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American Morning
In Florida, Senator Kerry Attacks President Bush; Philadelphia Mother Reunited With Daughter
Aired March 09, 2004 - 07:00 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: New polls show John Kerry leading President Bush.
After six years apart, a mother gets to hug the daughter she was once told was dead.
And a big turnaround for the American car. How does your car rate with consumer reports?
Those stories and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: And good morning, welcome everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien. Bill Hemmer has the day off. Miles O'Brien is with us once again this morning.
So again, thank you very much for helping us out, we sure appreciate it.
MILES O'BRIEN, HOST: Thanks.
O'BRIEN: Other stories that we're following this morning, this year Florida is every bit the pivotal state that it was back in the presidential election four years ago.
Today is Florida's primary election, but looking ahead to November, "The Miami Herald" finds that John Kerry is leading President Bush. The paper's executive editor is going to tell us why he thinks that's the case.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, we've talked about that mother reunited with the little girl who was thought to have died in a fire six years ago. It's quite a remarkable story. But there's a father in this story as well.
And he was left out of the reunion. We'll talk to him and his attorney about what he's planning to do about all of that.
O'BRIEN: Everyday that case gets more and more complicated.
M. O'BRIEN: Yet another twist.
O'BRIEN: More twists and turns.
M. O'BRIEN: Speaking of twists...
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN: Good morning. Speaking of twists.
Possible name change in the works for Martha Stewart's company -- under consideration: Martha Stewart Living In Prison Omni Media.
There is a pretty good chance that that's where she's going. We're going to try to find out this morning if you think that's where she belongs.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I don't like that title for a magazine.
CAFFERTY: You don't?
O'BRIEN: No, for her company.
M. O'BRIEN: You know it's -- it's a demo that hasn't been well served, so...
CAFFERTY: It's true. Captive audience.
O'BRIEN: Well you've got a million of them today. God, you're good.
CAFFERTY: Isn't that awful?
M. O'BRIEN: Set you up.
O'BRIEN: Only a minute fifty into the show.
CAFFERTY: Quite a deal.
O'BRIEN: We're back in eleven.
M. O'BRIEN: Don't forget your bartender.
All right thanks very much; let's check the news, shall we?
Formal sentencing today for convicted sniper John Allen Mohammed. A jury has recommended that Mohammed get the death penalty for killing Dean Myers as one of the ten people killed during the October 2002 sniper attacks, but Mohammed's lawyers are asking for a more lenient sentence.
A judge today has the option of upholding the jury's sentence or reducing it to life in prison without parole.
Much more on this all throughout the program.
There's word of more violence in Iraq today. The Associated Press reporting at least seven injured in a grenade attack in the city of Mosul.
Meanwhile, Iraq's governing council signed an interim constitution yesterday, but the Shiites continue to have concerns about the documents. In a statement on his Web site, the Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani says the draft needs to be approved by an elected government for it to have legitimacy.
Martha Stewart's conviction of obstruction of justice and three other counts is casting doubt on the future of her namesake company. According to a source, Stewart will leave the board of Martha Stewart Living Omni Media.
Not clear if Stewart will resign her position or simply not run for reelection.
CNN has learned that Attorney General John Ashcroft will undergo surgery today as part of his treatment for gallstone pancreatitis.
Doctors expected to make a final decision this morning. The Attorney General remains in intensive care at George Washington University Hospital in Washington. He was admitted on Thursday.
And a large fire has consumed thousands of acres near Gainesville, Florida. State officials said the fire started over the weekend as a controlled blaze, but then high winds caused it to burn out of control. No structures have been damaged in the fire.
You've got to be careful when you're setting those backfires.
O'BRIEN: Yes, no question about that. In fact, let's check in with Chad Myers now.
He's at the CNN Center and find out exactly what the weather is like for those folks there across the country as well.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Democratic presidential primaries in four Southern states today will only move Senator John Kerry closer to his parties nomination.
The voting will take place in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. The Massachusetts Democrat goes into today's contest buoyed by some results of a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.
Asked for their choice for president, 52 percent of likely voters said they preferred Senator Kerry to 44 percent who went for President Bush.
And Senator Kerry fairs well on domestic issues as well, outpolling the president when voters were asked who would do a better job on health care, the deficit, on social security, and on the economy.
In Florida yesterday Senator Kerry concentrated on some of those domestic issues while he attacked President Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN KERRY (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to cover all our children, and cover Americans and we're going to have a way of lowering the costs for every single American who gets health care in the workplace today and you know how we're going to pay for it? And you know how we're going to pay for special needs education in America? We're going to roll back George Bush's unaffordable tax cut to the wealthiest people in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: There is some good news for the president in that CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll that shows his polling better than Senator Kerry when it comes to international issues. Among them, terrorism and the situation in Iraq.
In Texas yesterday Mr. Bush defended the use of some images of the September 11th attacks in his campaign ads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to talk about 9/11. It's a -- it was a major moment in our nation's history. It was a time when the enemy declared war on us. And as I tell people war is what they got with George W. Bush as the president and we're going to win the war. And it's an issue in this election. Who do the American people trust to lead this nation to defeat the terrorists? O'BRIEN: The president is spending today in Washington, D.C. The Florida primary, though, no doubt will be the most closely-watched of all today because of the Sunshine State's recent electoral past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: For more about Florida's political climate, and also its status as a battleground in the general election, we're joined by Tom Fiedler, he's the executive editor of the "Miami Herald" and he joins us from Tallahassee, Florida this morning.
Nice to see you, thanks for being with us, Tom.
TOM FIEDLER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MIAMI HERALD: Well, I'm glad to be here.
O'BRIEN: Well thank you very much. How pivotal do you think Florida is going to be in the general election this time around?
As pivotal as it was in 2000?
FIEDLER: Well, I -- that was maybe a once in a century kind of event in 2000. 537 votes is going to be hard to get within but from every indication that we see, Florida is as closely split as it was going into the general election back in 2000.
So -- and both sides are already putting enormous resources into the state so I would just draw from that that this is going to be again a very critical place to campaign. O'BRIEN: Just a moment ago we were talking about the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. You also have a poll out from "The Miami Herald" as well asking Floridians who they would vote for if the election was held right now and as you can see there Senator Kerry leading with 49 percent. President Bush at 43 percent.
Of course, a six percent gap is not really an overwhelming gap, but what do you read into these numbers?
FIEDLER: Well it's -- I suppose a lot of that really does reflect a glow that Senator Kerry is enjoying from his string of victories in the primaries. I would expect that that is going to diminish a bit.
President Bush has his campaign ad; his first re-election ad on the air in every market here and he's running it very heavily. That will probably cut into it but essentially what that ad shows is that Florida is once again a pretty accurate mirror of the nation and that this race is already going to be about as tight as we've ever seen at this point in the campaign.
O'BRIEN: In that particular poll you broke out independent voters and it showed that 50 percent of independent voters said that they would go with Senator Kerry; 34 percent picked President Bush and five percent went with Ralph Nader.
Let's talk a little bit about Ralph Nader's five percent. What kind of an impact do you think that potentially could have?
FIEDLER: Well, five percent is a pretty big number and in 2000 he got a little less than 100,000 votes. I think it was 97,000 votes and that was only about a little over a percent there so -- it's significant enough in a very close race to make the difference.
But one of the issues that people need to remember about Ralph Nader's campaign is he still has to get on the ballot and those -- I guess ballot access is going to vary from state to state but in Florida it's not a particularly easy thing to do.
It requires an organization. Again, when you look at if he does well among independents, I think the probably political reality of that is that these are people who are politically unconnected or loosely connected so the organization that may be necessary to gather the signatures, to get him on the ballot I don't think is necessarily is automatically going to be there so we may not really see Ralph Nader be a factor in Florida come November.
O'BRIEN: We will see. Tom Fiedler is the executive editor of the "Miami Herald." Nice to see you; thanks for being with us this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Families of cadaver donors have filed a class action lawsuit against UCLA Medical School accusing it of selling body parts for profit and improperly disposing of human remains. The case has already resulted in two arrests and lawyers today expected to ask a judge to shut down the school's cadaver program until some safeguards are put into place.
In the lawsuit, family members say they signed contracts with the university guaranteeing remains would never be sold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIRLEY WILLIAMS, HUSBAND'S BODY DONATED TO UCLA: I almost dropped the telephone I just was so shocked by it because I had been told that when he was going to be cremated they would call me and then I would be able to go and pick up his ashes and take them to the cemetery where I had a headstone and everything all ready for him. But that wasn't to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Now the chief of UCLA's medical school has issued an apology and we quote him now: "We have no indication that the anatomical specimens involved in this case were used for anything other than medical education and research. Nonetheless, any illegal commercialization would have violated the trust of their donors, their families, and UCLA. We are deeply sorry."
End of quote there.
Well, it could be a case of like father like son in a famous family. An odd case at that. According to "The Boston Globe," and "The Herald" there, the body of John Henry Williams has been delivered to the same cryonics facility that houses the body of his father, baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams.
John Henry Williams died of leukemia Saturday at the age of 35. His decision to have his father frozen at that facility two years ago stirred a family feud, but the son insisted the Boston Red Sox slugger wanted to be frozen, so I guess they're in a side-by-side freezer now.
O'BRIEN: Yes, apparently so.
M. O'BRIEN: Something like that.
O'BRIEN: A little strange, but true. Still to come this morning a joyful reunion for a mother who thought she'd lost her daughter six years ago.
Well now the father and there he is asking to see his daughter as well. We're going to explain the latest twist and turn in this case and we'll talk with him live in just a few moments.
M. O'BRIEN: Consumer reports out with its ratings of the best cars. Is yours one of them?
Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: A Philadelphia mother has been reunited with her daughter six years after the girl was thought to have died in a fire as an infant.
Now yesterday Luz Cuevas was finally able to take her daughter, Delimar, home. She was raised by a woman who is now accused of kidnapping her and setting that fire.
Although he was granted joint custody, the girl's biological father feels he's being left out of this whole process. Pedro Vera joins us now from Philadelphia along with his attorney, Michael Luber.
Mr. Vera, good to have you with us.
Were you able to see your daughter last night?
PEDRO VERA, DELIMAR VERA'S FATHER: Pardon me?
M. O'BRIEN: Did you see your daughter last night?
VERA: No. I no see.
M. O'BRIEN: And had you hoped to see her?
VERA: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: OK. And can you tell us what Luz told you about whether you could visit with her and when?
VERA: She tell me when I see my daughter she say I see your daughter -- see my daughter but I try to call it to her all night to see my daughter and she never take it up the phone. And I'm very upset at this moment.
M. O'BRIEN: Your daughter has been through a difficult ordeal in the past week or so. I believe what Luz says is that she wants to make sure she is not further upset. What do you say to that?
VERA: She was fine with me.
M. O'BRIEN: And did -- you have had a chance to see your daughter since all of this became known, right?
VERA: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: What was that like? Tell me what was that -- what that was like.
VERA: What? What -- today -- about today?
M. O'BRIEN: No, when you saw your daughter, a few days ago, tell us what that was like.
VERA: It fine. And she called me Daddy, she play with me; everything is fine. And she tell me I love you Daddy, I know you my Daddy and everything is fine.
M. O'BRIEN: Mr. Luber, I want to turn it to you for just a moment; what does the law afford Mr. Vera in this case and is he being denied some rights that he is entitled to?
MICHAEL LUBER, ATTORNEY FOR PEDRO VERA: Well, Miles as you know the court in New Jersey ordered joint legal custody with both parents, my client, and the mother. However, last night when we attempted to call Mrs. Cuevas and I attempted to call her attorney in order that we might be present at this reunion, we were unable to reach either Mrs. Cuevas or her attorney.
As a result, at this very important time last night, the young child was deprived of being with her father and mother, only her mother.
M. O'BRIEN: I suppose that point would be well taken, though, when Luz says she is concerned about the well being of the child what should be uppermost in everybody's mind here that the reunion that your client would like to see will happen in due course.
Isn't that a reasonable thing to request at this point, to go easy on this little girl?
LUBER: I think the most reasonable course of action would have been for both parents -- the father and the mother -- to have been present when custody of the child, Delimar, was turned over last night by New Jersey authorities.
In fact, the New Jersey Department of Youth and Family Services ordered -- was ordered -- to supply my client with the time and place where custody was transferred. However, when I received that order and attempted to contact Mrs. Cuevas and their attorney, they did not return our calls. As a result, my client was deprived of seeing his daughter last night.
M. O'BRIEN: And a final thought from you, Pedro. When do you hope to see your daughter next, then?
VERA: Today.
M. O'BRIEN: OK.
VERA: I supposed to see my daughter today.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, we wish you well in hat meeting. All right, Pedro Vera, Michael Luber, thanks very much for being with us from Philadelphia -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: IN other news, the grades are in the annual consumer reports auto issue hits newsstands today and for the first time in 25 years American automobiles are generally rated more reliable than European vehicles. Here are some of the magazines top 2004 picks.
The Ford Focus tops the small sedan category. Consumer Reports says it's well laid out and fun to drive.
The Volkswagen Passat and Honda Accord share the top family sedan title. The magazine says they provide an excellent balance of comfort and roominess and handling and the Toyota Sienna is the top rated minivan. The report says it leads the class in comfort and safety.
There are plenty of other categories. We're going to talk with someone behind that survey coming up in our final hour at 9 a.m. Eastern Time right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Still to come this morning a nasty battle is brewing between Viacom and the Dish Network -- with millions of viewers caught in between. Andy Serwer has a look at that as AMERICAN MORNING continues. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Is the Dish Network dissing Viacom? Andy Serwer's MINDING YOUR BUSINESS this morning. Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, FORTUNE MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans looking to tune into the Early Show on CBS? You're not getting it. Yes, come on over to AMERICAN MORNING.
The water's fine over here.
Here's what's going on, Soledad. The Dish Network, owned by Echo Star, is in a dispute with Viacom about how much to pay for CBS, MTV, VH1, those networks owned by Viacom -- and instead of settling this thing nicely, they're just pulling CBS and all those networks off of the dish satellite. Here's what we're talking about.
Sixteen major networks, including New York, L.A., Boston, Philly. All the big cities, and here's what people are not seeing this morning. And you may remember, Soledad, Disney and Time-Warner got in a similar dispute, two big companies fighting and who do they take it out on?
O'BRIEN: The little guy.
SERWER: The customers. They can't watch the programming. Miles says that's the American way.
CAFFERTY: It's the American way.
SERWER: Not a very good situation; people are going to get very ticked off.
CAFFERTY: Nobody watches that CBS show anyway, so what's the difference? M. O'BRIEN: What about COMEDY CENTRAL? No Jon Stewart. They'll be upset.
O'BRIEN: I love...
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Nickelodeon, my kids, right.
O'BRIEN: Let's do a market preview -- on -- talking specifically about Martha Stewart Omni Media because of course everybody wants to know how her stock will do after it dropped so much on Friday.
SERWER: Dropped again. Down about ten percent and the sellers keep on flooding in here; not a good day for Martha Stewart on the stock market. Also, the market itself down across the board. Weakness in technology shares in particular. You can see that the Nasdaq down about two percent there.
Interesting: CNN's reporting Martha Stewart's going to be leaving her board. Also yesterday I just want to note this that she's going to be leaving the board of Revlon, the cosmetics company. Ironic, of course, because that company is controlled by billionaire financier Ronald Perlman, not known exactly for being a bastion of corporate governance itself over there at Revlon.
O'BRIEN: Not in prison.
SERWER: No, but -- you know -- it's sort of interesting they're holding themselves up on a high horse here and kind of a company with a lot of questions that people have had in the past.
O'BRIEN: All right Andy thank you very much; we'll check back in with you a little bit later.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: On the hood of thieves. Jack Cafferty is here with the big question of the day. On that very point.
CAFFERTY: Yes indeed. Martha Stewart could be a step closer to prison. Met yesterday with her probation officer in the federal courthouse in New York. She'll be sentenced June 17th on conspiracy, obstruction, and making false statements in connection with the sale of ImClone stock. She will probably get a sentence of between ten and 16 months. A CNN/USA Today Gallup poll finds the majority think that Stewart should go to jail. 53 percent say they ought to -- she ought to serve some time. 40 percent say she doesn't belong in jail. The question this morning is should Martha Stewart go to prison? You can e-mail us at am@cnn.com and we'll read your thoughts later on in the program.
M. O'BRIEN: Be interesting to see how that goes.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: I am getting tired of the political cartoons, though, on Martha. You know, it's such low hanging fruit to put Martha in a cell, putting flowers in the commode and so forth. You know? Enough. I mean it's too easy. Come on, enough. Enough already.
O'BRIEN: OK.
M. O'BRIEN: How's your cholesterol?
CAFFERTY: You're not my probation officer.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: That's the first question probation officers always ask.
M. O'BRIEN: Any tattoos?
All right, still to come on the program, trying to lower your cholesterol? Maybe Jack is, maybe he isn't. He's not saying. A new study has a simple prescription for you. Details are coming up here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Philadelphia Mother Reunited With Daughter>
Aired March 9, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: New polls show John Kerry leading President Bush.
After six years apart, a mother gets to hug the daughter she was once told was dead.
And a big turnaround for the American car. How does your car rate with consumer reports?
Those stories and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: And good morning, welcome everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien. Bill Hemmer has the day off. Miles O'Brien is with us once again this morning.
So again, thank you very much for helping us out, we sure appreciate it.
MILES O'BRIEN, HOST: Thanks.
O'BRIEN: Other stories that we're following this morning, this year Florida is every bit the pivotal state that it was back in the presidential election four years ago.
Today is Florida's primary election, but looking ahead to November, "The Miami Herald" finds that John Kerry is leading President Bush. The paper's executive editor is going to tell us why he thinks that's the case.
M. O'BRIEN: Also, we've talked about that mother reunited with the little girl who was thought to have died in a fire six years ago. It's quite a remarkable story. But there's a father in this story as well.
And he was left out of the reunion. We'll talk to him and his attorney about what he's planning to do about all of that.
O'BRIEN: Everyday that case gets more and more complicated.
M. O'BRIEN: Yet another twist.
O'BRIEN: More twists and turns.
M. O'BRIEN: Speaking of twists...
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN: Good morning. Speaking of twists.
Possible name change in the works for Martha Stewart's company -- under consideration: Martha Stewart Living In Prison Omni Media.
There is a pretty good chance that that's where she's going. We're going to try to find out this morning if you think that's where she belongs.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I don't like that title for a magazine.
CAFFERTY: You don't?
O'BRIEN: No, for her company.
M. O'BRIEN: You know it's -- it's a demo that hasn't been well served, so...
CAFFERTY: It's true. Captive audience.
O'BRIEN: Well you've got a million of them today. God, you're good.
CAFFERTY: Isn't that awful?
M. O'BRIEN: Set you up.
O'BRIEN: Only a minute fifty into the show.
CAFFERTY: Quite a deal.
O'BRIEN: We're back in eleven.
M. O'BRIEN: Don't forget your bartender.
All right thanks very much; let's check the news, shall we?
Formal sentencing today for convicted sniper John Allen Mohammed. A jury has recommended that Mohammed get the death penalty for killing Dean Myers as one of the ten people killed during the October 2002 sniper attacks, but Mohammed's lawyers are asking for a more lenient sentence.
A judge today has the option of upholding the jury's sentence or reducing it to life in prison without parole.
Much more on this all throughout the program.
There's word of more violence in Iraq today. The Associated Press reporting at least seven injured in a grenade attack in the city of Mosul.
Meanwhile, Iraq's governing council signed an interim constitution yesterday, but the Shiites continue to have concerns about the documents. In a statement on his Web site, the Grand Ayatollah Al-Sistani says the draft needs to be approved by an elected government for it to have legitimacy.
Martha Stewart's conviction of obstruction of justice and three other counts is casting doubt on the future of her namesake company. According to a source, Stewart will leave the board of Martha Stewart Living Omni Media.
Not clear if Stewart will resign her position or simply not run for reelection.
CNN has learned that Attorney General John Ashcroft will undergo surgery today as part of his treatment for gallstone pancreatitis.
Doctors expected to make a final decision this morning. The Attorney General remains in intensive care at George Washington University Hospital in Washington. He was admitted on Thursday.
And a large fire has consumed thousands of acres near Gainesville, Florida. State officials said the fire started over the weekend as a controlled blaze, but then high winds caused it to burn out of control. No structures have been damaged in the fire.
You've got to be careful when you're setting those backfires.
O'BRIEN: Yes, no question about that. In fact, let's check in with Chad Myers now.
He's at the CNN Center and find out exactly what the weather is like for those folks there across the country as well.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Democratic presidential primaries in four Southern states today will only move Senator John Kerry closer to his parties nomination.
The voting will take place in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi. The Massachusetts Democrat goes into today's contest buoyed by some results of a new CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.
Asked for their choice for president, 52 percent of likely voters said they preferred Senator Kerry to 44 percent who went for President Bush.
And Senator Kerry fairs well on domestic issues as well, outpolling the president when voters were asked who would do a better job on health care, the deficit, on social security, and on the economy.
In Florida yesterday Senator Kerry concentrated on some of those domestic issues while he attacked President Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN KERRY (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to cover all our children, and cover Americans and we're going to have a way of lowering the costs for every single American who gets health care in the workplace today and you know how we're going to pay for it? And you know how we're going to pay for special needs education in America? We're going to roll back George Bush's unaffordable tax cut to the wealthiest people in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: There is some good news for the president in that CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll that shows his polling better than Senator Kerry when it comes to international issues. Among them, terrorism and the situation in Iraq.
In Texas yesterday Mr. Bush defended the use of some images of the September 11th attacks in his campaign ads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to talk about 9/11. It's a -- it was a major moment in our nation's history. It was a time when the enemy declared war on us. And as I tell people war is what they got with George W. Bush as the president and we're going to win the war. And it's an issue in this election. Who do the American people trust to lead this nation to defeat the terrorists? O'BRIEN: The president is spending today in Washington, D.C. The Florida primary, though, no doubt will be the most closely-watched of all today because of the Sunshine State's recent electoral past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: For more about Florida's political climate, and also its status as a battleground in the general election, we're joined by Tom Fiedler, he's the executive editor of the "Miami Herald" and he joins us from Tallahassee, Florida this morning.
Nice to see you, thanks for being with us, Tom.
TOM FIEDLER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MIAMI HERALD: Well, I'm glad to be here.
O'BRIEN: Well thank you very much. How pivotal do you think Florida is going to be in the general election this time around?
As pivotal as it was in 2000?
FIEDLER: Well, I -- that was maybe a once in a century kind of event in 2000. 537 votes is going to be hard to get within but from every indication that we see, Florida is as closely split as it was going into the general election back in 2000.
So -- and both sides are already putting enormous resources into the state so I would just draw from that that this is going to be again a very critical place to campaign. O'BRIEN: Just a moment ago we were talking about the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. You also have a poll out from "The Miami Herald" as well asking Floridians who they would vote for if the election was held right now and as you can see there Senator Kerry leading with 49 percent. President Bush at 43 percent.
Of course, a six percent gap is not really an overwhelming gap, but what do you read into these numbers?
FIEDLER: Well it's -- I suppose a lot of that really does reflect a glow that Senator Kerry is enjoying from his string of victories in the primaries. I would expect that that is going to diminish a bit.
President Bush has his campaign ad; his first re-election ad on the air in every market here and he's running it very heavily. That will probably cut into it but essentially what that ad shows is that Florida is once again a pretty accurate mirror of the nation and that this race is already going to be about as tight as we've ever seen at this point in the campaign.
O'BRIEN: In that particular poll you broke out independent voters and it showed that 50 percent of independent voters said that they would go with Senator Kerry; 34 percent picked President Bush and five percent went with Ralph Nader.
Let's talk a little bit about Ralph Nader's five percent. What kind of an impact do you think that potentially could have?
FIEDLER: Well, five percent is a pretty big number and in 2000 he got a little less than 100,000 votes. I think it was 97,000 votes and that was only about a little over a percent there so -- it's significant enough in a very close race to make the difference.
But one of the issues that people need to remember about Ralph Nader's campaign is he still has to get on the ballot and those -- I guess ballot access is going to vary from state to state but in Florida it's not a particularly easy thing to do.
It requires an organization. Again, when you look at if he does well among independents, I think the probably political reality of that is that these are people who are politically unconnected or loosely connected so the organization that may be necessary to gather the signatures, to get him on the ballot I don't think is necessarily is automatically going to be there so we may not really see Ralph Nader be a factor in Florida come November.
O'BRIEN: We will see. Tom Fiedler is the executive editor of the "Miami Herald." Nice to see you; thanks for being with us this morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Families of cadaver donors have filed a class action lawsuit against UCLA Medical School accusing it of selling body parts for profit and improperly disposing of human remains. The case has already resulted in two arrests and lawyers today expected to ask a judge to shut down the school's cadaver program until some safeguards are put into place.
In the lawsuit, family members say they signed contracts with the university guaranteeing remains would never be sold.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIRLEY WILLIAMS, HUSBAND'S BODY DONATED TO UCLA: I almost dropped the telephone I just was so shocked by it because I had been told that when he was going to be cremated they would call me and then I would be able to go and pick up his ashes and take them to the cemetery where I had a headstone and everything all ready for him. But that wasn't to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Now the chief of UCLA's medical school has issued an apology and we quote him now: "We have no indication that the anatomical specimens involved in this case were used for anything other than medical education and research. Nonetheless, any illegal commercialization would have violated the trust of their donors, their families, and UCLA. We are deeply sorry."
End of quote there.
Well, it could be a case of like father like son in a famous family. An odd case at that. According to "The Boston Globe," and "The Herald" there, the body of John Henry Williams has been delivered to the same cryonics facility that houses the body of his father, baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams.
John Henry Williams died of leukemia Saturday at the age of 35. His decision to have his father frozen at that facility two years ago stirred a family feud, but the son insisted the Boston Red Sox slugger wanted to be frozen, so I guess they're in a side-by-side freezer now.
O'BRIEN: Yes, apparently so.
M. O'BRIEN: Something like that.
O'BRIEN: A little strange, but true. Still to come this morning a joyful reunion for a mother who thought she'd lost her daughter six years ago.
Well now the father and there he is asking to see his daughter as well. We're going to explain the latest twist and turn in this case and we'll talk with him live in just a few moments.
M. O'BRIEN: Consumer reports out with its ratings of the best cars. Is yours one of them?
Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: A Philadelphia mother has been reunited with her daughter six years after the girl was thought to have died in a fire as an infant.
Now yesterday Luz Cuevas was finally able to take her daughter, Delimar, home. She was raised by a woman who is now accused of kidnapping her and setting that fire.
Although he was granted joint custody, the girl's biological father feels he's being left out of this whole process. Pedro Vera joins us now from Philadelphia along with his attorney, Michael Luber.
Mr. Vera, good to have you with us.
Were you able to see your daughter last night?
PEDRO VERA, DELIMAR VERA'S FATHER: Pardon me?
M. O'BRIEN: Did you see your daughter last night?
VERA: No. I no see.
M. O'BRIEN: And had you hoped to see her?
VERA: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: OK. And can you tell us what Luz told you about whether you could visit with her and when?
VERA: She tell me when I see my daughter she say I see your daughter -- see my daughter but I try to call it to her all night to see my daughter and she never take it up the phone. And I'm very upset at this moment.
M. O'BRIEN: Your daughter has been through a difficult ordeal in the past week or so. I believe what Luz says is that she wants to make sure she is not further upset. What do you say to that?
VERA: She was fine with me.
M. O'BRIEN: And did -- you have had a chance to see your daughter since all of this became known, right?
VERA: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: What was that like? Tell me what was that -- what that was like.
VERA: What? What -- today -- about today?
M. O'BRIEN: No, when you saw your daughter, a few days ago, tell us what that was like.
VERA: It fine. And she called me Daddy, she play with me; everything is fine. And she tell me I love you Daddy, I know you my Daddy and everything is fine.
M. O'BRIEN: Mr. Luber, I want to turn it to you for just a moment; what does the law afford Mr. Vera in this case and is he being denied some rights that he is entitled to?
MICHAEL LUBER, ATTORNEY FOR PEDRO VERA: Well, Miles as you know the court in New Jersey ordered joint legal custody with both parents, my client, and the mother. However, last night when we attempted to call Mrs. Cuevas and I attempted to call her attorney in order that we might be present at this reunion, we were unable to reach either Mrs. Cuevas or her attorney.
As a result, at this very important time last night, the young child was deprived of being with her father and mother, only her mother.
M. O'BRIEN: I suppose that point would be well taken, though, when Luz says she is concerned about the well being of the child what should be uppermost in everybody's mind here that the reunion that your client would like to see will happen in due course.
Isn't that a reasonable thing to request at this point, to go easy on this little girl?
LUBER: I think the most reasonable course of action would have been for both parents -- the father and the mother -- to have been present when custody of the child, Delimar, was turned over last night by New Jersey authorities.
In fact, the New Jersey Department of Youth and Family Services ordered -- was ordered -- to supply my client with the time and place where custody was transferred. However, when I received that order and attempted to contact Mrs. Cuevas and their attorney, they did not return our calls. As a result, my client was deprived of seeing his daughter last night.
M. O'BRIEN: And a final thought from you, Pedro. When do you hope to see your daughter next, then?
VERA: Today.
M. O'BRIEN: OK.
VERA: I supposed to see my daughter today.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, we wish you well in hat meeting. All right, Pedro Vera, Michael Luber, thanks very much for being with us from Philadelphia -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: IN other news, the grades are in the annual consumer reports auto issue hits newsstands today and for the first time in 25 years American automobiles are generally rated more reliable than European vehicles. Here are some of the magazines top 2004 picks.
The Ford Focus tops the small sedan category. Consumer Reports says it's well laid out and fun to drive.
The Volkswagen Passat and Honda Accord share the top family sedan title. The magazine says they provide an excellent balance of comfort and roominess and handling and the Toyota Sienna is the top rated minivan. The report says it leads the class in comfort and safety.
There are plenty of other categories. We're going to talk with someone behind that survey coming up in our final hour at 9 a.m. Eastern Time right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Still to come this morning a nasty battle is brewing between Viacom and the Dish Network -- with millions of viewers caught in between. Andy Serwer has a look at that as AMERICAN MORNING continues. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Is the Dish Network dissing Viacom? Andy Serwer's MINDING YOUR BUSINESS this morning. Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, FORTUNE MAGAZINE: Good morning to you.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans looking to tune into the Early Show on CBS? You're not getting it. Yes, come on over to AMERICAN MORNING.
The water's fine over here.
Here's what's going on, Soledad. The Dish Network, owned by Echo Star, is in a dispute with Viacom about how much to pay for CBS, MTV, VH1, those networks owned by Viacom -- and instead of settling this thing nicely, they're just pulling CBS and all those networks off of the dish satellite. Here's what we're talking about.
Sixteen major networks, including New York, L.A., Boston, Philly. All the big cities, and here's what people are not seeing this morning. And you may remember, Soledad, Disney and Time-Warner got in a similar dispute, two big companies fighting and who do they take it out on?
O'BRIEN: The little guy.
SERWER: The customers. They can't watch the programming. Miles says that's the American way.
CAFFERTY: It's the American way.
SERWER: Not a very good situation; people are going to get very ticked off.
CAFFERTY: Nobody watches that CBS show anyway, so what's the difference? M. O'BRIEN: What about COMEDY CENTRAL? No Jon Stewart. They'll be upset.
O'BRIEN: I love...
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Nickelodeon, my kids, right.
O'BRIEN: Let's do a market preview -- on -- talking specifically about Martha Stewart Omni Media because of course everybody wants to know how her stock will do after it dropped so much on Friday.
SERWER: Dropped again. Down about ten percent and the sellers keep on flooding in here; not a good day for Martha Stewart on the stock market. Also, the market itself down across the board. Weakness in technology shares in particular. You can see that the Nasdaq down about two percent there.
Interesting: CNN's reporting Martha Stewart's going to be leaving her board. Also yesterday I just want to note this that she's going to be leaving the board of Revlon, the cosmetics company. Ironic, of course, because that company is controlled by billionaire financier Ronald Perlman, not known exactly for being a bastion of corporate governance itself over there at Revlon.
O'BRIEN: Not in prison.
SERWER: No, but -- you know -- it's sort of interesting they're holding themselves up on a high horse here and kind of a company with a lot of questions that people have had in the past.
O'BRIEN: All right Andy thank you very much; we'll check back in with you a little bit later.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: On the hood of thieves. Jack Cafferty is here with the big question of the day. On that very point.
CAFFERTY: Yes indeed. Martha Stewart could be a step closer to prison. Met yesterday with her probation officer in the federal courthouse in New York. She'll be sentenced June 17th on conspiracy, obstruction, and making false statements in connection with the sale of ImClone stock. She will probably get a sentence of between ten and 16 months. A CNN/USA Today Gallup poll finds the majority think that Stewart should go to jail. 53 percent say they ought to -- she ought to serve some time. 40 percent say she doesn't belong in jail. The question this morning is should Martha Stewart go to prison? You can e-mail us at am@cnn.com and we'll read your thoughts later on in the program.
M. O'BRIEN: Be interesting to see how that goes.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: I am getting tired of the political cartoons, though, on Martha. You know, it's such low hanging fruit to put Martha in a cell, putting flowers in the commode and so forth. You know? Enough. I mean it's too easy. Come on, enough. Enough already.
O'BRIEN: OK.
M. O'BRIEN: How's your cholesterol?
CAFFERTY: You're not my probation officer.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: That's the first question probation officers always ask.
M. O'BRIEN: Any tattoos?
All right, still to come on the program, trying to lower your cholesterol? Maybe Jack is, maybe he isn't. He's not saying. A new study has a simple prescription for you. Details are coming up here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Philadelphia Mother Reunited With Daughter>
