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American Morning
Tornado and Flood Warnings for East Coast from Tropical Storm Jeanne; Candidates Prepare for Thursday's Debates
Aired September 27, 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the second time, so I've had enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now it's Jeanne. Florida is slammed by another hurricane. People there are starting another painful road to recovery.
U.S. forces not backing off in Baghdad, hammering insurgents loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr.
Two swing states critical to both campaigns, could an unseen factor throw the polls out of whack in Florida and Ohio?
A plane crashes at a California air show slamming into a car with two women inside. It could have turned out much worse on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
COLLINS: Good Monday morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins in for Soledad.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez in for Bill. We're going to start another week with reports of yet another expensive hurricane and more damage in the state of Florida.
COLLINS: Yes, Jeanne is coming ashore over the weekend as a Category 3 hurricane, now. We're going to get a complete look at all of the damage and where Jeanne is.
Also, of course, speak to the mayor of Stuart, Florida, about what turned out to be a tough night for a group of retirees there.
SANCHEZ: Also a man who says he came very close to building a centrifuge for a nuclear bomb for Saddam Hussein. We're going to talk about how easy it was for him to get that information and where he was able to hide the nuclear secrets for years.
COLLINS: Unbelievable story there.
Also on this Monday morning Jack Cafferty is here with us, of course. JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: What happened? You mean they found some evidence of weapons of mass destruction over there? Is that what that story is all about? That's amazing.
The presidential debates start this week, more tightly choreographed than a Broadway musical. Actually, they'll be little more than just a charade.
Why, you ask? Because the rules for the debates are now in the hands of the Democratic and Republican political parties. It's just disgraceful. We'll take a look at it.
COLLINS: And so, they're going to bicker back and forth some more about this 32-page deal?
CAFFERTY: No, the rules have all been set. I mean, it's just a sham. I believe that when the League of Women Voters ran these things, they use to be interesting. They use to be, at times, dramatic, emotional, entertaining, all of the above.
The viewers have been steadily declining. The negotiations for these are all held in secret. I mean, it's just -- this is unbelievable that, you know, the major Republican parties now control this, too.
SANCHEZ: We're going to be picking that up with Gergan and Greenfield today, as a matter of fact, too.
CAFFERTY: There you go. Welcome, by the way. Nice to see you.
COLLINS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Thank you.
CAFFERTY: I used to watch you when you were on MSNBC.
SANCHEZ: Well, it's an honor to be here with you guys because you're pros. I mean I'm pinching myself working with you guys.
CAFFERTY: Whatever.
SANCHEZ: I expect Myrtle (ph) to walk in any minute.
CAFFERTY: Don't get carried away, OK. Calm yourself.
COLLINS: He's good, though.
All right. Thanks so much for that, Jack. We'll check in, in just a moment.
I want to get to Carol Costello now standing by with the stories now in the news this morning. Carol, good morning to you.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Heidi. Thank you.
Now in the news, the Senator from Massachusetts is raising severe criticism of President Bush and it isn't John Kerry. Senator Ted Kennedy says the Bush administration's decision to focus on Iraq rather than al Qaeda leaves the U.S. susceptible to a nuclear 9/11.
In a speech to be delivered at George Washington University today, Kennedy also says the lack of rebuilding in Iraq has contributed to resistance fighting.
A decision in the case against Private First Class Lynndie England. One of her lawyers says England will face a court martial for her role in the abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison. The court martial announcement is expected today with a possible military trial in January. England is expecting a child next month.
And when a king loves a woman, he builds a world famous monument to honor her. The Taj Mahal, in Agra, India is celebrating its 350th anniversary starting today. Months of festivities will surround the tomb built by a mogul emperor to remember his wife, who died during childbirth. More than eight million people visited the Taj Mahal last year.
Back to you Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Carol. Thanks so much for that.
I want to get straight to Jeanne now. It is a tropical storm at this point, brining lots of rain, though, and strong winds to Southern Georgia.
In Florida, Jeanne is blamed for at least four deaths. The storm roared ashore late Saturday along the Atlantic coast. And in Central Florida, damage, as you can see by this video, extensive.
Jeanne hit close to where Hurricane Frances struck almost three weeks earlier. And emergency officials say Jeanne hit with more force than Frances. When the hurricane hit, it hit hard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: At this point in time, it is hard to stand up. Remember you asked me -- you asked me about 20 miles an hour ago when is it going to be very hard to do this, and I said about 100. And this is pretty darn close to 100.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: As you see there, Chad Myers and Anderson Cooper. They have become quite a hurricane team. And Chad Myers is joining us now from a much more mellow Melbourne, Florida, this morning at least.
Chad, Jeanne is now a tropical storm, as we have said. But boy, that video from last night just about knocked you over.
MYERS: Well, it did. At times, it did knock us over. And in fact, there is video of other reporters actually being knocked over. Our winds gusted to 102 at our location, down at Vero Beach, 122. So, the more force you get, the more wind you get, obviously, the harder it is to stand up. And at some point, we just got out of the way and got behind the building and let the wind blow behind us.
There is still, though, an issue with Jeanne today, not really so much for Florida but for Georgia and for the Carolinas and maybe even for Virginia. See that red box? That's a tornado watch box. And there are tornado warnings even this morning.
There will be many more tornado warnings this afternoon. The low country, upstate, all the way through the Piedmont, in North Carolina and parts of South Carolina will have tornadoes on the ground today. And there will be damage.
And you know what, when that happens, anything can happen. One to two, maybe F3s possibly later on today.
Here's the flood threat, the other issue here -- a lot of rain coming down. All the light green areas already in watches, all the dark green areas in flood warnings this morning.
For the rest of the country, still New York, New England very nice. Back out toward the Midwest, a little bit cool and some showers in West Texas.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: More on Jeanne and obviously more to come on this down here as well. Heidi back to you.
COLLINS: Of course. And boy, are the people in the Southeast probably really wishing they were just about anywhere on that map except for where they are right now.
Chad Myers, we'll check back a little later on. Thanks so much.
SANCHEZ: Yes, the point is this is not the first time Florida has been hit by a storm in just the recent months. As a matter of fact, you can count them. You've got Charley coming across; you've got Frances; then you've got Ivan; and now Jeanne going pretty much in the same direction. For many people, this is really the last straw.
Here's Gary Tuchman. He's live in Vero Beach.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... (INAUDIBLE) the culture in the state of Florida. For example, if you go to the University of Miami, your team name is the Hurricanes. But no one here in the state of Florida has ever experienced a hurricane season like this one. It has created a special standard of anxiety.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): She left on a 250 mile trip not knowing it would be impossible to find gasoline. And now Sharaya Smith finds herself at a Vero Beach, Florida gas station, preparing to sleep in her car, frantic with worry about her 5-month-old son she is trying to get home to.
SHARAYA SMITH, STRANDED DRIVER, VERO BEACH, FLORIDA: My whole family has lived here for 12 years, now. And we want to leave. We might move back north.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Because of this hurricane?
SMITH: It's been that bad. It's just back to back, and you don't get a break from them.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): The wrath of Hurricane Jeanne in utter darkness, the fright caused by Hurricane Ivan's one-time Category 5 status. Hurricane Frances hitting the same part of Florida as Jeanne. And Hurricane Charley strengthening to Category 4 as it approached land.
These four storms have not only made many Floridians weary, they have created anxiety, excessive difficulty and more fright than many have ever experienced with weather.
This 22-year-old walked to that same gas station with his infant son and dog after running out of gas on the side of the interstate.
Motels and shelters are full, he is told. There is no one to tow his car.
(on camera) So you're saying you may sleep in your car on the highway?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's better than outside. He has to have some kind of shelter.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Then there's the man who was driving to surprise his girlfriend with a diamond ring.
DOMINICK SGRO, RESIDENT, VERO BEACH, FLORIDA: I've got a fistful of money and no gas station.
TUCHMAN: You want to propose to the woman you want to marry, but you can't get there.
SGRO: I can't even get there.
TUCHMAN: But Dominick Sgro's story is a happier one. His girlfriend drove 100 miles with jugs of gas and then got her surprise.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. You're not going to do this right now? Oh, my God!
TUCHMAN: She said, yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: And that is the story of one night at one gas station at one city in the state of Florida. But we think it's a microcosm of what many people are going through here in the Sunshine State, a state with much construction, like this that you see behind me, in Vero Beach, and much heartache.
By the way, that 22-year-old with the baby and the dog, he ended up spending the night in somebody else's car at the gas station, not in his car on the highway.
Rick, back to you.
SANCHEZ: Gary Tuchman, from Vero Beach. Thank you, Gary -- Heidi?
COLLINS: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has responded to storm ravaged Florida with its largest deployment ever. Michael Brown is the agency's director.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BROWN, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: This state will make it through this. President Bush tells this wonderful story about having been to a small community where he and I toured a neighborhood that had been totally devastated. And we vowed to come back a year later. And we came back, and they were stronger and they were better.
And I think that's going to happen in Florida, too. We will be here as long as it takes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The town of Stuart, Florida was still feeling the effects of Frances when Hurricane Jeanne slammed ashore this weekend. Mayor Jeff Krauskopf is joining us now from Stuart, Florida.
Mayor, thanks so much for being here. I know this is really a tough time for you and the residents of your town.
I know that behind you we are looking at a condominium that's filled with quite a few older folks. Can you talk to us a little bit about what they are going through and how they're doing this morning?
MAYOR JEFF KRAUSKOPF, STUART, FLORIDA: We had to shift to a commercial shopping center this morning, Heidi, because at the time the crew had came in to set up, it was so dark in that neighborhood that everybody was still sleeping. And we wanted to let them sleep.
But you had senior citizens, 85, 87-year-olds sleeping on porch furniture and their porches with the glass blown out of those porches over the night. Fortunately, it was cool.
COLLINS: So, how are they doing? What's the mental state and, of course, the physical state of those folks? Have they gotten to shelters, or are they still at that facility?
KRAUSKOPF: Many of them have not gone to shelters. Our shelters were only about 50 percent this hurricane versus the last one. Most of them are there waiting on power. That's the most important thing now. If we get power back, we can get air conditioning. The mosquitoes have been biting all morning. And it's very important that Florida Power and Light tell us when they can get power back to us.
They've mentioned three weeks, and I hope that's not true.
COLLINS: Well, sadly, Mr. Mayor, those are the numbers -- or the days, actually -- that we are hearing, as well.
I know you have been up all night on Saturday night and last night, as well. Can you give us a sense, sir, of the area that you have been able to survey as far as the number of buildings and the damage that you see around you?
KRAUSKOPF: The damage was not as bad as Pensacola and the Panhandle, but most of the damage this time -- Frances took out all the vegetation. And then when Jeanne came through, it got most of the roofs.
Commercial roofs have had their roofs ripped off, and they are being saturated with water. Everything is soaking wet because we did Frances, we did Ivan redo that brought a lot of water; and now with Jeanne, it was windy and it took off a lot of the roofs and put the water inside the buildings.
So as soon as we get power back, we can air those out, get air conditioning and stop the potential for mold.
COLLINS: Boy, it sounds like the word is re-repair after Hurricane Frances came through. I know there's a hospital there, as well, that was damaged.
KRAUSKOPF: When Frances came through, it took out the super structure and dumped all the water down the elevator tower. And then when -- while they were rebuilding that, Jeanne came through and ripped a portion of the main roof off.
So the hospital has been -- fortunately we have two of them. That was the North Hospital on the water that took the biggest hit.
COLLINS: Understood. Well, mayor, we certainly appreciate your time this morning and, of course, wish you the very best in trying to get through the latest disaster here.
Again, thanks so much for your time. Mayor Jeff Krauskopf, this morning.
KRAUSKOPF: Thank you.
COLLINS: And we will be talking with the mayor of Vero Beach, Florida in just about an hour from now. That will be coming your way 8:00 a.m. Eastern.
SANCHEZ: We've got some pictures we'd like to share with you, now. It's the kind of thing you see once in a while, and it's in Southern California. Take a look. Hundreds of people attending an airport festival, they watch in horror as a small plane suddenly crashes and catches fire. There it is. The dramatic pictures were taken Saturday. This is at Fullerton Airport.
Let's see if we can re-rack that and actually watch the plane as it starts to come in. Let's do this again. Here it is.
The plane is coming in. As you can see, for some reason he's not able to keep altitude. He comes in sideways, missing the control tower, by the way, by just a bit before slamming into a parked car.
Two men who were aboard the plane, we understand, are hospitalized. We understand their condition right now is critical. Two women in a car were treated for minor injuries and released. The cause right now still under investigation.
COLLINS: Yes. Slow and low, that's for sure on that one -- frightening. All right.
Still to come this morning, some earthquakes in the Northwest have scientists more than a little worried. Mount St. Helens could be ready to blow.
SANCHEZ: Also ahead, meet the nuclear scientist who had secrets of Saddam Hussein's WMD program buried in his garden. And he'll tell us how close Saddam Hussein came to having a nuclear bomb.
COLLINS: And as we count down to election day, one candidate's party is surging in two very important swing states. We'll talk to Jeff Greenfield ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rick Sanchez.
President Bush and John Kerry just days away from their very first debate, both campaigns remain focused on the battleground states. You've heard that how many times. That could swing the election.
They call them swing states as well. And senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, is here with more on a "New York Times" story about potential new voters in two critical states.
What did "The Times" find, Jeff? It sounds like this is a -- they make it sound like it's a new strategy by the Democrats.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, it's not exactly a new strategy of getting your voters out to vote, but what "The Times" found was that at least in Ohio and Florida, the Democrats appear to have an edge in registering new voters.
In Ohio, registration in Republican areas was up about 25 percent, but in Democratic areas, mostly low income and minority neighborhoods, new registration was up 250 percent over four years ago.
The difference in Florida was a 60 percent jump in Democratic regions versus 12 percent in Republican areas.
Now, we know that both sides are pouring literally tens of millions of dollars into the "get out to vote" effort. We don't know -- won't know -- until November 2 who wins.
But it raises some interesting questions about all these poll numbers that we're obsessed with because, you know...
SANCHEZ: Yes, because they are literally going around and finding people who otherwise would not have voted. Are they finding people who pollsters also would not have otherwise found?
GREENFIELD: This is what we don't know. Surveys already have big problems with getting people to respond. They don't answer the telephone because they don't like telemarketers.
SANCHEZ: Right.
GREENFIELD: Cell phones are not included in these surveys. And young people mostly use cell phones. But here's the trick, if these polls are all measuring likely voters and there's a whole bunch of new likely voters that have not been counted, than these numbers are almost certainly suspect.
What you have to remember, though, is just because you register people doesn't mean that they're going to vote. And then there's another issue. I hate to bring this up to somebody who knows about Florida.
The more first-time voters, the more problems there are going to be on election day, first, because first-time voters are likely to be more confused than people who have voted for 30 years; and second, as we saw in 2000, low income neighborhoods tend to have less sophisticated technology available to resolve election day disputes. They don't have wireless computers.
So, these new voters could pose a huge question mark on November 2.
SANCHEZ: Is it easier for Democrats to find these potential voters than Republicans?
GREENFIELD: No, it's harder. Their votes tend to be among low income, less educated who are less sophisticated...
SANCHEZ: Yes, but the Republican voters are already there. They're firm. They know what they are going to do because they've been doing it for so long.
GREENFIELD: Yes, except that Karl Rove has said for four years, and there were four million white, evangelicals that didn't show up on election day in 2000, maybe because of Bush's drunk driving record, maybe because they were complacent. And he could be wrong about this, but they've spent -- they're literally going to spend I don't know how much money to get those people out. So, we don't know.
SANCHEZ: You mentioned my home state. Thursday, it's happening there, the first debate. What are we expecting?
GREENFIELD: Well, here's what I want you to keep in mind. If anybody on this broadcast, while you're anchoring, says that John Kennedy has to appear presidential, I want you to hit them in the knee cap because it is the most useless, idiotic piece of guidance I can think of.
I guess Kerry should come out with a stovepipe hat and a beard and read the Gettysburg Address. It's a meaningless, idiotic notion.
More seriously, the impact...
SANCHEZ: It'd make a good picture though, wouldn't it?
GREENFIELD: Yes. And he's tall, you know, he's got that Lincolnesque thing. But the impact of this debate really depends on how many undecided voters there are because once people have made up their minds, it's way harder to get them to change than a voter who is actually weighing candidates in the balance because when you pick someone...
SANCHEZ: Yes.
GREENFIELD: ... you are likely to forgive his mistakes. It's like rooting for a team. And you're much less likely to credit a good performance with the other guy.
Here's another question where poll numbers are suspect. We don't know how many people who say they've made up their mind really have. But if, in fact, the smaller the number of undecided voters, the harder it's going to be for either candidate to move them.
SANCHEZ: So many questions, so little time. It's Thursday. Thanks, Jeff.
GREENFIELD: OK.
SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.
Watch AMERICAN MORNING as we get ready for Thursday's debate. Bill Hemmer is going to be in Miami Thursday morning.
The debate is set for Thursday, once again. And it's a 9:00 Eastern -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, Floridians aren't the only ones paying the price for all of the hurricanes. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" on that. He'll tell you about the latest pinch at the pump -- ouch.
Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Gas prices rising at the pumps. Andy Serwer is here now "Minding Your Business" this morning. Boy, terrible news for the folks in Florida, as well.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, that's right. Good morning to you, Heidi.
We have been talking about how Hurricane Ivan has disrupted the oil supply in this country. No surprise then the price of gasoline is up $0.05 to $1.91 a gallon nationwide.
Highest price in the land? Honolulu, $2.26 a gallon. So, shed no tears. Obviously, they always have very high prices there.
What's going on besides Ivan? Well, you know, it's the usual litany of problems when it comes to oil supply: problems in Iraq; this political situation in Nigeria has become very precarious, all of a sudden; and Russia; violence in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.
Can you believe, of course, that we're getting our oil from these bastions of stability?
COLLINS: Yes.
SERWER: You know, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia.
COLLINS: Frightening isn't it?
SERWER: Purnomo Yusgiantoro -- love saying that -- he is the head of OPEC. He says don't blame OPEC, we're producing plenty of oil. And of course, it is true that demand for oil is now at a 24- year high.
This coming, of course, right at the time when we're usually building supplies for the Winter months. So, very tight supply and demand right now, and I wouldn't expect gas prices to drop that much. They will a little bit after the disruptions from Ivan are over.
But still with the political situation, you never know.
COLLINS: Boy, that's for sure.
SERWER: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Andy, thanks a lot.
SERWER: You're welcome.
SANCHEZ: Well, that kind of ducktails into politics, as a matter of fact. Here's Jack Cafferty with our "Question of the Day."
We were talking with Jeff Greenfield about this, as a matter of fact. CAFFERTY: It's interesting or not depending on your point of view. The presidential debates begin Thursday. It remains to be seen whether they'll be worth watching. I doubt they will, actually.
Gone are the good old days when we saw Richard Nixon's 5:00 shadow as he sweated bullets against John Kennedy in 1960 or when Ronald Reagan made light of Walter Mondale's age in this debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponents youth and inexperience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Mondale later acknowledged that was the end of his campaign, that line right there.
The debates these days are more tightly choreographed than a Broadway musical. Something called a commission for a presidential debates. You know what that is? It's the Republican and Democratic parties. They now run the debates.
Vernon Jordan and James Baker negotiated the terms of the debates in secret, here in America, this open society we have. Talk about putting two scorpions in a jar, Vernon Jordan and James Baker.
Margins for error have been cut to the point of making them a little more than a charade. The emphasis very much on making sure that you, the public, never sees anything except what the campaigns want you to see.
Get my drift here?
Here's the question, how important are the presidential debates to you? Am@CNN.com.
It's just a joke, secret negotiations to determine the rules for the debates for the guy who's going to be elected to run this country. It's obscene.
SERWER: And most people don't know that, you know, some people just assume that it's an open process...
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: ... but it really isn't.
SANCHEZ: And that's why the League of Women Voters bailed.
CAFFERTY: Exactly because the major parties...
SERWER: That's right.
CAFFERTY: ... wanted to set all these terms and conditions, and they said, no. We refuse. They said, fine, we have this other organization right here in the wings waiting to step in and take them over.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: I mean...
COLLINS: Thursday night.
CAFFERTY: It's frightening.
COLLINS: Thursday night we will see it all, at least the first one out of three.
All right, Jack, thanks so much.
Still to come this morning. Your Monday morning edition of "90- Second Pop."
What makes the one-time King of Pop tick? Some of the smartest people in America are dissecting Michael Jackson.
Plus, can you balance a budget and terminate your big screen competition at the same time? "90-Second Pop" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 27, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the second time, so I've had enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Now it's Jeanne. Florida is slammed by another hurricane. People there are starting another painful road to recovery.
U.S. forces not backing off in Baghdad, hammering insurgents loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr.
Two swing states critical to both campaigns, could an unseen factor throw the polls out of whack in Florida and Ohio?
A plane crashes at a California air show slamming into a car with two women inside. It could have turned out much worse on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer.
COLLINS: Good Monday morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins in for Soledad.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez in for Bill. We're going to start another week with reports of yet another expensive hurricane and more damage in the state of Florida.
COLLINS: Yes, Jeanne is coming ashore over the weekend as a Category 3 hurricane, now. We're going to get a complete look at all of the damage and where Jeanne is.
Also, of course, speak to the mayor of Stuart, Florida, about what turned out to be a tough night for a group of retirees there.
SANCHEZ: Also a man who says he came very close to building a centrifuge for a nuclear bomb for Saddam Hussein. We're going to talk about how easy it was for him to get that information and where he was able to hide the nuclear secrets for years.
COLLINS: Unbelievable story there.
Also on this Monday morning Jack Cafferty is here with us, of course. JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: What happened? You mean they found some evidence of weapons of mass destruction over there? Is that what that story is all about? That's amazing.
The presidential debates start this week, more tightly choreographed than a Broadway musical. Actually, they'll be little more than just a charade.
Why, you ask? Because the rules for the debates are now in the hands of the Democratic and Republican political parties. It's just disgraceful. We'll take a look at it.
COLLINS: And so, they're going to bicker back and forth some more about this 32-page deal?
CAFFERTY: No, the rules have all been set. I mean, it's just a sham. I believe that when the League of Women Voters ran these things, they use to be interesting. They use to be, at times, dramatic, emotional, entertaining, all of the above.
The viewers have been steadily declining. The negotiations for these are all held in secret. I mean, it's just -- this is unbelievable that, you know, the major Republican parties now control this, too.
SANCHEZ: We're going to be picking that up with Gergan and Greenfield today, as a matter of fact, too.
CAFFERTY: There you go. Welcome, by the way. Nice to see you.
COLLINS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Thank you.
CAFFERTY: I used to watch you when you were on MSNBC.
SANCHEZ: Well, it's an honor to be here with you guys because you're pros. I mean I'm pinching myself working with you guys.
CAFFERTY: Whatever.
SANCHEZ: I expect Myrtle (ph) to walk in any minute.
CAFFERTY: Don't get carried away, OK. Calm yourself.
COLLINS: He's good, though.
All right. Thanks so much for that, Jack. We'll check in, in just a moment.
I want to get to Carol Costello now standing by with the stories now in the news this morning. Carol, good morning to you.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Heidi. Thank you.
Now in the news, the Senator from Massachusetts is raising severe criticism of President Bush and it isn't John Kerry. Senator Ted Kennedy says the Bush administration's decision to focus on Iraq rather than al Qaeda leaves the U.S. susceptible to a nuclear 9/11.
In a speech to be delivered at George Washington University today, Kennedy also says the lack of rebuilding in Iraq has contributed to resistance fighting.
A decision in the case against Private First Class Lynndie England. One of her lawyers says England will face a court martial for her role in the abuse of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison. The court martial announcement is expected today with a possible military trial in January. England is expecting a child next month.
And when a king loves a woman, he builds a world famous monument to honor her. The Taj Mahal, in Agra, India is celebrating its 350th anniversary starting today. Months of festivities will surround the tomb built by a mogul emperor to remember his wife, who died during childbirth. More than eight million people visited the Taj Mahal last year.
Back to you Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Carol. Thanks so much for that.
I want to get straight to Jeanne now. It is a tropical storm at this point, brining lots of rain, though, and strong winds to Southern Georgia.
In Florida, Jeanne is blamed for at least four deaths. The storm roared ashore late Saturday along the Atlantic coast. And in Central Florida, damage, as you can see by this video, extensive.
Jeanne hit close to where Hurricane Frances struck almost three weeks earlier. And emergency officials say Jeanne hit with more force than Frances. When the hurricane hit, it hit hard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: At this point in time, it is hard to stand up. Remember you asked me -- you asked me about 20 miles an hour ago when is it going to be very hard to do this, and I said about 100. And this is pretty darn close to 100.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: As you see there, Chad Myers and Anderson Cooper. They have become quite a hurricane team. And Chad Myers is joining us now from a much more mellow Melbourne, Florida, this morning at least.
Chad, Jeanne is now a tropical storm, as we have said. But boy, that video from last night just about knocked you over.
MYERS: Well, it did. At times, it did knock us over. And in fact, there is video of other reporters actually being knocked over. Our winds gusted to 102 at our location, down at Vero Beach, 122. So, the more force you get, the more wind you get, obviously, the harder it is to stand up. And at some point, we just got out of the way and got behind the building and let the wind blow behind us.
There is still, though, an issue with Jeanne today, not really so much for Florida but for Georgia and for the Carolinas and maybe even for Virginia. See that red box? That's a tornado watch box. And there are tornado warnings even this morning.
There will be many more tornado warnings this afternoon. The low country, upstate, all the way through the Piedmont, in North Carolina and parts of South Carolina will have tornadoes on the ground today. And there will be damage.
And you know what, when that happens, anything can happen. One to two, maybe F3s possibly later on today.
Here's the flood threat, the other issue here -- a lot of rain coming down. All the light green areas already in watches, all the dark green areas in flood warnings this morning.
For the rest of the country, still New York, New England very nice. Back out toward the Midwest, a little bit cool and some showers in West Texas.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MYERS: More on Jeanne and obviously more to come on this down here as well. Heidi back to you.
COLLINS: Of course. And boy, are the people in the Southeast probably really wishing they were just about anywhere on that map except for where they are right now.
Chad Myers, we'll check back a little later on. Thanks so much.
SANCHEZ: Yes, the point is this is not the first time Florida has been hit by a storm in just the recent months. As a matter of fact, you can count them. You've got Charley coming across; you've got Frances; then you've got Ivan; and now Jeanne going pretty much in the same direction. For many people, this is really the last straw.
Here's Gary Tuchman. He's live in Vero Beach.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... (INAUDIBLE) the culture in the state of Florida. For example, if you go to the University of Miami, your team name is the Hurricanes. But no one here in the state of Florida has ever experienced a hurricane season like this one. It has created a special standard of anxiety.
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TUCHMAN (voice-over): She left on a 250 mile trip not knowing it would be impossible to find gasoline. And now Sharaya Smith finds herself at a Vero Beach, Florida gas station, preparing to sleep in her car, frantic with worry about her 5-month-old son she is trying to get home to.
SHARAYA SMITH, STRANDED DRIVER, VERO BEACH, FLORIDA: My whole family has lived here for 12 years, now. And we want to leave. We might move back north.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Because of this hurricane?
SMITH: It's been that bad. It's just back to back, and you don't get a break from them.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): The wrath of Hurricane Jeanne in utter darkness, the fright caused by Hurricane Ivan's one-time Category 5 status. Hurricane Frances hitting the same part of Florida as Jeanne. And Hurricane Charley strengthening to Category 4 as it approached land.
These four storms have not only made many Floridians weary, they have created anxiety, excessive difficulty and more fright than many have ever experienced with weather.
This 22-year-old walked to that same gas station with his infant son and dog after running out of gas on the side of the interstate.
Motels and shelters are full, he is told. There is no one to tow his car.
(on camera) So you're saying you may sleep in your car on the highway?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's better than outside. He has to have some kind of shelter.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Then there's the man who was driving to surprise his girlfriend with a diamond ring.
DOMINICK SGRO, RESIDENT, VERO BEACH, FLORIDA: I've got a fistful of money and no gas station.
TUCHMAN: You want to propose to the woman you want to marry, but you can't get there.
SGRO: I can't even get there.
TUCHMAN: But Dominick Sgro's story is a happier one. His girlfriend drove 100 miles with jugs of gas and then got her surprise.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. You're not going to do this right now? Oh, my God!
TUCHMAN: She said, yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: And that is the story of one night at one gas station at one city in the state of Florida. But we think it's a microcosm of what many people are going through here in the Sunshine State, a state with much construction, like this that you see behind me, in Vero Beach, and much heartache.
By the way, that 22-year-old with the baby and the dog, he ended up spending the night in somebody else's car at the gas station, not in his car on the highway.
Rick, back to you.
SANCHEZ: Gary Tuchman, from Vero Beach. Thank you, Gary -- Heidi?
COLLINS: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has responded to storm ravaged Florida with its largest deployment ever. Michael Brown is the agency's director.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL BROWN, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: This state will make it through this. President Bush tells this wonderful story about having been to a small community where he and I toured a neighborhood that had been totally devastated. And we vowed to come back a year later. And we came back, and they were stronger and they were better.
And I think that's going to happen in Florida, too. We will be here as long as it takes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The town of Stuart, Florida was still feeling the effects of Frances when Hurricane Jeanne slammed ashore this weekend. Mayor Jeff Krauskopf is joining us now from Stuart, Florida.
Mayor, thanks so much for being here. I know this is really a tough time for you and the residents of your town.
I know that behind you we are looking at a condominium that's filled with quite a few older folks. Can you talk to us a little bit about what they are going through and how they're doing this morning?
MAYOR JEFF KRAUSKOPF, STUART, FLORIDA: We had to shift to a commercial shopping center this morning, Heidi, because at the time the crew had came in to set up, it was so dark in that neighborhood that everybody was still sleeping. And we wanted to let them sleep.
But you had senior citizens, 85, 87-year-olds sleeping on porch furniture and their porches with the glass blown out of those porches over the night. Fortunately, it was cool.
COLLINS: So, how are they doing? What's the mental state and, of course, the physical state of those folks? Have they gotten to shelters, or are they still at that facility?
KRAUSKOPF: Many of them have not gone to shelters. Our shelters were only about 50 percent this hurricane versus the last one. Most of them are there waiting on power. That's the most important thing now. If we get power back, we can get air conditioning. The mosquitoes have been biting all morning. And it's very important that Florida Power and Light tell us when they can get power back to us.
They've mentioned three weeks, and I hope that's not true.
COLLINS: Well, sadly, Mr. Mayor, those are the numbers -- or the days, actually -- that we are hearing, as well.
I know you have been up all night on Saturday night and last night, as well. Can you give us a sense, sir, of the area that you have been able to survey as far as the number of buildings and the damage that you see around you?
KRAUSKOPF: The damage was not as bad as Pensacola and the Panhandle, but most of the damage this time -- Frances took out all the vegetation. And then when Jeanne came through, it got most of the roofs.
Commercial roofs have had their roofs ripped off, and they are being saturated with water. Everything is soaking wet because we did Frances, we did Ivan redo that brought a lot of water; and now with Jeanne, it was windy and it took off a lot of the roofs and put the water inside the buildings.
So as soon as we get power back, we can air those out, get air conditioning and stop the potential for mold.
COLLINS: Boy, it sounds like the word is re-repair after Hurricane Frances came through. I know there's a hospital there, as well, that was damaged.
KRAUSKOPF: When Frances came through, it took out the super structure and dumped all the water down the elevator tower. And then when -- while they were rebuilding that, Jeanne came through and ripped a portion of the main roof off.
So the hospital has been -- fortunately we have two of them. That was the North Hospital on the water that took the biggest hit.
COLLINS: Understood. Well, mayor, we certainly appreciate your time this morning and, of course, wish you the very best in trying to get through the latest disaster here.
Again, thanks so much for your time. Mayor Jeff Krauskopf, this morning.
KRAUSKOPF: Thank you.
COLLINS: And we will be talking with the mayor of Vero Beach, Florida in just about an hour from now. That will be coming your way 8:00 a.m. Eastern.
SANCHEZ: We've got some pictures we'd like to share with you, now. It's the kind of thing you see once in a while, and it's in Southern California. Take a look. Hundreds of people attending an airport festival, they watch in horror as a small plane suddenly crashes and catches fire. There it is. The dramatic pictures were taken Saturday. This is at Fullerton Airport.
Let's see if we can re-rack that and actually watch the plane as it starts to come in. Let's do this again. Here it is.
The plane is coming in. As you can see, for some reason he's not able to keep altitude. He comes in sideways, missing the control tower, by the way, by just a bit before slamming into a parked car.
Two men who were aboard the plane, we understand, are hospitalized. We understand their condition right now is critical. Two women in a car were treated for minor injuries and released. The cause right now still under investigation.
COLLINS: Yes. Slow and low, that's for sure on that one -- frightening. All right.
Still to come this morning, some earthquakes in the Northwest have scientists more than a little worried. Mount St. Helens could be ready to blow.
SANCHEZ: Also ahead, meet the nuclear scientist who had secrets of Saddam Hussein's WMD program buried in his garden. And he'll tell us how close Saddam Hussein came to having a nuclear bomb.
COLLINS: And as we count down to election day, one candidate's party is surging in two very important swing states. We'll talk to Jeff Greenfield ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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SANCHEZ: And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Rick Sanchez.
President Bush and John Kerry just days away from their very first debate, both campaigns remain focused on the battleground states. You've heard that how many times. That could swing the election.
They call them swing states as well. And senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, is here with more on a "New York Times" story about potential new voters in two critical states.
What did "The Times" find, Jeff? It sounds like this is a -- they make it sound like it's a new strategy by the Democrats.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Well, it's not exactly a new strategy of getting your voters out to vote, but what "The Times" found was that at least in Ohio and Florida, the Democrats appear to have an edge in registering new voters.
In Ohio, registration in Republican areas was up about 25 percent, but in Democratic areas, mostly low income and minority neighborhoods, new registration was up 250 percent over four years ago.
The difference in Florida was a 60 percent jump in Democratic regions versus 12 percent in Republican areas.
Now, we know that both sides are pouring literally tens of millions of dollars into the "get out to vote" effort. We don't know -- won't know -- until November 2 who wins.
But it raises some interesting questions about all these poll numbers that we're obsessed with because, you know...
SANCHEZ: Yes, because they are literally going around and finding people who otherwise would not have voted. Are they finding people who pollsters also would not have otherwise found?
GREENFIELD: This is what we don't know. Surveys already have big problems with getting people to respond. They don't answer the telephone because they don't like telemarketers.
SANCHEZ: Right.
GREENFIELD: Cell phones are not included in these surveys. And young people mostly use cell phones. But here's the trick, if these polls are all measuring likely voters and there's a whole bunch of new likely voters that have not been counted, than these numbers are almost certainly suspect.
What you have to remember, though, is just because you register people doesn't mean that they're going to vote. And then there's another issue. I hate to bring this up to somebody who knows about Florida.
The more first-time voters, the more problems there are going to be on election day, first, because first-time voters are likely to be more confused than people who have voted for 30 years; and second, as we saw in 2000, low income neighborhoods tend to have less sophisticated technology available to resolve election day disputes. They don't have wireless computers.
So, these new voters could pose a huge question mark on November 2.
SANCHEZ: Is it easier for Democrats to find these potential voters than Republicans?
GREENFIELD: No, it's harder. Their votes tend to be among low income, less educated who are less sophisticated...
SANCHEZ: Yes, but the Republican voters are already there. They're firm. They know what they are going to do because they've been doing it for so long.
GREENFIELD: Yes, except that Karl Rove has said for four years, and there were four million white, evangelicals that didn't show up on election day in 2000, maybe because of Bush's drunk driving record, maybe because they were complacent. And he could be wrong about this, but they've spent -- they're literally going to spend I don't know how much money to get those people out. So, we don't know.
SANCHEZ: You mentioned my home state. Thursday, it's happening there, the first debate. What are we expecting?
GREENFIELD: Well, here's what I want you to keep in mind. If anybody on this broadcast, while you're anchoring, says that John Kennedy has to appear presidential, I want you to hit them in the knee cap because it is the most useless, idiotic piece of guidance I can think of.
I guess Kerry should come out with a stovepipe hat and a beard and read the Gettysburg Address. It's a meaningless, idiotic notion.
More seriously, the impact...
SANCHEZ: It'd make a good picture though, wouldn't it?
GREENFIELD: Yes. And he's tall, you know, he's got that Lincolnesque thing. But the impact of this debate really depends on how many undecided voters there are because once people have made up their minds, it's way harder to get them to change than a voter who is actually weighing candidates in the balance because when you pick someone...
SANCHEZ: Yes.
GREENFIELD: ... you are likely to forgive his mistakes. It's like rooting for a team. And you're much less likely to credit a good performance with the other guy.
Here's another question where poll numbers are suspect. We don't know how many people who say they've made up their mind really have. But if, in fact, the smaller the number of undecided voters, the harder it's going to be for either candidate to move them.
SANCHEZ: So many questions, so little time. It's Thursday. Thanks, Jeff.
GREENFIELD: OK.
SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.
Watch AMERICAN MORNING as we get ready for Thursday's debate. Bill Hemmer is going to be in Miami Thursday morning.
The debate is set for Thursday, once again. And it's a 9:00 Eastern -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, Floridians aren't the only ones paying the price for all of the hurricanes. Andy Serwer's "Minding Your Business" on that. He'll tell you about the latest pinch at the pump -- ouch.
Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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COLLINS: Gas prices rising at the pumps. Andy Serwer is here now "Minding Your Business" this morning. Boy, terrible news for the folks in Florida, as well.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, that's right. Good morning to you, Heidi.
We have been talking about how Hurricane Ivan has disrupted the oil supply in this country. No surprise then the price of gasoline is up $0.05 to $1.91 a gallon nationwide.
Highest price in the land? Honolulu, $2.26 a gallon. So, shed no tears. Obviously, they always have very high prices there.
What's going on besides Ivan? Well, you know, it's the usual litany of problems when it comes to oil supply: problems in Iraq; this political situation in Nigeria has become very precarious, all of a sudden; and Russia; violence in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.
Can you believe, of course, that we're getting our oil from these bastions of stability?
COLLINS: Yes.
SERWER: You know, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, Saudi Arabia.
COLLINS: Frightening isn't it?
SERWER: Purnomo Yusgiantoro -- love saying that -- he is the head of OPEC. He says don't blame OPEC, we're producing plenty of oil. And of course, it is true that demand for oil is now at a 24- year high.
This coming, of course, right at the time when we're usually building supplies for the Winter months. So, very tight supply and demand right now, and I wouldn't expect gas prices to drop that much. They will a little bit after the disruptions from Ivan are over.
But still with the political situation, you never know.
COLLINS: Boy, that's for sure.
SERWER: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Andy, thanks a lot.
SERWER: You're welcome.
SANCHEZ: Well, that kind of ducktails into politics, as a matter of fact. Here's Jack Cafferty with our "Question of the Day."
We were talking with Jeff Greenfield about this, as a matter of fact. CAFFERTY: It's interesting or not depending on your point of view. The presidential debates begin Thursday. It remains to be seen whether they'll be worth watching. I doubt they will, actually.
Gone are the good old days when we saw Richard Nixon's 5:00 shadow as he sweated bullets against John Kennedy in 1960 or when Ronald Reagan made light of Walter Mondale's age in this debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponents youth and inexperience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Mondale later acknowledged that was the end of his campaign, that line right there.
The debates these days are more tightly choreographed than a Broadway musical. Something called a commission for a presidential debates. You know what that is? It's the Republican and Democratic parties. They now run the debates.
Vernon Jordan and James Baker negotiated the terms of the debates in secret, here in America, this open society we have. Talk about putting two scorpions in a jar, Vernon Jordan and James Baker.
Margins for error have been cut to the point of making them a little more than a charade. The emphasis very much on making sure that you, the public, never sees anything except what the campaigns want you to see.
Get my drift here?
Here's the question, how important are the presidential debates to you? Am@CNN.com.
It's just a joke, secret negotiations to determine the rules for the debates for the guy who's going to be elected to run this country. It's obscene.
SERWER: And most people don't know that, you know, some people just assume that it's an open process...
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: ... but it really isn't.
SANCHEZ: And that's why the League of Women Voters bailed.
CAFFERTY: Exactly because the major parties...
SERWER: That's right.
CAFFERTY: ... wanted to set all these terms and conditions, and they said, no. We refuse. They said, fine, we have this other organization right here in the wings waiting to step in and take them over.
SERWER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: I mean...
COLLINS: Thursday night.
CAFFERTY: It's frightening.
COLLINS: Thursday night we will see it all, at least the first one out of three.
All right, Jack, thanks so much.
Still to come this morning. Your Monday morning edition of "90- Second Pop."
What makes the one-time King of Pop tick? Some of the smartest people in America are dissecting Michael Jackson.
Plus, can you balance a budget and terminate your big screen competition at the same time? "90-Second Pop" ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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