Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Martha Stewart Case Goes to Jury; Kerry Seals Nomination; Florida Voters Still Resent 2000; Small Town Mayor Faces Charges in Gay Marriage Debate
Aired March 03, 2004 - 11:00 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.
CAROL LIN, ANCHOR: Good morning. It's 11 a.m. on the East Coast, 8 a.m. out west. From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin. Daryn's got the day off.
Up first on CNN, Martha Stewart's closely watched trial is heading toward a finale today. Jurors will soon decide whether a stock sale will bring down a homemaking diva's empire of style and taste.
Financial correspondent Mary Snow is at the courthouse in Manhattan.
It's practically like a drum roll, Mary. It's an exciting day.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it certainly is, Carol. A lot of anticipation. And as you mentioned, this trial so closely watched.
Right now, Judge Miriam Cederbaum is instructing the jury as to the eight counts in this case. There are four counts against Martha Stewart, five counts against her co-defendant and former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic.
Each of these counts carries a maximum penalty of 25 -- of five years in prison, that is, and a fee of $250,000 in terms of fines.
The one charge against both is conspiracy. And this has to do with prosecution's claim that Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic lied, their claim, to cover up the story of Martha Stewart's sale of ImClone stock.
There are eight women on this jury and four men. The judge telling them today that you may find one defendant guilty without finding the other guilty.
Also, she has a revised indictment. This revised indictment drops count nine against Martha Stewart. We learned last week that the judge dropped that charge. That was the most serious charge against Martha Stewart. So now, in total there are eight.
Once the judge is finished with her instructions, the jury will begin its deliberations. And this is not a jury that is sequestered, so the judge told this jury that they will go every day until 5 p.m., until they reach a verdict. And this is a case that has been going on for about seven weeks. The government presented 21 witnesses, a mountain of evidence on both sides, and yesterday, attorneys on all sides urged jurors, if there are any questions, that they should go through that testimony.
So really unclear just how long this jury will take to come up with the verdict -- Carol.
LIN: OK. And the makeup of the jury, very interesting, Mary, with the majority of women sitting on the jury. I'm wondering if the closing arguments by Martha Stewart's defense attorneys were appealing directly to the sex on the jury?
SNOW: I'm sorry, to do with the makeup of the jury?
LIN: The makeup of the jury, defense, Martha Stewart's attorney asking for compassion, really emphasizing a more softer approach in terms of how they're going to judge his client.
SNOW: Yes, and both the defense teams took two very different strategies.
The defense for Peter Bacanovic focused most of its closing arguments on cutting down the credibility of Doug Faneuil, the star witness.
Robert Morvillo, Martha Stewart's lead attorney, really shooting down the conspiracy theory, that Martha Stewart and her stockbroker conspired, saying if they did so, this would have been a confederacy of dunces, because there were some inconsistencies in their stories. Saying these were smart people, and why would they do something so dumb, in essence was his argument.
Also, what he said to the jurors, Martha Stewart's life is in your hands. And he also said, you know, she didn't testify. Please don't take that out against her if you were disappointed -- Carol.
LIN: Mary Snow, covering trial for us in New York. Thank you.
In other business news, we've got some fresh videotape of former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers. He surrendered to the FBI this morning, and he's heading to court in New York this hour for his arraignment.
Now he has been charged in the largest corporate accounting fraud in American history, one that led to the collapse of WorldCom a couple of years ago.
The telecom's fired chief financial officer, Scott Sullivan, was also indicted. He pleaded guilty and is going to be cooperating with prosecutors.
Bernard Ebbers' attorney says his client is innocent.
Now we move on to presidential politics. John Kerry knocks out his last major rival and all but locks up the Democratic nomination. John Kerry won nine out of the ten states in yesterday's Super Tuesday election. His only loss was to former Governor Howard Dean in Vermont.
Our national correspondent Bob Franken begins our campaign coverage this morning from Annapolis, Maryland.
Bob, morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Mr. Dean has gotten the formula for winning: quitting.
LIN: Yes, two weeks later. Yes, he's not even running, and he won his own state. Good for him.
FRANKEN: But, you know this -- this has been the story of the outs, too. Let's review this, the last couple of months.
Moseley Braun, out. Graham, out. Clark, out. Lieberman, out. Gephardt, out. I'm forgetting some. Of course, Dean out, and now Edwards out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): Edwards will pull out of the race this afternoon. Even before all the states' bad news had come in, his staff put out the word. It's over when it's almost over.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have been the little engine that could, and I am proud of what we've done together, you and I.
FRANKEN: Ultimately, the John Edwards engine could not. It ran out of steam.
John Kerry could finally take a breath of satisfaction. President Bush called to offer congratulations. What warm feelings there were lasted just a moment.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Bush administration has run the most inept, reckless, arrogant, and ideological foreign policy in the modern history of our country, and we will reverse that course.
FRANKEN: John Kerry swamped John Edwards but did nothing to drown out talk of Edwards as vice president.
KERRY: There is no question that John Edwards brings a compelling voice to our party, great eloquence to the cause of working men and women all across our nation and great promise for leadership for the years to come.
EDWARDS: I also want to take a moment and congratulate my friend, senator John Kerry. He's run a strong, powerful campaign.
(END VIDEOTAPE) FRANKEN: OK, now, there's something very important to remember here, Carol. The opposition probably will not use the term "my friend John Kerry," at least until November -- Carol.
LIN: Bob, any word on when John Kerry is going to be at least making public statements about who he's considering for vice president?
FRANKEN: Well, right now, there's some background information that's coming out that he's possibly going to choose former congressman, former executive top Democrat Jim Johnson to try and -- Jim Jones, rather -- to try and select the vice president.
Now, the last time somebody headed a selection committee, it was the man who is now vice president himself, Dick Cheney.
LIN: Actually, I'm probably getting ahead of myself, I should say running mate, and not vice president. There's still a general election to be held and a convention to be had.
All right. Thank you very much, Bob Franken, live in Annapolis.
CNN is going to have coverage of Senator John Edwards' withdrawal from the race today. He holds a news conference in Raleigh, North Carolina at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 Pacific.
All right. Well, John Kerry seems to have a lock, though, on his party nomination. The political niceties are over, and the stage is set for an election battle between Senator Kerry and President Bush.
The Bush campaign launches a multimillion-dollar national advertising blitz tomorrow. So what can we expect from Bush versus Kerry? At least that match-up that we're looking at.
Senior political analyst Bill Schneider joining us in person.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Happy to be here.
LIN: Yes, and happy to have you.
Looks like this is going to be a pretty interesting match-up. We're waiting for President Bush's campaign ad to come out. We haven't seen it yet. What are you anticipating?
SCHNEIDER: Well, I anticipate that he'll start with positive ads. He doesn't want to get off on a negative start.
He's going to talk about essentially his record. He's going to talk about a record of steady leadership, which implies -- and he will eventually say, that his opponent Kerry is uncertain and takes inconsistent positions, whereas with President Bush, by God, you know where he stands.
A strong leadership, strong resolve on issues like the tax cut, Iraq, the war on terrorism. He's going to try to begin to draw the contrast with John Kerry. LIN: So a very positive message. It reminds me of Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" campaign.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. That's the idea. Things are looking up. Things are good.
But things are not good. They're not nearly as good as they were in 1984. There's been over two million jobs lost under this president, and that's very much on the minds of the voters.
What he has to essentially argue is things are improving. And, to take another line from Reagan in 1982, stay the course. It's working. He's going to have to convince Americans things may not be great, but my program is working, particularly on the economy.
LIN: Is that going to -- I mean, does he run the chance of running afoul with people who are saying, "What are you talking about? I'm a qualified professional who's been out of work for the last year and a half, and you're showing me this ad that doesn't have any credibility to me."
SCHNEIDER: That's right. If he runs an ad, essentially saying it's morning in America, things are great, they couldn't be better -- a lot of people are going to say, no, there's not. Because we know there's a lot of dissatisfaction in the country.
The most he can do is to say, "Keep the faith, stay the course. Things are looking better. Our program is in place, and it's working. Just hold on."
LIN: Right, "just hold on."
In the meantime, Bill, you know, I'm used to picking up "The New York Times" and reading about people like John Kerry and President Bush, and not necessarily our own senior political analyst, you party animal. You got a write-up from your appearance at the "Vanity Fair" party after the Academy Awards. What was that about?
SCHNEIDER: Well, it was all about the fact that we were there. And there were lots of movie stars there. And a couple of them came over to say how much they enjoy watching me and watching our coverage on CNN. And that was absolutely thrilling for us. It was just great.
LIN: You're not naming names?
SCHNEIDER: I'm not going to name names, but I will -- What the article pointed out was I didn't know who these movie stars were.
LIN: No!
SCHNEIDER: Because I don't go to many movies.
LIN: Yes.
SCHNEIDER: But I was still pleased to accept their congratulations and their appreciation. LIN: How sweet. How did you get that invitation anyway?
SCHNEIDER: Well, it's a complicated story.
LIN: All right. Well-kept social secrets. Thanks very much, Bill Schneider.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
LIN: One of those people, we understand, was a very well known hobbit.
All right. Florida holds its primary next Tuesday, and Democrats still have a bitter aftertaste from 2000.
Here's CNN's John Zarrella.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many Florida Democrats didn't wait for Super Tuesday results.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Press the red button and you're done.
ZARRELLA: They are already touching electronic screens at the state's early voting sites.
Coming a week after Super Tuesday, Florida won't play as prominent a role in the primary as Democrats would have liked. But analyst Jim Kane, an expert on Florida politics, believes they will vote in large numbers with one eye on November.
JIM KANE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Those people who will be showing up for the Democratic primary have one goal and one goal only: get rid of George W. Bush. And they're going to vote for the person they think is going to be a winner.
ZARRELLA: Early polls show President Bush with a lead over either Senator Kerry or Senator Edwards in Florida. In a tight race, Kane believes retiring Senator Bob Graham should be the second name on the ticket.
KANE: If I were John Kerry, I'd pick him, and I'd stick him in Florida and never let him get out of the state. And if he does and it's a close race, Bob Graham will count for one, two, maybe three percentage points.
ZARRELLA: The head of the Florida Republican Party says her opponents would be making a big mistake.
CAROL JORDAN, FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PARTY: That, to me, wouldn't be somebody I'd want to run with. I mean, I'm sorry, Bob Graham, Senator Graham, has had great respect in the state of Florida, but I must tell you, his presidential race severely, severely damaged his reputation in this state. ZARRELLA: Florida, split 50/50, Democrats and Republicans may, again, be too close to call. But Democrats don't believe Ralph Nader will be the same factor he was four years ago.
SCOTT MADDOX, FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: He would just be used as a wedge tool in the 2004 election, as a spoiler. And I think his supporters see through that, and I don't think he'll get a lot of votes in the state of Florida.
ZARRELLA: Nader got 97,000 votes in 2000. Sixty-five percent of those said in exit polls they would have voted for al gore if Nader wasn't on the ballot.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: While California Democrats were giving a big primary victory to John Kerry, the state's top Republican was celebrating his own win at the polls.
California voters backed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to keep the state solvent. Voters approached proposition 57, that allows the state to float up to $15 billion in bonds to consolidate past debt without a tax increase.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, CALIFORNIA: Never again can our state spend more money than it takes in. Never again will our politicians deficit finance their spending habits, and never again would our state be driven to the verge of bankruptcy. Never again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: See, right there he was talk about voters also approving proposition 58, requiring California to have a balanced budget in the future.
Yet another new battleground is opening up in the fight over gay marriage. This, as a mayor who's been marrying gay couples, is now facing criminal charges. That's next.
Also, sure, it's bottled, but just exactly what's in there? What's it bottled from? A fight in England over some popular drinking water that's coming from a surprising place.
And later, desperation and defiance. The day after a holy day massacre. A look at the human cost and what it could mean for a new Iraq.
All when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK REPORT) LIN: Well, the mayor of New Paltz, New York, is due in court late this afternoon. Jason West faces criminal charges related to conducting gay and lesbian marriages.
CNN's Adaora Udoji joins us from New Paltz this morning.
Adaora, can you give me a sense what people are talking about up there about their young mayor?
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Carol.
In fact, in the state of New York we have a lot of developing news coming out of here on the issue of same-sex marriages.
As you say, Mayor West is facing 19 criminal charges for -- being charged with solemnizing same-sex marriages without a license. He will be in court later today.
But also today, another mayor of a village not far from here announced that he plans to perform same-sex marriages. That's in the village of Nyack.
He says he will encourage couples to first try and obtain a marriage license, which couples here in New Paltz have not been able to get. He's going to first encourage them to try, in the village of Nyack, to obtain that license.
And if not, he's then going to perform, solemnize, a marriage, believing that he does have -- it is within the law of New York, to allow a mayor to solemnize a marriage of same-sex couples.
He says he has at least 100 couples on a waiting list, and he could as I say, start as early as tomorrow. And that would come in Nyack.
Those same-sex marriages would follow the same-sex -- 25 same-sex marriages that were solemnized here in New Paltz on Friday by Mayor West.
Mayor West argues that New York law allows for -- he says that he is acting legally in marrying those couples without a marriage license.
The prosecutor of New Paltz says no, that's not true, that in order for a marriage to be legal in the state of New York, a couple must first obtain a license. And at this point, the Department of Health has not been issuing those marriage licenses.
We're expecting to hear more in terms of the clarifying what the state of New York does or does not have to say about same sex marriages. And that would be coming from the Attorney General Spitzer. We're expecting to hear from him in about an hour.
And that decision coming from the attorney general of New York may or may not affect Mayor West's decision here in New Paltz to continue with same-sex marriages. He has said that he will conduct up to two dozen more coming this Saturday, and he says that's only two dozen out of over 1,200 couples that they have signed up -- Carol.
LIN: Thank you very much, Adaora Udoji, life in New Paltz.
Well Portland, Oregon is wading into the same-sex marriage issue today. Couples there lining up today after the county chairwoman told officials to issue licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Oregon is one of 13 states without a law defining marriage as a contract between a man and woman.
Thunder down under: a massive cyclone blows through Australia. And now many are left to mop up. That's next.
And what's on tap? How about bottled water? Some Londoners are more than miffed to find out where their bottled water is really coming from. That's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Rescue teams are pulling outback farmers to safety in Australia.
Cyclone Monty brought heavy rain and floods to the northwestern corner of the continent. And there may be more to come. Forecasters fear Cyclone Evan may reform and break the coast again.
All right. Orelon Sidney, I don't think we have any cyclones or hurricanes on our coast. Looks like pretty sunny weather out there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LIN: All right, thanks, Orelon.
Blaming al Qaeda for a holy day massacre in Iraq. Now, it is a day of grief, sadness and anger. Coming up, a look at the tragic human toll of yesterday's attacks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Florida Voters Still Resent 2000; Small Town Mayor Faces Charges in Gay Marriage Debate>
Aired March 3, 2004 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, ANCHOR: Good morning. It's 11 a.m. on the East Coast, 8 a.m. out west. From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin. Daryn's got the day off.
Up first on CNN, Martha Stewart's closely watched trial is heading toward a finale today. Jurors will soon decide whether a stock sale will bring down a homemaking diva's empire of style and taste.
Financial correspondent Mary Snow is at the courthouse in Manhattan.
It's practically like a drum roll, Mary. It's an exciting day.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it certainly is, Carol. A lot of anticipation. And as you mentioned, this trial so closely watched.
Right now, Judge Miriam Cederbaum is instructing the jury as to the eight counts in this case. There are four counts against Martha Stewart, five counts against her co-defendant and former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic.
Each of these counts carries a maximum penalty of 25 -- of five years in prison, that is, and a fee of $250,000 in terms of fines.
The one charge against both is conspiracy. And this has to do with prosecution's claim that Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic lied, their claim, to cover up the story of Martha Stewart's sale of ImClone stock.
There are eight women on this jury and four men. The judge telling them today that you may find one defendant guilty without finding the other guilty.
Also, she has a revised indictment. This revised indictment drops count nine against Martha Stewart. We learned last week that the judge dropped that charge. That was the most serious charge against Martha Stewart. So now, in total there are eight.
Once the judge is finished with her instructions, the jury will begin its deliberations. And this is not a jury that is sequestered, so the judge told this jury that they will go every day until 5 p.m., until they reach a verdict. And this is a case that has been going on for about seven weeks. The government presented 21 witnesses, a mountain of evidence on both sides, and yesterday, attorneys on all sides urged jurors, if there are any questions, that they should go through that testimony.
So really unclear just how long this jury will take to come up with the verdict -- Carol.
LIN: OK. And the makeup of the jury, very interesting, Mary, with the majority of women sitting on the jury. I'm wondering if the closing arguments by Martha Stewart's defense attorneys were appealing directly to the sex on the jury?
SNOW: I'm sorry, to do with the makeup of the jury?
LIN: The makeup of the jury, defense, Martha Stewart's attorney asking for compassion, really emphasizing a more softer approach in terms of how they're going to judge his client.
SNOW: Yes, and both the defense teams took two very different strategies.
The defense for Peter Bacanovic focused most of its closing arguments on cutting down the credibility of Doug Faneuil, the star witness.
Robert Morvillo, Martha Stewart's lead attorney, really shooting down the conspiracy theory, that Martha Stewart and her stockbroker conspired, saying if they did so, this would have been a confederacy of dunces, because there were some inconsistencies in their stories. Saying these were smart people, and why would they do something so dumb, in essence was his argument.
Also, what he said to the jurors, Martha Stewart's life is in your hands. And he also said, you know, she didn't testify. Please don't take that out against her if you were disappointed -- Carol.
LIN: Mary Snow, covering trial for us in New York. Thank you.
In other business news, we've got some fresh videotape of former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers. He surrendered to the FBI this morning, and he's heading to court in New York this hour for his arraignment.
Now he has been charged in the largest corporate accounting fraud in American history, one that led to the collapse of WorldCom a couple of years ago.
The telecom's fired chief financial officer, Scott Sullivan, was also indicted. He pleaded guilty and is going to be cooperating with prosecutors.
Bernard Ebbers' attorney says his client is innocent.
Now we move on to presidential politics. John Kerry knocks out his last major rival and all but locks up the Democratic nomination. John Kerry won nine out of the ten states in yesterday's Super Tuesday election. His only loss was to former Governor Howard Dean in Vermont.
Our national correspondent Bob Franken begins our campaign coverage this morning from Annapolis, Maryland.
Bob, morning.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So Mr. Dean has gotten the formula for winning: quitting.
LIN: Yes, two weeks later. Yes, he's not even running, and he won his own state. Good for him.
FRANKEN: But, you know this -- this has been the story of the outs, too. Let's review this, the last couple of months.
Moseley Braun, out. Graham, out. Clark, out. Lieberman, out. Gephardt, out. I'm forgetting some. Of course, Dean out, and now Edwards out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice-over): Edwards will pull out of the race this afternoon. Even before all the states' bad news had come in, his staff put out the word. It's over when it's almost over.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have been the little engine that could, and I am proud of what we've done together, you and I.
FRANKEN: Ultimately, the John Edwards engine could not. It ran out of steam.
John Kerry could finally take a breath of satisfaction. President Bush called to offer congratulations. What warm feelings there were lasted just a moment.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Bush administration has run the most inept, reckless, arrogant, and ideological foreign policy in the modern history of our country, and we will reverse that course.
FRANKEN: John Kerry swamped John Edwards but did nothing to drown out talk of Edwards as vice president.
KERRY: There is no question that John Edwards brings a compelling voice to our party, great eloquence to the cause of working men and women all across our nation and great promise for leadership for the years to come.
EDWARDS: I also want to take a moment and congratulate my friend, senator John Kerry. He's run a strong, powerful campaign.
(END VIDEOTAPE) FRANKEN: OK, now, there's something very important to remember here, Carol. The opposition probably will not use the term "my friend John Kerry," at least until November -- Carol.
LIN: Bob, any word on when John Kerry is going to be at least making public statements about who he's considering for vice president?
FRANKEN: Well, right now, there's some background information that's coming out that he's possibly going to choose former congressman, former executive top Democrat Jim Johnson to try and -- Jim Jones, rather -- to try and select the vice president.
Now, the last time somebody headed a selection committee, it was the man who is now vice president himself, Dick Cheney.
LIN: Actually, I'm probably getting ahead of myself, I should say running mate, and not vice president. There's still a general election to be held and a convention to be had.
All right. Thank you very much, Bob Franken, live in Annapolis.
CNN is going to have coverage of Senator John Edwards' withdrawal from the race today. He holds a news conference in Raleigh, North Carolina at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 Pacific.
All right. Well, John Kerry seems to have a lock, though, on his party nomination. The political niceties are over, and the stage is set for an election battle between Senator Kerry and President Bush.
The Bush campaign launches a multimillion-dollar national advertising blitz tomorrow. So what can we expect from Bush versus Kerry? At least that match-up that we're looking at.
Senior political analyst Bill Schneider joining us in person.
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Happy to be here.
LIN: Yes, and happy to have you.
Looks like this is going to be a pretty interesting match-up. We're waiting for President Bush's campaign ad to come out. We haven't seen it yet. What are you anticipating?
SCHNEIDER: Well, I anticipate that he'll start with positive ads. He doesn't want to get off on a negative start.
He's going to talk about essentially his record. He's going to talk about a record of steady leadership, which implies -- and he will eventually say, that his opponent Kerry is uncertain and takes inconsistent positions, whereas with President Bush, by God, you know where he stands.
A strong leadership, strong resolve on issues like the tax cut, Iraq, the war on terrorism. He's going to try to begin to draw the contrast with John Kerry. LIN: So a very positive message. It reminds me of Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" campaign.
SCHNEIDER: That's right. That's the idea. Things are looking up. Things are good.
But things are not good. They're not nearly as good as they were in 1984. There's been over two million jobs lost under this president, and that's very much on the minds of the voters.
What he has to essentially argue is things are improving. And, to take another line from Reagan in 1982, stay the course. It's working. He's going to have to convince Americans things may not be great, but my program is working, particularly on the economy.
LIN: Is that going to -- I mean, does he run the chance of running afoul with people who are saying, "What are you talking about? I'm a qualified professional who's been out of work for the last year and a half, and you're showing me this ad that doesn't have any credibility to me."
SCHNEIDER: That's right. If he runs an ad, essentially saying it's morning in America, things are great, they couldn't be better -- a lot of people are going to say, no, there's not. Because we know there's a lot of dissatisfaction in the country.
The most he can do is to say, "Keep the faith, stay the course. Things are looking better. Our program is in place, and it's working. Just hold on."
LIN: Right, "just hold on."
In the meantime, Bill, you know, I'm used to picking up "The New York Times" and reading about people like John Kerry and President Bush, and not necessarily our own senior political analyst, you party animal. You got a write-up from your appearance at the "Vanity Fair" party after the Academy Awards. What was that about?
SCHNEIDER: Well, it was all about the fact that we were there. And there were lots of movie stars there. And a couple of them came over to say how much they enjoy watching me and watching our coverage on CNN. And that was absolutely thrilling for us. It was just great.
LIN: You're not naming names?
SCHNEIDER: I'm not going to name names, but I will -- What the article pointed out was I didn't know who these movie stars were.
LIN: No!
SCHNEIDER: Because I don't go to many movies.
LIN: Yes.
SCHNEIDER: But I was still pleased to accept their congratulations and their appreciation. LIN: How sweet. How did you get that invitation anyway?
SCHNEIDER: Well, it's a complicated story.
LIN: All right. Well-kept social secrets. Thanks very much, Bill Schneider.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
LIN: One of those people, we understand, was a very well known hobbit.
All right. Florida holds its primary next Tuesday, and Democrats still have a bitter aftertaste from 2000.
Here's CNN's John Zarrella.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many Florida Democrats didn't wait for Super Tuesday results.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Press the red button and you're done.
ZARRELLA: They are already touching electronic screens at the state's early voting sites.
Coming a week after Super Tuesday, Florida won't play as prominent a role in the primary as Democrats would have liked. But analyst Jim Kane, an expert on Florida politics, believes they will vote in large numbers with one eye on November.
JIM KANE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Those people who will be showing up for the Democratic primary have one goal and one goal only: get rid of George W. Bush. And they're going to vote for the person they think is going to be a winner.
ZARRELLA: Early polls show President Bush with a lead over either Senator Kerry or Senator Edwards in Florida. In a tight race, Kane believes retiring Senator Bob Graham should be the second name on the ticket.
KANE: If I were John Kerry, I'd pick him, and I'd stick him in Florida and never let him get out of the state. And if he does and it's a close race, Bob Graham will count for one, two, maybe three percentage points.
ZARRELLA: The head of the Florida Republican Party says her opponents would be making a big mistake.
CAROL JORDAN, FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PARTY: That, to me, wouldn't be somebody I'd want to run with. I mean, I'm sorry, Bob Graham, Senator Graham, has had great respect in the state of Florida, but I must tell you, his presidential race severely, severely damaged his reputation in this state. ZARRELLA: Florida, split 50/50, Democrats and Republicans may, again, be too close to call. But Democrats don't believe Ralph Nader will be the same factor he was four years ago.
SCOTT MADDOX, FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: He would just be used as a wedge tool in the 2004 election, as a spoiler. And I think his supporters see through that, and I don't think he'll get a lot of votes in the state of Florida.
ZARRELLA: Nader got 97,000 votes in 2000. Sixty-five percent of those said in exit polls they would have voted for al gore if Nader wasn't on the ballot.
John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: While California Democrats were giving a big primary victory to John Kerry, the state's top Republican was celebrating his own win at the polls.
California voters backed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to keep the state solvent. Voters approached proposition 57, that allows the state to float up to $15 billion in bonds to consolidate past debt without a tax increase.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, CALIFORNIA: Never again can our state spend more money than it takes in. Never again will our politicians deficit finance their spending habits, and never again would our state be driven to the verge of bankruptcy. Never again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: See, right there he was talk about voters also approving proposition 58, requiring California to have a balanced budget in the future.
Yet another new battleground is opening up in the fight over gay marriage. This, as a mayor who's been marrying gay couples, is now facing criminal charges. That's next.
Also, sure, it's bottled, but just exactly what's in there? What's it bottled from? A fight in England over some popular drinking water that's coming from a surprising place.
And later, desperation and defiance. The day after a holy day massacre. A look at the human cost and what it could mean for a new Iraq.
All when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK REPORT) LIN: Well, the mayor of New Paltz, New York, is due in court late this afternoon. Jason West faces criminal charges related to conducting gay and lesbian marriages.
CNN's Adaora Udoji joins us from New Paltz this morning.
Adaora, can you give me a sense what people are talking about up there about their young mayor?
ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Carol.
In fact, in the state of New York we have a lot of developing news coming out of here on the issue of same-sex marriages.
As you say, Mayor West is facing 19 criminal charges for -- being charged with solemnizing same-sex marriages without a license. He will be in court later today.
But also today, another mayor of a village not far from here announced that he plans to perform same-sex marriages. That's in the village of Nyack.
He says he will encourage couples to first try and obtain a marriage license, which couples here in New Paltz have not been able to get. He's going to first encourage them to try, in the village of Nyack, to obtain that license.
And if not, he's then going to perform, solemnize, a marriage, believing that he does have -- it is within the law of New York, to allow a mayor to solemnize a marriage of same-sex couples.
He says he has at least 100 couples on a waiting list, and he could as I say, start as early as tomorrow. And that would come in Nyack.
Those same-sex marriages would follow the same-sex -- 25 same-sex marriages that were solemnized here in New Paltz on Friday by Mayor West.
Mayor West argues that New York law allows for -- he says that he is acting legally in marrying those couples without a marriage license.
The prosecutor of New Paltz says no, that's not true, that in order for a marriage to be legal in the state of New York, a couple must first obtain a license. And at this point, the Department of Health has not been issuing those marriage licenses.
We're expecting to hear more in terms of the clarifying what the state of New York does or does not have to say about same sex marriages. And that would be coming from the Attorney General Spitzer. We're expecting to hear from him in about an hour.
And that decision coming from the attorney general of New York may or may not affect Mayor West's decision here in New Paltz to continue with same-sex marriages. He has said that he will conduct up to two dozen more coming this Saturday, and he says that's only two dozen out of over 1,200 couples that they have signed up -- Carol.
LIN: Thank you very much, Adaora Udoji, life in New Paltz.
Well Portland, Oregon is wading into the same-sex marriage issue today. Couples there lining up today after the county chairwoman told officials to issue licenses to gay and lesbian couples.
Oregon is one of 13 states without a law defining marriage as a contract between a man and woman.
Thunder down under: a massive cyclone blows through Australia. And now many are left to mop up. That's next.
And what's on tap? How about bottled water? Some Londoners are more than miffed to find out where their bottled water is really coming from. That's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Rescue teams are pulling outback farmers to safety in Australia.
Cyclone Monty brought heavy rain and floods to the northwestern corner of the continent. And there may be more to come. Forecasters fear Cyclone Evan may reform and break the coast again.
All right. Orelon Sidney, I don't think we have any cyclones or hurricanes on our coast. Looks like pretty sunny weather out there.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LIN: All right, thanks, Orelon.
Blaming al Qaeda for a holy day massacre in Iraq. Now, it is a day of grief, sadness and anger. Coming up, a look at the tragic human toll of yesterday's attacks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Florida Voters Still Resent 2000; Small Town Mayor Faces Charges in Gay Marriage Debate>
