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CNN Live At Daybreak
Mandatory Evacuations for Parts of Panhandle Begin Today; Another Horrific Day in Iraq
Aired September 14, 2004 - 06:00 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Trees bend in the wind, water rushes through neighborhoods. Cuba gets a taste of Ivan. He's now heading toward the Gulf.
It is Tuesday, September 14.
This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, smoke clouds the streets of central Baghdad this morning after a deadly car bombing. It happened, oh, about four hours ago. Take a look at this. This bomb went off outside of the police station. It's killed at least 32 people, injuring dozens more. We're going to have a live report for you out of Baghdad at the bottom of the hour.
On Capitol Hill, the man President Bush wants to be the new CIA chief heads to the hot seat in about four hours. A Senate panel holds a hearing on Congressman Peter Goss's nomination.
It's now legal for you to buy certain assault weapons. Congress let a 10-year-old federal ban expire at midnight. John Kerry is ripping President Bush for not pressuring law makers into renewing that ban.
And the president is pushing Congress for something else today, more hurricane relief. He's planning to ask for more than $3 billion in federal aid for storm ravaged southern states, especially Florida -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, Carol.
You know, that storm is still really in the Yucatan Channel. But some of the outer bands here, down to Key West and very, very close here now to Marathon, Florida, out to about the Seven Mile Bridge, just over into Marathon here. That's about, oh, Porky's Bayside. And then as you fly on up here north of Islamorada, seeing rain showers across the Overseas Highway there, as well this morning.
In fact, I'm going to actually go, we can actually show you exactly where the storm is as it moves across through and just to the east of Cancun and to the west of Cuba. Still hurricane warnings going on this morning. In fact, I'm going to actually go, we can actually show you exactly where this storm is as it moves across through and just to the east of Cancun and to the west of Cuba. Still hurricane warnings going on this morning. In fact, hurricane warnings for Cuba, the Yucatan Peninsula and now hurricane watches issued for Morgan City, Louisiana all the way over here to parts of Florida here, right up here at about Apalachi Bay.
The center of the Hurricane Center forecast now right over Mobile. That doesn't mean it's not going to go left or right from there maybe 50 or even 100 miles, but if you are from Mobile eastward, all the way here to Panama City, you need to be taking precautions now. And, in fact, those watches go all the way west, including New Orleans this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: And nothing to worry about across Texas, Oklahoma or Louisiana yet. But I'll tell you, that's going to be one big storm.
The forecast is for that storm to come onshore, Carol, at about 135 to 140 miles per hour, either a cat three or maybe even a cat four. It's going to lose some strength in the Gulf of Mexico, but not a lot.
COSTELLO: Well, Chad, let's take a look at what Ivan did to western Cuba. This is what it looked like. Many roads in the tobacco rich Pinar del Rio region have been totally washed out. And Fidel Castro still refusing any aid from the United States.
Before slamming Cuba, Ivan swept across part of Jamaica. Ivan already has killed more than 60 people in the Caribbean. Thirty-seven died in Grenada.
And as Chad said, the Florida Panhandle could be next. Mandatory evacuations for parts of the Panhandle begin today.
Let's get more now on how Floridians are preparing for another deadly storm.
Sara Dorsey joins us live from Pensacola -- good morning.
SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Mandatory evacuations are under -- in effect in this area. You can see behind me there are some cars on the Causeway behind us. However, all that activity is going to cease tomorrow. The Barrier Islands over there will be closing.
Also involved in that mandatory evacuation are people living in mobile homes and those living in category four storm surge areas. Like others living along the Gulf, people in this area are preparing for the worst.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DORSEY (voice-over): Hurricane Ivan is on its way toward the Gulf Coast but forecasters can't be sure exactly where it will hit. The Florida Panhandle remains a possibility. But with the storm's continuous northwesterly path, so are states as far west as Louisiana.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush is warning everyone remotely close to the projected path to stay alert.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Don't get fixated on the line of the storm that you see on your local TV stations or if you're watching cable or the national news. They will show a track because that's fair to do. But the impacts of this go way beyond that line.
DORSEY: It seems that advice is being taken seriously. People from New Orleans to Tallahassee and many areas in between are rushing to get plywood, batteries and generators.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if the storm doesn't come, we'll be ready for the next one. We'll have the boards cut and ready for the windows.
DORSEY: With all the uncertainty and projections changing constantly, stores are having a hard time keeping stock on the shelves.
SAM WALKER, LOWE'S EMPLOYEE: We've got some trucks on the way but I couldn't even guesstimate when they might get here, because the thing now is not the stuff that's available, it's getting it here. The trucks -- we can't get a truck to bring it in.
DORSEY: Ivan's power has already been made evident in Jamaica and Cuba, where heavy rains poured down and high winds toppled trees and buildings. Some fear Ivan's deadly track record could be a sign of things to come in the U.S.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
DORSEY: And Governor Bush is asking residents to heed those warnings and get out. Already, hurricane Ivan has killed more than 60 people.
We're live in Pensacola Bay.
Sara Dorsey.
Now back to you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Sara.
It is another horrific day in Iraq. Bodies and body parts strewn in the streets of Baghdad, the result of a massive explosion. The death toll has been climbing all morning long. Right now, it's reported that 47 people were killed.
Let's head live to Baghdad for more and Diana Muriel to tell us exactly what happened.
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we just have those numbers from the Ministry of Health. As you say, 47 killed and 114 people injured in this massive bomb blast that occurred just after 10:00 here in Baghdad this morning.
The blast took place outside a police station. It's an administrative police station and there was a line of police recruits, we understand from eyewitnesses, who were waiting outside the compound, waiting to go in and sign up as new police officers. They hadn't been allowed into the compound when the blast blew. They bore the brunt of the explosion, along with passersby in the street.
This is a very busy shopping district, crowded with bars and with cafes and with shops and market stores. And that's why we're seeing such a large number of dead and wounded.
As you say, a scene of absolute carnage at the site there, with the body parts strewn all over the road, unrecognizable. It's going to be very difficult to get a definitive number, I think, for some hours. These numbers are changing all the time -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It's always hard to know who's to blame for these kinds of things.
But who are the Iraqi people blaming?
MURIEL: Well, the Iraqi crowd that mobbed the interior minister, who broke off his engagements to go down to the blast site very quickly after this explosion occurred, they were blaming the Americans. They were saying that the Americans are responsible for security, where is the security?
Some of the members of the crowd were also reported to have said that they'd seen helicopters flying overhead, that there had been helicopters flying overhead the previous day, that they had been warned by American soldiers to stay away from their doors and windows and that they were blaming the Americans for conducting this strike.
Now, we've got no information that suggests that. And that would be an extraordinary situation if that were to be the case. We don't believe that. But no one has come forward to take responsibility for this explosion. And that's very rare. People -- the insurgent gangs tend not to come forward, actually, with these sorts of incidents. But it may be that it's the group that was mortaring that police station earlier in the morning. The police station was attacked by four mortars, which didn't cause any death or injury at that time, at 8:00 in the morning. Those could have come from Sadr City. It's unclear at this stage who was responsible for this -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Diana Muriel reporting live from Baghdad.
Thank you.
In news across America this morning, two more booby trapped letters to tell you about. The governors of Virginia and West Virginia are the latest targets of letters that are rigged to catch fire when they're opened. At least 16 other state capitals received similar letters last week. No one's been hurt, but all of the letters have carried a postmark from a maximum security prison in Nevada. Watch these pictures from Green Bay, Wisconsin. What you see being thrown out of the car is a baby in a car seat. That's a baby. The driver of the car had slowed down briefly during a high speed police chase. You see the police getting the baby. The baby wasn't hurt. The driver of that car, though, died after crashing into an empty police car.
In New Jersey, they set up a special hot line for people who are still having trouble dealing with the 9/11 attacks. The line is staffed by mental health professionals and other people who were directly impacted by the tragedy. If you're interested, the number is 1-866-4UNJ911.
E-mail us if you want the number, daybreak@cnn.com.
Five outspoken 9/11 widows are expected to endorse Senator John Kerry for president today. That is according to the Associated Press. The move highlights the division among relatives of those killed in the terror attacks over which presidential candidate can best keep the country safe.
In the meantime, John Kerry campaigns in Milwaukee, Toledo and Detroit today.
President Bush will address National Guardsmen attending a Las Vegas convention today. In the meantime, a group called Texans For Truth plans to announced a reward to anyone who can offer proof that the president fulfilled his military obligations during the Vietnam War.
A controversial gossipy new book that dishes on the life of the first family is due out today. We've been talking about it for the past several days. It's an unauthorized biography. It's called "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty."
Author Kitty Kelley makes an explosive charge about the president's past drug use.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM THE "TODAY" SHOW, COURTESY NBC)
MATT LAUER, HOST, "TODAY": You say that George W. Bush, while his father was in the White House -- so the years between 1988 to 1992 -- did cocaine with his brother at Camp David. I mean you have to know that is an extraordinarily serious accusation.
KITTY KELLEY, AUTHOR: It is. It's serious only because the president has told us that he wasn't doing drugs at that time. George W. Bush has never ever denied using, buying or selling cocaine. He has restricted it to a certain time period. And you're right, I do say that in the book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Kitty Kelley, "Unfit For Command," "Fahrenheit 911," we could go on. There are so many books, so many documentaries out there about both candidates. We wondered what you were thinking. I mean do they sway your opinion? Do those books and films about the presidential candidates actually influence your vote or is there just too much noise?
E-mail us at daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com.
Still to come, are we still talking about the president's days in the National Guard? Of course we are. We'll tell you why the heat is about to be turned up on that issue.
Plus, fears about North Korea. How concerned are you?
And the biggest, baddest pickup you've ever seen. There it is. Imagine yourself by the wheel of this monster truck.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday Mogadishu.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:14 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
A Palestinian suicide bomber on a bicycle wounds two Israel soldiers in the West Bank. The Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade claiming responsibility for that attack. The group says it was meant to avenge Israel's killing of three militants in an air strike on Monday.
No school today for children in Beslan, Russia. Classes were supposed to start again for the first time since more than 330 children and adults were massacred. But security concerns led officials to call off classes just 15 minutes before they were scheduled to start.
In money news, breathing room for US Airways. A bankruptcy judge says the airline can use a $700 million government loan to fund operations. Also, the airline says it will skip a $110 million pension payment due tomorrow.
In culture, the Man In Black auction opens today at Sotheby's in New York. Hundreds of pieces of memorabilia are available from the estate of the late Johnny Cash. Included are several black suits and coats.
In sports, "MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL." The Green Bay Packers shut down the defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers. Running back Ahmad Green led the way with three touchdowns in the 24-14 victory -- Chad.
MYERS: And good morning, Carol.
We're zoomed in here to a Mexican radar out of Cancun from the Weather Service here. Here's the Yucatan Peninsula. Here is Cuba over here. Here's the eye of the storm, kind of an open eye wall here. It means we're losing a little bit of focus on this storm, maybe a little bit of energy going away from it, as well. But it also could mean that we're getting a rapid recycling of the outer eye wall. We'll have to keep watching as it keeps on going.
But we always like them when they start to tear themselves up, when they're not symmetric. You're seeing a lot more energy on this side of the storm than on this side of the storm. Obviously a lot of the orange is already gone from the left side. And maybe it's tearing itself up a little bit. A little bit of interaction there with Cuba and the Yucatan helping to maybe lower some of the wind speeds just a little bit.
Hurricane warnings still obviously for this entire area down here from Cuba over to the Yucatan. But now hurricane watches from Morgan City, Louisiana all the way over to St. Mark's, Florida; New Orleans; Mobile; Biloxi; Pensacola, Panama City; all in this.
It looks like eye landfall somewhere about 40, maybe 42 hours from now, about midnight tomorrow night -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines for you.
In our business buzz, going once, going twice -- we have a buyer for MGM. But it wasn't a company many people were expecting on this media deal.
Let's head to the Nasdaq market site and Carrie Lee for some answers -- good morning.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Well, a Sony-led group has a deal in principle to purchase MGM, the big film studio, for $5 billion, $3 billion cash, $2 billion in assumed debt. Sony struck the tentative deal yesterday after Time Warner, our parent company, dropped out of the bidding for the movie studio.
So what this means is that if the deal goes through, it gives Sony access to Hollywood's largest movie library, creating a pool of some 8,000 titles. These include "Legally Blonde," the Rocky series and the James Bond series. There's a clip of James Bond right now. Nope, that's Rocky.
The deal is a rare consolidation in Hollywood, reducing the number of big studios from seven to six. So we'll see if this deal goes through, Carol.
Switching gears, for the driver looking for a little more in a pickup truck, more than the Hummer H-2 and the Ford F-350, take a look at this from Navistar. It's called the new CXT. It stands for Commercial Extreme Truck, built from the same platform as the heavy truck maker's typical tow truck or cement mixer. Miles per gallon, well, not so great. Six to 10 miles per gallon of diesel fuel. The price tag pretty high, $93,000 to $115,000.
It looks like a very particular type of buyer, Carol, would be interested in that.
COSTELLO: Yes, I'm going to run right out and get one for myself.
LEE: Nine feet high. I don't even know if you can make it through the Holland Tunnel in that thing. But there you go.
COSTELLO: How could you climb into it?
LEE: Yes. Then you need a stepstool to get into it and out of it, right?
COSTELLO: Right.
Thank you, Carrie Lee, live from the Nasdaq market site.
LEE: OK.
COSTELLO: Well, did you see Oprah Winfrey's show yesterday? The queen of talk pulled off a season opening surprise. And, boy, it was huge. Just ask the audience. We'll get all the details next on DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We want to check out our Web clicks this morning. We're always interested to see what's the most popular on cnn.com.
The number one most clicked on story is this...
MYERS: "Nuclear Bomb."
COSTELLO: It's such a headline: "Lost Nuclear Bomb Possibly Found Off the Georgia Coast."
MYERS: Off Savannah, off Tybee Island out there. A plane crash between the bomber and a fighter, actually, made the bomber -- it still landed. The fighter didn't. The bomber had to let go of the bomb before he could land. But obviously all along the aircraft and the Air Force saying this was just a practice dummy bomb.
COSTELLO: Yes, it's not dangerous.
MYERS: But they are finding radiation off the...
COSTELLO: And by the way, this happened back in 1958.
MYERS: 1958.
COSTELLO: The second most clicked on story on cnn.com, hurricane Ivan as it passes Cuba.
MYERS: Of course. Yes, that should be the number one clicked on story for a lot of folks in the Gulf Coast. Hurricane warnings from Morgan City, Louisiana now all the way over to Apalachi Bay. But it obviously did a lot of damage over Grenada. It did a lot of damage over Jamaica. It did miss Jamaica per se. Winds about 90 there in Jamaica. They could have been 165 with a direct hit. And then it hit the western side of Cuba there last night and yesterday.
COSTELLO: The third most clicked on story, Oprah. She gave away some 200 cars to members of her audience.
MYERS: Well, Pontiac did, actually.
COSTELLO: Well, but she made it possible.
MYERS: But she did. She made it possible.
COSTELLO: She certainly did. She asked her viewers to write in, you know, with some deserving stories of people who really needed cars. And 276 people got a free car.
MYERS: You know, you usually get like a free night's stay at the Marriott Marquis or something like that. But not today.
COSTELLO: No.
MYERS: They got cars yesterday.
COSTELLO: Congratulations to all of you viewers.
MYERS: Nice.
COSTELLO: Time for our e-mail now. This is our e-mail Question of the Day. Do books and films about the presidential candidates influence your vote? And we're asking this question because the Kitty Kelley book comes out today. It's already number two on Amazon.com.
There seems to be a theme in our e-mail this morning.
MYERS: Is that right?
COSTELLO: People just don't like all of the negativity.
MYERS: I think people have already made their mind up. I know there's like this 18 percent that haven't, but really, is there really that much that really you could (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
COSTELLO: No, I really think there are just five undecided voters.
This is from Mark from Honolulu, Hawaii. He says: "Do all the political documentaries and books from the political parties influence my vote? Yes. I'm now less likely to vote for anyone running for president this year."
This is from Daria. She says: "There have to be at least a few ounces of truth in every pound of rumor, and this election is getting fatter by the second."
This is from Chuck from Glenwood, Illinois. He says: "The net effect on me of all these TV ads, the books, the stump speeches, etc., is to make me question the validity of the whole process. How is a voter supposed to make an informed decision when the only information the candidates put forth is the latest smear on their opponent?"
This is from Mark from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He says: "One zero wants an exit strategy from Iraq. Forget that. I want an exit strategy from all of this negative campaigning."
MYERS: There's a lot of it out there, you know, but...
COSTELLO: And this is my favorite one.
MYERS: Oh.
COSTELLO: This is from Steve from Holland, Michigan. He says: "The more I hear about this election, the more I wish I had voted for Ross Perot when I had the chance. At least he was entertaining."
MYERS: Not going to do it.
COSTELLO: Daybreak@cnn.com.
That Kitty Kelley book is just one of today's talkers.
Coming up, the president's performance, the campaigns, the war in Iraq.
Plus, we'll take you live to Baghdad, where a violent week continues. Is the coalition's attention focused in the right direction?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Where is Ivan the Terrible heading next? Chad's focus in just a minute.
It's Tuesday, September 14.
This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, in central Iraq, a car bomb went off a little more than four hours ago outside of a police station. At least 47 Iraqis were killed, 114 wounded.
In Israel today, at least two Israeli soldiers have been wounded in a suicide attack in the West Bank. The Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade is claiming responsibility for that attack.
Japan executed a man today for killing eight children at a school in Osaka. He raced into the school three years ago, slashing at several children and teachers.
And a nasty scene at last night's Rangers-Athletics game in Oakland. Take a look. Texas reliever Frank Francisco apparently got irritated by fans near the bullpen, so he throws that chair into the stands. Take a look at that woman. She broke her nose. No arrests have been made, but you can bet charges are being thought about -- Chad.
MYERS: All I could think of was that Geraldo incident when he got that chair thrown at him.
COSTELLO: That's because it looks like that.
MYERS: That's what it looked like. It looked like a brawl there.
Hey, good morning, everybody.
Obviously here, this is what was Ivan 24 hours ago. We'll put it into motion for you. Right through the Yucatan Channel. It did get close enough to Cuba to do quite a bit of damage from about here westward, in the Pinal del Rio area. Hurricane watches now issued for Morgan City, Louisiana to St. Mark's, Florida. That entire area under the gun.
It looks like landfall of this hurricane should be somewhere between midnight and maybe 2:00 a.m. tomorrow.
So now what are we looking at? About 42 hours, maybe a little bit less, for landfall. You have that much time to get prepared if you're anywhere from Louisiana all the way over here to about, oh, Panama City. And keep watching, because that's the line right now. But you know those lines can change. Those lines changed, obviously, with Charley. And even the lines changed with Frances, as well.
So obviously we're expecting this line to change at least a little bit.
(WEATHER REPORT)
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Aired September 14, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Trees bend in the wind, water rushes through neighborhoods. Cuba gets a taste of Ivan. He's now heading toward the Gulf.
It is Tuesday, September 14.
This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, smoke clouds the streets of central Baghdad this morning after a deadly car bombing. It happened, oh, about four hours ago. Take a look at this. This bomb went off outside of the police station. It's killed at least 32 people, injuring dozens more. We're going to have a live report for you out of Baghdad at the bottom of the hour.
On Capitol Hill, the man President Bush wants to be the new CIA chief heads to the hot seat in about four hours. A Senate panel holds a hearing on Congressman Peter Goss's nomination.
It's now legal for you to buy certain assault weapons. Congress let a 10-year-old federal ban expire at midnight. John Kerry is ripping President Bush for not pressuring law makers into renewing that ban.
And the president is pushing Congress for something else today, more hurricane relief. He's planning to ask for more than $3 billion in federal aid for storm ravaged southern states, especially Florida -- Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, Carol.
You know, that storm is still really in the Yucatan Channel. But some of the outer bands here, down to Key West and very, very close here now to Marathon, Florida, out to about the Seven Mile Bridge, just over into Marathon here. That's about, oh, Porky's Bayside. And then as you fly on up here north of Islamorada, seeing rain showers across the Overseas Highway there, as well this morning.
In fact, I'm going to actually go, we can actually show you exactly where the storm is as it moves across through and just to the east of Cancun and to the west of Cuba. Still hurricane warnings going on this morning. In fact, I'm going to actually go, we can actually show you exactly where this storm is as it moves across through and just to the east of Cancun and to the west of Cuba. Still hurricane warnings going on this morning. In fact, hurricane warnings for Cuba, the Yucatan Peninsula and now hurricane watches issued for Morgan City, Louisiana all the way over here to parts of Florida here, right up here at about Apalachi Bay.
The center of the Hurricane Center forecast now right over Mobile. That doesn't mean it's not going to go left or right from there maybe 50 or even 100 miles, but if you are from Mobile eastward, all the way here to Panama City, you need to be taking precautions now. And, in fact, those watches go all the way west, including New Orleans this morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: And nothing to worry about across Texas, Oklahoma or Louisiana yet. But I'll tell you, that's going to be one big storm.
The forecast is for that storm to come onshore, Carol, at about 135 to 140 miles per hour, either a cat three or maybe even a cat four. It's going to lose some strength in the Gulf of Mexico, but not a lot.
COSTELLO: Well, Chad, let's take a look at what Ivan did to western Cuba. This is what it looked like. Many roads in the tobacco rich Pinar del Rio region have been totally washed out. And Fidel Castro still refusing any aid from the United States.
Before slamming Cuba, Ivan swept across part of Jamaica. Ivan already has killed more than 60 people in the Caribbean. Thirty-seven died in Grenada.
And as Chad said, the Florida Panhandle could be next. Mandatory evacuations for parts of the Panhandle begin today.
Let's get more now on how Floridians are preparing for another deadly storm.
Sara Dorsey joins us live from Pensacola -- good morning.
SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
Mandatory evacuations are under -- in effect in this area. You can see behind me there are some cars on the Causeway behind us. However, all that activity is going to cease tomorrow. The Barrier Islands over there will be closing.
Also involved in that mandatory evacuation are people living in mobile homes and those living in category four storm surge areas. Like others living along the Gulf, people in this area are preparing for the worst.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DORSEY (voice-over): Hurricane Ivan is on its way toward the Gulf Coast but forecasters can't be sure exactly where it will hit. The Florida Panhandle remains a possibility. But with the storm's continuous northwesterly path, so are states as far west as Louisiana.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush is warning everyone remotely close to the projected path to stay alert.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: Don't get fixated on the line of the storm that you see on your local TV stations or if you're watching cable or the national news. They will show a track because that's fair to do. But the impacts of this go way beyond that line.
DORSEY: It seems that advice is being taken seriously. People from New Orleans to Tallahassee and many areas in between are rushing to get plywood, batteries and generators.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if the storm doesn't come, we'll be ready for the next one. We'll have the boards cut and ready for the windows.
DORSEY: With all the uncertainty and projections changing constantly, stores are having a hard time keeping stock on the shelves.
SAM WALKER, LOWE'S EMPLOYEE: We've got some trucks on the way but I couldn't even guesstimate when they might get here, because the thing now is not the stuff that's available, it's getting it here. The trucks -- we can't get a truck to bring it in.
DORSEY: Ivan's power has already been made evident in Jamaica and Cuba, where heavy rains poured down and high winds toppled trees and buildings. Some fear Ivan's deadly track record could be a sign of things to come in the U.S.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
DORSEY: And Governor Bush is asking residents to heed those warnings and get out. Already, hurricane Ivan has killed more than 60 people.
We're live in Pensacola Bay.
Sara Dorsey.
Now back to you -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Sara.
It is another horrific day in Iraq. Bodies and body parts strewn in the streets of Baghdad, the result of a massive explosion. The death toll has been climbing all morning long. Right now, it's reported that 47 people were killed.
Let's head live to Baghdad for more and Diana Muriel to tell us exactly what happened.
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we just have those numbers from the Ministry of Health. As you say, 47 killed and 114 people injured in this massive bomb blast that occurred just after 10:00 here in Baghdad this morning.
The blast took place outside a police station. It's an administrative police station and there was a line of police recruits, we understand from eyewitnesses, who were waiting outside the compound, waiting to go in and sign up as new police officers. They hadn't been allowed into the compound when the blast blew. They bore the brunt of the explosion, along with passersby in the street.
This is a very busy shopping district, crowded with bars and with cafes and with shops and market stores. And that's why we're seeing such a large number of dead and wounded.
As you say, a scene of absolute carnage at the site there, with the body parts strewn all over the road, unrecognizable. It's going to be very difficult to get a definitive number, I think, for some hours. These numbers are changing all the time -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It's always hard to know who's to blame for these kinds of things.
But who are the Iraqi people blaming?
MURIEL: Well, the Iraqi crowd that mobbed the interior minister, who broke off his engagements to go down to the blast site very quickly after this explosion occurred, they were blaming the Americans. They were saying that the Americans are responsible for security, where is the security?
Some of the members of the crowd were also reported to have said that they'd seen helicopters flying overhead, that there had been helicopters flying overhead the previous day, that they had been warned by American soldiers to stay away from their doors and windows and that they were blaming the Americans for conducting this strike.
Now, we've got no information that suggests that. And that would be an extraordinary situation if that were to be the case. We don't believe that. But no one has come forward to take responsibility for this explosion. And that's very rare. People -- the insurgent gangs tend not to come forward, actually, with these sorts of incidents. But it may be that it's the group that was mortaring that police station earlier in the morning. The police station was attacked by four mortars, which didn't cause any death or injury at that time, at 8:00 in the morning. Those could have come from Sadr City. It's unclear at this stage who was responsible for this -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Diana Muriel reporting live from Baghdad.
Thank you.
In news across America this morning, two more booby trapped letters to tell you about. The governors of Virginia and West Virginia are the latest targets of letters that are rigged to catch fire when they're opened. At least 16 other state capitals received similar letters last week. No one's been hurt, but all of the letters have carried a postmark from a maximum security prison in Nevada. Watch these pictures from Green Bay, Wisconsin. What you see being thrown out of the car is a baby in a car seat. That's a baby. The driver of the car had slowed down briefly during a high speed police chase. You see the police getting the baby. The baby wasn't hurt. The driver of that car, though, died after crashing into an empty police car.
In New Jersey, they set up a special hot line for people who are still having trouble dealing with the 9/11 attacks. The line is staffed by mental health professionals and other people who were directly impacted by the tragedy. If you're interested, the number is 1-866-4UNJ911.
E-mail us if you want the number, daybreak@cnn.com.
Five outspoken 9/11 widows are expected to endorse Senator John Kerry for president today. That is according to the Associated Press. The move highlights the division among relatives of those killed in the terror attacks over which presidential candidate can best keep the country safe.
In the meantime, John Kerry campaigns in Milwaukee, Toledo and Detroit today.
President Bush will address National Guardsmen attending a Las Vegas convention today. In the meantime, a group called Texans For Truth plans to announced a reward to anyone who can offer proof that the president fulfilled his military obligations during the Vietnam War.
A controversial gossipy new book that dishes on the life of the first family is due out today. We've been talking about it for the past several days. It's an unauthorized biography. It's called "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty."
Author Kitty Kelley makes an explosive charge about the president's past drug use.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM THE "TODAY" SHOW, COURTESY NBC)
MATT LAUER, HOST, "TODAY": You say that George W. Bush, while his father was in the White House -- so the years between 1988 to 1992 -- did cocaine with his brother at Camp David. I mean you have to know that is an extraordinarily serious accusation.
KITTY KELLEY, AUTHOR: It is. It's serious only because the president has told us that he wasn't doing drugs at that time. George W. Bush has never ever denied using, buying or selling cocaine. He has restricted it to a certain time period. And you're right, I do say that in the book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Kitty Kelley, "Unfit For Command," "Fahrenheit 911," we could go on. There are so many books, so many documentaries out there about both candidates. We wondered what you were thinking. I mean do they sway your opinion? Do those books and films about the presidential candidates actually influence your vote or is there just too much noise?
E-mail us at daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com.
Still to come, are we still talking about the president's days in the National Guard? Of course we are. We'll tell you why the heat is about to be turned up on that issue.
Plus, fears about North Korea. How concerned are you?
And the biggest, baddest pickup you've ever seen. There it is. Imagine yourself by the wheel of this monster truck.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday Mogadishu.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 6:14 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
A Palestinian suicide bomber on a bicycle wounds two Israel soldiers in the West Bank. The Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade claiming responsibility for that attack. The group says it was meant to avenge Israel's killing of three militants in an air strike on Monday.
No school today for children in Beslan, Russia. Classes were supposed to start again for the first time since more than 330 children and adults were massacred. But security concerns led officials to call off classes just 15 minutes before they were scheduled to start.
In money news, breathing room for US Airways. A bankruptcy judge says the airline can use a $700 million government loan to fund operations. Also, the airline says it will skip a $110 million pension payment due tomorrow.
In culture, the Man In Black auction opens today at Sotheby's in New York. Hundreds of pieces of memorabilia are available from the estate of the late Johnny Cash. Included are several black suits and coats.
In sports, "MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL." The Green Bay Packers shut down the defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers. Running back Ahmad Green led the way with three touchdowns in the 24-14 victory -- Chad.
MYERS: And good morning, Carol.
We're zoomed in here to a Mexican radar out of Cancun from the Weather Service here. Here's the Yucatan Peninsula. Here is Cuba over here. Here's the eye of the storm, kind of an open eye wall here. It means we're losing a little bit of focus on this storm, maybe a little bit of energy going away from it, as well. But it also could mean that we're getting a rapid recycling of the outer eye wall. We'll have to keep watching as it keeps on going.
But we always like them when they start to tear themselves up, when they're not symmetric. You're seeing a lot more energy on this side of the storm than on this side of the storm. Obviously a lot of the orange is already gone from the left side. And maybe it's tearing itself up a little bit. A little bit of interaction there with Cuba and the Yucatan helping to maybe lower some of the wind speeds just a little bit.
Hurricane warnings still obviously for this entire area down here from Cuba over to the Yucatan. But now hurricane watches from Morgan City, Louisiana all the way over to St. Mark's, Florida; New Orleans; Mobile; Biloxi; Pensacola, Panama City; all in this.
It looks like eye landfall somewhere about 40, maybe 42 hours from now, about midnight tomorrow night -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
Those are the latest headlines for you.
In our business buzz, going once, going twice -- we have a buyer for MGM. But it wasn't a company many people were expecting on this media deal.
Let's head to the Nasdaq market site and Carrie Lee for some answers -- good morning.
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Well, a Sony-led group has a deal in principle to purchase MGM, the big film studio, for $5 billion, $3 billion cash, $2 billion in assumed debt. Sony struck the tentative deal yesterday after Time Warner, our parent company, dropped out of the bidding for the movie studio.
So what this means is that if the deal goes through, it gives Sony access to Hollywood's largest movie library, creating a pool of some 8,000 titles. These include "Legally Blonde," the Rocky series and the James Bond series. There's a clip of James Bond right now. Nope, that's Rocky.
The deal is a rare consolidation in Hollywood, reducing the number of big studios from seven to six. So we'll see if this deal goes through, Carol.
Switching gears, for the driver looking for a little more in a pickup truck, more than the Hummer H-2 and the Ford F-350, take a look at this from Navistar. It's called the new CXT. It stands for Commercial Extreme Truck, built from the same platform as the heavy truck maker's typical tow truck or cement mixer. Miles per gallon, well, not so great. Six to 10 miles per gallon of diesel fuel. The price tag pretty high, $93,000 to $115,000.
It looks like a very particular type of buyer, Carol, would be interested in that.
COSTELLO: Yes, I'm going to run right out and get one for myself.
LEE: Nine feet high. I don't even know if you can make it through the Holland Tunnel in that thing. But there you go.
COSTELLO: How could you climb into it?
LEE: Yes. Then you need a stepstool to get into it and out of it, right?
COSTELLO: Right.
Thank you, Carrie Lee, live from the Nasdaq market site.
LEE: OK.
COSTELLO: Well, did you see Oprah Winfrey's show yesterday? The queen of talk pulled off a season opening surprise. And, boy, it was huge. Just ask the audience. We'll get all the details next on DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We want to check out our Web clicks this morning. We're always interested to see what's the most popular on cnn.com.
The number one most clicked on story is this...
MYERS: "Nuclear Bomb."
COSTELLO: It's such a headline: "Lost Nuclear Bomb Possibly Found Off the Georgia Coast."
MYERS: Off Savannah, off Tybee Island out there. A plane crash between the bomber and a fighter, actually, made the bomber -- it still landed. The fighter didn't. The bomber had to let go of the bomb before he could land. But obviously all along the aircraft and the Air Force saying this was just a practice dummy bomb.
COSTELLO: Yes, it's not dangerous.
MYERS: But they are finding radiation off the...
COSTELLO: And by the way, this happened back in 1958.
MYERS: 1958.
COSTELLO: The second most clicked on story on cnn.com, hurricane Ivan as it passes Cuba.
MYERS: Of course. Yes, that should be the number one clicked on story for a lot of folks in the Gulf Coast. Hurricane warnings from Morgan City, Louisiana now all the way over to Apalachi Bay. But it obviously did a lot of damage over Grenada. It did a lot of damage over Jamaica. It did miss Jamaica per se. Winds about 90 there in Jamaica. They could have been 165 with a direct hit. And then it hit the western side of Cuba there last night and yesterday.
COSTELLO: The third most clicked on story, Oprah. She gave away some 200 cars to members of her audience.
MYERS: Well, Pontiac did, actually.
COSTELLO: Well, but she made it possible.
MYERS: But she did. She made it possible.
COSTELLO: She certainly did. She asked her viewers to write in, you know, with some deserving stories of people who really needed cars. And 276 people got a free car.
MYERS: You know, you usually get like a free night's stay at the Marriott Marquis or something like that. But not today.
COSTELLO: No.
MYERS: They got cars yesterday.
COSTELLO: Congratulations to all of you viewers.
MYERS: Nice.
COSTELLO: Time for our e-mail now. This is our e-mail Question of the Day. Do books and films about the presidential candidates influence your vote? And we're asking this question because the Kitty Kelley book comes out today. It's already number two on Amazon.com.
There seems to be a theme in our e-mail this morning.
MYERS: Is that right?
COSTELLO: People just don't like all of the negativity.
MYERS: I think people have already made their mind up. I know there's like this 18 percent that haven't, but really, is there really that much that really you could (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
COSTELLO: No, I really think there are just five undecided voters.
This is from Mark from Honolulu, Hawaii. He says: "Do all the political documentaries and books from the political parties influence my vote? Yes. I'm now less likely to vote for anyone running for president this year."
This is from Daria. She says: "There have to be at least a few ounces of truth in every pound of rumor, and this election is getting fatter by the second."
This is from Chuck from Glenwood, Illinois. He says: "The net effect on me of all these TV ads, the books, the stump speeches, etc., is to make me question the validity of the whole process. How is a voter supposed to make an informed decision when the only information the candidates put forth is the latest smear on their opponent?"
This is from Mark from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He says: "One zero wants an exit strategy from Iraq. Forget that. I want an exit strategy from all of this negative campaigning."
MYERS: There's a lot of it out there, you know, but...
COSTELLO: And this is my favorite one.
MYERS: Oh.
COSTELLO: This is from Steve from Holland, Michigan. He says: "The more I hear about this election, the more I wish I had voted for Ross Perot when I had the chance. At least he was entertaining."
MYERS: Not going to do it.
COSTELLO: Daybreak@cnn.com.
That Kitty Kelley book is just one of today's talkers.
Coming up, the president's performance, the campaigns, the war in Iraq.
Plus, we'll take you live to Baghdad, where a violent week continues. Is the coalition's attention focused in the right direction?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Where is Ivan the Terrible heading next? Chad's focus in just a minute.
It's Tuesday, September 14.
This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, in central Iraq, a car bomb went off a little more than four hours ago outside of a police station. At least 47 Iraqis were killed, 114 wounded.
In Israel today, at least two Israeli soldiers have been wounded in a suicide attack in the West Bank. The Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade is claiming responsibility for that attack.
Japan executed a man today for killing eight children at a school in Osaka. He raced into the school three years ago, slashing at several children and teachers.
And a nasty scene at last night's Rangers-Athletics game in Oakland. Take a look. Texas reliever Frank Francisco apparently got irritated by fans near the bullpen, so he throws that chair into the stands. Take a look at that woman. She broke her nose. No arrests have been made, but you can bet charges are being thought about -- Chad.
MYERS: All I could think of was that Geraldo incident when he got that chair thrown at him.
COSTELLO: That's because it looks like that.
MYERS: That's what it looked like. It looked like a brawl there.
Hey, good morning, everybody.
Obviously here, this is what was Ivan 24 hours ago. We'll put it into motion for you. Right through the Yucatan Channel. It did get close enough to Cuba to do quite a bit of damage from about here westward, in the Pinal del Rio area. Hurricane watches now issued for Morgan City, Louisiana to St. Mark's, Florida. That entire area under the gun.
It looks like landfall of this hurricane should be somewhere between midnight and maybe 2:00 a.m. tomorrow.
So now what are we looking at? About 42 hours, maybe a little bit less, for landfall. You have that much time to get prepared if you're anywhere from Louisiana all the way over here to about, oh, Panama City. And keep watching, because that's the line right now. But you know those lines can change. Those lines changed, obviously, with Charley. And even the lines changed with Frances, as well.
So obviously we're expecting this line to change at least a little bit.
(WEATHER REPORT)
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