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American Morning
Russian School Crisis; Florida Braces for Hurricane Frances
Aired September 03, 2004 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back again. We are live in southern Florida. The beaches are empty here near Melbourne, where we come to you live today on this AMERICAN MORNING.
The surf is kicking up. The wind is picking up, a little more than 15 miles an hour with the gusts here. But flying into Orlando last night you could see taillights as far as the eye could go on the highways for people obeying the evacuation orders. The state asked 2.5 million people to get out. No way to tell how many responded, but we can say safely tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, have now heeded that warning here in south Florida.
We'll be back in a moment here, but also there is significant news overseas. And for that, Kelly Wallace is with us today back in New York City -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. A significant news story indeed, and we're going back to it.
We have been following this news out of southern Russia, where forces there have stormed a school, where hundreds of hostages have been held since Wednesday. Gunfire and loud explosions are being heard at this hour. Dozens of children and adults have escaped.
For the latest we turn to CNN's Ryan Chilcote, who is outside the school now via videophone.
Ryan, you've been helping us out all day, all morning long. Give us the latest on what's there now.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kelly, an eyewitness tells us they just saw a casualty collection point, and it's very close to the school, a place where they are bringing the wounded and dead from the school area. And they apparently had to stop the collection of the wounded and dead for a shot while. Apparently this eyewitness is telling us that they saw some 50 to 60 people being brought out on stretchers to this point, because the fighting was getting too close.
Now, the fighting has subsided on the school grounds itself, but it continues throughout the city of Beslan. It's been going on behind us, in front of us, to the right of us.
And what we understand now from Russian wire reports are that 13 of the hostage-takers that were holed up inside that school with several hundred hostages managed to fight their way out. Some of them are holed up now in homes in the city of Beslan. Some of those homes, we are being told, have been surrounded by Russian forces.
But for the last two and a half hours, we have heard an awful lot of gunfire. We have had Russian aircraft -- Russian aviation, I should say, Russian attack helicopters in the sky, APCs moving. We've had Russian forces moving.
Russian forces say they are now in complete control of the school. They say they've evacuated all of the people from the school.
Of course, what we don't know is whether the people, the hostages that they've evacuated from the school are alive -- how many of them are alive or dead.
What we do know is that at least 158 children -- that's according to a Russian radio station here -- have been hospitalized in this town.
But I think that's about as much clarity right now as we're going to get, because it's just so chaotic here, Kelly. People are running in all different directions. And I think the last thing that anyone is going to do after they get out of that school, you know, the children, their parents or the teachers inside is to find a Russian official to be counted.
So, I think the numbers from the school of 158 wounded are probably pretty solid. I'm sure they have a very serious registration process there, a very good counting process.
But this place has really been very chaotic for the last three hours. The fighting that was going on, on the school grounds, has moved out throughout the city. And we understand that we now have several localized gunfights going on with these militants holed up in people's homes -- Kelly.
WALLACE: We'll keep checking in with you. We will be following this story throughout the morning. Ryan Chilcote reporting from the southern Russian city of Beslan.
Now looking at other stories now in the news. A 27-year-old National Guardsman, who is a Muslim convert, has been found guilty of trying to help al Qaeda. Just hours ago, a jury recommended Specialist Ryan Anderson be sentenced to life in prison for attempting to pass military information to the terrorist network. The official sentencing is not yet set.
A key oil pipeline is blazing in northern Iraq. An Iraqi official says attackers planted a bomb beneath the line, sparking a fire that is raging for a second day. It is not clear how the attack will affect Iraqi oil exports.
And two French journalists being held in Iraq are reportedly now being held by a guerrilla group, which favors their release. French clerics are now in Baghdad, hoping to facilitate the release of the hostages. The kidnappers are still demanding France reverse a ban on head scarves from Muslim schoolgirls.
And we will continue to follow all of those stories.
Now we turn to Bill Hemmer following Hurricane Frances, and thinking of Hurricane Charley, Bill -- Bill Hemmer now in Melbourne, Florida.
HEMMER: Hey, Kelly, thanks again.
The governor here, Jeb Bush, has been a very busy man over the past three weeks, declaring yet again a state of emergency. The warnings have gone up for almost the entire east side of Florida, up north of Daytona Beach and Flagler Beach down to the southern tip where the Keys are aligned.
At this point we do not know when Frances comes towards the southern U.S., we do not know what form she will have at that time, because overnight we found these storms yet again can be very unpredictable. The storm slowed down and lost a bit of its intensity. However, it's still a very dangerous category 3 storm. And the expectation is that once it clears the Bahamas is for this storm to strengthen yet again.
I want to bring in two of my colleagues right now. Rob Marciano is back at the CNN center. Chad Myers is here with me now near Melbourne, Florida.
Good morning to you.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
HEMMER: And when you came in yesterday to Orlando, what did you see in Florida for these folks getting ready?
MYERS: I'm telling you, it was organized chaos. I only say "organized" because it appeared people knew what they were doing. I went to a Save-Rite to pick up water. It looked like the place had been ransacked. There was stuff all over the floor. The shelves were absolutely empty.
HEMMER: And these are people who are used to, in large part, storms coming through this part of the country.
MYERS: But, you know, they're prepared this time, I think, better, because they saw what Charley did. They weren't prepared for Charley as well as they probably should have been, but for this thing they are.
There was 100 people, Bill, in line for gas, 100 cars, something I haven't seen the '70s. Because 80 percent of those gas stations were out of gas. People were following gas trucks. You know, these big, long gas trucks? They were following those trucks to find out where the next gas station they were going to, so that they could actually get gas from that truck.
HEMMER: And a short time ago, I mentioned the taillights on the highway, because it was quite clear that even late into the night last night that people were getting out of here. MYERS: Yes, my parents evacuated yesterday, and it took them nine hours for a six-hour drive just to get to Georgia.
HEMMER: Wow! Chad, thanks. We'll talk to you in a couple minutes.
(WEATHER BREAK)
HEMMER: So then how is the federal government getting ready? And what did they learn from Charley?
Michael Brown is the director of FEMA. He's my guest now live in Washington.
Mr. Brown, good morning to you.
MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: Good morning, Bill. Good to hear from you.
HEMMER: What are your concerns right now?
BROWN: The people in Florida. They need to take this storm very seriously. As your report was just telling us, there is a lot of moisture being packed with Frances, a lot more moisture than Hurricane Charley. So, I expect an awful lot of inland flooding. And that's when most people are killed during hurricanes.
HEMMER: How complicated is this now, coming on the heels of Charley only three weeks to the day today?
BROWN: Well, it's not that complicated. I mean, it's a huge logistic problem that we have to deal with. We'll pulling our teams out to keep them out of harm's way, but also pulling them out just far enough so that as soon as this storm passes we can get them right back in there, pick up where we left off with Charley and start responding to Frances also.
HEMMER: Do you have enough resources right now...
BROWN: Absolutely.
HEMMER: ... given the fact that Florida is still cleaning up here? And the reports we're getting is that there is still debris in the yards of some people as far north as Orlando, Florida.
BROWN: That's correct. And we have all of the resources we need. I spoke to President Bush on Friday, and then Chairman Young of the House Appropriations Committee and I spoke again. We're going get all of the resources we need. We have all the manpower we need. So, we'll get the people, the equipment and the supplies in there just as soon as it's safe to do so.
HEMMER: Michael Brown, thanks, director of FEMA. Don't go away for long, because we'd like to talk to you again as we move throughout the storm and throughout our coverage as well. Mr. Brown, thank you, director of FEMA there in Washington, D.C. Back here now live in Florida, CNN's Gary Tuchman is on the scene south of our location several hours in West Palm.
Gary -- what are your condition there? Good morning.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, so far everything is very calm. But obviously that will be changing soon.
More than one million people live here in Palm Beach County, Florida, and we stand right now in the busiest part of the biggest city in the county, West Palm Beach. This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Boulevard, normally jam-packed. It's the middle of rush hour after all. We see about one or two cars every few minutes, that's it, because there is a mandatory evacuation order in effect in this area. Because we're a mile and a half from the beach.
Behind us is the town of Palm Beach, one of the poshest towns in the United States. A mandatory evacuation. Police are telling people there if you don't leave, we need you to sign a next of kin form. That's how serious they are about it.
We're right next to a place called City Place here. There are more than 100 stores, restaurants and businesses down the street. And you can take a look here. It's completely abandoned. Most of the stores have sandbags and boards put up. Everything here will be closed throughout the day as everyone here in Palm Beach County awaits the arrival of the hurricane in this area. The last time a catastrophic hurricane hit Palm Beach County was 1928. It has been 76 years.
Bill -- back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Gary, thanks for that. Gary Tuchman south of our location down in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Up and down the coast of Florida schools are closed today. The Kennedy Space Center up the coast here is closed here today. Court trials have been postponed, put on hold, awaiting now the arrival of Frances. And we are, too.
It's a beautiful morning. Windy but beautiful. But, again, this picture will disintegrate, we expect, over the next 24 hours.
Back more live here in Florida as we go throughout the morning. But there is breaking news again overseas. And for that, back to Kelly Wallace now in New York -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
And still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, we are less than an hour away from a major jobs report -- a preview just ahead.
Did President Bush make the case that he deserves a second term? That's next.
And the latest on the Russian hostage standoff. Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Some New Yorkers will surely be breathing a sigh of relief as hoards of Republican delegates head home after this week's convention.
Our Bob Franken is live outside of Madison Square Garden at the CNN Diner. He wraps up last night's action.
And, Bob, the president didn't waste any time getting out of town?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, no. And they're not wasting any time with the security. You can see that a lot the barricades are still in place, but you can also see they won't be for long.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice over): New York will have its streets around the garden back. The barricades and stifling security gone. The demonstrators gone after about 1,800 were arrested during the convention.
The convention gone, too, after the really big finish, complete with some last protester incidents in the hall. And the main reason for all of this is gone. President Bush is in Pennsylvania, leaving New York right after his campaign salute to the city.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People will look to the resurrection of New York City, and they will say, here buildings fell; here a nation rose.
(APPLAUSE)
FRANKEN: And the Republicans hope a president defined by his actions after the September 11 attacks and a campaign also defined by the opposition.
BUSH: My opponent's policies are dramatically different from ours.
FRANKEN: In fact, the opponent broke tradition to publicly vent over the way Republicans described his military past.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and who misled America into Iraq!
FRANKEN: The campaign promises to be about as subtle as the celebrations that closed the conventions -- and a whole lot uglier.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And now it's time for the last dash, Kelly -- a dash that's expected to last a couple of months, as both sides try to run over each other -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Bob, and hopefully some sleep for you, working around the clock. Bob Franken, thanks so much.
And more politics now. It appears that Senator John Kerry has just begun to fight. The senator wasted no time after Republicans wrapped their convention up, accusing the president and the vice president of being -- quote -- "unfit to lead."
Mr. Bush, meanwhile, accepted his party's nomination last night, defending his actions in the war on terror and the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I believe that most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart is now a senior adviser to the Kerry campaign. He joins us from Washington.
Joe, thanks for being with us. Good to see you.
JOE LOCKHART, SR. ADVISOR TO KERRY CAMPAIGN: Good to see you, Kelly.
WALLACE: Joe, there is definitely criticism of the president's speech, but one thing most people say is that he came across as likable and someone that people can relate to. Isn't that going to be a problem for Senator Kerry?
LOCKHART: Well, I don't think so. I mean, likability is great to a point, but likability doesn't help anybody get a job. There's 1.8 million American who have lost their jobs during this presidency. Likability doesn't help you pay a 50 percent rise, $2,600 in health care premiums. Likability doesn't help stop exporting jobs out of this country.
So, the fact that we like him -- or the American public likes him I think is beside the point.
WALLACE: And, Joe, obviously, 30 minutes after the convention wrapping up we saw Senator Kerry with a very strong counterattack, very tough language involving the president and the vice president. First of all what was the strategy here? Why such a tough counterattack, and why now?
LOCKHART: Well, you know, I'm not sure there's a strategy here. I think when someone gets up like Zell Miller and outright lies -- I mean, these aren't even just distortions. Look at "The Washington Post" today. They basically criticize Senator Kerry for being -- for doing things that not Senator Kerry did, but Vice President Cheney did as far as trying to eliminate weapons systems. And when someone goes after your patriotism that deserves a response.
I think Senator Kerry is going to spend the bulk of this campaign talking about what the voters want to hear, what he can do for the voters as far as jobs, health care and the economy.
But when someone like Zell Miller and someone like Dick Cheney get up and make these kinds of scurrilous charges they make, you can bet that every time we're going to come back and set the record straight. And I think Senator Kerry was right to do it, and I think the public is going to respond to it.
And I think the public will respond very negatively to the personal character assassination that we saw during this convention.
And, frankly, as a last point, it does say something about the president. This was the president's convention. I guarantee he knew what everybody was going to say. You know, if he believes those things, he ought to get up and say it himself, or tell all of his friends -- you know, all of his friends to keep quiet.
WALLACE: Joe, but can't it backfire on you all as well? Talking privately to other senior Kerry advisers, they said one of the things they want to do now is prevent the Republicans from sort of baiting them to talk about issues. They want to focus on economy, health care. Doesn't the senator by talking about his military service get off-message and not talk about the economy and health care issues you all want to talk about?
LOCKHART: Well, I'd say to anyone who is concerned about that, watch John Kerry over the next week or so. We've got some job numbers coming out within the next hour that are going to confirm that this president is the worst economic steward of this country since Herbert Hoover. From a political point of view, Herbert Hoover and George Bush in the same sentence isn't a great combination.
We're going to be talking about John Kerry's plan to improve the economy and to provide good-paying jobs, stop exporting jobs, get a handle on health care costs, get a real prescription drug benefit for America's seniors. That's what we're going to be talking about.
But make no mistake. When the Republicans come out, people who don't exactly have the best record of their own and question John Kerry's patriotism and his service to this country, we will fight back. That's what the American public expects, and that's what John Kerry will do.
WALLACE: Joe Lockhart, senior adviser to the Kerry campaign, thanks for being with us. We definitely will keep talking to you in the days ahead. Thanks again.
LOCKHART: Thanks, Kelly.
WALLACE: President Bush has expanded his slim lead over Democrat John Kerry in the all-important Electoral College, according to a new CNN analysis. If the election were held today, the president would get 284 electoral votes to Senator Kerry's 254. The latest count was taken before last night's speech. On the final day of the Democratic Convention, CNN showed Senator Kerry leading President Bush 300 to 238.
The race is extremely close with about a dozen states just too close to call. If a Republican state were to flip to the Democrats, Senator Kerry would take a decisive lead.
And now we go back to my colleague, Bill Hemmer, in Melbourne, Florida, for more on Hurricane Frances -- Bill.
HEMMER: Kelly, the word went out over the past couple days to 2.5 million people to evacuate. We know many have heeded that warning, with good reason too. Frances is a significant storm, downgraded overnight, now a category 3, but still a very tough customer off the coast here of Florida.
In a moment, we're going to get the latest numbers from the National Hurricane Center. Those numbers come out at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time, only 10 minutes away.
Also, the police chief in Miami, John Timoney, what he's telling his people and his community. Back a moment here on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. My name's Jack Cafferty. I'm one of the anchors here on this program.
The monthly jobs report comes out today. Who is it going to help, George Bush or John Kerry? Well, Andy Serwer, who is also a regular part of this program is here now, and he's "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you again.
CAFFERTY: Yes, nice to be seen.
SERWER: This is a big question this morning. It comes out in about 35 minutes, Jack. Will this be the capstone of the Republican Convention or a counterpoint? Let's check it out.
We're talking about the August jobs reports. Economists are looking on average for the creation of 150,000 jobs. They're looking for the unemployment rate to hold steady at 5.5 percent. This is obviously going to be a huge campaign issue.
The good news for the president is, jobs have been growing since September. And we've added 1.5 million jobs since then. That's the good news.
The bad news is that since March, job growth has been anemic and it's been slowing more and more; 32,000 jobs created in July. That's it. And it is true that he will probably be the first president since Herbert Hoover to have job loss during his first term; 1.2 million jobs lost as of right now.
A couple of other interesting points. This will be the second to last jobs report before the election. The last one will be on October 8, which is the day of the second presidential debate. That will be for September. Very interesting.
Also, the president usually gets these numbers before the American public.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
SERWER: And everyone was anticipating he would have them last night, but news reports say he did not have those numbers, which is very interesting to me, I think.
CAFFERTY: You know, I'm not sure I believe that he didn't have them. I bet if he wanted them he could probably get them. And I'll be if they had been great, he might have said something about, look for a nice surprise tomorrow.
SERWER: Well, we were looking for clues.
WALLACE: We were looking for clues (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Typically, though, wouldn't he have them? So...
SERWER: He typically would. But the president's people are saying he did not look at the numbers for the speech. I mean, you know, that's what the White House says.
CAFFERTY: All right. We'll take a look at how the stock market reacts to all of this.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: It's Labor Day this weekend. And we just spent our last week in a diner, which 41 years in television is serving as the highlight of my career. And we're looking at the second hurricane in three weeks and the jobs report coming out in half an hour. And it's Friday.
So, here's the deal. What's the worst job you've ever had? Or anything else you want to write about. Like, for example, what a tremendous job Kelly Wallace is doing this morning as the anchor on this program.
WALLACE: Oh, thank you.
CAFFERTY: I mean, I were Heidi and Soledad, I wouldn't be taking a lot of time off. You know, I mean, I've been watching you...
SERWER: Oh, Wally Pick (ph).
WALLACE: Oh, you're being too kind.
CAFFERTY: ... bringing a touch of class to the joint.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: And god knows we could use that.
WALLACE: That's because I disappointed you on your program, "IN THE MONEY," when I couldn't answer the sports question about the Redskins. I didn't know who Joe Gibbs was.
SERWER: Well, the Redskins are No. 1.
WALLACE: So, I tried to redeem myself. All right.
CAFFERTY: It's good to have you here.
WALLACE: It's great to be here. Thanks, Jack and Andy.
SERWER: See you.
WALLACE: Still to come, we will get back to Bill and Florida in a moment, and we'll go live to Russia for the latest on the unfolding hostage drama. Stay with us right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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Aired September 3, 2004 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back again. We are live in southern Florida. The beaches are empty here near Melbourne, where we come to you live today on this AMERICAN MORNING.
The surf is kicking up. The wind is picking up, a little more than 15 miles an hour with the gusts here. But flying into Orlando last night you could see taillights as far as the eye could go on the highways for people obeying the evacuation orders. The state asked 2.5 million people to get out. No way to tell how many responded, but we can say safely tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, have now heeded that warning here in south Florida.
We'll be back in a moment here, but also there is significant news overseas. And for that, Kelly Wallace is with us today back in New York City -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. A significant news story indeed, and we're going back to it.
We have been following this news out of southern Russia, where forces there have stormed a school, where hundreds of hostages have been held since Wednesday. Gunfire and loud explosions are being heard at this hour. Dozens of children and adults have escaped.
For the latest we turn to CNN's Ryan Chilcote, who is outside the school now via videophone.
Ryan, you've been helping us out all day, all morning long. Give us the latest on what's there now.
RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kelly, an eyewitness tells us they just saw a casualty collection point, and it's very close to the school, a place where they are bringing the wounded and dead from the school area. And they apparently had to stop the collection of the wounded and dead for a shot while. Apparently this eyewitness is telling us that they saw some 50 to 60 people being brought out on stretchers to this point, because the fighting was getting too close.
Now, the fighting has subsided on the school grounds itself, but it continues throughout the city of Beslan. It's been going on behind us, in front of us, to the right of us.
And what we understand now from Russian wire reports are that 13 of the hostage-takers that were holed up inside that school with several hundred hostages managed to fight their way out. Some of them are holed up now in homes in the city of Beslan. Some of those homes, we are being told, have been surrounded by Russian forces.
But for the last two and a half hours, we have heard an awful lot of gunfire. We have had Russian aircraft -- Russian aviation, I should say, Russian attack helicopters in the sky, APCs moving. We've had Russian forces moving.
Russian forces say they are now in complete control of the school. They say they've evacuated all of the people from the school.
Of course, what we don't know is whether the people, the hostages that they've evacuated from the school are alive -- how many of them are alive or dead.
What we do know is that at least 158 children -- that's according to a Russian radio station here -- have been hospitalized in this town.
But I think that's about as much clarity right now as we're going to get, because it's just so chaotic here, Kelly. People are running in all different directions. And I think the last thing that anyone is going to do after they get out of that school, you know, the children, their parents or the teachers inside is to find a Russian official to be counted.
So, I think the numbers from the school of 158 wounded are probably pretty solid. I'm sure they have a very serious registration process there, a very good counting process.
But this place has really been very chaotic for the last three hours. The fighting that was going on, on the school grounds, has moved out throughout the city. And we understand that we now have several localized gunfights going on with these militants holed up in people's homes -- Kelly.
WALLACE: We'll keep checking in with you. We will be following this story throughout the morning. Ryan Chilcote reporting from the southern Russian city of Beslan.
Now looking at other stories now in the news. A 27-year-old National Guardsman, who is a Muslim convert, has been found guilty of trying to help al Qaeda. Just hours ago, a jury recommended Specialist Ryan Anderson be sentenced to life in prison for attempting to pass military information to the terrorist network. The official sentencing is not yet set.
A key oil pipeline is blazing in northern Iraq. An Iraqi official says attackers planted a bomb beneath the line, sparking a fire that is raging for a second day. It is not clear how the attack will affect Iraqi oil exports.
And two French journalists being held in Iraq are reportedly now being held by a guerrilla group, which favors their release. French clerics are now in Baghdad, hoping to facilitate the release of the hostages. The kidnappers are still demanding France reverse a ban on head scarves from Muslim schoolgirls.
And we will continue to follow all of those stories.
Now we turn to Bill Hemmer following Hurricane Frances, and thinking of Hurricane Charley, Bill -- Bill Hemmer now in Melbourne, Florida.
HEMMER: Hey, Kelly, thanks again.
The governor here, Jeb Bush, has been a very busy man over the past three weeks, declaring yet again a state of emergency. The warnings have gone up for almost the entire east side of Florida, up north of Daytona Beach and Flagler Beach down to the southern tip where the Keys are aligned.
At this point we do not know when Frances comes towards the southern U.S., we do not know what form she will have at that time, because overnight we found these storms yet again can be very unpredictable. The storm slowed down and lost a bit of its intensity. However, it's still a very dangerous category 3 storm. And the expectation is that once it clears the Bahamas is for this storm to strengthen yet again.
I want to bring in two of my colleagues right now. Rob Marciano is back at the CNN center. Chad Myers is here with me now near Melbourne, Florida.
Good morning to you.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.
HEMMER: And when you came in yesterday to Orlando, what did you see in Florida for these folks getting ready?
MYERS: I'm telling you, it was organized chaos. I only say "organized" because it appeared people knew what they were doing. I went to a Save-Rite to pick up water. It looked like the place had been ransacked. There was stuff all over the floor. The shelves were absolutely empty.
HEMMER: And these are people who are used to, in large part, storms coming through this part of the country.
MYERS: But, you know, they're prepared this time, I think, better, because they saw what Charley did. They weren't prepared for Charley as well as they probably should have been, but for this thing they are.
There was 100 people, Bill, in line for gas, 100 cars, something I haven't seen the '70s. Because 80 percent of those gas stations were out of gas. People were following gas trucks. You know, these big, long gas trucks? They were following those trucks to find out where the next gas station they were going to, so that they could actually get gas from that truck.
HEMMER: And a short time ago, I mentioned the taillights on the highway, because it was quite clear that even late into the night last night that people were getting out of here. MYERS: Yes, my parents evacuated yesterday, and it took them nine hours for a six-hour drive just to get to Georgia.
HEMMER: Wow! Chad, thanks. We'll talk to you in a couple minutes.
(WEATHER BREAK)
HEMMER: So then how is the federal government getting ready? And what did they learn from Charley?
Michael Brown is the director of FEMA. He's my guest now live in Washington.
Mr. Brown, good morning to you.
MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: Good morning, Bill. Good to hear from you.
HEMMER: What are your concerns right now?
BROWN: The people in Florida. They need to take this storm very seriously. As your report was just telling us, there is a lot of moisture being packed with Frances, a lot more moisture than Hurricane Charley. So, I expect an awful lot of inland flooding. And that's when most people are killed during hurricanes.
HEMMER: How complicated is this now, coming on the heels of Charley only three weeks to the day today?
BROWN: Well, it's not that complicated. I mean, it's a huge logistic problem that we have to deal with. We'll pulling our teams out to keep them out of harm's way, but also pulling them out just far enough so that as soon as this storm passes we can get them right back in there, pick up where we left off with Charley and start responding to Frances also.
HEMMER: Do you have enough resources right now...
BROWN: Absolutely.
HEMMER: ... given the fact that Florida is still cleaning up here? And the reports we're getting is that there is still debris in the yards of some people as far north as Orlando, Florida.
BROWN: That's correct. And we have all of the resources we need. I spoke to President Bush on Friday, and then Chairman Young of the House Appropriations Committee and I spoke again. We're going get all of the resources we need. We have all the manpower we need. So, we'll get the people, the equipment and the supplies in there just as soon as it's safe to do so.
HEMMER: Michael Brown, thanks, director of FEMA. Don't go away for long, because we'd like to talk to you again as we move throughout the storm and throughout our coverage as well. Mr. Brown, thank you, director of FEMA there in Washington, D.C. Back here now live in Florida, CNN's Gary Tuchman is on the scene south of our location several hours in West Palm.
Gary -- what are your condition there? Good morning.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, so far everything is very calm. But obviously that will be changing soon.
More than one million people live here in Palm Beach County, Florida, and we stand right now in the busiest part of the biggest city in the county, West Palm Beach. This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Boulevard, normally jam-packed. It's the middle of rush hour after all. We see about one or two cars every few minutes, that's it, because there is a mandatory evacuation order in effect in this area. Because we're a mile and a half from the beach.
Behind us is the town of Palm Beach, one of the poshest towns in the United States. A mandatory evacuation. Police are telling people there if you don't leave, we need you to sign a next of kin form. That's how serious they are about it.
We're right next to a place called City Place here. There are more than 100 stores, restaurants and businesses down the street. And you can take a look here. It's completely abandoned. Most of the stores have sandbags and boards put up. Everything here will be closed throughout the day as everyone here in Palm Beach County awaits the arrival of the hurricane in this area. The last time a catastrophic hurricane hit Palm Beach County was 1928. It has been 76 years.
Bill -- back to you.
HEMMER: All right, Gary, thanks for that. Gary Tuchman south of our location down in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Up and down the coast of Florida schools are closed today. The Kennedy Space Center up the coast here is closed here today. Court trials have been postponed, put on hold, awaiting now the arrival of Frances. And we are, too.
It's a beautiful morning. Windy but beautiful. But, again, this picture will disintegrate, we expect, over the next 24 hours.
Back more live here in Florida as we go throughout the morning. But there is breaking news again overseas. And for that, back to Kelly Wallace now in New York -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Thanks, Bill.
And still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, we are less than an hour away from a major jobs report -- a preview just ahead.
Did President Bush make the case that he deserves a second term? That's next.
And the latest on the Russian hostage standoff. Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Some New Yorkers will surely be breathing a sigh of relief as hoards of Republican delegates head home after this week's convention.
Our Bob Franken is live outside of Madison Square Garden at the CNN Diner. He wraps up last night's action.
And, Bob, the president didn't waste any time getting out of town?
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, no. And they're not wasting any time with the security. You can see that a lot the barricades are still in place, but you can also see they won't be for long.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice over): New York will have its streets around the garden back. The barricades and stifling security gone. The demonstrators gone after about 1,800 were arrested during the convention.
The convention gone, too, after the really big finish, complete with some last protester incidents in the hall. And the main reason for all of this is gone. President Bush is in Pennsylvania, leaving New York right after his campaign salute to the city.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People will look to the resurrection of New York City, and they will say, here buildings fell; here a nation rose.
(APPLAUSE)
FRANKEN: And the Republicans hope a president defined by his actions after the September 11 attacks and a campaign also defined by the opposition.
BUSH: My opponent's policies are dramatically different from ours.
FRANKEN: In fact, the opponent broke tradition to publicly vent over the way Republicans described his military past.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and who misled America into Iraq!
FRANKEN: The campaign promises to be about as subtle as the celebrations that closed the conventions -- and a whole lot uglier.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And now it's time for the last dash, Kelly -- a dash that's expected to last a couple of months, as both sides try to run over each other -- Kelly.
WALLACE: Bob, and hopefully some sleep for you, working around the clock. Bob Franken, thanks so much.
And more politics now. It appears that Senator John Kerry has just begun to fight. The senator wasted no time after Republicans wrapped their convention up, accusing the president and the vice president of being -- quote -- "unfit to lead."
Mr. Bush, meanwhile, accepted his party's nomination last night, defending his actions in the war on terror and the war in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I believe that most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty or weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart is now a senior adviser to the Kerry campaign. He joins us from Washington.
Joe, thanks for being with us. Good to see you.
JOE LOCKHART, SR. ADVISOR TO KERRY CAMPAIGN: Good to see you, Kelly.
WALLACE: Joe, there is definitely criticism of the president's speech, but one thing most people say is that he came across as likable and someone that people can relate to. Isn't that going to be a problem for Senator Kerry?
LOCKHART: Well, I don't think so. I mean, likability is great to a point, but likability doesn't help anybody get a job. There's 1.8 million American who have lost their jobs during this presidency. Likability doesn't help you pay a 50 percent rise, $2,600 in health care premiums. Likability doesn't help stop exporting jobs out of this country.
So, the fact that we like him -- or the American public likes him I think is beside the point.
WALLACE: And, Joe, obviously, 30 minutes after the convention wrapping up we saw Senator Kerry with a very strong counterattack, very tough language involving the president and the vice president. First of all what was the strategy here? Why such a tough counterattack, and why now?
LOCKHART: Well, you know, I'm not sure there's a strategy here. I think when someone gets up like Zell Miller and outright lies -- I mean, these aren't even just distortions. Look at "The Washington Post" today. They basically criticize Senator Kerry for being -- for doing things that not Senator Kerry did, but Vice President Cheney did as far as trying to eliminate weapons systems. And when someone goes after your patriotism that deserves a response.
I think Senator Kerry is going to spend the bulk of this campaign talking about what the voters want to hear, what he can do for the voters as far as jobs, health care and the economy.
But when someone like Zell Miller and someone like Dick Cheney get up and make these kinds of scurrilous charges they make, you can bet that every time we're going to come back and set the record straight. And I think Senator Kerry was right to do it, and I think the public is going to respond to it.
And I think the public will respond very negatively to the personal character assassination that we saw during this convention.
And, frankly, as a last point, it does say something about the president. This was the president's convention. I guarantee he knew what everybody was going to say. You know, if he believes those things, he ought to get up and say it himself, or tell all of his friends -- you know, all of his friends to keep quiet.
WALLACE: Joe, but can't it backfire on you all as well? Talking privately to other senior Kerry advisers, they said one of the things they want to do now is prevent the Republicans from sort of baiting them to talk about issues. They want to focus on economy, health care. Doesn't the senator by talking about his military service get off-message and not talk about the economy and health care issues you all want to talk about?
LOCKHART: Well, I'd say to anyone who is concerned about that, watch John Kerry over the next week or so. We've got some job numbers coming out within the next hour that are going to confirm that this president is the worst economic steward of this country since Herbert Hoover. From a political point of view, Herbert Hoover and George Bush in the same sentence isn't a great combination.
We're going to be talking about John Kerry's plan to improve the economy and to provide good-paying jobs, stop exporting jobs, get a handle on health care costs, get a real prescription drug benefit for America's seniors. That's what we're going to be talking about.
But make no mistake. When the Republicans come out, people who don't exactly have the best record of their own and question John Kerry's patriotism and his service to this country, we will fight back. That's what the American public expects, and that's what John Kerry will do.
WALLACE: Joe Lockhart, senior adviser to the Kerry campaign, thanks for being with us. We definitely will keep talking to you in the days ahead. Thanks again.
LOCKHART: Thanks, Kelly.
WALLACE: President Bush has expanded his slim lead over Democrat John Kerry in the all-important Electoral College, according to a new CNN analysis. If the election were held today, the president would get 284 electoral votes to Senator Kerry's 254. The latest count was taken before last night's speech. On the final day of the Democratic Convention, CNN showed Senator Kerry leading President Bush 300 to 238.
The race is extremely close with about a dozen states just too close to call. If a Republican state were to flip to the Democrats, Senator Kerry would take a decisive lead.
And now we go back to my colleague, Bill Hemmer, in Melbourne, Florida, for more on Hurricane Frances -- Bill.
HEMMER: Kelly, the word went out over the past couple days to 2.5 million people to evacuate. We know many have heeded that warning, with good reason too. Frances is a significant storm, downgraded overnight, now a category 3, but still a very tough customer off the coast here of Florida.
In a moment, we're going to get the latest numbers from the National Hurricane Center. Those numbers come out at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time, only 10 minutes away.
Also, the police chief in Miami, John Timoney, what he's telling his people and his community. Back a moment here on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. My name's Jack Cafferty. I'm one of the anchors here on this program.
The monthly jobs report comes out today. Who is it going to help, George Bush or John Kerry? Well, Andy Serwer, who is also a regular part of this program is here now, and he's "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Nice to see you again.
CAFFERTY: Yes, nice to be seen.
SERWER: This is a big question this morning. It comes out in about 35 minutes, Jack. Will this be the capstone of the Republican Convention or a counterpoint? Let's check it out.
We're talking about the August jobs reports. Economists are looking on average for the creation of 150,000 jobs. They're looking for the unemployment rate to hold steady at 5.5 percent. This is obviously going to be a huge campaign issue.
The good news for the president is, jobs have been growing since September. And we've added 1.5 million jobs since then. That's the good news.
The bad news is that since March, job growth has been anemic and it's been slowing more and more; 32,000 jobs created in July. That's it. And it is true that he will probably be the first president since Herbert Hoover to have job loss during his first term; 1.2 million jobs lost as of right now.
A couple of other interesting points. This will be the second to last jobs report before the election. The last one will be on October 8, which is the day of the second presidential debate. That will be for September. Very interesting.
Also, the president usually gets these numbers before the American public.
CAFFERTY: Sure.
SERWER: And everyone was anticipating he would have them last night, but news reports say he did not have those numbers, which is very interesting to me, I think.
CAFFERTY: You know, I'm not sure I believe that he didn't have them. I bet if he wanted them he could probably get them. And I'll be if they had been great, he might have said something about, look for a nice surprise tomorrow.
SERWER: Well, we were looking for clues.
WALLACE: We were looking for clues (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Typically, though, wouldn't he have them? So...
SERWER: He typically would. But the president's people are saying he did not look at the numbers for the speech. I mean, you know, that's what the White House says.
CAFFERTY: All right. We'll take a look at how the stock market reacts to all of this.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: It's Labor Day this weekend. And we just spent our last week in a diner, which 41 years in television is serving as the highlight of my career. And we're looking at the second hurricane in three weeks and the jobs report coming out in half an hour. And it's Friday.
So, here's the deal. What's the worst job you've ever had? Or anything else you want to write about. Like, for example, what a tremendous job Kelly Wallace is doing this morning as the anchor on this program.
WALLACE: Oh, thank you.
CAFFERTY: I mean, I were Heidi and Soledad, I wouldn't be taking a lot of time off. You know, I mean, I've been watching you...
SERWER: Oh, Wally Pick (ph).
WALLACE: Oh, you're being too kind.
CAFFERTY: ... bringing a touch of class to the joint.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: And god knows we could use that.
WALLACE: That's because I disappointed you on your program, "IN THE MONEY," when I couldn't answer the sports question about the Redskins. I didn't know who Joe Gibbs was.
SERWER: Well, the Redskins are No. 1.
WALLACE: So, I tried to redeem myself. All right.
CAFFERTY: It's good to have you here.
WALLACE: It's great to be here. Thanks, Jack and Andy.
SERWER: See you.
WALLACE: Still to come, we will get back to Bill and Florida in a moment, and we'll go live to Russia for the latest on the unfolding hostage drama. Stay with us right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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