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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Bush Sets Agenda on Mars, Moon, Marriage; U.S. Troops Close In on Saddam's Henchman

Aired January 14, 2004 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Bold agenda. Setting his sights on the moon, Mars and marriage.

Iraq raids. U.S. troops close in on his henchman. But who is Saddam keeping at arm's length?

The Democrat's big gun. Kennedy takes aim.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: No president of the United States should deploy this kind of ideology, distortion of the truth (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

BLITZER: Candidates wives. They have their own lives to live. He's given up his medical practice. Would she do the same?

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, January 14, 2003.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: To the moon and beyond. Just 90 minutes ago, President Bush unveiled the most ambitious space exploration plan in a generation. Against the backdrop of an election year, he set a goal of returning man to the moon by 2020 and then onto Mars. Our space correspondent Miles O'Brien is here, joining us live with this remarkable story -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: It's a remarkable story, Wolf. It's a real sea change for NASA. For so many years the space agency has been concerned with low Earth orbit, flying the space shuttle to the International Space Station about 250 miles above us.

What the president is proposing, really sounds like a dream come true for NASA. The question is, will it come true?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: The president of the United States.

O'BRIEN: Talk about preaching to the choir! The president came to NASA headquarters to tell the agency faithful he is a believer in bold space exploration. GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will give NASA new focus and vision for future exploration. We'll build new ships to carry man forward into the universe, to gain a new foot hold on the moon and to prepare for new journeys to the worlds beyond our own.

O'BRIEN: The plan is a bold departure for a space agency that has been spinning in circles for years flying shuttles to low Earth orbit and International Space Station, no more than 240 miles above the surface of Earth.

The president plans to finish the space station, retire the shuttle fleet by 2010 and then move on, ordering NASA to design and build a exploration vehicle that can fly to the moon, set up a sustained presence there and then use the base as a stepping-stone to much longer journeys to an asteroid or to Mars.

BUSH: We will begin the effort quickly, using existing programs and personnel. We'll make steady progress. One mission, one voyage, one landing at a time.

O'BRIEN: It's an $11 billion proposal. Mr. Bush will pay for it by asking Congress to raise NASA's budget by a billion dollars. The space agency will have to redirect money from other programs to pick up the rest of the tab. the goal is to have a sustained presence on the moon perhaps as early as 2015, no later than 2020.

BUSH: America is proud of our space program. The risk-takers and visionaries of this agency have expanded human knowledge, have revolutionized our understanding of the universe and produced technological advances that have benefited all of humanity.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And now, it moves onto Congress, Wolf. And the debate is kind of inside out. A lot of people in Congress are saying, Hey, wait a minute, there's not enough money involved here. They're a little concerned there might be a little Trojan horse to get the program going and tack on costs as the years roll on.

BLITZER: Compared to what the administration is proposing for Iraq, $11 billion over the next several years, $87 billion was appropriate for one year in Iraq.

O'BRIEN: It's interesting. People complain about the NASA budget. It's $15 billion a year, a fraction of 1 percent of the U.S. budget. It isn't a lot of money, but it nevertheless is the ultimate in discretionary money.

BLITZER: Miles O'Brien doing his job. Thank you very much.

Here's your turn, our viewers, to weigh in on this important story. Our "Web Question of the Day" is this: should the U.S. send a person to Mars? You can vote right now, go to cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast. The White House is also pushing another ambitious plan, this aimed at encouraging couples to marry. It's a move welcome by social conservatives, especially in light of recent court rulings in favor of same sex marriage.

The administration wants $1.5 billion over five years to promote marriage especially among low income couples. It includes federal funds and matching funds from individual states. The request is part of a bill reauthorizing the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. The measure has passed the House but has now bogged down in the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD EVANS, COMMERCE SECY.: I think it's the basic fundamental principles that this president brought to the office. It's the core beliefs that he has as to his leadership, and what drives his agenda. And what drives his agenda is for this country to be family-friendly and marriage friendly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The White House says the money will fund multiple programs including premarital education and counseling.

Senator Edward Kennedy gives a major international policy speech about every time this year. Today, it took the form of a blistering attack directly on President Bush and his policies as Kennedy laid down a barrage of heavy artillery in support of fellow Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KENNEDY: The administration and the majority in Congress have put the state of our union at risk. And they do not deserve another term in the White House or in control of Congress.

BLITZER (voice-over): For nearly an hour, Senator Kennedy dissects the Iraq war. He lays out what he believes was a systematic, political calculation, from the president's first days in office.

KENNEDY: The agenda was clear, find a rationale to end Saddam's regime.

BLITZER: The architects according to Kennedy, quote, "Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, the axis of war. They linked Saddam to September 11, they made the case for war. All for political gain, Kennedy said, and with a disastrous result.

KENNEDY: By far, the most serious consequence of the unjustified and unnecessary war in Iraq is that it has made the war on terrorism harder to win.

BLITZER: Kennedy's attacks grow personal.

KENNEDY: The administration is vindictive and mean-spirited. The administration is breathtakingly arrogant. BLITZER: Arrogant, a word used twice by Kennedy to describe the selling of the war and the Bush team's dealings with the United Nations.

The White House fires back.

EVANS: He's to be reminded that the president worked with Congress, the president worked with the U.N. as he continued to work through the issue of whether or not we went to war in Iraq.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Let me remind you that the world is safer and better because of the action that we took to remove a brutal regime from power in Iraq.

BLITZER: Ted Kennedy, still game for a fight. His sign-off line, the election cannot come too soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: This programming note, Senator Kennedy will be a guest on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." That's tomorrow morning 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

In Iraq meanwhile, U.S. troops have crossed another name off their most-wanted list, and the U.S. Army says eight suspected guerrillas were killed in gun battle. But the insurgents are striking right back. They're striking right back very hard, in fact, as CNN's Karl Penhaul reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A crater gouged out of street by a suicide car bomber. Iraqi civilians and security forces killed and maimed the blast rocked Ba'qubah north of Baghdad. The target, the police station. The bomb packed in a car driven by an unidentified attacker who police say strapped his foot to the gas pedal.

LT. COL. WILLIAM ADAMSON, U.S. ARMY: In the vehicle appears to be fragments from 155's artillery rounds and hand grenades. It detonated. We have a number of KIA and wounded.

PENHAUL: Coalition commanders say at least 29 civilians and police were injured in the explosion. Ba'qubah's hospital emergency services were stretched to the limit. This, the second deadly blast in less than a week. On Friday a suicide bomber killed six and injured scores more outside a Shi'a mosque.

(on camera): Hours after the explosion in Ba'qubah, coalition military authorities in Baghdad announced it struck a blow against the insurgency and detained one of Iraq's most wanted fugitives.

(voice-over): Khamis Sirhan al-Muhammad, No. 54 from the deck of cards. The list of all regime officials still on the run. He had a $1 million bounty on his head. Pictured in the southern city of Karbala just five days before the start of the U.S.-led invasion. Then he was regional Ba'ath Party chief akin to military governor.

The coalition alleges Sirhan he had a hand in the guerrilla war against coalition forces. He was captured Sunday west of the capital.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMIT, U.S. ARMY: If you are a terrorist, a former regime element, resisting fighter or Jihadist, know that your day of reckoning is near, if you failed to abandon the cause.

PENHAUL: The hunt for other Saddam Hussein loyalists goes on. U.S. troops detained relatives of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri in Samarra. But no sign of Saddam's former right-hand man now suspected of a lead role in the insurgency, he's still at large, a $10 million reward up for grabs. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The price of loyalty and the cost of former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's dissent. I'll speak live with Ron Suskind. He's the author of that controversial book.

Candidate Al Sharpton on his campaign, his competition and his chances of becoming our next president. He joins me live.

The women behind the men on the campaign trail. Meet the wives who could potentially become the next first lady.

And a special interview with a journalist who spent some rare time inside Howard Dean's home. All that coming up.

First though today's news quiz. "Which first lady gave birth to a child in the White House? Frances Cleveland, Martha Jefferson, Jacqueline Kennedy, Mary Lincoln. The answer later in the show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: For the major Democratic presidential candidates, only two states really matter right now -- Iowa and New Hampshire. With the first in the nation Iowa caucuses just five days away, the latest polls show front-runner Howard Dean slipping slightly with Senator John Kerry charging into a second-place tie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning, everybody.

BLITZER (voice-over): Not every candidate is there today, but Iowa is where the action is. Basking in a surge of support, polls show John Kerry now neck and neck with Richard Gephardt for second place in the Hawkeye state. Today he spoke to students at St. Ambrose College about America's, quote, "future and soul."

KERRY: The last five days before the caucus, I'm more convinced than ever that we have a chance to change the politics of this country. BLITZER: Could Gephardt's foothold on organized labor be a secret weapon against his rivals? The congressman continues his Iowa push today where he hopes labor unions will help him pull off a win next Monday.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I may not be the flashiest guy in the race, but I'll put my ideas up against anyone's.

BLITZER: Persistence pays off, that's certainly the case for John Edwards. Now on the heels of his rivals there, the senator continues his fight in Iowa today holding roundtables with voters.

AD ANNOUNCER: John Kerry and John Edwards both voted for the war.

BLITZER: Maintaining Iraq was the wrong war at wrong time. Dean's campaign now airing ads statewide in Iowa, reminding voters he was against it. But in New Hampshire today, Dean fended off criticism he supported unilateral action in 1995 in Bosnia.

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've gone through all the things under the circumstances of which I would use force. One of them is to stop genocide and other world bodies refuse to abide by what their obligation is.

BLITZER: He heads to Iowa tonight where he'll kick off his campaign bus tour with celebrities, Martin Sheen and Rob Reiner. He's not on the Iowa ballot but if Wesley Clark supporters have any say, he will be. The "Des Moines Register" reports Clark will air radio ads. Draft or no draft, Clark's campaigning today, where he is on the ballot in New Hampshire.

And that's our look at the 2004 presidential candidates on the trail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Even though the Iowa caucuses aren't until Monday night, Howard Dean is enjoying the sweet taste of victory. At least of sorts. Dean beat fellow Democrat the Reverend Al Sharpton in yesterday's mostly symbolic nonbinding primary right here in the nation's capital.

Most of the major candidates skip this race or focused on other states. Not Al Sharpton, he campaigned heavily in recent days and he's calling his second place finish, and I'm quoting now, "a tremendous victory." The Reverend Sharpton is joining us to talk about the outcome, its impact on the campaign and other contests and more. Reverend Sharpton, welcome back to our program. Thank you very much for joining us.

REVEREND AL SHARPTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: You caused a stir by getting Governor Dean to acknowledge he had no African-Americans or minorities in his cabinet while he served as governor. What was the point you were trying to make, what, that he's a racist?

SHARPTON: No, I think that Governor Dean has continually said that he wanted to be the candidate that will discuss race to America and teach Americans about race. I think if you put yourself in that position, then you open up a fair examination of how you've dealt with race and diversity in your past.

Every debate he talks about what he's done in Vermont for health care, education or other matters. It was then fair for me to say tell us what you did in Vermont around diversity at the highest levels? We were in a state that had the exact percentage of blacks than he has in Vermont. 1.5 percent. Iowa. Those in that black and brown caucus had a right to know how he would govern a similar matter in their states as he was similarly situated.

To my surprise, he had to concede he had not put one in the cabinet. Doesn't make him a bad guy but it certainly doesn't make him in a position to lecture others about race when he's not had diversity at the level of government that he's been in charge.

BLITZER: The Reverend Jesse Jackson seems to suggest, though, that given the tiny percentage of African-Americans, minorities in Vermont, it's perhaps understandable.

SHARPTON: Again, I think that the black and brown caucus members there in America, on the ones that applauded, that didn't think it was understandable, I don't see how we can have inclusion as part of the civil rights agenda and qualify it when it may be someone we like.

Most cabinet members are not chosen from the indigenous population anyway. Are we saying Dean only chose his cabinet members from natives of Vermont? I don't think so. And clearly, if Mr. Dean did not have that kind of background, which is understandable given the population, then why is he running around lecturing others who have had diversity in their background about race? He made himself the object of a test on race. Then when someone questioned it, all of a sudden, he has surrogates go out and apologize and explain for him? I don't think that's fair.

BLITZER: Having said that, if he does get the Democratic presidential nomination in Boston, will you support him?

SHARPTON: I will support whoever gets the nomination. I hope that I'm the one that gets it and they will support me. I've said from the beginning that I will support the nominee, but I think at the same time, we're in a primary process.

Dean has ads out and everything questioning his opponents. Clearly one has a right to question him. You mentioned Reverend Jackson, I remember when he challenged Mondale in '84 on second primaries and runoffs.

This does not disunify the party, it clarifies the campaign. Yesterday in Washington, I got over a third of the vote, no one including me thought I would get that. There are a lot of concerns about a lot of people and I think we need to put them all on the table. Particularly if a candidate represents himself as just about as an expert in an area, we have the right to examine where the expertise comes from.

BLITZER: I think you will agree that you're almost certainly not going to do well in Iowa, not going to do well in New Hampshire but possibly could do well the week after February 3 in South Carolina. What do you expect will happen in South Carolina? Will you do really well or will you simply be a spoiler for one of the other Democrats?

SHARPTON: Well, I think they asked that going in D.C. and it ended up where Dean had to struggle in single points to even come ahead of me. Look at this this way, Wolf. If any race in D.C., I got 34 percent of the vote, and Dean did not have the other contenders on the ballot, if I was him, I'd be very concerned that if I can create the same solid support in South Carolina, and in other places, Missouri and Delaware and in Virginia where I'm the only minority on the ballot, and he has to compete with other major contenders, he has a problem.

Think of what happened in Washington if Gephardt and Kerry and Edwards and Clark were on the ballot. They certainly wouldn't have been taking away from me. I think we would do very well in South Carolina, I think we'll do very well in Missouri. I think we'll do very well in Michigan and Virginia which come a week later.

It is very possible I will go into super Tuesday with as many or more delegates than the so-called front-runner. We're running a delegate, strategic campaign, and I think that people that thought we had no infrastructure or ability to get out the vote were shocked when they saw the results that happened in D.C. yesterday.

BLITZER: All right. The Reverend Sharpton is in this race at least through Super Tuesday in March. We'll see what happens next. Reverend, thank you very much.

SHARPTON: Super Tuesday for me is November.

BLITZER: November? You're staying to November even after the Democratic convention.

SHARPTON: I hope to be the nominee, Wolf.

BLITZER: If you're the nominee you'll be in the race.

SHARPTON: All right. Thank you.

BLITZER: Thanks. See you on the campaign trail. Reverend Al Sharpton.

Deep freeze, a dangerously cold night on tap for people in the Northeast. We have reports from around the region.

The other fired aide, a second administration insider speaking out, this time in the president's defense. Hear what he has to say about Paul O'Neill.

And behind the controversy -- the book that ignited it all. I'll speak live with the author Ron Suskind. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: New Englanders are accustomed to bitterly cold temperatures in the winter, but today's temperatures are brutal even by New England standards. We have a series of reports starting with Sharon Meyer of CNN affiliate WCAX in Burlington, Vermont, where temperatures are expected to hit 15 degrees below zero tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON MEYER, WCAX CORRESPONDENT: It is bitterly cold here in Vermont. Schools were delayed by about two hours this morning, and if your car started this morning, you know you've got a sturdy car.

Last night the winds were howling, we had windchills of between 30 to 50 degrees below zero. The winds have died down a little bit now, although it is still well below zero. We woke up this morning to temperatures ranging from 12 below to as much as 30 below in the northeastern part of the state and tonight we expect those temperatures to be getting even a little bit colder between 15 and 35 degrees below zero.

There is some good news, we are expecting the temperatures to get back above zero just in time for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. I'm Sharon Meyer reporting for CNN in Burlington, Vermont.

TODD GUTNER, CNN AFFILIATE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Todd Gutner in Portland, Maine. We started out our day at 10 below zero. We're up to a whopping 3 below zero. That's not the half of it. The winds blowing at about 10 to 20 miles per hour creating a windchill effect of 30 below.

You go northward from here though. 40 miles, windchill values are 50 to 60 below zero. This weather isn't expected to break until Friday. Temperatures will moderate over the weekend.

SEAN HENNESSEY, CNN AFFILIATE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Sean Hennessey in Boston where we're used to wild weather but this is something else. Yesterday, we had a high temperature of 40 degrees. Today a low of negative 3 and a windchill of negative 24.

Fashion concerns have been tossed out the window, people staying warm however they can. This bitter blast has frozen the Charles River and parts of Boston Harbor which is why the Coast Guard cutters are chopping through the ice making sure that ships and boats can get through. We're expecting snow tomorrow and as if that's not bad enough, another cold spell on the way expecting temperatures of negative 10 on Friday not even including the windchill, that's the coldest we'll have seen in nearly 50 years. Now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks very much to all of our affiliate reporters. Stay warm wherever you in the Northeast.

Deadly attacks and the threats of more to come. Is a new wave of terrorism rolling through the Middle East?

Taking heat. Paul O'Neill caused a storm of controversy with his revelations in a new book. Coming up, I'll speak live with the author of that book, Ron Suskind.

And power pleas. A former Enron couple in a Texas court right now. What their pleas could mean for other former executives. We'll go live to the scene.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

"The Price of Loyalty," negative comment by Paul O'Neill, a tell- all book, and now the author behind the controversy. I'm about to speak live with Ron Suskind. We'll get to that.

First, though, a quick check of the latest headlines.

There was a security scare at London's Heathrow Airport today. A Sudanese man en route from Washington to Dubai was stopped during a routine screening and found to be carrying ammunition. A U.S. official says the man had a few bullets in his pocket. It's not clear if the passenger slipped them past security in Washington or acquired them in London. The official says the passenger did not appear to be on any watch list, but British authorities say he's being held under an anti-terror law.

A California judge today refused to dismiss charges against Scott Peterson that he murdered his wife and unborn child. The judge ruled that evidence presented by prosecutors is sufficient to proceed to trial. Peterson's lawyer is expected to appeal.

The Connecticut legislature will form a bipartisan committee to consider impeaching Republican Governor John Rowland. The move comes as law enforcement sources said that Rowland is the focus of a federal probe into bribery and bid-rigging allegations. After first denying it, Rowland has admitted he accepted free work on his vacation cottage from politically connected friends and state employees. But he says he never returned the favors.

Changes to the World Trade Center memorial design were unveiled today. Architects added lusher landscaping and park plazas around sunken reflecting pools that mark the footprints of the collapsed Twin Towers. The revision also includes a cultural center and an underground museum that will house artifacts from the 9/11 attack.

An ex-colleague is sharply rebuking former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill over his comments in a tell-all book about the Bush administration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER (voice-over): Lawrence Lindsey lost his job the same day Paul O'Neill lost his. Now, Lindsey, former director of President Bush's National Economic Council, squares off directly against his old colleague in a "Wall Street Journal" opinion piece.

Lindsey takes aim at the former treasury secretary's claims in a new book that President Bush was sometimes nonfunctional in staff meetings. Quote: "Every night, the president goes home with a two- inch binder known as the briefing book. It contains the background material for each of the president's numerous meetings the next day. Having been grilled on the details in those briefing memos, I can personally attest that Mr. Bush does his homework."

Lindsey says the material is thoroughly vetted through each agency, including the Treasury Department and -- quote -- "If Mr. O'Neill felt that material got to the president that blindsided him, he should have inquired within his own department."

A parting shot at O'Neill -- quote -- "The circumstances of his departure were regrettable, but so, too, was his decision to make this book, 'The Price of Loyalty,' the capstone of his career. The book does a grave injustice to the president, to the truth, and to Mr. O'Neill himself."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: O'Neill says he took part in the book "The Price of Loyalty" because, in his view, it reveals the inner workings of the Bush administration.

To talk more about all of this is the author of "The Price of Loyalty," the former "Wall Street Journal" reporter Ron Suskind.

Ron, thanks very much for joining us. Congratulations on this new book. I guess the word is congratulations, although there is this probe that the Treasury Department has now announced, because, supposedly, "60 Minutes" flashed a piece of paper that had the word classified, secret on it.

What can you tell us about the thousands of pages of documents that Mr. O'Neill gave to you? Were some of them classified?

RON SUSKIND, AUTHOR, "THE PRICE OF LOYALTY": I can say emphatically, Wolf, the there's no classified documents that I have found in the trove of 19,000 documents.

Whether they do an investigation or not, I think that's their business. But, certainly, can I say emphatically that we've not found any. There are documents of extraordinary public interest, and that are extremely pertinent to the functions of our government, but nothing marked classified.

BLITZER: Were there documents marked secret? Because we did see a document on "60 Minutes" that were clearly had the word secret.

SUSKIND: Right. It's important to clarify this point. That's a cover sheet of a pile of documents that were cleaned off the electronic disc. We don't have the underlying documents. We have the cover sheet, which says, underneath here is classified material.

What's interesting is that cover sheet shows categories, topic, including one which I think has created some news, which says, executive summary. This is for the February 1 NSC meeting, NSC principals. Executive summary, political military plan for post- Saddam Iraq crisis. And it's marked secret. It's an interagency memo.

I think what we know now, based on the documents, as well as testimony by O'Neill and others, is that the military planning for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein begins in the first few weeks of the administration. The first three significant NSC meetings were focused on Saddam, what to do about Saddam. That's one thing.

Two, we know that there is no evidence of weapons of mass destruction that appeared in CIA briefings that Paul O'Neill read.

BLITZER: All right.

SUSKIND: And, three, it's clear from many, many documents, as well as testimony of folks within the administration, not just O'Neill, that the prevailing view, as voiced by Dick Cheney to O'Neill, is that Reagan proved deficits don't matter.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: I want to get to those points in a moment. But let's go through one more point on this probe.

Has anybody from the federal government, the Treasury, been in touch with you yet to return these documents, so they can take a look at them?

SUSKIND: No, absolutely not, absolutely not.

What's interesting about it is that the Treasury Department created the discs and gave them to Paul O'Neill to give to me. Essentially, these are documents given to us by the U.S. government. If they want to do an investigation, they might well do one within, I suppose, the Treasury Department or the U.S. government. But, essentially, they gave us what they gave us.

BLITZER: And, as you well know -- and a lot of our viewers unfortunately don't know -- when a Cabinet secretary leaves government, almost always, they're given thousands of documents to take with them for their memoirs, for their archives, or whatever.

But let's move on and talk about this book. One of the quotes that's generated an enormous uproar, "The president is like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people. There is no discernible connection," Paul O'Neill quoted in the book "The Price of Loyalty." He's now saying, well, maybe he shouldn't have used those words because of the uproar. Give us the context how he said that, why he said it like he did.

SUSKIND: Context is a good question, Wolf.

Actually, the circumstances are quite revealing. Paul and I talked many, many times about the conduct of the president. I had heard from others that the president was not engaged in ways that, frankly, other presidents tended to be, asking probing questions, showing that he had read the briefing books, as Larry Lindsey talked about today. He clearly got them. Whether he read them and clearly ingested them is another issue.

And Paul told me over and over again, I'm sitting in the meeting. The president is sitting there. I talk for an hour. His face doesn't move. He shows almost no expression. He asks virtually no questions. And, frankly, after a few months of Paul describing meetings, large and small, intimate one-on-ones in this way, I said, Paul, you can't be serious. You just can't be serious that the president simply does not react to his secretary of the treasury and others at all.

And he said, almost out of frustration, Ron, the only way I can explain it is that, in meetings large and small, the president is like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people. There is no discernible connection.

It was almost out of a kind of frustration. And, frankly, I have sympathy for Paul in his view, which I think got a little misconstrued yesterday, that he feels badly that this one quote is so vivid and blinding, it's eclipsed the many, many other quotes in the book. He didn't pull back from the quotes, obviously saying he didn't say it. He did say it.

But he felt badly that the many, many other things he and others, frankly, say in the book has been eclipsed by this understandably very, very vivid rendition of the president and how he conducts himself.

BLITZER: The article in "The Wall Street Journal" today by Larry Lindsey that we mentioned earlier, there was a rivalry that was going on between Paul O'Neill and Larry Lindsey in the administration.

They were both, though, fired on the same day. What's your reaction to the charges made by Lindsey in this piece in your former newspaper?

SUSKIND: Well, the fact is, is that the disputes and the push- and-shove between Larry Lindsey and Paul O'Neill began literally from the very first moment O'Neill arrives as treasury secretary.

It's interesting. In a pad, it's all -- this is in book -- in a pad, O'Neill writes in December, a week or two before he even arrives in Washington, get Larry Lindsey out of the honest-broker role, or make him commit to actually be the honest broker. I'm paraphrasing a bit. And that was really O'Neill's immediate understanding. And that was confirmed in the next few weeks, that Lindsey, in O'Neill's mind, was much more of an advocate, and, in O'Neill's view, ideologically fervent about the purity, the value of tax cuts, no matter what.

Another thing that's important, I think, for readers to understand, viewers, as you will see in the book, is that Lindsey pushed for tax cuts throughout the two years O'Neill was there, the 23 months, that were profound in their depth.

After 9/11, Lindsey wanted $150 billion instant tax cut. And, in 2002 -- and this is confirmed by many people -- Lindsey pushed for a $300 billion in a single year, which is an extraordinary level of tax cutting, even by ideological standards.

BLITZER: Unfortunately, Ron, we are going to have to leave it right there. You've written a book that's caused quite a sensation, "The Price of Loyalty." Thanks very much for joining us. Let's continue this conversation in the days ahead.

SUSKIND: Absolutely, Wolf. Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Ron Suskind, "The Price of Loyalty."

A 10-year sentence for Enron's former chief financial officer. Andrew Fastow entered his plea bargain a short time ago. And only minutes ago, his wife also struck a deal with prosecutors.

CNN's Jen Rogers is outside the courthouse in Houston with details -- Jen.

JEN ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf.

That's right. I just left an absolutely packed courtroom where Lea Fastow did enter a guilty plea on one of the counts against her. This is a charge that was the false income tax return. She pled guilty to that. Her agreement with the government right now is for five months in prison and five months home confinement. The judge has not signed off exactly on all of the details of that agreement, but he's taking it under consideration as they start a pre-sentencing report.

Mr. Fastow is set to be sentenced April 7 of this year. And she will also be reporting to probation within the next few days -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Very briefly, what about the two little boys? What happens to them?

ROGERS: At this point, it is unclear, because both of the Fastows have sentencing dates out in the future, so we don't know when they would be starting their sentences and if they have been able to figure out a way where one of them would be able to remain home. But that will be something that we'll talk to their lawyers about as they come out of court.

BLITZER: CNN's Jen Rogers with the latest on that -- thanks, Jen, very much.

Another deadly attack, this time a mother, yes, a mother of two sets off a suicide bomb at the Gaza checkpoint with Israel. We'll have details.

Saddam Hussein warning against al Qaeda? New reports pointing to the former leader's dislike of foreign fighters.

And Howard Dean at home. We'll talk to a journalist who sat down with the candidate and his seldom seen wife.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Did Saddam Hussein really want to keep al Qaeda at arm's length?

According to U.S. officials and a document found with Saddam Hussein, when he was captured, warning supporters to be wary of cooperating with what were described as foreign jihadists coming into Iraq to fight Americans. Some in the Bush administration have contended there was close cooperation between Saddam's government and al Qaeda. Officials say the document appears to have been written after Saddam lost power.

It was bloody and shocking, a suicide bombing at the Erez Crossing between Gaza and Israel carried out by a young mother of two.

CNN's Matthew Chance reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A scene of devastation, where the Palestinian suicide bomber struck. The attack on Israeli troops at Gaza's main crossing into Israel is a grim return to bloodshed.

BRIG. GEN. GADI SHAMNI, ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES: Suicide bomber, A woman suicide bomber came into the worker's pass in Erez industrial site, and exploded herself, killing four soldiers, three soldiers and one civilian, and wounding other people.

CHANCE: Among the injured, Palestinian workers caught in the blast. Thousands pass through the Israeli security post every day to work in Israeli factories or gain access to Israeli services that impoverished Gaza simply doesn't offer.

(on camera): According to the Israeli Army, the suicide bomber, who was a woman, had said she needed a permit to get into Israel because she needed urgent medical attention. But, as she was waiting to be processed and searched by a female Israeli soldier, she dropped to her knees, burst into tears and detonated.

(voice-over): The suicide bomber, seen here on the tape prepared before her attack, has been identified as a 22-year-old from Gaza City, married with two children. Hamas says it's the first time they've used a woman to kill. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which claims joint responsibility, has used female bombers before. Her attack, they say, was in response to Israeli military incursions and the construction of what Israel calls a security barrier in the West Bank.

AVI PAZNER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: The attack of this morning is particularly shocking, because, as a gesture of goodwill, Israel allows Palestinian workers to come into Israel. And the Palestinian terrorist organization took this opportunity in order to kill as many people as possible.

CHANCE: For its part, the Palestinian Authority has called for a mutual cease-fire to make room for peace talks. But this latest bombing and the possible Israeli response may only deepen the mistrust.

Matthew Chance, CNN, at the Erez Crossing in Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The women behind the men, mothers, philanthropists, even a backup singer. But how much do we really know about the race for the other top spot. The Doctors Dean, a special look at the Democratic front-runner and his wife and how they hope to make the move to the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked: Which first lady gave birth to a child in the White House. The answer, Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland. She gave birth to a girl back in 1893. Esther Cleveland was the only child of a president to be born in the White House.

As the 2004 presidential campaign gets into high gear, we're hearing more not only from the candidates, but also from the candidates' wives,

CNN's Jennifer Coggiola, has been looking into the race for first lady -- Jennifer.

JENNIFER COGGIOLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Wolf.

Well, of course, behind every great candidate is a great wife or husband. And from some spouses of this year's candidates, we've heard loud and clear. Others, though, have preferred to stay out of limelight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COGGIOLA (voice-over): A philanthropist, an environmentalist, a widow and heiress to a fortune and a mother.

No one can argue, Teresa Heinz, wife of John Kerry, has her hands full. She's blunt and opinionated and some question if her candid remarks throughout her husband's political career could be an asset or a liability in the White House. Either way, Heinz, who grow up in Mozambique, will not be shushed.

TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF JOHN KERRY: I have never been muzzled. And if anybody who is listening has ever lived in a dictatorship, as I did, it's the one thing no one could ever do, is to take my freedom of expression.

COGGIOLA: Gertrude Clark, a native of Brooklyn, New York, has been married to her military man for 36 years and is an Army wife moved 31 times.

Clark admits his wife originally had reservations about her husband's political campaign, but she now travels with the general and is, in his words, a real source of inspiration.

Hadassah Lieberman perhaps the most campaign visible wife. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Ms. Lieberman speaks often about her and her husband's devotion to their Jewish faith. On the campaign trail, she's a stand-by-your-man kind of woman. They have co-hosted events together and she frequently campaigns on her husband's behalf. Her picture is even on the campaign bus.

Enough said? This campaign isn't Jane Gephardt's first time on the bus. Her 37-year marriage to her husband has sustained 33 years of his campaigning for something. Candid about their family, the Gephardts appeared with their openly gay daughter.

JANE GEPHARDT, WIFE OF DICK GEPHARDT: You always want to protect your children, because you love them so much. And that was our first concern, is her welfare. It wasn't so much how it would affect the family, as much as how it would affect her.

COGGIOLA: Almost never seen campaigning is half of the eclectic Sharpton team, the reverend's wife of 24 years, Kathy Jordan. They met while both were touring as part of the entourage of James Brown. Kathy was one of the godfather of soul's backup singers.

Carol Moseley Braun, divorced from her husband, attorney Michael Braun, while serving in the state legislature.

Also divorced, Dennis Kucinich, though he's not shy about being the only single man in the lineup.

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know what? I will tell you, there's something about a presidential campaign. It's absolutely lousy for your social life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COGGIOLA: While some of the wives have been visible, others, though, conspicuously absent, like Dr. Judith Steinberg, Howard Dean's wife, who has made it crystal clear her career won't come second to her husband's campaign -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jennifer Coggiola, thanks. Very informative. Good work. While voters apparently won't be seeing much of Howard Dean's wife, J.D. Heyman of "People" magazine spent some time with the Deans recently at their home in Burlington, Vermont. He is in our New York bureau to share with some of us his impressions.

Thanks very much, J.D., for joining us.

Good article in the new issue of "People" magazine. What's she really like, Dr. Steinberg?

J.D. HEYMAN, "PEOPLE": Well, she's a very shy woman and she's very reticent to talk. So it was really quite a privilege to actually get to meet her and be in the Dean home. No one really has sat down with them as a couple ever before.

BLITZER: How did you get this access? Because they haven't really spent a lot of time jointly talking to reporters.

HEYMAN: Well, it was a long time in coming. It was not something they did easily. I think there's been a discussion within the campaign and certainly within the Dean family about addressing some of these questions about Dr. Steinberg and what kind of a person she is and why she isn't around.

BLITZER: They met when they were both in medical school and then moved together to Vermont and got married later. Pick up the story a little bit.

HEYMAN: Well, they met, as you said, in medical school and they went to Vermont and opened a practice together. And then Howard Dean got involved in politics. And Dr. Steinberg stayed in the practice and worked, and really was the breadwinner and the caregiver.

And she's been doing it ever since, while he's been pursuing his national ambitions.

BLITZER: I was surprised by the characterization, the description of what some might say how frugal they are. They don't waste a lot of money. One thing, apparently, they don't even get cable TV. Is that right?

HEYMAN: Well, you know, they are quintessential Yankee tightwads. I think you can you safely say that. And I think they'd be proud to admit to that. They don't spend money on much.

And Howard Dean hasn't seen a sitcom since "All in the Family" was in its original run. And they shop at discount stores. And that's the way they like it. But it's certainly a humble existence. It's not Hyannis Port up there in Burlington, Vermont.

BLITZER: What did he buy her, Dr. Steinberg? What did Dr. Dean buy his wife for her 50th birthday?

HEYMAN: Well, Wolf, I love this story. He bought here a rhododendron bush, because it was in full flower and he could plant it in the backyard after, as he said, we had flower time. Then I could put it in the back garden. And that's his idea of a romantic gesture. They're not big on big, extravagant gestures.

BLITZER: J.D. Heyman has written a really revealing article in the new issue of "People" magazine, our sister publication.

Thanks very much, J.D., for the good work.

HEYMAN: Thanks, Wolf. Nice to see you.

BLITZER: Once again, our hot "Web Question of the Day" is this: Should the U.S. send a person to Mars? Vote right now, CNN.com/Wolf. The results when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of the Day." We've been asking you this question: Should the U.S. send a person to Mars? Look at this; 53 percent of you say yes; 47 percent of you say no, pretty evenly divided. A reminder, though, this is not a scientific poll.

A reminder: We're on twice a day, 5:00 p.m. Eastern Monday through Friday on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, also noon eastern every weekday.

Until then, thanks very much for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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Close In on Saddam's Henchman>


Aired January 14, 2004 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Bold agenda. Setting his sights on the moon, Mars and marriage.

Iraq raids. U.S. troops close in on his henchman. But who is Saddam keeping at arm's length?

The Democrat's big gun. Kennedy takes aim.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: No president of the United States should deploy this kind of ideology, distortion of the truth (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

BLITZER: Candidates wives. They have their own lives to live. He's given up his medical practice. Would she do the same?

ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, January 14, 2003.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: To the moon and beyond. Just 90 minutes ago, President Bush unveiled the most ambitious space exploration plan in a generation. Against the backdrop of an election year, he set a goal of returning man to the moon by 2020 and then onto Mars. Our space correspondent Miles O'Brien is here, joining us live with this remarkable story -- Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: It's a remarkable story, Wolf. It's a real sea change for NASA. For so many years the space agency has been concerned with low Earth orbit, flying the space shuttle to the International Space Station about 250 miles above us.

What the president is proposing, really sounds like a dream come true for NASA. The question is, will it come true?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN O'KEEFE, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: The president of the United States.

O'BRIEN: Talk about preaching to the choir! The president came to NASA headquarters to tell the agency faithful he is a believer in bold space exploration. GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will give NASA new focus and vision for future exploration. We'll build new ships to carry man forward into the universe, to gain a new foot hold on the moon and to prepare for new journeys to the worlds beyond our own.

O'BRIEN: The plan is a bold departure for a space agency that has been spinning in circles for years flying shuttles to low Earth orbit and International Space Station, no more than 240 miles above the surface of Earth.

The president plans to finish the space station, retire the shuttle fleet by 2010 and then move on, ordering NASA to design and build a exploration vehicle that can fly to the moon, set up a sustained presence there and then use the base as a stepping-stone to much longer journeys to an asteroid or to Mars.

BUSH: We will begin the effort quickly, using existing programs and personnel. We'll make steady progress. One mission, one voyage, one landing at a time.

O'BRIEN: It's an $11 billion proposal. Mr. Bush will pay for it by asking Congress to raise NASA's budget by a billion dollars. The space agency will have to redirect money from other programs to pick up the rest of the tab. the goal is to have a sustained presence on the moon perhaps as early as 2015, no later than 2020.

BUSH: America is proud of our space program. The risk-takers and visionaries of this agency have expanded human knowledge, have revolutionized our understanding of the universe and produced technological advances that have benefited all of humanity.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: And now, it moves onto Congress, Wolf. And the debate is kind of inside out. A lot of people in Congress are saying, Hey, wait a minute, there's not enough money involved here. They're a little concerned there might be a little Trojan horse to get the program going and tack on costs as the years roll on.

BLITZER: Compared to what the administration is proposing for Iraq, $11 billion over the next several years, $87 billion was appropriate for one year in Iraq.

O'BRIEN: It's interesting. People complain about the NASA budget. It's $15 billion a year, a fraction of 1 percent of the U.S. budget. It isn't a lot of money, but it nevertheless is the ultimate in discretionary money.

BLITZER: Miles O'Brien doing his job. Thank you very much.

Here's your turn, our viewers, to weigh in on this important story. Our "Web Question of the Day" is this: should the U.S. send a person to Mars? You can vote right now, go to cnn.com/wolf. We'll have the results later in this broadcast. The White House is also pushing another ambitious plan, this aimed at encouraging couples to marry. It's a move welcome by social conservatives, especially in light of recent court rulings in favor of same sex marriage.

The administration wants $1.5 billion over five years to promote marriage especially among low income couples. It includes federal funds and matching funds from individual states. The request is part of a bill reauthorizing the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. The measure has passed the House but has now bogged down in the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD EVANS, COMMERCE SECY.: I think it's the basic fundamental principles that this president brought to the office. It's the core beliefs that he has as to his leadership, and what drives his agenda. And what drives his agenda is for this country to be family-friendly and marriage friendly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The White House says the money will fund multiple programs including premarital education and counseling.

Senator Edward Kennedy gives a major international policy speech about every time this year. Today, it took the form of a blistering attack directly on President Bush and his policies as Kennedy laid down a barrage of heavy artillery in support of fellow Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KENNEDY: The administration and the majority in Congress have put the state of our union at risk. And they do not deserve another term in the White House or in control of Congress.

BLITZER (voice-over): For nearly an hour, Senator Kennedy dissects the Iraq war. He lays out what he believes was a systematic, political calculation, from the president's first days in office.

KENNEDY: The agenda was clear, find a rationale to end Saddam's regime.

BLITZER: The architects according to Kennedy, quote, "Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, the axis of war. They linked Saddam to September 11, they made the case for war. All for political gain, Kennedy said, and with a disastrous result.

KENNEDY: By far, the most serious consequence of the unjustified and unnecessary war in Iraq is that it has made the war on terrorism harder to win.

BLITZER: Kennedy's attacks grow personal.

KENNEDY: The administration is vindictive and mean-spirited. The administration is breathtakingly arrogant. BLITZER: Arrogant, a word used twice by Kennedy to describe the selling of the war and the Bush team's dealings with the United Nations.

The White House fires back.

EVANS: He's to be reminded that the president worked with Congress, the president worked with the U.N. as he continued to work through the issue of whether or not we went to war in Iraq.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Let me remind you that the world is safer and better because of the action that we took to remove a brutal regime from power in Iraq.

BLITZER: Ted Kennedy, still game for a fight. His sign-off line, the election cannot come too soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: This programming note, Senator Kennedy will be a guest on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." That's tomorrow morning 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

In Iraq meanwhile, U.S. troops have crossed another name off their most-wanted list, and the U.S. Army says eight suspected guerrillas were killed in gun battle. But the insurgents are striking right back. They're striking right back very hard, in fact, as CNN's Karl Penhaul reports from Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A crater gouged out of street by a suicide car bomber. Iraqi civilians and security forces killed and maimed the blast rocked Ba'qubah north of Baghdad. The target, the police station. The bomb packed in a car driven by an unidentified attacker who police say strapped his foot to the gas pedal.

LT. COL. WILLIAM ADAMSON, U.S. ARMY: In the vehicle appears to be fragments from 155's artillery rounds and hand grenades. It detonated. We have a number of KIA and wounded.

PENHAUL: Coalition commanders say at least 29 civilians and police were injured in the explosion. Ba'qubah's hospital emergency services were stretched to the limit. This, the second deadly blast in less than a week. On Friday a suicide bomber killed six and injured scores more outside a Shi'a mosque.

(on camera): Hours after the explosion in Ba'qubah, coalition military authorities in Baghdad announced it struck a blow against the insurgency and detained one of Iraq's most wanted fugitives.

(voice-over): Khamis Sirhan al-Muhammad, No. 54 from the deck of cards. The list of all regime officials still on the run. He had a $1 million bounty on his head. Pictured in the southern city of Karbala just five days before the start of the U.S.-led invasion. Then he was regional Ba'ath Party chief akin to military governor.

The coalition alleges Sirhan he had a hand in the guerrilla war against coalition forces. He was captured Sunday west of the capital.

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMIT, U.S. ARMY: If you are a terrorist, a former regime element, resisting fighter or Jihadist, know that your day of reckoning is near, if you failed to abandon the cause.

PENHAUL: The hunt for other Saddam Hussein loyalists goes on. U.S. troops detained relatives of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri in Samarra. But no sign of Saddam's former right-hand man now suspected of a lead role in the insurgency, he's still at large, a $10 million reward up for grabs. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The price of loyalty and the cost of former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's dissent. I'll speak live with Ron Suskind. He's the author of that controversial book.

Candidate Al Sharpton on his campaign, his competition and his chances of becoming our next president. He joins me live.

The women behind the men on the campaign trail. Meet the wives who could potentially become the next first lady.

And a special interview with a journalist who spent some rare time inside Howard Dean's home. All that coming up.

First though today's news quiz. "Which first lady gave birth to a child in the White House? Frances Cleveland, Martha Jefferson, Jacqueline Kennedy, Mary Lincoln. The answer later in the show.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: For the major Democratic presidential candidates, only two states really matter right now -- Iowa and New Hampshire. With the first in the nation Iowa caucuses just five days away, the latest polls show front-runner Howard Dean slipping slightly with Senator John Kerry charging into a second-place tie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning, everybody.

BLITZER (voice-over): Not every candidate is there today, but Iowa is where the action is. Basking in a surge of support, polls show John Kerry now neck and neck with Richard Gephardt for second place in the Hawkeye state. Today he spoke to students at St. Ambrose College about America's, quote, "future and soul."

KERRY: The last five days before the caucus, I'm more convinced than ever that we have a chance to change the politics of this country. BLITZER: Could Gephardt's foothold on organized labor be a secret weapon against his rivals? The congressman continues his Iowa push today where he hopes labor unions will help him pull off a win next Monday.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I may not be the flashiest guy in the race, but I'll put my ideas up against anyone's.

BLITZER: Persistence pays off, that's certainly the case for John Edwards. Now on the heels of his rivals there, the senator continues his fight in Iowa today holding roundtables with voters.

AD ANNOUNCER: John Kerry and John Edwards both voted for the war.

BLITZER: Maintaining Iraq was the wrong war at wrong time. Dean's campaign now airing ads statewide in Iowa, reminding voters he was against it. But in New Hampshire today, Dean fended off criticism he supported unilateral action in 1995 in Bosnia.

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've gone through all the things under the circumstances of which I would use force. One of them is to stop genocide and other world bodies refuse to abide by what their obligation is.

BLITZER: He heads to Iowa tonight where he'll kick off his campaign bus tour with celebrities, Martin Sheen and Rob Reiner. He's not on the Iowa ballot but if Wesley Clark supporters have any say, he will be. The "Des Moines Register" reports Clark will air radio ads. Draft or no draft, Clark's campaigning today, where he is on the ballot in New Hampshire.

And that's our look at the 2004 presidential candidates on the trail.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Even though the Iowa caucuses aren't until Monday night, Howard Dean is enjoying the sweet taste of victory. At least of sorts. Dean beat fellow Democrat the Reverend Al Sharpton in yesterday's mostly symbolic nonbinding primary right here in the nation's capital.

Most of the major candidates skip this race or focused on other states. Not Al Sharpton, he campaigned heavily in recent days and he's calling his second place finish, and I'm quoting now, "a tremendous victory." The Reverend Sharpton is joining us to talk about the outcome, its impact on the campaign and other contests and more. Reverend Sharpton, welcome back to our program. Thank you very much for joining us.

REVEREND AL SHARPTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: You caused a stir by getting Governor Dean to acknowledge he had no African-Americans or minorities in his cabinet while he served as governor. What was the point you were trying to make, what, that he's a racist?

SHARPTON: No, I think that Governor Dean has continually said that he wanted to be the candidate that will discuss race to America and teach Americans about race. I think if you put yourself in that position, then you open up a fair examination of how you've dealt with race and diversity in your past.

Every debate he talks about what he's done in Vermont for health care, education or other matters. It was then fair for me to say tell us what you did in Vermont around diversity at the highest levels? We were in a state that had the exact percentage of blacks than he has in Vermont. 1.5 percent. Iowa. Those in that black and brown caucus had a right to know how he would govern a similar matter in their states as he was similarly situated.

To my surprise, he had to concede he had not put one in the cabinet. Doesn't make him a bad guy but it certainly doesn't make him in a position to lecture others about race when he's not had diversity at the level of government that he's been in charge.

BLITZER: The Reverend Jesse Jackson seems to suggest, though, that given the tiny percentage of African-Americans, minorities in Vermont, it's perhaps understandable.

SHARPTON: Again, I think that the black and brown caucus members there in America, on the ones that applauded, that didn't think it was understandable, I don't see how we can have inclusion as part of the civil rights agenda and qualify it when it may be someone we like.

Most cabinet members are not chosen from the indigenous population anyway. Are we saying Dean only chose his cabinet members from natives of Vermont? I don't think so. And clearly, if Mr. Dean did not have that kind of background, which is understandable given the population, then why is he running around lecturing others who have had diversity in their background about race? He made himself the object of a test on race. Then when someone questioned it, all of a sudden, he has surrogates go out and apologize and explain for him? I don't think that's fair.

BLITZER: Having said that, if he does get the Democratic presidential nomination in Boston, will you support him?

SHARPTON: I will support whoever gets the nomination. I hope that I'm the one that gets it and they will support me. I've said from the beginning that I will support the nominee, but I think at the same time, we're in a primary process.

Dean has ads out and everything questioning his opponents. Clearly one has a right to question him. You mentioned Reverend Jackson, I remember when he challenged Mondale in '84 on second primaries and runoffs.

This does not disunify the party, it clarifies the campaign. Yesterday in Washington, I got over a third of the vote, no one including me thought I would get that. There are a lot of concerns about a lot of people and I think we need to put them all on the table. Particularly if a candidate represents himself as just about as an expert in an area, we have the right to examine where the expertise comes from.

BLITZER: I think you will agree that you're almost certainly not going to do well in Iowa, not going to do well in New Hampshire but possibly could do well the week after February 3 in South Carolina. What do you expect will happen in South Carolina? Will you do really well or will you simply be a spoiler for one of the other Democrats?

SHARPTON: Well, I think they asked that going in D.C. and it ended up where Dean had to struggle in single points to even come ahead of me. Look at this this way, Wolf. If any race in D.C., I got 34 percent of the vote, and Dean did not have the other contenders on the ballot, if I was him, I'd be very concerned that if I can create the same solid support in South Carolina, and in other places, Missouri and Delaware and in Virginia where I'm the only minority on the ballot, and he has to compete with other major contenders, he has a problem.

Think of what happened in Washington if Gephardt and Kerry and Edwards and Clark were on the ballot. They certainly wouldn't have been taking away from me. I think we would do very well in South Carolina, I think we'll do very well in Missouri. I think we'll do very well in Michigan and Virginia which come a week later.

It is very possible I will go into super Tuesday with as many or more delegates than the so-called front-runner. We're running a delegate, strategic campaign, and I think that people that thought we had no infrastructure or ability to get out the vote were shocked when they saw the results that happened in D.C. yesterday.

BLITZER: All right. The Reverend Sharpton is in this race at least through Super Tuesday in March. We'll see what happens next. Reverend, thank you very much.

SHARPTON: Super Tuesday for me is November.

BLITZER: November? You're staying to November even after the Democratic convention.

SHARPTON: I hope to be the nominee, Wolf.

BLITZER: If you're the nominee you'll be in the race.

SHARPTON: All right. Thank you.

BLITZER: Thanks. See you on the campaign trail. Reverend Al Sharpton.

Deep freeze, a dangerously cold night on tap for people in the Northeast. We have reports from around the region.

The other fired aide, a second administration insider speaking out, this time in the president's defense. Hear what he has to say about Paul O'Neill.

And behind the controversy -- the book that ignited it all. I'll speak live with the author Ron Suskind. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: New Englanders are accustomed to bitterly cold temperatures in the winter, but today's temperatures are brutal even by New England standards. We have a series of reports starting with Sharon Meyer of CNN affiliate WCAX in Burlington, Vermont, where temperatures are expected to hit 15 degrees below zero tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON MEYER, WCAX CORRESPONDENT: It is bitterly cold here in Vermont. Schools were delayed by about two hours this morning, and if your car started this morning, you know you've got a sturdy car.

Last night the winds were howling, we had windchills of between 30 to 50 degrees below zero. The winds have died down a little bit now, although it is still well below zero. We woke up this morning to temperatures ranging from 12 below to as much as 30 below in the northeastern part of the state and tonight we expect those temperatures to be getting even a little bit colder between 15 and 35 degrees below zero.

There is some good news, we are expecting the temperatures to get back above zero just in time for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. I'm Sharon Meyer reporting for CNN in Burlington, Vermont.

TODD GUTNER, CNN AFFILIATE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Todd Gutner in Portland, Maine. We started out our day at 10 below zero. We're up to a whopping 3 below zero. That's not the half of it. The winds blowing at about 10 to 20 miles per hour creating a windchill effect of 30 below.

You go northward from here though. 40 miles, windchill values are 50 to 60 below zero. This weather isn't expected to break until Friday. Temperatures will moderate over the weekend.

SEAN HENNESSEY, CNN AFFILIATE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Sean Hennessey in Boston where we're used to wild weather but this is something else. Yesterday, we had a high temperature of 40 degrees. Today a low of negative 3 and a windchill of negative 24.

Fashion concerns have been tossed out the window, people staying warm however they can. This bitter blast has frozen the Charles River and parts of Boston Harbor which is why the Coast Guard cutters are chopping through the ice making sure that ships and boats can get through. We're expecting snow tomorrow and as if that's not bad enough, another cold spell on the way expecting temperatures of negative 10 on Friday not even including the windchill, that's the coldest we'll have seen in nearly 50 years. Now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Thanks very much to all of our affiliate reporters. Stay warm wherever you in the Northeast.

Deadly attacks and the threats of more to come. Is a new wave of terrorism rolling through the Middle East?

Taking heat. Paul O'Neill caused a storm of controversy with his revelations in a new book. Coming up, I'll speak live with the author of that book, Ron Suskind.

And power pleas. A former Enron couple in a Texas court right now. What their pleas could mean for other former executives. We'll go live to the scene.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

"The Price of Loyalty," negative comment by Paul O'Neill, a tell- all book, and now the author behind the controversy. I'm about to speak live with Ron Suskind. We'll get to that.

First, though, a quick check of the latest headlines.

There was a security scare at London's Heathrow Airport today. A Sudanese man en route from Washington to Dubai was stopped during a routine screening and found to be carrying ammunition. A U.S. official says the man had a few bullets in his pocket. It's not clear if the passenger slipped them past security in Washington or acquired them in London. The official says the passenger did not appear to be on any watch list, but British authorities say he's being held under an anti-terror law.

A California judge today refused to dismiss charges against Scott Peterson that he murdered his wife and unborn child. The judge ruled that evidence presented by prosecutors is sufficient to proceed to trial. Peterson's lawyer is expected to appeal.

The Connecticut legislature will form a bipartisan committee to consider impeaching Republican Governor John Rowland. The move comes as law enforcement sources said that Rowland is the focus of a federal probe into bribery and bid-rigging allegations. After first denying it, Rowland has admitted he accepted free work on his vacation cottage from politically connected friends and state employees. But he says he never returned the favors.

Changes to the World Trade Center memorial design were unveiled today. Architects added lusher landscaping and park plazas around sunken reflecting pools that mark the footprints of the collapsed Twin Towers. The revision also includes a cultural center and an underground museum that will house artifacts from the 9/11 attack.

An ex-colleague is sharply rebuking former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill over his comments in a tell-all book about the Bush administration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER (voice-over): Lawrence Lindsey lost his job the same day Paul O'Neill lost his. Now, Lindsey, former director of President Bush's National Economic Council, squares off directly against his old colleague in a "Wall Street Journal" opinion piece.

Lindsey takes aim at the former treasury secretary's claims in a new book that President Bush was sometimes nonfunctional in staff meetings. Quote: "Every night, the president goes home with a two- inch binder known as the briefing book. It contains the background material for each of the president's numerous meetings the next day. Having been grilled on the details in those briefing memos, I can personally attest that Mr. Bush does his homework."

Lindsey says the material is thoroughly vetted through each agency, including the Treasury Department and -- quote -- "If Mr. O'Neill felt that material got to the president that blindsided him, he should have inquired within his own department."

A parting shot at O'Neill -- quote -- "The circumstances of his departure were regrettable, but so, too, was his decision to make this book, 'The Price of Loyalty,' the capstone of his career. The book does a grave injustice to the president, to the truth, and to Mr. O'Neill himself."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: O'Neill says he took part in the book "The Price of Loyalty" because, in his view, it reveals the inner workings of the Bush administration.

To talk more about all of this is the author of "The Price of Loyalty," the former "Wall Street Journal" reporter Ron Suskind.

Ron, thanks very much for joining us. Congratulations on this new book. I guess the word is congratulations, although there is this probe that the Treasury Department has now announced, because, supposedly, "60 Minutes" flashed a piece of paper that had the word classified, secret on it.

What can you tell us about the thousands of pages of documents that Mr. O'Neill gave to you? Were some of them classified?

RON SUSKIND, AUTHOR, "THE PRICE OF LOYALTY": I can say emphatically, Wolf, the there's no classified documents that I have found in the trove of 19,000 documents.

Whether they do an investigation or not, I think that's their business. But, certainly, can I say emphatically that we've not found any. There are documents of extraordinary public interest, and that are extremely pertinent to the functions of our government, but nothing marked classified.

BLITZER: Were there documents marked secret? Because we did see a document on "60 Minutes" that were clearly had the word secret.

SUSKIND: Right. It's important to clarify this point. That's a cover sheet of a pile of documents that were cleaned off the electronic disc. We don't have the underlying documents. We have the cover sheet, which says, underneath here is classified material.

What's interesting is that cover sheet shows categories, topic, including one which I think has created some news, which says, executive summary. This is for the February 1 NSC meeting, NSC principals. Executive summary, political military plan for post- Saddam Iraq crisis. And it's marked secret. It's an interagency memo.

I think what we know now, based on the documents, as well as testimony by O'Neill and others, is that the military planning for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein begins in the first few weeks of the administration. The first three significant NSC meetings were focused on Saddam, what to do about Saddam. That's one thing.

Two, we know that there is no evidence of weapons of mass destruction that appeared in CIA briefings that Paul O'Neill read.

BLITZER: All right.

SUSKIND: And, three, it's clear from many, many documents, as well as testimony of folks within the administration, not just O'Neill, that the prevailing view, as voiced by Dick Cheney to O'Neill, is that Reagan proved deficits don't matter.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: I want to get to those points in a moment. But let's go through one more point on this probe.

Has anybody from the federal government, the Treasury, been in touch with you yet to return these documents, so they can take a look at them?

SUSKIND: No, absolutely not, absolutely not.

What's interesting about it is that the Treasury Department created the discs and gave them to Paul O'Neill to give to me. Essentially, these are documents given to us by the U.S. government. If they want to do an investigation, they might well do one within, I suppose, the Treasury Department or the U.S. government. But, essentially, they gave us what they gave us.

BLITZER: And, as you well know -- and a lot of our viewers unfortunately don't know -- when a Cabinet secretary leaves government, almost always, they're given thousands of documents to take with them for their memoirs, for their archives, or whatever.

But let's move on and talk about this book. One of the quotes that's generated an enormous uproar, "The president is like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people. There is no discernible connection," Paul O'Neill quoted in the book "The Price of Loyalty." He's now saying, well, maybe he shouldn't have used those words because of the uproar. Give us the context how he said that, why he said it like he did.

SUSKIND: Context is a good question, Wolf.

Actually, the circumstances are quite revealing. Paul and I talked many, many times about the conduct of the president. I had heard from others that the president was not engaged in ways that, frankly, other presidents tended to be, asking probing questions, showing that he had read the briefing books, as Larry Lindsey talked about today. He clearly got them. Whether he read them and clearly ingested them is another issue.

And Paul told me over and over again, I'm sitting in the meeting. The president is sitting there. I talk for an hour. His face doesn't move. He shows almost no expression. He asks virtually no questions. And, frankly, after a few months of Paul describing meetings, large and small, intimate one-on-ones in this way, I said, Paul, you can't be serious. You just can't be serious that the president simply does not react to his secretary of the treasury and others at all.

And he said, almost out of frustration, Ron, the only way I can explain it is that, in meetings large and small, the president is like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people. There is no discernible connection.

It was almost out of a kind of frustration. And, frankly, I have sympathy for Paul in his view, which I think got a little misconstrued yesterday, that he feels badly that this one quote is so vivid and blinding, it's eclipsed the many, many other quotes in the book. He didn't pull back from the quotes, obviously saying he didn't say it. He did say it.

But he felt badly that the many, many other things he and others, frankly, say in the book has been eclipsed by this understandably very, very vivid rendition of the president and how he conducts himself.

BLITZER: The article in "The Wall Street Journal" today by Larry Lindsey that we mentioned earlier, there was a rivalry that was going on between Paul O'Neill and Larry Lindsey in the administration.

They were both, though, fired on the same day. What's your reaction to the charges made by Lindsey in this piece in your former newspaper?

SUSKIND: Well, the fact is, is that the disputes and the push- and-shove between Larry Lindsey and Paul O'Neill began literally from the very first moment O'Neill arrives as treasury secretary.

It's interesting. In a pad, it's all -- this is in book -- in a pad, O'Neill writes in December, a week or two before he even arrives in Washington, get Larry Lindsey out of the honest-broker role, or make him commit to actually be the honest broker. I'm paraphrasing a bit. And that was really O'Neill's immediate understanding. And that was confirmed in the next few weeks, that Lindsey, in O'Neill's mind, was much more of an advocate, and, in O'Neill's view, ideologically fervent about the purity, the value of tax cuts, no matter what.

Another thing that's important, I think, for readers to understand, viewers, as you will see in the book, is that Lindsey pushed for tax cuts throughout the two years O'Neill was there, the 23 months, that were profound in their depth.

After 9/11, Lindsey wanted $150 billion instant tax cut. And, in 2002 -- and this is confirmed by many people -- Lindsey pushed for a $300 billion in a single year, which is an extraordinary level of tax cutting, even by ideological standards.

BLITZER: Unfortunately, Ron, we are going to have to leave it right there. You've written a book that's caused quite a sensation, "The Price of Loyalty." Thanks very much for joining us. Let's continue this conversation in the days ahead.

SUSKIND: Absolutely, Wolf. Thank you.

BLITZER: Thank you very much, Ron Suskind, "The Price of Loyalty."

A 10-year sentence for Enron's former chief financial officer. Andrew Fastow entered his plea bargain a short time ago. And only minutes ago, his wife also struck a deal with prosecutors.

CNN's Jen Rogers is outside the courthouse in Houston with details -- Jen.

JEN ROGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Wolf.

That's right. I just left an absolutely packed courtroom where Lea Fastow did enter a guilty plea on one of the counts against her. This is a charge that was the false income tax return. She pled guilty to that. Her agreement with the government right now is for five months in prison and five months home confinement. The judge has not signed off exactly on all of the details of that agreement, but he's taking it under consideration as they start a pre-sentencing report.

Mr. Fastow is set to be sentenced April 7 of this year. And she will also be reporting to probation within the next few days -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Very briefly, what about the two little boys? What happens to them?

ROGERS: At this point, it is unclear, because both of the Fastows have sentencing dates out in the future, so we don't know when they would be starting their sentences and if they have been able to figure out a way where one of them would be able to remain home. But that will be something that we'll talk to their lawyers about as they come out of court.

BLITZER: CNN's Jen Rogers with the latest on that -- thanks, Jen, very much.

Another deadly attack, this time a mother, yes, a mother of two sets off a suicide bomb at the Gaza checkpoint with Israel. We'll have details.

Saddam Hussein warning against al Qaeda? New reports pointing to the former leader's dislike of foreign fighters.

And Howard Dean at home. We'll talk to a journalist who sat down with the candidate and his seldom seen wife.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Did Saddam Hussein really want to keep al Qaeda at arm's length?

According to U.S. officials and a document found with Saddam Hussein, when he was captured, warning supporters to be wary of cooperating with what were described as foreign jihadists coming into Iraq to fight Americans. Some in the Bush administration have contended there was close cooperation between Saddam's government and al Qaeda. Officials say the document appears to have been written after Saddam lost power.

It was bloody and shocking, a suicide bombing at the Erez Crossing between Gaza and Israel carried out by a young mother of two.

CNN's Matthew Chance reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A scene of devastation, where the Palestinian suicide bomber struck. The attack on Israeli troops at Gaza's main crossing into Israel is a grim return to bloodshed.

BRIG. GEN. GADI SHAMNI, ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCES: Suicide bomber, A woman suicide bomber came into the worker's pass in Erez industrial site, and exploded herself, killing four soldiers, three soldiers and one civilian, and wounding other people.

CHANCE: Among the injured, Palestinian workers caught in the blast. Thousands pass through the Israeli security post every day to work in Israeli factories or gain access to Israeli services that impoverished Gaza simply doesn't offer.

(on camera): According to the Israeli Army, the suicide bomber, who was a woman, had said she needed a permit to get into Israel because she needed urgent medical attention. But, as she was waiting to be processed and searched by a female Israeli soldier, she dropped to her knees, burst into tears and detonated.

(voice-over): The suicide bomber, seen here on the tape prepared before her attack, has been identified as a 22-year-old from Gaza City, married with two children. Hamas says it's the first time they've used a woman to kill. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which claims joint responsibility, has used female bombers before. Her attack, they say, was in response to Israeli military incursions and the construction of what Israel calls a security barrier in the West Bank.

AVI PAZNER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: The attack of this morning is particularly shocking, because, as a gesture of goodwill, Israel allows Palestinian workers to come into Israel. And the Palestinian terrorist organization took this opportunity in order to kill as many people as possible.

CHANCE: For its part, the Palestinian Authority has called for a mutual cease-fire to make room for peace talks. But this latest bombing and the possible Israeli response may only deepen the mistrust.

Matthew Chance, CNN, at the Erez Crossing in Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The women behind the men, mothers, philanthropists, even a backup singer. But how much do we really know about the race for the other top spot. The Doctors Dean, a special look at the Democratic front-runner and his wife and how they hope to make the move to the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Earlier we asked: Which first lady gave birth to a child in the White House. The answer, Frances Cleveland, wife of President Grover Cleveland. She gave birth to a girl back in 1893. Esther Cleveland was the only child of a president to be born in the White House.

As the 2004 presidential campaign gets into high gear, we're hearing more not only from the candidates, but also from the candidates' wives,

CNN's Jennifer Coggiola, has been looking into the race for first lady -- Jennifer.

JENNIFER COGGIOLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Wolf.

Well, of course, behind every great candidate is a great wife or husband. And from some spouses of this year's candidates, we've heard loud and clear. Others, though, have preferred to stay out of limelight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COGGIOLA (voice-over): A philanthropist, an environmentalist, a widow and heiress to a fortune and a mother.

No one can argue, Teresa Heinz, wife of John Kerry, has her hands full. She's blunt and opinionated and some question if her candid remarks throughout her husband's political career could be an asset or a liability in the White House. Either way, Heinz, who grow up in Mozambique, will not be shushed.

TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF JOHN KERRY: I have never been muzzled. And if anybody who is listening has ever lived in a dictatorship, as I did, it's the one thing no one could ever do, is to take my freedom of expression.

COGGIOLA: Gertrude Clark, a native of Brooklyn, New York, has been married to her military man for 36 years and is an Army wife moved 31 times.

Clark admits his wife originally had reservations about her husband's political campaign, but she now travels with the general and is, in his words, a real source of inspiration.

Hadassah Lieberman perhaps the most campaign visible wife. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Ms. Lieberman speaks often about her and her husband's devotion to their Jewish faith. On the campaign trail, she's a stand-by-your-man kind of woman. They have co-hosted events together and she frequently campaigns on her husband's behalf. Her picture is even on the campaign bus.

Enough said? This campaign isn't Jane Gephardt's first time on the bus. Her 37-year marriage to her husband has sustained 33 years of his campaigning for something. Candid about their family, the Gephardts appeared with their openly gay daughter.

JANE GEPHARDT, WIFE OF DICK GEPHARDT: You always want to protect your children, because you love them so much. And that was our first concern, is her welfare. It wasn't so much how it would affect the family, as much as how it would affect her.

COGGIOLA: Almost never seen campaigning is half of the eclectic Sharpton team, the reverend's wife of 24 years, Kathy Jordan. They met while both were touring as part of the entourage of James Brown. Kathy was one of the godfather of soul's backup singers.

Carol Moseley Braun, divorced from her husband, attorney Michael Braun, while serving in the state legislature.

Also divorced, Dennis Kucinich, though he's not shy about being the only single man in the lineup.

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know what? I will tell you, there's something about a presidential campaign. It's absolutely lousy for your social life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COGGIOLA: While some of the wives have been visible, others, though, conspicuously absent, like Dr. Judith Steinberg, Howard Dean's wife, who has made it crystal clear her career won't come second to her husband's campaign -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jennifer Coggiola, thanks. Very informative. Good work. While voters apparently won't be seeing much of Howard Dean's wife, J.D. Heyman of "People" magazine spent some time with the Deans recently at their home in Burlington, Vermont. He is in our New York bureau to share with some of us his impressions.

Thanks very much, J.D., for joining us.

Good article in the new issue of "People" magazine. What's she really like, Dr. Steinberg?

J.D. HEYMAN, "PEOPLE": Well, she's a very shy woman and she's very reticent to talk. So it was really quite a privilege to actually get to meet her and be in the Dean home. No one really has sat down with them as a couple ever before.

BLITZER: How did you get this access? Because they haven't really spent a lot of time jointly talking to reporters.

HEYMAN: Well, it was a long time in coming. It was not something they did easily. I think there's been a discussion within the campaign and certainly within the Dean family about addressing some of these questions about Dr. Steinberg and what kind of a person she is and why she isn't around.

BLITZER: They met when they were both in medical school and then moved together to Vermont and got married later. Pick up the story a little bit.

HEYMAN: Well, they met, as you said, in medical school and they went to Vermont and opened a practice together. And then Howard Dean got involved in politics. And Dr. Steinberg stayed in the practice and worked, and really was the breadwinner and the caregiver.

And she's been doing it ever since, while he's been pursuing his national ambitions.

BLITZER: I was surprised by the characterization, the description of what some might say how frugal they are. They don't waste a lot of money. One thing, apparently, they don't even get cable TV. Is that right?

HEYMAN: Well, you know, they are quintessential Yankee tightwads. I think you can you safely say that. And I think they'd be proud to admit to that. They don't spend money on much.

And Howard Dean hasn't seen a sitcom since "All in the Family" was in its original run. And they shop at discount stores. And that's the way they like it. But it's certainly a humble existence. It's not Hyannis Port up there in Burlington, Vermont.

BLITZER: What did he buy her, Dr. Steinberg? What did Dr. Dean buy his wife for her 50th birthday?

HEYMAN: Well, Wolf, I love this story. He bought here a rhododendron bush, because it was in full flower and he could plant it in the backyard after, as he said, we had flower time. Then I could put it in the back garden. And that's his idea of a romantic gesture. They're not big on big, extravagant gestures.

BLITZER: J.D. Heyman has written a really revealing article in the new issue of "People" magazine, our sister publication.

Thanks very much, J.D., for the good work.

HEYMAN: Thanks, Wolf. Nice to see you.

BLITZER: Once again, our hot "Web Question of the Day" is this: Should the U.S. send a person to Mars? Vote right now, CNN.com/Wolf. The results when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here's how you're weighing in on our "Web Question of the Day." We've been asking you this question: Should the U.S. send a person to Mars? Look at this; 53 percent of you say yes; 47 percent of you say no, pretty evenly divided. A reminder, though, this is not a scientific poll.

A reminder: We're on twice a day, 5:00 p.m. Eastern Monday through Friday on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, also noon eastern every weekday.

Until then, thanks very much for joining us. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

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