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CNN Live At Daybreak
Examining Debating Styles of Presidential Candidates; Latest Developments in Scott Peterson Double Murder Trial
Aired September 30, 2004 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, George Bush and John Kerry go before the nation tonight in the first of three televised presidential debates. Tonight's topic, international affairs and homeland security. The 90 minute face-off gets under way at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
A car bomber targets a base used by the U.S. military and Iraqi police in western Baghdad. Nearly 50 people are wounded, including four U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi police officers.
That follows a U.S. air strike on a suspected terrorist target in Fallujah. Officials say they believe terrorists linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were in a house. Secondary explosions suggest explosives were hidden there.
New rules affecting most visitors to the United States goes into effect today. The rules, developed by homeland security, provide that almost anyone arriving without a travel visa will be fingerprinted and photographed.
To the forecast center to check in with Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Decision time approaches. Just 33 days left until the November 2 election. Here's a look at how some of you are leaning in the race for the White House.
A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows three crucial battleground states remain very close. The poll was taken Friday through Monday and has an error factor of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
In Pennsylvania, Kerry has a four point lead over Bush among registered voters. But among likely voters, the lead flip-flops, with Bush getting a three point edge over Kerry.
Ohio looks close, too. Kerry holds a four point lead over Bush among registered voters. But among likely voters, the advantage switches to Bush by only 2 percentage points. And here's a look at what's happening in Florida. Among registered voters, Bush is slightly ahead. But it, too, is a statistical dead heat. However, among people who are likely to vote, Bush's lead widens significantly, by nine points.
And tonight, we'll all get to see how these two candidates fare against each other when they face-off before a live audience in Coral Gables, Florida.
Our Dan Lothian looks at the debate styles of George W. Bush and John Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): At President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas and at this resort off the beaten path in Wisconsin, senior advisers are helping President Bush and John Kerry. Both candidates have mastered the art of debating, but with two different styles. President Bush cut his teeth in Texas, where Wayne Slater and Jim Moore, who wrote the book "Bush's Brain," followed as he silenced political doubters.
WAYNE SLATER, "DALLAS MORNING NEWS": He understands that it's a quick declarative sentence is much more effective than explaining some elaborate policy proposal. Voters really don't want to hear that. They want to understand essentially who you are and what you would do.
LOTHIAN: It worked against the highly touted debater, incumbent Ann Richards, in the 1994 campaign for Texas governor.
GOV. ANN RICHARDS (D), TEXAS: I think there are serious questions to be raised whether or not George Bush is qualified to be governor.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that this is a diversion away from not talking about the issues that face Texas. I want to discuss welfare, education. I want to discuss the juvenile justice system.
LOTHIAN: Mr. Bush stayed on message. He would do the same in presidential primary debates and against Al Gore.
JIM MOORE, JOURNALIST: Mr. Bush's performance is always the performance of a regular guy who is standing at a podium.
LOTHIAN: Kerry's studious approach is rooted in history.
(on camera): Senator Kerry has been at this for quite some time. In fact, while attending prep school here at Saint Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire, he was on the debate team. He won two debating awards and he even studied classic debates. He continued to hone his skills at Yale, where, by all accounts, he excelled.
(voice-over): "Boston Globe" reporter Frank Phillips has covered Kerry since the '70s.
FRANK PHILLIPS, "BOSTON GLOBE": He's smart, quick, knows the issues. Exactly.
LOTHIAN (on camera): But is he too complex for the average viewer, for the voter?
PHILLIPS: Well, it is a problem.
LOTHIAN (voice-over): Kerry is seen as long-winded, lacking in personality. But this Vietnam veteran is also a fighter. Here's what happened in his tough 1996 Senate reelection campaign against former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld.
PHILLIPS: Kerry very effectively stopped Bill Weld from making the death penalty an issue when Weld pointed to somebody, a victim's family member in the audience, and said...
BILL WELD (R), MASSACHUSETTS SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Tell her why the life of the man that murdered her son is worth more than the life of her son, the police officer?
PHILLIPS: And Kerry just let it hang out there and then turned to Weld and talked about...
SEN. JOHN KERRY (MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I've been opposed to the death penalty. I know something about killing. I don't like killing. And I don't think a state honors life by turning around and sanctioning killing.
LOTHIAN: In the past, the president has managed to also score points by lowering expectations. But with four years in the White House, many believe a much more difficult argument to make this time. Experts say Kerry has the most to gain, but needs to be clear on the issues.
KATHLEEN HALL JAMIESON, DEAN ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION: To establish to the American people that he can hold his own, that he's just as presidential.
LOTHIAN: As for Bush?
SLATER: He and his aides understand that debates are about making an emotional connection with an audience.
LOTHIAN: The president will need to defend his record without being knocked off message.
Dan Lothian, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: So, a question for you this morning. Do you plan to be up tonight for the big debate? Will you watch? Tell us why or why not. That's our e-mail Question of the Morning. So send your responses to daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com.
We're always interested to get your comments. And, of course, we'll read some later on on DAYBREAK. CNN is there for tonight's debate on international policy and homeland security. Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn, Wolf Blitzer and CNN's election team kick off our prime time coverage at 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific time.
And you might remember the Bush and Kerry camps came up with 32 rules, restrictions, whatever, for tonight's debate. Among them, no camera shots from behind or cutaways of either candidate while the other is talking, although I don't think the networks will go along with that one. Also, other than a handshake, no approaching the other; no props; only rhetorical questions and neither candidate can suggest the other make a pledge about anything.
Also, each candidate can use his own makeup artist. No risers to make either man look taller. A coin toss will determine who gets the first question. Answers can be up to two minutes, but rebuttals are supposed to be limited to 90 seconds.
We'll see who's first to break the rules tonight.
Starting today, almost anyone coming into the U.S. without a travel visa will be fingerprinted and photographed. The new rules affect travelers from Britain, Germany, Japan and 24 other countries. People from these nations have previously been able to travel in and out of the United States with just a passport. The change affects roughly 13 million tourists who enter the United States each year. The Department of Homeland Security says the new information will be cross-referenced with databases of criminals and known terrorists.
In other news across America now, airports across the Southeast are on the lookout for a missing plane. A family of four from Pensacola, Florida has been missing for two weeks now after trying to especially hurricane Ivan in their small plane. They took off less than 24 hours before Ivan devastated the area. Authorities believe the plane may have gone down in southern Mississippi, but search crews have turned up no evidence of that.
The Army put on a blimp show in the skies over the nation's capital. This surveillance blimp, complete with infrared cameras, made the rounds over Washington for about 24 hours. But the blimp wasn't spying. The flight was intended to be nothing more than a demonstration of technology. The spy -- the patrolling comes later.
A laser similar to this one almost caused a catastrophe in Utah. A Delta Airlines pilot says his eye was injured by the beam while he was on approach to the Salt Lake City airport. Investigators don't know if the cockpit of the plane was targeted or if that laser beam was just random.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLAUS HAUER, FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: Well, it's five miles out. They would probably be even with the Ochres, the Ochre Mountains or the Wasatch Mountains or something, you know? So you could be on a mountaintop about level with aircraft coming into Salt Lake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Federal officials, including the Terrorism Task Force, are investigating the pilot's claims.
Defense attorneys say the Laci Peterson investigation was full of holes. At issue is the admission that detectives didn't follow-up on numerous tips in the case.
CNN's Ted Rowlands takes a look at the testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Defense attorney Mark Geragos has finished his cross-examination of Detective Craig Grogan. It has been four days of using Grogan to try to punch holes in the prosecution's case. The defense wants the jury to know that many tips in this case were not investigated by police.
Grogan acknowledged that one man told police that near Peterson's neighborhood he saw a scared pregnant woman urinating next to a van a few days after Laci Peterson was reported missing. The tipster told police a suspicious male stood guard with his hands up, which Geragos demonstrated in front of the jury. According to the story, the woman was then taken to the van and pulled in by another man.
Grogan testified that a number of sightings which Geragos has brought up were not investigated because there were thousands of tips and resources were limited. The judge has allowed Geragos to ask Grogan about these tips and leads, whether they were verified or not, to allow jurors a sense of the choices that Grogan made during the investigation. But the judge has told jurors not to take the content of these tips as the truth.
DEAN JOHNSON, LEGAL ANALYST: I tend to think that if a juror has heard somewhere that somebody sighted Laci and McKenzie on a walk, they're not going to say, well, that was only admitted for Detective Grogan's state of mind. We have to ignore that.
ROWLANDS: Grogan also testified that while investigators believed Laci Peterson was strangled or suffocated, no physical evidence of that was found in the Petersons' bed or anywhere in the house.
(on camera): When Mark Geragos announced that he had completed his cross- examination of Detective Grogan, one of the jurors actually did a mock clap in the courtroom.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Redwood City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: A former enemy combatant gets a reprieve. But when it comes -- but it comes with strings attached. We're going to take you live to Saudi Arabia, where Yaser Hamdi is supposed to be released any time now. A British hostage being held in Iraq begs for his life as his family begs for help. We'll have a live report for you from London on Prime Minister Tony Blair's reaction.
And reaching for the stars gets a little easier. We'll find out how the $10 million space race is shaping up. It's pretty amazing.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 5:15 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
The time for talking is now. The first presidential debate gets under way tonight in Coral Gables, Florida. We'll have much more on the debates coming up in just a few minutes here on DAYBREAK.
Spaceship One has made -- has one more hurdle to clear before claiming that $10 million X Prize. The craft has made a successful flight into space. Now the ship has to make one more space flight in the next two weeks to win the big prize.
In money news, Microsoft is dropping prices in an effort to get new customers in India. They're lowering the price of their Windows XP operating system in order to make computers more affordable, like maybe $300 for the average computer in India.
In culture, Donald Trump makes big bucks as a guest speaker, but he says he doesn't keep the money. Trump says after speaking at the University of Buffalo today, he will give his $200,000 fee to charity.
In sports, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox reached a managerial milestone with his 2000th win. Cox joins Cardinals manager Tony La Russa as the only active manager to reach that mark. He is the ninth skipper of all time to reach 2,000 wins.
And, you know, Chad, he is underrated. He is.
MYERS: It was a great game yesterday, too.
COSTELLO: Was it?
MYERS: All of my friends went to the double header the night before and they all had a good time so. And you can still get seats.
COSTELLO: That's the funny thing about Atlanta.
MYERS: It sure is. You can win all you want, but there's still seats available. Good morning, everybody.
Good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
Today is the deadline for Yaser Hamdi to be released from jail, actually, from custody. It's still unclear, though, if that deadline will be met. He is expected to be released in Saudi Arabia, where CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is covering the story of the former so-called enemy combatant.
Nic, why the delay, though?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Saudi authorities seem to be questioning some of the restrictions that are going to be put on Yaser Hamdi when he comes back to Saudi Arabia. When he arrives back here, he's supposed to first renounce his U.S. citizenship then agree not to travel outside of Saudi Arabia for the next five years, to not travel to the United States and a number of other countries inside the next 10 years, that the Saudi authorities would be responsible for making sure that Yaser Hamdi does not contact or have any dealings with any terrorist groups, any Jihadi groups inside Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi authorities are essentially saying that, number one, this is unenforceable. But beyond that, they're saying that if Yaser Hamdi is being released, he's innocent, that they have seen no evidence to support that he was an enemy combatant and they say if that is the case, then why are these restrictions being placed on him? But the issue for them is that they're unenforceable.
The issue for Yaser Hamdi's family, and we've been talking with them here, is one of incredible frustration at this time. They were expecting Yaser back over in the last few days. There have been two big disappointments. The family is planning a huge big party. But his father told me that what he really wants to do is to get his son back into a normal life here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ESSAN HAMDI, YASER HAMDI'S FATHER: Challah will go back to his normal life, where he's going to go back to school. And Challah hopefully will be getting married soon after he comes back. And he will go back to his normal life and be a productive person in Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Now, what the family is hoping to do is they say the town that they live in, Jubail, close to the sea here, the whole town will essentially shut down. There will be a huge big party. His father is a very respected member of the community here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, what are the implications of this, if Saudi Arabia doesn't go along with the deal?
ROBERTSON: Well, I think the Saudi authorities, although they're not saying this explicitly, implicit in what they're saying is if the United States returns Yaser Hamdi to him with these conditions, what if some of those other Saudis who are held in Guantanamo Bay, what if they're eventually released back into Saudi custody? If restrictions are placed on them, there could be tens, dozens, hundreds of Saudis here that the Saudi government would be responsible for. They have their own Jihadi problem here in Saudi Arabia.
They say this would be, in the long run, potentially unmanageable for them -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Nic Robertson reporting live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this morning.
Thank you.
Much more ahead on DAYBREAK.
You stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time to check out cnn.com this morning to see what you're clicking onto.
Some interesting but sad stories.
MYERS: A couple of sad stories, but one about a bear that we have to get to.
COSTELLO: Oh, the bear is great.
MYERS: Go ahead.
COSTELLO: First of all, the woman who sang "It's Raining Men," which is a song all women love -- I love that song.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: It's played at every wedding reception you go to.
MYERS: Written by Paul Schaeffer, you know, of "Late Night With David Letterman."
COSTELLO: Yes. But it was actually sung by Izora Rhodes Armstead, which probably not many people know her name, but they certainly know the song.
MYERS: Right. Sure.
COSTELLO: Don't know how old she was. She -- her age is unknown, which is kind of odd. But she died of heart failure. So that's a sad story.
This is a weird story, though, this statute of Jesus washing up in Texas.
MYERS: Yes. Somewhere along the Rio Grande this thing washed up. It's a five foot fiberglass statue of Jesus and they're calling it a miracle.
COSTELLO: Yes, and lots of people are going there just to touch the statue. And if no one claims it in 90 days, they're going to donate it to a church.
OK, now the bear story. The bear ransacks a man's kitchen and steals his chocolate.
MYERS: And the guy goes, "He stole four pounds of my chocolate and this is war."
COSTELLO: The bear is known as Fat Albert. The thing about this man, he's paralyzed. He lives in Aspen, Colorado.
MYERS: Yes?
COSTELLO: He's in his bed. He's paralyzed. He can't move. And a big...
MYERS: For two hours the bear is in there.
COSTELLO: Going through the kitchen eating stuff, breaking stuff. The man is afraid that he'll go into his bedroom and attack him.
MYERS: And never has. And has ransacked the same house six times. I would get a better lock. At that point, yes.
COSTELLO: I think he likes Fat Albert in a strange way.
MYERS: I guess so.
COSTELLO: Late night talk shows are gearing up for plenty of good joke material from tonight's presidential debates.
Here's a sample.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY NBC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the presidential debate, this is big. This is going to decide everything. Yes. Wee-Whoo! I don't think I'll check it out either. But anyway -- no, everyone's talking about it. Of course, the candidates are getting ready. The first presidential debate is tomorrow and according to "USA Today," this is what they said, "USA Today" said, "Being likable is more important than being smart." That's what they said, yes.
Yes, when he heard this, President Bush said, "Whoo!"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh, man. Well, is it really true what he said about the debates, that it's like who cares? I mean who cares? That's our e-mail Question of the Day.
MYERS: Oh, all right.
COSTELLO: Like are you going to watch the debate tonight? We're really interested in that.
MYERS: I think there are so many undecided voters I think it might make a huge difference.
COSTELLO: I hope people watch.
MYERS: I do, too.
COSTELLO: Because you really can get an idea of what these two guys are all about, other than a likability factor.
MYERS: And little sound bites that you hear on 30 second commercials, you know?
COSTELLO: Yes. Yes. So hopefully some good will come of the debate. Watch it.
But anyway, on the subject of paying more attention to style over substance, CNN's Jeanne Moos looks at the difference between the message and its delivery.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don't read their lips, watch body language. George Bush prefers pointing his finger. John Kerry is big on making a fist and pointing his thumb. He's even ambidextrous.
KERRY: Red, white and blue.
MOOS: There haven't been any smack downs. But remember this stare down? But it's the way they speak that makes a comedian's day.
BUSH: And America is the new Texas. We will kick your ass.
KERRY: I can't believe I'm behind in the polls to this.
MOOS: Kerry the Brahman versus Bush the Bull.
(on camera) If there's one word that sums up President Bush's speaking style, it's "nucular." Nuclear. "Nucular." Nuclear. He's got me confused.
(voice-over) No matter that "nucular" drives his critics ballistic.
BUSH: ... for nuclular bombs.
We could supply them with nucular...
Nucular activity...
MOOS: A Stanford University linguist has even written a book called "Going Nucular." He calls it...
GEOFFREY NUNBERG, LINGUIST, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Go Bubba. A way of connecting to people, of turning himself into a Texan and washing Andover and Yale from his shoes.
BUSH: Nucular weapons.
Nucular nonproliferation obligations.
MOOS: And though "nuclear" is correct, many in the military prefer "nucular." "Merriam-Webster's" notes that though "nucular" is disapproved of, it's widely used by educated speakers, including at least one U.S. president.
But for Mia Farrow's character, it's a crime.
MIA FARROW, ACTRESS: I've never been seduced by guy who wears loafers and no socks, much less one who says "nucular."
NUNBERG: Well, I think it's a choice. It's like the swagger, something that's become second nature.
MOOS: And then there's Senator Kerry's patrician delivery, even more pronounced when he was young.
KERRY: Razed villages in the fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan.
NUNBERG: He had that real preppy drawl, what people sometimes call the Massachusetts malocclusion.
KERRY: An abnormality in the coming together of the teeth, highly mockable.
COLIN QUINN, COMEDIAN: You see him in the old footage, he's like, "The atrocities we committed were without parallel."
MOOS: Some yearn for a dream debate.
BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: But a debate between Bill Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger, you could put that on Pay-Per-View.
MOOS: But in this debate, if either candidate bombs, it's "nucular."
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Oh, that's fantastic. Clinton and Schwarzenegger. I'd want to see that one. CNN is live in Miami, by the way, as the candidates square off on homeland security and foreign policy. We'll be able to show you the instant, real time reactions of a group of undecided voters as they watch the debate. Pretty cool.
MYERS: Anderson is back in Florida again.
COSTELLO: Yes, but he's not going covering a hurricane this time.
MYERS: No.
COSTELLO: Our coverage of the debate begins at 7:00 Eastern.
DAYBREAK will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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9
Aired September 30, 2004 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, George Bush and John Kerry go before the nation tonight in the first of three televised presidential debates. Tonight's topic, international affairs and homeland security. The 90 minute face-off gets under way at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
A car bomber targets a base used by the U.S. military and Iraqi police in western Baghdad. Nearly 50 people are wounded, including four U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi police officers.
That follows a U.S. air strike on a suspected terrorist target in Fallujah. Officials say they believe terrorists linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were in a house. Secondary explosions suggest explosives were hidden there.
New rules affecting most visitors to the United States goes into effect today. The rules, developed by homeland security, provide that almost anyone arriving without a travel visa will be fingerprinted and photographed.
To the forecast center to check in with Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Decision time approaches. Just 33 days left until the November 2 election. Here's a look at how some of you are leaning in the race for the White House.
A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows three crucial battleground states remain very close. The poll was taken Friday through Monday and has an error factor of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
In Pennsylvania, Kerry has a four point lead over Bush among registered voters. But among likely voters, the lead flip-flops, with Bush getting a three point edge over Kerry.
Ohio looks close, too. Kerry holds a four point lead over Bush among registered voters. But among likely voters, the advantage switches to Bush by only 2 percentage points. And here's a look at what's happening in Florida. Among registered voters, Bush is slightly ahead. But it, too, is a statistical dead heat. However, among people who are likely to vote, Bush's lead widens significantly, by nine points.
And tonight, we'll all get to see how these two candidates fare against each other when they face-off before a live audience in Coral Gables, Florida.
Our Dan Lothian looks at the debate styles of George W. Bush and John Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): At President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas and at this resort off the beaten path in Wisconsin, senior advisers are helping President Bush and John Kerry. Both candidates have mastered the art of debating, but with two different styles. President Bush cut his teeth in Texas, where Wayne Slater and Jim Moore, who wrote the book "Bush's Brain," followed as he silenced political doubters.
WAYNE SLATER, "DALLAS MORNING NEWS": He understands that it's a quick declarative sentence is much more effective than explaining some elaborate policy proposal. Voters really don't want to hear that. They want to understand essentially who you are and what you would do.
LOTHIAN: It worked against the highly touted debater, incumbent Ann Richards, in the 1994 campaign for Texas governor.
GOV. ANN RICHARDS (D), TEXAS: I think there are serious questions to be raised whether or not George Bush is qualified to be governor.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that this is a diversion away from not talking about the issues that face Texas. I want to discuss welfare, education. I want to discuss the juvenile justice system.
LOTHIAN: Mr. Bush stayed on message. He would do the same in presidential primary debates and against Al Gore.
JIM MOORE, JOURNALIST: Mr. Bush's performance is always the performance of a regular guy who is standing at a podium.
LOTHIAN: Kerry's studious approach is rooted in history.
(on camera): Senator Kerry has been at this for quite some time. In fact, while attending prep school here at Saint Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire, he was on the debate team. He won two debating awards and he even studied classic debates. He continued to hone his skills at Yale, where, by all accounts, he excelled.
(voice-over): "Boston Globe" reporter Frank Phillips has covered Kerry since the '70s.
FRANK PHILLIPS, "BOSTON GLOBE": He's smart, quick, knows the issues. Exactly.
LOTHIAN (on camera): But is he too complex for the average viewer, for the voter?
PHILLIPS: Well, it is a problem.
LOTHIAN (voice-over): Kerry is seen as long-winded, lacking in personality. But this Vietnam veteran is also a fighter. Here's what happened in his tough 1996 Senate reelection campaign against former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld.
PHILLIPS: Kerry very effectively stopped Bill Weld from making the death penalty an issue when Weld pointed to somebody, a victim's family member in the audience, and said...
BILL WELD (R), MASSACHUSETTS SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Tell her why the life of the man that murdered her son is worth more than the life of her son, the police officer?
PHILLIPS: And Kerry just let it hang out there and then turned to Weld and talked about...
SEN. JOHN KERRY (MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I've been opposed to the death penalty. I know something about killing. I don't like killing. And I don't think a state honors life by turning around and sanctioning killing.
LOTHIAN: In the past, the president has managed to also score points by lowering expectations. But with four years in the White House, many believe a much more difficult argument to make this time. Experts say Kerry has the most to gain, but needs to be clear on the issues.
KATHLEEN HALL JAMIESON, DEAN ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION: To establish to the American people that he can hold his own, that he's just as presidential.
LOTHIAN: As for Bush?
SLATER: He and his aides understand that debates are about making an emotional connection with an audience.
LOTHIAN: The president will need to defend his record without being knocked off message.
Dan Lothian, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: So, a question for you this morning. Do you plan to be up tonight for the big debate? Will you watch? Tell us why or why not. That's our e-mail Question of the Morning. So send your responses to daybreak@cnn.com. That's daybreak@cnn.com.
We're always interested to get your comments. And, of course, we'll read some later on on DAYBREAK. CNN is there for tonight's debate on international policy and homeland security. Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn, Wolf Blitzer and CNN's election team kick off our prime time coverage at 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific time.
And you might remember the Bush and Kerry camps came up with 32 rules, restrictions, whatever, for tonight's debate. Among them, no camera shots from behind or cutaways of either candidate while the other is talking, although I don't think the networks will go along with that one. Also, other than a handshake, no approaching the other; no props; only rhetorical questions and neither candidate can suggest the other make a pledge about anything.
Also, each candidate can use his own makeup artist. No risers to make either man look taller. A coin toss will determine who gets the first question. Answers can be up to two minutes, but rebuttals are supposed to be limited to 90 seconds.
We'll see who's first to break the rules tonight.
Starting today, almost anyone coming into the U.S. without a travel visa will be fingerprinted and photographed. The new rules affect travelers from Britain, Germany, Japan and 24 other countries. People from these nations have previously been able to travel in and out of the United States with just a passport. The change affects roughly 13 million tourists who enter the United States each year. The Department of Homeland Security says the new information will be cross-referenced with databases of criminals and known terrorists.
In other news across America now, airports across the Southeast are on the lookout for a missing plane. A family of four from Pensacola, Florida has been missing for two weeks now after trying to especially hurricane Ivan in their small plane. They took off less than 24 hours before Ivan devastated the area. Authorities believe the plane may have gone down in southern Mississippi, but search crews have turned up no evidence of that.
The Army put on a blimp show in the skies over the nation's capital. This surveillance blimp, complete with infrared cameras, made the rounds over Washington for about 24 hours. But the blimp wasn't spying. The flight was intended to be nothing more than a demonstration of technology. The spy -- the patrolling comes later.
A laser similar to this one almost caused a catastrophe in Utah. A Delta Airlines pilot says his eye was injured by the beam while he was on approach to the Salt Lake City airport. Investigators don't know if the cockpit of the plane was targeted or if that laser beam was just random.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLAUS HAUER, FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR: Well, it's five miles out. They would probably be even with the Ochres, the Ochre Mountains or the Wasatch Mountains or something, you know? So you could be on a mountaintop about level with aircraft coming into Salt Lake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Federal officials, including the Terrorism Task Force, are investigating the pilot's claims.
Defense attorneys say the Laci Peterson investigation was full of holes. At issue is the admission that detectives didn't follow-up on numerous tips in the case.
CNN's Ted Rowlands takes a look at the testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Defense attorney Mark Geragos has finished his cross-examination of Detective Craig Grogan. It has been four days of using Grogan to try to punch holes in the prosecution's case. The defense wants the jury to know that many tips in this case were not investigated by police.
Grogan acknowledged that one man told police that near Peterson's neighborhood he saw a scared pregnant woman urinating next to a van a few days after Laci Peterson was reported missing. The tipster told police a suspicious male stood guard with his hands up, which Geragos demonstrated in front of the jury. According to the story, the woman was then taken to the van and pulled in by another man.
Grogan testified that a number of sightings which Geragos has brought up were not investigated because there were thousands of tips and resources were limited. The judge has allowed Geragos to ask Grogan about these tips and leads, whether they were verified or not, to allow jurors a sense of the choices that Grogan made during the investigation. But the judge has told jurors not to take the content of these tips as the truth.
DEAN JOHNSON, LEGAL ANALYST: I tend to think that if a juror has heard somewhere that somebody sighted Laci and McKenzie on a walk, they're not going to say, well, that was only admitted for Detective Grogan's state of mind. We have to ignore that.
ROWLANDS: Grogan also testified that while investigators believed Laci Peterson was strangled or suffocated, no physical evidence of that was found in the Petersons' bed or anywhere in the house.
(on camera): When Mark Geragos announced that he had completed his cross- examination of Detective Grogan, one of the jurors actually did a mock clap in the courtroom.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Redwood City, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: A former enemy combatant gets a reprieve. But when it comes -- but it comes with strings attached. We're going to take you live to Saudi Arabia, where Yaser Hamdi is supposed to be released any time now. A British hostage being held in Iraq begs for his life as his family begs for help. We'll have a live report for you from London on Prime Minister Tony Blair's reaction.
And reaching for the stars gets a little easier. We'll find out how the $10 million space race is shaping up. It's pretty amazing.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.
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COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It's 5:15 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
The time for talking is now. The first presidential debate gets under way tonight in Coral Gables, Florida. We'll have much more on the debates coming up in just a few minutes here on DAYBREAK.
Spaceship One has made -- has one more hurdle to clear before claiming that $10 million X Prize. The craft has made a successful flight into space. Now the ship has to make one more space flight in the next two weeks to win the big prize.
In money news, Microsoft is dropping prices in an effort to get new customers in India. They're lowering the price of their Windows XP operating system in order to make computers more affordable, like maybe $300 for the average computer in India.
In culture, Donald Trump makes big bucks as a guest speaker, but he says he doesn't keep the money. Trump says after speaking at the University of Buffalo today, he will give his $200,000 fee to charity.
In sports, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox reached a managerial milestone with his 2000th win. Cox joins Cardinals manager Tony La Russa as the only active manager to reach that mark. He is the ninth skipper of all time to reach 2,000 wins.
And, you know, Chad, he is underrated. He is.
MYERS: It was a great game yesterday, too.
COSTELLO: Was it?
MYERS: All of my friends went to the double header the night before and they all had a good time so. And you can still get seats.
COSTELLO: That's the funny thing about Atlanta.
MYERS: It sure is. You can win all you want, but there's still seats available. Good morning, everybody.
Good morning.
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COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
Today is the deadline for Yaser Hamdi to be released from jail, actually, from custody. It's still unclear, though, if that deadline will be met. He is expected to be released in Saudi Arabia, where CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is covering the story of the former so-called enemy combatant.
Nic, why the delay, though?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Saudi authorities seem to be questioning some of the restrictions that are going to be put on Yaser Hamdi when he comes back to Saudi Arabia. When he arrives back here, he's supposed to first renounce his U.S. citizenship then agree not to travel outside of Saudi Arabia for the next five years, to not travel to the United States and a number of other countries inside the next 10 years, that the Saudi authorities would be responsible for making sure that Yaser Hamdi does not contact or have any dealings with any terrorist groups, any Jihadi groups inside Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi authorities are essentially saying that, number one, this is unenforceable. But beyond that, they're saying that if Yaser Hamdi is being released, he's innocent, that they have seen no evidence to support that he was an enemy combatant and they say if that is the case, then why are these restrictions being placed on him? But the issue for them is that they're unenforceable.
The issue for Yaser Hamdi's family, and we've been talking with them here, is one of incredible frustration at this time. They were expecting Yaser back over in the last few days. There have been two big disappointments. The family is planning a huge big party. But his father told me that what he really wants to do is to get his son back into a normal life here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ESSAN HAMDI, YASER HAMDI'S FATHER: Challah will go back to his normal life, where he's going to go back to school. And Challah hopefully will be getting married soon after he comes back. And he will go back to his normal life and be a productive person in Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Now, what the family is hoping to do is they say the town that they live in, Jubail, close to the sea here, the whole town will essentially shut down. There will be a huge big party. His father is a very respected member of the community here -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, what are the implications of this, if Saudi Arabia doesn't go along with the deal?
ROBERTSON: Well, I think the Saudi authorities, although they're not saying this explicitly, implicit in what they're saying is if the United States returns Yaser Hamdi to him with these conditions, what if some of those other Saudis who are held in Guantanamo Bay, what if they're eventually released back into Saudi custody? If restrictions are placed on them, there could be tens, dozens, hundreds of Saudis here that the Saudi government would be responsible for. They have their own Jihadi problem here in Saudi Arabia.
They say this would be, in the long run, potentially unmanageable for them -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Nic Robertson reporting live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this morning.
Thank you.
Much more ahead on DAYBREAK.
You stay right there.
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COSTELLO: Time to check out cnn.com this morning to see what you're clicking onto.
Some interesting but sad stories.
MYERS: A couple of sad stories, but one about a bear that we have to get to.
COSTELLO: Oh, the bear is great.
MYERS: Go ahead.
COSTELLO: First of all, the woman who sang "It's Raining Men," which is a song all women love -- I love that song.
MYERS: Yes.
COSTELLO: It's played at every wedding reception you go to.
MYERS: Written by Paul Schaeffer, you know, of "Late Night With David Letterman."
COSTELLO: Yes. But it was actually sung by Izora Rhodes Armstead, which probably not many people know her name, but they certainly know the song.
MYERS: Right. Sure.
COSTELLO: Don't know how old she was. She -- her age is unknown, which is kind of odd. But she died of heart failure. So that's a sad story.
This is a weird story, though, this statute of Jesus washing up in Texas.
MYERS: Yes. Somewhere along the Rio Grande this thing washed up. It's a five foot fiberglass statue of Jesus and they're calling it a miracle.
COSTELLO: Yes, and lots of people are going there just to touch the statue. And if no one claims it in 90 days, they're going to donate it to a church.
OK, now the bear story. The bear ransacks a man's kitchen and steals his chocolate.
MYERS: And the guy goes, "He stole four pounds of my chocolate and this is war."
COSTELLO: The bear is known as Fat Albert. The thing about this man, he's paralyzed. He lives in Aspen, Colorado.
MYERS: Yes?
COSTELLO: He's in his bed. He's paralyzed. He can't move. And a big...
MYERS: For two hours the bear is in there.
COSTELLO: Going through the kitchen eating stuff, breaking stuff. The man is afraid that he'll go into his bedroom and attack him.
MYERS: And never has. And has ransacked the same house six times. I would get a better lock. At that point, yes.
COSTELLO: I think he likes Fat Albert in a strange way.
MYERS: I guess so.
COSTELLO: Late night talk shows are gearing up for plenty of good joke material from tonight's presidential debates.
Here's a sample.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY NBC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the presidential debate, this is big. This is going to decide everything. Yes. Wee-Whoo! I don't think I'll check it out either. But anyway -- no, everyone's talking about it. Of course, the candidates are getting ready. The first presidential debate is tomorrow and according to "USA Today," this is what they said, "USA Today" said, "Being likable is more important than being smart." That's what they said, yes.
Yes, when he heard this, President Bush said, "Whoo!"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh, man. Well, is it really true what he said about the debates, that it's like who cares? I mean who cares? That's our e-mail Question of the Day.
MYERS: Oh, all right.
COSTELLO: Like are you going to watch the debate tonight? We're really interested in that.
MYERS: I think there are so many undecided voters I think it might make a huge difference.
COSTELLO: I hope people watch.
MYERS: I do, too.
COSTELLO: Because you really can get an idea of what these two guys are all about, other than a likability factor.
MYERS: And little sound bites that you hear on 30 second commercials, you know?
COSTELLO: Yes. Yes. So hopefully some good will come of the debate. Watch it.
But anyway, on the subject of paying more attention to style over substance, CNN's Jeanne Moos looks at the difference between the message and its delivery.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Don't read their lips, watch body language. George Bush prefers pointing his finger. John Kerry is big on making a fist and pointing his thumb. He's even ambidextrous.
KERRY: Red, white and blue.
MOOS: There haven't been any smack downs. But remember this stare down? But it's the way they speak that makes a comedian's day.
BUSH: And America is the new Texas. We will kick your ass.
KERRY: I can't believe I'm behind in the polls to this.
MOOS: Kerry the Brahman versus Bush the Bull.
(on camera) If there's one word that sums up President Bush's speaking style, it's "nucular." Nuclear. "Nucular." Nuclear. He's got me confused.
(voice-over) No matter that "nucular" drives his critics ballistic.
BUSH: ... for nuclular bombs.
We could supply them with nucular...
Nucular activity...
MOOS: A Stanford University linguist has even written a book called "Going Nucular." He calls it...
GEOFFREY NUNBERG, LINGUIST, STANFORD UNIVERSITY: Go Bubba. A way of connecting to people, of turning himself into a Texan and washing Andover and Yale from his shoes.
BUSH: Nucular weapons.
Nucular nonproliferation obligations.
MOOS: And though "nuclear" is correct, many in the military prefer "nucular." "Merriam-Webster's" notes that though "nucular" is disapproved of, it's widely used by educated speakers, including at least one U.S. president.
But for Mia Farrow's character, it's a crime.
MIA FARROW, ACTRESS: I've never been seduced by guy who wears loafers and no socks, much less one who says "nucular."
NUNBERG: Well, I think it's a choice. It's like the swagger, something that's become second nature.
MOOS: And then there's Senator Kerry's patrician delivery, even more pronounced when he was young.
KERRY: Razed villages in the fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan.
NUNBERG: He had that real preppy drawl, what people sometimes call the Massachusetts malocclusion.
KERRY: An abnormality in the coming together of the teeth, highly mockable.
COLIN QUINN, COMEDIAN: You see him in the old footage, he's like, "The atrocities we committed were without parallel."
MOOS: Some yearn for a dream debate.
BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: But a debate between Bill Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger, you could put that on Pay-Per-View.
MOOS: But in this debate, if either candidate bombs, it's "nucular."
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Oh, that's fantastic. Clinton and Schwarzenegger. I'd want to see that one. CNN is live in Miami, by the way, as the candidates square off on homeland security and foreign policy. We'll be able to show you the instant, real time reactions of a group of undecided voters as they watch the debate. Pretty cool.
MYERS: Anderson is back in Florida again.
COSTELLO: Yes, but he's not going covering a hurricane this time.
MYERS: No.
COSTELLO: Our coverage of the debate begins at 7:00 Eastern.
DAYBREAK will be right back.
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