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American Morning
Fight for Florida; Image of Presidential Candidates; "Crowded House"
Aired September 30, 2004 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: There you hear it, the opening bell ringing on Wall Street today. The Dow Jones Industrial average starts trading at 10136. That's up about 50 points -- 58 points, that is, yesterday. And at the Nasdaq Marketsite, the Composite Index opens at 1893, up also about 24 points. Good news there.
Well, one of the big tests for the markets today will be the news from drug-maker Merck. Merck announcing it's pulling the arthritis drug, Vioxx, from the markets for health reasons. Once again, a voluntary recall on that. We'll be talking more with Andy Serwer about it.
But for now, we want to go back to Bill in Miami. Hey, Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Heidi.
Coming up this half-hour, a beautiful day, by the way, here at the University of Miami. One of the biggest moments in any presidential campaign comes to this campus tonight. The first debate is tonight. Four years ago, 46 million people watched debate No. 1. Those numbers dropped off by about 10 million in the preceding debates, No. 2 and No. 3.
These pictures just in to us here. President Bush is in Florida, after arriving yesterday, and touring some hurricane-damaged areas north of Tampa. Today, he's on the eastern edge of this state in Stuart, Florida, north of our location here, looking at one of the hardest-hit areas, not only from Jeanne, but if you go back two weeks before that from Hurricane Frances, too.
We're going to talk about all of this hurricane news and how it impacts the selection either one way or the other in a moment. Thomas Fiedler is back with us from "The Miami Herald." So, we'll get his thoughts on that, also find out what's on his radar going into the debates later tonight.
But now, back to New York and Rick Sanchez watching the headlines there.
And Rick, good morning.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Give my regards to Tom Fiedler when you talk to him. Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: I'll do that. SANCHEZ: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the violence in Iraq is getting worse, and he expects it to increase ahead of elections. Mr. Rumsfeld also says that he wants the U.S. military to consider cutting the time the troops spend in combat tours. But he admits that he hasn't figured out just how to do that. Rumsfeld made the comments in a radio interview in Charleston, West Virginia.
A man termed an enemy combatant is expected to go home today. Yaser Hamdi was captured almost three years ago in Afghanistan. His lawyers have reached an agreement with U.S. officials -- they did so last week -- allowing him to return to his native Saudi Arabia. Hamdi's father said that he is waiting anxiously for his possible return.
No simple solutions for getting kids in better shape. The Institute of Medicine is at this hour releasing its recommendations for reversing childhood obesity. The effort includes more physical education in schools, changes in food labeling, and less time in front of televisions. Obesity has tripled among preteen youngsters just in the last 30 years.
Bill, some advice for you. About 1:00, you're going to be hit with a pretty good thunderstorm. Just wait a half-hour, and it will go away.
HEMMER: I think we can count on that every day, can we not, Rick, in southern Florida?
SANCHEZ: You certainly can in south Florida.
HEMMER: Thank you for that.
The debate, later tonight, the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll gives President Bush a significant lead here in the state of Florida over John Kerry, 5 percentage points among registered voters. It goes to 9 points among likely voters.
And Thomas Fiedler, the executive editor of "The Miami Herald," is back with us here live at the University of Miami.
Good morning to you. Nice to see you.
TOM FIEDLER, "THE MIAMI HERALD": Glad to be here.
HEMMER: You are front and center yet again the state of Florida. What's on your radar in this election now?
FIEDLER: We seem to have a knack for that. I think what's -- the latest poll is interesting, and I do think that it would square with my sense that President Bush has probably pulled ahead here, because he has responded, I think quite effectively, to the hurricanes that have hit us almost serially since the middle of August. Putting too much stock on that right now is probably risky, because, so many Floridians are still without power, without telephones, and that makes polling quite difficult.
HEMMER: You know, it's interesting. In your newspaper just yesterday, the front-page story above the fold...
FIEDLER: Right.
HEMMER: ... is the hurricanes living without power. Jeb Bush has been front and center now for six weeks, too.
FIEDLER: He has.
HEMMER: Does he help his brother more this time around or not than in 2000?
FIEDLER: Oh, I think there's no question that there is a bit of help there. And again, the hurricanes come into play. There was the Quinnipiac poll of two weeks or so ago. Whether the numbers are precise or not, it was interesting in that one of the questions that was asked was whether people gave Jeb Bush positive marks for his handling of the hurricane. Almost 9 out of 10 people who responded said they did. And trailing that only by 10 points or so was President Bush.
So, to the extent that that kind of thing puts wind under the wings of a candidate, it's got to have helped.
HEMMER: I found two other things quite remarkable in your state when you go back from four years ago. Your economy is stronger...
FIEDLER: Right.
HEMMER: ... than most areas of the state. You've added 300,000 jobs in four years. And the population growth, a million people have moved to Florida in the past four years. You've added 850,000 people to the voter rolls.
FIEDLER: Yes.
HEMMER: And that is a variable that no one can factor at this point.
FIEDLER: Yes. That's really right. Now, in many ways, the economic growth is fueled by the population growth. It becomes an engine by itself. It just almost begins almost perpetual motion there. A lot of the growth in the economy is directly related to homebuilding, home construction, just simply to accommodate the number of people who have moved in.
A lot of the jobs, though, I'd have to say, do remain in the, if not quite entry-level, it's driven in many cases by building and by the service that's around our tourist industry. So they're not high- wage jobs.
HEMMER: Tom, thanks for your time.
FIEDLER: It's always a pleasure.
HEMMER: Florida is always interesting, is it not?
FIEDLER: Yes, it is. It's welcome here.
HEMMER: Thomas Fiedler of "The Miami Herald," nice to see you.
FIEDLER: Thank you.
HEMMER: And again, as we move forward in this half-hour, just which candidate triumphs at the debate is not the only factor we're watching tonight. There's also the image each candidate presents and how they handle themselves during the all-important face-off.
Kelly Wallace now on the branding of Bush and Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's out of touch.
GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My opponent has had seven or eight different positions.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Think of President Bush and Senator Kerry as two brands vying to become No. 1.
LINDA KAPLAN THALER, ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE: Brand Kerry and brand Bush.
WALLACE: And right now, according to these Madison Avenue image- makers...
JOSH ROGERS, ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE: Senator John Kerry, I think, has done less for the job in terms of communicating.
WALLACE: So, their first tip for the Bostonian: Make an impression.
THALER: He has to have some great one-liners. He has to have water-cooler talk for the next day.
ROGERS: And something that people will talk about for days on end afterwards.
WALLACE: Like this memorable moment in 1984.
RONALD REAGAN (R), FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience.
(LAUGHTER)
WALLACE: Tip No. 2 for both men: Don't let them see you sweat, literally.
ROGERS: Do not sigh, obviously.
WALLACE: Ala Al Gore in 2000, think more of Bill Clinton's ease in 1992. THALER: Kerry needs to do more with his body language, a smile, more smiles actually. Lose the tan, OK? If you're going to be president, you don't have time to get a tan.
WALLACE: And finally, lighten up.
THALER: You know, these are tough times, but we want Marcus Welby. We want somebody to tell us it's going to be OK.
WALLACE: For Mr. Bush, the main advice: Don't muddy the brand, and...
THALER: Do not lose your temper.
WALLACE: The senator's challenge: Bolstering brand Kerry with men.
ROGERS: Most males look at a candidate in terms who they'd like to have a beer with.
WALLACE: And with women.
THALER: Whoever does a better job of convincing the American public that's the brand I want, that's who is going to win.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And tonight's debate is expected to get the largest ratings of the three presidential showdowns, which means that, according to advertising executives, they think this is the most important image-making moment of the presidential campaign.
HEMMER: But bring the right paper, Kelly, for note-taking. Bring the right pen and pencil. Only (INAUDIBLE).
WALLACE: Only...
HEMMER: The commission hammered it out, and the temperature is going to be set to industry standards inside.
WALLACE: Exactly.
HEMMER: Which is going to be a lot cooler than out here, don't you think?
WALLACE: A lot cooler. The fans are helping a little bit.
HEMMER: Great to see you, Kelly.
WALLACE: Great to see you.
HEMMER: All right. Another reminder for you at home. Our coverage starts at 7:00 later tonight. The debate begins at 9:00 Eastern Time.
And check us out tomorrow morning. AMERICAN MORNING will be live in Columbus, Ohio. We've assembled a group of two dozen undecided voters. Later tonight, we'll be able to monitor their reactions to the candidates electronically.
When they like something, the meter will go up. And when they don't, the meter will go down. And we'll know it immediately. We'll have that for you later tonight live in Columbus and, again, tomorrow morning in the follow-up in central Ohio.
Here's Heidi again back in New York now -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Bill, thanks a lot.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Still to come now, Florida hopes to fix some of the voting problems it had back in 2000 with a new system. In a moment, the state's election commissioner will show us how the new machines work.
Plus, we're checking back in with our friend, Soledad, and the little baby twins. Oh! We'll take a moment to see how she's doing in part two of our special series, "Crowded House," ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Are those night-vision goggles?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: It's time now for the latest installment in our series, "Crowded House."
Here now is Dr. Sanjay Gupta at the CNN center once again.
Lots of babies, lots of kids, you've got to love it.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You've got to love it. And welcome to week two of "Crowded House," Heidi, where we're checking in on Soledad O'Brien. Everyone remembers her. She recently had twins. And we're also going to check in on other multiple families as well.
This week, we meet the Cusato family from upstate New York to see what it's like to raise four babies and two older kids. It's definitely four times, maybe six times, the work, as you'll find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice over): From Soledad's perspective, a relatively calm view. The days are quiet. No multiple juggling act going on here.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Are you sleeping again?
GUPTA: But just wait a few months, Soledad, and it might look a little something like the Cusato household, where the juggling act has been going strong for eight months.
KAREN PICCIROLLO CUSATO, MOTHER OF QUADRUPLETS: In the beginning, I think it was just exciting, you know, and with the newspapers and the TV. Then there was reality. It was, you know, these babies and require round-the-clock care.
GUPTA: Most days, the clock starts at 6:00 a.m. when four separate cries are heard. The first order of the day: Dad makes between 10 and 20 bottles before going to work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bye, everybody.
GUPTA: Leaving mom to conduct the three-ring circus, really a four-ring circus, on her own. First up, feeding.
K. CUSATO: Breakfast time.
GUPTA: As if that weren't enough, the two older children need feeding as well.
K. CUSATO: Are you hungry?
GUPTA: At 7:30, help starts to arrive -- aunts, uncles, neighbors, friends. The Cusatos average five helping hands a day.
HEIDI MURKOFF, "WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING": Get as much help as you can get from as many people as you can get it from.
GUPTA: The biggest challenge: getting them on a schedule. Easier said than done. The Cusato quads aren't quite there yet.
K. CUSATO: One will be asleep, three will be up. Or two will be asleep, two will be up.
GUPTA: And then there's the keeping track. Who needs a nap? Which girl did I feed, Victoria or Gabriela?
K. CUSATO: We couldn't figure out why, you know, the one girl kept spitting up. I was like, 'Why is she doing this?' Someone said, "Oh, wait a minute, she ate twice." Twice in a row.
GUPTA: Feeding fiascos like this prompted Karen to start writing everything down on a spreadsheet. The stats are staggering. The babies go through 20 bottles a day, 24 diapers, 20 outfit changes, which means mom is doing at least three loads of laundry a day. By year's end, the Cusatos will have spent tens of thousands on formula, diapers, doctors' visits and adding on to the crowded house to make more room.
K. CUSATO: It's pretty much feed, bathe, nap, feed, nap, feed.
GUPTA: Lots of work. but well worth it.
K. CUSATO: It's still unbelievable to hold each one and think we had these four beautiful, remarkable miracles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And it certainly is remarkable. However, the Cusatos have adapted to having all of those kids in the house. It's really amazing. Good advice for Soledad as well.
Tune in next Thursday. We're going to meet the Bryant family. We're also going to tackle the sometimes touchy subject, postpartum depression. We'll answer the question: Do more babies equal more chances for depression? It's all part of our series called "Crowded House" right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Heidi -- back to you.
COLLINS: All right, Sanjay, thanks so much for that.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: We love looking at all of those kids. You just can't help but love it. Thanks once again, Sanjay.
And now back to Miami, the university of, I should say, Bill.
HEMMER: all right, hey, Heidi. Remember the butterfly ballot? Remember all of the hanging chads?
COLLINS: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: No more. Or that's what they say anyway.
Say hello to Seth Kaplan. He's the spokesperson here with the Miami-Dade County in southern Florida.
You've brought along one of the latest devices used for voting in 2004.
SETH KAPLAN, FLORIDA ELECTIONS COMMISSIONER: The latest, greatest, absolutely, Bill.
HEMMER: Used in a little more than a dozen counties out of 67 total here in Florida.
KAPLAN: That's right.
HEMMER: Take us in the booth. How will someone not make a mistake in 2004?
KAPLAN: Sure. Well, when the voter walks up here in this county, first you have a choice of three languages. We offer English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. So I'll go ahead and select English this morning. And the ballot appears. And I go through and make my selections in each race. I just touch my choices, and they become highlighted.
I want to show you, by the way, what happens if I accidentally choose two people in a race. I get an error message telling me that I can't do that.
Now, back in 2000, if I accidentally punched two candidates, that was an over-vote. That didn't count. We had 100,000 over-votes in Florida in 2000. HEMMER: And all of those were tossed out.
KAPLAN: Right. With this machine we can't have one. So, I make my selections and go through various pages of the ballot.
Now, I want to show you what happens if I don't make a selection in one race. When I go to the review screen to look at my choices again, again I get a big error message telling me no selection made. So, although I can choose not to vote in that race, I know that I haven't done that. Back in 2000, if I didn't punch that chad all the way through, maybe my vote didn't count and I didn't realize that.
HEMMER: So, is this foolproof?
KAPLAN: Well, this is a big improvement over what we had back in 2000. Certainly, I'm not sure there is any such thing as perfection. And you know, we don't mean to say that we think everything's perfect and can't be further improved. We're always looking for ways to make things even better. But again, all those questions of over-votes and under-votes we're really proud that we've addressed those.
HEMMER: Come on back here real quick for a moment. Why is this red light flashing here?
KAPLAN: Right. We have that flashing red vote button. So, again, I get the review screen, get a chance to really review my choices and have a clear idea of for whom I'm voting. And once I've done that and I'm happy with my selections, I just press that flashing red vote button, and the machine is going to thank me for voting. It really is that simple.
HEMMER: Do you get a receipt?
KAPLAN: No paper receipt at the time. But you didn't get a receipt with the punch cards either. Remember, voting is secret. So, we always have to balance all of the various considerations. Certainly, again, we're proud that we've made a lot of improvements since 2000.
And when all of you are in town this year, as we know you will be, we think you're going to be able to tell all of the folks back home how well everything worked here in Miami-Dade County. Thanks so much.
HEMMER: How many across the state do you have of these machines?
KAPLAN: Well, we have 7,200 in this county. So, certainly several tens of thousands across the state.
HEMMER: Good luck.
KAPLAN: Thank you very much.
HEMMER: The country is watching.
KAPLAN: We know. We know. We're going to make you proud this time.
HEMMER: Good deal. Thank you, Seth.
KAPLAN: All right. Take care, Bill.
HEMMER: Here's Heidi in New York -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Where's the curtain? There is a private curtain that goes around all of that, right? I hope so.
All right, still to come, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." He'll tell us what the decision to pull Vioxx off the markets means to Wall Street and to pharmacists. Stay here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Word this morning that Vioxx is being pulled from pharmacies worldwide. It's having a huge impact this morning.
Andy Serwer, "Minding Your Business", with more on this breaking story just today.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, it really is amazing. And what's been going on here is that the market is really getting hit badly with this news.
Let's check out the board here. Down 62. The Nasdaq is actually flat, Heidi. But Merck is a part of the Dow. And here are the numbers. This stock is down $12, or 26 percent. I mean, it's highly unusual that a Dow stock is down. It lost more than a quarter of its value this morning.
Pfizer is up. It makes a competing drug. J&J is up. It makes a competing drug.
Now, we talked to a pharmacist this morning here. I've got a bottle of Vioxx you can see right here. And he was really groaning about having the recall. You think about what's going to be going on here with Merck. They're going to have to stop manufacturing the drug. They're going to have to get it off all of the trucks and the airplanes.
And then they're going to have to go to the pharmacists, get it back. And then they're going to have to tell consumers who have it in their medical closets...
COLLINS: Right.
SERWER: ... or their cabinets to get it back as well.
Over 100 million prescriptions of this drug have been written since 1999.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Wow!
COLLINS: And we heard the CEO in a press conference around 9:00 or so say that, you know, they had thought about writing warning labels on the bottles, but they didn't think that was responsible enough.
SERWER: Right. Ray Gilmartin, the CEO, was saying he will not step down. Someone asked him if he would step down about this it might be a little harsh. Ten percent of Merck's sales, but $2.5 billion. Overall sales are $23 billion. So, 10 percent of its sales are wiped out in a single day.
CAFFERTY: It's interesting, though, the stock is down 25 percent. This represents 10 percent in sales. There's a little gap in there.
SERWER: There is. And it will be very interesting, Jack, to see how the trading goes over the next two days with that gap.
CAFFERTY: It might be the fear of the lawsuits, the fear of the lawyer.
SERWER: Yes, indeed.
COLLINS: Always. All right, checking in now with Jack.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Heidi.
Which candidate has the most to lose tonight as the presidential charades get under way? It's not a debate. They have choreographed them. It's just this sterile deal they're going to do. Unless, unless somebody screws up, and we hope for a train wreck.
Robert in Fredonia, New York: "Honestly, it hardly matters what the candidates say or do. What matters is what the reporters, mavens, and spinmeisters say they said and did. Marshall McLuhan rides again."
Scott in Statesville, North Carolina: "John Kerry has the most to lose in tonight's presidential debate. With FOX controlling the video feed" -- they're the pool for this -- "you can just about bet the farm the director will be looking for anything remotely unflattering about Kerry."
I don't know what he means there. Do you? I have no idea.
Marge in Danbury, Connecticut: "To use the analogy" -- this is good. "To use the analogy of a football game, it's the start of the fourth quarter, and Kerry has to score a touchdown tonight. If he does, then whoever kicks the final field goal wins the game. But if Kerry fumbles the ball tonight and Bush scores a touchdown, the game is over."
Join me this weekend for "IN THE MONEY," an interesting show tonight. Andy and I do that thing every week. With all of the hostage-taking in Iraq and elsewhere, we're going to talk to a guy who was actually held as a hostage and threatened with death over there. Canadian journalist Scott Taylor will tell us about his ordeal as a hostage. "IN THE MONEY" Saturday at 1:00 and Sunday at 3:00. Hope you can check that out. Maybe there won't be any more hurricanes down there in Florida.
COLLINS: Yes, certainly.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Jack, thanks a lot for that.
And coming up a little bit later, Carol Lin and "CNN LIVE TODAY" will tell us how the candidates are preparing for tonight's debate. And don't forget, CNN's primetime coverage of the contest starts at 7:00 Eastern. Join Anderson Cooper and Paula Zahn and Wolf Blitzer for that.
AMERICAN MORNING will be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 30, 2004 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: There you hear it, the opening bell ringing on Wall Street today. The Dow Jones Industrial average starts trading at 10136. That's up about 50 points -- 58 points, that is, yesterday. And at the Nasdaq Marketsite, the Composite Index opens at 1893, up also about 24 points. Good news there.
Well, one of the big tests for the markets today will be the news from drug-maker Merck. Merck announcing it's pulling the arthritis drug, Vioxx, from the markets for health reasons. Once again, a voluntary recall on that. We'll be talking more with Andy Serwer about it.
But for now, we want to go back to Bill in Miami. Hey, Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Heidi.
Coming up this half-hour, a beautiful day, by the way, here at the University of Miami. One of the biggest moments in any presidential campaign comes to this campus tonight. The first debate is tonight. Four years ago, 46 million people watched debate No. 1. Those numbers dropped off by about 10 million in the preceding debates, No. 2 and No. 3.
These pictures just in to us here. President Bush is in Florida, after arriving yesterday, and touring some hurricane-damaged areas north of Tampa. Today, he's on the eastern edge of this state in Stuart, Florida, north of our location here, looking at one of the hardest-hit areas, not only from Jeanne, but if you go back two weeks before that from Hurricane Frances, too.
We're going to talk about all of this hurricane news and how it impacts the selection either one way or the other in a moment. Thomas Fiedler is back with us from "The Miami Herald." So, we'll get his thoughts on that, also find out what's on his radar going into the debates later tonight.
But now, back to New York and Rick Sanchez watching the headlines there.
And Rick, good morning.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Give my regards to Tom Fiedler when you talk to him. Thanks, Bill.
HEMMER: I'll do that. SANCHEZ: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the violence in Iraq is getting worse, and he expects it to increase ahead of elections. Mr. Rumsfeld also says that he wants the U.S. military to consider cutting the time the troops spend in combat tours. But he admits that he hasn't figured out just how to do that. Rumsfeld made the comments in a radio interview in Charleston, West Virginia.
A man termed an enemy combatant is expected to go home today. Yaser Hamdi was captured almost three years ago in Afghanistan. His lawyers have reached an agreement with U.S. officials -- they did so last week -- allowing him to return to his native Saudi Arabia. Hamdi's father said that he is waiting anxiously for his possible return.
No simple solutions for getting kids in better shape. The Institute of Medicine is at this hour releasing its recommendations for reversing childhood obesity. The effort includes more physical education in schools, changes in food labeling, and less time in front of televisions. Obesity has tripled among preteen youngsters just in the last 30 years.
Bill, some advice for you. About 1:00, you're going to be hit with a pretty good thunderstorm. Just wait a half-hour, and it will go away.
HEMMER: I think we can count on that every day, can we not, Rick, in southern Florida?
SANCHEZ: You certainly can in south Florida.
HEMMER: Thank you for that.
The debate, later tonight, the latest CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll gives President Bush a significant lead here in the state of Florida over John Kerry, 5 percentage points among registered voters. It goes to 9 points among likely voters.
And Thomas Fiedler, the executive editor of "The Miami Herald," is back with us here live at the University of Miami.
Good morning to you. Nice to see you.
TOM FIEDLER, "THE MIAMI HERALD": Glad to be here.
HEMMER: You are front and center yet again the state of Florida. What's on your radar in this election now?
FIEDLER: We seem to have a knack for that. I think what's -- the latest poll is interesting, and I do think that it would square with my sense that President Bush has probably pulled ahead here, because he has responded, I think quite effectively, to the hurricanes that have hit us almost serially since the middle of August. Putting too much stock on that right now is probably risky, because, so many Floridians are still without power, without telephones, and that makes polling quite difficult.
HEMMER: You know, it's interesting. In your newspaper just yesterday, the front-page story above the fold...
FIEDLER: Right.
HEMMER: ... is the hurricanes living without power. Jeb Bush has been front and center now for six weeks, too.
FIEDLER: He has.
HEMMER: Does he help his brother more this time around or not than in 2000?
FIEDLER: Oh, I think there's no question that there is a bit of help there. And again, the hurricanes come into play. There was the Quinnipiac poll of two weeks or so ago. Whether the numbers are precise or not, it was interesting in that one of the questions that was asked was whether people gave Jeb Bush positive marks for his handling of the hurricane. Almost 9 out of 10 people who responded said they did. And trailing that only by 10 points or so was President Bush.
So, to the extent that that kind of thing puts wind under the wings of a candidate, it's got to have helped.
HEMMER: I found two other things quite remarkable in your state when you go back from four years ago. Your economy is stronger...
FIEDLER: Right.
HEMMER: ... than most areas of the state. You've added 300,000 jobs in four years. And the population growth, a million people have moved to Florida in the past four years. You've added 850,000 people to the voter rolls.
FIEDLER: Yes.
HEMMER: And that is a variable that no one can factor at this point.
FIEDLER: Yes. That's really right. Now, in many ways, the economic growth is fueled by the population growth. It becomes an engine by itself. It just almost begins almost perpetual motion there. A lot of the growth in the economy is directly related to homebuilding, home construction, just simply to accommodate the number of people who have moved in.
A lot of the jobs, though, I'd have to say, do remain in the, if not quite entry-level, it's driven in many cases by building and by the service that's around our tourist industry. So they're not high- wage jobs.
HEMMER: Tom, thanks for your time.
FIEDLER: It's always a pleasure.
HEMMER: Florida is always interesting, is it not?
FIEDLER: Yes, it is. It's welcome here.
HEMMER: Thomas Fiedler of "The Miami Herald," nice to see you.
FIEDLER: Thank you.
HEMMER: And again, as we move forward in this half-hour, just which candidate triumphs at the debate is not the only factor we're watching tonight. There's also the image each candidate presents and how they handle themselves during the all-important face-off.
Kelly Wallace now on the branding of Bush and Kerry.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's out of touch.
GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My opponent has had seven or eight different positions.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Think of President Bush and Senator Kerry as two brands vying to become No. 1.
LINDA KAPLAN THALER, ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE: Brand Kerry and brand Bush.
WALLACE: And right now, according to these Madison Avenue image- makers...
JOSH ROGERS, ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE: Senator John Kerry, I think, has done less for the job in terms of communicating.
WALLACE: So, their first tip for the Bostonian: Make an impression.
THALER: He has to have some great one-liners. He has to have water-cooler talk for the next day.
ROGERS: And something that people will talk about for days on end afterwards.
WALLACE: Like this memorable moment in 1984.
RONALD REAGAN (R), FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience.
(LAUGHTER)
WALLACE: Tip No. 2 for both men: Don't let them see you sweat, literally.
ROGERS: Do not sigh, obviously.
WALLACE: Ala Al Gore in 2000, think more of Bill Clinton's ease in 1992. THALER: Kerry needs to do more with his body language, a smile, more smiles actually. Lose the tan, OK? If you're going to be president, you don't have time to get a tan.
WALLACE: And finally, lighten up.
THALER: You know, these are tough times, but we want Marcus Welby. We want somebody to tell us it's going to be OK.
WALLACE: For Mr. Bush, the main advice: Don't muddy the brand, and...
THALER: Do not lose your temper.
WALLACE: The senator's challenge: Bolstering brand Kerry with men.
ROGERS: Most males look at a candidate in terms who they'd like to have a beer with.
WALLACE: And with women.
THALER: Whoever does a better job of convincing the American public that's the brand I want, that's who is going to win.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE: And tonight's debate is expected to get the largest ratings of the three presidential showdowns, which means that, according to advertising executives, they think this is the most important image-making moment of the presidential campaign.
HEMMER: But bring the right paper, Kelly, for note-taking. Bring the right pen and pencil. Only (INAUDIBLE).
WALLACE: Only...
HEMMER: The commission hammered it out, and the temperature is going to be set to industry standards inside.
WALLACE: Exactly.
HEMMER: Which is going to be a lot cooler than out here, don't you think?
WALLACE: A lot cooler. The fans are helping a little bit.
HEMMER: Great to see you, Kelly.
WALLACE: Great to see you.
HEMMER: All right. Another reminder for you at home. Our coverage starts at 7:00 later tonight. The debate begins at 9:00 Eastern Time.
And check us out tomorrow morning. AMERICAN MORNING will be live in Columbus, Ohio. We've assembled a group of two dozen undecided voters. Later tonight, we'll be able to monitor their reactions to the candidates electronically.
When they like something, the meter will go up. And when they don't, the meter will go down. And we'll know it immediately. We'll have that for you later tonight live in Columbus and, again, tomorrow morning in the follow-up in central Ohio.
Here's Heidi again back in New York now -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Bill, thanks a lot.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Still to come now, Florida hopes to fix some of the voting problems it had back in 2000 with a new system. In a moment, the state's election commissioner will show us how the new machines work.
Plus, we're checking back in with our friend, Soledad, and the little baby twins. Oh! We'll take a moment to see how she's doing in part two of our special series, "Crowded House," ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Are those night-vision goggles?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: It's time now for the latest installment in our series, "Crowded House."
Here now is Dr. Sanjay Gupta at the CNN center once again.
Lots of babies, lots of kids, you've got to love it.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You've got to love it. And welcome to week two of "Crowded House," Heidi, where we're checking in on Soledad O'Brien. Everyone remembers her. She recently had twins. And we're also going to check in on other multiple families as well.
This week, we meet the Cusato family from upstate New York to see what it's like to raise four babies and two older kids. It's definitely four times, maybe six times, the work, as you'll find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice over): From Soledad's perspective, a relatively calm view. The days are quiet. No multiple juggling act going on here.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Are you sleeping again?
GUPTA: But just wait a few months, Soledad, and it might look a little something like the Cusato household, where the juggling act has been going strong for eight months.
KAREN PICCIROLLO CUSATO, MOTHER OF QUADRUPLETS: In the beginning, I think it was just exciting, you know, and with the newspapers and the TV. Then there was reality. It was, you know, these babies and require round-the-clock care.
GUPTA: Most days, the clock starts at 6:00 a.m. when four separate cries are heard. The first order of the day: Dad makes between 10 and 20 bottles before going to work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bye, everybody.
GUPTA: Leaving mom to conduct the three-ring circus, really a four-ring circus, on her own. First up, feeding.
K. CUSATO: Breakfast time.
GUPTA: As if that weren't enough, the two older children need feeding as well.
K. CUSATO: Are you hungry?
GUPTA: At 7:30, help starts to arrive -- aunts, uncles, neighbors, friends. The Cusatos average five helping hands a day.
HEIDI MURKOFF, "WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING": Get as much help as you can get from as many people as you can get it from.
GUPTA: The biggest challenge: getting them on a schedule. Easier said than done. The Cusato quads aren't quite there yet.
K. CUSATO: One will be asleep, three will be up. Or two will be asleep, two will be up.
GUPTA: And then there's the keeping track. Who needs a nap? Which girl did I feed, Victoria or Gabriela?
K. CUSATO: We couldn't figure out why, you know, the one girl kept spitting up. I was like, 'Why is she doing this?' Someone said, "Oh, wait a minute, she ate twice." Twice in a row.
GUPTA: Feeding fiascos like this prompted Karen to start writing everything down on a spreadsheet. The stats are staggering. The babies go through 20 bottles a day, 24 diapers, 20 outfit changes, which means mom is doing at least three loads of laundry a day. By year's end, the Cusatos will have spent tens of thousands on formula, diapers, doctors' visits and adding on to the crowded house to make more room.
K. CUSATO: It's pretty much feed, bathe, nap, feed, nap, feed.
GUPTA: Lots of work. but well worth it.
K. CUSATO: It's still unbelievable to hold each one and think we had these four beautiful, remarkable miracles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: And it certainly is remarkable. However, the Cusatos have adapted to having all of those kids in the house. It's really amazing. Good advice for Soledad as well.
Tune in next Thursday. We're going to meet the Bryant family. We're also going to tackle the sometimes touchy subject, postpartum depression. We'll answer the question: Do more babies equal more chances for depression? It's all part of our series called "Crowded House" right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Heidi -- back to you.
COLLINS: All right, Sanjay, thanks so much for that.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: We love looking at all of those kids. You just can't help but love it. Thanks once again, Sanjay.
And now back to Miami, the university of, I should say, Bill.
HEMMER: all right, hey, Heidi. Remember the butterfly ballot? Remember all of the hanging chads?
COLLINS: Oh, yes.
HEMMER: No more. Or that's what they say anyway.
Say hello to Seth Kaplan. He's the spokesperson here with the Miami-Dade County in southern Florida.
You've brought along one of the latest devices used for voting in 2004.
SETH KAPLAN, FLORIDA ELECTIONS COMMISSIONER: The latest, greatest, absolutely, Bill.
HEMMER: Used in a little more than a dozen counties out of 67 total here in Florida.
KAPLAN: That's right.
HEMMER: Take us in the booth. How will someone not make a mistake in 2004?
KAPLAN: Sure. Well, when the voter walks up here in this county, first you have a choice of three languages. We offer English, Spanish and Haitian Creole. So I'll go ahead and select English this morning. And the ballot appears. And I go through and make my selections in each race. I just touch my choices, and they become highlighted.
I want to show you, by the way, what happens if I accidentally choose two people in a race. I get an error message telling me that I can't do that.
Now, back in 2000, if I accidentally punched two candidates, that was an over-vote. That didn't count. We had 100,000 over-votes in Florida in 2000. HEMMER: And all of those were tossed out.
KAPLAN: Right. With this machine we can't have one. So, I make my selections and go through various pages of the ballot.
Now, I want to show you what happens if I don't make a selection in one race. When I go to the review screen to look at my choices again, again I get a big error message telling me no selection made. So, although I can choose not to vote in that race, I know that I haven't done that. Back in 2000, if I didn't punch that chad all the way through, maybe my vote didn't count and I didn't realize that.
HEMMER: So, is this foolproof?
KAPLAN: Well, this is a big improvement over what we had back in 2000. Certainly, I'm not sure there is any such thing as perfection. And you know, we don't mean to say that we think everything's perfect and can't be further improved. We're always looking for ways to make things even better. But again, all those questions of over-votes and under-votes we're really proud that we've addressed those.
HEMMER: Come on back here real quick for a moment. Why is this red light flashing here?
KAPLAN: Right. We have that flashing red vote button. So, again, I get the review screen, get a chance to really review my choices and have a clear idea of for whom I'm voting. And once I've done that and I'm happy with my selections, I just press that flashing red vote button, and the machine is going to thank me for voting. It really is that simple.
HEMMER: Do you get a receipt?
KAPLAN: No paper receipt at the time. But you didn't get a receipt with the punch cards either. Remember, voting is secret. So, we always have to balance all of the various considerations. Certainly, again, we're proud that we've made a lot of improvements since 2000.
And when all of you are in town this year, as we know you will be, we think you're going to be able to tell all of the folks back home how well everything worked here in Miami-Dade County. Thanks so much.
HEMMER: How many across the state do you have of these machines?
KAPLAN: Well, we have 7,200 in this county. So, certainly several tens of thousands across the state.
HEMMER: Good luck.
KAPLAN: Thank you very much.
HEMMER: The country is watching.
KAPLAN: We know. We know. We're going to make you proud this time.
HEMMER: Good deal. Thank you, Seth.
KAPLAN: All right. Take care, Bill.
HEMMER: Here's Heidi in New York -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Where's the curtain? There is a private curtain that goes around all of that, right? I hope so.
All right, still to come, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business." He'll tell us what the decision to pull Vioxx off the markets means to Wall Street and to pharmacists. Stay here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Word this morning that Vioxx is being pulled from pharmacies worldwide. It's having a huge impact this morning.
Andy Serwer, "Minding Your Business", with more on this breaking story just today.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes, it really is amazing. And what's been going on here is that the market is really getting hit badly with this news.
Let's check out the board here. Down 62. The Nasdaq is actually flat, Heidi. But Merck is a part of the Dow. And here are the numbers. This stock is down $12, or 26 percent. I mean, it's highly unusual that a Dow stock is down. It lost more than a quarter of its value this morning.
Pfizer is up. It makes a competing drug. J&J is up. It makes a competing drug.
Now, we talked to a pharmacist this morning here. I've got a bottle of Vioxx you can see right here. And he was really groaning about having the recall. You think about what's going to be going on here with Merck. They're going to have to stop manufacturing the drug. They're going to have to get it off all of the trucks and the airplanes.
And then they're going to have to go to the pharmacists, get it back. And then they're going to have to tell consumers who have it in their medical closets...
COLLINS: Right.
SERWER: ... or their cabinets to get it back as well.
Over 100 million prescriptions of this drug have been written since 1999.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Wow!
COLLINS: And we heard the CEO in a press conference around 9:00 or so say that, you know, they had thought about writing warning labels on the bottles, but they didn't think that was responsible enough.
SERWER: Right. Ray Gilmartin, the CEO, was saying he will not step down. Someone asked him if he would step down about this it might be a little harsh. Ten percent of Merck's sales, but $2.5 billion. Overall sales are $23 billion. So, 10 percent of its sales are wiped out in a single day.
CAFFERTY: It's interesting, though, the stock is down 25 percent. This represents 10 percent in sales. There's a little gap in there.
SERWER: There is. And it will be very interesting, Jack, to see how the trading goes over the next two days with that gap.
CAFFERTY: It might be the fear of the lawsuits, the fear of the lawyer.
SERWER: Yes, indeed.
COLLINS: Always. All right, checking in now with Jack.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Heidi.
Which candidate has the most to lose tonight as the presidential charades get under way? It's not a debate. They have choreographed them. It's just this sterile deal they're going to do. Unless, unless somebody screws up, and we hope for a train wreck.
Robert in Fredonia, New York: "Honestly, it hardly matters what the candidates say or do. What matters is what the reporters, mavens, and spinmeisters say they said and did. Marshall McLuhan rides again."
Scott in Statesville, North Carolina: "John Kerry has the most to lose in tonight's presidential debate. With FOX controlling the video feed" -- they're the pool for this -- "you can just about bet the farm the director will be looking for anything remotely unflattering about Kerry."
I don't know what he means there. Do you? I have no idea.
Marge in Danbury, Connecticut: "To use the analogy" -- this is good. "To use the analogy of a football game, it's the start of the fourth quarter, and Kerry has to score a touchdown tonight. If he does, then whoever kicks the final field goal wins the game. But if Kerry fumbles the ball tonight and Bush scores a touchdown, the game is over."
Join me this weekend for "IN THE MONEY," an interesting show tonight. Andy and I do that thing every week. With all of the hostage-taking in Iraq and elsewhere, we're going to talk to a guy who was actually held as a hostage and threatened with death over there. Canadian journalist Scott Taylor will tell us about his ordeal as a hostage. "IN THE MONEY" Saturday at 1:00 and Sunday at 3:00. Hope you can check that out. Maybe there won't be any more hurricanes down there in Florida.
COLLINS: Yes, certainly.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Jack, thanks a lot for that.
And coming up a little bit later, Carol Lin and "CNN LIVE TODAY" will tell us how the candidates are preparing for tonight's debate. And don't forget, CNN's primetime coverage of the contest starts at 7:00 Eastern. Join Anderson Cooper and Paula Zahn and Wolf Blitzer for that.
AMERICAN MORNING will be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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