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American Morning

Russian School Crisis; Hurricane Frances Preparations; Analysis of President Bush's Convention Speech

Aired September 03, 2004 - 9:00   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: Good morning, everyone. We are live in southern Florida, right near Melbourne, Florida, where we await the arrival of Frances, a storm that weakened overnight from a Category 4 to a Category 3. Now 120 miles an hour, but still a very strong and powerful storm that has not only the possibility to strengthen yet again, but also the direction and the path of the storm very unpredictable at this point, keeping us all in this entire state, really, in a state of suspense.
I'm Bill Hemmer, live, to take you through the next hour down here and let you know what we're finding out. Also, back in New York City, say hello and good morning to Kelly Wallace, helping us out back there as well.

Kelly, good morning to you.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill. And good morning, everyone.

We also have an ongoing story that we have been following throughout this morning in Russia. Troops stormed a school there held by terrorists. We will have much more on that very shortly. Right now, though, let's bring in my pal, Jack Cafferty.

A busy news morning indeed.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Very busy, indeed. In fact, so busy that it turns out we're going to be unable -- and I'm a bit disappointed by this -- we're going to be unable to reshow the video of the man who can squirt milk out of his eye.

We featured that on AMERICAN MORNING yesterday, much to the chagrin of some of the bosses, but to the delight of some of the twisted minds who like this program. And I was going to use it again today, but there ain't going to be time.

Instead, we're reading e-mails on this: what's the worst job you ever had? AM@CNN.com.

Did you see the video of the...

WALLACE: I missed that.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

WALLACE: I've got to... CAFFERTY: Maybe we can arrange it. We'll arrange a private showing.

WALLACE: Maybe I can arrange -- I'm going to talk to some people and see if we can get it.

CAFFERTY: Yes. It's worth looking at.

WALLACE: OK. All right.

CAFFERTY: Disgusting.

WALLACE: All right, Jack. Tough to follow that.

CAFFERTY: Yes, it is. I'm sorry.

WALLACE: Thanks so much.

But now we go now to the standoff in Russia in a moment. We'll go there in a moment. But first, now a look at other stories in the news.

A baby girl is back with her family this minute after a terrifying carjacking. These images just in to CNN within the last 15 minutes.

Police recovered the baby in Fairfax County, Virginia. The child's mother was found earlier this morning unconscious at a gas station. More on this story as it develops.

An Iraqi oil pipeline is still burning after a bomb attack. The Iraqi National Guard says a bomb was planted underneath the pipeline. It is a vital facility in northern Iraq, carrying oil to turkey.

This morning, President Bush is back in the campaign swing of things. In about 20 minutes, he will deliver a speech in Pennsylvania. His first since accepting his party's nomination. We will bring that speech to you live.

Meantime, his opponent, Senator John Kerry, is in another swing state. That would be Ohio. Senator Kerry will attend a front porch discussion a couple of hours from now.

Now back to the ongoing story we are following in Russia, where troops stormed a school today in a battle to free hundreds of children, parents and teachers who had been held hostage by Chechen separatists. Witnesses at the scene in southern Russia say there are many wounded, and some reports of some deaths in the violent end to a standoff that began two days ago.

Hala Gorani tells us how it all began.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The standoff began Wednesday, as hundreds of students, their parents and teachers gathered for the first day of the school year. The day of celebration was broken when armed assailants raided the school, seizing hundreds of men, women and children. At least seven people were reportedly left dead outside in the initial assault.

Hostage-takers immediately demanded talks with local officials and the release of Chechen militants jailed after a security sweep in June. They demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. And they threatened to kill scores of children if Russian forces attempted any advance on the besieged school complex.

The crisis quickly took on overtones of at least two past hostage standoffs involving Chechen separatist rebels, each of which ended with more than 100 hostages killed. Russian officials pledged from the start to make safety of the hostages a priority and said they would not storm the building. Then, at about 10:00 hours, GMT 1:00 p.m. local time, gunfire broke out and only intensified.

It's still unclear exactly what happened. We may not know for sure for some time. But early reports suggest that the hostage-takers had allowed Russian troops to retrieve bodies of those killed in the initial assault.

At that point, some of the hostage-takers, dressed in civilian clothes, tried to escape, and many of the hostages also began to flee. Some reports indicate the hostage-takers started firing on the fleeing hostages. An intense gun battle then raged for nearly an hour before Russian special forces were able to take control of the school.

One official says most of the children were able to escape unharmed. But many were wounded. The numbers are still being tallied.

Hala Gorani, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Now, Russian forces had been saying they would not move in, but they were not able to control the situation. Earlier, we spoke with Robin Horsfall, someone familiar with this type of operation. He was with the British Special Forces back in 1980 during the storming of the Iranian embassy in London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: What is the major challenge right now the Russian authorities are facing?

ROBIN HORSFALL, FMR. BRITISH SPECIAL FORCES OFFICER: Well, the Russian authorities have got themselves involved now in the building. The situation started about two hours ago with an unexpected explosion and the escape of some hostages.

The firefight then continued. And it seems like the Russian commander decided to take the opportunity and go in and attack the building, and hope for the best. What we've got now is a situation where the firefight has gone on for a long period of time, while the Russians have been clearing every room in the school.

They've managed to release a large number of hostages. We don't know how many are still in the building. Obviously an explosion went off inside the building, because part of the roof came down. And there's a very strong chance that there are going to be a lot of blast injury casualties inside the building now.

What we see now is a mopping up operation. The roof of the building is completely gone. It's on fire. And there's still a firefight taking place.

And there are reports that some of the hostage-takers have escaped from the building to the south. And they're being chased by other Russian soldiers in the hope of mopping up the situation. The priority now has to be to give medical services to the surviving hostages, and clear them from the area as soon as possible.

WALLACE: From your own experience, what are some of the scenarios that these Russian commandos could have to anticipate, including the possibility, which Ryan Chilcote was sort of alluding to, of suicide bombers in the area?

HORSFALL: Yes. Well, obviously one explosion has already gone off inside the building, and there was a chance of more of those. Anybody carrying explosives around the body could have set off a charge.

Fighting inside a building is the most difficult and dangerous fighting that any soldier can envisage. You've got smoke, you've got confusion, you've got large numbers of innocent hostages who could get killed in the crossfire, or if any of the soldiers makes a mistake.

However, anyone in the dark could also be a terrorist who's going to open fire on you. And sometimes you can't see. Life-or-death decisions are made -- made instantly, and it's a very, very dangerous situation for anybody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Our conversation with Robin Horsfall, former British Special Forces officer. Another update on this story in about 20 minutes.

Now, thought, we turn to Bill Hemmer in Florida. More on Hurricane Frances -- Bill.

HEMMER: Kelly, thanks. We're listening for the governor here, Jeb Bush, now speaking with reporters up in Tallahassee, still urging people that there is time to get out and evacuate. Here's the governor live now.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: ... and they may miss some of this action. And I hope that's the case. But they, too, need to be focusing on preparation, because the storm could cross the peninsula of Florida, gather strength again as it arrives in the Gulf, and hit the Panhandle of our state. The state is taking all of the actions necessary to prepare. Last night, I sent letters to 17 governors asking them to waive size, wait and weight station requirements for vehicles transporting emergency equipment services and supplies by and on behalf of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and its contractors.

We are staging across, some outside the state and some inside the state, a massive response for this storm. And we're going to need it. There's going to be a lot of work necessary to make sure that the response is massive and immediate to help people once this storm comes.

This will hopefully facilitate this waiver, and I'm sure that there will be a good response. This will facilitate and expedite the delivery of aid to the victims of both Charley and Frances.

We're also working to get fuel to where it is needed. There have been reports that as people -- the inventories were somewhat low prior to this storm. And as people have begun to heed the advice of local emergency operation leaders in the communities, that there have been gasoline shortages. And we're doing everything possible to alleviate that problem.

Colonel Knight will talk a bit about the turnpike and the evacuation routes and the traffic flows. But fortunately, so far, there is -- there is gasoline on the turnpike route. And we're going to do what we can to make sure that people have gasoline to be able to make the proper decisions.

With that, Craig, I'll give it back to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Governor.

BUSH: Oh, one thing, Craig. Sorry.

HEMMER: All right. Governor Jeb Bush now -- Governor Jeb Bush now up in Tallahassee -- all right, let's pause here and listen again. Here's the governor.

BUSH: How's your Spanish?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People know you're going to...

BUSH: OK. (SPEAKING IN SPANISH).

HEMMER: All right. Governor Jeb Bush now bilingual for the Hispanic community here in Florida, strongly urging Floridians to pay attention to what's happening outside, because this storm really has slowed down, slowed down overnight. Now moving at about nine miles an hour, perhaps 10 miles an hour.

But Governor Bush saying that once the storm does arrive, it could stick with the Florida Panhandle for quite some time. And what that means is strong winds. It also means a significant storm when it comes to making rain for Floridians here.

I want to check the very latest on what we're learning right now. With me also is Chad Myers, our meteorologist, just across the way.

Chad, good morning again to you. And perhaps you could talk a bit more about what we're getting right now in terms of the conditions here locally.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, Bill, I was just looking at this. And, I mean, we're looking at least 19, at times up to 30-mile-an-hour gusts now. So we're starting to get that storm closer and closer.

Although it's moving slowly, like you said, only nine or 10 miles per hour closer, every hour as it gets closer the winds are going to come up. We could have hurricane-strength winds here for literally 12, maybe 14 hours. Just battering, because, one, as the storm slows down, and two, it's a very large storm, a much larger storm than Charley, although right now the eye is not quite as strong.

The winds around that eye are hurricane strength for many, many more miles than Charley. Charley was about a 15 or 20-mile path that went right through the center of Florida. This path could literally be 50 or maybe 70 miles wide, all with the same type of damage that we did see with Charley.

So as the winds pick up, we're going to keep kind of battening down the hatches. And the good news is, at least we have today.

If you didn't get out yesterday, and you're still thinking about it, at least you still have decent conditions right now to make that happen. And the roads, in fact, are, according to the people that have been driving around, are much less clogged right now than they were yesterday afternoon.

But you saw it. It was a standstill, Bill.

HEMMER: Yes. Indeed it was. Coming into the airport last night, you could see the red taillights forever lining up and down that highway.

Say hello to Jack Schluckebier. He's the city manager here at Melbourne, Florida.

And good morning to you.

JACK SCHLUCKEBIER, MELBOURNE, FLORIDA, CITY MANAGER: Good morning.

HEMMER: What are you telling people here in your community?

SCHLUCKEBIER: We're making it mandatory that people evacuate the Barrier Islands. We want people to be safe. They need to be off the islands as soon as possible, if they haven't left yet.

Winds are picking up. It's very dangerous out here. It will get worse through the day. We have an emergency operation center for public safety purposes for the duration of the storm, but we're concerned about this.

HEMMER: What did Charley do in terms of putting people on notice on this side of the state of Florida?

SCHLUCKEBIER: People have a certain sense that these things aren't to be concerned with until you actually have a hurricane. So the fact that we had Charley just three weeks ago was an excellent test run for us.

HEMMER: As far as the evacuations are concerned, based on what you can gauge, how many people listen to those warnings?

SCHLUCKEBIER: Based on what I've seen and what I've discovered, probably 70 to 80 percent believe it this time.

HEMMER: In previous storms, was it 70 to 80 percent?

SCHLUCKEBIER: I think it depends on the storm. But this one I think people are taking very seriously.

HEMMER: Good luck to you, OK?

SCHLUCKEBIER: Thank you, Bill.

HEMMER: Jack Schluckebier is the city manager here in Melbourne, Florida.

Thank you again, sir.

SCHLUCKEBIER: Thank you.

HEMMER: Much more in a second here of what's happening in Melbourne. I want to get to Rob Marciano in a moment, back at our weather center, who's watching the latest satellite images.

And Rob, what are you seeing this hour?

All right. OK. I'm going to put that on pause for a second here.

Also with us today, back in Atlanta, is Tom Nulty. He's a travel industry consultant. He's my guest right now.

Good morning to you. Welcome.

TOM NULTY, TRAVEL INDUSTRY CONSULTANT: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Let's move past the forecast right now. What are you telling people in terms of what they need to know if they're traveling this weekend? Because Labor Day weekend is a weekend where just about everybody is doing something vacation-wise.

NULTY: Yes. Certainly in Florida it's going to be a mess. It's going to be loaded with flight cancellations and with delayed flights. The objective of most of the airlines, of course, is to have all the airplanes out of town when the storm rolls through. And they'll recover quickly. They'll bring them back in as soon as -- as soon as the storm goes by.

There's going to be delays around the country as a result of this as well. Because what happens is, when airplanes are delayed in one point, they really do cause delays all around the country.

The good news for travelers is that the airlines have relaxed their -- their restrictions on changing tickets and canceling, and all their refund rules. So those are not going to apply. All the rules are different by every airline. And travelers can expect long lines at airports and very busy telephones.

HEMMER: Yes, that's in the air, Tom. Let's talk about Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean. They are making some changes, some adjustments. We're in the state of Florida. Cruises are popular. What advice do you have?

NULTY: Well, cruises are obviously impacted by this. All the ports are already closed.

There are several interesting stories coming out of this. But what's happening is that the cruise ships are either coming in early or staying out at sea. For the most part, they're staying out at sea.

I talked to the president of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines last night, and he told me that one of their ships came in early yesterday. Eight hundred passengers got off. And then they said, well, we're going to take the ship back out to sea for the storm, and if you want, you can get back on. And just about all 800 got back on.

So there are going to be cruises to nowhere. All their ports of call are changed. They're going to be shortened and extended cruises.

Most of the cruises won't depart until Monday, things that were scheduled to depart on Saturday and Sunday. And that means that some of the people that were supposed to return on Saturday or Sunday are getting a little bonus cruise out of it as well.

They're getting -- giving passengers a lot of credits to actually take these cruises, up to $500 I have seen. And once again, they have also relaxed the refund rules.

HEMMER: Yes. How about some advice for those who are canceling. Your advice in general is what, Tom?

NULTY: Well, if you're -- if you're canceling, obviously you should rebook as soon as you can. You need to check with your airline to find out exactly what the rules are. In fact, better than that, check with your travel agent if you have booked with them.

Even the online travel agencies have a lot of support. I know the people at Orbitz are actually sending e-mails to people, telling them, giving them advice of what to do in advance of them even asking for it. You want to check with your airline Web site before actually going to the airport to do anything.

When you do travel, bring some extra food with you and snacks, especially if you're traveling with kids, because I don't know how quickly these things are going to come back. And I would anticipate delays even after the schedule starts coming back.

Be flexible. And after it's all over, look for some bargains. Believe it or not, there are going to be some post-hurricane bargains out there.

HEMMER: We'll look for that the first part of next week. In the meantime, though, we'll keep our focus squarely on Frances. Tom, thanks for your time today.

NULTY: My pleasure.

HEMMER: Tom Nulty is a travel industry consultant. Our guest this morning from the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Frances is strong, Category 3, downgraded overnight. But again, we expect the possibility, strong possibility this storm could kick up yet again, possibly going back to a Category 4 over the next 24 hours. We're waiting and watching to see where it goes.

Back to Kelly now in New York with more there.

Hey, Kelly, good morning again.

WALLACE: Thanks, Bill. Clearly the message, if you don't have to travel this weekend, stay home.

Coming up here on AMERICAN MORNING, we are back live in Russia on the tense hostage situation there.

Also, did President Bush make the case for a second term? We'll take a look.

And why the women are stealing the show at the U.S. Open. "90- Second Pop" is ahead.

All coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: In politics now, last night President Bush laid out his vision for the country for the next four years. He also addressed some of the criticism that he's sometimes hard-headed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called walking.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: Now and then, I come across as a little too blunt. And for that, we can all thank the white-haired lady sitting right up there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: The president, of course, referring there to his mother, Barbara Bush, sitting in the audience. Well, for reaction and analysis of the Bush speech, I'm joined by senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

Great to see you, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Kelly.

WALLACE: So this is a president who a few months ago was asked, "Have you ever made a mistake?" He couldn't think of one. Was he here trying to sort of soften up his sort of wartime image?

SCHNEIDER: Well, of course he was, especially after some of those tough speeches that we heard earlier in the convention. This was a Bush that was immensely likable. And that point came across.

Americans have to like the president, because they're going to have to live with whoever they elect for four years. That was important, because you remember when Clinton was president. There were a lot of Clinton haters in the world. And Clinton would give a speech and people would say, "How can you hate this guy? He's a likable guy."

Well, there are a lot of Bush haters, too. And Bush, I think, counteracted that by being so likable.

WALLACE: Successful there, then? You think that was...

SCHNEIDER: I think the speech did come across -- it was successful.

WALLACE: Something else which his aides said he wanted to do was outline his vision for the next four years. Let's listen to another sound bite from the president, putting forward his agenda for a second Bush administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

G. BUSH: And now we have reached a time for hope. This young century will be liberty century.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: By promoting liberty abroad, we will build a safer world. By encouraging liberty at home, we will build a more hopeful America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: So, Bill, how successful laying out his vision and agenda for the next four years? SCHNEIDER: Domestically, I didn't hear a bold agenda in that speech. It was a litany of small programs. And frankly, I didn't think his heart was in any domestic issue.

But when it came to international policy, he did have a bold agenda. He called it "liberty century." And he was making the argument, by encouraging liberty, promoting liberty and democracy in the world, America will be more secure.

That's bold. It's also arguable, would Saudi Arabia be less threatening if it were a democracy? I'm not so sure.

And, of course, the question is, does that mean the United States is going to invade countries to turn them into democracies? We tried that in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's not clear it's succeeding.

WALLACE: Some problems there. You've covered politics for many years, of course. Unprecedented, really, for the opponent to go out 30 minutes after the Republican National Convention wrapping up with a very hard-hitting speech.

Democratic Senator John Kerry attacking the president and the vice president first. Let's listen to what he said last night in Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The vice president called me unfit for office last night.

(BOOING)

KERRY: Well, I'm going to leave it up to the voters to decide whether five deferments makes someone more qualified than two tours of duty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: So, Bill, what's...

SCHNEIDER: Ouch.

WALLACE: Ouch is right. What's this about, hitting back, new strategy?

SCHNEIDER: Hitting back this very same night, trying to step on the president's message. My feeling is that Hurricane Frances has stepped on both of their messages. But he had to do this. And he did it.

It was personal because they got personal with him. But now he has to go on. He has to make this about Bush's agenda, not a personal squabble with Bush. And once again, he has to try to become the unifier.

The most vulnerable point about President Bush is that he promised to be a uniter, not a quid divider, and the country's more divided than ever. I'm not sure Senator Kerry wants to get into a prolonged, week after week personal fight with the president and look like he's the divider.

WALLACE: Because then it takes him off message, right?

SCHNEIDER: It does, indeed. He has to do that and go on.

WALLACE: All right. Bill Schneider, senior political analyst. Great seeing you here.

SCHNEIDER: Good to see you here.

WALLACE: Great work. Hope you get some sleep...

SCHNEIDER: OK.

WALLACE: ... in the days ahead.

Still to come, commandos storm a school full of hostages. Still ahead, a live report as well on the drama we've been watching all morning in Russia.

Plus, back to Bill in Florida as Hurricane Frances bears down. We're tracking that storm.

Lots of news on this AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And welcome back to a very busy AMERICAN MORNING. Joining me, Jack Cafferty, with the "Question of the Day."

CAFFERTY: Thank you, ma'am.

Up on Labor Day Weekend, got that big jobs report out this morning. With that in mind, we're asking, what's the worst job you ever had.?

Ann in California says, "The first job I had was sorting nuts and bolts at my house. I was in college. I would sort them into wooden boxes, return them to the factory. Not much fun, but it did bring in a little extra money."

Bonnie in Sound Beach, "The worst job I ever had? Picking up cigarette butts at Jones Beach one summer. Why do people think beaches are giant ashtrays?"

Mark in Green Bay, "Worst job? Thirty-five years ago, worked 12 hours a day, Monday through Saturday, at a pickle factory, shoveling salt out of a railroad boxcar into thousand-bushel pickle vats in order to make brine for the pickles."

And Dave in Japan -- Dave, we have not heard from you recently. I'm glad to hear you're alive and well. "I had this job sending e- mails to a morning news show every day. Did it for a year. Gave the anchorman some great material. Suffered nothing but on-air abuse from the guy and didn't even get so much as get a CNN coffee mug for my efforts."

Dave, here's the deal. Life sucks, and then you die. OK? So...

WALLACE: End of story.

CAFFERTY: It's good to hear from Dave.

WALLACE: All right. How about something optimistic. What's the best job you've ever had? The one you have right now.

CAFFERTY: Sitting right here with you this morning, Kelly.

WALLACE: All right. I sort of walked right into that one.

CAFFERTY: Turning to the scorecard. The number of days since the 9/11 Commission made recommendations on how to protect our country against terrorists, it's been 43 days now.

Number of these recommendations adopted by the Congress? None. Congress is on vacation. They don't have time for this. Disgusting.

WALLACE: I think they're back after Labor Day.

CAFFERTY: Yes. I wonder what they'll do. They did have time to debate the constitutional amendment on gay marriage. So they worked (ph) time for that, didn't they?

WALLACE: All right. Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: You're welcome.

WALLACE: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, time for some Friday "90-Second pop." It started with Kournikova, now it's about Sharapova. And don't forget about Serena. The U.S. Open has been sizzling when it comes to beauty and brawn.

And Reese Witherspoon takes on a new role as a 19th century social climber, and she's getting great reviews.

That's all ahead. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired September 3, 2004 - 9:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. We are live in southern Florida, right near Melbourne, Florida, where we await the arrival of Frances, a storm that weakened overnight from a Category 4 to a Category 3. Now 120 miles an hour, but still a very strong and powerful storm that has not only the possibility to strengthen yet again, but also the direction and the path of the storm very unpredictable at this point, keeping us all in this entire state, really, in a state of suspense.
I'm Bill Hemmer, live, to take you through the next hour down here and let you know what we're finding out. Also, back in New York City, say hello and good morning to Kelly Wallace, helping us out back there as well.

Kelly, good morning to you.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill. And good morning, everyone.

We also have an ongoing story that we have been following throughout this morning in Russia. Troops stormed a school there held by terrorists. We will have much more on that very shortly. Right now, though, let's bring in my pal, Jack Cafferty.

A busy news morning indeed.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Very busy, indeed. In fact, so busy that it turns out we're going to be unable -- and I'm a bit disappointed by this -- we're going to be unable to reshow the video of the man who can squirt milk out of his eye.

We featured that on AMERICAN MORNING yesterday, much to the chagrin of some of the bosses, but to the delight of some of the twisted minds who like this program. And I was going to use it again today, but there ain't going to be time.

Instead, we're reading e-mails on this: what's the worst job you ever had? AM@CNN.com.

Did you see the video of the...

WALLACE: I missed that.

CAFFERTY: Yes.

WALLACE: I've got to... CAFFERTY: Maybe we can arrange it. We'll arrange a private showing.

WALLACE: Maybe I can arrange -- I'm going to talk to some people and see if we can get it.

CAFFERTY: Yes. It's worth looking at.

WALLACE: OK. All right.

CAFFERTY: Disgusting.

WALLACE: All right, Jack. Tough to follow that.

CAFFERTY: Yes, it is. I'm sorry.

WALLACE: Thanks so much.

But now we go now to the standoff in Russia in a moment. We'll go there in a moment. But first, now a look at other stories in the news.

A baby girl is back with her family this minute after a terrifying carjacking. These images just in to CNN within the last 15 minutes.

Police recovered the baby in Fairfax County, Virginia. The child's mother was found earlier this morning unconscious at a gas station. More on this story as it develops.

An Iraqi oil pipeline is still burning after a bomb attack. The Iraqi National Guard says a bomb was planted underneath the pipeline. It is a vital facility in northern Iraq, carrying oil to turkey.

This morning, President Bush is back in the campaign swing of things. In about 20 minutes, he will deliver a speech in Pennsylvania. His first since accepting his party's nomination. We will bring that speech to you live.

Meantime, his opponent, Senator John Kerry, is in another swing state. That would be Ohio. Senator Kerry will attend a front porch discussion a couple of hours from now.

Now back to the ongoing story we are following in Russia, where troops stormed a school today in a battle to free hundreds of children, parents and teachers who had been held hostage by Chechen separatists. Witnesses at the scene in southern Russia say there are many wounded, and some reports of some deaths in the violent end to a standoff that began two days ago.

Hala Gorani tells us how it all began.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The standoff began Wednesday, as hundreds of students, their parents and teachers gathered for the first day of the school year. The day of celebration was broken when armed assailants raided the school, seizing hundreds of men, women and children. At least seven people were reportedly left dead outside in the initial assault.

Hostage-takers immediately demanded talks with local officials and the release of Chechen militants jailed after a security sweep in June. They demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. And they threatened to kill scores of children if Russian forces attempted any advance on the besieged school complex.

The crisis quickly took on overtones of at least two past hostage standoffs involving Chechen separatist rebels, each of which ended with more than 100 hostages killed. Russian officials pledged from the start to make safety of the hostages a priority and said they would not storm the building. Then, at about 10:00 hours, GMT 1:00 p.m. local time, gunfire broke out and only intensified.

It's still unclear exactly what happened. We may not know for sure for some time. But early reports suggest that the hostage-takers had allowed Russian troops to retrieve bodies of those killed in the initial assault.

At that point, some of the hostage-takers, dressed in civilian clothes, tried to escape, and many of the hostages also began to flee. Some reports indicate the hostage-takers started firing on the fleeing hostages. An intense gun battle then raged for nearly an hour before Russian special forces were able to take control of the school.

One official says most of the children were able to escape unharmed. But many were wounded. The numbers are still being tallied.

Hala Gorani, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Now, Russian forces had been saying they would not move in, but they were not able to control the situation. Earlier, we spoke with Robin Horsfall, someone familiar with this type of operation. He was with the British Special Forces back in 1980 during the storming of the Iranian embassy in London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: What is the major challenge right now the Russian authorities are facing?

ROBIN HORSFALL, FMR. BRITISH SPECIAL FORCES OFFICER: Well, the Russian authorities have got themselves involved now in the building. The situation started about two hours ago with an unexpected explosion and the escape of some hostages.

The firefight then continued. And it seems like the Russian commander decided to take the opportunity and go in and attack the building, and hope for the best. What we've got now is a situation where the firefight has gone on for a long period of time, while the Russians have been clearing every room in the school.

They've managed to release a large number of hostages. We don't know how many are still in the building. Obviously an explosion went off inside the building, because part of the roof came down. And there's a very strong chance that there are going to be a lot of blast injury casualties inside the building now.

What we see now is a mopping up operation. The roof of the building is completely gone. It's on fire. And there's still a firefight taking place.

And there are reports that some of the hostage-takers have escaped from the building to the south. And they're being chased by other Russian soldiers in the hope of mopping up the situation. The priority now has to be to give medical services to the surviving hostages, and clear them from the area as soon as possible.

WALLACE: From your own experience, what are some of the scenarios that these Russian commandos could have to anticipate, including the possibility, which Ryan Chilcote was sort of alluding to, of suicide bombers in the area?

HORSFALL: Yes. Well, obviously one explosion has already gone off inside the building, and there was a chance of more of those. Anybody carrying explosives around the body could have set off a charge.

Fighting inside a building is the most difficult and dangerous fighting that any soldier can envisage. You've got smoke, you've got confusion, you've got large numbers of innocent hostages who could get killed in the crossfire, or if any of the soldiers makes a mistake.

However, anyone in the dark could also be a terrorist who's going to open fire on you. And sometimes you can't see. Life-or-death decisions are made -- made instantly, and it's a very, very dangerous situation for anybody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Our conversation with Robin Horsfall, former British Special Forces officer. Another update on this story in about 20 minutes.

Now, thought, we turn to Bill Hemmer in Florida. More on Hurricane Frances -- Bill.

HEMMER: Kelly, thanks. We're listening for the governor here, Jeb Bush, now speaking with reporters up in Tallahassee, still urging people that there is time to get out and evacuate. Here's the governor live now.

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: ... and they may miss some of this action. And I hope that's the case. But they, too, need to be focusing on preparation, because the storm could cross the peninsula of Florida, gather strength again as it arrives in the Gulf, and hit the Panhandle of our state. The state is taking all of the actions necessary to prepare. Last night, I sent letters to 17 governors asking them to waive size, wait and weight station requirements for vehicles transporting emergency equipment services and supplies by and on behalf of the Florida Division of Emergency Management and its contractors.

We are staging across, some outside the state and some inside the state, a massive response for this storm. And we're going to need it. There's going to be a lot of work necessary to make sure that the response is massive and immediate to help people once this storm comes.

This will hopefully facilitate this waiver, and I'm sure that there will be a good response. This will facilitate and expedite the delivery of aid to the victims of both Charley and Frances.

We're also working to get fuel to where it is needed. There have been reports that as people -- the inventories were somewhat low prior to this storm. And as people have begun to heed the advice of local emergency operation leaders in the communities, that there have been gasoline shortages. And we're doing everything possible to alleviate that problem.

Colonel Knight will talk a bit about the turnpike and the evacuation routes and the traffic flows. But fortunately, so far, there is -- there is gasoline on the turnpike route. And we're going to do what we can to make sure that people have gasoline to be able to make the proper decisions.

With that, Craig, I'll give it back to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Governor.

BUSH: Oh, one thing, Craig. Sorry.

HEMMER: All right. Governor Jeb Bush now -- Governor Jeb Bush now up in Tallahassee -- all right, let's pause here and listen again. Here's the governor.

BUSH: How's your Spanish?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People know you're going to...

BUSH: OK. (SPEAKING IN SPANISH).

HEMMER: All right. Governor Jeb Bush now bilingual for the Hispanic community here in Florida, strongly urging Floridians to pay attention to what's happening outside, because this storm really has slowed down, slowed down overnight. Now moving at about nine miles an hour, perhaps 10 miles an hour.

But Governor Bush saying that once the storm does arrive, it could stick with the Florida Panhandle for quite some time. And what that means is strong winds. It also means a significant storm when it comes to making rain for Floridians here.

I want to check the very latest on what we're learning right now. With me also is Chad Myers, our meteorologist, just across the way.

Chad, good morning again to you. And perhaps you could talk a bit more about what we're getting right now in terms of the conditions here locally.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, Bill, I was just looking at this. And, I mean, we're looking at least 19, at times up to 30-mile-an-hour gusts now. So we're starting to get that storm closer and closer.

Although it's moving slowly, like you said, only nine or 10 miles per hour closer, every hour as it gets closer the winds are going to come up. We could have hurricane-strength winds here for literally 12, maybe 14 hours. Just battering, because, one, as the storm slows down, and two, it's a very large storm, a much larger storm than Charley, although right now the eye is not quite as strong.

The winds around that eye are hurricane strength for many, many more miles than Charley. Charley was about a 15 or 20-mile path that went right through the center of Florida. This path could literally be 50 or maybe 70 miles wide, all with the same type of damage that we did see with Charley.

So as the winds pick up, we're going to keep kind of battening down the hatches. And the good news is, at least we have today.

If you didn't get out yesterday, and you're still thinking about it, at least you still have decent conditions right now to make that happen. And the roads, in fact, are, according to the people that have been driving around, are much less clogged right now than they were yesterday afternoon.

But you saw it. It was a standstill, Bill.

HEMMER: Yes. Indeed it was. Coming into the airport last night, you could see the red taillights forever lining up and down that highway.

Say hello to Jack Schluckebier. He's the city manager here at Melbourne, Florida.

And good morning to you.

JACK SCHLUCKEBIER, MELBOURNE, FLORIDA, CITY MANAGER: Good morning.

HEMMER: What are you telling people here in your community?

SCHLUCKEBIER: We're making it mandatory that people evacuate the Barrier Islands. We want people to be safe. They need to be off the islands as soon as possible, if they haven't left yet.

Winds are picking up. It's very dangerous out here. It will get worse through the day. We have an emergency operation center for public safety purposes for the duration of the storm, but we're concerned about this.

HEMMER: What did Charley do in terms of putting people on notice on this side of the state of Florida?

SCHLUCKEBIER: People have a certain sense that these things aren't to be concerned with until you actually have a hurricane. So the fact that we had Charley just three weeks ago was an excellent test run for us.

HEMMER: As far as the evacuations are concerned, based on what you can gauge, how many people listen to those warnings?

SCHLUCKEBIER: Based on what I've seen and what I've discovered, probably 70 to 80 percent believe it this time.

HEMMER: In previous storms, was it 70 to 80 percent?

SCHLUCKEBIER: I think it depends on the storm. But this one I think people are taking very seriously.

HEMMER: Good luck to you, OK?

SCHLUCKEBIER: Thank you, Bill.

HEMMER: Jack Schluckebier is the city manager here in Melbourne, Florida.

Thank you again, sir.

SCHLUCKEBIER: Thank you.

HEMMER: Much more in a second here of what's happening in Melbourne. I want to get to Rob Marciano in a moment, back at our weather center, who's watching the latest satellite images.

And Rob, what are you seeing this hour?

All right. OK. I'm going to put that on pause for a second here.

Also with us today, back in Atlanta, is Tom Nulty. He's a travel industry consultant. He's my guest right now.

Good morning to you. Welcome.

TOM NULTY, TRAVEL INDUSTRY CONSULTANT: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: Let's move past the forecast right now. What are you telling people in terms of what they need to know if they're traveling this weekend? Because Labor Day weekend is a weekend where just about everybody is doing something vacation-wise.

NULTY: Yes. Certainly in Florida it's going to be a mess. It's going to be loaded with flight cancellations and with delayed flights. The objective of most of the airlines, of course, is to have all the airplanes out of town when the storm rolls through. And they'll recover quickly. They'll bring them back in as soon as -- as soon as the storm goes by.

There's going to be delays around the country as a result of this as well. Because what happens is, when airplanes are delayed in one point, they really do cause delays all around the country.

The good news for travelers is that the airlines have relaxed their -- their restrictions on changing tickets and canceling, and all their refund rules. So those are not going to apply. All the rules are different by every airline. And travelers can expect long lines at airports and very busy telephones.

HEMMER: Yes, that's in the air, Tom. Let's talk about Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean. They are making some changes, some adjustments. We're in the state of Florida. Cruises are popular. What advice do you have?

NULTY: Well, cruises are obviously impacted by this. All the ports are already closed.

There are several interesting stories coming out of this. But what's happening is that the cruise ships are either coming in early or staying out at sea. For the most part, they're staying out at sea.

I talked to the president of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines last night, and he told me that one of their ships came in early yesterday. Eight hundred passengers got off. And then they said, well, we're going to take the ship back out to sea for the storm, and if you want, you can get back on. And just about all 800 got back on.

So there are going to be cruises to nowhere. All their ports of call are changed. They're going to be shortened and extended cruises.

Most of the cruises won't depart until Monday, things that were scheduled to depart on Saturday and Sunday. And that means that some of the people that were supposed to return on Saturday or Sunday are getting a little bonus cruise out of it as well.

They're getting -- giving passengers a lot of credits to actually take these cruises, up to $500 I have seen. And once again, they have also relaxed the refund rules.

HEMMER: Yes. How about some advice for those who are canceling. Your advice in general is what, Tom?

NULTY: Well, if you're -- if you're canceling, obviously you should rebook as soon as you can. You need to check with your airline to find out exactly what the rules are. In fact, better than that, check with your travel agent if you have booked with them.

Even the online travel agencies have a lot of support. I know the people at Orbitz are actually sending e-mails to people, telling them, giving them advice of what to do in advance of them even asking for it. You want to check with your airline Web site before actually going to the airport to do anything.

When you do travel, bring some extra food with you and snacks, especially if you're traveling with kids, because I don't know how quickly these things are going to come back. And I would anticipate delays even after the schedule starts coming back.

Be flexible. And after it's all over, look for some bargains. Believe it or not, there are going to be some post-hurricane bargains out there.

HEMMER: We'll look for that the first part of next week. In the meantime, though, we'll keep our focus squarely on Frances. Tom, thanks for your time today.

NULTY: My pleasure.

HEMMER: Tom Nulty is a travel industry consultant. Our guest this morning from the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Frances is strong, Category 3, downgraded overnight. But again, we expect the possibility, strong possibility this storm could kick up yet again, possibly going back to a Category 4 over the next 24 hours. We're waiting and watching to see where it goes.

Back to Kelly now in New York with more there.

Hey, Kelly, good morning again.

WALLACE: Thanks, Bill. Clearly the message, if you don't have to travel this weekend, stay home.

Coming up here on AMERICAN MORNING, we are back live in Russia on the tense hostage situation there.

Also, did President Bush make the case for a second term? We'll take a look.

And why the women are stealing the show at the U.S. Open. "90- Second Pop" is ahead.

All coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: In politics now, last night President Bush laid out his vision for the country for the next four years. He also addressed some of the criticism that he's sometimes hard-headed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called walking.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: Now and then, I come across as a little too blunt. And for that, we can all thank the white-haired lady sitting right up there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: The president, of course, referring there to his mother, Barbara Bush, sitting in the audience. Well, for reaction and analysis of the Bush speech, I'm joined by senior political analyst Bill Schneider.

Great to see you, Bill.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Kelly.

WALLACE: So this is a president who a few months ago was asked, "Have you ever made a mistake?" He couldn't think of one. Was he here trying to sort of soften up his sort of wartime image?

SCHNEIDER: Well, of course he was, especially after some of those tough speeches that we heard earlier in the convention. This was a Bush that was immensely likable. And that point came across.

Americans have to like the president, because they're going to have to live with whoever they elect for four years. That was important, because you remember when Clinton was president. There were a lot of Clinton haters in the world. And Clinton would give a speech and people would say, "How can you hate this guy? He's a likable guy."

Well, there are a lot of Bush haters, too. And Bush, I think, counteracted that by being so likable.

WALLACE: Successful there, then? You think that was...

SCHNEIDER: I think the speech did come across -- it was successful.

WALLACE: Something else which his aides said he wanted to do was outline his vision for the next four years. Let's listen to another sound bite from the president, putting forward his agenda for a second Bush administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

G. BUSH: And now we have reached a time for hope. This young century will be liberty century.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: By promoting liberty abroad, we will build a safer world. By encouraging liberty at home, we will build a more hopeful America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: So, Bill, how successful laying out his vision and agenda for the next four years? SCHNEIDER: Domestically, I didn't hear a bold agenda in that speech. It was a litany of small programs. And frankly, I didn't think his heart was in any domestic issue.

But when it came to international policy, he did have a bold agenda. He called it "liberty century." And he was making the argument, by encouraging liberty, promoting liberty and democracy in the world, America will be more secure.

That's bold. It's also arguable, would Saudi Arabia be less threatening if it were a democracy? I'm not so sure.

And, of course, the question is, does that mean the United States is going to invade countries to turn them into democracies? We tried that in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's not clear it's succeeding.

WALLACE: Some problems there. You've covered politics for many years, of course. Unprecedented, really, for the opponent to go out 30 minutes after the Republican National Convention wrapping up with a very hard-hitting speech.

Democratic Senator John Kerry attacking the president and the vice president first. Let's listen to what he said last night in Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The vice president called me unfit for office last night.

(BOOING)

KERRY: Well, I'm going to leave it up to the voters to decide whether five deferments makes someone more qualified than two tours of duty.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: So, Bill, what's...

SCHNEIDER: Ouch.

WALLACE: Ouch is right. What's this about, hitting back, new strategy?

SCHNEIDER: Hitting back this very same night, trying to step on the president's message. My feeling is that Hurricane Frances has stepped on both of their messages. But he had to do this. And he did it.

It was personal because they got personal with him. But now he has to go on. He has to make this about Bush's agenda, not a personal squabble with Bush. And once again, he has to try to become the unifier.

The most vulnerable point about President Bush is that he promised to be a uniter, not a quid divider, and the country's more divided than ever. I'm not sure Senator Kerry wants to get into a prolonged, week after week personal fight with the president and look like he's the divider.

WALLACE: Because then it takes him off message, right?

SCHNEIDER: It does, indeed. He has to do that and go on.

WALLACE: All right. Bill Schneider, senior political analyst. Great seeing you here.

SCHNEIDER: Good to see you here.

WALLACE: Great work. Hope you get some sleep...

SCHNEIDER: OK.

WALLACE: ... in the days ahead.

Still to come, commandos storm a school full of hostages. Still ahead, a live report as well on the drama we've been watching all morning in Russia.

Plus, back to Bill in Florida as Hurricane Frances bears down. We're tracking that storm.

Lots of news on this AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: And welcome back to a very busy AMERICAN MORNING. Joining me, Jack Cafferty, with the "Question of the Day."

CAFFERTY: Thank you, ma'am.

Up on Labor Day Weekend, got that big jobs report out this morning. With that in mind, we're asking, what's the worst job you ever had.?

Ann in California says, "The first job I had was sorting nuts and bolts at my house. I was in college. I would sort them into wooden boxes, return them to the factory. Not much fun, but it did bring in a little extra money."

Bonnie in Sound Beach, "The worst job I ever had? Picking up cigarette butts at Jones Beach one summer. Why do people think beaches are giant ashtrays?"

Mark in Green Bay, "Worst job? Thirty-five years ago, worked 12 hours a day, Monday through Saturday, at a pickle factory, shoveling salt out of a railroad boxcar into thousand-bushel pickle vats in order to make brine for the pickles."

And Dave in Japan -- Dave, we have not heard from you recently. I'm glad to hear you're alive and well. "I had this job sending e- mails to a morning news show every day. Did it for a year. Gave the anchorman some great material. Suffered nothing but on-air abuse from the guy and didn't even get so much as get a CNN coffee mug for my efforts."

Dave, here's the deal. Life sucks, and then you die. OK? So...

WALLACE: End of story.

CAFFERTY: It's good to hear from Dave.

WALLACE: All right. How about something optimistic. What's the best job you've ever had? The one you have right now.

CAFFERTY: Sitting right here with you this morning, Kelly.

WALLACE: All right. I sort of walked right into that one.

CAFFERTY: Turning to the scorecard. The number of days since the 9/11 Commission made recommendations on how to protect our country against terrorists, it's been 43 days now.

Number of these recommendations adopted by the Congress? None. Congress is on vacation. They don't have time for this. Disgusting.

WALLACE: I think they're back after Labor Day.

CAFFERTY: Yes. I wonder what they'll do. They did have time to debate the constitutional amendment on gay marriage. So they worked (ph) time for that, didn't they?

WALLACE: All right. Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: You're welcome.

WALLACE: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, time for some Friday "90-Second pop." It started with Kournikova, now it's about Sharapova. And don't forget about Serena. The U.S. Open has been sizzling when it comes to beauty and brawn.

And Reese Witherspoon takes on a new role as a 19th century social climber, and she's getting great reviews.

That's all ahead. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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