Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Rural Vote; Air Fare Bargains; Little League Baseball is Big
Aired August 19, 2004 - 06:30 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: John Kerry is on the stump. George Bush will spend the day at his ranch. How are they doing? We have some new numbers to show you this morning.
As you well know, Ohio is a major battleground state. As of this moment, a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup Poll shows Kerry with a 10-point lead among registered votes. However, among Ohioans considered likely to vote in November, 48 percent picked Kerry, 46 percent Bush. And as you can see, that's well within the margin of error.
Our Paula Zahn went out to Ohio to check the pulse of undecided voters. Both the Bush and Kerry camps agree voters there could decide the presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA ZAHN, CNN HOST: What is at stake here in Ohio for the Bush campaign? Is it a make it or break state? There are a lot of people who say that no Republican has ever won the presidency without winning here in Ohio.
TUCKER ESKEW, BUSH CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Well, first, Paula, let me say there was a lot of electricity in the air until Tad and I came in.
ZAHN: It's your fault! All right. Someone's got to take a hit tonight. I'll blame it out you.
ESKEW: Yes, the stakes are very high. This is a critically important state. The president returns here often, has many friends from Ohio, and people involved in his administration are from this state. So -- and has worked very hard on the issues here.
So, I think if you look at the economic agenda of this president and his fight to make America prouder, safer and stronger, Ohio is at the heart of that. It's heart of our country, and I think it's a great place to have this sort of discussion.
ZAHN: But both of you have to be looking at these numbers, which basically show your two candidates in a statistical dead heat and say we've got to go and get some of these undecided voters out there.
TAD DEVINE, KERRY CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Yes, I think, you know, we're in the epicenter of American politics tonight. I think if any one of our candidates wins most of the people in this room, he's going to be the next president of the United States. I mean, I think it's fair to say that this is a very representative sample of this place and this nation. So, we're going to work real hard. We're running out of days, but we're anxious to talk to voters. We've been doing it for months now. This is the most engaged election at the earliest point in time I think in our country's history. And I think there's good reason for it. The issues are big. They're enormous
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: On to the crossroads on the way to the White House. That's how Wisconsin is being described in this year's election. President Bush and Senator Kerry have been campaigning hard there as well, but not in the places you might expect.
Craig Gilbert of the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" joins us this morning from Washington.
Good morning.
CRAIG GILBERT, "MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL": Good morning.
COSTELLO: What's the strategy here?
GILBERT: Well, they're hitting the rural areas very hard. We've had, in fact, of the seven bus trips that President Bush has taken, three have been in Wisconsin. There were four bus trips by Bush and Kerry in western Wisconsin, which is the less populated part of the state.
The rural vote is really vital to several battleground states, particularly in the upper Midwest. It's vital in Iowa and Minnesota and Wisconsin. And it's particularly vital to Democrats, because Democrats have done better with rural voters in that part of the country than elsewhere.
COSTELLO: What issues are rural voters most interested in?
GILBERT: Well, I think there is, you know, like everywhere else, the war and the economy loom large. In western Wisconsin, for example, you've got a lot of sort of farm and factory towns and counties, where manufacturing is also a big issue, even those these are less populated areas. I mean, Wisconsin is more reliant on manufacturing than any other battleground state.
Agriculture in Wisconsin and dairy farms, and then some of the cultural issues come into play: guns, sportsmen issues, abortion.
COSTELLO: So stem cell research would be a big issue out there?
GILBERT: Well, it's an issue for some people. I mean, I think, again, the mix of issues is similar. I think it also matters how the candidates sort of play on a personal level. When John Kerry took a trip down the western side of Wisconsin, he made a point of going trap shooting. He clearly wanted to send a signal that he was not -- that he was somebody that rural voters, you know, should feel comfortable with. When George Bush been there -- they've both gone to dairy farms. And so, they play to rural voters when they're there on a personal level. They want them to feel comfortable with them.
COSTELLO: So, who is being down home? I mean, who is playing down home the most effective?
GILBERT: Well, I think on a purely personal level, I think George Bush's personality probably plays a little bit better, just I think for obvious reasons. He's got kind of an earthier personality.
But I also think what you see as the result of the Electoral College system and the closeness of some of these states is you see the candidates operating on a very personal level. I mean, John Kerry when he was here earlier went out of his way on a bus trip to go to a town of 2,200 people in southwestern Wisconsin that George Bush had driven by but not stopped at, just to stop and shake hands. I mean, that's the level at which they're operating.
COSTELLO: And we all thought that the election would be done by computer, by the Internet, but we were wrong. Craig Gilbert of the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel," thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
GILBERT: Thank you.
COSTELLO: We have new information for you this morning on the criticism of Kerry's Vietnam War record. Larry Thurlow (ph) says Kerry lied about being shot at when he won a Bronze Star. Thurlow is a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the public advocacy group critical of Kerry. Thurlow won a Bronze Star during the same mission with Kerry.
And today, "The Washington Post" is reporting Thurlow also was being fired at during that same mission, because that's what the citation says for his Bronze Star.
If you spend much time online, chances are you're familiar with Google. Will the search engine's popularity stay strong when it goes public today? A live from the Nasdaq at 6:40 Eastern.
Plus, book a vacation and do not go broke. It can be done. We'll tell you how at 41 minutes past the hour.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Stocks rise for the fourth straight session. The Dow is now back above 10000. It will open up 110 points higher this morning. The Nasdaq opens up 36 points, and the S&P 500 up about 13.
It's time for a little business buzz now. A new listing on the Nasdaq today. Will investors go gaga over Google?
Carrie Lee is live from the Nasdaq Marketsite. Wow!
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Finally, Carol, we're going to have a stock price to talk about. We've been talking about Google so much. It's set to trade here at the Nasdaq Marketsite today, ticker symbol GOOG.
They priced the shares at $85 a share last night. That's the lowest end of Google's downward revised range made yesterday, lower than the originally expected $108 to $135. Also, they're lowering the number of shares to be sold to $19.6 million. Still, this gives Google a market cap of $23 billion, and that puts it on par with General Motors, also much larger than Amazon.com, which has a market cap of $16 billion.
What happens today to the stock? Well, it's going to be interesting, because they've had that online Dutch auction system, trying to avoid the usual one-day quick run-up we often see with hot companies like this.
However, the fact that they've lowered the share price and lowered the number of shares to be sold could indicate that the interest wasn't all that hot here, that it could...
COSTELLO: Really?
LEE: Well, it's going to be interesting to see how this all comes about. It could determine a lack of enthusiasm. However, when you have fewer shares for sale, it could increase the enthusiasm.
So, it looks like it really could go either way. We'll see.
COSTELLO: Well, this was supposedly an auction because Google wanted the common person to be able to buy. But 85 bucks a share is still quite expensive for most of us. If we wait a little bit, might the share price go down then?
LEE: It could very well. You know, we'll have to see. But that is not unusual for an IPO stock. It comes out of the gate very strong, a lot of interest, and then if the stock price goes up and people make money, then they think, OK, I'm going to take my profits, and then the stock can go down. I'm not saying that's going to happen here, but that's not an unusual thing to happen.
So, we'll wait and see. Obviously there's a lot of anticipation, and the share price is set to get under way trading here today.
COSTELLO: All right, Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq Marketsite.
Bad news for the airlines but good news for you. There are a lot of empty seats right now, and airlines will sell them to you at a discount.
Ben Mutzabaugh, a travel reporter for USAToday.com, is here to tell us more about that.
BEN MUTZABAUGH, USATODAY.COM TRAVEL REPORTER: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Ooh, we love travel bargains. Tell us.
MUTZABAUGH: Yes, everyone loves a good bargain. And right now, this is the time to get them this fall. Air fare will probably be the lowest this fall that you might see for the next decade even. There are just a lot of seats out there. Airlines are rushing to add seats. They don't want to lose market share to the rivals. And they need to fill them now, so they're cutting prices.
COSTELLO: Some of the best bargains are at US Airways, am I correct?
MUTZABAUGH: Well, they have some good ones right now. What's happening at US Airways, of course, is that they're having problems with cash flow. And there is talk of a bankruptcy coming up, and that's -- you know, that could be a problem down the road. But if you're looking to travel in the near term, they're not going to stop flying any time soon. And they need cash, so they're going to do whatever they can to sell seats right now to try to raise some money.
COSTELLO: So, I'm seeing they fly routes to Europe. How low could you get a ticket price to Europe these days?
MUTZABAUGH: Well, you know, summer is still a tough time to get a cheap fare, even to Europe. But if you're going in the fall, if you decide you want to go, look back often, and you might be able to get something for under $400 round trip to Paris or London, or maybe even 450 to Rome.
COSTELLO: Wow! Some of these smaller airlines, like Independence Air, are making great headway in the market. You can get tickets really cheap from airlines like that.
MUTZABAUGH: Yes, and they've done a great job here in Washington of lowering fares. Of course, people out West are going to say, hey, when are we going to get our low fares? But Virgin America is probably going to start out there pretty soon.
But on the East Coast, Independence Air now flies to more than 30 cities out of Washington. They used to operate as a partner for United at Dulles, but decided to go their own way and, you know, go out on their own. And whether they're make it not remains to be seen, but it looks good right now. They've forecast that they can lose money for a couple of years.
But there are a lot of $97 round trip fares out of Washington or even $150-$160 fares on connecting flights all up and down the East Coast.
COSTELLO: You know, I just booked a flight to Baltimore for $79 from a smaller airline. It makes you believe that these big airlines are either going to have to adjust their costs or they're just plain going to go out of business.
MUTZABAUGH: Well, that's true. And that's their big problem. They match these fares because they don't want you to book with that smaller airline. But even if you buy that $79 ticket on a big airline, they might get your business but they're losing money on it. At some point something has got to give.
COSTELLO: Ben Mutzabaugh, the travel reporter for USAToday.com, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
MUTZABAUGH: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
The Iraqi government says it's had enough. Iraq's minister of state said within the last hour that radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr must announce at a public news conference that he's disbanding his militia and that he will leave that holy mosque in Najaf.
Oprah Winfrey calls it a reality check. She's talking about her experience as a juror in a murder trial. She and the other jurors found the defendant guilty. Winfrey will talk about her experience on her program next week.
In money news, Google goes public today. Stock in the Internet search engine will sell for 85 bucks a share. Look for trading under the ticker symbol GOOG on the Nasdaq.
In culture, Paris Hilton's dog Tinkerbell has been found after being missing for a week. Hallelujah! The Chihuahua, decked out in puppy-sized sneakers, has made regular appearances on Hilton's reality show.
In sports, the incoming coach of the L.A. Lakers says he believes Karl Malone will stay in L.A. Rudy Tomjanovich recently met with the 40-year-old Malone. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) injured his knee in December.
(WEATHER BREAK)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.
Now out to New York to see what's up on "AMERICAN MORNING" with Bill and Heidi.
Good morning.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, we're having this debate up here about this Olympics thing here.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: He has no idea of what he's talking about.
HEMMER: I know half of what I'm talking about. These announcers saying it was the greatest...
COLLINS: Not the greatest; one of.
HEMMER: ... moments in the history of Olympic sports?
COLLINS: One of.
COSTELLO: You mean Mr. Haum (ph), is that what you're talking about?
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Paul Haum, yes. Yes.
COSTELLO: Well, that was a pretty great moment. He went from 12th place to 1st.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Does that beat Kerri Strug in '96 when she did it on a broken leg, for crying out loud?
COLLINS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Oh, everybody has forgotten that by now.
HEMMER: Yes, you're right, 24-hour news cycle.
Carol, good morning. The very latest out of Iraq, this Najaf standoff and what's happening there with the radical cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr. Is a breakthrough at hand? Various reports throughout the morning. We'll try and figure it out top of the hour live in Baghdad on that.
COSTELLO: Also, we're going to be talking more about the military. President Bush's redeployment plan becomes a campaign issue now. We're going to hear from the White House and the Kerry camp on that.
HEMMER: Also, the Peterson case, a delay now until Monday; three days, in fact. We are getting reports anyway of this potential new evidence coming up, and the judge is going to have to sift through it. So, we'll figure out which side this favors right now with the delay. So, we'll have that for you.
COSTELLO: It means Amber Frey will be waiting to be cross- examined until Monday.
HEMMER: That's exactly right, yes, so. And Jack has got a great e-mail question, too. It has to do with the whole Oprah issue on that jury in Chicago. But we're going to look at that this morning.
COSTELLO: She had cameras following her.
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: She had security, too.
COSTELLO: She had cameras following her.
COLLINS: Yes.
COSTELLO: But she's going to, like, do a segment on her show. It's crazy.
Anyway, you guys go back to your debate now. We'll get to you in 10 minutes.
HEMMER: Got it.
COLLINS: OK, thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you.
Think back to the summers of your childhood, the crack of the bat, the taste of the dust as you slid into home plate. But baseball isn't like it was when we were kids. Coming up, on the eve of the Little League World Series, how much has the game changed for our children?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We'll just sit here and listen to the music. Welcome back to DAYBREAK. It's that time when we check out CNN.com to see what you're clicking on to this morning. We always like to see what the most popular stories are on our Web site.
And the No. 1 most clicked-on story is...
MYERS: It appears that 36 beers will make a bear drunk.
COSTELLO: That's right. A black bear in Washington State broke into a campsite, and apparently they had a lot of beer laying around. The bear chose the beer to drink. And not just any beer.
MYERS: Three 12-packs of Rainer.
COSTELLO: Whew!
MYERS: Then he passed out.
COSTELLO: He passed out. He's now been relocated.
The second most popular story on CNN.com has to do with this coin show in Pennsylvania.
MYERS: Yes, a big story here. Lots of very old coins, very rare coins, 1974 silver dollar insured...
COSTELLO: You mean 1794.
MYERS: 1794, a silver dollar worth almost $10 million. Everybody wants to go see it.
COSTELLO: Insane. The third most clicked-on story, Oprah Winfrey talking about her experience as a juror. She was on a jury in Chicago. They found the defendant guilty. And she's going to talk about it on her show next week.
MYERS: Yes. Now, how come this thing lasted, like, three days and other things last six months?
COSTELLO: I don't know.
MYERS: And she just got on the jury and now it's already over. Well anyway.
COSTELLO: It's because Oprah was on the jury.
MYERS: It could be. She got work done.
COSTELLO: Let's talk baseball now. Say it ain't so. Some people say baseball is no longer the favorite sport of young people. The Little League World Series gets under way tomorrow in Williamsport with 16 teams from around the globe vying for the title.
Let's see what Lance Van Auken has to say about that. He's the author of "Play Ball: The Story of Little League Baseball." He joins us this morning from Harrisburg a day before the Little League World Series begins, as I said, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Welcome.
LANCE VAN AUKEN, AUTHOR, "PLAY BALL": Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: And we want to talk to you, because there was an interesting article in the "Los Angeles Times." And it says that Little League baseball really isn't so popular among young people anymore. In fact, since 1987 when amateur baseball attracted more than 15 million players, the number has plummeted 27 percent, while soccer, ice hockey and lacrosse are swelling with new players. Why is that?
VAN AUKEN: Well, we've seen actually a decrease in many of the traditional team sports over the last five or six years. Little League's numbers have dropped off about 1 to 2 percent a year for those five years. But we're still well up over what our numbers were 10 years ago.
COSTELLO: Why is that?
VAN AUKEN: Well, I think you can point to a number of factors. You pointed out that the popularity of soccer, and even soccer has leveled off in the last couple of years. But there are sort of the nontraditional sports that kids are getting into nowadays, skating and snow boarding, those kinds of things, that are taking some time away. And, of course, just staying at home and playing Nintendo.
COSTELLO: Yes. Well, we've been soliciting e-mails on this subject.
Here is one. It says: "The problem is that the parents are too busy to let them play baseball, and money is short in the family these days." And I think what they're talking about, parents are too busy. I mean, a game of baseball takes a long time. And also, you have to pay for so many things: the uniforms, the bats, the glove. You have to pay the umpire fee sometimes. And, you know, parents sometimes have to pitch in.
VAN AUKEN: Sure. Little League itself, though, is a relatively inexpensive sport to play. In most of our leagues, the annual fee is probably $40 or $50 per player per year. And of that Little League International in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, only takes about $1.
So, just from that perspective, it is a very economical sport to play. And, you know, you mentioned that the World Series is starting tomorrow. All of those 16 teams in the World Series, we pay all of the expenses, travel. They stay right on our complex. They eat food at our dining hall. So, that doesn't cost those teams a penny.
COSTELLO: Well, that's good to hear.
Here is another one. It says: "Of course, baseball is the greatest. I play almost every day on Playstation."
And you mentioned that a short time ago. And, you know, Playstation, you know, the action is immediate. When you're playing right field in a baseball game, sometimes you just stand there the whole time.
VAN AUKEN: You know, I mean, we did some research over the last couple of years in Little League actually nationwide and found out that kids actually do like playing baseball because it lends itself toward the idea of the lone hero. Of course, you know, that means it could be the person who makes the error that ends the game. But there is always that possibility of making the great catch, hitting the homerun or the game-winning hit. Kids seem to like that.
And, you know, we hope that parents kind of combine the idea of playing the games at home on their Playstation with going out and actually doing it on a Little League field.
COSTELLO: Much better exercise, that's for sure.
VAN AUKEN: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: Lance Van Auken, author of "Play Ball," thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
VAN AUKEN: My pleasure, Carol.
COSTELLO: Today's mug winner announced in two minutes, but first this is DAYBREAK for a Thursday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Look at all of those people working this morning.
MYERS: It's like somebody has turned the lights on back there. COSTELLO: No wonder they're so sleepy over there.
MYERS: They're taking a nap.
COSTELLO: It's time to give away our DAYBREAK coffee mug.
MYERS: Exactly. Two questions from yesterday. We had quite a few good answers and quite a few bad ones.
Name one of the best sources of fish oils. And many of you put "fish." We were looking for a type of fish.
COSTELLO: Well, that's true, though. You have to admit.
MYERS: I guess. I guess. Salmon was actually the one we were looking for. And what's the expected price range of a share of Google? And that's $85 to $95.
And the winner, from Honolulu...
COSTELLO: Oh, yes!
MYERS: Wow! Steve McGuine from Honolulu...
COSTELLO: McGuine.
MYERS: Or McGuine from Honolulu.
COSTELLO: Aloha!
MYERS: Yes. Poypoo (ph), aloha. Didn't you just get back from there? Hey, good morning, everybody.
Now, let's do it. A recent poll of registered voters in Ohio, what percentage said they would vote for President Bush, and what percentage said they would vote for Senator Kerry?
And how many people play or volunteer at Little League games each year?
Those are the two questions for today. And you had to be watching to actually see the second one.
COSTELLO: Yes, you did.
MYERS: Because it was on the screen, but we didn't say it.
COSTELLO: That's a tough question.
MYERS: E-mail your answers, Daybreak@CNN.com, please.
COSTELLO: Daybreak@CNN.com.
That does it for us. I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired August 19, 2004 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: John Kerry is on the stump. George Bush will spend the day at his ranch. How are they doing? We have some new numbers to show you this morning.
As you well know, Ohio is a major battleground state. As of this moment, a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup Poll shows Kerry with a 10-point lead among registered votes. However, among Ohioans considered likely to vote in November, 48 percent picked Kerry, 46 percent Bush. And as you can see, that's well within the margin of error.
Our Paula Zahn went out to Ohio to check the pulse of undecided voters. Both the Bush and Kerry camps agree voters there could decide the presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA ZAHN, CNN HOST: What is at stake here in Ohio for the Bush campaign? Is it a make it or break state? There are a lot of people who say that no Republican has ever won the presidency without winning here in Ohio.
TUCKER ESKEW, BUSH CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Well, first, Paula, let me say there was a lot of electricity in the air until Tad and I came in.
ZAHN: It's your fault! All right. Someone's got to take a hit tonight. I'll blame it out you.
ESKEW: Yes, the stakes are very high. This is a critically important state. The president returns here often, has many friends from Ohio, and people involved in his administration are from this state. So -- and has worked very hard on the issues here.
So, I think if you look at the economic agenda of this president and his fight to make America prouder, safer and stronger, Ohio is at the heart of that. It's heart of our country, and I think it's a great place to have this sort of discussion.
ZAHN: But both of you have to be looking at these numbers, which basically show your two candidates in a statistical dead heat and say we've got to go and get some of these undecided voters out there.
TAD DEVINE, KERRY CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Yes, I think, you know, we're in the epicenter of American politics tonight. I think if any one of our candidates wins most of the people in this room, he's going to be the next president of the United States. I mean, I think it's fair to say that this is a very representative sample of this place and this nation. So, we're going to work real hard. We're running out of days, but we're anxious to talk to voters. We've been doing it for months now. This is the most engaged election at the earliest point in time I think in our country's history. And I think there's good reason for it. The issues are big. They're enormous
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: On to the crossroads on the way to the White House. That's how Wisconsin is being described in this year's election. President Bush and Senator Kerry have been campaigning hard there as well, but not in the places you might expect.
Craig Gilbert of the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" joins us this morning from Washington.
Good morning.
CRAIG GILBERT, "MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL": Good morning.
COSTELLO: What's the strategy here?
GILBERT: Well, they're hitting the rural areas very hard. We've had, in fact, of the seven bus trips that President Bush has taken, three have been in Wisconsin. There were four bus trips by Bush and Kerry in western Wisconsin, which is the less populated part of the state.
The rural vote is really vital to several battleground states, particularly in the upper Midwest. It's vital in Iowa and Minnesota and Wisconsin. And it's particularly vital to Democrats, because Democrats have done better with rural voters in that part of the country than elsewhere.
COSTELLO: What issues are rural voters most interested in?
GILBERT: Well, I think there is, you know, like everywhere else, the war and the economy loom large. In western Wisconsin, for example, you've got a lot of sort of farm and factory towns and counties, where manufacturing is also a big issue, even those these are less populated areas. I mean, Wisconsin is more reliant on manufacturing than any other battleground state.
Agriculture in Wisconsin and dairy farms, and then some of the cultural issues come into play: guns, sportsmen issues, abortion.
COSTELLO: So stem cell research would be a big issue out there?
GILBERT: Well, it's an issue for some people. I mean, I think, again, the mix of issues is similar. I think it also matters how the candidates sort of play on a personal level. When John Kerry took a trip down the western side of Wisconsin, he made a point of going trap shooting. He clearly wanted to send a signal that he was not -- that he was somebody that rural voters, you know, should feel comfortable with. When George Bush been there -- they've both gone to dairy farms. And so, they play to rural voters when they're there on a personal level. They want them to feel comfortable with them.
COSTELLO: So, who is being down home? I mean, who is playing down home the most effective?
GILBERT: Well, I think on a purely personal level, I think George Bush's personality probably plays a little bit better, just I think for obvious reasons. He's got kind of an earthier personality.
But I also think what you see as the result of the Electoral College system and the closeness of some of these states is you see the candidates operating on a very personal level. I mean, John Kerry when he was here earlier went out of his way on a bus trip to go to a town of 2,200 people in southwestern Wisconsin that George Bush had driven by but not stopped at, just to stop and shake hands. I mean, that's the level at which they're operating.
COSTELLO: And we all thought that the election would be done by computer, by the Internet, but we were wrong. Craig Gilbert of the "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel," thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
GILBERT: Thank you.
COSTELLO: We have new information for you this morning on the criticism of Kerry's Vietnam War record. Larry Thurlow (ph) says Kerry lied about being shot at when he won a Bronze Star. Thurlow is a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the public advocacy group critical of Kerry. Thurlow won a Bronze Star during the same mission with Kerry.
And today, "The Washington Post" is reporting Thurlow also was being fired at during that same mission, because that's what the citation says for his Bronze Star.
If you spend much time online, chances are you're familiar with Google. Will the search engine's popularity stay strong when it goes public today? A live from the Nasdaq at 6:40 Eastern.
Plus, book a vacation and do not go broke. It can be done. We'll tell you how at 41 minutes past the hour.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Stocks rise for the fourth straight session. The Dow is now back above 10000. It will open up 110 points higher this morning. The Nasdaq opens up 36 points, and the S&P 500 up about 13.
It's time for a little business buzz now. A new listing on the Nasdaq today. Will investors go gaga over Google?
Carrie Lee is live from the Nasdaq Marketsite. Wow!
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Finally, Carol, we're going to have a stock price to talk about. We've been talking about Google so much. It's set to trade here at the Nasdaq Marketsite today, ticker symbol GOOG.
They priced the shares at $85 a share last night. That's the lowest end of Google's downward revised range made yesterday, lower than the originally expected $108 to $135. Also, they're lowering the number of shares to be sold to $19.6 million. Still, this gives Google a market cap of $23 billion, and that puts it on par with General Motors, also much larger than Amazon.com, which has a market cap of $16 billion.
What happens today to the stock? Well, it's going to be interesting, because they've had that online Dutch auction system, trying to avoid the usual one-day quick run-up we often see with hot companies like this.
However, the fact that they've lowered the share price and lowered the number of shares to be sold could indicate that the interest wasn't all that hot here, that it could...
COSTELLO: Really?
LEE: Well, it's going to be interesting to see how this all comes about. It could determine a lack of enthusiasm. However, when you have fewer shares for sale, it could increase the enthusiasm.
So, it looks like it really could go either way. We'll see.
COSTELLO: Well, this was supposedly an auction because Google wanted the common person to be able to buy. But 85 bucks a share is still quite expensive for most of us. If we wait a little bit, might the share price go down then?
LEE: It could very well. You know, we'll have to see. But that is not unusual for an IPO stock. It comes out of the gate very strong, a lot of interest, and then if the stock price goes up and people make money, then they think, OK, I'm going to take my profits, and then the stock can go down. I'm not saying that's going to happen here, but that's not an unusual thing to happen.
So, we'll wait and see. Obviously there's a lot of anticipation, and the share price is set to get under way trading here today.
COSTELLO: All right, Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq Marketsite.
Bad news for the airlines but good news for you. There are a lot of empty seats right now, and airlines will sell them to you at a discount.
Ben Mutzabaugh, a travel reporter for USAToday.com, is here to tell us more about that.
BEN MUTZABAUGH, USATODAY.COM TRAVEL REPORTER: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Ooh, we love travel bargains. Tell us.
MUTZABAUGH: Yes, everyone loves a good bargain. And right now, this is the time to get them this fall. Air fare will probably be the lowest this fall that you might see for the next decade even. There are just a lot of seats out there. Airlines are rushing to add seats. They don't want to lose market share to the rivals. And they need to fill them now, so they're cutting prices.
COSTELLO: Some of the best bargains are at US Airways, am I correct?
MUTZABAUGH: Well, they have some good ones right now. What's happening at US Airways, of course, is that they're having problems with cash flow. And there is talk of a bankruptcy coming up, and that's -- you know, that could be a problem down the road. But if you're looking to travel in the near term, they're not going to stop flying any time soon. And they need cash, so they're going to do whatever they can to sell seats right now to try to raise some money.
COSTELLO: So, I'm seeing they fly routes to Europe. How low could you get a ticket price to Europe these days?
MUTZABAUGH: Well, you know, summer is still a tough time to get a cheap fare, even to Europe. But if you're going in the fall, if you decide you want to go, look back often, and you might be able to get something for under $400 round trip to Paris or London, or maybe even 450 to Rome.
COSTELLO: Wow! Some of these smaller airlines, like Independence Air, are making great headway in the market. You can get tickets really cheap from airlines like that.
MUTZABAUGH: Yes, and they've done a great job here in Washington of lowering fares. Of course, people out West are going to say, hey, when are we going to get our low fares? But Virgin America is probably going to start out there pretty soon.
But on the East Coast, Independence Air now flies to more than 30 cities out of Washington. They used to operate as a partner for United at Dulles, but decided to go their own way and, you know, go out on their own. And whether they're make it not remains to be seen, but it looks good right now. They've forecast that they can lose money for a couple of years.
But there are a lot of $97 round trip fares out of Washington or even $150-$160 fares on connecting flights all up and down the East Coast.
COSTELLO: You know, I just booked a flight to Baltimore for $79 from a smaller airline. It makes you believe that these big airlines are either going to have to adjust their costs or they're just plain going to go out of business.
MUTZABAUGH: Well, that's true. And that's their big problem. They match these fares because they don't want you to book with that smaller airline. But even if you buy that $79 ticket on a big airline, they might get your business but they're losing money on it. At some point something has got to give.
COSTELLO: Ben Mutzabaugh, the travel reporter for USAToday.com, thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
MUTZABAUGH: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:44 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.
The Iraqi government says it's had enough. Iraq's minister of state said within the last hour that radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr must announce at a public news conference that he's disbanding his militia and that he will leave that holy mosque in Najaf.
Oprah Winfrey calls it a reality check. She's talking about her experience as a juror in a murder trial. She and the other jurors found the defendant guilty. Winfrey will talk about her experience on her program next week.
In money news, Google goes public today. Stock in the Internet search engine will sell for 85 bucks a share. Look for trading under the ticker symbol GOOG on the Nasdaq.
In culture, Paris Hilton's dog Tinkerbell has been found after being missing for a week. Hallelujah! The Chihuahua, decked out in puppy-sized sneakers, has made regular appearances on Hilton's reality show.
In sports, the incoming coach of the L.A. Lakers says he believes Karl Malone will stay in L.A. Rudy Tomjanovich recently met with the 40-year-old Malone. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) injured his knee in December.
(WEATHER BREAK)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.
Now out to New York to see what's up on "AMERICAN MORNING" with Bill and Heidi.
Good morning.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Carol, we're having this debate up here about this Olympics thing here.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: He has no idea of what he's talking about.
HEMMER: I know half of what I'm talking about. These announcers saying it was the greatest...
COLLINS: Not the greatest; one of.
HEMMER: ... moments in the history of Olympic sports?
COLLINS: One of.
COSTELLO: You mean Mr. Haum (ph), is that what you're talking about?
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Paul Haum, yes. Yes.
COSTELLO: Well, that was a pretty great moment. He went from 12th place to 1st.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Does that beat Kerri Strug in '96 when she did it on a broken leg, for crying out loud?
COLLINS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Oh, everybody has forgotten that by now.
HEMMER: Yes, you're right, 24-hour news cycle.
Carol, good morning. The very latest out of Iraq, this Najaf standoff and what's happening there with the radical cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr. Is a breakthrough at hand? Various reports throughout the morning. We'll try and figure it out top of the hour live in Baghdad on that.
COSTELLO: Also, we're going to be talking more about the military. President Bush's redeployment plan becomes a campaign issue now. We're going to hear from the White House and the Kerry camp on that.
HEMMER: Also, the Peterson case, a delay now until Monday; three days, in fact. We are getting reports anyway of this potential new evidence coming up, and the judge is going to have to sift through it. So, we'll figure out which side this favors right now with the delay. So, we'll have that for you.
COSTELLO: It means Amber Frey will be waiting to be cross- examined until Monday.
HEMMER: That's exactly right, yes, so. And Jack has got a great e-mail question, too. It has to do with the whole Oprah issue on that jury in Chicago. But we're going to look at that this morning.
COSTELLO: She had cameras following her.
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: She had security, too.
COSTELLO: She had cameras following her.
COLLINS: Yes.
COSTELLO: But she's going to, like, do a segment on her show. It's crazy.
Anyway, you guys go back to your debate now. We'll get to you in 10 minutes.
HEMMER: Got it.
COLLINS: OK, thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you.
Think back to the summers of your childhood, the crack of the bat, the taste of the dust as you slid into home plate. But baseball isn't like it was when we were kids. Coming up, on the eve of the Little League World Series, how much has the game changed for our children?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We'll just sit here and listen to the music. Welcome back to DAYBREAK. It's that time when we check out CNN.com to see what you're clicking on to this morning. We always like to see what the most popular stories are on our Web site.
And the No. 1 most clicked-on story is...
MYERS: It appears that 36 beers will make a bear drunk.
COSTELLO: That's right. A black bear in Washington State broke into a campsite, and apparently they had a lot of beer laying around. The bear chose the beer to drink. And not just any beer.
MYERS: Three 12-packs of Rainer.
COSTELLO: Whew!
MYERS: Then he passed out.
COSTELLO: He passed out. He's now been relocated.
The second most popular story on CNN.com has to do with this coin show in Pennsylvania.
MYERS: Yes, a big story here. Lots of very old coins, very rare coins, 1974 silver dollar insured...
COSTELLO: You mean 1794.
MYERS: 1794, a silver dollar worth almost $10 million. Everybody wants to go see it.
COSTELLO: Insane. The third most clicked-on story, Oprah Winfrey talking about her experience as a juror. She was on a jury in Chicago. They found the defendant guilty. And she's going to talk about it on her show next week.
MYERS: Yes. Now, how come this thing lasted, like, three days and other things last six months?
COSTELLO: I don't know.
MYERS: And she just got on the jury and now it's already over. Well anyway.
COSTELLO: It's because Oprah was on the jury.
MYERS: It could be. She got work done.
COSTELLO: Let's talk baseball now. Say it ain't so. Some people say baseball is no longer the favorite sport of young people. The Little League World Series gets under way tomorrow in Williamsport with 16 teams from around the globe vying for the title.
Let's see what Lance Van Auken has to say about that. He's the author of "Play Ball: The Story of Little League Baseball." He joins us this morning from Harrisburg a day before the Little League World Series begins, as I said, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Welcome.
LANCE VAN AUKEN, AUTHOR, "PLAY BALL": Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: And we want to talk to you, because there was an interesting article in the "Los Angeles Times." And it says that Little League baseball really isn't so popular among young people anymore. In fact, since 1987 when amateur baseball attracted more than 15 million players, the number has plummeted 27 percent, while soccer, ice hockey and lacrosse are swelling with new players. Why is that?
VAN AUKEN: Well, we've seen actually a decrease in many of the traditional team sports over the last five or six years. Little League's numbers have dropped off about 1 to 2 percent a year for those five years. But we're still well up over what our numbers were 10 years ago.
COSTELLO: Why is that?
VAN AUKEN: Well, I think you can point to a number of factors. You pointed out that the popularity of soccer, and even soccer has leveled off in the last couple of years. But there are sort of the nontraditional sports that kids are getting into nowadays, skating and snow boarding, those kinds of things, that are taking some time away. And, of course, just staying at home and playing Nintendo.
COSTELLO: Yes. Well, we've been soliciting e-mails on this subject.
Here is one. It says: "The problem is that the parents are too busy to let them play baseball, and money is short in the family these days." And I think what they're talking about, parents are too busy. I mean, a game of baseball takes a long time. And also, you have to pay for so many things: the uniforms, the bats, the glove. You have to pay the umpire fee sometimes. And, you know, parents sometimes have to pitch in.
VAN AUKEN: Sure. Little League itself, though, is a relatively inexpensive sport to play. In most of our leagues, the annual fee is probably $40 or $50 per player per year. And of that Little League International in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, only takes about $1.
So, just from that perspective, it is a very economical sport to play. And, you know, you mentioned that the World Series is starting tomorrow. All of those 16 teams in the World Series, we pay all of the expenses, travel. They stay right on our complex. They eat food at our dining hall. So, that doesn't cost those teams a penny.
COSTELLO: Well, that's good to hear.
Here is another one. It says: "Of course, baseball is the greatest. I play almost every day on Playstation."
And you mentioned that a short time ago. And, you know, Playstation, you know, the action is immediate. When you're playing right field in a baseball game, sometimes you just stand there the whole time.
VAN AUKEN: You know, I mean, we did some research over the last couple of years in Little League actually nationwide and found out that kids actually do like playing baseball because it lends itself toward the idea of the lone hero. Of course, you know, that means it could be the person who makes the error that ends the game. But there is always that possibility of making the great catch, hitting the homerun or the game-winning hit. Kids seem to like that.
And, you know, we hope that parents kind of combine the idea of playing the games at home on their Playstation with going out and actually doing it on a Little League field.
COSTELLO: Much better exercise, that's for sure.
VAN AUKEN: Absolutely.
COSTELLO: Lance Van Auken, author of "Play Ball," thank you for joining DAYBREAK this morning.
VAN AUKEN: My pleasure, Carol.
COSTELLO: Today's mug winner announced in two minutes, but first this is DAYBREAK for a Thursday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Look at all of those people working this morning.
MYERS: It's like somebody has turned the lights on back there. COSTELLO: No wonder they're so sleepy over there.
MYERS: They're taking a nap.
COSTELLO: It's time to give away our DAYBREAK coffee mug.
MYERS: Exactly. Two questions from yesterday. We had quite a few good answers and quite a few bad ones.
Name one of the best sources of fish oils. And many of you put "fish." We were looking for a type of fish.
COSTELLO: Well, that's true, though. You have to admit.
MYERS: I guess. I guess. Salmon was actually the one we were looking for. And what's the expected price range of a share of Google? And that's $85 to $95.
And the winner, from Honolulu...
COSTELLO: Oh, yes!
MYERS: Wow! Steve McGuine from Honolulu...
COSTELLO: McGuine.
MYERS: Or McGuine from Honolulu.
COSTELLO: Aloha!
MYERS: Yes. Poypoo (ph), aloha. Didn't you just get back from there? Hey, good morning, everybody.
Now, let's do it. A recent poll of registered voters in Ohio, what percentage said they would vote for President Bush, and what percentage said they would vote for Senator Kerry?
And how many people play or volunteer at Little League games each year?
Those are the two questions for today. And you had to be watching to actually see the second one.
COSTELLO: Yes, you did.
MYERS: Because it was on the screen, but we didn't say it.
COSTELLO: That's a tough question.
MYERS: E-mail your answers, Daybreak@CNN.com, please.
COSTELLO: Daybreak@CNN.com.
That does it for us. I'm Carol Costello along with Chad Myers. "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
