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American Morning

Ivan is Back; Campaign Air War; "Promises, Promises": Jobs; "Crowded House": Multiples on the Rise; Tips on Natural Disaster Insurance

Aired September 23, 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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
The unbelievable Ivan back again, reformed as a tropical storm in the Gulf. Ivan will hit land again. And Hurricane Jeanne, which killed more than a thousand in Haiti, now headed for the U.S. and perhaps Florida.

The prime minister of Iraq speaking to Congress today. Can he convince the skeptics that his country is not a quagmire.

And an amazing animal rescue that turned into a personal rescue, all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.

HEMMER: Good morning, Thursday morning here. I'm Bill Hemmer. Good to have you along with us today.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins, in for Soledad. Some of the other stories that we're following today, President Bush and Senator Kerry hitting each other pretty hard and often on the war in Iraq. We're going to talk to both campaigns about it this morning, and also ask about the back and forth over a new John Kerry wind surfing commercial.

HEMMER: That's coming up in a moment here.

Also, back with Soledad today through the eyes of Dr. Gupta, doing a series on everything that comes along with multiple birth, and Soledad introduces us today to her new babies as part of that series. So we will check in with her a bit later this hour.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: She's due to start earning an honest living again pretty soon, isn't she?

HEMMER: As a matter of fact, in October, right about the middle part of the month.

CAFFERTY: There you go.

This morning, we're going to take a look at the latest round of kidnappings and beheadings in the Middle East. The latest round predicated apparently on the release of women who are being held prisoner by the coalition. Give the way these mutants treat women in their societies, these women are probably better off in U.S. custody, but we'll take a look at whether the beheadings of an effective of Islamist foreign policy.

HEMMER: And unfortunately, it's back in headlines again today. You're right, Jack,

To the other headlines now, Kelly Wallace back with us today, and, Kelly, good morning to you.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, and good morning, everyone. We begin in Washington where this morning Iraq's interim prime minister will offer an assessment of his war-torn country at a joint meeting of Congress. Ayad Allawi's address will be followed by a private meeting with President Bush. CNN will have live coverage of the prime minister's speech. That's at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

Some grim discoveries about the security at some national airports. According to a government report cited in "USA Today," undercover investigators were able to sneak explosives and weapons past security screeners at 15 different airports.

Bill Hemmer spoke just a short time ago with Asa Hutchinson and the homeland security official says the tests were done over a year ago, and that changes to aviation security have already been made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASA HUTCHINSON, HOMELAND SECURITY UNDERSECRETARY: They made recommendations on how to improve it. There were some deficiencies in it. We increased training. We responded to this. We've changed our protocols. And I believe the system is much more improved as a result of the changes that were made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And the department insists security at American airports is tighter than ever before.

In Haiti, the death toll from tropical storm Jeanne is feared to reach 2,000. More than 1,070 people are dead, according to the Associated Press, and more than 1,200 are missing. The National Hurricane Center says Jeanne could hit the southeastern U.S. by this weekend.

And the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens is back home in Britain this morning. Yusuf Islam says he's shocked and slightly amused at being barred from entering the United States. He was taken of a D.C.-bound flight Tuesday after officials say his name turned up on a terrorist watch list. And, Bill and Heidi, now a lot of U.S. officials looking into how someone on a U.S. no-fly list could have gotten on a flight bound for the U.S.

COLLINS: In the first place.

Yes, Kelly, thanks so much for that. As you may have heard, Ivan is back, believe it or not. The Gulf Coast is feeling the effects of Ivan again this morning. The coast of Texas and Louisiana will get another full hit today from the tropical storm. It won't do quite the damage like this along the Alabama coast as it did when it first came through as a hurricane, but some flooding and a lot more rain expected. I cannot believe this story.

Chad Myers at the CNN center talking about Ivan and Jeanne. She is still out there, too.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Why is 2004 so extreme?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS (voice-over): They come in with whipping winds, severe storm surge, devastating floods and killer tornadoes. Wild weather defines 2004 hurricane season. But why is this year so stormy? NOAA scientists say that an unusually warm Atlantic Ocean, below average wind shear and other atmospheric conditions are creating the prime recipe to stir up a big batch of storms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's turned out to be a very busy season.

MYERS: So far there have been 12 named storms. Names are given to tropical storms with at least 39 mile-per-hour tropical winds. Seven have become hurricane, with winds of at least 74 miles an hour, and five major hurricanes, category three or higher, and several of those made landfall. And the season isn't over yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're only about two thirds of the way through the season, so we may very well have one, two, maybe three more hurricanes before the season is done in November.

MYERS: But although Florida residents may be calling foul, and despite the massive death and destruction throughout the Caribbean and the U.S. this year, the 2004 storm season has not broken many records. The most active year on record was 1933, 21 storms. The deadliest killed an estimate 8,000 to 12,000 people in Galveston, Texas in 1900. And the costliest, Hurricane Andrew, socked the U.S. with more than $26 billion in damage. With such an active storm season so far, all eyes remain on the Atlantic to see what Mother Nature gives birth to next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS: And giving birth to, obviously, Ivan, very unusual for this thing to reform, go back out into the Atlantic Ocean, back down across Florida a couple days ago, and then back into the warm water. Obviously still has the same name, because it never lost its identity. But I'll tell you what, we hope it does soon.

Back to you guys.

HEMMER: All right, Chad, thanks for that. Tomorrow, more on your series as we roll through this, and a lot of people think we're going back, as you mentioned, to the '40s and the '50s with that weather pattern.

So, Chad, thanks, check back in with you a bit later this hour.

In the meantime, though, to politics.

Forty days now until this election. The airwaves growing thicker by the day with these attack messages. Both candidates releasing TV ads yesterday. The Bush campaign, which has stuck the flip-flop label on John Kerry, now trying to make his point with wind surfing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: In which direction would John Kerry lead? Kerry voted for the Iraq war? Opposed it. Supported it. And now opposes it again. He bragged about voting for the 87 billion to support our troops, before he voted against it. He voted for education reform, and now opposes it. He claims he's against increasing Medicare premiums, but voted five times to do so. John Kerry, which ever way the wind blows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: In response the Kerry campaign quickly counter attacking, trying to turn the president's own ad against him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: One-thousand U.S. casualties, two Americans beheaded just this week, the Pentagon admits terrorists are pouring into Iraq. In the face of the Iraq quagmire, George Bush's answer is to run a juvenile and tasteless attack ad. John Kerry has a plan for success: get allies involved, speed up the training of Iraqis, take essential steps to get a free election next year. On Iraq, it's time for a new direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: That's the backdrop for today. We'll talk with both sides on the campaign air war.

First up for us today, Ken Mehlman, Bush-Cheney campaign manager, live in Arlington, Virginia, back with us now.

Ken, morning to you.

KEN MEHLMAN, BUSH-CHENEY CAMPAIGN MANAGER: How are you?

HEMMER: I'm doing OK. The Democrats say that ad about wind surfing was in bad taste given the environment on the ground in Iraq. What do you say to that?

MEHLMAN: I disagree. I think it was a humorous and a memorable ad, which is always the goal. It talks about a very important issue, Bill, and the issue is, given the challenges we face in the world today, the challenges on the war on terror, what kind of leader do you want? There are times when it's not such a big deal if you're leader is someone that changes their position with the political winds. Today it would be devastating. If the American commander in chief changed his position every time the politics changed, it would be a terrible signal to send to the world, a terrible signal signal to send to the enemy, and a terrible signal to send to our troops.

HEMMER: You say humorous, and humorous perhaps, but appropriate at this point?

MEHLMAN: I think it is. I think it was a humorous, and as I said, memorable way to talk about a very important issue. And what's interesting is that every time you bring up John Kerry's record, they have a defense that preventing them from talking about that record. Before when you mentioned he voted in favor of cutting intelligence, the response was you're attacking my patriotism. Every single point about that ad is accurate. And the Kerry campaign, it strikes me, would do well to talk about why they've changed all the important issues as opposed to trying to avoid the debate.

HEMMER: Ken, I want to get this polling from NBC. They show a much tighter race right now. George Bush by four among all voters, or rather three rather, up by four among likely voters. Is this race getting tighter again?

MEHLMAN: Well, it is a race we always thought would be a relatively close race. I think where is it today. If you average all the public polls over the last 10 days, it's a five-point race. This reflects that sometimes you're up five points, or your up four, sometimes it shows that it's is even. Other polls, like the CNN/Gallup poll recently showed it a bit higher. Bottom line, we expect a close election. The country is closely divided.

HEMMER: Yes, and forty days and counting, too. I want to get to this comment by Senator Kerry yesterday, suggesting that if George Bush wins a second term, the draft will come back. Your camp has already called that irresponsible. What do you say today?

MEHLMAN: It's irresponsible. It's totally inaccurate. The Pentagon has said from the beginning that they oppose a draft. We have an outstanding volunteer force, literally men and women that are performing miracles all over the world to keep us free and keep us safe. And it's more fear mongering by a candidate that doesn't have a record he can defend, and that also doesn't have a plan to take us forward.

HEMMER: Ken Mehlman, thanks for your time.

MEHLMAN: Thank you.

HEMMER: I want to get to the other side now.

Tad Devine is a senior campaign adviser to John Kerry. He's my guest now back in D.C.

Good morning, Tad. Welcome back here.

TAD DEVINE, KERRY CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: On the draft issue, what was the suggestion from Senator Kerry yesterday?

DEVINE: The suggestion is that the reckless policies of this president could lead to a draft. And frankly, there is a draft right now, it's a back door draft. Ready reserves are being called up in record numbers. The National Guard are being deployed across Iraq, because this president has no plan to win the peace. Unfortunately, he rushed to war without a plan to win the peace and these are the consequences.

HEMMER: Back to the draft, where is the evidence that says it will be initiated?

DEVINE: The evidence is that this president has rushed recklessly into Iraq. Now we've got 140,000 of our troops over there, absolutely no plan to deal with the consequences of it. And the president has talked about expanding the war on terror elsewhere.

So obviously with a president who has acted so recklessly and irresponsibly in Iraq, with no plan whatsoever to deal with the consequences of the aftermath of the military operations, a draft is a real possibility. And I think it was right for John Kerry to be direct in answering that question.

HEMMER: I showed the NBC polling on the overall race with Ken Mehlman. I want to show the women in that same poll according to NBC, showing that John Kerry leads George Bush by 3 points, which may be good news. But on the flip side, four years ago, Al Gore beat George Bush by 11 on this same number, 54 to 43 percent.

Are you concerned with the female vote this year?

DEVINE: No, I think women are going to respond very powerfully to Senator Kerry's message of taking this nation in a new direction.

The fact is he is talking about issues they care deeply about like health care, our economy, providing jobs, and also, our safety and security in Iraq. I think the women of this country understand that when we spend $200 billion in Iraq, we don't have the resources here at home to deal with problems they care about. When 1,000 American lives are lost, I think that hurts them and hurts our families very much.

So, no, I think that number is going to grow. Women tend to be the latest deciders in the election and I think that number will get bigger.

HEMMER: Is that an excuse, or why isn't that number better now?

DEVINE: Well, because typically women decide very late in the process. I think if you look beneath the surface of the horse race you will see that Americans overwhelmingly want this nation to go in a new direction. They believe the country is on the wrong track. They believe the president does not deserve re-election. And I think many of them in the end are going to decide to vote for John Kerry, and I expect his margin will be as big, or bigger than Al Gore's was four years ago.

HEMMER: The health of John Kerry, some say he's a bit under the weather. Will he continue with his schedule today, or has that been put to the side?

DEVINE: No, I think we postponed or canceled an event in Iowa. John Edwards is going to campaign there instead. He has a cold. It's affected his voice.

But listen, John Kerry is in very vigorous health. He is going to be campaigning actively as he has been for more than a year now, and I expect we'll be seeing a lot of him on the campaign trail right to the end.

HEMMER: Will we see him today?

DEVINE: As far as I know, we're continuing our events today. He's resting his voice a little bit, not as active as he has been before. So he's going to be out there campaigning.

HEMMER: Thanks again for joining us today.

COLLINS: Still to come this morning, Dr. Gupta has the first part of our special series, "Crowded House."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was at a real low in my life, and I thought, you know, what's going to happen? This is a failed (INAUDIBLE). I'm never going to have kids, and I was very depressed and upset about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Don't worry, though, there's a happy ending to this story. Sanjay talks about the trials and tribulations of multiple births.

HEMMER: Also this hour, how does Iraq's prime minister assess the situation in his country. A live preview of his speech to Congress later this morning.

COLLINS: And "Promises, Promises," can a president really create jobs? Part four of our weeklong series, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A hostage of Iraqi terrorists has been shown pleading for his life. Kenneth Bigley, a British citizens, begs Prime Minister Tony Blair to give in to the kidnappers demands. A tearful plea was shown on a Web site yesterday. It goes on for 11 minutes, and is extremely disturbing to watch. Here's a brief excerpt. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNETH BIGLEY, BRITON HELD HOSTAGE: I need you to help me, Mr. Blair, because you are the only person now on god's earth that I can speak to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Bigley's two companions, Americans Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, were beheaded this week by a group demanding the release of female prisoners in Iraq.

HEMMER: That gets to us Jack Cafferty, similar topic.

CAFFERTY: Yes, same thing. So far, there are eight confirmed beheadings, terrorists responsible for the brutality attempting to isolate and drive out anybody associated with the coalition over there. Today was the deadline, as mentioned, for the British hostage who captured.

Ironically, and it's ironic to me, the terrorists are demanding the release of two female scientists, including the woman known as "Dr. Germ," who was in charge of the chemical weapons development. And the other woman is somebody who was involved with anthrax development. U.S. officials report that they will submit to the kidnapper demands and release the two women.

The question is, is that the right response? Is acceding to these people's demands a way of just encouraging more of this? And if you ignore the demands, will the beheadings continue, and how much appetite does the Western world have for this particularly violent way of killing people? What is the proper response to the beheading of hostages in the Middle East?

I mentioned this at the top of the show. The kidnappers demanding release of women. They treat women like furniture in those countries. If I was a woman, I think I'd rather be in an American jail cell than I would be living with one of those -- whatever they are over there.

Anyway, what to do about it? It's a problem. And the Western sensibilities definitely color the issue.

HEMMER: Ultimately, what's the coalition doing? What's the U.S. military doing to track these guys down? If the reports are true that Zarqawi is responsible for this, and if he's the guy in the middle doing it, how do you find him? You find him through Iraqis.

One way you find him you don't sit on the outskirts of places like Fallujah and watch the sun go down and do nothing. I mean, we can get into a whole discussion about whether or not the military ought to be leveling some of these towns instead over there instead of talking to some of these people.

COLLINS: So hard for the families, talking with Ty Hensley, the brother of Jack Hensley, yesterday.

CAFFERTY: I saw that. It was a very moving interview.

COLLINS: He was unbelievable, strong, strong man.

HEMMER: Let's get a break here. In a moment, an amazing rescue went awry. You have to see this videotape to believe it. We'll get to this and explain what happened in the end, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Could some of the U.S. strategic oil reserves be used in the wake of Hurricane Ivan? Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business" now, and that's interesting.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: It really is. It's all about oil right now in the financial markets, Heidi.

Let's take a look at the numbers yesterday. Stocks got hit. The price of oil soaring yesterday. You can see the Nasdaq, in particular, on a percentage basis was down. Stocks like Wendy's, Morgan Stanley, Fannie Mae in particular were beat up.

Now the price of oil struck $48.65. That's close the August 20th high of 49 and change, and now there is talk -- you can see there on the chart -- now there is talk of releasing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. We usually don't do that unless in times of dire need. We know about supply disruptions from Iraq, the Yukos problems in Russia, strong demand.

But what happened with Hurricane Ivan we're just sorting this out. It destroyed seven Gulf platforms, oil-drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. It created leaks in 13 pipelines coming out. Nine million barrels in total have been lost. We use 20 million barrels a day in this country, importing 11 million barrels. The vice president has said that only would release this if we lost five to six million barrels a day.

But in this situation, we may do a little bit of releasing from the SPR, as they call it. It would be a loan, rather than just simple releasing, and that is causing the price of oil to drop this morning, and stock futures to rise.

COLLINS: Wow. And I wonder, too, if the damage assessment is really done for all of that?

SERWER: Absolutely, and Ivan is back again, so here we go again.

COLLINS: Unbelievable.

Andy Serwer, thanks so much for that.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: You see this out of Scotland, by the way? SERWER: No.

HEMMER: Look at this videotape, a treacherous rescue of a cow in Scotland -- turned into a human rescue. Dr. Neil Stephenson, watch him in that yellow jacket there, working to rescue that cow.

SERWER: Ouch.

HEMMER: Trapped along the cliff, they were airlifting the cow. The doc was holding on to the netting. He had not let go when the helicopter started to go up, and eventually when he did let go, well, you saw the result, slipping off into the sea there in Scotland. He spent the night in the hospital. We're told he's OK, despite the facial lacerations there, and the rough seas, too. So, Doc Stephenson, OK.

COLLINS: Yes, apparently, we're hearing now that he was laughing in the hospital, so that's always a good sign. But you know, do we explain why the cow was there in that very precarious position in the first place?

SERWER: Bad cow.

HEMMER: I don't think the cow was swimming.

COLLINS: No, no.

SERWER: He'd seen some grass on the side of the cliff.

HEMMER: Or looking for it, anyway.

COLLINS: That's right. All right, well, still to come this morning, Kelly Wallace brings us part four of her week-long series called "Promises, Promises."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Jobs, jobs, jobs, whether you lost yours, may decide whether the president keeps his, but how much can either candidate really do to create jobs? Part four of our week-long series "Promises, Promises," ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Nice shot there of New York City.

Meanwhile, the prime minister of Iraq has a chance to sell himself to the skeptics in Washington this morning. He's speaking before a joint meeting of Congress. We'll look at the importance of this to Iraq and to the election right here in the United States as well.

HEMMER: Also, we have not seen our friend Soledad around here in a while.

COLLINS: I know.

HEMMER: She's back today, though. She's in Sanjay's series on multiple births and all the complications that come with them, and the joy as well, too Her twins a part of that story. We'll see how they're doing, see how Soledad is doing. And also talk about some rather important medical issues along the same lines. So stay tuned for that, still this half hour.

COLLINS: Going for a visit today.

HEMMER: You are?

COLLINS: For the little baby boys.

HEMMER: Here?

COLLINS: Yes, going to see her and the babies.

HEMMER: I saw her about a week and a half ago.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Yes? Very impressive.

Anyway, we want to check on Kelly Wallace now, who's checking the stories now in the news this morning once again.

Good morning to you, Kelly.

WALLACE: Good morning, Heidi. Good morning, Bill. Good morning, everyone.

There are reports this hour of an explosion heard in Gaza. Witnesses say they heard a large blast near an Israeli settlement in Gaza City. It's not clear if anyone was injured. The blast comes just a day after a female suicide bomber killed two Israeli border policeman and herself near a bus stop in Jerusalem.

A bill extending three middle-class tax cuts could land on President Bush's desk in the coming days, signaling a major legislative victory for him. House and Senate negotiators, reportedly approved the nearly $146 billion package yesterday. Republicans predict swift approval by Congress.

The first detainee designated an enemy combatant has been cleared to go home. Yasser Hamdi, a Saudi national born in the United States, has been held in military custody without charges for almost three years. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that Hamdi had a right to challenge his detention. He's expected to return to Saudi Arabia within the next several days.

And President Bush is honoring Native Americans this morning. Within the hour, the president will speak at ceremony for the National Museum of the American Indian. The newest Smithsonian officially opens Tuesday, marked by a colorful gathering of as many as 40,000 people on the National Mall. President Bush, as we know, of course, was at the United Nations here in New York City that day.

Can't wait to check out that museum.

HEMMER: We've seen some videotape and it looks great.

WALLACE: It looks great.

HEMMER: That's a really wonderful job.

COLLINS: All right, Kelly, thanks so much for that.

The interim head of Iraqis government is making an important visit to Washington today, Ayad Allawi will speak for a joint meeting of Congress, then meet privately with President Bush. Is it diplomacy, campaign politics or maybe a little bit of both.

Joe Johns is live on Capitol Hill now, with more on all of it.

Good morning to you, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

Allawi is expected to try to put the best face on things, arguing that the situation in Iraqi is getting better, not worse. But there is grave concern here on Capitol Hill among members of Congress of both parties about the situation in Iraq, about the January timetable for elections, about the training of security forces in Iraq, about the use of construction -- reconstruction funds for Iraq.

And some Democrats are also expressing concern about the timing of the visit. There has been some suggestion among Democrats that this is simply a campaign event for president George W. Bush.

Among those expressing that concern, Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, a leading Democrat on issues of United States intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I've never heard of anything quite so blatant at a time when things are quite so bad in Iraq, and where Allawi is so much needed. Of course he's at the beck and call of Bush, and has to be here. But I do think it's political. I think it's regretful. I think it is sad more than anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Some Democrats are expected, of course, to listen to this very carefully, and they will have words to say after the speech. Republicans, for their part, a number of them, are expected to take the position of the president and the administration that things are getting better in Iraq, that the insurgents are not winning.

Heidi, back to you. COLLINS: So, Joe, who is it that Allawi is actually speaking to today? Is it Congress, or is it the American people?

JOHNS: Clearly, this is focused on the American people. Obviously, this issue of Iraq is a critical issue in the United States election, and there are questions about public policy. There are questions in the public about what the United States is doing there, whether the direction should be changed. Allawi does have an opportunity, if you will, to put that public relations voice out there for Iraq and for the administration to try to sway the voters. As you know, this is an election year.

COLLINS: Indeed it is. We have heard him say it all along, that he doesn't want to get involved in American politics. So it will be very interesting today.

Joe Johns from Capitol Hill this morning, thanks.

And CNN will have live coverage of Prime Minister's Allawi's address to a joint meeting of Congress. Again, that will come your way at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

HEMMER: Heidi, about 25 minutes now before the hour. As we've been talking about all this week, one of the biggest complaints we hear from voters during a presidential election is that they do not hear enough about the issues. Today our series continues. It's called "Promises, Promises," five day, five issues, and the issue today is jobs.

Back with Kelly Wallace once again here, and good morning.

WALLACE: Good morning, Bill.

And as you know, jobs pretty high up there when it comes to top issues on voters' minds, so today we set out to ask this question: What does each candidate promise to do to create jobs, and can those candidates turn the promises into reality?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): One candidate talks of job lost.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The first president in 72 years to actually lose jobs on his watch.

WALLACE: The other, about jobs created.

GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We increased jobs over the last two months by over 200,000 jobs.

WALLACE: Could both be right? Well, yes. 1.7 million jobs have been created since last September. But if you start counting when President Bush first took office, a total of 966,000 jobs have been lost.

Senator Kerry thinks that's an opening. KERRY: Are you ready to put America back to work?

WALLACE: Kerry's promise, create 10 million jobs in four years. He would reward companies that stay in the U.S. by cutting the corporate tax rate by 5 percent and providing $22 billion in new tax credits for businesses making new hires.

And he would remove incentives for outsourcing by eliminating tax breaks for businesses that send jobs overseas. But can these proposals actually provide the job boom that Kerry promises? Sorry, we don't have a crystal ball.

BUSH: In order to keep jobs here in America, America must be the best place in the world to do business.

WALLACE: The president doesn't promise how many jobs he'll create, he does promise to spend $250 million for job training at community colleges and 10 billion over 10 years to encourage business investment in needy communities.

But just as with the senator's proposals, will the president actually create jobs? Again, no crystal ball here.

Both men agree on this: Another way to create job growth cut costs on small businesses so they can hire more workers. Kerry would try to slash health care premiums by 10 percent, but that could cost hundreds of billions of dollars. The president promises to make his tax cuts permanent, but that could drive up the deficit.

And then there's this question, does a president really create jobs? Some economists say a president has a role, but that job growth has more to do with larger global forces in the economy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: But voters tend to think otherwise which is why, Bill, these candidates mention the words jobs just about everywhere they go.

HEMMER: J-O-B-S, you're right.

WALLACE: What's tomorrow?

HEMMER: Tomorrow we turn our attention to health care. We talk about the rising costs of health care. What does each candidate promise to do about that, and the number of uninsured Americans. And again, whether they can turn those promises into reality.

We'll see you then, OK, Kelly, also more information on our Web site, 24 hours a day at CNN.com/am. More for you there online now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: And next, the first part of a special series "Crowded House." Dr. Sanjay Gupta checks up on a familiar face. You see her there. Stick around for that. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Today we begin our series on the issues surrounding multiple births. We're calling it, fittingly, "Crowded House."

HEMMER: For a good reason. This issue very close to home for us here at AMERICAN MORNING, because as we all know, Soledad recently gave birth to twin boys. They are as cute as the day is long, too.

Sanjay's at the CNN Center. And Sanjay, good morning to you. She has been one very busy mother lately. Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Yes, I had a chance to see her, as well. She has been busy. And she's not alone: The birth of twins, triplets, quads and more is on the rise with the increasing popularity of fertility treatments. But along with that bigger family comes some unique health concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Say hi, little brother.

GUPTA (voice-over): For Soledad, it's only the beginning of her trek into the world of multiples. Most come the old fashioned way like Soledad's babies, but about a third, according to the Society for Reproductive Medicine, come from in vitro fertilization, or IVF.

With IVF, eggs are fertilized and implanted in the uterus. The hope: that one of them will eventually become a healthy baby. Thirty-one-year-old Amy DiPasquale got two healthy babies, but only after years and years of fertility drugs and treatments.

AMY DIPASQUALE, MOTHER OF TWINS: It was very difficult and physically painful. The shots hurt. I'm still sore where I got a lot of the shots done.

GUPTA: Four years later and after several courses of IVF, she was pregnant with Mason and Matthew. The path for Amy and her husband was difficult, painful and the cost crippling. Each course of IVF is around $12,000, and there's no guarantee that it'll even work.

If it does work, there is a 30 to 40 percent chance of a multiple pregnancy, since usually more than one egg is implanted. Years ago, implanting three to four eggs was routine, resulting in a rash of multiple births. Now, the movement is toward implanting just two eggs to avoid that scenario.

DR. ZEV ROSENWAKS, NY PRESBYTERIAN CORNELL MEDICAL CTR.: The higher the order (ph) the multiple pregnancy, also the bigger the problem for the mother in terms of medical complications.

GUPTA: Complications like high blood pressure or gestational diabetes and serious uterine stretching, which could cause early contractions or, in extreme cases, uterine rupture. And extra pounds make it difficult to move.

DR. THOMAS PINCKERT, GRTR. WASH. MATERNAL FETAL MEDICINE: When mothers have triplets or quadruplets, we're looking at somewhere between a 40- to 80-pound weight gain.

GUPTA: And multiples often arrive early, which could cause...

ROSENWAKS: Prematurity of the lungs. You could have neurological issues, bowel issues, many, many problems for the babies.

GUPTA: And despite of all of that, families like the DiPasquales keep trying, hoping for one baby and being happy with even more.

DIPASQUALE: It's so worth it, the pain and the stress while you're going through it, because the end result is priceless.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (on camera): Definitely priceless for those who can conceive. Important to point out, though, a lot of couples trying IVF don't conceive. Also important to point out, Soledad did not have her babies using IVF -- Bill, Heidi?

COLLINS: Well, you know, Sanjay, obviously I think most of us know that these type of pregnancies are pretty high risk. So, a lot of doctors end up prescribing bed rest. Any suggestion that this helps in the end?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's a pretty common prescription -- not just for moms of multiples, but for any high-risk pregnancy. The thought is that bed rest should reduce the risk of pre-term labors.

Actually it's funny that you ask that, because very few studies actually offer any evidence in that direction. One interesting point just mechanics: When a mother is horizontal, the weight of the baby is against her spine instead of her cervix. And some say alleviating that pressure on the cervix could have some role in preventing pre- term labor. But the jury's still out on that, Heidi.

HEMMER: I just think Soledad's happy it's over.

COLLINS: Yes, it's only just begun, really.

GUPTA: She had a lot of weight gain. Yes, I'm sure she's happy about that.

HEMMER: What next week, Sanjay?

GUPTA: Well, next week in our "Crowded House" series, we're going to discuss handling the multiples now that they're here. We're going to introduce you to the Cusado (ph) household. They have quadruplets. Four babies plus two older kids.

We see what it is like during a 24-hour cycle for them. It's all part of our series called "Crowded House." And all of that, of course, here on AMERICAN MORNING. HEMMER: That's one house on fast forward all the time.

COLLINS: Yes, and they're going to be -- Sanjay, I once did a series called "Party of Five." A family had five children of their own. They grew up, went to college, they adopted five little ones right after that.

GUPTA: Wow!

COLLINS: So, crazy.

HEMMER: Another series.

COLLINS: Yes, for another day. Sanjay, thanks so much. We look forward to it.

HEMMER: See you later. Thank you.

COLLINS: And still to come now this morning, a lot of folks along the Gulf coast geared up for Ivan, but they may not have been ready to pay the cost of recovery. Some tips on how to do it, even if you don't have insurance, next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Frances, Hurricane Ivan -- seems like it's just not going to stop. And as Mother Nature sends one hurricane after another ashore, homeowners are left scrambling to pick up the pieces.

David Bach is the author of the best seller, "The Automatic Millionaire," and is our resident personal finance contributor. He is here now with some tips on how to financially prepare for and recover from a natural disaster.

Recovering is oftentimes the hardest part. In fact, you say that insurance is the key to it.

DAVID BACH, PERSONAL FINANCE CONTRIBUTOR: This is a critical segment. This is where you turn up the volume and seriously put down your coffee. Because here's why: You can do everything right financially. You can save for 25 years. You can buy a home and pay it off. And a natural disaster occurs and wipes you out financially -- literally in minutes.

So, you need to do this. You need to, today, pull out your insurance policies and look at what are you really covered on? Are you covered against flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, sewer backup? These are all things that most insurance policies, believe it or not, do not cover.

COLLINS: Right.

BACH: This requires what is called a premium policy, which means -- guess what -- an extra premium payment. When most people buy their insurance policies, they don't pay the premium payment. Then, you're not properly covered and, again, everything can be wiped out in minutes.

COLLINS: Yes, you almost have to have it custom-made for yourself. Well, and you also say that you should keep these policies in a very safe place.

BACH: Yes, most people obviously take their insurance policies and hopefully they file them somewhere in their home that they can find them. But if a hurricane comes...

COLLINS: Right.

BACH: ... or a tornado comes and takes your home away, there's no insurance policy.

Here's what people should do. Scan your insurance policy, upload it to a program like Yahoo! Yahoo! has a program called Yahoo! Briefcase. So, you can scan your document, upload it on the Internet. Then, if you're not in the state or even in the country, you can access it instantly over the Internet. And you know exactly where it is, and it's totally protected.

COLLINS: This is a great idea. Might be something I work on the minute I get home, as a matter of fact.

BACH: By the way, you can do that for free. There's no cost involved in doing that.

COLLINS: Yes, OK. Well, great, even better.

Homeowners insurance, though -- when we talk about that once again, you say the key there is replacement cost versus actual cash value. What do you mean by that.

BACH: This is what you need to know. Listen to me, very important --most people have cash value insurance. What that means is let's say your home is worth a half a million dollars. Well, if that's a 25-year-old home, as far as the insurance company is concerned, it's only worth $200,000. So, you can get your home wiped out, they give you a check for $200,000.

Well, what do you do now? You can't rebuild your home. Same thing with all the clothes inside the home, the television set, the stereo. They basically give you 10 cents on the dollar unless you have replacement cost. Again, it's a premium policy to have replacement cost, so you want to call your insurance agent and find out: Do I have replacement cost, or cash value insurance?

COLLINS: And is replacement cost, the premiums that we're talking about paying, more expensive?

BACH: About 20 percent more. But again, having insurance that doesn't actually protect you is a waste of money.

COLLINS: What good is it?

BACH: Total waste of money. And we saw this in the Berkeley fires that happened about over 10 years ago, where people who didn't have the proper insurance were wiped out financially.

COLLINS: What about the IRS? The IRS can actually help in a situation like this? That's not often we hear that.

BACH: They can. In this case, because the incident has taken place before August 16th, the IRS will allow you to go back and amend your return for 2003. You can actually take your losses, if you have been hurt by this hurricane, against your 2003 returns. And that way, you will be able to get a check back this year. You can use part of that money.

COLLINS: Wow. Well you don't want to miss out on that. All right, David Bach, thank you so much.

BACH: Heidi, thank you.

COLLINS: And you can also read more of David's financial advice in his best seller "The Automatic Millionaire." And catch David every Thursday on AMERICAN MORNING with tips on how to live rich today.

Back to you.

HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks for that. Six minutes before the hour. Back to Jack, now, and the "Question of the Day."

CAFFERTY: Yes, tough stuff. Thanks, Bill.

The beheading of hostages continuing in Iraq today as the deadline for a British hostage who was captured by insurgents demanding the release of two women scientists -- including this woman they call Dr. Germ, who ran Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program. Yeah, that'd be a good idea. Let's let her go.

U.S. officials deny reports they will submit to the kidnappers' demands and release the two women. The question is -- and it's kind of tough: "What should be the response to the beheading of hostages in the Middle East?" We're getting a lot of pretty good mail this morning.

Sandy in Alberta writes: "Never give in to the demands of terrorists. The trauma caused by the current hostage situation is nothing compared to what the terrorists will do if we give them any control."

Mike in Corpus Christi: "It's what they do. In our shock and horror at the behavior of the Jihadists, we forget that they use beheadings against their own people, as well. I had a roommate at school who personally witnessed the beheading of a Crown Princess of Saudi Arabia because she had fallen in love with a commoner."

They want the women released? If I were one of those women, I think I'd want to stay in American custody.

Cathy in Harrison, Arkansas writes: "If these people see that we will give in, yes, I think they will continue the beheadings. So, I don't think we should give in. I'm sure if it was my husband or sons, though, I might see this differently."

Guy in Springfield, Illinois: "What we need to do is take the gloves off, show these people in Iraq the wrath of God according to the U.S. Marine Corps. Take a few of the cities where we're just sitting and doing nothing while they shoot and kill our troops and do a nice carpet bombing."

And Reg in Thunder Bay, Ontario: "I am sick of watching this grizzly news on CNN. I am going to watch CBS, where they make up good stuff."

Thank you, Reg. That was one of your better efforts, Reg. I got to tell you. We hear from Reg fairly often, but that was -- you get an A-plus on that one.

HEMMER: Thank you, Reg. Thank you, Jack, too.

Let's get a break here. In a moment, if you are not satisfied with what it did the first time around, looks like Ivan is coming back for a second showing. The sequel -- top of the hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Still to come this morning, based on what we heard yesterday, the race for the White House is starting to look like a grudge match. We hear from the Kerry campaign and Retired General Wesley Clark ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(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 23, 2004 - 07:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
The unbelievable Ivan back again, reformed as a tropical storm in the Gulf. Ivan will hit land again. And Hurricane Jeanne, which killed more than a thousand in Haiti, now headed for the U.S. and perhaps Florida.

The prime minister of Iraq speaking to Congress today. Can he convince the skeptics that his country is not a quagmire.

And an amazing animal rescue that turned into a personal rescue, all ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.

HEMMER: Good morning, Thursday morning here. I'm Bill Hemmer. Good to have you along with us today.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins, in for Soledad. Some of the other stories that we're following today, President Bush and Senator Kerry hitting each other pretty hard and often on the war in Iraq. We're going to talk to both campaigns about it this morning, and also ask about the back and forth over a new John Kerry wind surfing commercial.

HEMMER: That's coming up in a moment here.

Also, back with Soledad today through the eyes of Dr. Gupta, doing a series on everything that comes along with multiple birth, and Soledad introduces us today to her new babies as part of that series. So we will check in with her a bit later this hour.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: She's due to start earning an honest living again pretty soon, isn't she?

HEMMER: As a matter of fact, in October, right about the middle part of the month.

CAFFERTY: There you go.

This morning, we're going to take a look at the latest round of kidnappings and beheadings in the Middle East. The latest round predicated apparently on the release of women who are being held prisoner by the coalition. Give the way these mutants treat women in their societies, these women are probably better off in U.S. custody, but we'll take a look at whether the beheadings of an effective of Islamist foreign policy.

HEMMER: And unfortunately, it's back in headlines again today. You're right, Jack,

To the other headlines now, Kelly Wallace back with us today, and, Kelly, good morning to you.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, and good morning, everyone. We begin in Washington where this morning Iraq's interim prime minister will offer an assessment of his war-torn country at a joint meeting of Congress. Ayad Allawi's address will be followed by a private meeting with President Bush. CNN will have live coverage of the prime minister's speech. That's at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

Some grim discoveries about the security at some national airports. According to a government report cited in "USA Today," undercover investigators were able to sneak explosives and weapons past security screeners at 15 different airports.

Bill Hemmer spoke just a short time ago with Asa Hutchinson and the homeland security official says the tests were done over a year ago, and that changes to aviation security have already been made.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASA HUTCHINSON, HOMELAND SECURITY UNDERSECRETARY: They made recommendations on how to improve it. There were some deficiencies in it. We increased training. We responded to this. We've changed our protocols. And I believe the system is much more improved as a result of the changes that were made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And the department insists security at American airports is tighter than ever before.

In Haiti, the death toll from tropical storm Jeanne is feared to reach 2,000. More than 1,070 people are dead, according to the Associated Press, and more than 1,200 are missing. The National Hurricane Center says Jeanne could hit the southeastern U.S. by this weekend.

And the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens is back home in Britain this morning. Yusuf Islam says he's shocked and slightly amused at being barred from entering the United States. He was taken of a D.C.-bound flight Tuesday after officials say his name turned up on a terrorist watch list. And, Bill and Heidi, now a lot of U.S. officials looking into how someone on a U.S. no-fly list could have gotten on a flight bound for the U.S.

COLLINS: In the first place.

Yes, Kelly, thanks so much for that. As you may have heard, Ivan is back, believe it or not. The Gulf Coast is feeling the effects of Ivan again this morning. The coast of Texas and Louisiana will get another full hit today from the tropical storm. It won't do quite the damage like this along the Alabama coast as it did when it first came through as a hurricane, but some flooding and a lot more rain expected. I cannot believe this story.

Chad Myers at the CNN center talking about Ivan and Jeanne. She is still out there, too.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Why is 2004 so extreme?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS (voice-over): They come in with whipping winds, severe storm surge, devastating floods and killer tornadoes. Wild weather defines 2004 hurricane season. But why is this year so stormy? NOAA scientists say that an unusually warm Atlantic Ocean, below average wind shear and other atmospheric conditions are creating the prime recipe to stir up a big batch of storms.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's turned out to be a very busy season.

MYERS: So far there have been 12 named storms. Names are given to tropical storms with at least 39 mile-per-hour tropical winds. Seven have become hurricane, with winds of at least 74 miles an hour, and five major hurricanes, category three or higher, and several of those made landfall. And the season isn't over yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're only about two thirds of the way through the season, so we may very well have one, two, maybe three more hurricanes before the season is done in November.

MYERS: But although Florida residents may be calling foul, and despite the massive death and destruction throughout the Caribbean and the U.S. this year, the 2004 storm season has not broken many records. The most active year on record was 1933, 21 storms. The deadliest killed an estimate 8,000 to 12,000 people in Galveston, Texas in 1900. And the costliest, Hurricane Andrew, socked the U.S. with more than $26 billion in damage. With such an active storm season so far, all eyes remain on the Atlantic to see what Mother Nature gives birth to next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MYERS: And giving birth to, obviously, Ivan, very unusual for this thing to reform, go back out into the Atlantic Ocean, back down across Florida a couple days ago, and then back into the warm water. Obviously still has the same name, because it never lost its identity. But I'll tell you what, we hope it does soon.

Back to you guys.

HEMMER: All right, Chad, thanks for that. Tomorrow, more on your series as we roll through this, and a lot of people think we're going back, as you mentioned, to the '40s and the '50s with that weather pattern.

So, Chad, thanks, check back in with you a bit later this hour.

In the meantime, though, to politics.

Forty days now until this election. The airwaves growing thicker by the day with these attack messages. Both candidates releasing TV ads yesterday. The Bush campaign, which has stuck the flip-flop label on John Kerry, now trying to make his point with wind surfing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: In which direction would John Kerry lead? Kerry voted for the Iraq war? Opposed it. Supported it. And now opposes it again. He bragged about voting for the 87 billion to support our troops, before he voted against it. He voted for education reform, and now opposes it. He claims he's against increasing Medicare premiums, but voted five times to do so. John Kerry, which ever way the wind blows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: In response the Kerry campaign quickly counter attacking, trying to turn the president's own ad against him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: One-thousand U.S. casualties, two Americans beheaded just this week, the Pentagon admits terrorists are pouring into Iraq. In the face of the Iraq quagmire, George Bush's answer is to run a juvenile and tasteless attack ad. John Kerry has a plan for success: get allies involved, speed up the training of Iraqis, take essential steps to get a free election next year. On Iraq, it's time for a new direction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: That's the backdrop for today. We'll talk with both sides on the campaign air war.

First up for us today, Ken Mehlman, Bush-Cheney campaign manager, live in Arlington, Virginia, back with us now.

Ken, morning to you.

KEN MEHLMAN, BUSH-CHENEY CAMPAIGN MANAGER: How are you?

HEMMER: I'm doing OK. The Democrats say that ad about wind surfing was in bad taste given the environment on the ground in Iraq. What do you say to that?

MEHLMAN: I disagree. I think it was a humorous and a memorable ad, which is always the goal. It talks about a very important issue, Bill, and the issue is, given the challenges we face in the world today, the challenges on the war on terror, what kind of leader do you want? There are times when it's not such a big deal if you're leader is someone that changes their position with the political winds. Today it would be devastating. If the American commander in chief changed his position every time the politics changed, it would be a terrible signal to send to the world, a terrible signal signal to send to the enemy, and a terrible signal to send to our troops.

HEMMER: You say humorous, and humorous perhaps, but appropriate at this point?

MEHLMAN: I think it is. I think it was a humorous, and as I said, memorable way to talk about a very important issue. And what's interesting is that every time you bring up John Kerry's record, they have a defense that preventing them from talking about that record. Before when you mentioned he voted in favor of cutting intelligence, the response was you're attacking my patriotism. Every single point about that ad is accurate. And the Kerry campaign, it strikes me, would do well to talk about why they've changed all the important issues as opposed to trying to avoid the debate.

HEMMER: Ken, I want to get this polling from NBC. They show a much tighter race right now. George Bush by four among all voters, or rather three rather, up by four among likely voters. Is this race getting tighter again?

MEHLMAN: Well, it is a race we always thought would be a relatively close race. I think where is it today. If you average all the public polls over the last 10 days, it's a five-point race. This reflects that sometimes you're up five points, or your up four, sometimes it shows that it's is even. Other polls, like the CNN/Gallup poll recently showed it a bit higher. Bottom line, we expect a close election. The country is closely divided.

HEMMER: Yes, and forty days and counting, too. I want to get to this comment by Senator Kerry yesterday, suggesting that if George Bush wins a second term, the draft will come back. Your camp has already called that irresponsible. What do you say today?

MEHLMAN: It's irresponsible. It's totally inaccurate. The Pentagon has said from the beginning that they oppose a draft. We have an outstanding volunteer force, literally men and women that are performing miracles all over the world to keep us free and keep us safe. And it's more fear mongering by a candidate that doesn't have a record he can defend, and that also doesn't have a plan to take us forward.

HEMMER: Ken Mehlman, thanks for your time.

MEHLMAN: Thank you.

HEMMER: I want to get to the other side now.

Tad Devine is a senior campaign adviser to John Kerry. He's my guest now back in D.C.

Good morning, Tad. Welcome back here.

TAD DEVINE, KERRY CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: On the draft issue, what was the suggestion from Senator Kerry yesterday?

DEVINE: The suggestion is that the reckless policies of this president could lead to a draft. And frankly, there is a draft right now, it's a back door draft. Ready reserves are being called up in record numbers. The National Guard are being deployed across Iraq, because this president has no plan to win the peace. Unfortunately, he rushed to war without a plan to win the peace and these are the consequences.

HEMMER: Back to the draft, where is the evidence that says it will be initiated?

DEVINE: The evidence is that this president has rushed recklessly into Iraq. Now we've got 140,000 of our troops over there, absolutely no plan to deal with the consequences of it. And the president has talked about expanding the war on terror elsewhere.

So obviously with a president who has acted so recklessly and irresponsibly in Iraq, with no plan whatsoever to deal with the consequences of the aftermath of the military operations, a draft is a real possibility. And I think it was right for John Kerry to be direct in answering that question.

HEMMER: I showed the NBC polling on the overall race with Ken Mehlman. I want to show the women in that same poll according to NBC, showing that John Kerry leads George Bush by 3 points, which may be good news. But on the flip side, four years ago, Al Gore beat George Bush by 11 on this same number, 54 to 43 percent.

Are you concerned with the female vote this year?

DEVINE: No, I think women are going to respond very powerfully to Senator Kerry's message of taking this nation in a new direction.

The fact is he is talking about issues they care deeply about like health care, our economy, providing jobs, and also, our safety and security in Iraq. I think the women of this country understand that when we spend $200 billion in Iraq, we don't have the resources here at home to deal with problems they care about. When 1,000 American lives are lost, I think that hurts them and hurts our families very much.

So, no, I think that number is going to grow. Women tend to be the latest deciders in the election and I think that number will get bigger.

HEMMER: Is that an excuse, or why isn't that number better now?

DEVINE: Well, because typically women decide very late in the process. I think if you look beneath the surface of the horse race you will see that Americans overwhelmingly want this nation to go in a new direction. They believe the country is on the wrong track. They believe the president does not deserve re-election. And I think many of them in the end are going to decide to vote for John Kerry, and I expect his margin will be as big, or bigger than Al Gore's was four years ago.

HEMMER: The health of John Kerry, some say he's a bit under the weather. Will he continue with his schedule today, or has that been put to the side?

DEVINE: No, I think we postponed or canceled an event in Iowa. John Edwards is going to campaign there instead. He has a cold. It's affected his voice.

But listen, John Kerry is in very vigorous health. He is going to be campaigning actively as he has been for more than a year now, and I expect we'll be seeing a lot of him on the campaign trail right to the end.

HEMMER: Will we see him today?

DEVINE: As far as I know, we're continuing our events today. He's resting his voice a little bit, not as active as he has been before. So he's going to be out there campaigning.

HEMMER: Thanks again for joining us today.

COLLINS: Still to come this morning, Dr. Gupta has the first part of our special series, "Crowded House."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was at a real low in my life, and I thought, you know, what's going to happen? This is a failed (INAUDIBLE). I'm never going to have kids, and I was very depressed and upset about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Don't worry, though, there's a happy ending to this story. Sanjay talks about the trials and tribulations of multiple births.

HEMMER: Also this hour, how does Iraq's prime minister assess the situation in his country. A live preview of his speech to Congress later this morning.

COLLINS: And "Promises, Promises," can a president really create jobs? Part four of our weeklong series, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A hostage of Iraqi terrorists has been shown pleading for his life. Kenneth Bigley, a British citizens, begs Prime Minister Tony Blair to give in to the kidnappers demands. A tearful plea was shown on a Web site yesterday. It goes on for 11 minutes, and is extremely disturbing to watch. Here's a brief excerpt. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNETH BIGLEY, BRITON HELD HOSTAGE: I need you to help me, Mr. Blair, because you are the only person now on god's earth that I can speak to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Bigley's two companions, Americans Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, were beheaded this week by a group demanding the release of female prisoners in Iraq.

HEMMER: That gets to us Jack Cafferty, similar topic.

CAFFERTY: Yes, same thing. So far, there are eight confirmed beheadings, terrorists responsible for the brutality attempting to isolate and drive out anybody associated with the coalition over there. Today was the deadline, as mentioned, for the British hostage who captured.

Ironically, and it's ironic to me, the terrorists are demanding the release of two female scientists, including the woman known as "Dr. Germ," who was in charge of the chemical weapons development. And the other woman is somebody who was involved with anthrax development. U.S. officials report that they will submit to the kidnapper demands and release the two women.

The question is, is that the right response? Is acceding to these people's demands a way of just encouraging more of this? And if you ignore the demands, will the beheadings continue, and how much appetite does the Western world have for this particularly violent way of killing people? What is the proper response to the beheading of hostages in the Middle East?

I mentioned this at the top of the show. The kidnappers demanding release of women. They treat women like furniture in those countries. If I was a woman, I think I'd rather be in an American jail cell than I would be living with one of those -- whatever they are over there.

Anyway, what to do about it? It's a problem. And the Western sensibilities definitely color the issue.

HEMMER: Ultimately, what's the coalition doing? What's the U.S. military doing to track these guys down? If the reports are true that Zarqawi is responsible for this, and if he's the guy in the middle doing it, how do you find him? You find him through Iraqis.

One way you find him you don't sit on the outskirts of places like Fallujah and watch the sun go down and do nothing. I mean, we can get into a whole discussion about whether or not the military ought to be leveling some of these towns instead over there instead of talking to some of these people.

COLLINS: So hard for the families, talking with Ty Hensley, the brother of Jack Hensley, yesterday.

CAFFERTY: I saw that. It was a very moving interview.

COLLINS: He was unbelievable, strong, strong man.

HEMMER: Let's get a break here. In a moment, an amazing rescue went awry. You have to see this videotape to believe it. We'll get to this and explain what happened in the end, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Could some of the U.S. strategic oil reserves be used in the wake of Hurricane Ivan? Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business" now, and that's interesting.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: It really is. It's all about oil right now in the financial markets, Heidi.

Let's take a look at the numbers yesterday. Stocks got hit. The price of oil soaring yesterday. You can see the Nasdaq, in particular, on a percentage basis was down. Stocks like Wendy's, Morgan Stanley, Fannie Mae in particular were beat up.

Now the price of oil struck $48.65. That's close the August 20th high of 49 and change, and now there is talk -- you can see there on the chart -- now there is talk of releasing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. We usually don't do that unless in times of dire need. We know about supply disruptions from Iraq, the Yukos problems in Russia, strong demand.

But what happened with Hurricane Ivan we're just sorting this out. It destroyed seven Gulf platforms, oil-drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. It created leaks in 13 pipelines coming out. Nine million barrels in total have been lost. We use 20 million barrels a day in this country, importing 11 million barrels. The vice president has said that only would release this if we lost five to six million barrels a day.

But in this situation, we may do a little bit of releasing from the SPR, as they call it. It would be a loan, rather than just simple releasing, and that is causing the price of oil to drop this morning, and stock futures to rise.

COLLINS: Wow. And I wonder, too, if the damage assessment is really done for all of that?

SERWER: Absolutely, and Ivan is back again, so here we go again.

COLLINS: Unbelievable.

Andy Serwer, thanks so much for that.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: You see this out of Scotland, by the way? SERWER: No.

HEMMER: Look at this videotape, a treacherous rescue of a cow in Scotland -- turned into a human rescue. Dr. Neil Stephenson, watch him in that yellow jacket there, working to rescue that cow.

SERWER: Ouch.

HEMMER: Trapped along the cliff, they were airlifting the cow. The doc was holding on to the netting. He had not let go when the helicopter started to go up, and eventually when he did let go, well, you saw the result, slipping off into the sea there in Scotland. He spent the night in the hospital. We're told he's OK, despite the facial lacerations there, and the rough seas, too. So, Doc Stephenson, OK.

COLLINS: Yes, apparently, we're hearing now that he was laughing in the hospital, so that's always a good sign. But you know, do we explain why the cow was there in that very precarious position in the first place?

SERWER: Bad cow.

HEMMER: I don't think the cow was swimming.

COLLINS: No, no.

SERWER: He'd seen some grass on the side of the cliff.

HEMMER: Or looking for it, anyway.

COLLINS: That's right. All right, well, still to come this morning, Kelly Wallace brings us part four of her week-long series called "Promises, Promises."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Jobs, jobs, jobs, whether you lost yours, may decide whether the president keeps his, but how much can either candidate really do to create jobs? Part four of our week-long series "Promises, Promises," ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Nice shot there of New York City.

Meanwhile, the prime minister of Iraq has a chance to sell himself to the skeptics in Washington this morning. He's speaking before a joint meeting of Congress. We'll look at the importance of this to Iraq and to the election right here in the United States as well.

HEMMER: Also, we have not seen our friend Soledad around here in a while.

COLLINS: I know.

HEMMER: She's back today, though. She's in Sanjay's series on multiple births and all the complications that come with them, and the joy as well, too Her twins a part of that story. We'll see how they're doing, see how Soledad is doing. And also talk about some rather important medical issues along the same lines. So stay tuned for that, still this half hour.

COLLINS: Going for a visit today.

HEMMER: You are?

COLLINS: For the little baby boys.

HEMMER: Here?

COLLINS: Yes, going to see her and the babies.

HEMMER: I saw her about a week and a half ago.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Yes? Very impressive.

Anyway, we want to check on Kelly Wallace now, who's checking the stories now in the news this morning once again.

Good morning to you, Kelly.

WALLACE: Good morning, Heidi. Good morning, Bill. Good morning, everyone.

There are reports this hour of an explosion heard in Gaza. Witnesses say they heard a large blast near an Israeli settlement in Gaza City. It's not clear if anyone was injured. The blast comes just a day after a female suicide bomber killed two Israeli border policeman and herself near a bus stop in Jerusalem.

A bill extending three middle-class tax cuts could land on President Bush's desk in the coming days, signaling a major legislative victory for him. House and Senate negotiators, reportedly approved the nearly $146 billion package yesterday. Republicans predict swift approval by Congress.

The first detainee designated an enemy combatant has been cleared to go home. Yasser Hamdi, a Saudi national born in the United States, has been held in military custody without charges for almost three years. The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that Hamdi had a right to challenge his detention. He's expected to return to Saudi Arabia within the next several days.

And President Bush is honoring Native Americans this morning. Within the hour, the president will speak at ceremony for the National Museum of the American Indian. The newest Smithsonian officially opens Tuesday, marked by a colorful gathering of as many as 40,000 people on the National Mall. President Bush, as we know, of course, was at the United Nations here in New York City that day.

Can't wait to check out that museum.

HEMMER: We've seen some videotape and it looks great.

WALLACE: It looks great.

HEMMER: That's a really wonderful job.

COLLINS: All right, Kelly, thanks so much for that.

The interim head of Iraqis government is making an important visit to Washington today, Ayad Allawi will speak for a joint meeting of Congress, then meet privately with President Bush. Is it diplomacy, campaign politics or maybe a little bit of both.

Joe Johns is live on Capitol Hill now, with more on all of it.

Good morning to you, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

Allawi is expected to try to put the best face on things, arguing that the situation in Iraqi is getting better, not worse. But there is grave concern here on Capitol Hill among members of Congress of both parties about the situation in Iraq, about the January timetable for elections, about the training of security forces in Iraq, about the use of construction -- reconstruction funds for Iraq.

And some Democrats are also expressing concern about the timing of the visit. There has been some suggestion among Democrats that this is simply a campaign event for president George W. Bush.

Among those expressing that concern, Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, a leading Democrat on issues of United States intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: I've never heard of anything quite so blatant at a time when things are quite so bad in Iraq, and where Allawi is so much needed. Of course he's at the beck and call of Bush, and has to be here. But I do think it's political. I think it's regretful. I think it is sad more than anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Some Democrats are expected, of course, to listen to this very carefully, and they will have words to say after the speech. Republicans, for their part, a number of them, are expected to take the position of the president and the administration that things are getting better in Iraq, that the insurgents are not winning.

Heidi, back to you. COLLINS: So, Joe, who is it that Allawi is actually speaking to today? Is it Congress, or is it the American people?

JOHNS: Clearly, this is focused on the American people. Obviously, this issue of Iraq is a critical issue in the United States election, and there are questions about public policy. There are questions in the public about what the United States is doing there, whether the direction should be changed. Allawi does have an opportunity, if you will, to put that public relations voice out there for Iraq and for the administration to try to sway the voters. As you know, this is an election year.

COLLINS: Indeed it is. We have heard him say it all along, that he doesn't want to get involved in American politics. So it will be very interesting today.

Joe Johns from Capitol Hill this morning, thanks.

And CNN will have live coverage of Prime Minister's Allawi's address to a joint meeting of Congress. Again, that will come your way at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

HEMMER: Heidi, about 25 minutes now before the hour. As we've been talking about all this week, one of the biggest complaints we hear from voters during a presidential election is that they do not hear enough about the issues. Today our series continues. It's called "Promises, Promises," five day, five issues, and the issue today is jobs.

Back with Kelly Wallace once again here, and good morning.

WALLACE: Good morning, Bill.

And as you know, jobs pretty high up there when it comes to top issues on voters' minds, so today we set out to ask this question: What does each candidate promise to do to create jobs, and can those candidates turn the promises into reality?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice-over): One candidate talks of job lost.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The first president in 72 years to actually lose jobs on his watch.

WALLACE: The other, about jobs created.

GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We increased jobs over the last two months by over 200,000 jobs.

WALLACE: Could both be right? Well, yes. 1.7 million jobs have been created since last September. But if you start counting when President Bush first took office, a total of 966,000 jobs have been lost.

Senator Kerry thinks that's an opening. KERRY: Are you ready to put America back to work?

WALLACE: Kerry's promise, create 10 million jobs in four years. He would reward companies that stay in the U.S. by cutting the corporate tax rate by 5 percent and providing $22 billion in new tax credits for businesses making new hires.

And he would remove incentives for outsourcing by eliminating tax breaks for businesses that send jobs overseas. But can these proposals actually provide the job boom that Kerry promises? Sorry, we don't have a crystal ball.

BUSH: In order to keep jobs here in America, America must be the best place in the world to do business.

WALLACE: The president doesn't promise how many jobs he'll create, he does promise to spend $250 million for job training at community colleges and 10 billion over 10 years to encourage business investment in needy communities.

But just as with the senator's proposals, will the president actually create jobs? Again, no crystal ball here.

Both men agree on this: Another way to create job growth cut costs on small businesses so they can hire more workers. Kerry would try to slash health care premiums by 10 percent, but that could cost hundreds of billions of dollars. The president promises to make his tax cuts permanent, but that could drive up the deficit.

And then there's this question, does a president really create jobs? Some economists say a president has a role, but that job growth has more to do with larger global forces in the economy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: But voters tend to think otherwise which is why, Bill, these candidates mention the words jobs just about everywhere they go.

HEMMER: J-O-B-S, you're right.

WALLACE: What's tomorrow?

HEMMER: Tomorrow we turn our attention to health care. We talk about the rising costs of health care. What does each candidate promise to do about that, and the number of uninsured Americans. And again, whether they can turn those promises into reality.

We'll see you then, OK, Kelly, also more information on our Web site, 24 hours a day at CNN.com/am. More for you there online now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: And next, the first part of a special series "Crowded House." Dr. Sanjay Gupta checks up on a familiar face. You see her there. Stick around for that. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Today we begin our series on the issues surrounding multiple births. We're calling it, fittingly, "Crowded House."

HEMMER: For a good reason. This issue very close to home for us here at AMERICAN MORNING, because as we all know, Soledad recently gave birth to twin boys. They are as cute as the day is long, too.

Sanjay's at the CNN Center. And Sanjay, good morning to you. She has been one very busy mother lately. Good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Yes, I had a chance to see her, as well. She has been busy. And she's not alone: The birth of twins, triplets, quads and more is on the rise with the increasing popularity of fertility treatments. But along with that bigger family comes some unique health concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Say hi, little brother.

GUPTA (voice-over): For Soledad, it's only the beginning of her trek into the world of multiples. Most come the old fashioned way like Soledad's babies, but about a third, according to the Society for Reproductive Medicine, come from in vitro fertilization, or IVF.

With IVF, eggs are fertilized and implanted in the uterus. The hope: that one of them will eventually become a healthy baby. Thirty-one-year-old Amy DiPasquale got two healthy babies, but only after years and years of fertility drugs and treatments.

AMY DIPASQUALE, MOTHER OF TWINS: It was very difficult and physically painful. The shots hurt. I'm still sore where I got a lot of the shots done.

GUPTA: Four years later and after several courses of IVF, she was pregnant with Mason and Matthew. The path for Amy and her husband was difficult, painful and the cost crippling. Each course of IVF is around $12,000, and there's no guarantee that it'll even work.

If it does work, there is a 30 to 40 percent chance of a multiple pregnancy, since usually more than one egg is implanted. Years ago, implanting three to four eggs was routine, resulting in a rash of multiple births. Now, the movement is toward implanting just two eggs to avoid that scenario.

DR. ZEV ROSENWAKS, NY PRESBYTERIAN CORNELL MEDICAL CTR.: The higher the order (ph) the multiple pregnancy, also the bigger the problem for the mother in terms of medical complications.

GUPTA: Complications like high blood pressure or gestational diabetes and serious uterine stretching, which could cause early contractions or, in extreme cases, uterine rupture. And extra pounds make it difficult to move.

DR. THOMAS PINCKERT, GRTR. WASH. MATERNAL FETAL MEDICINE: When mothers have triplets or quadruplets, we're looking at somewhere between a 40- to 80-pound weight gain.

GUPTA: And multiples often arrive early, which could cause...

ROSENWAKS: Prematurity of the lungs. You could have neurological issues, bowel issues, many, many problems for the babies.

GUPTA: And despite of all of that, families like the DiPasquales keep trying, hoping for one baby and being happy with even more.

DIPASQUALE: It's so worth it, the pain and the stress while you're going through it, because the end result is priceless.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (on camera): Definitely priceless for those who can conceive. Important to point out, though, a lot of couples trying IVF don't conceive. Also important to point out, Soledad did not have her babies using IVF -- Bill, Heidi?

COLLINS: Well, you know, Sanjay, obviously I think most of us know that these type of pregnancies are pretty high risk. So, a lot of doctors end up prescribing bed rest. Any suggestion that this helps in the end?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's a pretty common prescription -- not just for moms of multiples, but for any high-risk pregnancy. The thought is that bed rest should reduce the risk of pre-term labors.

Actually it's funny that you ask that, because very few studies actually offer any evidence in that direction. One interesting point just mechanics: When a mother is horizontal, the weight of the baby is against her spine instead of her cervix. And some say alleviating that pressure on the cervix could have some role in preventing pre- term labor. But the jury's still out on that, Heidi.

HEMMER: I just think Soledad's happy it's over.

COLLINS: Yes, it's only just begun, really.

GUPTA: She had a lot of weight gain. Yes, I'm sure she's happy about that.

HEMMER: What next week, Sanjay?

GUPTA: Well, next week in our "Crowded House" series, we're going to discuss handling the multiples now that they're here. We're going to introduce you to the Cusado (ph) household. They have quadruplets. Four babies plus two older kids.

We see what it is like during a 24-hour cycle for them. It's all part of our series called "Crowded House." And all of that, of course, here on AMERICAN MORNING. HEMMER: That's one house on fast forward all the time.

COLLINS: Yes, and they're going to be -- Sanjay, I once did a series called "Party of Five." A family had five children of their own. They grew up, went to college, they adopted five little ones right after that.

GUPTA: Wow!

COLLINS: So, crazy.

HEMMER: Another series.

COLLINS: Yes, for another day. Sanjay, thanks so much. We look forward to it.

HEMMER: See you later. Thank you.

COLLINS: And still to come now this morning, a lot of folks along the Gulf coast geared up for Ivan, but they may not have been ready to pay the cost of recovery. Some tips on how to do it, even if you don't have insurance, next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Hurricane Charley, Hurricane Frances, Hurricane Ivan -- seems like it's just not going to stop. And as Mother Nature sends one hurricane after another ashore, homeowners are left scrambling to pick up the pieces.

David Bach is the author of the best seller, "The Automatic Millionaire," and is our resident personal finance contributor. He is here now with some tips on how to financially prepare for and recover from a natural disaster.

Recovering is oftentimes the hardest part. In fact, you say that insurance is the key to it.

DAVID BACH, PERSONAL FINANCE CONTRIBUTOR: This is a critical segment. This is where you turn up the volume and seriously put down your coffee. Because here's why: You can do everything right financially. You can save for 25 years. You can buy a home and pay it off. And a natural disaster occurs and wipes you out financially -- literally in minutes.

So, you need to do this. You need to, today, pull out your insurance policies and look at what are you really covered on? Are you covered against flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, sewer backup? These are all things that most insurance policies, believe it or not, do not cover.

COLLINS: Right.

BACH: This requires what is called a premium policy, which means -- guess what -- an extra premium payment. When most people buy their insurance policies, they don't pay the premium payment. Then, you're not properly covered and, again, everything can be wiped out in minutes.

COLLINS: Yes, you almost have to have it custom-made for yourself. Well, and you also say that you should keep these policies in a very safe place.

BACH: Yes, most people obviously take their insurance policies and hopefully they file them somewhere in their home that they can find them. But if a hurricane comes...

COLLINS: Right.

BACH: ... or a tornado comes and takes your home away, there's no insurance policy.

Here's what people should do. Scan your insurance policy, upload it to a program like Yahoo! Yahoo! has a program called Yahoo! Briefcase. So, you can scan your document, upload it on the Internet. Then, if you're not in the state or even in the country, you can access it instantly over the Internet. And you know exactly where it is, and it's totally protected.

COLLINS: This is a great idea. Might be something I work on the minute I get home, as a matter of fact.

BACH: By the way, you can do that for free. There's no cost involved in doing that.

COLLINS: Yes, OK. Well, great, even better.

Homeowners insurance, though -- when we talk about that once again, you say the key there is replacement cost versus actual cash value. What do you mean by that.

BACH: This is what you need to know. Listen to me, very important --most people have cash value insurance. What that means is let's say your home is worth a half a million dollars. Well, if that's a 25-year-old home, as far as the insurance company is concerned, it's only worth $200,000. So, you can get your home wiped out, they give you a check for $200,000.

Well, what do you do now? You can't rebuild your home. Same thing with all the clothes inside the home, the television set, the stereo. They basically give you 10 cents on the dollar unless you have replacement cost. Again, it's a premium policy to have replacement cost, so you want to call your insurance agent and find out: Do I have replacement cost, or cash value insurance?

COLLINS: And is replacement cost, the premiums that we're talking about paying, more expensive?

BACH: About 20 percent more. But again, having insurance that doesn't actually protect you is a waste of money.

COLLINS: What good is it?

BACH: Total waste of money. And we saw this in the Berkeley fires that happened about over 10 years ago, where people who didn't have the proper insurance were wiped out financially.

COLLINS: What about the IRS? The IRS can actually help in a situation like this? That's not often we hear that.

BACH: They can. In this case, because the incident has taken place before August 16th, the IRS will allow you to go back and amend your return for 2003. You can actually take your losses, if you have been hurt by this hurricane, against your 2003 returns. And that way, you will be able to get a check back this year. You can use part of that money.

COLLINS: Wow. Well you don't want to miss out on that. All right, David Bach, thank you so much.

BACH: Heidi, thank you.

COLLINS: And you can also read more of David's financial advice in his best seller "The Automatic Millionaire." And catch David every Thursday on AMERICAN MORNING with tips on how to live rich today.

Back to you.

HEMMER: All right, Heidi, thanks for that. Six minutes before the hour. Back to Jack, now, and the "Question of the Day."

CAFFERTY: Yes, tough stuff. Thanks, Bill.

The beheading of hostages continuing in Iraq today as the deadline for a British hostage who was captured by insurgents demanding the release of two women scientists -- including this woman they call Dr. Germ, who ran Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program. Yeah, that'd be a good idea. Let's let her go.

U.S. officials deny reports they will submit to the kidnappers' demands and release the two women. The question is -- and it's kind of tough: "What should be the response to the beheading of hostages in the Middle East?" We're getting a lot of pretty good mail this morning.

Sandy in Alberta writes: "Never give in to the demands of terrorists. The trauma caused by the current hostage situation is nothing compared to what the terrorists will do if we give them any control."

Mike in Corpus Christi: "It's what they do. In our shock and horror at the behavior of the Jihadists, we forget that they use beheadings against their own people, as well. I had a roommate at school who personally witnessed the beheading of a Crown Princess of Saudi Arabia because she had fallen in love with a commoner."

They want the women released? If I were one of those women, I think I'd want to stay in American custody.

Cathy in Harrison, Arkansas writes: "If these people see that we will give in, yes, I think they will continue the beheadings. So, I don't think we should give in. I'm sure if it was my husband or sons, though, I might see this differently."

Guy in Springfield, Illinois: "What we need to do is take the gloves off, show these people in Iraq the wrath of God according to the U.S. Marine Corps. Take a few of the cities where we're just sitting and doing nothing while they shoot and kill our troops and do a nice carpet bombing."

And Reg in Thunder Bay, Ontario: "I am sick of watching this grizzly news on CNN. I am going to watch CBS, where they make up good stuff."

Thank you, Reg. That was one of your better efforts, Reg. I got to tell you. We hear from Reg fairly often, but that was -- you get an A-plus on that one.

HEMMER: Thank you, Reg. Thank you, Jack, too.

Let's get a break here. In a moment, if you are not satisfied with what it did the first time around, looks like Ivan is coming back for a second showing. The sequel -- top of the hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Still to come this morning, based on what we heard yesterday, the race for the White House is starting to look like a grudge match. We hear from the Kerry campaign and Retired General Wesley Clark ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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