>> The news magazine since 1997.
This is "need to know."
>> Welcome to this addition.
I am JULIE PHILIPP.
There are only six nominating contests left for Democratic voters to weigh in on their choice of a presidential nominee.
Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
Some people are speculating that Clinton will not be around when the national convention comes.
That takes place out in Denver.
One for local supporters, Jack Kashinsky is here as well as Ken Preston.
Welcome.
A lot of people are saying that the time to get out, Mrs. Clinton, is now.
Your thoughts?
>> Before I respond to that, really was not aware that there were layoffs in Ithaca.
>> Stay tuned.
>> OK.
Actually, as Yogi Berra said, it ain't over until that is over.
In the job of the superdelegates are really is to pick the most electable candidate.
Not necessarily the one that has the most votes.
And delegates, as we have seen up to this point, they split from one side over the fence to the other.
There's a lot that can happen between now and the actual convention.
For example, Dick Morris, who is now one of the campaign strategists for the Obama campaign, he was with the Bill Clinton campaign, he himself stated that if the right news had come out -- the wright news came out to.
Five months ago, it would've been all over.
>> Are you talking about Rev. Jeremiah Wright?
>> Yes.
>> I think he is wrong, but his name is wright.
That is my point.
Even the chief strategist with the Obama campaign has admitted that if that had come out earlier, Obama would have been blown away.
There is no reason that anything like that cannot happen again.
>> Are your thoughts on this?
Should Mrs. Clinton get out now?
Is Mr. Obama collectible in a match against McCain?
>> For your first question, I think that Senator Clinton has the right to stay in the primary season until everything is over.
That is what she announced Tuesday night that she was going to do.
And we respect her right to do so.
Senator Obama is delectable.
-- Senator Obama is be electable.
He ran eight strong campaign.
He gathered support from all over the nation.
We feel that we will win in November.
Senator Obama is.
>> But there are polls showing that Mrs. Clinton fares better in a Clinton/McCain matchup.
Are you concerned about that?
That your work is going to start if the general election pits those two together.
>> Right now, we're in a primary season.
Those polls are looking at a national race.
I do not think they hold much ability right now.
Let us get through the primary season and see who the nominee is and then they can really look and do some real polls.
>> Let us back up a little bit and talk about why you are throwing your supports behind Mrs. Clinton.
And what your local efforts to rally the troops have looked like.
>> OK.
Separate questions.
I support Clinton because I'm a liberal centrist Democrat.
The only ones that have won an election, a national election, since Franklin Roosevelt, were all liberals centrists.
John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton.
All of the rest of the Democrats ran from the left wing of the party and every single one of them lost.
So, I support Bill and Hillary Clinton because they're both liberals centrists like I am.
We believe in dialogue, open dialogue with Republicans, we believe in compromise when necessary.
We do not believe in these other kinds of policies.
>> You started out having an online meet up group.
It was terribly successful.
When you look, they're mainly 22 members.
A whole lot of members in these.
Not extremely well attended.
Is that indicative of her support around here?
>> It depends on it.
We had one where we had 19 people there.
Then we had a key speaker.
It all depends.
They do not really have -- we have actually, considering the population, because I have been in contact with those in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, California, and other places.
But this is the way things go with meet-ups.
You have a lot of people who tune in on the Internet but they do not come down to meetings.
Unless you have something special.
Like when we have had special guest speakers.
A lot of people came.
And we also have a fund raiser and we raced almost $1,000 at that by the way.
So it is typical of these meetings.
>> Are there other grass-roots efforts going on that you are aware of?
>> Not really.
It is just the nature of Rochester.
He did not have too many -- people just do not, and I've been to a lot of different meetings other than the Hillary Clinton won, but this is the way it goes.
A lot of people tune in on this but they do not come down to meetings.
A lot of them do not even signed up as members but I see as evidence because I can tell when somebody joins our group just to get information.
And then they disassociate themselves.
There are a lot of people like that.
>> Is that your experience?
What do the grass roots efforts look like for the Obama supporters?
>> It has been overwhelming and number.
-- In a number.
I co-founded the first group that we had in the ROCHESTER back in February of 2007 when Senator Obama first announced.
We started off slow.
Not a lot of people 15 months ago or 14 months ago knew who he was.
But as we move forward, we have had overwhelming support.
We have a database of well over 300 active supporters involved in the Rochester area who we can call on on a moment's notice to come out and attend rallies, to do voter registrations, to travel, to do other primary states that are close by.
We have gotten a lot of support.
As a matter of fact, back the weekend before Super Tuesday, we held the largest political rally in Rochester in over 30 years.
And the media reported these numbers, not us.
It was well over 500 people.
>> You're doing something really brave.
Going against your wife.
She supports Mrs. Clinton and his support Mr. Obama.
What makes you become so active with Obama?
>> Many reasons.
I think the time has come now where the country is so separated and the last presidential election really showed that.
It was 49/51.
Senator Obama has the energy and the ideas to bring the country together.
People sensed this, and that is why he is able to raise massive amounts of money over the Clintons.
And they have a better well-known name throughout the country.
His people just feel a sense that he is going to change things.
Things are not going to be the same.
Things are going to get better for the working class, the young people who support him, college age, they really feel that he is the person that they can look at to better their future.
>> Both mentioned online efforts.
On-line efforts to communicate with people.
On line, Mr. Obama has been hugely successful in raising money.
Mrs. Clinton also at various times has raised a lot of money.
Particularly after her primary wins.
How has technology changed what local grassroots supporters to do during campaigns?
>> I just want to -- I did not answer the second question.
You asked me about my meeting groups and the attendants and then you also ask me about Hillary support.
I did not answer that.
Hillary support in this county has been tremendous.
She took the County overwhelmingly in the nomination.
>> The primary.
>> The Democratic Party officially endorsed and supports Hillary Clinton.
>> Well, the grass roots average might be quite but they are voting for her.
>> They are quiet on the Internet.
But the Democratic Party, they still are hosting phone banks to support Hillary Clinton as I speak.
>> The Personal touch has been more effective for the Clinton supporters in Rochester?
Then the use of on-line technology?
>> No, the on-line technology has been going well.
What Obama's campaign did is that they stole a page from the computer whiz for Howard Dean.
They tapped on to that.
The Hillary campaign was a little bit slow getting into that.
That hurt us.
They got the jump on raising the big money.
We finally reacted to that and did the same.
>> Technology has changed.
>> Absolutely.
That is where the big money comes from.
From the Internet.
>> How important has it been to the grass roots?
You have a couple of a video is out there that were made in Rochester by Obama supporters.
>> Yes.
The Internet has been really helpful to us here locally.
Back in the last presidential campaign, which is the one where John Kerry was the Democratic Party's nominee, we actually raised more money on the Internet than the Republicans.
This was the first time ever that this happened.
And it was with a bunch of small donors.
The same thing holds true now for the Obama campaign.
We have taken it a step forward.
There are days in the past few months where we were pulling in a million and a half dollars per day.
Across the Internet.
It is a great help.
It has helped us, too.
We do local fund-raisers as well.
We contribute this to the campaign.
In the Internet is just a wonderful way to reach people because people are busy in their lives and they cannot always come to the meetings that we have.
They cannot always come to the physical fundraisers that we have.
But we also give them the alternative to donate online.
And that really helps.
>> If there is a Clinton/McCain matchup, what to do local supporters do?
What kind of gear be need to go in for the general election?
>> You mean local Hillary supporters?
>> If the general election comes down to her and Mr. McCain, what do you do?
You change what you're doing at all?
Do you carry on?
>> Well, no, I think basically Hillary has her platform.
She has her positions which are well stated.
Hillary's website is well stated.
I do not think very much is going to change.
I think that we're going to run as hard against McCain as we went against his a guy right now.
I do not think it is going to change substantially.
The only difference is between the Obama and Hillary is that McCain respects Hillary Clinton and likewise the Clintons respect McCain.
Because McCain is a Republican moderate.
>> We have about one minute left.
Are you concerned that some of the things that Clinton brought against Obama, the concern about the middle of the night crisis, would you want to charge?
The controversy with Jeremiah Wright.
Is that going to hurt in the campaign with the general election?
>> I do not doubt that they will try to use them.
But we are already starting to get ready for November.
We're doing the nationwide of voter registration in all of the 50 states.
We're getting more voters registered and active.
We're also doing a number of events here with the faith community.
>> You're going to be giving it up and fighting the fight.
>> That is going on and we're going to build our base.
>> OK, thank you both very much for being with us.
>> I just want to mention one thing --
>> Local supporter Jack Kashinsky and Obama supporter Ken Preston.
This officially marks the beginning of our coverage of election 2008 on "need to know."
We will devote a lot of time to the candidates and the issues important to the ROCHESTER community.
You can also visit our website for a guide to the candidates running for office.
The latest local and national election news as well.
Go to www.wxxi.org/ntk.
>> Now, another segment in our series commencement.
It is commencement season and we have been taking a look at some of the innovative things faculty and students have been doing.
This is on area and college and university campuses.
We're traveling down to Ithaca, N.Y., to Cornell university.
Believe it or not, it was a good.
The laboratory has a long history of Cornell University and it has an incredibly long history listening to what ever.
Whether it is human speech, music, song, so the laboratory was the place, 70 years ago, that started collecting recordings on the old wax cylinders and whatever they could.
Birdsongs.
And then frogs, and then little by little, primates, bats, Wales.
--whales.
>> These are white whales in Cape Cod Bay off the coast of Boston.
They have been coming here in late winter and early spring for a long, long time.
Skimming the surface waters, rich with plankton.
>> We can go back to the early texts and note from the early western settlers in New England, and they describe so many wells in Cape Cod bay that you can walk across their backs from Provincetown to Plymouth.
>> They're coming in fewer and fewer numbers now.
Scientists believe that there are only four hundred of them left.
One reason?
An increase in the ship traffic.
>> Just a few feet below the surface of the water.
It is not very easy to hear anything.
Also, imagine that what you're listening for is just this big, blinding noise coming at you.
You cannot determine what direction it is coming from.
And they have no -- how will they have ever learned that this noise meant what it did.
In most cases, they have been killed.
There is no learning process there.
>> These endangered animals are protected by the National Marine sanctuary's act.
When they wanted to build a gas terminal in Boston and use the shipping lane through Cape Cod Bay, the Texas company had a problem.
>> The best way to reduce those chances of a female and her calf being killed by a ship is to slow the ship down.
But how you tell them to slow down if you do not know where the wells are?
>> That is when a little-known research program at the laboratory suddenly became one of the top priorities.
For years, scientists here have been developing a listening device meant to capture the sound of Wales.
>> Now, with the advent of modern technology, you can put a little computer system in on this bleak and have to be smart and have it be with a database and all of this.
And every 20 minutes, it calls home.
It sends a message up to the satellite.
And you get it over to Cornell, to our area, and all the terminologies and, bingo, you have whales.
>> Armed with this information, the one know when to slow down.
In January, Purnell set up.
Right whale listening network in the day.
>> We did not know what to expect.
>> The computer screen started lighting up right away.
Responding to the signature Code of of these whales.
Researchers watched in all.
>> Something special has happened in late winter and early spring.
I do not know of any year in my lifetime where there have been this many right whales in Cape Cod bay.
>> Each of these clips needs to be looked at by someone here.
We're talking about daily getting 1000 clips on a day-to-day basis.
People need to push through that.
>> We have not even at the time to sit down and get this.
What was this all about?
>> One day this spring, researchers counted more than 100 wells.
A quarter of the population.
And then they alerted the ship captain.
>> It is very nice to see really good signs happening and then applying that science to activities that are affecting the world in some way.
>> Right now, only these ships are required to slow down.
But researchers send out public announcements twice per day as well hoping other ship captains will voluntarily put on the brakes.
It is time now for the Business Section with the "Democrat and Chronicle."
>> And MATT DANEMAN joins us.
Hello.
>> I'm doing well.
>> Thank you.
Some changes, Governor Paterson is making some changes that could affect the upstate economics.
>> The local business interest in upstate, not just Rochester, but all the weight from Albany to buffalo.
They are mad about this.
They started under Gov. Spitzer.
It was a dual chairmanship of state agencies that work in charge of economic development.
Upstate and downstate.
David Paterson wants to put in one person as an administrator.
Also, to deal with business interests.
In this region, such as the business alliance, they're screaming that without a dedicated person who knows upstate and who is focused on upstate, we become the stepchild of the state began and all of the focus is back.
>> Back to the wait was before Spitzer change it?
>> Exactly.
It was that traditional set up for years and years and years under the previous administration.
And everybody has been saying how under the chairmanship set up there was a great boon for upstate New York.
Why would you change it?
The governor says that we will still have as much focus on upstate than just an administrative change.
>> When Governor Paterson came into office everybody was focusing on that $1 billion economic revitalization of fun.
Did this come out of nowhere that they were not expecting this?
>> Yes, what Governor Paterson is suggesting really came out of the blue for the upstate interests because none of them have ever been consulted on an initiative changes, they said.
They found out that he wants to do this.
It is interesting that you bring up that ultimately it was over $700 million that was associated with the fund.
Everybody across upstate involved and that keeps saying that so much of that was due to the fact that there was an upstate economic person.
Here's proof of what happened in upstate verses anything else.
It was $700 million.
>> Is the noise that upstate business leaders are making, is that going to have an impact?
Is this a done deal?
>> No, but not something that the Legislature has to approve.
It is an administrative change that the governor makes.
It still remains to be seen.
A lot of interest is starting to make noise.
Really, in the next few days, we will see how this happens.
>> A few things going on in high tech.
>> This is an interesting maze of turning out to be an interesting time if you are a small, start up tech firm.
You have two annual business contracts that are going on.
What happened last week and one is going to happen this coming week.
There is a business plan of small tech firms being pitted against one another.
Big cash prizes.
Community recognition with the ROCHESTER regional organization and something called the Golden horse shoe.
Money is all so important when you are small startup business.
The money helps to get recognition and then you get to attract the attention of the venture-capital lists.
They're going to be in town this week for a big venture-capital conference of 29 companies across upstate all sort of pitching their business plan.
>> Money in the air.
>> Exactly.
>> The money situation with a real estate markets.
>> Here is the real, backhanded good news for ROCHESTER.
We are one of -- we're rated No. two in the country having projected to have depreciating home values.
We're supposed to go up about over 2 percent.
It is good news and weird because 75 percent of 100 are expected to see their housing by use of decline.
We're talking about Las Vegas, Miami, we're looking at 25% and 30% decline.
Syracuse, Buffalo, and ROCHESTER are in the top five with increases with these increases in the next years of two 0.5 and two and three-quarters percent.
>> A mixed blessing.
>> It is a good for us and not so good if you live in Miami.
>> Thank you so much.
MATT DANEMAN is the business reporter for the "Democrat and Chronicle."
A special edition called already out.
This 30 minute special looks at a growing trend, gays and lesbians coming out of the closet in their early teens.
We will meet several area young people and find out what it is like for them to be coming of age and homosexual in Rochester.
That is "need to know" Friday, May 16, right here on Channel 21.
>> We are out of time.
I'm JULIE PHILIPP.
Thank you for joining us for this edition.
Have a great week.
>> Previous broadcasts can be seen if you have time Warner's on demand service.
Go to Rochester on demand, Channel 111, then look for WXXI news.
There, you'll find a selection of a recent programs.