical to send 12 million people back home.

He handles each topic with relative ease, conveying confidence. His audience listens closely, and unlike many political rallies I've attended, in this one nobody leaves early.

Dean Reynolds is a CBS News correspondent based in Chicago.

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This is my first go at the 2008 election -- and it starts in Bettendorf, Iowa at a hotel reminiscent of some 17th century Bavarian castle. I've been covering presidential elections since 1972, but have never run across this particular establishment, where one of the specialties is the Jagerschnitzel, perhaps a throwback to Bettendorf's German roots.

Up at 4 am -- for reasons I can't explain, since the candidate's speech begins at 9:30. It's the start of a bus tour through Iowa by Barack Obama. Actually, that's only half right. Yes, there is a bus, but it's full of reporters. "The senator will have alternate transportation," we are told.

It's a packed hall for the first event, despite the "No Obama Parking" signs that greet us outside the Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency.

Obama is fired up, but resists taking shots at Hillary. A midday speech in Muscatine is jammed with well-wishers and those who tell us they like the tougher talk.

Evidently it's getting to Obama's throat. He makes an unscheduled stop at the "Dairy Bar" in the town of Wapello between speeches, surprises two customers, drags dozens of national reporters inside and then the man who would be president orders onion rings and a soft drink.

Let history record the moment.

Dean Reynolds is a CBS News correspondent based in Chicago.

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Barbara Ludwig leaned over her desk one morning and confided that she could lose a little weight.

How much?, I asked.

"About 30 pounds."

Ludwig knows the eyes of her employees are upon her. She is the Benton Co., Ark. Human Resources Director, and the woman in charge of forcing county workers to get healthy or else. In Benton Co., which is home to Wal-Mart, every out-of-shape worker will have to change or pay more for health insurance.

The county raised its annual deductible from $750 in 2004 to $2,750 in 2005 because, as Ludwig explained, it really had no choice.

"I have to tell you our plan was hemorrhaging. It was about a bottom line issue," she said. "but it was an employee bottom line."

So the county built an incentive into its health care plan enabling county workers to cut their payments to as low as $500 if they were able to pass a yearly test that involved cholesterol readings, blood sugar and other indicators along with blood pressure. Nicotine was banned.

Don Sinquefield was a big college football star -- a very long time ago. Today he has diabetes and is planning to staple part of his stomach because he has ballooned from a playing weight of 185 pounds to about 375 on a good day.

He says he was spurred on by the county's get healthy or else program. He is "absolutely" grateful for the push and is looking forward to his discount.

So too is Kym Jackson, who is literally unrecognizable from the 280 pound behemoth she was just a couple of years ago. Today Kym has lost more than 100 pounds and is continuing to reduce. Her desk drawer, which used to brim with candy and all manner of unhealthy snacks is now practically an advertisement for eating healthy.

But Kym and several other workers we spoke to were initially skeptical, seeing the county plan as intrusive. She's a convert now, but in our trip to Arkansas we saw plenty of others who remain opposed. The smokers, the obese, the unhealthy.

For them, being fat is going to cost them.

Barbara Ludwig is undeterred. She points to the numbers. Before the plan went into effect, the county health care fund was nearly $500,000 in the red. Seventeen months after taking effect, the fund was nearly $1 million in the black.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Or not.