Editor’s note: World Vision is a Christian-based humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide. Laura Cusumano Blank works for the organization. Here is how she found out she would be traveling to the region to help the victims:

Waiting to receive aid

Laura Cusumano Blank
World Vision emergency communications officer
www.worldvision.org

Last Wednesday morning began with a 7:15 a.m. wake up call and the question - “How quickly can you get on a plane out of JFK to Bangkok?” I pulled my suitcase out of the closet, grabbed my passport, and started throwing some clothes into my bag. Jeans, boots, t-shirts, granola bars.

Within an hour, my boss called back. My ticket had been booked - with no return date - for the next flight leaving for Bangkok. I would be meeting up with a team of communications staff from around the world - Laos, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada - to help coordinate World Vision’s media response to the cyclone in Myanmar.

17 hours later, I found myself in the middle of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, exhausted but eager to get started. I had traveled to Bangkok two years ago for vacation, but I never thought I would get the chance to return - and certainly not under these circumstances. Our office, on the 13th floor of a downtown high-rise, has a wall of windows that overlook the city. The sun would set and rise again before I got to sleep that first day.

In my first three days in Bangkok, I slept just 9 hours - and worked 63 hours. Tonight, I’m hoping to get at least 6 before coming back to work. The work is constant and draining - but exhilarating, too. From the moment I landed, I felt like I had been made for this job. My background as a journalist and my interest in humanitarian work had led me to World Vision, and World Vision led me to Bangkok. I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

Morning folks…

It’s PRIMARY DAY…the people of West Virginia head to the polls today to vote for the democratic nominee. Most believe it is a slam dunk for Hilllary Clinton, the latest CNN political polls show her with almost a 40 point lead….but can a win convince the party and superdelegates that she is indeed the better candidate? She claims “you cannot win the general election without West Virginia.” West Virginia is another state, like Pennsylvania and Ohio, that is filled with the white working class vote…a major voting block across the country that Clinton claims Obama cannot win.

BUT while Obama NOW leads in superdelegates, the outcome of West Virginia’s primary Tuesday may best be foretold by where Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama plan to spend the day. Clinton is expected to be in Charleston, West Virginia, to celebrate what should be her large victory. Obama has no plans Tuesday night, but he is spending the late afternoon at a campaign event in Missouri. Missouri has already voted this primary season but is considered a swing state that Democrats and Republicans have in their sights this November…So Obama is already thinking about November and a match up with John McCain….

Soooo tune in tonight at 7 pm and CNN will have all the results and all the analysis. AC360 takes over at 10 pm with John King, Bill Schneider, Soledad O’Brien, Wolf Blitzer, Suzanne Malveaux and the best political team on TV…

Breaking news out of China tonight where a huge 7.9 earthquake killed 10,000 people – maybe more.  One expert told us that it’s the largest quake to hit the region “for over a generation.”  We’ll have the latest on the damage and the relief effort live from the area.

And we’re counting down to the West Virginia primary.  Hillary Clinton says it will be a turning point in her campaign.  Will it be?  How could it be? We’ll have a preview from the best political team on television.

Be sure to check out our new live web camera from the 360° studio. The shot features Anderson and Erica behind the scenes on the set. We’ll turn the camera on at 945p ET and turn it off at 11p ET. LINK TO THE BLOG CAMERA

We’ll start posting comments to this blog at 10p ET and stop at 11p ET.

Hey Bloggers!

Start your engines… It’s time for ‘Beat 360°.’

Everyday we post a picture - and you provide the caption. Our staff will get in on the action too.

Tune in every night at 10p ET to see if you are our favorite! Can you Beat 360°?

Here is today’s ‘Beat 360°’ pic of the day: Grechen Baer’s Hillary-mobile makes an appearance as former President Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife, Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Fayetteville, West Virginia.

Here’s one to get you started:

Just in time for West Virginia, Hillary Clinton gets the key endorsement of KITT from Knight Rider… Superdelegate ‘The Hoff’ remains undecided

Have fun with it.

Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.

- David M. Reisner, 360° Digital producer

UPDATE: Check out last night’s winners!

Editor’s note: CNN’s Cal Perry filed this reporter’s notebook from Beirut, Lebanon about what it was like being caught in the middle of a fire-fight.  Here’s the quick back-story:

Gun fire broke out in downtown Beirut last week after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said recent government actions amount to “a declaration of open war.” The latest tensions between Lebanon’s U.S.-backed government and Hezbollah were sparked when the government declared Hezbollah’s communication system illegal.

The government threatened to dismantle a Hezbollah telecommunications network discovered at Beirut’s international airport claming Hezbollah had installed cameras and other monitoring equipment at the airport. The government believes that Hezbollah was using the equipment to keep tabs on anti-Syrian government officials, possibly funneling the information to Syria. Syria has been accused of carrying out assassinations on anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians, a charge it vehemently denies.
___________________

Government loyalists add tires to a burning barricade outside Beirut.

Cal Perry
International correspondent

Can’t stop thinking about what one of my former security advisors from Iraq said to me in a cafe here in Beirut just two days ago. “It’s quiet now Cal — but this is Beirut … at any moment, within 24 hours, the city and country could be thrust into complete chaos.”

Today, chaos is what happened.

The Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, gave a speech in the afternoon, reacting to what the government had said about Hezbollah’s telecommunication network (a private network used by Hezbollah for communication.) It was exactly as expected — a fiery speech in which he said the government’s actions were tantamount to a declaration of war against his group.

After the speech we headed out into the streets to tape a brief “piece to camera,” while it was still light outside. Within minutes, deafening gunfire broke out all around us. A group of Lebanese Army soldiers starting yelling at us to come towards them and take cover behind a large building. The rounds were snapping close to us as we ran behind the building.

Cameraman Christian Streib, who has lived in Beirut for a decade, snapped into action — immediately filming. We tried to do a “piece to camera” but with all the gunfire, I could hardly hear my own voice. I found myself screaming at times, and gave up pretty quickly.

The firefight was raging when Christian spotted gunmen on a nearby rooftop. He remarked that he got it on film — something I still cannot believe. I kept telling him he was making me nervous as he filmed about, but the truth is he’s a seasoned as they get, and it was the simple gunfire, now coupled with large explosions from rocket-propelled grenades that was really making me nervous.

Read more of the blog

Carl Bernstein writes that Hillary Clinton's campaign recognizes that it faces an uphill battle.

Carl Bernstein
360° Contributor

Friends and close associates of both Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are now convinced that, assuming she loses the race for the presidential nomination, she is probably going to fight to be the vice presidential nominee on an Obama-for-president ticket.

Clinton “is trying to figure out how to land the plane without looking like surrender,” a prominent figure in the Obama camp said Friday. This means, in all likelihood, bringing her campaign to a close in the next few weeks and trying to leverage her way onto an Obama ticket from a position of maximum strength, said several knowledgeable sources.

A person close to her, with whom her campaign staff has counseled at various points, said this week, “I think the following will happen: Obama will be in a position where the party declares him the nominee by the first week in June. She’ll still be fighting with everybody — the Rules Committee, the party leaders — and arguing, ‘I’m winning these key states; I’ve got almost half the delegates. I have a whole constituency he hasn’t reached. I’ve got real differences on approach to how we win this election, and I’m going to press the hell out of this guy. … Relief for the middle class, universal health care, etc.; I’m Ms. Blue Collar, and I’m going to press my fight, because he can’t win without my being on the ticket.’ “

Read full story

Tonight, there are signs that the race for the democratic nomination could be over soon.  The Obama campaign announced new support from seven superdelegates today — including one who had been backing Clinton.  Clinton still has the superdelegate lead but only by a small, and shrinking, margin.

After years of doors slamming in his face, Gary Tuchman is invited inside an FLDS home.  Check out Gary’s blog about this rare look at family values in Warren Jeffs’ polygamous sect.

Erica Hill reports on the growing food crisis here in this country.  Food prices are rising fast and with more and more people in need, food banks just can’t keep up with the demand.   Take a look at Erica’s blog for a sneak peek.

Anderson is off tonight.  Wolf Blitzer is filling in.  Erica will be posting comments throughout the show and be sure to watch her on our live web camera from the 360° studio.  We’ll turn the camera on at 945p ET and turn it off at 11p ET. LINK TO THE BLOG CAMERA

We’ll start posting your comments to this blog at 10p ET and stop at 11p ET.

Erica Hill
360° Correspondent

Does your neighbor have enough to eat? Can they afford milk, fresh vegetables for their kids?

Yes, the people next door who look just like you…they have a mortgage, one — maybe two — cars, and a mounting pile of bills they can’t pay.

There are 35 million Americans at risk of going hungry tonight, and they’re not all homeless or unemployed. The “new” hungry Americans are educated, middle-class folks — many have full-time jobs — and their cupboards are bare.

Here in NYC, the main food bank for the five boroughs has seen a 73 percent increase in people with full-time jobs coming in for help. Food pantries are their last resort, but many are too proud or to embarrassed to let anyone know they need the help.

I was at a food pantry in Stamford, CT yesterday where one woman told me she couldn’t speak to me on camera because there it was too risky; one of her friends might recognize her.

One of the staff members there told me she saw a person from another town come through the line, clearly there to avoid being seen. She also pointed out two men who had “dressed down”, trying to blend in.

In Brooklyn on Tuesday, we met a woman who personifies this crisis. She was stunning — totally put together, attractive…you’d expected to see her having lunch at the table next to you. She had a successful career as an administrative assistant before retiring a few years ago. She never thought she’d need help, but there she was at the pantry. It was her second trip, and she seemed so ashamed. She was incredibly gracious and kind, but she, too, didn’t dare get near the camera for fear someone would learn her secret.

There is, of course, nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about, but I can understand why any of these people would feel that way. You work your whole life, do all the right things, pay your bills, go to work…only to find that it’s not enough anymore to put food on the table.

Tomorrow, postal carriers around the country will hold the 16th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive. This is a chance for ALL of us to help. One box of cereal or pasta, a few cans of vegetables, a jar of pasta sauce can do so much.

I have one plea before you empty your cabinets: only donate items you would eat. Expired canned goods and other inedible items increasingly find their way into the donation bin.

“The quality of the food is dropping in some respects,” Kate Lombardo, Executive Director of the Lowe Fairfield County (CT) Food Bank told me. “Which is not to offend the donor, it’s just to express to donors that if you don’t want it on your table, then the poor are not any less of an individual or human being just because they‘re poor. They’re just in a financial state that they don’t want to be in.”

For more information on the food drive, log onto Help Stamp Out Hunger.

Gabe Ramirez
CNN Photojournalist

As the old saying goes, getting there is half the fun. And getting to the old Manson Family hide out in Death Valley National Park is certainly interesting. Anticipating the news of a renewed search for bodies by law enforcement, we decided to try and go live from the Barker Ranch.

To access the ranch you must have a four wheel drive vehicle. The ranch is off a dirt trail called the Goler Wash road. It’s basically a dry stream bed that cuts through granite canyons. The road is steep and narrow and full of boulders. Our problem, to go live you need a satellite transmitter. And there is no way a satellite truck can get near the site. So we packed up a satellite kit in three rented SUVs and a pick up truck. Like most four wheel drive SUVs on American roads, these had never been off road, so we weren’t sure how well this would work. But we tackled the rough terrain with no serious problems. As soon as we reached the ranch, our field engineers got things set up and we had long hot day of live shots.

The hardest part came after packing up and leaving. We had to navigate the wash road in the pitch black night, dodging boulders and wild donkeys (yes, I did say WILD DONKEYS…a reminder of the areas gold rush days). We managed the ride relatively unscathed. Our fearless correspondent Ted Rowlands was behind the wheel of one truck and had the ONLY casualty of the journey, a tire!! It was punctured by a jagged rock. Thankfully it was after getting through the worst part of the road. While waiting for help I lay on the roof of my SUV and watched falling stars. There was No cell service, no civilization for miles. Producer Sara Weisfeldt finally got through to a 24 hour tow service on our satellite phone. And few hours later he picked up the truck. We would have left it until morning but it was loaded with large and expensive generators. After a day at Barker Ranch it was easy to see it was a great place to hide out indeed.

Kay Jones
360° Editorial Producer

I’ve been speaking with several aid groups about the relief efforts (or lack of right now) in Myanmar. Here’s the latest info from AmeriCares:

“A plane holding 15 tons of emergency medical supplies is loaded and ready to take off from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport as soon as it receives clearance to land in Myanmar. AmeriCares – a nonprofit international relief organization – is sending the aid to help bring relief and comfort to the victims of Cyclone Nargis. The shipment contains medicines such as antibiotics, analgesics, ointments and multivitamins as well as medical equipment and supplies to treat the immediate needs of those injured and to help prevent the anticipated spread of illness and disease throughout the region.”

Hopefully, with word of a US cargo plane being allowed to bring aid into the country, the governing military junta in Myanmar will be more open to other aid groups. We’ll keep on it and keep you updated here and on 360°.

If you’d like to help, you can check out Impact Your World at CNN.com.