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American Morning
Bush Staying Largely Out of Sight at His Ranch, But His Troops in Boston; With Police Poised to Issue Warrant, Mark Hacking Hires Attorney
Aired July 27, 2004 - 08:30 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to Boston and the FleetCenter. Tell you, you never know what you're going to find during a convention here. On the floor behind me it's literally become a Hollywood movie set.
The filmmaker Robert Altman apparently filming a made-for-TV miniseries called "Tanner on Tanner."
He's using Tom Brokaw from NBC News. That's Cynthia Nixon there from "Sex and the City," also Dee Dee Myers, you might remember her from the Clinton years, during the early years of the first term of the White House, so that's what's happening here.
No matter what story line they come up with, though, it's not going to be anywhere nearly as good as Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala. They're standing by, waiting in the wings, for their thoughts in a moment. Hear with the guys in a second here just across the floor.
Back to my colleague again, Heidi Collins in New York. Heidi, good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they have their own reality show coming up or something, too, don't they?
HEMMER: They should.
COLLINS: Yes, they should. Good morning to you, Bill, and good morning to you everybody.
Also, this half hour, new developments in the case of Lori Hacking missing in Utah for a week now.
We'll talk to a spokesman for the Hacking family, find out about Mark Hacking's decision to hire a lawyer, and some other developments.
But for now, back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi thanks.
Back here in Boston, throughout the convention, President Bush staying largely out of sight at his ranch in Texas but his troops are here, well represented throughout Boston, armed and ready to respond to what the Democrats are saying.
Dana Bash, our White House correspondent, taking the calls for us this morning there. Dana, good morning to you.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. And the president's campaign has stopped paid advertising this week in order to save some money while Democrats have the spotlight, but Republicans are monitoring every speech here at the convention for some good old fashioned rapid response to try to stay in the mix.
Just a few blocks from the FleetCenter, armed with an advance copy of Al Gore's speech, Republican staffers surround a TV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BASH (voice-over): With headquarters on speakerphone, the scrubbing begins.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And John Kerry has one of the strongest records against polluters in the Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's total nonsense.
BASH: Seizing on Gore's praise for John Kerry, even before he utters these words.
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, he had the best record of protecting the environment against polluters of any of my colleagues, bar none.
BASH: As the former vice president's 13-minute speech ended, cutting and pasting for the e-mail rebuttal reporters would get moments later.
But these GOP researchers could not hide their disappointment.
TIM GRIFFIN, RNC DEP. COMM. DIRECTOR: I was hoping he'd show a little more anger.
BASH: The convention hall wasn't the only focus of this team. Spotting their opponent trying out a space suit at Cape Canaveral earlier in the day, they thought they had a Dukakis in the tank moment, and tried to make it so with this e-mail.
All this after a day of convention pre-buttal.
SCOTT HDGENSON, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: On WQXI Atlanta, it's Wisconsin Public Radio; it's NPR evening analysis. You name it, if they're polling numbers, we're on it.
BASH: Rapid response operations and war rooms are not new, but this year Republicans are pushing hard to make their presence known.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a classic example of the kind of flip- flopping we've expected from this senator.
BASH: It's all mapped out on the wall, whose speeches to respond to and when.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And Republicans have another press conference in about an hour and a half, no doubt to counter some of the speeches they heard last night including from Bill Clinton and Democrats.
I should tell you, Bill, reminded them -- they invented this kind of war room, and they are not being outdone by the Republicans on their own turf.
They have their own rapid response team here, as well. I guess we can call it countering the counter spin, Bill.
HEMMER: Hey Dana, thanks for that.
Back here on the floor of the FleetCenter, say hello to two guys that you see every afternoon. When they're not screaming at one another, they're actually quite civil.
And gentlemen to the core, too. Tucker Carlson, Paul Begala, good morning.
Thanks for getting up early. There was a lot of concern apparently last night with Jimmy Carter's speech. What was that coming from?
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST, CNN'S "CROSSFIRE": Well, the Kerry campaign wants to script this very carefully. I used to do that for a living, and I know what it feels like to want to control everything.
Well, two or three drafts of the Carter speech flew back and forth between the Kerry campaign and President Carter's office, and finally the former president informed the Kerry campaign, you know what? I'm going to say what I want to say.
And the Kerry campaign backed off, and so Jimmy Carter was actually surprisingly the most negative person. I thought he gave an interesting speech, and a smart speech, and a good speech.
HEMMER: And he made a reverence -- a reference, rather -- to generating public panic. How did that go over from the Republican side?
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, CNN'S "CROSSFIRE": Well, I don't know how it went over from the Republican side, but I will say the interesting thing, from my point of view, is that you know, of course, Bill Clinton never liked Jimmy Carter at all because he's meddlesome, popping up at all the wrong moments and impossible to control.
And so this is sort of, you know, an outgrowth of that. This convention is very much, I have to say, like your typical Republican convention. It's a strained effort over four days to keep the public from finding out what the party really thinks. So it is -- you know it really -- every speech omits the key points that all Democrats agree on.
Bush is evil, the war is wrong. You never hear that.
HEMMER: What he's saying is that the Democrats finally got it down.
BEGALA: Well, yes, they are trying. I mean, look, the election is going to be decided by swing voters and swing states and you sort of, you know, slice the bologna so thin that I -- you know, look, I like all of these guys, but I thought that President Carter did a good thing for the party being strained a little bit off the script and just saying, as Tucker says, 93 percent of these convention delegates are opposed to that war. Carter laid it out there the way most Democrats believe.
CARLSON: But don't you find; I mean isn't it amazing to you as a Democrat to watch Bill Clinton get up and say nice things about Jimmy Carter and Al Gore? I mean, come on.
BEGALA: No, not at all.
CARLSON: But he dislikes both.
BEGALA: No -- I think -- no you're not ahead of them on the list, Tucker. But no he likes -- he loves Al Gore, worked closely with him.
They had a bit of a parting when Gore ran, but they kept back together after September 11th. They actually -- Gore stayed at Clinton's house when he was coming back after September 11th. And President Clinton always had admired Jimmy Carter and I think he liked his speech a lot.
HEMMER: Let's move to another topic: Teresa Heinz Kerry. I sat down with her last night. She has no apologies and no regrets for what we all watched on videotape from Sunday night. You ran into her as well.
BEGALA: Same thing.
HEMMER: Is this the shape of things to come from her and this is just something that Democrats accept within the -- I guess -- the borders of her own personality?
BEGALA: I think it's something we celebrate, you know? She's a strong woman and we now have a tradition of strong women in that job as First Lady. We remember when Barbara Bush said that Geraldine Ferraro was something that rhymes with rich. Well, you know she's a strong, opinionated woman. I admire that.
Hillary Clinton got hammered every day she was First Lady. Laura Bush does not get attacked much, but I know she's very smart and very strong and I'm glad that she's our First Lady. I hope her husband loses his job, but she's terrific at what she does, so this is just keeping in that tradition; it's certainly much more elegant than say what Dick Cheney said on the floor of the Senate.
CARLSON: So in other words, when Teresa Kerry says something outrageous it's consistent with the principles of feminism. That's the whole idea.
Look, I find her really -- I find her really charming. I like people who say what they think. It's just a bit much, though, coming from people who whine about the vice president's -- I thought totally amusing and appropriate comments to the senator from Vermont to see them defending Teresa Kerry.
I defend all of that. I think I need more profanity.
BEGALA: No, wait a minute. If my kids say shove it, OK, they're going to be in trouble. If they say to me to go F myself, they're grounded. OK? There's not the same thing.
I'm talking to some right wing hack who's spreading lies about her; it's very different from talking to a United States Senator on the Senate floor.
CARLSON: I don't -- there's no reason to -- there's no reason to attack the reporter. You know nothing about him; it's not clear he did anything wrong. He's an editor at the newspaper.
Moreover, I just think, again, both of these incidences were in private. Neither the vice president nor Mrs. Kerry meant to say this in public. Both of them got caught telling the truth, and good for both of them.
HEMMER: You guys having fun?
BEGALA: I'm loving it.
CARLSON: Awesome.
HEMMER: Day two.
CARLSON: Day two.
HEMMER: Back at 4:30, right, Eastern time?
CARLSON: Oh, yes, we're going to be here.
HEMMER: Throwing the tent over this thing, right? Thanks guys, great to have you. Thanks for getting up early. Tucker, much appreciate it. We'll see you later today, right? "Crossfire," 4:30, see you then.
CARLSON: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: Here's Heidi again in New York. Heidi. COLLINS: All right, Bill, thanks. A new twist in the case of the missing pregnant woman in Utah.
Lori Hacking disappeared more than a week ago. Now, with police poised to issue an arrest warrant, Lori's husband, Mark Hacking, has hired an attorney.
Scott Dunaway is a spokesman for the Hacking family. He joins us now live from Salt Lake City this morning. Hello to you again, Mr. Dunaway.
I want to ask you first about an interview that we just conducted moments ago with one of Lori's coworkers at the bank. She said she saw Lori leaving the building visibly upset and sobbing. Does the family have any reaction to knowing that Lori was so upset?
SCOTT DUNAWAY, HACKING FAMILY SPOKESMAN: We -- really we don't. The family was unaware of that phone call or that particular incident. They -- they understand that there were a number of incidences, circumstances that took place over that weekend that were probably upsetting to Lori, but other than being concerned about, generally, the deceptions that Lori probably learned about over the weekend, they really don't know. And aren't able to comment on it.
COLLINS: But they did know that she was upset, you just said, over the weekend?
DUNAWAY: Well, they didn't know at the time that she was upset. They know now because of the -- the reports that have been in the media. But at the time, no one was aware of that -- that was not something that Lori shared with any member of her family.
COLLINS: OK, police are saying, as I'm sure you know, that an arrest warrant could be made within the next couple of days.
What does the family say about that?
DUNAWAY: Actually, we're not aware that an arrest warrant is imminent. My understanding is the police have not indicated that one way or the other.
They have been, in fact, even as late as yesterday, were indicating that they are still considering this as a missing person investigation, and that they are proceeding methodically with it, but we've not been told that an arrest is imminent.
COLLINS: OK, well, to be clear the forensic evidence that they are waiting on, the clump of hair, the bloody knife that we've talked about in the last day. That is -- those are the tests they're waiting on.
And they have said that they will make an arrest warrant or issue an arrest warrant, I should say. If those tests come back as -- as they believe that they will. So let's move on.
A new phase of this search: I understand for a while we've been talking about how rugged the terrain is in that canyon. But now it's getting even more dangerous, is that right?
DUNAWAY: Well, we have had over 4,000 volunteers come out over the past week and generously give their time. Because of the numbers, we've been able to reach out into many, many areas of Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas, and the family late yesterday became increasingly concerned for the safety of the volunteers.
Many of them were going into areas, which are risky, and they simply do not want to put these good people at risk. And so just a few moments ago, the family and I spoke, and they indicated that they would like to move this search to a new phase, which would use more specialized kinds of teams and more of a kind of community organized search and -- and so they're asking that volunteers not come to the search center today -- that instead we -- we're able to formulate the details of our plan, which we hope to have in place very shortly.
COLLINS: All right, certainly everyone needs to stay safe. So we wish those searchers the best of luck indeed.
Scott Dunaway, Hacking family spokesman, we appreciate your time once again this morning.
DUNAWAY: Thank you.
COLLINS: It is now just about 41 minutes past the hour. Time for a look at some of today's other news and Daryn Kagan. Hello once again, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning once again.
President Bush is working with his task team on some of the recommendations from the 9/11 Commission. The president discussed the report yesterday for the first time via videoconference with officials at the White House.
A White House official said that some action could be taken within the next couple of days.
A Massachusetts teenager who wanted to divorce his father has settled that case out of court. Fourteen-year-old Patrick Holland wanted to cut ties with the man who killed his mother six years ago. Yesterday, the father signed a settlement agreeing to give up his parental rights.
Holland's guardians are now reportedly planning to file for adoption.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has denied an appeal that would have let the news media broadcast and publish secret transcripts from the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case. The transcripts were accidentally released to the media and they contain information on the sexual history of Bryant's accuser.
The trial is scheduled to begin on August 27 where prosecutors are reviewing their options after last week's decision to allow as evidence discussion of the accuser's sex life. A Florida wildlife agency officer has been cleared of wrongdoing in the death of an escaped tiger. An investigation found that the officer was in fear for his life and in compliance with state statutes when he shot and killed the animal.
The tiger was the pet of a former actor who says that the tiger who was named Bobo was murdered by the wildlife officer.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Much more in a moment here from the FleetCenter in Boston. Also in a moment here, the mayor of one Colorado town belongs in a barnyard and not city hall. So says "The Cafferty File" -- we'll get to that in a moment.
Plus in health news today a warning today a possible long-term health risk involving a popular painkiller. We'll look at that today as well as we continue in a moment here on a Tuesday edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A new study warns long-term use of a popular pain reliever may cause kidney damage. Sanjay is off, but medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is joining us from the CNN Center with details.
This sounds a little scary, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It does sound a little scary, Heidi. That popular pain reliever is acetaminophen. And that's the ingredient that's found in Tylenol.
Researchers at Harvard University took a look at 1700 women, they followed them for 11 years and what they found is that the women who took it the most over the course of their lifetime had a higher chance of having impaired kidney function over the course of time.
Well, how much is too much? We can't answer that question, but we can give you some examples. In the study, women who took fewer than one tablet per month for 25 years had about an 8 percent risk of kidney impairment.
Those who took more than one tablet a day for 25 years had a 15 percent risk of kidney impairment, so that is almost double the risk when they -- for those who took it more often.
Now the makers of Tylenol dispute these findings, they say that they contradict the findings of previous research. It's interesting that in this study they did not find any kidney impairment with people who took aspirin or Advil -- Heidi.
COLLINS: So should women then actually cut back on using Tylenol or not?
COHEN: Well, I asked that question of the lead author of this study and he said no. He said there -- we need to do more studies to figure out if people need to cut back. And by the way, this study was in women, but the findings would probably be true of men as well.
But what he did say is that some people just pop pain relievers for every little thing and based on these results you might want to think twice before you just take some acetaminophen. You might want to think twice and say do I really need it?
COLLINS: Yes, it is always easy to kind of pop those, isn't it?
COHEN: That's right.
COLLINS: Some people are taking painkillers nearly every day, though. And other people kind of go for months without taking any of them. Is that a better way to go at it?
COHEN: Well, you know, it's interesting because what they found is that for women let's say who took say one a day for years and years or women who took it in big clumps like, let's say, they took a lot of Tylenol when they had a headache or when they had their period for example it didn't really matter whether they took a little bit over a long period of time every day or took it in big clumps.
What mattered was what's called the cumulative effect. In other words, it was the number of pills over a period of years. It doesn't really matter how they were taken.
COLLINS: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much for that. Appreciate it this morning.
Time now to go back to Bill in Boston.
HEMMER: Thank you, Heidi. In a moment here why going to the convention might be hazardous to your health. Is that the case?
Andy's "Minding Your Business" on that in a moment. Back in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Welcome back everybody.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: There's a new report out that might make you think twice about going to a convention. Andy Serwer has the details, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: The salient phrase is hang on to your wallet.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
SERWER: A story in "USA Today" this morning rating convention centers and the surrounding areas, just how dangerous are they? The results of this may surprise you.
Let's take a look. This is a study by a company called Cap Index, which is a criminal forecasting company. Takes a look at the nations largest convention centers and rates them. How dangerous are they?
Now this index -- the only thing you need to know here is 100 is average.
So the McCormick Place in Chicago is 13 times more dangerous, the surrounding area, than the average precinct in America. McCormick Place also happens to be the largest convention center. Four million visitors a year go there.
Then after that you can see, the Cobo Conference Center in Detroit. Well that's no surprise.
Then the Washington Convention Center, downtown Washington. The Javits Convention Center. The response from some of these convention centers is it doesn't really reflect the danger for conventioneers because most of the crime is perpetrated against local residents.
Well. Now why is this -- yes -- why is this the case? Well, you know, a lot of times cities build these convention centers in dangerous areas that they're trying to rehab.
Now, what about our people who are up there in Boston and going to be coming to New York? How dangerous is this for the Democrats and for the Republicans?
The FleetCenter, three times as dangerous a neighborhood, so when those people are out there partying. But look at Madison Square Garden. Those Republicans better watch themselves when they're walking around the streets of New York because it's a dangerous place down there, right?
CAFFERTY: And not just during the convention.
SERWER: It's dangerous all the time. I've noticed that.
CAFFERTY: Twenty-seven years, there's something going on here every day.
SERWER: Here's some of the convention centers that aren't dangerous areas -- the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Just about average.
And then Cleveland is less dangerous...
CAFFERTY: Really?
SERWER: Yes, the IX Center and then the Donald Stevens Center in Rosemont, Illinois not so dangerous.
CAFFERTY: That's still not reason enough to go to Cleveland. Thank you Andy.
Time now for "The Cafferty File." People who run this pigeon race in Sweden have lost 1500 birds. They set out with 2,000 homing pigeons; they're supposed to fly 93 miles. Trip is said to take about two hours. Only 500 of them showed up at the destination.
1500 of them are gone. A few were lost to hawks and power lines but experts say it's a big mystery. They have no idea where their birds went.
Moving on to Colorado, they have reelected the incumbent mayor in the town of Florissant, Colorado. Their mayor is a four-legged jackass. Paco Bell is not your average politician -- well, depending on your opinion of politicians, he might be.
Residents of Florissant say they like to poke fun at the political process by electing a donkey. A donkey, much like this one. This is not Paco Bell, but this is a reasonable facsimile of the same.
SERWER: It could be a relative.
CAFFERTY: Paco just whaled on the competition. There were two no shows and a white donkey named Birdie. The race may have been closer but one candidate got colicky and the other one's trailer broke down.
Here's our favorite story of perhaps a long time to come. Last week the 9/11 Commission came out with the report about 9/11 and recommendations for fighting terrorism.
Congress promptly said yes, yes, yes, we have no time for this. They went on vacation for six weeks saying they couldn't act on this until next year.
Next year.
Six weeks off, can't do anything till next year. Now President Bush says he may do something. He has read the report and he says, quote, it reads like a mystery, a novel, it's well written. Wow.
SERWER: Maybe he was reading when he was on his bike.
CAFFERTY: Yes, that's enough of him. OK. We know what he looks like. Congress says the agenda is all filled up. We have decided periodically to keep you posed on how long it takes your paid elected representatives to do something about protecting this country against terrorism.
We've got this little chart. It has been five days since the Commission report came out. Congress so far has done nothing. We will count this every day until Congress does something, which will begin to probably annoy you to the point that you will call your Senator or representative and suggest they get off their can and do something. That's our intent here.
SERWER: Maybe they're deliberating with their constituents back home. CAFFERTY: They're just -- they're just so tedious.
SERWER: Or they're at the beach or something.
CAFFERTY: The town in Colorado has it right.
SERWER: He'd do something about it; he'd kick their can, that's what that politician would do.
COLLINS: All right Jack, thanks so much. Want to throw things back over to Bill now in Boston -- Bill.
HEMMER: And thanks. In a moment here my conversation with Teresa Heinz Kerry. What she has to say about the controversy surrounding her and a run in with a journalist. Back in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired July 27, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to Boston and the FleetCenter. Tell you, you never know what you're going to find during a convention here. On the floor behind me it's literally become a Hollywood movie set.
The filmmaker Robert Altman apparently filming a made-for-TV miniseries called "Tanner on Tanner."
He's using Tom Brokaw from NBC News. That's Cynthia Nixon there from "Sex and the City," also Dee Dee Myers, you might remember her from the Clinton years, during the early years of the first term of the White House, so that's what's happening here.
No matter what story line they come up with, though, it's not going to be anywhere nearly as good as Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala. They're standing by, waiting in the wings, for their thoughts in a moment. Hear with the guys in a second here just across the floor.
Back to my colleague again, Heidi Collins in New York. Heidi, good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, they have their own reality show coming up or something, too, don't they?
HEMMER: They should.
COLLINS: Yes, they should. Good morning to you, Bill, and good morning to you everybody.
Also, this half hour, new developments in the case of Lori Hacking missing in Utah for a week now.
We'll talk to a spokesman for the Hacking family, find out about Mark Hacking's decision to hire a lawyer, and some other developments.
But for now, back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi thanks.
Back here in Boston, throughout the convention, President Bush staying largely out of sight at his ranch in Texas but his troops are here, well represented throughout Boston, armed and ready to respond to what the Democrats are saying.
Dana Bash, our White House correspondent, taking the calls for us this morning there. Dana, good morning to you.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. And the president's campaign has stopped paid advertising this week in order to save some money while Democrats have the spotlight, but Republicans are monitoring every speech here at the convention for some good old fashioned rapid response to try to stay in the mix.
Just a few blocks from the FleetCenter, armed with an advance copy of Al Gore's speech, Republican staffers surround a TV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
BASH (voice-over): With headquarters on speakerphone, the scrubbing begins.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And John Kerry has one of the strongest records against polluters in the Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's total nonsense.
BASH: Seizing on Gore's praise for John Kerry, even before he utters these words.
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, he had the best record of protecting the environment against polluters of any of my colleagues, bar none.
BASH: As the former vice president's 13-minute speech ended, cutting and pasting for the e-mail rebuttal reporters would get moments later.
But these GOP researchers could not hide their disappointment.
TIM GRIFFIN, RNC DEP. COMM. DIRECTOR: I was hoping he'd show a little more anger.
BASH: The convention hall wasn't the only focus of this team. Spotting their opponent trying out a space suit at Cape Canaveral earlier in the day, they thought they had a Dukakis in the tank moment, and tried to make it so with this e-mail.
All this after a day of convention pre-buttal.
SCOTT HDGENSON, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: On WQXI Atlanta, it's Wisconsin Public Radio; it's NPR evening analysis. You name it, if they're polling numbers, we're on it.
BASH: Rapid response operations and war rooms are not new, but this year Republicans are pushing hard to make their presence known.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a classic example of the kind of flip- flopping we've expected from this senator.
BASH: It's all mapped out on the wall, whose speeches to respond to and when.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And Republicans have another press conference in about an hour and a half, no doubt to counter some of the speeches they heard last night including from Bill Clinton and Democrats.
I should tell you, Bill, reminded them -- they invented this kind of war room, and they are not being outdone by the Republicans on their own turf.
They have their own rapid response team here, as well. I guess we can call it countering the counter spin, Bill.
HEMMER: Hey Dana, thanks for that.
Back here on the floor of the FleetCenter, say hello to two guys that you see every afternoon. When they're not screaming at one another, they're actually quite civil.
And gentlemen to the core, too. Tucker Carlson, Paul Begala, good morning.
Thanks for getting up early. There was a lot of concern apparently last night with Jimmy Carter's speech. What was that coming from?
PAUL BEGALA, CO-HOST, CNN'S "CROSSFIRE": Well, the Kerry campaign wants to script this very carefully. I used to do that for a living, and I know what it feels like to want to control everything.
Well, two or three drafts of the Carter speech flew back and forth between the Kerry campaign and President Carter's office, and finally the former president informed the Kerry campaign, you know what? I'm going to say what I want to say.
And the Kerry campaign backed off, and so Jimmy Carter was actually surprisingly the most negative person. I thought he gave an interesting speech, and a smart speech, and a good speech.
HEMMER: And he made a reverence -- a reference, rather -- to generating public panic. How did that go over from the Republican side?
TUCKER CARLSON, CO-HOST, CNN'S "CROSSFIRE": Well, I don't know how it went over from the Republican side, but I will say the interesting thing, from my point of view, is that you know, of course, Bill Clinton never liked Jimmy Carter at all because he's meddlesome, popping up at all the wrong moments and impossible to control.
And so this is sort of, you know, an outgrowth of that. This convention is very much, I have to say, like your typical Republican convention. It's a strained effort over four days to keep the public from finding out what the party really thinks. So it is -- you know it really -- every speech omits the key points that all Democrats agree on.
Bush is evil, the war is wrong. You never hear that.
HEMMER: What he's saying is that the Democrats finally got it down.
BEGALA: Well, yes, they are trying. I mean, look, the election is going to be decided by swing voters and swing states and you sort of, you know, slice the bologna so thin that I -- you know, look, I like all of these guys, but I thought that President Carter did a good thing for the party being strained a little bit off the script and just saying, as Tucker says, 93 percent of these convention delegates are opposed to that war. Carter laid it out there the way most Democrats believe.
CARLSON: But don't you find; I mean isn't it amazing to you as a Democrat to watch Bill Clinton get up and say nice things about Jimmy Carter and Al Gore? I mean, come on.
BEGALA: No, not at all.
CARLSON: But he dislikes both.
BEGALA: No -- I think -- no you're not ahead of them on the list, Tucker. But no he likes -- he loves Al Gore, worked closely with him.
They had a bit of a parting when Gore ran, but they kept back together after September 11th. They actually -- Gore stayed at Clinton's house when he was coming back after September 11th. And President Clinton always had admired Jimmy Carter and I think he liked his speech a lot.
HEMMER: Let's move to another topic: Teresa Heinz Kerry. I sat down with her last night. She has no apologies and no regrets for what we all watched on videotape from Sunday night. You ran into her as well.
BEGALA: Same thing.
HEMMER: Is this the shape of things to come from her and this is just something that Democrats accept within the -- I guess -- the borders of her own personality?
BEGALA: I think it's something we celebrate, you know? She's a strong woman and we now have a tradition of strong women in that job as First Lady. We remember when Barbara Bush said that Geraldine Ferraro was something that rhymes with rich. Well, you know she's a strong, opinionated woman. I admire that.
Hillary Clinton got hammered every day she was First Lady. Laura Bush does not get attacked much, but I know she's very smart and very strong and I'm glad that she's our First Lady. I hope her husband loses his job, but she's terrific at what she does, so this is just keeping in that tradition; it's certainly much more elegant than say what Dick Cheney said on the floor of the Senate.
CARLSON: So in other words, when Teresa Kerry says something outrageous it's consistent with the principles of feminism. That's the whole idea.
Look, I find her really -- I find her really charming. I like people who say what they think. It's just a bit much, though, coming from people who whine about the vice president's -- I thought totally amusing and appropriate comments to the senator from Vermont to see them defending Teresa Kerry.
I defend all of that. I think I need more profanity.
BEGALA: No, wait a minute. If my kids say shove it, OK, they're going to be in trouble. If they say to me to go F myself, they're grounded. OK? There's not the same thing.
I'm talking to some right wing hack who's spreading lies about her; it's very different from talking to a United States Senator on the Senate floor.
CARLSON: I don't -- there's no reason to -- there's no reason to attack the reporter. You know nothing about him; it's not clear he did anything wrong. He's an editor at the newspaper.
Moreover, I just think, again, both of these incidences were in private. Neither the vice president nor Mrs. Kerry meant to say this in public. Both of them got caught telling the truth, and good for both of them.
HEMMER: You guys having fun?
BEGALA: I'm loving it.
CARLSON: Awesome.
HEMMER: Day two.
CARLSON: Day two.
HEMMER: Back at 4:30, right, Eastern time?
CARLSON: Oh, yes, we're going to be here.
HEMMER: Throwing the tent over this thing, right? Thanks guys, great to have you. Thanks for getting up early. Tucker, much appreciate it. We'll see you later today, right? "Crossfire," 4:30, see you then.
CARLSON: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: Here's Heidi again in New York. Heidi. COLLINS: All right, Bill, thanks. A new twist in the case of the missing pregnant woman in Utah.
Lori Hacking disappeared more than a week ago. Now, with police poised to issue an arrest warrant, Lori's husband, Mark Hacking, has hired an attorney.
Scott Dunaway is a spokesman for the Hacking family. He joins us now live from Salt Lake City this morning. Hello to you again, Mr. Dunaway.
I want to ask you first about an interview that we just conducted moments ago with one of Lori's coworkers at the bank. She said she saw Lori leaving the building visibly upset and sobbing. Does the family have any reaction to knowing that Lori was so upset?
SCOTT DUNAWAY, HACKING FAMILY SPOKESMAN: We -- really we don't. The family was unaware of that phone call or that particular incident. They -- they understand that there were a number of incidences, circumstances that took place over that weekend that were probably upsetting to Lori, but other than being concerned about, generally, the deceptions that Lori probably learned about over the weekend, they really don't know. And aren't able to comment on it.
COLLINS: But they did know that she was upset, you just said, over the weekend?
DUNAWAY: Well, they didn't know at the time that she was upset. They know now because of the -- the reports that have been in the media. But at the time, no one was aware of that -- that was not something that Lori shared with any member of her family.
COLLINS: OK, police are saying, as I'm sure you know, that an arrest warrant could be made within the next couple of days.
What does the family say about that?
DUNAWAY: Actually, we're not aware that an arrest warrant is imminent. My understanding is the police have not indicated that one way or the other.
They have been, in fact, even as late as yesterday, were indicating that they are still considering this as a missing person investigation, and that they are proceeding methodically with it, but we've not been told that an arrest is imminent.
COLLINS: OK, well, to be clear the forensic evidence that they are waiting on, the clump of hair, the bloody knife that we've talked about in the last day. That is -- those are the tests they're waiting on.
And they have said that they will make an arrest warrant or issue an arrest warrant, I should say. If those tests come back as -- as they believe that they will. So let's move on.
A new phase of this search: I understand for a while we've been talking about how rugged the terrain is in that canyon. But now it's getting even more dangerous, is that right?
DUNAWAY: Well, we have had over 4,000 volunteers come out over the past week and generously give their time. Because of the numbers, we've been able to reach out into many, many areas of Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas, and the family late yesterday became increasingly concerned for the safety of the volunteers.
Many of them were going into areas, which are risky, and they simply do not want to put these good people at risk. And so just a few moments ago, the family and I spoke, and they indicated that they would like to move this search to a new phase, which would use more specialized kinds of teams and more of a kind of community organized search and -- and so they're asking that volunteers not come to the search center today -- that instead we -- we're able to formulate the details of our plan, which we hope to have in place very shortly.
COLLINS: All right, certainly everyone needs to stay safe. So we wish those searchers the best of luck indeed.
Scott Dunaway, Hacking family spokesman, we appreciate your time once again this morning.
DUNAWAY: Thank you.
COLLINS: It is now just about 41 minutes past the hour. Time for a look at some of today's other news and Daryn Kagan. Hello once again, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning once again.
President Bush is working with his task team on some of the recommendations from the 9/11 Commission. The president discussed the report yesterday for the first time via videoconference with officials at the White House.
A White House official said that some action could be taken within the next couple of days.
A Massachusetts teenager who wanted to divorce his father has settled that case out of court. Fourteen-year-old Patrick Holland wanted to cut ties with the man who killed his mother six years ago. Yesterday, the father signed a settlement agreeing to give up his parental rights.
Holland's guardians are now reportedly planning to file for adoption.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has denied an appeal that would have let the news media broadcast and publish secret transcripts from the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case. The transcripts were accidentally released to the media and they contain information on the sexual history of Bryant's accuser.
The trial is scheduled to begin on August 27 where prosecutors are reviewing their options after last week's decision to allow as evidence discussion of the accuser's sex life. A Florida wildlife agency officer has been cleared of wrongdoing in the death of an escaped tiger. An investigation found that the officer was in fear for his life and in compliance with state statutes when he shot and killed the animal.
The tiger was the pet of a former actor who says that the tiger who was named Bobo was murdered by the wildlife officer.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Much more in a moment here from the FleetCenter in Boston. Also in a moment here, the mayor of one Colorado town belongs in a barnyard and not city hall. So says "The Cafferty File" -- we'll get to that in a moment.
Plus in health news today a warning today a possible long-term health risk involving a popular painkiller. We'll look at that today as well as we continue in a moment here on a Tuesday edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
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COLLINS: A new study warns long-term use of a popular pain reliever may cause kidney damage. Sanjay is off, but medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is joining us from the CNN Center with details.
This sounds a little scary, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It does sound a little scary, Heidi. That popular pain reliever is acetaminophen. And that's the ingredient that's found in Tylenol.
Researchers at Harvard University took a look at 1700 women, they followed them for 11 years and what they found is that the women who took it the most over the course of their lifetime had a higher chance of having impaired kidney function over the course of time.
Well, how much is too much? We can't answer that question, but we can give you some examples. In the study, women who took fewer than one tablet per month for 25 years had about an 8 percent risk of kidney impairment.
Those who took more than one tablet a day for 25 years had a 15 percent risk of kidney impairment, so that is almost double the risk when they -- for those who took it more often.
Now the makers of Tylenol dispute these findings, they say that they contradict the findings of previous research. It's interesting that in this study they did not find any kidney impairment with people who took aspirin or Advil -- Heidi.
COLLINS: So should women then actually cut back on using Tylenol or not?
COHEN: Well, I asked that question of the lead author of this study and he said no. He said there -- we need to do more studies to figure out if people need to cut back. And by the way, this study was in women, but the findings would probably be true of men as well.
But what he did say is that some people just pop pain relievers for every little thing and based on these results you might want to think twice before you just take some acetaminophen. You might want to think twice and say do I really need it?
COLLINS: Yes, it is always easy to kind of pop those, isn't it?
COHEN: That's right.
COLLINS: Some people are taking painkillers nearly every day, though. And other people kind of go for months without taking any of them. Is that a better way to go at it?
COHEN: Well, you know, it's interesting because what they found is that for women let's say who took say one a day for years and years or women who took it in big clumps like, let's say, they took a lot of Tylenol when they had a headache or when they had their period for example it didn't really matter whether they took a little bit over a long period of time every day or took it in big clumps.
What mattered was what's called the cumulative effect. In other words, it was the number of pills over a period of years. It doesn't really matter how they were taken.
COLLINS: All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thanks so much for that. Appreciate it this morning.
Time now to go back to Bill in Boston.
HEMMER: Thank you, Heidi. In a moment here why going to the convention might be hazardous to your health. Is that the case?
Andy's "Minding Your Business" on that in a moment. Back in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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COLLINS: Welcome back everybody.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: There's a new report out that might make you think twice about going to a convention. Andy Serwer has the details, "Minding Your Business" this morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: The salient phrase is hang on to your wallet.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
SERWER: A story in "USA Today" this morning rating convention centers and the surrounding areas, just how dangerous are they? The results of this may surprise you.
Let's take a look. This is a study by a company called Cap Index, which is a criminal forecasting company. Takes a look at the nations largest convention centers and rates them. How dangerous are they?
Now this index -- the only thing you need to know here is 100 is average.
So the McCormick Place in Chicago is 13 times more dangerous, the surrounding area, than the average precinct in America. McCormick Place also happens to be the largest convention center. Four million visitors a year go there.
Then after that you can see, the Cobo Conference Center in Detroit. Well that's no surprise.
Then the Washington Convention Center, downtown Washington. The Javits Convention Center. The response from some of these convention centers is it doesn't really reflect the danger for conventioneers because most of the crime is perpetrated against local residents.
Well. Now why is this -- yes -- why is this the case? Well, you know, a lot of times cities build these convention centers in dangerous areas that they're trying to rehab.
Now, what about our people who are up there in Boston and going to be coming to New York? How dangerous is this for the Democrats and for the Republicans?
The FleetCenter, three times as dangerous a neighborhood, so when those people are out there partying. But look at Madison Square Garden. Those Republicans better watch themselves when they're walking around the streets of New York because it's a dangerous place down there, right?
CAFFERTY: And not just during the convention.
SERWER: It's dangerous all the time. I've noticed that.
CAFFERTY: Twenty-seven years, there's something going on here every day.
SERWER: Here's some of the convention centers that aren't dangerous areas -- the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. Just about average.
And then Cleveland is less dangerous...
CAFFERTY: Really?
SERWER: Yes, the IX Center and then the Donald Stevens Center in Rosemont, Illinois not so dangerous.
CAFFERTY: That's still not reason enough to go to Cleveland. Thank you Andy.
Time now for "The Cafferty File." People who run this pigeon race in Sweden have lost 1500 birds. They set out with 2,000 homing pigeons; they're supposed to fly 93 miles. Trip is said to take about two hours. Only 500 of them showed up at the destination.
1500 of them are gone. A few were lost to hawks and power lines but experts say it's a big mystery. They have no idea where their birds went.
Moving on to Colorado, they have reelected the incumbent mayor in the town of Florissant, Colorado. Their mayor is a four-legged jackass. Paco Bell is not your average politician -- well, depending on your opinion of politicians, he might be.
Residents of Florissant say they like to poke fun at the political process by electing a donkey. A donkey, much like this one. This is not Paco Bell, but this is a reasonable facsimile of the same.
SERWER: It could be a relative.
CAFFERTY: Paco just whaled on the competition. There were two no shows and a white donkey named Birdie. The race may have been closer but one candidate got colicky and the other one's trailer broke down.
Here's our favorite story of perhaps a long time to come. Last week the 9/11 Commission came out with the report about 9/11 and recommendations for fighting terrorism.
Congress promptly said yes, yes, yes, we have no time for this. They went on vacation for six weeks saying they couldn't act on this until next year.
Next year.
Six weeks off, can't do anything till next year. Now President Bush says he may do something. He has read the report and he says, quote, it reads like a mystery, a novel, it's well written. Wow.
SERWER: Maybe he was reading when he was on his bike.
CAFFERTY: Yes, that's enough of him. OK. We know what he looks like. Congress says the agenda is all filled up. We have decided periodically to keep you posed on how long it takes your paid elected representatives to do something about protecting this country against terrorism.
We've got this little chart. It has been five days since the Commission report came out. Congress so far has done nothing. We will count this every day until Congress does something, which will begin to probably annoy you to the point that you will call your Senator or representative and suggest they get off their can and do something. That's our intent here.
SERWER: Maybe they're deliberating with their constituents back home. CAFFERTY: They're just -- they're just so tedious.
SERWER: Or they're at the beach or something.
CAFFERTY: The town in Colorado has it right.
SERWER: He'd do something about it; he'd kick their can, that's what that politician would do.
COLLINS: All right Jack, thanks so much. Want to throw things back over to Bill now in Boston -- Bill.
HEMMER: And thanks. In a moment here my conversation with Teresa Heinz Kerry. What she has to say about the controversy surrounding her and a run in with a journalist. Back in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.
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