Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Candidates Fighting It Out in Battleground States; Sneak Peek at New Model Cars; Ivan Now a Category-Five Hurricane
Aired September 09, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The candidates fighting it out in the battleground states, and a new poll shows one side winning the battle.
In the Caribbean, Ivan now a category-five hurricane, people in Florida now being told to watch out.
And a sneak peek at the new model cars that will soon be turning heads, on this AMERICAN MORNING:
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Soledad is still off, but I'm back.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: You're back. We missed you. You doing all right?
COLLINS: Yes, sort of.
HEMMER: Drying out, just like everybody so far. Some other stories watching today; we're going to find out about the Genesis capsule that crashed to Earth yesterday. We all watched it live, in fact. Talk to a NASA scientist about what went wrong and whether or not any of the experiments can be salvaged. We'll get to that.
COLLINS: It's painful to watch that video. Also one of the prosecutors in the Kobe Bryant case is talking about the case they had against the NBA star. She says the evidence was solid. We're going to talk about the interview and find out why this prosecutor thought she could get a conviction.
Jackie is also on vacation right now, but Toure is here. He's going to be taking your e-mail this morning along with the Toure experience.
OK, we'll get to that in a moment. First, Daryn Kagan, first up at the CNN Center.
Daryn, good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill.
Let's begin with a chaotic scene this hour outside the Australian embassy in Indonesia. A powerful explosion there killed at least eight people and injured about 115 others. There's been no claim of responsibility for this attack. Initial suspicions fall on a militant group with ties to Al Qaeda, but that has not been confirmed.
A new operation targeting anti-Iraqi fighters is under way at this hour. Multinational and Iraqi security forces are hunting insurgents in the city of Tal Afar.
Health officials say 25 people were killer there. In Fallujah, a U.S. lead airstrike targeted buildings used by suspected militant Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. These images are just coming in to us here at CNN. Iraq's officials say that at least 10 people were killed there, including some children.
The Pakistani Air Force struck down what officials say was a meeting of Al Qaeda operatives. Early this morning, Pakistani fighter jets pounded suspected strongholds in the tribal region near the Afghan border. According to local officials, some 40 people were killed.
Closer to home, Hurricane Ivan is now even stronger, having grown into a category-5 storm. It's packing winds at about 160 miles per hour as it heads for Jamaica. Ivan is being blamed for at least 15 deaths. It blew apart concrete homes and destroyed a prison in Grenada. There are reports of looting this morning. Ivan could hit Cuba by Saturday. Clearly, a lot more ahead about Ivan in the program.
Now back to you.
HEMMER: Indeed you're right about that, Daryn. Thanks. Let's get to the White House first off today. President Bush has changed his mind about how much a new national intelligence director would have, how much power that director would have.
Elaine Quijano, on the Front Lawn this morning, good morning there.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
With recent polls showing terrorism a top voting concern, President Bush made clear he wants to move ahead with one key intelligence reform.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): Saying he wants to get legislation to his desk as soon as possible, President Bush embraced a key recommendation of the September 11th Commission.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe that there ought to be a national intelligence director who has full budgetary authority. We'll talk to members of Congress about how to implement that.
QUIJANO: The president's comments, during a meeting with top congressional leaders, represents a shift from his previous support for limited budget powers for a national intelligence head. A senior administration official says Mr. Bush made clear at the meeting he's willing to overrule the past objections by the Pentagon and CIA, which currently control most of the intel budget.
On Capitol Hill, House Republican leader Tom DeLay noted the president hasn't yet taken a position on other 9/11 Commission recommendations. And from Democrats, skepticism.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: The devil is in the details. In what manner do they support the budgetary authority going to the national intelligence director? that remains for us to see in print, on paper, so that we can make a judgment about it.
QUIJANO: In a statement, an adviser to the president's Democratic rival, Senator John Kerry, called on Mr. Bush to endorse all of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, adding -- quote -- "President Bush has unnecessarily delayed intelligence reforms for three years, leaving our nation at risk."
Yet in his roughly minute-long statement, supporting a strong national intelligence director, the president was able to get out ahead of the issue, a demonstration of the power of the incumbency. It is also a case of bowing to political reality. There is broad bipartisan support for a new position the 9/11 Commission said is vital to solving communication breakdowns, turf battles and wasted resources among the government's 15 intelligence agencies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO: Now, the president's position puts the ball squarely in Congress' court, with the August recess over and both Republicans and Democrats under pressure not to delay reform, the president may be able to take credit for creating a national intelligence director in time for the November election -- Bill.
HEMMER: Elaine Quijano at the White House.
Also now in the polling in election 2004, is President Bush winning now in the battleground battle? There are 17 so-called battleground states, and CNN has new polling in four of those 17, in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington State and Missouri.
Bill Schneider up early with us.
Bill, good morning to you.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POL. ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: On the screen, we'll show the four states we polled, the battleground states. What do you take away from the numbers you will see sometime very soon once they arrive?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, once they arrive. Well, what we're seeing in much of the country, a bounce for Bush coming out of his convention. Let's take a look at the states, Missouri. Bush has a 14-point lead. That's a seven-point improvement over where he stood in July. Ohio, Bush up by eight, again a search-point improvement over where he was in July. Missouri and Ohio both went for Bush last time, and it looks like they're so far sticking with the president.
Pennsylvania, hotly contested. That state went for Gore last time, but Bush is up by just one point. It's virtually a tie now, but very much at risk for the Democrats, a crucial state.
Any good news here for the Democrats? Washington State, another battleground. John Kerry is leading by eight points in Washington State. That was the state that Gore carried in 2000 by five. So yes, there's a little bit of good news here for the Democrats on the West Coast.
HEMMER: Those are likely voters. When you factor in registered voters, something changes. Tell us why, and explain that on the polling.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, what happened is, if you look at all registered voters, Kerry does better, not enough to turn anything around, but his lead in Ohio changes to just one point. His lead in Missouri shrinks from 14 to 11 points. Pennsylvania becomes an absolute dead heat. Why is that? Well, because the people -- those registered voters who are least likely to vote, tend to favor Kerry more than the others. What that means for Democrats is if they can get turnout up, way up, closer to 100, percent which would never happen, of registered voters, Kerry is likely it do better. So the Democrats are promising a big registration drive and a big effort to pump up turnout, because that will help Kerry.
HEMMER: All right, if our viewers are confused at home, there's reason to be; we had the wrong graphic up there.
Let's go back to the graphic we just had. These are the issues, the economy and terrorism. The economy checks across the board as the No. 1 issue. Why is it that, if that's the No. 1 issue, and in the battleground states, especially places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where the economy is lagging, why is John Kerry not making headway?
SCHNEIDER: Well, look at those economy figures. There all also between 33 percent and 39 percent. Voters concerned about the economy vote heavily for John Kerry, and that is keeping Kerry competitive. But the rest of the electorate, those concerned about terrorism, Iraq, other issues, they're voting heavily for Bush.
And as you can see, the economy is not a majority issue in any of those states, including Ohio, where the economy suffered mightily.
So what's happening here is you have a race here, between concern about the economy, which the Democrats are trying to drive up, because it helps Kerry, and other issues which are helping Bush, particularly rising concern over terrorism, which is the about a quarter in all of those states.
HEMMER: Thank you, Bill. Bill Schneider down in D.C.
Next hour, we'll talk with the governor of Ohio, Bob Taft, about what's happening there, and whether or not this shift is real, based on the polling we're seeing.
Thank you, Bill. Here's Heidi now.
SCHNEIDER: As we've reported, Hurricane Ivan is now a rare category-5 hurricane, the most powerful and dangerous type, with winds near 160 miles per hour. When it was just a category 3, this is the devastation it caused in the Caribbean Island of Grenada, at least 12 deaths now being reported there. The Island's main prison also destroyed. All of the prisoners right now are on the loose.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
COLLINS: And as you know, more disaster relief could soon be on the way to hurricane-hammered Florida. President Bush yesterday approved a $2 billion bailout, then toured some of the areas hardest hit by Frances. The president and Florida Governor Jeb Jeb bush pitched in to help those still without power.
You see him there handing out ice and supplies. FEMA director Michael Brown is the coordinating person in charge of the federal relief effort. He's joining us this morning from Washington, and what a huge task you have, sir. Thanks so much for being with us. I know that you also toured the damaged areas with President Bush. He had good things to say about what was going on there, and we talked about this $2 billion supplemental aid package. Is it going to be enough?
MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIR.: Well, in the end, it probably won't be enough. The president said he may have to go back later for some additional funding. But we're going to use the money that we received from Congress yesterday primarily for disaster victims' assistance. We've already approved more than 100,000 applications for Hurricane Charley, distributed over $90 million. And for Hurricane Frances already, we've already registered 62,000 people. So you can see the numbers of victims from these hurricanes, it's just staggering.
COLLINS: Staggering, that's for sure. And still, we're looking at video, too, also staggering.
In fact, upwards of a million homes still don't have power. Thousands of people still in shelters and either don't have a home to go to, or you know, it's taking a little bit more time than they would have expected.
Do you have any advice for them this morning, especially as we've just heard Chad Myers talking about Ivan as well.
BROWN: Sure, but it's probably advice that folks don't want to here, because I've been down there, and it's just not pleasant. It's very hot, it's humid. The rains keep coming. And as you recall, Frances was such a slow-moving storm that people went to shelters properly early, but now they've been stuck there for a while.
But the shelter population is reduced from 90,000 to, I think, less than 25,000 right now. The folks are just going to have to be patient. We have literally hundreds of truckloads there. We have 92 distribution points. I know the utility companies are working frantically to get the power back on as quickly as possible, but it's going to be a long haul, because Frances was so big and so slow.
COLLINS: Well, let's talk for a minute about those supplies. You know, obviously, flooding has become a very serious problem. Must be difficult to get those supplies into exactly where people need them. How are you going about doing that?
BROWN: Well, first and foremost, we're asking the victims down there to help us help you. If they can do that by staying off the roads, unless they absolutely have to go somewhere, because you're right, we have literally hundreds of semitrailer loads of food, water and ice moving around, that sometimes it's difficult to get through those flooded areas. There's still debris on the road. There's still floodwaters. And of course we can't put those trucks in danger of losing those supplies or losing drivers and that sort of thing, so.
COLLINS: Yes, in fact, Mr. Brown, don't you say that there's a phrase that people are using, "turn around, do not drown."
BROWN: That's exactly right. We saw lots of video clips of people trying to go through water that looked like it was only a couple inches on the road. It ends up being a couple of feet, and the physics of that water means it could just push those trucks right down the stream.
COLLINS: All right, we certainly appreciate your time this morning, Michael Brown, the FEMA director there, handling all the efforts in Florida. Thanks so much. Nice to see sou, sir.
BROWN: Thank you, Heidi.
HEMMER: Let's get a break here. In a moment, the Kobe Bryant case was headed for trial, and just like that, it was over. Not only did the timing surprise some observers, but apparently it surprised the prosecution as well. We'll tell you why.
COLLINS: Also ahead, almost $300 million half buried in the Utah desert. Why did Genesis crash? And what scientific treasures might have been lost? We'll talk to a NASA scientist about that.
HEMMER: And Bill Cosby speaking again, and again, the entertainer once calls out the African-American community. What Cosby's saying this time around, ahead this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: scientists at NASA say the crash landing of the Genesis space capsule was like a kick in the gut. It was supposed to be a Hollywood ending with chopper stunt pilots catching the spacecraft in midair, then carrying it back to Earth. Genesis, though, pulled a stunt of its own. The parachute failed to deploy, it crashed to the Utah desert. It was all live on television, too.
NASA scientist Andy Dantzler is with us live from Salt Lake City.
And we welcome you, and good morning as well.
ANDY DANTZLER, DIR., SOLAR SYDNEY: STEM, NASA: Good morning. It's good to be here.
HEMMER: Bottom line, what went wrong yesterday?
DANTZLER: Well, we can only give you the facts right now. We need to delve into exactly what happened, but the facts are just as you said. We had a picture-perfect mission from day one, all the way up until the last -- really, the last couple minutes, when the parachutes did not deploy. There were two parachutes, one the long drove chute, which should have slowed down the spacecraft. And after that, they would pull out a parafoil, and the spacecraft then would basically sail down quite slowly. Neither one of those pyrotechnics fired, we know that for sure.
HEMMER: Is that the reason why the chute did not go off then? And did the chute have any other mechanism that would trigger it, short of those explosive devices?
DANTZLER: The only thing that would make the parachute go out is the pyrotechnic devices, that's right.
HEMMER: One scientists Roger Weinz (ph), out of Los Alamos, said -- And I'm quoting now -- he said, "This is sickening." How's it make you feel?
DANTZLER: Well, certainly this is not how we wanted it to go. On the other hand, one of the nice things about Genesis is, unlike, say, it crashed somewhere else or exploded in space, you know, it's right here on Earth. It's certainly not a debris field. It's all collected, and it's sitting in a clean room right now, waiting to be analyzed this morning.
So everything that genesis collected is here on Earth. We always had a contingency plan if something like this happened. The curation scientists essentially, the people who look at these sample and decide where the science is within them, collectors, they would have the job of putting these samples back together to the point of determining how much science could be gotten out.
HEMMER: So at this point, the samples, the solar samples, can they be used, or do you have an answer on that?
DANTZLER: We can't say for sure right now, but it does not look like a total loss, no.
HEMMER: OK, we'll take that. Good luck to you then, all right. Andy Dantzler is a NASA scientist out in Salt Lake. Thanks for your time this morning, and good luck all right.
DANTZLER: Thank you.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi.
COLLINS: More fiery comments from Bill Cosby as he urged African-American parents to be more active in their children's lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL COSBY, ENTERTAINER/ACTIVIST: If your parents come and sit in the classroom or come to meetings and know what classes you have, your game is gone, and you will behave. These children need that. With all of the systemic racism that pounds away at us every day, there is nothing that will defeat parenting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Cosby was talking to members of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation yesterday, and the outspoken entertainer refuses to back off from past criticisms of the black community. He said, quote, "Write all the articles you want, because you are not making any sense."
HEMMER: Let's get a break here now, 20 minutes past the hour, Heidi.
In a moment here, the court comes down hard on a star Wall Street banker. Did the judge get too personal? We're "Minding Your Business" on a Thursday morning, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: An early preview of the markets and a former Wall Street big league gets a pretty tough prison sentence. Gerri Willis is in for Andy Serwer this morning, "Minding Your Business."
Good morning to you.
Ouch!
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Frank Quattrone, big name in investment banking, in fact, one of the people most associated with the IPO boom. He, of course, well known in technology circles, particularly on the West Coast. Judge threw the book at him yesterday, 18 months jailtime, and, of course, you know, as we've seen, these people from the dot-com boom now coming down hard, as we've seen so often. Quattrone really associated with this trend. What was at stake here was an e-mail he sent that suggested that maybe his employees should throw away e-mails that they sent out, get rid of some documents.
COLLINS: Interesting suggestion.
WILLIS: Exactly. So it was obstruction of justice,. was the issue here.
COLLINS: All right, 18 months there.
What about the markets? Greenspan making some comments, people reacting.
WILLIS: I think we're going back on a raising interest rate trend here; the markets didn't like it. Sold off yesterday. Also concerns about earnings coming in here, not as strong as people expected. So we'll see what happens today. COLLINS: Yes, we will.
All right, Gerri Willis, thanks so much for that.
HEMMER: He's a former dot-comer; now he works for us here at AMERICAN MORNING, whenever jack's out.
COLLINS: You got a new kick.
HEMMER: And by the way, I love the kicks man.
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE": Thanks, bro.
HEMMER: You're upgrading our fashion.
TOURE: Just got them yesterday.
HEMMER: Is that robin egg blue?
TOURE: That is. That is.
COLLINS: I never expected to have to compete with you about shoes.
HEMMER: What's up?
TOURE: Well, after weeks ever scrutinizing Senator John Kerry's Vietnam record, now President Bush's wafer-thin military record is back on the front burner. "60 Minutes" has new evidence of how he got special treatment to stop flying for the Air National Guard to work in politics.
And the presidential campaign sank to a new low when Vice President Cheney said on the stump, that we'll be get hit again by terrorists if the president is defeated. He didn't say how he knew that. Perhaps he has intelligence that we don't have access to, but in today's "New York Times," columnist Maureen Dowd unpacked Cheney's words, saying what he really means is, vote for us, or you will die, implying that Kerry can't protect the country from a terrorist attack.
Is it necessarily to have bullets flying by you to be the commander in chief, though? In a post-9/11 world, our question is, "How important is it that candidates' military service in leading the country?" E-mail us now at am@CNN.com.
HEMMER: What do you think?
TOURE: You know, I think it does help...
HEMMER: yes?
TOURE: ... that you've been out there, that you've felt it, before you go send somebody else's son, or daughter.
HEMMER: I'm curious to find out how much the Vietnam argument resonates today with the people out there? I mean, do they care about Kerry's record? Do they care about Bush's National Guard service? I think some of the swift boat ads shows that it's damaged Kerry a little bit, but I'm not quite sure.
TOURE: For somebody my age, Vietnam is so complicated. It's not just, you went to war, good for you. It's weird, you know what I mean, like the whole notion of war is always complicated.
HEMMER: Or you could argue, also, is this election going to be decided on events that have happened now, going back to 9-11, or are they going to decide on things that happened 35 years ago.
TOURE: Right.
HEMMER: Good question.
TOURE: Thank you.
HEMMER: And good shoes.
TOURE: Thank you.
HEMMER: All right, get a break here.
In a moment: if anyone was caught off guard by the dismissal of the Kobe Bryant case, you would not expect it to be the prosecution. Think again. A look at that when we continue, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING.
A new ad coming out aimed at the president, and it looks a lot like the swift boast ads on John Kerry. John King is coming up to look at this ad and some of the other developments in the controversy over the president's Guard service.
HEMMER: Also this hour, is the new Corvette designed to be a classic? Maybe.
COLLINS: If it's red.
HEMMER: OK.
COLLINS: Oh, look, it is red.
HEMMER: The new model cars are coming soon, including a redesigned Vette. We'll look at and talk about some of the most intriguing new models with the automobile editor of "Consumer Reports," so stay tuned for that in a moment.
Also, Daryn Kagan, watching the news for us at the CNN Center.
And, Daryn, good morning again there.
KAGAN: Good morning, Bill. We begin news overseas. More people are being reported wounded in the attack in Jakarta, Indonesia. We reported within the half hour that eight people were killed in that blast. CNN now confirms 168 others are injured. That is according to the Indonesian national police chief. There still is no claim of responsibility for the attack.
Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to tell Congress this morning that genocide may be taking place in Sudan. Powell assessed the situation in Darfur during a visit last month. He is scheduled to go before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in about two hours.
For the first time, a U.S. military tribunal has cleared a suspected enemy combatant. The man is one of nearly 600 detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. All are expected to have their cases reviewed within the next several months. The man's name and nationality are not being released. He was captured 2 1/2 years ago in Afghanistan.
And this year in the states for you parents, the popular Super Soaker Monster Rocket is being recalled. Part of the Super Soaker apparently can pop off and cause cuts. The Consumer Products Safety Commission says that could take place. In one case, the toy led to a child's concussion. Consumers are urged to stop using that toy immediately.
Bill, you go to supersoaker.com, they tell you how to turn in that toy to get another one.
HEMMER: All right, good to know. Thank you, Daryn.
KAGAN: The White House today facing new questions about President Bush's stateside service during the Vietnam War. First, the lieutenant governor of Texas told CBS's "60 Minutes" that he helped Mr. Bush get into the Air National Guard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN. BARNES, FMR. TEXAS LT. GOV.: I recommended a lot of people for the National Guard during the Vietnam era, as speaker of the house and as lieutenant governor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you recommended George W. Bush?
BARNES: Yes, I did. I would describe it as preferential treatment. There were hundreds of names on the list people wanting to get into the Air National Guard, or the Army National Guard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: So there are questions being raised about Mr. Bush's service once he was in the guard.
And for more on that, here's our senior White House correspondent John King this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New questions about the president's National Guard service are shifting the campaign focus on Vietnam-era conduct his way and drawing an aggressive White House response. Mr. Bush in June 1973 signed this promise to associate with a new guard unit when he moved from Texas to enroll at Harvard Business School. If not, he could face possible involuntary order to active duty for up to 24 months.
"The Boston Globe" says its investigation found that Mr. Bush did not keep that commitment, but the White House cited documents released months ago, that show Mr. Bush was reassigned in October 1973 to inactive Reserve status with a unit in Denver, Colorado, and listed Harvard as his address.
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMM. DIR.: The fact of the matter is, is that President Bush would not have been honorably discharged if he had not met his obligations.
KING: A former head of the Air National Guard who reviewed the records for CNN backs the White House.
GEN. DON SHEPPARD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: He did everything right, everything in accordance with what he was supposed to do.
KING: The Pentagon says it recently discovered these records, detailing Mr. Bush's early flight training in the Texas Air National Guard. Critics say still missing are logs of what, if any, drills Mr. Bush performed during a four to six-month period in 1972, after he transferred to the Alabama Guard. A group calling itself Texans for Truth launched a new ad campaign, suggesting Mr. Bush never showed up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was my unit, and I don't remember seeing you there. So I call friends, you know, did you know that George served in our unit? No, I never saw him there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The White House says dental and pay records prove he did report for duty, and note that liberal Bush critics are bankrolling the ad.
BARTLETT: There strategy is now that President Bush is ahead in the polls, and we're going to try to bring him down. So let's recycle old charges.
In a memo made public Wednesday, however, a commanding officer speculates that when he was trying to transfer to Alabama, Lieutenant Bush was, quote, "talking to someone upstairs." Another refers to a superior officer who wanted to sugarcoat Lieutenant Bush's evaluation. The memos were first reported by "60 Minutes." The officer who wrote them died 20 years ago.
(on camera): The Democratic Party's national chairman says those new memos contradict Mr. Bush's longstanding claim of receiving no special treatment, and call into question his credibility now, as well as his conduct back then. The White House says those memos proved nothing, and call the Democratic attacks "recycled partisan garbage."
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: One other note on this, the Texans for Truth ads questioning President Bush's service start airing Monday in five swing states -- Heidi.
COLLINS: John Kerry dodged questions from reporters about the new ad yesterday, while on the campaign trail, but the questions over the controversy will likely prevail.
Ed Henry is live this morning in Des Moines, Iowa now with more.
Good morning to you.
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
That's right. John Kerry is going to be at the Iowa Methodist Medical Center this morning for a town hall meeting. And that is really his modus operandi this week, and from here on out, until the election, he wants to focus on domestic agenda, especially health care and the economy, education, and he is dodging questions about the National Guard Service of President Bush. He, instead, wants to keep hammering away at these domestic issues.
As you'll remember, Bill Clinton and other Democrats have urged John Kerry, stay away, stop talking about Vietnam. Instead, focus on these bread-and-butter issues. And in fact, you're seeing that from John Kerry on the stump. He is focusing on those issues. And instead what is going on, outside Democrats are trying to turn the tables on President Bush after these swift boat ads. You now see the Texans for Truth ads. You see Terry McAuliffe, as John King mentioned, yesterday once again, going on the attack, suggesting that Mr. Bush did not serve honorably. The Bush campaign completely rejects that.
But what John Kerry is doing, he's dodging the questions, he's going out on the stump, trying to focus a positive message whenever he can, and when he attacks, John Kerry focuses like yesterday on Iraq policy. He does not focus on attacking President Bush necessarily on a personal level. He instead focuses on policy and how he thinks the Iraq war has affected the domestic agenda back here.
And I can tell as you as well, the Kerry campaign today is going to be releasing two news ads in Pennsylvania, while the president visits that state. Those ads are going to be focusing on issues like Medicare, trying, again, to promote Kerry's domestic agenda, not go on the attack, steer clear of controversy.
And Kerry aides insist, they have nothing to do with any of these outside ads, but Republicans are saying, wait a second, it was only a couple weeks ago that John Kerry was saying that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were doing the dirty work for President Bush. Republicans now think that while John Kerry is trying to stay above the fray, some of these Democratic groups and Democratic officials, like Terry McAuliffe, are doing the dirty work of John Kerry -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Military service and how important it is part of our question of the day today as well.
Ed Henry, thanks so much, live from Des Moines this morning -- Bill.
HENRY: Thank you.
HEMMER: If the Kobe Bryant case had gone to criminal trial, one of the lead prosecutors believes they could have proved Bryant was guilty of sexual assault. There's an interview in "People" magazine where the deputy D.A., Danni Easter (ph), says the criminal case, in her words, "was solid." That was before the accuser decided not to testify. AMERICAN MORNING contacted Bryant's legal team for a response on this story. We did not get a call-back on that.
Elizabeth Gleick, though, is the assistant managing editor for "People" magazine. She's my guest now here in New York City.
Good morning to you.
ELIZABETH GLEICK, ASST. MANAGING EDITOR, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: Hi, Bill.
Danni Easter says the accuser became physically ill. What aspect of the case brought on that condition?
GLEICK: She said that basically the accuser was pounded. She would walk down the street and people would whisper things and yell things. She had to move to five different states. She lost -- she quit going to school, and it was months and months of leaks that were unfavorable to the prosecution's case.
HEMMER: With what she shared with you, how strong did she believe the evidence was against Bryant?
GLEICK: It was very striking. I mean, obviously, she has her own spin, but she felt not only that the evidence against Bryant was very, very strong, but that the accuser herself would have made a very strong witness, had they come face to face.
HEMMER: Did she express weak points in the case, any concerns where she though, you know, if I'm in front of that jury, I may have a problem with this or that?
GLEICK: No, she didn't go there. She had a response for sort of everything that we've been hearing in the last few months -- did the accuser have consensual sex with Bryant -- after her encounter with Bryant, she had responses for every piece of this.
HEMMER: Did she have an opinion on the judge? Because some legal analysts have said the judge was not tough enough on Pamela Mackey, who is the attorney for Kobe Bryant?
GLEICK: Right, she didn't go there with us. She was really describing the ordeal the accuser went through, and just how incredibly tough it's been for the last year or so.
HEMMER: We mentioned the leaks though, but in the preliminary hearing, I believe it was on day one, when Pamela Mackey mentioned the accuser's name six times, reprimanded each time by the judge. Did she indicate whether or not that was the beginning of the downfall for the accuser?
GLEICK: She just said to us sort of over and over again it was a total accumulation of things -- it was the inability for the accuser to lead any sort of normal life, it was the leaks, it was the suggestion that she was mentally unstable in some way; It was just months of mounting difficulties.
HEMMER: Did she describe the strength she thought the woman had, age 19?
GLEICK: Yes, I mean, she said, first of all we need to remember, this woman was very young. She's 20 now, but she's young, and yet very strong; she felt that the accuser would have been really strong in court.
HEMMER: Did she express an opinion about the D.A. and how it was handled in Eagle County?
GLEICK: No, no she did not.
HEMMER: Did she say anything about the civil case now, or whether or not she believe they have chances of success.
GLEICK: The civil case is all -- we spoke with Lin Wood, also one of the attorneys handling the civil case. Nobody's talking about what's going happen, because they're in the middle of hammering out a settlement right this minute.
HEMMER: Right. Well, thank for coming with us. From "People" magazine, Elizabeth Gleick. By the way, this is the prosecution's side of the story.
GLEICK: Right.
HEMMER: When we tried to get Bryant's attorney on the phone, did not get a call back.
Nice to talk to you. Thanks.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
HEMMER: In a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING, winter's just around the corner. Experts say your heating bill could really go up this year, depending on which part ever country you're living. Some tips today on keeping the costs down with our personal finance coach on that. COLLINS: Also ahead, what are the hottest new cars for 2005? This is pretty sweet. We have a sneak peak coming up at next year's models, in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: What cars will be hitting the road in 2005? "Consumer Reports" has just released its annual preview of next year's models, and that list is in the October issue. It's on newsstands now. So here with a look, Rick Paul, auto editor for "Consumer Reports."
Good morning to you, Rick. Thanks for being with us.
RICK PAUL, "CONSUMER REPORT": Good morning, Heidi.
OK, I know one thing that you're pretty excited about are these hybrid cars. There are some new models coming out. Let's go through some of them. The first one, Ford Escape -- what's great about that?
PAUL: The Ford Escape is the first hybrid SUV, and so that will provide a little more cargo room, a lot more versatility than the current hybrids do. And then after that, we'll see the Honda Accord hybrid, which is a midsized sedan. It's the first midsized sedan hybrid, and that should be very good, too.
COLLINS: That's looks pretty small.
All right,how about the Toyota Highlander?
PAUL: The Toyota Highlander and the Lexus RX 400-H will be coming out probably early next year. And again, they're both SUVs. They'll both offer a lot of versatility, cargo space, and what Toyota is claiming is that these will actually be quicker than the gasoline versions.
COLLINS: Really?
PAUL: So that's in addition to the fuel savings, you'll get a quicker vehicle.
COLLINS: OK, well, that's interesting, too.
Now what about diesel cars? Obviously, this is not the first time that we have seen diesel cars, but we're looking at some improvements here as well?
PAUL: We haven't seen many diesels in the last couple decades, but the diesel technology has improved so much, that all of a sudden, we're now going to see three new diesel cars for '05, the Jeep Liberty, the Mercedes E class and the Volkswagen Passat. And diesel technology is getting much cleaner. In 2006, we're going to a major event when low-sulfur diesel fuel is phased in, which will allowing diesel cars to be as clean as gasoline cars, supposedly.
COLLINS: Wow.
PAUL: And that -- we'll probably see a lot more diesels after that. Diesels get about 30 percent better fuel economy than gasoline.
COLLINS: So we don't have to try to get out of way from driving behind one of them like we used to have to.
PAUL: Exactly. Exactly, yes.
COLLINS: Now, some new features coming out on some old favorites. We've been talking about this one all morning. It was so nice of you to bring one for me, the Corvette, right?
PAUL: The Corvette. We're going to go for a spin.
COLLINS: Yes.
PAUL: The Corvette, and actually the Ford Mustang are both cults car; they're both icons of the American sports car scene.
COLLINS: Sure.
PAUL: And for one of them to be redesigned is a major event. But for '05, we're seeing both redesigned. Now the Corvette, they've both about horsepower, performance. The mustang gets 200, 300 horsepower. The corvette gets 400 horsepower.
COLLINS: That's so necessary, isn't it?
PAUL: Yes, they both, in general, a lot passion.
COLLINS: All right, well here's one of my favorites, the Acura RL. This thing will actually you through its GPS system, right, about traffic?
PAUL: Yes, the Acura RL, which is also being redesigned for '05, is the first to car to have a navigation system that gives you realtime traffic updates so you can work your route around congested traffic.
COLLINS: That is fantastic.
PAUL: And this is something that navigation systems have not had a lot of appeal for a lot of commuters. But with this service, this tool, I think commuters will see a valuable service here.
COLLINS: Oh, yes, no question, especially in this part of the country.
Also a minivan that we want to talk about, I think this is the Honda Odyssey. Very interesting about the engine here. What's this thing going to do?
PAUL: Yes, this is interesting. The Honda Odyssey, and actually the Chrysler 300C and the Honda Accord hybrid all have an engine that have what's called variable-displacement technology. In this, it can actually drop out half the engines cylinders while cruising. So you don't use the fuel that's being used for those. So you say fuel...
COLLINS: So you're kind of coasting.
PAUL: ... on the highway, and then as soon as you need power, like acceleration or a hill, then instantly all of the cylinders come back on, so you get the best of both worlds there.
COLLINS: It's not going to stall out on you or anything, though, is it?
PAUL: Well, we've driven the 300C, and so far, it works very seamlessly, and we're impressed with it.
COLLINS: Interesting. All right, Rick Paul, thank you so much for that.
PAUL: Thank you.
COLLINS: And we want to remind everybody, you can of course pick up "Consumer Reports" October issue on newsstands now, or you can visit consumerreports.org -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, 11 minutes before the hour. The weather going to turn colder sometime in the coming months, some simple tips today on how you can keep your home heating bill from getting out of hand, "Live Rich Today" -- David Bach's our guest in a moment, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: This winter, the U.S. Department of Energy predicts households will see their heating bills jump by 10 to 20 percent. So is there anything you can do about it? Well, David Bach is the author of the bestseller, "The Automatic Millionaire," and our resident personal finance contributor. In this morning's edition of "Live Rich Today," David's here to tell us all about how to prevent money from just flying right out the window.
So all right, David, short of turning off the heat completely, buying a big, fat coat to wear around your house, what can do you?
DAVID BACH, PERSONAL FINANCE CONTRIBUTOR: Right, Heidi's here are some great tips that can save you $,000 this year on your energy bill. No. 1, You want to have what's called an energy checkup. Here's what you do, go to the following Web site, www.energy.gov. This is from the Department of Energy. They set this up for us. It's a consumer site. You can put in your zip code. They'll tell you what the annual cost is supposed to be for your energy bill, then they'll show you what a fuel-energy efficient home should look like.
I did this for myself, Show $3,500 a year for energy costs. Only, if I have an energy-efficient home, I can save $1,400, give me specific tips what to do, how to do it where to go get it done.
COLLINS: OK, so speaking of specific tips, you have some of those for us today, and you say it actually all begins with the thermostat? PAUL: That's right. Here's a great idea from the Department of Energy: Go get a programmable thermostat, $100 for that thermostat, will save you, they estimate, 10 percent to 20 percent on energy costs a year. How? By programming that to lower the temperature on your energy when you're not in your home.
COLLINS: I'm kind of giggling, because there are lots of fights between many husbands and wives about who's pushing that thing down and up and all around?
PAUL: That's right, and you can actually automate it, and that's the key.
COLLINS: All right, what about landscaping? Haven't really heard too much about this, but I guess plant big, shady trees?
PAUL: This is all about keeping the temperature inside your home cool during obviously the summertime, and in winter, keeping it warm. How do you do that? By having trees around your home, or very simple, pull the shades down, or close those drapes. They say doing that can save you over $200 a year on your energy bills.
COLLINS: Wow, that's an awful lot of money.
PAUL: It's a lot of money, it really adds up.
COLLINS: You actually say, though, don't pinch pennies? What do you mean by that?
PAUL: OK, when it comes to looking for ways to save money, sometimes you want to spend some money to save some money. Here's a simple example. Go to the grocery store and buy the expensive light bulbs. Those light bulbs that cost $8 instead of 50 cents. The Department of Energy tells us that four of those new light bulbs will save you over $100 in three years. So if you replace all of those light bulbs in your home, with these new energy-saving light bulbs, you'll actually save close to $1,000 over a three-year period of time.
COLLINS: Yes, as long as you don't drop them on the way out of the grocery store, right?
PAUL: That's right.
COLLINS: OK, well, what about just keeping your appliances turned off when not in use, and what appliances are you talking about here?
PAUL: This one surprised me. The Department of Energy says that over a billion dollars a year is wasted, because people have their DVD players, their computers, their television, not on, but plugged in. It's still costing you money. So what they recommend you do, is actually put that into a power charge, one of those things that you plug everything in to, turn that strip off while you're not in the home. That will save you about $50 a year just on your energy bills there alone.
COLLINS: Haven't thought of that one either. All right, any deals to be had from the utilities companies, though?
PAUL: There are. Call the utility companies, and find out what kind of rebates they have. For example, here in New York, Long Island Power, they're actually offering rebates, if you buy those expensive light bulbs. They'll rebate you on 10 light bulbs. All you've got to do is call your local energy company, find out any deals right now, anything I can do to save money that you'll help me with. The answer's almost always, yes.
COLLINS: David Bach, our personal finance contributor, thanks so much.
PAUL: Thank you.
COLLINS: And you can catch all of David Bach's "Live Rich" today segments right here on AMERICAN MORNING, every Thursday morning.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks for that.
You look good in black, too, by the way, and green.
In a moment here, the president embracing one of the key reforms suggested by the 9/11 Commission. Could it still fall victim, though, to election year politics. Joseph Lieberman, one of the lawmakers behind the legislative reform, our guest, top of the hour here, on AMERICAN MORNING.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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 9, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The candidates fighting it out in the battleground states, and a new poll shows one side winning the battle.
In the Caribbean, Ivan now a category-five hurricane, people in Florida now being told to watch out.
And a sneak peek at the new model cars that will soon be turning heads, on this AMERICAN MORNING:
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Soledad is still off, but I'm back.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: You're back. We missed you. You doing all right?
COLLINS: Yes, sort of.
HEMMER: Drying out, just like everybody so far. Some other stories watching today; we're going to find out about the Genesis capsule that crashed to Earth yesterday. We all watched it live, in fact. Talk to a NASA scientist about what went wrong and whether or not any of the experiments can be salvaged. We'll get to that.
COLLINS: It's painful to watch that video. Also one of the prosecutors in the Kobe Bryant case is talking about the case they had against the NBA star. She says the evidence was solid. We're going to talk about the interview and find out why this prosecutor thought she could get a conviction.
Jackie is also on vacation right now, but Toure is here. He's going to be taking your e-mail this morning along with the Toure experience.
OK, we'll get to that in a moment. First, Daryn Kagan, first up at the CNN Center.
Daryn, good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Bill.
Let's begin with a chaotic scene this hour outside the Australian embassy in Indonesia. A powerful explosion there killed at least eight people and injured about 115 others. There's been no claim of responsibility for this attack. Initial suspicions fall on a militant group with ties to Al Qaeda, but that has not been confirmed.
A new operation targeting anti-Iraqi fighters is under way at this hour. Multinational and Iraqi security forces are hunting insurgents in the city of Tal Afar.
Health officials say 25 people were killer there. In Fallujah, a U.S. lead airstrike targeted buildings used by suspected militant Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. These images are just coming in to us here at CNN. Iraq's officials say that at least 10 people were killed there, including some children.
The Pakistani Air Force struck down what officials say was a meeting of Al Qaeda operatives. Early this morning, Pakistani fighter jets pounded suspected strongholds in the tribal region near the Afghan border. According to local officials, some 40 people were killed.
Closer to home, Hurricane Ivan is now even stronger, having grown into a category-5 storm. It's packing winds at about 160 miles per hour as it heads for Jamaica. Ivan is being blamed for at least 15 deaths. It blew apart concrete homes and destroyed a prison in Grenada. There are reports of looting this morning. Ivan could hit Cuba by Saturday. Clearly, a lot more ahead about Ivan in the program.
Now back to you.
HEMMER: Indeed you're right about that, Daryn. Thanks. Let's get to the White House first off today. President Bush has changed his mind about how much a new national intelligence director would have, how much power that director would have.
Elaine Quijano, on the Front Lawn this morning, good morning there.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
With recent polls showing terrorism a top voting concern, President Bush made clear he wants to move ahead with one key intelligence reform.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): Saying he wants to get legislation to his desk as soon as possible, President Bush embraced a key recommendation of the September 11th Commission.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe that there ought to be a national intelligence director who has full budgetary authority. We'll talk to members of Congress about how to implement that.
QUIJANO: The president's comments, during a meeting with top congressional leaders, represents a shift from his previous support for limited budget powers for a national intelligence head. A senior administration official says Mr. Bush made clear at the meeting he's willing to overrule the past objections by the Pentagon and CIA, which currently control most of the intel budget.
On Capitol Hill, House Republican leader Tom DeLay noted the president hasn't yet taken a position on other 9/11 Commission recommendations. And from Democrats, skepticism.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: The devil is in the details. In what manner do they support the budgetary authority going to the national intelligence director? that remains for us to see in print, on paper, so that we can make a judgment about it.
QUIJANO: In a statement, an adviser to the president's Democratic rival, Senator John Kerry, called on Mr. Bush to endorse all of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, adding -- quote -- "President Bush has unnecessarily delayed intelligence reforms for three years, leaving our nation at risk."
Yet in his roughly minute-long statement, supporting a strong national intelligence director, the president was able to get out ahead of the issue, a demonstration of the power of the incumbency. It is also a case of bowing to political reality. There is broad bipartisan support for a new position the 9/11 Commission said is vital to solving communication breakdowns, turf battles and wasted resources among the government's 15 intelligence agencies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO: Now, the president's position puts the ball squarely in Congress' court, with the August recess over and both Republicans and Democrats under pressure not to delay reform, the president may be able to take credit for creating a national intelligence director in time for the November election -- Bill.
HEMMER: Elaine Quijano at the White House.
Also now in the polling in election 2004, is President Bush winning now in the battleground battle? There are 17 so-called battleground states, and CNN has new polling in four of those 17, in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington State and Missouri.
Bill Schneider up early with us.
Bill, good morning to you.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POL. ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: On the screen, we'll show the four states we polled, the battleground states. What do you take away from the numbers you will see sometime very soon once they arrive?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, once they arrive. Well, what we're seeing in much of the country, a bounce for Bush coming out of his convention. Let's take a look at the states, Missouri. Bush has a 14-point lead. That's a seven-point improvement over where he stood in July. Ohio, Bush up by eight, again a search-point improvement over where he was in July. Missouri and Ohio both went for Bush last time, and it looks like they're so far sticking with the president.
Pennsylvania, hotly contested. That state went for Gore last time, but Bush is up by just one point. It's virtually a tie now, but very much at risk for the Democrats, a crucial state.
Any good news here for the Democrats? Washington State, another battleground. John Kerry is leading by eight points in Washington State. That was the state that Gore carried in 2000 by five. So yes, there's a little bit of good news here for the Democrats on the West Coast.
HEMMER: Those are likely voters. When you factor in registered voters, something changes. Tell us why, and explain that on the polling.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, what happened is, if you look at all registered voters, Kerry does better, not enough to turn anything around, but his lead in Ohio changes to just one point. His lead in Missouri shrinks from 14 to 11 points. Pennsylvania becomes an absolute dead heat. Why is that? Well, because the people -- those registered voters who are least likely to vote, tend to favor Kerry more than the others. What that means for Democrats is if they can get turnout up, way up, closer to 100, percent which would never happen, of registered voters, Kerry is likely it do better. So the Democrats are promising a big registration drive and a big effort to pump up turnout, because that will help Kerry.
HEMMER: All right, if our viewers are confused at home, there's reason to be; we had the wrong graphic up there.
Let's go back to the graphic we just had. These are the issues, the economy and terrorism. The economy checks across the board as the No. 1 issue. Why is it that, if that's the No. 1 issue, and in the battleground states, especially places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where the economy is lagging, why is John Kerry not making headway?
SCHNEIDER: Well, look at those economy figures. There all also between 33 percent and 39 percent. Voters concerned about the economy vote heavily for John Kerry, and that is keeping Kerry competitive. But the rest of the electorate, those concerned about terrorism, Iraq, other issues, they're voting heavily for Bush.
And as you can see, the economy is not a majority issue in any of those states, including Ohio, where the economy suffered mightily.
So what's happening here is you have a race here, between concern about the economy, which the Democrats are trying to drive up, because it helps Kerry, and other issues which are helping Bush, particularly rising concern over terrorism, which is the about a quarter in all of those states.
HEMMER: Thank you, Bill. Bill Schneider down in D.C.
Next hour, we'll talk with the governor of Ohio, Bob Taft, about what's happening there, and whether or not this shift is real, based on the polling we're seeing.
Thank you, Bill. Here's Heidi now.
SCHNEIDER: As we've reported, Hurricane Ivan is now a rare category-5 hurricane, the most powerful and dangerous type, with winds near 160 miles per hour. When it was just a category 3, this is the devastation it caused in the Caribbean Island of Grenada, at least 12 deaths now being reported there. The Island's main prison also destroyed. All of the prisoners right now are on the loose.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
COLLINS: And as you know, more disaster relief could soon be on the way to hurricane-hammered Florida. President Bush yesterday approved a $2 billion bailout, then toured some of the areas hardest hit by Frances. The president and Florida Governor Jeb Jeb bush pitched in to help those still without power.
You see him there handing out ice and supplies. FEMA director Michael Brown is the coordinating person in charge of the federal relief effort. He's joining us this morning from Washington, and what a huge task you have, sir. Thanks so much for being with us. I know that you also toured the damaged areas with President Bush. He had good things to say about what was going on there, and we talked about this $2 billion supplemental aid package. Is it going to be enough?
MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIR.: Well, in the end, it probably won't be enough. The president said he may have to go back later for some additional funding. But we're going to use the money that we received from Congress yesterday primarily for disaster victims' assistance. We've already approved more than 100,000 applications for Hurricane Charley, distributed over $90 million. And for Hurricane Frances already, we've already registered 62,000 people. So you can see the numbers of victims from these hurricanes, it's just staggering.
COLLINS: Staggering, that's for sure. And still, we're looking at video, too, also staggering.
In fact, upwards of a million homes still don't have power. Thousands of people still in shelters and either don't have a home to go to, or you know, it's taking a little bit more time than they would have expected.
Do you have any advice for them this morning, especially as we've just heard Chad Myers talking about Ivan as well.
BROWN: Sure, but it's probably advice that folks don't want to here, because I've been down there, and it's just not pleasant. It's very hot, it's humid. The rains keep coming. And as you recall, Frances was such a slow-moving storm that people went to shelters properly early, but now they've been stuck there for a while.
But the shelter population is reduced from 90,000 to, I think, less than 25,000 right now. The folks are just going to have to be patient. We have literally hundreds of truckloads there. We have 92 distribution points. I know the utility companies are working frantically to get the power back on as quickly as possible, but it's going to be a long haul, because Frances was so big and so slow.
COLLINS: Well, let's talk for a minute about those supplies. You know, obviously, flooding has become a very serious problem. Must be difficult to get those supplies into exactly where people need them. How are you going about doing that?
BROWN: Well, first and foremost, we're asking the victims down there to help us help you. If they can do that by staying off the roads, unless they absolutely have to go somewhere, because you're right, we have literally hundreds of semitrailer loads of food, water and ice moving around, that sometimes it's difficult to get through those flooded areas. There's still debris on the road. There's still floodwaters. And of course we can't put those trucks in danger of losing those supplies or losing drivers and that sort of thing, so.
COLLINS: Yes, in fact, Mr. Brown, don't you say that there's a phrase that people are using, "turn around, do not drown."
BROWN: That's exactly right. We saw lots of video clips of people trying to go through water that looked like it was only a couple inches on the road. It ends up being a couple of feet, and the physics of that water means it could just push those trucks right down the stream.
COLLINS: All right, we certainly appreciate your time this morning, Michael Brown, the FEMA director there, handling all the efforts in Florida. Thanks so much. Nice to see sou, sir.
BROWN: Thank you, Heidi.
HEMMER: Let's get a break here. In a moment, the Kobe Bryant case was headed for trial, and just like that, it was over. Not only did the timing surprise some observers, but apparently it surprised the prosecution as well. We'll tell you why.
COLLINS: Also ahead, almost $300 million half buried in the Utah desert. Why did Genesis crash? And what scientific treasures might have been lost? We'll talk to a NASA scientist about that.
HEMMER: And Bill Cosby speaking again, and again, the entertainer once calls out the African-American community. What Cosby's saying this time around, ahead this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: scientists at NASA say the crash landing of the Genesis space capsule was like a kick in the gut. It was supposed to be a Hollywood ending with chopper stunt pilots catching the spacecraft in midair, then carrying it back to Earth. Genesis, though, pulled a stunt of its own. The parachute failed to deploy, it crashed to the Utah desert. It was all live on television, too.
NASA scientist Andy Dantzler is with us live from Salt Lake City.
And we welcome you, and good morning as well.
ANDY DANTZLER, DIR., SOLAR SYDNEY: STEM, NASA: Good morning. It's good to be here.
HEMMER: Bottom line, what went wrong yesterday?
DANTZLER: Well, we can only give you the facts right now. We need to delve into exactly what happened, but the facts are just as you said. We had a picture-perfect mission from day one, all the way up until the last -- really, the last couple minutes, when the parachutes did not deploy. There were two parachutes, one the long drove chute, which should have slowed down the spacecraft. And after that, they would pull out a parafoil, and the spacecraft then would basically sail down quite slowly. Neither one of those pyrotechnics fired, we know that for sure.
HEMMER: Is that the reason why the chute did not go off then? And did the chute have any other mechanism that would trigger it, short of those explosive devices?
DANTZLER: The only thing that would make the parachute go out is the pyrotechnic devices, that's right.
HEMMER: One scientists Roger Weinz (ph), out of Los Alamos, said -- And I'm quoting now -- he said, "This is sickening." How's it make you feel?
DANTZLER: Well, certainly this is not how we wanted it to go. On the other hand, one of the nice things about Genesis is, unlike, say, it crashed somewhere else or exploded in space, you know, it's right here on Earth. It's certainly not a debris field. It's all collected, and it's sitting in a clean room right now, waiting to be analyzed this morning.
So everything that genesis collected is here on Earth. We always had a contingency plan if something like this happened. The curation scientists essentially, the people who look at these sample and decide where the science is within them, collectors, they would have the job of putting these samples back together to the point of determining how much science could be gotten out.
HEMMER: So at this point, the samples, the solar samples, can they be used, or do you have an answer on that?
DANTZLER: We can't say for sure right now, but it does not look like a total loss, no.
HEMMER: OK, we'll take that. Good luck to you then, all right. Andy Dantzler is a NASA scientist out in Salt Lake. Thanks for your time this morning, and good luck all right.
DANTZLER: Thank you.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi.
COLLINS: More fiery comments from Bill Cosby as he urged African-American parents to be more active in their children's lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL COSBY, ENTERTAINER/ACTIVIST: If your parents come and sit in the classroom or come to meetings and know what classes you have, your game is gone, and you will behave. These children need that. With all of the systemic racism that pounds away at us every day, there is nothing that will defeat parenting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Cosby was talking to members of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation yesterday, and the outspoken entertainer refuses to back off from past criticisms of the black community. He said, quote, "Write all the articles you want, because you are not making any sense."
HEMMER: Let's get a break here now, 20 minutes past the hour, Heidi.
In a moment here, the court comes down hard on a star Wall Street banker. Did the judge get too personal? We're "Minding Your Business" on a Thursday morning, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: An early preview of the markets and a former Wall Street big league gets a pretty tough prison sentence. Gerri Willis is in for Andy Serwer this morning, "Minding Your Business."
Good morning to you.
Ouch!
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Frank Quattrone, big name in investment banking, in fact, one of the people most associated with the IPO boom. He, of course, well known in technology circles, particularly on the West Coast. Judge threw the book at him yesterday, 18 months jailtime, and, of course, you know, as we've seen, these people from the dot-com boom now coming down hard, as we've seen so often. Quattrone really associated with this trend. What was at stake here was an e-mail he sent that suggested that maybe his employees should throw away e-mails that they sent out, get rid of some documents.
COLLINS: Interesting suggestion.
WILLIS: Exactly. So it was obstruction of justice,. was the issue here.
COLLINS: All right, 18 months there.
What about the markets? Greenspan making some comments, people reacting.
WILLIS: I think we're going back on a raising interest rate trend here; the markets didn't like it. Sold off yesterday. Also concerns about earnings coming in here, not as strong as people expected. So we'll see what happens today. COLLINS: Yes, we will.
All right, Gerri Willis, thanks so much for that.
HEMMER: He's a former dot-comer; now he works for us here at AMERICAN MORNING, whenever jack's out.
COLLINS: You got a new kick.
HEMMER: And by the way, I love the kicks man.
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE": Thanks, bro.
HEMMER: You're upgrading our fashion.
TOURE: Just got them yesterday.
HEMMER: Is that robin egg blue?
TOURE: That is. That is.
COLLINS: I never expected to have to compete with you about shoes.
HEMMER: What's up?
TOURE: Well, after weeks ever scrutinizing Senator John Kerry's Vietnam record, now President Bush's wafer-thin military record is back on the front burner. "60 Minutes" has new evidence of how he got special treatment to stop flying for the Air National Guard to work in politics.
And the presidential campaign sank to a new low when Vice President Cheney said on the stump, that we'll be get hit again by terrorists if the president is defeated. He didn't say how he knew that. Perhaps he has intelligence that we don't have access to, but in today's "New York Times," columnist Maureen Dowd unpacked Cheney's words, saying what he really means is, vote for us, or you will die, implying that Kerry can't protect the country from a terrorist attack.
Is it necessarily to have bullets flying by you to be the commander in chief, though? In a post-9/11 world, our question is, "How important is it that candidates' military service in leading the country?" E-mail us now at am@CNN.com.
HEMMER: What do you think?
TOURE: You know, I think it does help...
HEMMER: yes?
TOURE: ... that you've been out there, that you've felt it, before you go send somebody else's son, or daughter.
HEMMER: I'm curious to find out how much the Vietnam argument resonates today with the people out there? I mean, do they care about Kerry's record? Do they care about Bush's National Guard service? I think some of the swift boat ads shows that it's damaged Kerry a little bit, but I'm not quite sure.
TOURE: For somebody my age, Vietnam is so complicated. It's not just, you went to war, good for you. It's weird, you know what I mean, like the whole notion of war is always complicated.
HEMMER: Or you could argue, also, is this election going to be decided on events that have happened now, going back to 9-11, or are they going to decide on things that happened 35 years ago.
TOURE: Right.
HEMMER: Good question.
TOURE: Thank you.
HEMMER: And good shoes.
TOURE: Thank you.
HEMMER: All right, get a break here.
In a moment: if anyone was caught off guard by the dismissal of the Kobe Bryant case, you would not expect it to be the prosecution. Think again. A look at that when we continue, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING.
A new ad coming out aimed at the president, and it looks a lot like the swift boast ads on John Kerry. John King is coming up to look at this ad and some of the other developments in the controversy over the president's Guard service.
HEMMER: Also this hour, is the new Corvette designed to be a classic? Maybe.
COLLINS: If it's red.
HEMMER: OK.
COLLINS: Oh, look, it is red.
HEMMER: The new model cars are coming soon, including a redesigned Vette. We'll look at and talk about some of the most intriguing new models with the automobile editor of "Consumer Reports," so stay tuned for that in a moment.
Also, Daryn Kagan, watching the news for us at the CNN Center.
And, Daryn, good morning again there.
KAGAN: Good morning, Bill. We begin news overseas. More people are being reported wounded in the attack in Jakarta, Indonesia. We reported within the half hour that eight people were killed in that blast. CNN now confirms 168 others are injured. That is according to the Indonesian national police chief. There still is no claim of responsibility for the attack.
Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to tell Congress this morning that genocide may be taking place in Sudan. Powell assessed the situation in Darfur during a visit last month. He is scheduled to go before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in about two hours.
For the first time, a U.S. military tribunal has cleared a suspected enemy combatant. The man is one of nearly 600 detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. All are expected to have their cases reviewed within the next several months. The man's name and nationality are not being released. He was captured 2 1/2 years ago in Afghanistan.
And this year in the states for you parents, the popular Super Soaker Monster Rocket is being recalled. Part of the Super Soaker apparently can pop off and cause cuts. The Consumer Products Safety Commission says that could take place. In one case, the toy led to a child's concussion. Consumers are urged to stop using that toy immediately.
Bill, you go to supersoaker.com, they tell you how to turn in that toy to get another one.
HEMMER: All right, good to know. Thank you, Daryn.
KAGAN: The White House today facing new questions about President Bush's stateside service during the Vietnam War. First, the lieutenant governor of Texas told CBS's "60 Minutes" that he helped Mr. Bush get into the Air National Guard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN. BARNES, FMR. TEXAS LT. GOV.: I recommended a lot of people for the National Guard during the Vietnam era, as speaker of the house and as lieutenant governor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you recommended George W. Bush?
BARNES: Yes, I did. I would describe it as preferential treatment. There were hundreds of names on the list people wanting to get into the Air National Guard, or the Army National Guard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: So there are questions being raised about Mr. Bush's service once he was in the guard.
And for more on that, here's our senior White House correspondent John King this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New questions about the president's National Guard service are shifting the campaign focus on Vietnam-era conduct his way and drawing an aggressive White House response. Mr. Bush in June 1973 signed this promise to associate with a new guard unit when he moved from Texas to enroll at Harvard Business School. If not, he could face possible involuntary order to active duty for up to 24 months.
"The Boston Globe" says its investigation found that Mr. Bush did not keep that commitment, but the White House cited documents released months ago, that show Mr. Bush was reassigned in October 1973 to inactive Reserve status with a unit in Denver, Colorado, and listed Harvard as his address.
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMM. DIR.: The fact of the matter is, is that President Bush would not have been honorably discharged if he had not met his obligations.
KING: A former head of the Air National Guard who reviewed the records for CNN backs the White House.
GEN. DON SHEPPARD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: He did everything right, everything in accordance with what he was supposed to do.
KING: The Pentagon says it recently discovered these records, detailing Mr. Bush's early flight training in the Texas Air National Guard. Critics say still missing are logs of what, if any, drills Mr. Bush performed during a four to six-month period in 1972, after he transferred to the Alabama Guard. A group calling itself Texans for Truth launched a new ad campaign, suggesting Mr. Bush never showed up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was my unit, and I don't remember seeing you there. So I call friends, you know, did you know that George served in our unit? No, I never saw him there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The White House says dental and pay records prove he did report for duty, and note that liberal Bush critics are bankrolling the ad.
BARTLETT: There strategy is now that President Bush is ahead in the polls, and we're going to try to bring him down. So let's recycle old charges.
In a memo made public Wednesday, however, a commanding officer speculates that when he was trying to transfer to Alabama, Lieutenant Bush was, quote, "talking to someone upstairs." Another refers to a superior officer who wanted to sugarcoat Lieutenant Bush's evaluation. The memos were first reported by "60 Minutes." The officer who wrote them died 20 years ago.
(on camera): The Democratic Party's national chairman says those new memos contradict Mr. Bush's longstanding claim of receiving no special treatment, and call into question his credibility now, as well as his conduct back then. The White House says those memos proved nothing, and call the Democratic attacks "recycled partisan garbage."
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: One other note on this, the Texans for Truth ads questioning President Bush's service start airing Monday in five swing states -- Heidi.
COLLINS: John Kerry dodged questions from reporters about the new ad yesterday, while on the campaign trail, but the questions over the controversy will likely prevail.
Ed Henry is live this morning in Des Moines, Iowa now with more.
Good morning to you.
ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
That's right. John Kerry is going to be at the Iowa Methodist Medical Center this morning for a town hall meeting. And that is really his modus operandi this week, and from here on out, until the election, he wants to focus on domestic agenda, especially health care and the economy, education, and he is dodging questions about the National Guard Service of President Bush. He, instead, wants to keep hammering away at these domestic issues.
As you'll remember, Bill Clinton and other Democrats have urged John Kerry, stay away, stop talking about Vietnam. Instead, focus on these bread-and-butter issues. And in fact, you're seeing that from John Kerry on the stump. He is focusing on those issues. And instead what is going on, outside Democrats are trying to turn the tables on President Bush after these swift boat ads. You now see the Texans for Truth ads. You see Terry McAuliffe, as John King mentioned, yesterday once again, going on the attack, suggesting that Mr. Bush did not serve honorably. The Bush campaign completely rejects that.
But what John Kerry is doing, he's dodging the questions, he's going out on the stump, trying to focus a positive message whenever he can, and when he attacks, John Kerry focuses like yesterday on Iraq policy. He does not focus on attacking President Bush necessarily on a personal level. He instead focuses on policy and how he thinks the Iraq war has affected the domestic agenda back here.
And I can tell as you as well, the Kerry campaign today is going to be releasing two news ads in Pennsylvania, while the president visits that state. Those ads are going to be focusing on issues like Medicare, trying, again, to promote Kerry's domestic agenda, not go on the attack, steer clear of controversy.
And Kerry aides insist, they have nothing to do with any of these outside ads, but Republicans are saying, wait a second, it was only a couple weeks ago that John Kerry was saying that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were doing the dirty work for President Bush. Republicans now think that while John Kerry is trying to stay above the fray, some of these Democratic groups and Democratic officials, like Terry McAuliffe, are doing the dirty work of John Kerry -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Military service and how important it is part of our question of the day today as well.
Ed Henry, thanks so much, live from Des Moines this morning -- Bill.
HENRY: Thank you.
HEMMER: If the Kobe Bryant case had gone to criminal trial, one of the lead prosecutors believes they could have proved Bryant was guilty of sexual assault. There's an interview in "People" magazine where the deputy D.A., Danni Easter (ph), says the criminal case, in her words, "was solid." That was before the accuser decided not to testify. AMERICAN MORNING contacted Bryant's legal team for a response on this story. We did not get a call-back on that.
Elizabeth Gleick, though, is the assistant managing editor for "People" magazine. She's my guest now here in New York City.
Good morning to you.
ELIZABETH GLEICK, ASST. MANAGING EDITOR, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: Hi, Bill.
Danni Easter says the accuser became physically ill. What aspect of the case brought on that condition?
GLEICK: She said that basically the accuser was pounded. She would walk down the street and people would whisper things and yell things. She had to move to five different states. She lost -- she quit going to school, and it was months and months of leaks that were unfavorable to the prosecution's case.
HEMMER: With what she shared with you, how strong did she believe the evidence was against Bryant?
GLEICK: It was very striking. I mean, obviously, she has her own spin, but she felt not only that the evidence against Bryant was very, very strong, but that the accuser herself would have made a very strong witness, had they come face to face.
HEMMER: Did she express weak points in the case, any concerns where she though, you know, if I'm in front of that jury, I may have a problem with this or that?
GLEICK: No, she didn't go there. She had a response for sort of everything that we've been hearing in the last few months -- did the accuser have consensual sex with Bryant -- after her encounter with Bryant, she had responses for every piece of this.
HEMMER: Did she have an opinion on the judge? Because some legal analysts have said the judge was not tough enough on Pamela Mackey, who is the attorney for Kobe Bryant?
GLEICK: Right, she didn't go there with us. She was really describing the ordeal the accuser went through, and just how incredibly tough it's been for the last year or so.
HEMMER: We mentioned the leaks though, but in the preliminary hearing, I believe it was on day one, when Pamela Mackey mentioned the accuser's name six times, reprimanded each time by the judge. Did she indicate whether or not that was the beginning of the downfall for the accuser?
GLEICK: She just said to us sort of over and over again it was a total accumulation of things -- it was the inability for the accuser to lead any sort of normal life, it was the leaks, it was the suggestion that she was mentally unstable in some way; It was just months of mounting difficulties.
HEMMER: Did she describe the strength she thought the woman had, age 19?
GLEICK: Yes, I mean, she said, first of all we need to remember, this woman was very young. She's 20 now, but she's young, and yet very strong; she felt that the accuser would have been really strong in court.
HEMMER: Did she express an opinion about the D.A. and how it was handled in Eagle County?
GLEICK: No, no she did not.
HEMMER: Did she say anything about the civil case now, or whether or not she believe they have chances of success.
GLEICK: The civil case is all -- we spoke with Lin Wood, also one of the attorneys handling the civil case. Nobody's talking about what's going happen, because they're in the middle of hammering out a settlement right this minute.
HEMMER: Right. Well, thank for coming with us. From "People" magazine, Elizabeth Gleick. By the way, this is the prosecution's side of the story.
GLEICK: Right.
HEMMER: When we tried to get Bryant's attorney on the phone, did not get a call back.
Nice to talk to you. Thanks.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
HEMMER: In a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING, winter's just around the corner. Experts say your heating bill could really go up this year, depending on which part ever country you're living. Some tips today on keeping the costs down with our personal finance coach on that. COLLINS: Also ahead, what are the hottest new cars for 2005? This is pretty sweet. We have a sneak peak coming up at next year's models, in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: What cars will be hitting the road in 2005? "Consumer Reports" has just released its annual preview of next year's models, and that list is in the October issue. It's on newsstands now. So here with a look, Rick Paul, auto editor for "Consumer Reports."
Good morning to you, Rick. Thanks for being with us.
RICK PAUL, "CONSUMER REPORT": Good morning, Heidi.
OK, I know one thing that you're pretty excited about are these hybrid cars. There are some new models coming out. Let's go through some of them. The first one, Ford Escape -- what's great about that?
PAUL: The Ford Escape is the first hybrid SUV, and so that will provide a little more cargo room, a lot more versatility than the current hybrids do. And then after that, we'll see the Honda Accord hybrid, which is a midsized sedan. It's the first midsized sedan hybrid, and that should be very good, too.
COLLINS: That's looks pretty small.
All right,how about the Toyota Highlander?
PAUL: The Toyota Highlander and the Lexus RX 400-H will be coming out probably early next year. And again, they're both SUVs. They'll both offer a lot of versatility, cargo space, and what Toyota is claiming is that these will actually be quicker than the gasoline versions.
COLLINS: Really?
PAUL: So that's in addition to the fuel savings, you'll get a quicker vehicle.
COLLINS: OK, well, that's interesting, too.
Now what about diesel cars? Obviously, this is not the first time that we have seen diesel cars, but we're looking at some improvements here as well?
PAUL: We haven't seen many diesels in the last couple decades, but the diesel technology has improved so much, that all of a sudden, we're now going to see three new diesel cars for '05, the Jeep Liberty, the Mercedes E class and the Volkswagen Passat. And diesel technology is getting much cleaner. In 2006, we're going to a major event when low-sulfur diesel fuel is phased in, which will allowing diesel cars to be as clean as gasoline cars, supposedly.
COLLINS: Wow.
PAUL: And that -- we'll probably see a lot more diesels after that. Diesels get about 30 percent better fuel economy than gasoline.
COLLINS: So we don't have to try to get out of way from driving behind one of them like we used to have to.
PAUL: Exactly. Exactly, yes.
COLLINS: Now, some new features coming out on some old favorites. We've been talking about this one all morning. It was so nice of you to bring one for me, the Corvette, right?
PAUL: The Corvette. We're going to go for a spin.
COLLINS: Yes.
PAUL: The Corvette, and actually the Ford Mustang are both cults car; they're both icons of the American sports car scene.
COLLINS: Sure.
PAUL: And for one of them to be redesigned is a major event. But for '05, we're seeing both redesigned. Now the Corvette, they've both about horsepower, performance. The mustang gets 200, 300 horsepower. The corvette gets 400 horsepower.
COLLINS: That's so necessary, isn't it?
PAUL: Yes, they both, in general, a lot passion.
COLLINS: All right, well here's one of my favorites, the Acura RL. This thing will actually you through its GPS system, right, about traffic?
PAUL: Yes, the Acura RL, which is also being redesigned for '05, is the first to car to have a navigation system that gives you realtime traffic updates so you can work your route around congested traffic.
COLLINS: That is fantastic.
PAUL: And this is something that navigation systems have not had a lot of appeal for a lot of commuters. But with this service, this tool, I think commuters will see a valuable service here.
COLLINS: Oh, yes, no question, especially in this part of the country.
Also a minivan that we want to talk about, I think this is the Honda Odyssey. Very interesting about the engine here. What's this thing going to do?
PAUL: Yes, this is interesting. The Honda Odyssey, and actually the Chrysler 300C and the Honda Accord hybrid all have an engine that have what's called variable-displacement technology. In this, it can actually drop out half the engines cylinders while cruising. So you don't use the fuel that's being used for those. So you say fuel...
COLLINS: So you're kind of coasting.
PAUL: ... on the highway, and then as soon as you need power, like acceleration or a hill, then instantly all of the cylinders come back on, so you get the best of both worlds there.
COLLINS: It's not going to stall out on you or anything, though, is it?
PAUL: Well, we've driven the 300C, and so far, it works very seamlessly, and we're impressed with it.
COLLINS: Interesting. All right, Rick Paul, thank you so much for that.
PAUL: Thank you.
COLLINS: And we want to remind everybody, you can of course pick up "Consumer Reports" October issue on newsstands now, or you can visit consumerreports.org -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, 11 minutes before the hour. The weather going to turn colder sometime in the coming months, some simple tips today on how you can keep your home heating bill from getting out of hand, "Live Rich Today" -- David Bach's our guest in a moment, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: This winter, the U.S. Department of Energy predicts households will see their heating bills jump by 10 to 20 percent. So is there anything you can do about it? Well, David Bach is the author of the bestseller, "The Automatic Millionaire," and our resident personal finance contributor. In this morning's edition of "Live Rich Today," David's here to tell us all about how to prevent money from just flying right out the window.
So all right, David, short of turning off the heat completely, buying a big, fat coat to wear around your house, what can do you?
DAVID BACH, PERSONAL FINANCE CONTRIBUTOR: Right, Heidi's here are some great tips that can save you $,000 this year on your energy bill. No. 1, You want to have what's called an energy checkup. Here's what you do, go to the following Web site, www.energy.gov. This is from the Department of Energy. They set this up for us. It's a consumer site. You can put in your zip code. They'll tell you what the annual cost is supposed to be for your energy bill, then they'll show you what a fuel-energy efficient home should look like.
I did this for myself, Show $3,500 a year for energy costs. Only, if I have an energy-efficient home, I can save $1,400, give me specific tips what to do, how to do it where to go get it done.
COLLINS: OK, so speaking of specific tips, you have some of those for us today, and you say it actually all begins with the thermostat? PAUL: That's right. Here's a great idea from the Department of Energy: Go get a programmable thermostat, $100 for that thermostat, will save you, they estimate, 10 percent to 20 percent on energy costs a year. How? By programming that to lower the temperature on your energy when you're not in your home.
COLLINS: I'm kind of giggling, because there are lots of fights between many husbands and wives about who's pushing that thing down and up and all around?
PAUL: That's right, and you can actually automate it, and that's the key.
COLLINS: All right, what about landscaping? Haven't really heard too much about this, but I guess plant big, shady trees?
PAUL: This is all about keeping the temperature inside your home cool during obviously the summertime, and in winter, keeping it warm. How do you do that? By having trees around your home, or very simple, pull the shades down, or close those drapes. They say doing that can save you over $200 a year on your energy bills.
COLLINS: Wow, that's an awful lot of money.
PAUL: It's a lot of money, it really adds up.
COLLINS: You actually say, though, don't pinch pennies? What do you mean by that?
PAUL: OK, when it comes to looking for ways to save money, sometimes you want to spend some money to save some money. Here's a simple example. Go to the grocery store and buy the expensive light bulbs. Those light bulbs that cost $8 instead of 50 cents. The Department of Energy tells us that four of those new light bulbs will save you over $100 in three years. So if you replace all of those light bulbs in your home, with these new energy-saving light bulbs, you'll actually save close to $1,000 over a three-year period of time.
COLLINS: Yes, as long as you don't drop them on the way out of the grocery store, right?
PAUL: That's right.
COLLINS: OK, well, what about just keeping your appliances turned off when not in use, and what appliances are you talking about here?
PAUL: This one surprised me. The Department of Energy says that over a billion dollars a year is wasted, because people have their DVD players, their computers, their television, not on, but plugged in. It's still costing you money. So what they recommend you do, is actually put that into a power charge, one of those things that you plug everything in to, turn that strip off while you're not in the home. That will save you about $50 a year just on your energy bills there alone.
COLLINS: Haven't thought of that one either. All right, any deals to be had from the utilities companies, though?
PAUL: There are. Call the utility companies, and find out what kind of rebates they have. For example, here in New York, Long Island Power, they're actually offering rebates, if you buy those expensive light bulbs. They'll rebate you on 10 light bulbs. All you've got to do is call your local energy company, find out any deals right now, anything I can do to save money that you'll help me with. The answer's almost always, yes.
COLLINS: David Bach, our personal finance contributor, thanks so much.
PAUL: Thank you.
COLLINS: And you can catch all of David Bach's "Live Rich" today segments right here on AMERICAN MORNING, every Thursday morning.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks for that.
You look good in black, too, by the way, and green.
In a moment here, the president embracing one of the key reforms suggested by the 9/11 Commission. Could it still fall victim, though, to election year politics. Joseph Lieberman, one of the lawmakers behind the legislative reform, our guest, top of the hour here, on AMERICAN MORNING.
Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
