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American Morning
Democratic Governors Unite Behind Kerry; Judge Continues Jackson Molestation Case; Interview With Sen. Biden; Interview With Gov. Rendell; Interview With Howard Dean
Aired July 28, 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Music blaring, signs waiving, Democrats meet the new stars and see some old faces on the second night of their convention. One newcomer may have stolen the show. Across the country, Democrats now talking about Barack Obama.
And Teresa Heinz Kerry speaks out for her husband.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF SENATOR JOHN KERRY: And John is a fighter. He earned his medals the old-fashioned way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: And John Edwards gets ready to take the stage. We'll look ahead to his speech tonight on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: This is AMERICAN MORNING from the Democratic National Convention in Boston, here is Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: Good morning. Day three now on a Wednesday morning here in Boston. Welcome back, everyone, to the FleetCenter here in the Northeast. Our special coverage of the Democratic convention rolls on yet again today.
The Democrats get down to business later -- the roll call votes and the actual process of nominating John Kerry and John Edwards for the ticket in 2004.
Last night, some of the prominent names in the lineup, including Teresa Heinz Kerry, Ron Reagan, Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama, former candidate Howard Dean and the senator -- the senior senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy.
If you missed them last night, we will bring you up to date on what happened here throughout the morning.
Senator Kerry watched that convention and his wife's speech from his hotel room in Philadelphia last night. He arrives later this morning in Boston, expected to make his big entrance, crossing the Boston Harbor in a water taxi, accompanied by several members, former members, Navy crewmates from his Vietnam days.
Looking ahead for us today, our guests -- what a lineup, too. Senator Joe Biden is here, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Howard Dean is our guest, the Reverend Al Sharpton and Al Franken. You'll see them all in the coming hours here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Also with us today, Heidi Collins back in New York City. Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill. Thanks so much.
I want to let everybody know there is other news out there, as well, today, including a developing story out of Iraq.
At least 51 people now said to have been killed in a car bombing in the city of Baquba, another 68 hurt in this massive explosion. Police say a bomber drove a minibus into a crowded marketplace near a police station. We'll have much more on that.
Also, we're bringing you the developments in Michael Jackson case. That trial will not proceed as expected. We'll talk with Jeff Toobin about why the judge granted a key defense motion. That will be coming up in just a little while.
In the meantime, Jack is here now. Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How are you doing, Heidi?
A week ago, when the 9/11 Commission report came out, it was like the elephant in the living room. Everybody was kind of trying to look the other way and pretend they didn't notice.
Now all the politicians suddenly are rushing to embrace the 9/11 Commission report. Funny how things change in the light of a little bit of pressure brought to bear. We'll take a look at it in a few minutes.
COLLINS: Very good. Jack, thanks so much.
Bill, back to you in Boston.
HEMMER: All right to, Heidi. John Edwards takes the stage later tonight to make his case for putting Democrats back in the White House in '04. And the spotlight last night, though, a rising star, a possible first lady, and a political old hand.
Here's Bob Franken this morning for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: John Edwards is coming into the building. He's here to get the feel of the podium.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Edwards made a late-night tour of the hall as the Edwards family got ready to take center stage, the new faces of the party, along with last night's keynoter, the son of a black Kenyan and white American woman, now a Senate candidate, Barack Obama.
BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS SENATE CANDIDATE: In no other country on earth is my story even possible.
FRANKEN: The Democrats also showed they could be sentimental so and so's for the old faces.
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: America needs a genuine uniter, not a divider who only claims to be a uniter.
FRANKEN: President Bush has united the Democratic Party.
HOWARD DEAN (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I may not be the nominee, but I can tell you this. For the next 100 days I'll be doing everything that I can to make sure that John Kerry and John Edwards take this country back for the people who built it.
FRANKEN: Which would give Teresa Heinz Kerry a forum as first lady.
TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF SENATOR JOHN KERRY: My right to speak my mind, to have a voice, to be what some have called "opinionated."..
(APPLAUSE)
HEINZ KERRY: ... is a right I deeply and profoundly cherish.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: She has made that absolutely clear. And the Democrats have made it absolutely clear about their passion to beat George W. Bush -- Bill?
HEMMER: Bob Franken, thanks for that.
Next stop here in Boston: Senator John Kerry getting ready to accept his party's nomination for president. In the meantime, though, more speeches later tonight, one by the senator from Delaware, Joe Biden, our guest here now in Boston.
Senator, good morning to you. Nice to see you here in person instead of through that satellite window.
Every headline in every major newspaper you find, it says the unity is the theme so far. What is bringing Democrats together, at this point?
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: George Bush. George Bush is the single, most uniting factor (INAUDIBLE) in the United Senate. I'm not being facetious.
I think there's such a desire to win. There's such a desire, there's such a concern. Everybody, I think average Americans whether they're for Bush or for Kerry think this is the most important election they've ever been involved in. The outcome is going to be very important. And so I think that's what's unifying everybody that sits behind us.
HEMMER: The contrast of your comment suggests, though, the concentration is not on John Kerry.
BIDEN: Well, no...
HEMMER: Is there is danger there?
BIDEN: Well, no there's not a danger there. What it is, is that the Democratic Party is always fractured. You know that famous Will Rogers quote, "I belong to no organized political party, I'm a Democrats."
And our tent's usually so big that we have some division. This is my seventh convention, but this is one where there is an absolute earnestness about we must win this election because of the direction the president is taking us.
And so, I think that is the -- now obviously, everybody likes John Kerry. And they -- he would have been nominated and people are excited about him in the Democratic Party.
But the single, unifying feature why people aren't fighting in the platform -- there are differences we still have in our party -- but it's George Bush.
HEMMER: How do you responded then to the poll numbers from the "Washington Post" that came out yesterday? In the past month, John Kerry starts to trail in nearly every category in which was polled, on the economy, the war on terror, security. How do you react?
BIDEN: Well, I'm no expert on polling. I mean I've been in the business awhile, but I'm no expert on polling. And it seems to be an aberration.
That single poll seems to be out of sync. I think, while I was listening to Charlie Cook last night, he said take a look at the last five, six or seven polls, put them altogether, figure the average.
And understand that -- you know this, Bill, as well as I do. If I'm an incumbent senator or incumbent president running for reelection and the undecided voters know who I am and they're still undecided, they usually break three out of four, two out of three, for the challenger. So if I were John Kerry, I'd feel pretty good right now.
HEMMER: On Friday, there were hearings in the Senate regarding the 9/11 Commission report. What should be implemented now based on those findings?
BIDEN: I think we should implement now three things. One, a single, joint committee in the United States Congress.
Number two, I think we should be pushing legislation consistent with the requirement to have this super center, if you will, that is a gathering site for all information.
And I personally think that we should have an oversight officer who is the head of and coordinating all of the intelligence, which is going to be very controversial. But I'm the guy who wrote the drug czar legislation, setting up a single person to do that. A person who is in charge of intelligence has to be in charge of the budgets, and that's the thing none of the agencies are going to like.
HEMMER: In a word, is Congress ready and willing to concede on every...
BIDEN: No.
HEMMER: No?
BIDEN: No, it's not. And that's what...
HEMMER: What does that say to the American people?
BIDEN: Well, it says to the American people that we are a little bit dysfunctional. And I'd say to the American people, look at your Congress and the senator who won't give up jurisdiction to have a focused attention on intelligence and vote against them, whether their Democrats or Republicans.
HEMMER: Thank you, senator. Good to see you.
BIDEN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Joe Biden here in Boston.
On the podium later tonight, the convention chairman bringing things to order, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Also the presidential hopefuls from the former months here, Al Sharpton, Dennis Kucinich and the vice presidential candidate, the headliner tonight, John Edwards takes the stage.
CNN, yet again, your place to be for complete coverage throughout the day and the evening here in Boston.
Back to New York again and Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Bill. Thanks a lot.
At least 68 people are dead in the worst attack since the handover of power in Iraq. A suicide car bomb detonated next to hundreds of men today looking to join the Iraqi police force.
It was at a recruitment center in Baquba, about 30 miles north of Baghdad. Twenty-one of the dead were riding on a bus that was passing the center at the moment of the explosion.
Today is the 30-day anniversary of the handover of power. Iraqi police are a frequent target of suicide bombers.
Just about 10 minutes past the hour now. Time for a look at some of today's other news with Daryn Kagan. Good morning to you, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Heidi, for that. We are also on Iraq. We're going to begin with the first U.S. soldier who has been charged with murder there, now facing a military tribunal in Germany.
The soldier's name is Captain Rogelio Maynulet. He denies killing an Iraqi man during a hunt for radical cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr. The military is opening its version of a grand jury investigation into the incident this morning at a U.S.-base outside of Frankfurt.
Here in the U.S., police are using cadaver dogs this morning to search for a missing pregnant woman in Utah. Lori Hacking's family, yesterday, called off search efforts by volunteers, saying that critical areas have been covered.
Earlier, a defense lawyer hired by the family of Hacking's husband, Mark, reportedly deployed its own team of investigators. Mark Hacking has not yet been named a suspect, but police are calling him a person of interest.
A federal grand jury has indicted a major Islamic charity and seven of its key officials for supporting terrorists. The Texas-based Holy Land Foundation was virtually shut down by federal authorities.
That happened several years ago. Now it is charged with providing millions of dollars in support for the Palestinian group Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization.
And finally, there's a lot of cleaning up to do in parts of southern New Jersey. A tornado packing winds of 110 miles an hour damaged several buildings, knocked down trees and power lines yesterday. There were some minor injuries, but nothing serious was reported.
I know some of you out there are thinking: Tornado? New Jersey?
Time for a forecast. Rob Marciano in for Chad Myers to explain all of that to us.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: F-1 tornado. I mean, it's minimal, but the damage is done. You see it there.
(WEATHER BREAK)
MARCIANO: Heidi, back to you in New York.
COLLINS: All right. Thanks so much to you, Rob. Appreciate it.
The judge in Michael Jackson's child molestation case has granted a defense request to delay the trial until January. Prosecutors meanwhile claim the alleged victim and his family were virtual prisoners at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joining us now to talk about the developments in this case.
What do you make of these charges? JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this was really interesting. This was the first time that the prosecution really laid out its theory of the case.
And what they said was after February of last year, which is when the Martin Bashir documentary came out, where Jackson said he thought it was appropriate to have children sleep in his bed, he thought there was nothing wrong with that.
COLLINS: Right.
TOOBIN: He said after that, at that point, according to the prosecution, Jackson made the accuser in this case virtual prisoners in his home, took them around on private plane trips to Florida and elsewhere, and forced the child to make a videotape saying that nothing untoward went on with Michael Jackson.
COLLINS: OK. So, how difficult will this be to prove for prosecutors?
TOOBIN: Incredibly difficult to prove because, you know, how do you make someone a prisoner with their parents and by forcing them to, you know, be on a private plane and take vacations and live the good life?
I mean, that sounds -- many people might view that as a nice thing to have, as a good thing to have, hardly a prisoner situation. Tom Mesereau, Michael Jackson's lawyer, in court yesterday said any jury would laugh this out of court.
I don't know if that's true, but certainly I think the idea of this as a prisoner type situation, that's going to be difficult to prove.
COLLINS: Yes, virtual prisoner, being the keyword.
TOOBIN: Yes, very virtual.
COLLINS: Right. OK. Also the trial date, as we mentioned, being pushed back to January 31st, originally scheduled for September 13th, judge saying that he was overly optimistic in trying to do that. Does that surprise you?
TOOBIN: Welcome to California. Again, California has the slowest legal system in the United States, certainly of all the big states. That's a long delay, but not terribly surprising.
There are a lot of legal motions still to be handled in this case. They have to go to all the grand jury testimony to make sure that the prosecution conducted an appropriate proceeding. There are a lot of issues about whether evidence will be suppressed or not. It's going to take a long time.
January, I think, is likely at this point, but there's no guarantee it won't be delayed past then either.
COLLINS: But when it comes down to it, Jeff, doesn't it really just appear to be Michael Jackson's word versus the boys word?
TOOBIN: Well, in many respects, the case is even weaker than that because you have the boy on tape saying nothing happened. You have the boy telling investigators from Los Angeles children's services that nothing happened.
So it's not just Michael Jackson's word against the boy's now; it's the boy's word against his own word at various times. So, it strikes me as a difficult case for the prosecution. And there's only one accusation at the heart of this case. It's not like there are a group of people who claim that Michael Jackson abused them.
COLLINS: January 31st. All right.
TOOBIN: Or thereabouts.
COLLINS: Or thereabouts. All right, Jeffrey Toobin, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Still to come this morning, Bill will be back from Boston. He'll have a look at which candidate will do a better job protecting America.
John Kerry says he can do better than President Bush, but we'll hear from someone who says another attack like 9/11 is more likely with a Democrat in office.
Also ahead, John Edwards gets ready to take his star turn here in Boston. We'll show you what he's been up to.
And a conversation with Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania. We want to know what the Kerry campaign scrubbed from his speech tonight.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Vice presidential nominee John Edwards, after midnight last night, took the stage inspecting the FleetCenter here after it was empty and the delegates had gone home or gone to the parties afterwards.
Edwards arriving in Boston yesterday afternoon. And last night he walked through the FleetCenter checking it out in preparation for his prime time speech.
Before arriving, on the plane, onboard that 727 tossing a little bit of the football back and forth on board that trip and the flight, eventually, to Boston.
Before Senator Edward's hits the stage later tonight, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell addresses the delegates. Should Democrats be worried?
Governor Ed Rendell, our guest now here at the FleetCenter, good morning to you. Nice to see you. GOV. ED RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: I say worried only because you said a few things recently that kind of got our attention. On the screen you say, "They took a few of my best lines out, but that's life."
You made this quip to the "Philadelphia Inquirer," "Now, I will be a good boy and read it, or will I extemporize?"
RENDELL: Well, I was only having fun. I care so much about getting John Kerry elected that I'm going to go along with the script.
HEMMER: What did they take out?
RENDELL: Well they took out a good line. My best line was the current energy policy of this administration was written by a big oil, it's of big oil, and for big oil.
HEMMER: Are you happy with the speech in this form, though?
RENDELL: I'm happy to be here and I'm happy to be supporting John Kerry...
HEMMER: Nobody likes to be told "no" to their ideas.
RENDELL: ... and we wanted to tone it down.
And I agree -- I heard you talk to Joe Biden -- we want the emphasis to be on John Kerry not on bashing President Bush because we believe that a lot of Americans have made up their mind that the Bush administration hasn't cut it. And now they're looking to see if John Kerry's the man to replace him.
HEMMER: You said something in there. They told you to tone it down? Did they tell everyone to tone it down?
RENDELL: I think basically that -- not to tone it down -- but the message is don't bash the president, let's talk about John Kerry.
And by the way, if it was my decision, I'd do the same thing because the American people don't know, except for our democratic core, primary voters. They don't really know John Kerry the way we know him. And there's been about $100 million of negative ads, real misinformation.
A lot of Pennsylvanians, Bill, for example, think John Kerry is going to raise their taxes. Well unless you make $200,000, the answer to that is, no. And we have to begin the process of explaining what John Kerry wants to do with this country and explaining what type of guy he is.
HEMMER: Let's talk about John Edwards. A day before he was the man who was tabbed, you said this, "I think when people look at John Edwards, they say he's a terrific, bright young senator. He'll be something someday, but I don't think they see it now." RENDELL: Well, I thought -- they asked me how come he didn't win any of the primaries, you know, a great campaigner, charismatic. And I was juxtaposing the difference in experience and, you know, what you guys call gravitos (ph).
But look at John Edwards' experience on foreign policy compared to Governor George Bush. John Edwards has been in the Senate for six years, six tumultuous years in terms of what's happened. George Bush was the governor of Texas, had zero foreign policy experience. John Edwards is ready. He'll be a great vice president.
HEMMER: I don't have much time. The "L.A. Times" put out this poll recently. John Kerry up by 10 points over President Bush. You believe it's a much tighter race?
RENDELL: Absolutely, and I think everyone else in Pennsylvania does, too.
HEMMER: Thank you. Good to see you.
RENDELL: Good to see you.
HEMMER: Ed Rendell, the governor in the state of Pennsylvania. Thank you. Nice to see you.
RENDELL: My pleasure.
HEMMER: Time to bring in another governor. Just about eight months ago, it appeared the Democratic convention would be all Howard Dean's party, all his show. That was then, this is now. And we saw it last night.
Governor Dean our guest now, here in Boston. Good morning, nice to have you with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
DEAN: Good morning. Great to be back.
HEMMER: Dick Cheney said this yesterday, "They talk about jobs," meaning the Democrats, "yet they never explain how they would put a single American back to work. Their big idea," he says, "for the economy is to raise our taxes."
When people hear that and voters hear that, how do you react? Is that the case?
DEAN: I don't know why you'd believe Dick Cheney after all the money he's taken from Halliburton and all our taxpayers money he's given to Halliburton.
The truth of the matter is, we're going to get jobs by the same way Bill Clinton did, by balancing the budget.
We haven't had a Republican balance the budget in 34 years in this country. I think we need balanced budgets. When you do that, you stop running up half-trillion dollar deficits every year, then you can have the jobs planted in the economy again. It worked for Bill Clinton, it will work for John Kerry.
HEMMER: There was a poll that came out yesterday, Governor, "Washington Post" showing in the past month John Kerry is losing ground on nearly every issue, issues like the economy, Iraq, education, health care, taxes. The list continues there, six total. What explains that?
DEAN: I don't think anything, you know, there's 10 polls in the last 10 days, and I think you've got to look at all of them. I think it's a very close race. It's going to be a close race, and I think we're going to win.
HEMMER: You wanted this position. In fact, that was your opening line last night when you were greeted on the stage here in Boston. And what a reception you received, too, from the delegates.
You mentioned John Kerry's name six times. Was that hard for you to do last night in your speech and conceding, ultimately, that you're here but not in the way you wanted to be?
DEAN: No, not really. You know, I lost the primaries. I would have liked to have won them. John Kerry won, and we're all on the same team.
The differences between me and John Kerry or John Edwards or Dick Gephardt are so small compared to the differences between us and President Bush, I think we're going to present a real vision of hope and a vision mostly of opportunity, jobs, and health insurance and the dedication to education.
The president hasn't done any of those things. We offer the American people a real positive alternative. And think that's what this is about. You know, of course I would have liked to have been to nominee. I'm not, and I'm going to support John Kerry vigorously.
HEMMER: When you concluded last night, Sister Sledge came on the house speakers. They played the song "We Are Family." Was there symbolism there?
DEAN: I think so. I think, you know, the Democrats have a reputation for fighting. But this time we're most unified I've seen in seven conventions.
And we need to win for the future of this country. We cannot afford these enormous deficits. We cannot afford the loss of moral leadership in the world that we've had under President Bush.
We need a president of the United States who understand our place in the world, which ought to be at the front of the pack, and a president who understands money and how to balance budgets.
We don't have that now, and we can get that with John Kerry.
HEMMER: Howard Dean, thanks for your time here in Boston with us.
DEAN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Nice to speak with you.
DEAN: Thanks very much.
HEMMER: Once again, here's Heidi. Much more throughout the morning here, in Boston. Back to Heidi now, in New York. Good morning again.
COLLINS: Good morning to you, Bill.
And still to come this morning, time may be running out, in Utah. There's a new phase in the search for a missing pregnant woman there.
Stay with us, we'll tell you all about it on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Time now for "The Cafferty File" and the "Question of the Day" from our good friend Jack. Good morning.
CAFFERTY: Just communing with our director. Good morning.
The 9/11 Commission report came out last Thursday. Congress's first response was, "We're much too busy, we'll try to get to it next year," then they went on vacation for six weeks.
Apparently the public takes this issue a little more seriously than that, and now both parties are scrambling to come up with an acceptable response.
The Democrats idea is to have the commission continue for another 18 months. They've already spent 20 months, interviewed 1,200 people and looked through two and a half million pages of documents to come up with a list of recommendations about what needs to be done.
The Republicans idea is to hold more hearings.
A third suggestion might be that they actually sit down, right now, and do something.
The question this morning is: What's the first change you'd make based on the 9/11 Commission report? Am@cnn.com
Invest all this time and energy in getting these distinguished bipartisan folks to come up with this thing and it turns into a political football just like that. I mean, it's just disgusting. I mean, first they don't have time. Now, it's let's have hearings, let's continue it 18 more months. There is a list of things to do -- do them.
COLLINS: Yes, they're pretty specific too.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Jack, great question. Thanks so much. Still to come this morning, we've got your Wednesday edition of "90-Second Pop"
Donald Trump is no apprentice when it comes to making money, but you won't believe what he's asking for now.
Plus, Siegfried and Roy decide their future on the Las Vegas strip.
All that and more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired July 28, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Music blaring, signs waiving, Democrats meet the new stars and see some old faces on the second night of their convention. One newcomer may have stolen the show. Across the country, Democrats now talking about Barack Obama.
And Teresa Heinz Kerry speaks out for her husband.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF SENATOR JOHN KERRY: And John is a fighter. He earned his medals the old-fashioned way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: And John Edwards gets ready to take the stage. We'll look ahead to his speech tonight on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: This is AMERICAN MORNING from the Democratic National Convention in Boston, here is Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: Good morning. Day three now on a Wednesday morning here in Boston. Welcome back, everyone, to the FleetCenter here in the Northeast. Our special coverage of the Democratic convention rolls on yet again today.
The Democrats get down to business later -- the roll call votes and the actual process of nominating John Kerry and John Edwards for the ticket in 2004.
Last night, some of the prominent names in the lineup, including Teresa Heinz Kerry, Ron Reagan, Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama, former candidate Howard Dean and the senator -- the senior senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy.
If you missed them last night, we will bring you up to date on what happened here throughout the morning.
Senator Kerry watched that convention and his wife's speech from his hotel room in Philadelphia last night. He arrives later this morning in Boston, expected to make his big entrance, crossing the Boston Harbor in a water taxi, accompanied by several members, former members, Navy crewmates from his Vietnam days.
Looking ahead for us today, our guests -- what a lineup, too. Senator Joe Biden is here, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Howard Dean is our guest, the Reverend Al Sharpton and Al Franken. You'll see them all in the coming hours here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Also with us today, Heidi Collins back in New York City. Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill. Thanks so much.
I want to let everybody know there is other news out there, as well, today, including a developing story out of Iraq.
At least 51 people now said to have been killed in a car bombing in the city of Baquba, another 68 hurt in this massive explosion. Police say a bomber drove a minibus into a crowded marketplace near a police station. We'll have much more on that.
Also, we're bringing you the developments in Michael Jackson case. That trial will not proceed as expected. We'll talk with Jeff Toobin about why the judge granted a key defense motion. That will be coming up in just a little while.
In the meantime, Jack is here now. Good morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How are you doing, Heidi?
A week ago, when the 9/11 Commission report came out, it was like the elephant in the living room. Everybody was kind of trying to look the other way and pretend they didn't notice.
Now all the politicians suddenly are rushing to embrace the 9/11 Commission report. Funny how things change in the light of a little bit of pressure brought to bear. We'll take a look at it in a few minutes.
COLLINS: Very good. Jack, thanks so much.
Bill, back to you in Boston.
HEMMER: All right to, Heidi. John Edwards takes the stage later tonight to make his case for putting Democrats back in the White House in '04. And the spotlight last night, though, a rising star, a possible first lady, and a political old hand.
Here's Bob Franken this morning for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: John Edwards is coming into the building. He's here to get the feel of the podium.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Edwards made a late-night tour of the hall as the Edwards family got ready to take center stage, the new faces of the party, along with last night's keynoter, the son of a black Kenyan and white American woman, now a Senate candidate, Barack Obama.
BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS SENATE CANDIDATE: In no other country on earth is my story even possible.
FRANKEN: The Democrats also showed they could be sentimental so and so's for the old faces.
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: America needs a genuine uniter, not a divider who only claims to be a uniter.
FRANKEN: President Bush has united the Democratic Party.
HOWARD DEAN (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I may not be the nominee, but I can tell you this. For the next 100 days I'll be doing everything that I can to make sure that John Kerry and John Edwards take this country back for the people who built it.
FRANKEN: Which would give Teresa Heinz Kerry a forum as first lady.
TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF SENATOR JOHN KERRY: My right to speak my mind, to have a voice, to be what some have called "opinionated."..
(APPLAUSE)
HEINZ KERRY: ... is a right I deeply and profoundly cherish.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: She has made that absolutely clear. And the Democrats have made it absolutely clear about their passion to beat George W. Bush -- Bill?
HEMMER: Bob Franken, thanks for that.
Next stop here in Boston: Senator John Kerry getting ready to accept his party's nomination for president. In the meantime, though, more speeches later tonight, one by the senator from Delaware, Joe Biden, our guest here now in Boston.
Senator, good morning to you. Nice to see you here in person instead of through that satellite window.
Every headline in every major newspaper you find, it says the unity is the theme so far. What is bringing Democrats together, at this point?
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: George Bush. George Bush is the single, most uniting factor (INAUDIBLE) in the United Senate. I'm not being facetious.
I think there's such a desire to win. There's such a desire, there's such a concern. Everybody, I think average Americans whether they're for Bush or for Kerry think this is the most important election they've ever been involved in. The outcome is going to be very important. And so I think that's what's unifying everybody that sits behind us.
HEMMER: The contrast of your comment suggests, though, the concentration is not on John Kerry.
BIDEN: Well, no...
HEMMER: Is there is danger there?
BIDEN: Well, no there's not a danger there. What it is, is that the Democratic Party is always fractured. You know that famous Will Rogers quote, "I belong to no organized political party, I'm a Democrats."
And our tent's usually so big that we have some division. This is my seventh convention, but this is one where there is an absolute earnestness about we must win this election because of the direction the president is taking us.
And so, I think that is the -- now obviously, everybody likes John Kerry. And they -- he would have been nominated and people are excited about him in the Democratic Party.
But the single, unifying feature why people aren't fighting in the platform -- there are differences we still have in our party -- but it's George Bush.
HEMMER: How do you responded then to the poll numbers from the "Washington Post" that came out yesterday? In the past month, John Kerry starts to trail in nearly every category in which was polled, on the economy, the war on terror, security. How do you react?
BIDEN: Well, I'm no expert on polling. I mean I've been in the business awhile, but I'm no expert on polling. And it seems to be an aberration.
That single poll seems to be out of sync. I think, while I was listening to Charlie Cook last night, he said take a look at the last five, six or seven polls, put them altogether, figure the average.
And understand that -- you know this, Bill, as well as I do. If I'm an incumbent senator or incumbent president running for reelection and the undecided voters know who I am and they're still undecided, they usually break three out of four, two out of three, for the challenger. So if I were John Kerry, I'd feel pretty good right now.
HEMMER: On Friday, there were hearings in the Senate regarding the 9/11 Commission report. What should be implemented now based on those findings?
BIDEN: I think we should implement now three things. One, a single, joint committee in the United States Congress.
Number two, I think we should be pushing legislation consistent with the requirement to have this super center, if you will, that is a gathering site for all information.
And I personally think that we should have an oversight officer who is the head of and coordinating all of the intelligence, which is going to be very controversial. But I'm the guy who wrote the drug czar legislation, setting up a single person to do that. A person who is in charge of intelligence has to be in charge of the budgets, and that's the thing none of the agencies are going to like.
HEMMER: In a word, is Congress ready and willing to concede on every...
BIDEN: No.
HEMMER: No?
BIDEN: No, it's not. And that's what...
HEMMER: What does that say to the American people?
BIDEN: Well, it says to the American people that we are a little bit dysfunctional. And I'd say to the American people, look at your Congress and the senator who won't give up jurisdiction to have a focused attention on intelligence and vote against them, whether their Democrats or Republicans.
HEMMER: Thank you, senator. Good to see you.
BIDEN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Joe Biden here in Boston.
On the podium later tonight, the convention chairman bringing things to order, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. Also the presidential hopefuls from the former months here, Al Sharpton, Dennis Kucinich and the vice presidential candidate, the headliner tonight, John Edwards takes the stage.
CNN, yet again, your place to be for complete coverage throughout the day and the evening here in Boston.
Back to New York again and Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Bill. Thanks a lot.
At least 68 people are dead in the worst attack since the handover of power in Iraq. A suicide car bomb detonated next to hundreds of men today looking to join the Iraqi police force.
It was at a recruitment center in Baquba, about 30 miles north of Baghdad. Twenty-one of the dead were riding on a bus that was passing the center at the moment of the explosion.
Today is the 30-day anniversary of the handover of power. Iraqi police are a frequent target of suicide bombers.
Just about 10 minutes past the hour now. Time for a look at some of today's other news with Daryn Kagan. Good morning to you, Daryn.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Heidi, for that. We are also on Iraq. We're going to begin with the first U.S. soldier who has been charged with murder there, now facing a military tribunal in Germany.
The soldier's name is Captain Rogelio Maynulet. He denies killing an Iraqi man during a hunt for radical cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr. The military is opening its version of a grand jury investigation into the incident this morning at a U.S.-base outside of Frankfurt.
Here in the U.S., police are using cadaver dogs this morning to search for a missing pregnant woman in Utah. Lori Hacking's family, yesterday, called off search efforts by volunteers, saying that critical areas have been covered.
Earlier, a defense lawyer hired by the family of Hacking's husband, Mark, reportedly deployed its own team of investigators. Mark Hacking has not yet been named a suspect, but police are calling him a person of interest.
A federal grand jury has indicted a major Islamic charity and seven of its key officials for supporting terrorists. The Texas-based Holy Land Foundation was virtually shut down by federal authorities.
That happened several years ago. Now it is charged with providing millions of dollars in support for the Palestinian group Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization.
And finally, there's a lot of cleaning up to do in parts of southern New Jersey. A tornado packing winds of 110 miles an hour damaged several buildings, knocked down trees and power lines yesterday. There were some minor injuries, but nothing serious was reported.
I know some of you out there are thinking: Tornado? New Jersey?
Time for a forecast. Rob Marciano in for Chad Myers to explain all of that to us.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: F-1 tornado. I mean, it's minimal, but the damage is done. You see it there.
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MARCIANO: Heidi, back to you in New York.
COLLINS: All right. Thanks so much to you, Rob. Appreciate it.
The judge in Michael Jackson's child molestation case has granted a defense request to delay the trial until January. Prosecutors meanwhile claim the alleged victim and his family were virtual prisoners at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joining us now to talk about the developments in this case.
What do you make of these charges? JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, this was really interesting. This was the first time that the prosecution really laid out its theory of the case.
And what they said was after February of last year, which is when the Martin Bashir documentary came out, where Jackson said he thought it was appropriate to have children sleep in his bed, he thought there was nothing wrong with that.
COLLINS: Right.
TOOBIN: He said after that, at that point, according to the prosecution, Jackson made the accuser in this case virtual prisoners in his home, took them around on private plane trips to Florida and elsewhere, and forced the child to make a videotape saying that nothing untoward went on with Michael Jackson.
COLLINS: OK. So, how difficult will this be to prove for prosecutors?
TOOBIN: Incredibly difficult to prove because, you know, how do you make someone a prisoner with their parents and by forcing them to, you know, be on a private plane and take vacations and live the good life?
I mean, that sounds -- many people might view that as a nice thing to have, as a good thing to have, hardly a prisoner situation. Tom Mesereau, Michael Jackson's lawyer, in court yesterday said any jury would laugh this out of court.
I don't know if that's true, but certainly I think the idea of this as a prisoner type situation, that's going to be difficult to prove.
COLLINS: Yes, virtual prisoner, being the keyword.
TOOBIN: Yes, very virtual.
COLLINS: Right. OK. Also the trial date, as we mentioned, being pushed back to January 31st, originally scheduled for September 13th, judge saying that he was overly optimistic in trying to do that. Does that surprise you?
TOOBIN: Welcome to California. Again, California has the slowest legal system in the United States, certainly of all the big states. That's a long delay, but not terribly surprising.
There are a lot of legal motions still to be handled in this case. They have to go to all the grand jury testimony to make sure that the prosecution conducted an appropriate proceeding. There are a lot of issues about whether evidence will be suppressed or not. It's going to take a long time.
January, I think, is likely at this point, but there's no guarantee it won't be delayed past then either.
COLLINS: But when it comes down to it, Jeff, doesn't it really just appear to be Michael Jackson's word versus the boys word?
TOOBIN: Well, in many respects, the case is even weaker than that because you have the boy on tape saying nothing happened. You have the boy telling investigators from Los Angeles children's services that nothing happened.
So it's not just Michael Jackson's word against the boy's now; it's the boy's word against his own word at various times. So, it strikes me as a difficult case for the prosecution. And there's only one accusation at the heart of this case. It's not like there are a group of people who claim that Michael Jackson abused them.
COLLINS: January 31st. All right.
TOOBIN: Or thereabouts.
COLLINS: Or thereabouts. All right, Jeffrey Toobin, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Still to come this morning, Bill will be back from Boston. He'll have a look at which candidate will do a better job protecting America.
John Kerry says he can do better than President Bush, but we'll hear from someone who says another attack like 9/11 is more likely with a Democrat in office.
Also ahead, John Edwards gets ready to take his star turn here in Boston. We'll show you what he's been up to.
And a conversation with Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania. We want to know what the Kerry campaign scrubbed from his speech tonight.
Stay with us.
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HEMMER: Vice presidential nominee John Edwards, after midnight last night, took the stage inspecting the FleetCenter here after it was empty and the delegates had gone home or gone to the parties afterwards.
Edwards arriving in Boston yesterday afternoon. And last night he walked through the FleetCenter checking it out in preparation for his prime time speech.
Before arriving, on the plane, onboard that 727 tossing a little bit of the football back and forth on board that trip and the flight, eventually, to Boston.
Before Senator Edward's hits the stage later tonight, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell addresses the delegates. Should Democrats be worried?
Governor Ed Rendell, our guest now here at the FleetCenter, good morning to you. Nice to see you. GOV. ED RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: I say worried only because you said a few things recently that kind of got our attention. On the screen you say, "They took a few of my best lines out, but that's life."
You made this quip to the "Philadelphia Inquirer," "Now, I will be a good boy and read it, or will I extemporize?"
RENDELL: Well, I was only having fun. I care so much about getting John Kerry elected that I'm going to go along with the script.
HEMMER: What did they take out?
RENDELL: Well they took out a good line. My best line was the current energy policy of this administration was written by a big oil, it's of big oil, and for big oil.
HEMMER: Are you happy with the speech in this form, though?
RENDELL: I'm happy to be here and I'm happy to be supporting John Kerry...
HEMMER: Nobody likes to be told "no" to their ideas.
RENDELL: ... and we wanted to tone it down.
And I agree -- I heard you talk to Joe Biden -- we want the emphasis to be on John Kerry not on bashing President Bush because we believe that a lot of Americans have made up their mind that the Bush administration hasn't cut it. And now they're looking to see if John Kerry's the man to replace him.
HEMMER: You said something in there. They told you to tone it down? Did they tell everyone to tone it down?
RENDELL: I think basically that -- not to tone it down -- but the message is don't bash the president, let's talk about John Kerry.
And by the way, if it was my decision, I'd do the same thing because the American people don't know, except for our democratic core, primary voters. They don't really know John Kerry the way we know him. And there's been about $100 million of negative ads, real misinformation.
A lot of Pennsylvanians, Bill, for example, think John Kerry is going to raise their taxes. Well unless you make $200,000, the answer to that is, no. And we have to begin the process of explaining what John Kerry wants to do with this country and explaining what type of guy he is.
HEMMER: Let's talk about John Edwards. A day before he was the man who was tabbed, you said this, "I think when people look at John Edwards, they say he's a terrific, bright young senator. He'll be something someday, but I don't think they see it now." RENDELL: Well, I thought -- they asked me how come he didn't win any of the primaries, you know, a great campaigner, charismatic. And I was juxtaposing the difference in experience and, you know, what you guys call gravitos (ph).
But look at John Edwards' experience on foreign policy compared to Governor George Bush. John Edwards has been in the Senate for six years, six tumultuous years in terms of what's happened. George Bush was the governor of Texas, had zero foreign policy experience. John Edwards is ready. He'll be a great vice president.
HEMMER: I don't have much time. The "L.A. Times" put out this poll recently. John Kerry up by 10 points over President Bush. You believe it's a much tighter race?
RENDELL: Absolutely, and I think everyone else in Pennsylvania does, too.
HEMMER: Thank you. Good to see you.
RENDELL: Good to see you.
HEMMER: Ed Rendell, the governor in the state of Pennsylvania. Thank you. Nice to see you.
RENDELL: My pleasure.
HEMMER: Time to bring in another governor. Just about eight months ago, it appeared the Democratic convention would be all Howard Dean's party, all his show. That was then, this is now. And we saw it last night.
Governor Dean our guest now, here in Boston. Good morning, nice to have you with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
DEAN: Good morning. Great to be back.
HEMMER: Dick Cheney said this yesterday, "They talk about jobs," meaning the Democrats, "yet they never explain how they would put a single American back to work. Their big idea," he says, "for the economy is to raise our taxes."
When people hear that and voters hear that, how do you react? Is that the case?
DEAN: I don't know why you'd believe Dick Cheney after all the money he's taken from Halliburton and all our taxpayers money he's given to Halliburton.
The truth of the matter is, we're going to get jobs by the same way Bill Clinton did, by balancing the budget.
We haven't had a Republican balance the budget in 34 years in this country. I think we need balanced budgets. When you do that, you stop running up half-trillion dollar deficits every year, then you can have the jobs planted in the economy again. It worked for Bill Clinton, it will work for John Kerry.
HEMMER: There was a poll that came out yesterday, Governor, "Washington Post" showing in the past month John Kerry is losing ground on nearly every issue, issues like the economy, Iraq, education, health care, taxes. The list continues there, six total. What explains that?
DEAN: I don't think anything, you know, there's 10 polls in the last 10 days, and I think you've got to look at all of them. I think it's a very close race. It's going to be a close race, and I think we're going to win.
HEMMER: You wanted this position. In fact, that was your opening line last night when you were greeted on the stage here in Boston. And what a reception you received, too, from the delegates.
You mentioned John Kerry's name six times. Was that hard for you to do last night in your speech and conceding, ultimately, that you're here but not in the way you wanted to be?
DEAN: No, not really. You know, I lost the primaries. I would have liked to have won them. John Kerry won, and we're all on the same team.
The differences between me and John Kerry or John Edwards or Dick Gephardt are so small compared to the differences between us and President Bush, I think we're going to present a real vision of hope and a vision mostly of opportunity, jobs, and health insurance and the dedication to education.
The president hasn't done any of those things. We offer the American people a real positive alternative. And think that's what this is about. You know, of course I would have liked to have been to nominee. I'm not, and I'm going to support John Kerry vigorously.
HEMMER: When you concluded last night, Sister Sledge came on the house speakers. They played the song "We Are Family." Was there symbolism there?
DEAN: I think so. I think, you know, the Democrats have a reputation for fighting. But this time we're most unified I've seen in seven conventions.
And we need to win for the future of this country. We cannot afford these enormous deficits. We cannot afford the loss of moral leadership in the world that we've had under President Bush.
We need a president of the United States who understand our place in the world, which ought to be at the front of the pack, and a president who understands money and how to balance budgets.
We don't have that now, and we can get that with John Kerry.
HEMMER: Howard Dean, thanks for your time here in Boston with us.
DEAN: Thank you.
HEMMER: Nice to speak with you.
DEAN: Thanks very much.
HEMMER: Once again, here's Heidi. Much more throughout the morning here, in Boston. Back to Heidi now, in New York. Good morning again.
COLLINS: Good morning to you, Bill.
And still to come this morning, time may be running out, in Utah. There's a new phase in the search for a missing pregnant woman there.
Stay with us, we'll tell you all about it on AMERICAN MORNING.
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COLLINS: Time now for "The Cafferty File" and the "Question of the Day" from our good friend Jack. Good morning.
CAFFERTY: Just communing with our director. Good morning.
The 9/11 Commission report came out last Thursday. Congress's first response was, "We're much too busy, we'll try to get to it next year," then they went on vacation for six weeks.
Apparently the public takes this issue a little more seriously than that, and now both parties are scrambling to come up with an acceptable response.
The Democrats idea is to have the commission continue for another 18 months. They've already spent 20 months, interviewed 1,200 people and looked through two and a half million pages of documents to come up with a list of recommendations about what needs to be done.
The Republicans idea is to hold more hearings.
A third suggestion might be that they actually sit down, right now, and do something.
The question this morning is: What's the first change you'd make based on the 9/11 Commission report? Am@cnn.com
Invest all this time and energy in getting these distinguished bipartisan folks to come up with this thing and it turns into a political football just like that. I mean, it's just disgusting. I mean, first they don't have time. Now, it's let's have hearings, let's continue it 18 more months. There is a list of things to do -- do them.
COLLINS: Yes, they're pretty specific too.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Jack, great question. Thanks so much. Still to come this morning, we've got your Wednesday edition of "90-Second Pop"
Donald Trump is no apprentice when it comes to making money, but you won't believe what he's asking for now.
Plus, Siegfried and Roy decide their future on the Las Vegas strip.
All that and more ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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