Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Mourning the Children in Russia; Israel Seeks Stronger Ties With Russia in Wake of Tragedy
Aired September 07, 2004 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: In Moscow, a planned mass demonstration is getting under way in just a few hours. As many as 100,000 people are expected to march in protest of recent terrorist attacks throughout Russia.
And one of those attacks was, of course, the hostage school tragedy in Beslan. Families are gathering for the third straight day to remember and bury the children who became victims of that violence.
Let's go to CNN's Matthew Chance, who is joining us now live from Beslan with more on this.
Hello -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you as well, Catherine.
Well, it's another official day of mourning here across Russia. But nowhere is the sense of mourning and loss being felt more than here in the town of Beslan, where, of course, this school right behind me was the scene of a terrible hostage siege in which hundreds of people, many of them children, lost their lives.
Let me just step out of the way to show you what's going on right here. The local people of Beslan have come to this school to pay their last respects to the people who were killed inside the building. That's the school's gymnasium, where the majority of the hostages were held. And you can see, it's been absolutely devastated by the explosions and the fire that broke out in the eight-hour gun battle that eventually brought that siege to an end.
They're laying their floral treatments within the last hour. There was a church service inside as well. And makeshift memorials are being placed around the school compound with school books and shoes and spectacles and things like that. Little mementos of the people who died inside this school compound as that siege came to an end.
The official casualty figure at the moment is 338 people who have officially lost their lives. But the really controversial figure is this one: Between 200 and 300 people, according to the local families of Beslan, are still unaccounted for. Many of them perhaps are laid up in morgues yet to be identified by their families. But the whole issue is fueling anger amongst the people of this town that the local authorities, they say, haven't been straight with them from the outset. In the beginning the local authorities were saying just 130 people were in this school being held hostage. But now the figure seems to have been closer to 1,200. And so, there's a great deal of anger about that and a great deal of confusion as well, as people, as they begin and continue with these funerals, laying hundreds of people to rest -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Matthew, I have to think that this protest, the 100,000 people, it's going to be quite an emotional protest.
CHANCE: Absolutely. That protest will take place in Moscow, the Russian capital, about 1,500 kilometers, 1,000 miles or so, from here in Beslan. But it's a feeling that exists across the whole of this vast country. People are absolutely shocked and disgusted by the way that so many children were targeted by these terrorists here in southern Russia. And people are looking to the Russian government for some kind of firm action.
Now, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has said that that firm action will be forthcoming. But it's difficult to see what he's going to do, because he's already got a very hard-line stance, a hard- line policy in the breakaway Republic of Chechnya. Many people are expecting more military action there as a result of these atrocities that have taken place in Russia across the past few weeks -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: And I know you'll be following all of those developments for us. Thank you. That's Matthew Chance in Beslan.
Well, Russia and Israel don't often see eye to eye, but Israel is now reaching out to Russia. Leaders hope to forge some stronger ties in the wake of this Russian school tragedy.
Here's CNN's Guy Raz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A mutual pact born out of tragedy. Russia and Israel, often at odds politically, now agreeing to share intelligence.
Friday's siege in Beslan adding urgency to the Russian foreign minister's visit to Israel.
SERGEI LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Terrorists don't have any nationality. They are evil. They are universal evil. And international terrorism has no affiliation with any religion, faith or nationality.
RAZ: Israel says what happened in Beslan is no different than what happens here.
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Last Friday, the entire world was shocked by the horrific massacre that was perpetrated by terrorists in Russia. It has been proven again that terrorism does not distinguish between blood and blood, between adults and children.
RAZ (on camera): Israel frames its battles with Palestinian militants as part of a global war on terror. But Palestinians say such comparisons are cynical, ploys to deflect attention away from Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
(voice over): Russian officials are going to great lengths to avoid any effort to link the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with Chechen separatism.
LAVROV: Palestinian territories are qualified by international communities as occupied territories. You cannot occupy your own country. That's why the question related to the Chechen Republic territory is irrelevant.
RAZ: But the tragedy in Beslan hits home here. Thirty years ago, 20 people died at this high school in northern Israel when gunmen entered the building. Today, Israeli police conduct regular exercises like this one, simulating a hostage crisis inside a school.
Since 1974, schools across the country have been protected by armed guards, an idea Russian authorities may take home.
Guy Raz, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: And still to come on DAYBREAK, you may have hosted your last cookout for the summer, but some people are banking that you will still be hungry for beef.
Also coming up, one family, two storms, trees sway and nerves fray, riding out Frances. We'll have that for you.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news on this Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CALLAWAY: Well, the 2004 barbecue season is unofficially over. But that doesn't mean that beef prices will drop.
Stephanie Elam has the story. She's at the Nasdaq Marketsite in Times Square.
Hello -- Stephanie. Good morning again.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Good morning again, Catherine.
Well, that is exactly the case. In July, choice beef actually hit $4.06 a pound. Now, that's actually a record number. Just last year it was 3.75 per pound for all of the year.
This seems to be a trend here for a few reasons. For one thing, a lot of people are on those low-carb diets, so they're eating lots of their protein here. Higher feed prices have affected the producers there. Also, the United States produced 2.1 billions of pounds of beef in July. That's down 14 percent from a year earlier. Also, there's a ban on beef coming in from Canada, and that usually adds in about a good 5 percent of U.S. consumption.
So, all of those numbers are affecting here the cost of beef going up, if you still want to take another good steak in before summer is really over.
Back to you -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Stephanie, thank you very much.
In other news this morning, in the race for the White House, John Kerry hits the campaign trail in Greensville, North Carolina this morning. The Democratic presidential candidate then heads on to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Meanwhile, President Bush is stumping in Missouri today. He has three more campaign stops in that battleground state. The president will appear in Lee's Summit, Sedalia and Columbia.
So, let's find out how the public feels about the two presidential candidates. And for that, we turn to Gallup Poll editor- in-chief, Frank Newport, in Princeton, New Jersey, this morning.
Frank, good morning to you.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Catherine.
Indeed, we now have a lead for President George W. Bush, seven points either with Nader in or Nader out. He was leading by two or three points prior to the Republican Convention.
So, the way we look at it here at Gallup, looking back through history, Bush got a modest bounce out of the convention, but not a significant bounce based on historical standards, but certainly better than Kerry. Remember, he got no bounce at all out of the Democratic Convention.
So, when the dust is beginning to settle now after the summer and the conventions, we do find Bush with a modest but still significant lead, 52 to 41, and Ralph Nader now down to 1 percent of the vote.
We'll see what happens now. We're into the final stretch of the final two months of the campaign.
One other bit of information that's better news for George W. Bush, his job approval rating at 52 percent now. Now, he had been at 51 in August, now down to 49, and then back up to 52 over the weekend in our CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup Poll. For any incumbent running for re- election to be above 50 percent is a key indicator. So, the higher he goes above 50, the better it is for George Bush -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: So, it looks like the convention did energize those Republican voters out there.
NEWPORT: Indeed. And that's a key point, because energizing your base has kind of become the mantra for this election. It's one thing to switch, you know, swing voters' minds. It's another to get people that are already convinced to vote for you to come out and vote. That's why this is such a key graph I'm showing you.
Right after the Democratic Convention, 73 percent, the taller blue bar, of Democrats said they were more enthusiastic than usual. And that was higher than the Republicans.
But look at what's happened over this weekend. All of a sudden the Republicans are higher; 69 percent of them are more enthusiastic. And the Democrats' enthusiasm has dropped off.
So, if this continues, that's good news for Republicans, because enthusiasm usually translates to be more likely to turn out to vote.
CALLAWAY: Yes. And at that convention, the president was certainly sticking to terrorism and Iraq as the focus. Is that what voters really want to hear from the candidates?
NEWPORT: Well, clearly voters want more of a domestic focus. We asked just that question in the weekend poll. What other that you're not hearing do you want the candidates to be talking about? And look at what we get back: 16 percent economy or jobs; 15 percent health care; 5 percent education; Iraq only 4 percent; terrorism not even at the top of the list; and then social security.
So, Catherine, the bottom line is voters are saying to both Bush and Kerry, based on our data, tell us more about what you're going to do for these domestic economic, health care and education concerns.
CALLAWAY: All right, Frank Newport, our numbers man in Princeton, New Jersey, thanks.
Doctors say President Clinton would have most certainly suffered a major heart attack if they had not discovered his problem when they did. The former president had successful quadruple bypass surgery, and may be able to head home as early as the end of this week. His surgeons say that a full recovery is expected, but it could take a few months.
Now, the question is: Will it keep President Clinton out of commission during the final weeks of this presidential campaign?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CRAIG SMITH, CHIEF CARDIOLOTHORACIC SURGEON: Well, it depends a lot on the job, and it depends on the individual. It's one of these things that we really have to individualize. And it's very hard to know from where I sit or where Dr. Schwartz (ph) sits, what are the stresses of anybody's job. They know the job better than we do.
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Yes. SMITH: I try to be relatively flexible with that, but how soon he can go back to work will have a lot to do with how well he can control the environment he's going into. He's going to step into a campaign scene where he's got to be 110 percent, 48 hours running. He's not going to be able to do that for a while.
KING: Yes.
SMITH: If it's a thing where he can kind of glide into it and take it sort of halfway for a week or two, he might be able to do it sooner. But it's very hard to generalize.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: Doctors also say that President Clinton will be placed on a new diet and exercise program to help him resume an active lifestyle.
Well, let's check in now with Bill Hemmer and Kelly Wallace, standing by in New York, for a look at what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."
Good morning to you both.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Catherine. Good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, sir. Great job.
HEMMER: How are you doing? It's nice to see you here, Kelly Wallace on "AMERICAN MORNING."
WALLACE: It's nice to see him in person, Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: We're going to have much more on what's happening with that hurricane and that aftermath of Frances. How are folks coping yet again today? How bad is the damage?
I have to tell you, we were sick and tired of it on Sunday afternoon. You can only imagine what those people are still dealing with today. So, we'll talk to the FEMA officials today. We'll talk with Red Cross officials today and find out what's happening down there.
WALLACE: A big story for Floridians.
Another big story, the surgery of former President Bill Clinton, quadruple bypass surgery. We'll talk about what's involved in his recovery. We'll also talk to the doctor who operated on him, cool as can be. And also Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be here.
HEMMER: Also, a tough week already in Iraq. The violence continues. A deadly day for Iraqis and Americans. Seven Marines killed earlier in the week. More reports of soldiers dead again. We'll get to Baghdad in a moment here on all of that as well.
But Jack's on vacation. Toure is in.
WALLACE: Toure is in. Andy Serwer is back, though.
HEMMER: Yes. So, we almost have the team back together -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Well, we're glad you're there nonetheless, though.
WALLACE: Yes.
HEMMER: See you at the top of the hour.
CALLAWAY: All right, see you two then.
HEMMER: All right, bye-bye.
CALLAWAY: Your news, money, weather and sports now coming up. At 46 minutes after the hour, here's what's happening.
New violence this morning in Baghdad's Sadr City. The U.S. military says an American soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast. Several others soldiers have been hurt battling Shiite militiamen. At least 18 Iraqis have been killed in fighting in Sadr City today and yesterday.
Meanwhile, Israeli helicopters attacked a suspected Hamas training camp in Gaza City today. Palestinian medical sources say at least 15 people were killed.
In money news, the Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon raised $59.4 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. That is nearly 2 percent less than last year. Organizations believe that disruptions from Hurricane Frances affected the donations.
In culture, Michael Moore wants top honors for "Fahrenheit 9/11" at this year's Academy Awards. Moore says he won't put the film up for best documentary, but instead he wants the bigger prize: best picture.
In sports, the New York Yankees asked the commissioner's office to award them a forfeit victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Tampa didn't show up on time for a double header because of travel problems due to Hurricane Frances. That request was denied.
(WEATHER BREAK)
CALLAWAY: Coming up, the cost of living in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Total damages to the house: about 16,000.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: Hear one family's tale of life after Frances and Charley and now possibly Ivan. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CALLAWAY: First Charley and then Frances. Florida has gotten punched and pummeled by two big hurricanes. Now, Ivan is still looming out there in the Atlantic.
And for one family, riding out one storm at home was enough. Here's CNN's Bruce Burkhardt.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When you have huddled in your house during one hurricane, you really don't feel like doing it again during a second hurricane. That's why Allen and Ellen Root and Dez (ph) and Taz (ph) and Molly (ph) and Jocuv (ph), along with their daughter and son-in-law, checked in to an Orlando hotel to await the arrival of Frances.
(on camera): Why check in this storm and not the last storm?
ALLEN ROOT, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: Well, I think it's because of what happened in the first storm. The fear of going through that and thinking about going through it again was something, you know, that made us think we wanted to be here instead of at home.
ELLEN ROOT, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: Safe. Safe, because we are together.
BURKHARDT (voice over): The Root's house is not far from Orlando, just south in Kissimmee.
(on camera): It's almost the whole roof.
A. ROOT: It pretty much is. I would say it's about three- quarters of it that had the shingles sheered off.
BURKHARDT (voice over): The day before Frances was due the Roots showed me what Charley had done earlier.
A. ROOT: Total damages to the house: about 16,000.
BURKHARDT: Charley was not kind to this place. Many buildings in the historic downtown are now condemned. And the old movie theater might as well be playing "Gone With the Wind."
The Root's hometown of Kissimmee had reason to believe it might be a two-time loser. Right at the intersection of Charley's path and the projected path of Frances, it was a town that could ill afford another bad hit. Piles of debris had the potential to become dangerous projectiles. And if Charley knocked off some roofs, what would Frances do to the temporary tarps that now cover the damage?
E. ROOT: Oh, they are so worried. They are so worried.
BURKHARDT: One room, four people, four dogs, three days with nothing to do but watch TV. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's starting to get a little bit worse.
BURKHARDT: And now and then an excursion outside to let the dogs do what dogs do. When the hotel shut down the elevators in anticipation of a power outage, the whole crew had to hoof it up the steps.
A. ROOT: Almost there. Almost there.
BURKHARDT: Late Saturday night, the storm's outer bands began to reach Kissimmee, and by Sunday morning Frances was in full swing.
(on camera): It's 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning, and we still don't know if the Root's house has seen the worst of this thing yet. The first thing we noticed when we got here was this: this big section of roof. It looks like the roof over the patio out back has blown off and landed here in their neighbor's house.
But the good news is that the tarp still seems to be holding on top of the house. Driving over here, we saw several in the neighborhood that had blown off. But out back, near the pool, it's a different story.
(voice over): There was some roof damage where the patio overhang had torn away; also a blown-over fence and some flooding.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel, the walls were beginning to close in.
A. ROOT: Yes, the room gets smaller and smaller. As you try to find things, we're stepping over things, moving things, tripping over dogs.
BURKHARDT: By Monday morning, it looked like the worst was over, and it was time to go home, but maybe not for good.
A. ROOT: Can I make a reservation for next weekend?
BURKHARDT: The third hurricane, Ivan, threatened, even as they gathered up their courage to see what Frances had done. Though there were clear signs that Frances had been there, the Roots knew it could have been so much worse.
A. ROOT: Now that this is off the roof, it means there is a hole in my roof the size of that.
BURKHARDT: Another insurance claim, another deductible. Such is life in the Sunshine State.
Bruce Burkhardt, CNN, Kissimmee, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: Stay with us, everyone. Today's mug winner announced in just two minutes.
But first, this is DAYBREAK for a Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CALLAWAY: What DAYBREAK viewers have been watching for all morning: who won the mug?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Who won the mug, and then your chance to win one tomorrow.
CALLAWAY: That's right.
MARCIANO: All right, we'll tell you who won today's mug. Yesterday we asked, to whom is this year's MDA telethon dedicated to? And the answer is Mattie Stepanek. Did I pronounce that right?
CALLAWAY: Stepanek, right.
MARCIANO: OK. While you may recall his appearance on "LARRY KING LIVE," he passed away this year.
How many people attended this year's Burning Man Festival in Nevada? That was our second question. A record number attended. More than 35,000.
And the winner is Greg Lauderback.
CALLAWAY: Yea!
MARCIANO: Yea! Of Wheelersburg, Ohio. Congratulations, Greg. You'll get yourself a CNN DAYBREAK mug.
All right, here's your chance to win a mug from today's questions. And it is -- or they are: How old is the famous statue of David? And what is the name of the signature building going up at the site of the World Trade Center? We'll have the winner for that tomorrow.
Chad Myers will be back tomorrow. He's been covering Hurricane Frances.
CALLAWAY: Yes, he ought to be extremely tired.
MARCIANO: Actually, he's taking an extra day because his folks' place is down in Florida, and they had some damage.
CALLAWAY: Oh, wow!
MARCIANO: So, he wants to go take care of them. Ever the good son, that Chad is.
CALLAWAY: Yes. The crew will be back.
(WEATHER BREAK)
CALLAWAY: All right, that's it for us. "AMERICAN MORNING" is ahead. I'm Catherine Callaway. We'll see you soon. MARCIANO: See you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired September 7, 2004 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: In Moscow, a planned mass demonstration is getting under way in just a few hours. As many as 100,000 people are expected to march in protest of recent terrorist attacks throughout Russia.
And one of those attacks was, of course, the hostage school tragedy in Beslan. Families are gathering for the third straight day to remember and bury the children who became victims of that violence.
Let's go to CNN's Matthew Chance, who is joining us now live from Beslan with more on this.
Hello -- Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you as well, Catherine.
Well, it's another official day of mourning here across Russia. But nowhere is the sense of mourning and loss being felt more than here in the town of Beslan, where, of course, this school right behind me was the scene of a terrible hostage siege in which hundreds of people, many of them children, lost their lives.
Let me just step out of the way to show you what's going on right here. The local people of Beslan have come to this school to pay their last respects to the people who were killed inside the building. That's the school's gymnasium, where the majority of the hostages were held. And you can see, it's been absolutely devastated by the explosions and the fire that broke out in the eight-hour gun battle that eventually brought that siege to an end.
They're laying their floral treatments within the last hour. There was a church service inside as well. And makeshift memorials are being placed around the school compound with school books and shoes and spectacles and things like that. Little mementos of the people who died inside this school compound as that siege came to an end.
The official casualty figure at the moment is 338 people who have officially lost their lives. But the really controversial figure is this one: Between 200 and 300 people, according to the local families of Beslan, are still unaccounted for. Many of them perhaps are laid up in morgues yet to be identified by their families. But the whole issue is fueling anger amongst the people of this town that the local authorities, they say, haven't been straight with them from the outset. In the beginning the local authorities were saying just 130 people were in this school being held hostage. But now the figure seems to have been closer to 1,200. And so, there's a great deal of anger about that and a great deal of confusion as well, as people, as they begin and continue with these funerals, laying hundreds of people to rest -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Matthew, I have to think that this protest, the 100,000 people, it's going to be quite an emotional protest.
CHANCE: Absolutely. That protest will take place in Moscow, the Russian capital, about 1,500 kilometers, 1,000 miles or so, from here in Beslan. But it's a feeling that exists across the whole of this vast country. People are absolutely shocked and disgusted by the way that so many children were targeted by these terrorists here in southern Russia. And people are looking to the Russian government for some kind of firm action.
Now, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has said that that firm action will be forthcoming. But it's difficult to see what he's going to do, because he's already got a very hard-line stance, a hard- line policy in the breakaway Republic of Chechnya. Many people are expecting more military action there as a result of these atrocities that have taken place in Russia across the past few weeks -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: And I know you'll be following all of those developments for us. Thank you. That's Matthew Chance in Beslan.
Well, Russia and Israel don't often see eye to eye, but Israel is now reaching out to Russia. Leaders hope to forge some stronger ties in the wake of this Russian school tragedy.
Here's CNN's Guy Raz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUY RAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A mutual pact born out of tragedy. Russia and Israel, often at odds politically, now agreeing to share intelligence.
Friday's siege in Beslan adding urgency to the Russian foreign minister's visit to Israel.
SERGEI LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Terrorists don't have any nationality. They are evil. They are universal evil. And international terrorism has no affiliation with any religion, faith or nationality.
RAZ: Israel says what happened in Beslan is no different than what happens here.
ARIEL SHARON, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Last Friday, the entire world was shocked by the horrific massacre that was perpetrated by terrorists in Russia. It has been proven again that terrorism does not distinguish between blood and blood, between adults and children.
RAZ (on camera): Israel frames its battles with Palestinian militants as part of a global war on terror. But Palestinians say such comparisons are cynical, ploys to deflect attention away from Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
(voice over): Russian officials are going to great lengths to avoid any effort to link the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with Chechen separatism.
LAVROV: Palestinian territories are qualified by international communities as occupied territories. You cannot occupy your own country. That's why the question related to the Chechen Republic territory is irrelevant.
RAZ: But the tragedy in Beslan hits home here. Thirty years ago, 20 people died at this high school in northern Israel when gunmen entered the building. Today, Israeli police conduct regular exercises like this one, simulating a hostage crisis inside a school.
Since 1974, schools across the country have been protected by armed guards, an idea Russian authorities may take home.
Guy Raz, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: And still to come on DAYBREAK, you may have hosted your last cookout for the summer, but some people are banking that you will still be hungry for beef.
Also coming up, one family, two storms, trees sway and nerves fray, riding out Frances. We'll have that for you.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news on this Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CALLAWAY: Well, the 2004 barbecue season is unofficially over. But that doesn't mean that beef prices will drop.
Stephanie Elam has the story. She's at the Nasdaq Marketsite in Times Square.
Hello -- Stephanie. Good morning again.
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS: Good morning again, Catherine.
Well, that is exactly the case. In July, choice beef actually hit $4.06 a pound. Now, that's actually a record number. Just last year it was 3.75 per pound for all of the year.
This seems to be a trend here for a few reasons. For one thing, a lot of people are on those low-carb diets, so they're eating lots of their protein here. Higher feed prices have affected the producers there. Also, the United States produced 2.1 billions of pounds of beef in July. That's down 14 percent from a year earlier. Also, there's a ban on beef coming in from Canada, and that usually adds in about a good 5 percent of U.S. consumption.
So, all of those numbers are affecting here the cost of beef going up, if you still want to take another good steak in before summer is really over.
Back to you -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: All right, Stephanie, thank you very much.
In other news this morning, in the race for the White House, John Kerry hits the campaign trail in Greensville, North Carolina this morning. The Democratic presidential candidate then heads on to Cincinnati, Ohio.
Meanwhile, President Bush is stumping in Missouri today. He has three more campaign stops in that battleground state. The president will appear in Lee's Summit, Sedalia and Columbia.
So, let's find out how the public feels about the two presidential candidates. And for that, we turn to Gallup Poll editor- in-chief, Frank Newport, in Princeton, New Jersey, this morning.
Frank, good morning to you.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Catherine.
Indeed, we now have a lead for President George W. Bush, seven points either with Nader in or Nader out. He was leading by two or three points prior to the Republican Convention.
So, the way we look at it here at Gallup, looking back through history, Bush got a modest bounce out of the convention, but not a significant bounce based on historical standards, but certainly better than Kerry. Remember, he got no bounce at all out of the Democratic Convention.
So, when the dust is beginning to settle now after the summer and the conventions, we do find Bush with a modest but still significant lead, 52 to 41, and Ralph Nader now down to 1 percent of the vote.
We'll see what happens now. We're into the final stretch of the final two months of the campaign.
One other bit of information that's better news for George W. Bush, his job approval rating at 52 percent now. Now, he had been at 51 in August, now down to 49, and then back up to 52 over the weekend in our CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup Poll. For any incumbent running for re- election to be above 50 percent is a key indicator. So, the higher he goes above 50, the better it is for George Bush -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: So, it looks like the convention did energize those Republican voters out there.
NEWPORT: Indeed. And that's a key point, because energizing your base has kind of become the mantra for this election. It's one thing to switch, you know, swing voters' minds. It's another to get people that are already convinced to vote for you to come out and vote. That's why this is such a key graph I'm showing you.
Right after the Democratic Convention, 73 percent, the taller blue bar, of Democrats said they were more enthusiastic than usual. And that was higher than the Republicans.
But look at what's happened over this weekend. All of a sudden the Republicans are higher; 69 percent of them are more enthusiastic. And the Democrats' enthusiasm has dropped off.
So, if this continues, that's good news for Republicans, because enthusiasm usually translates to be more likely to turn out to vote.
CALLAWAY: Yes. And at that convention, the president was certainly sticking to terrorism and Iraq as the focus. Is that what voters really want to hear from the candidates?
NEWPORT: Well, clearly voters want more of a domestic focus. We asked just that question in the weekend poll. What other that you're not hearing do you want the candidates to be talking about? And look at what we get back: 16 percent economy or jobs; 15 percent health care; 5 percent education; Iraq only 4 percent; terrorism not even at the top of the list; and then social security.
So, Catherine, the bottom line is voters are saying to both Bush and Kerry, based on our data, tell us more about what you're going to do for these domestic economic, health care and education concerns.
CALLAWAY: All right, Frank Newport, our numbers man in Princeton, New Jersey, thanks.
Doctors say President Clinton would have most certainly suffered a major heart attack if they had not discovered his problem when they did. The former president had successful quadruple bypass surgery, and may be able to head home as early as the end of this week. His surgeons say that a full recovery is expected, but it could take a few months.
Now, the question is: Will it keep President Clinton out of commission during the final weeks of this presidential campaign?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. CRAIG SMITH, CHIEF CARDIOLOTHORACIC SURGEON: Well, it depends a lot on the job, and it depends on the individual. It's one of these things that we really have to individualize. And it's very hard to know from where I sit or where Dr. Schwartz (ph) sits, what are the stresses of anybody's job. They know the job better than we do.
LARRY KING, CNN HOST: Yes. SMITH: I try to be relatively flexible with that, but how soon he can go back to work will have a lot to do with how well he can control the environment he's going into. He's going to step into a campaign scene where he's got to be 110 percent, 48 hours running. He's not going to be able to do that for a while.
KING: Yes.
SMITH: If it's a thing where he can kind of glide into it and take it sort of halfway for a week or two, he might be able to do it sooner. But it's very hard to generalize.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: Doctors also say that President Clinton will be placed on a new diet and exercise program to help him resume an active lifestyle.
Well, let's check in now with Bill Hemmer and Kelly Wallace, standing by in New York, for a look at what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."
Good morning to you both.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, Catherine. Good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, sir. Great job.
HEMMER: How are you doing? It's nice to see you here, Kelly Wallace on "AMERICAN MORNING."
WALLACE: It's nice to see him in person, Bill Hemmer.
HEMMER: We're going to have much more on what's happening with that hurricane and that aftermath of Frances. How are folks coping yet again today? How bad is the damage?
I have to tell you, we were sick and tired of it on Sunday afternoon. You can only imagine what those people are still dealing with today. So, we'll talk to the FEMA officials today. We'll talk with Red Cross officials today and find out what's happening down there.
WALLACE: A big story for Floridians.
Another big story, the surgery of former President Bill Clinton, quadruple bypass surgery. We'll talk about what's involved in his recovery. We'll also talk to the doctor who operated on him, cool as can be. And also Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be here.
HEMMER: Also, a tough week already in Iraq. The violence continues. A deadly day for Iraqis and Americans. Seven Marines killed earlier in the week. More reports of soldiers dead again. We'll get to Baghdad in a moment here on all of that as well.
But Jack's on vacation. Toure is in.
WALLACE: Toure is in. Andy Serwer is back, though.
HEMMER: Yes. So, we almost have the team back together -- Catherine.
CALLAWAY: Well, we're glad you're there nonetheless, though.
WALLACE: Yes.
HEMMER: See you at the top of the hour.
CALLAWAY: All right, see you two then.
HEMMER: All right, bye-bye.
CALLAWAY: Your news, money, weather and sports now coming up. At 46 minutes after the hour, here's what's happening.
New violence this morning in Baghdad's Sadr City. The U.S. military says an American soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast. Several others soldiers have been hurt battling Shiite militiamen. At least 18 Iraqis have been killed in fighting in Sadr City today and yesterday.
Meanwhile, Israeli helicopters attacked a suspected Hamas training camp in Gaza City today. Palestinian medical sources say at least 15 people were killed.
In money news, the Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon raised $59.4 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. That is nearly 2 percent less than last year. Organizations believe that disruptions from Hurricane Frances affected the donations.
In culture, Michael Moore wants top honors for "Fahrenheit 9/11" at this year's Academy Awards. Moore says he won't put the film up for best documentary, but instead he wants the bigger prize: best picture.
In sports, the New York Yankees asked the commissioner's office to award them a forfeit victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Tampa didn't show up on time for a double header because of travel problems due to Hurricane Frances. That request was denied.
(WEATHER BREAK)
CALLAWAY: Coming up, the cost of living in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Total damages to the house: about 16,000.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLAWAY: Hear one family's tale of life after Frances and Charley and now possibly Ivan. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CALLAWAY: First Charley and then Frances. Florida has gotten punched and pummeled by two big hurricanes. Now, Ivan is still looming out there in the Atlantic.
And for one family, riding out one storm at home was enough. Here's CNN's Bruce Burkhardt.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUCE BURKHARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When you have huddled in your house during one hurricane, you really don't feel like doing it again during a second hurricane. That's why Allen and Ellen Root and Dez (ph) and Taz (ph) and Molly (ph) and Jocuv (ph), along with their daughter and son-in-law, checked in to an Orlando hotel to await the arrival of Frances.
(on camera): Why check in this storm and not the last storm?
ALLEN ROOT, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: Well, I think it's because of what happened in the first storm. The fear of going through that and thinking about going through it again was something, you know, that made us think we wanted to be here instead of at home.
ELLEN ROOT, HURRICANE SURVIVOR: Safe. Safe, because we are together.
BURKHARDT (voice over): The Root's house is not far from Orlando, just south in Kissimmee.
(on camera): It's almost the whole roof.
A. ROOT: It pretty much is. I would say it's about three- quarters of it that had the shingles sheered off.
BURKHARDT (voice over): The day before Frances was due the Roots showed me what Charley had done earlier.
A. ROOT: Total damages to the house: about 16,000.
BURKHARDT: Charley was not kind to this place. Many buildings in the historic downtown are now condemned. And the old movie theater might as well be playing "Gone With the Wind."
The Root's hometown of Kissimmee had reason to believe it might be a two-time loser. Right at the intersection of Charley's path and the projected path of Frances, it was a town that could ill afford another bad hit. Piles of debris had the potential to become dangerous projectiles. And if Charley knocked off some roofs, what would Frances do to the temporary tarps that now cover the damage?
E. ROOT: Oh, they are so worried. They are so worried.
BURKHARDT: One room, four people, four dogs, three days with nothing to do but watch TV. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's starting to get a little bit worse.
BURKHARDT: And now and then an excursion outside to let the dogs do what dogs do. When the hotel shut down the elevators in anticipation of a power outage, the whole crew had to hoof it up the steps.
A. ROOT: Almost there. Almost there.
BURKHARDT: Late Saturday night, the storm's outer bands began to reach Kissimmee, and by Sunday morning Frances was in full swing.
(on camera): It's 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning, and we still don't know if the Root's house has seen the worst of this thing yet. The first thing we noticed when we got here was this: this big section of roof. It looks like the roof over the patio out back has blown off and landed here in their neighbor's house.
But the good news is that the tarp still seems to be holding on top of the house. Driving over here, we saw several in the neighborhood that had blown off. But out back, near the pool, it's a different story.
(voice over): There was some roof damage where the patio overhang had torn away; also a blown-over fence and some flooding.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel, the walls were beginning to close in.
A. ROOT: Yes, the room gets smaller and smaller. As you try to find things, we're stepping over things, moving things, tripping over dogs.
BURKHARDT: By Monday morning, it looked like the worst was over, and it was time to go home, but maybe not for good.
A. ROOT: Can I make a reservation for next weekend?
BURKHARDT: The third hurricane, Ivan, threatened, even as they gathered up their courage to see what Frances had done. Though there were clear signs that Frances had been there, the Roots knew it could have been so much worse.
A. ROOT: Now that this is off the roof, it means there is a hole in my roof the size of that.
BURKHARDT: Another insurance claim, another deductible. Such is life in the Sunshine State.
Bruce Burkhardt, CNN, Kissimmee, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: Stay with us, everyone. Today's mug winner announced in just two minutes.
But first, this is DAYBREAK for a Tuesday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CALLAWAY: What DAYBREAK viewers have been watching for all morning: who won the mug?
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Who won the mug, and then your chance to win one tomorrow.
CALLAWAY: That's right.
MARCIANO: All right, we'll tell you who won today's mug. Yesterday we asked, to whom is this year's MDA telethon dedicated to? And the answer is Mattie Stepanek. Did I pronounce that right?
CALLAWAY: Stepanek, right.
MARCIANO: OK. While you may recall his appearance on "LARRY KING LIVE," he passed away this year.
How many people attended this year's Burning Man Festival in Nevada? That was our second question. A record number attended. More than 35,000.
And the winner is Greg Lauderback.
CALLAWAY: Yea!
MARCIANO: Yea! Of Wheelersburg, Ohio. Congratulations, Greg. You'll get yourself a CNN DAYBREAK mug.
All right, here's your chance to win a mug from today's questions. And it is -- or they are: How old is the famous statue of David? And what is the name of the signature building going up at the site of the World Trade Center? We'll have the winner for that tomorrow.
Chad Myers will be back tomorrow. He's been covering Hurricane Frances.
CALLAWAY: Yes, he ought to be extremely tired.
MARCIANO: Actually, he's taking an extra day because his folks' place is down in Florida, and they had some damage.
CALLAWAY: Oh, wow!
MARCIANO: So, he wants to go take care of them. Ever the good son, that Chad is.
CALLAWAY: Yes. The crew will be back.
(WEATHER BREAK)
CALLAWAY: All right, that's it for us. "AMERICAN MORNING" is ahead. I'm Catherine Callaway. We'll see you soon. MARCIANO: See you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
