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CNN Live At Daybreak
Debate Number One Now History; Debate Watched With Great Interest Across Globe
Aired October 01, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can make America safer than President Bush has made us.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe I'm going to win because the American people know I know how to lead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Face to face, Bush and Kerry square off as the nation watches.
It is Friday, October 1.
This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news...
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just a little example of what's going on here.
COSTELLO: Oh, and you can hear it in the background, gunmen in the alleys, on the rooftops, a major offensive going on right now in the streets of Samarra near a famous mosque.
Jane Arraf is there embedded with the 1st Infantry Division. She says dozens of insurgents have been killed. And we'll hear more from Jane in 10 minutes.
It's back on the road for the presidential candidates after last night's debate.
President Bush heads to the critical state of Pennsylvania for a rally this morning in Allentown, and then later it's on to New Hampshire.
Senator John Kerry is staying in the Sunshine State. He's got an afternoon rally in Tampa and one later tonight in Kissimmee.
Britain's Tony Blair is undergoing a non-surgical heart procedure this morning. The prime minister has a recurring heart murmur. Before going to the hospital, Mr. Blair announced that he'll seek a third term as prime minister, but will not seek a fourth.
To the forecast center.
Chad has the day off.
Rob Marciano is here -- good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi.
Is a murmur serious, because I think I have a murmur somewhere?
COSTELLO: I have one.
MARCIANO: OK, so...
COSTELLO: Usually it's not serious, but we're going to have Christy Feig in later to explain.
MARCIANO: But it's more serious if you're a world leader, I suppose. They take it more seriously.
COSTELLO: Well, everything is more serious when you're a world leader.
MARCIANO: I've got you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Debate number one now history. Both candidates were given plenty of chances to plead their case before the voters, but will either one get a bump from their performance?
We get more on the style and the substance from CNN's Dan Lothian.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In their first face-off in Florida, Senator John Kerry accused the president of diverting his attention from the real war on terror by going into Iraq.
KERRY: The president just talked about Iraq as a center of the war on terror. Iraq was not even close to the center of the war on terror before the president invaded it. This president has made, I regret to say, a colossal error of judgment.
LOTHIAN: President Bush responded by portraying Kerry as a candidate trying to have it both ways.
BUSH: First of all, what my opponent wants you to forget is that he voted to authorize the use of force and now says it's the wrong war at the wrong time at the wrong place. I don't see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place. LOTHIAN: It's a phrase the president would use repeatedly, attempting to show how Kerry's mixed message would send the wrong message to world leaders.
Kerry did acknowledge making mistakes, but gave a defense.
KERRY: When I talked about the $87 billion, I made a mistake in how I talked about the war. But the president made a mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse?
LOTHIAN: As both campaigns worked their war rooms, sending out rapid fire responses and fact checks, and as hundreds of people protested outside, two interesting moments from the candidates. First, after Kerry gave a laundry list of how he would deal with homeland security, President Bush saw an opening.
BUSH: I don't think we want to get to how he's going to pay for all these promises. It's like a huge tax gap and -- anyway, that's for another debate.
LOTHIAN: Then when the president seemed to imply that Iraq attacked the U.S., Senator Kerry pounced on it.
KERRY: Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us. Al Qaeda attacked us.
LOTHIAN: Even though the president at times seemed to be frustrated, no one appeared to land fatal blows in this first round.
Dan Lothian, CNN, Coral Gables, Florida.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: Of course, the debate was watched with great interest across the globe.
We have two reports, one from Hong Kong and our Mike Chinoy, and from Britain we have Walter Rodgers there.
Walt -- let's start with you.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, because of the early hour here, CNN brought in a representative group of Europeans, fed them bagels and lox and blueberry muffins, sat them down and then we showed them the debate.
It was very interesting. I walked in afterwards and I said how many of you thought George Bush won the debate? No hands went up. How many of you thought John Kerry won the debate? All the hands went up. Overwhelming unanimous.
You asked them who they think will win the election, however, everybody thinks Bush will win the election.
One British fellow said Kerry had competence, Bush had confidence. And I think the president, out of sheer rigidity and stolidity, sold some Europeans on the fact that he is going to stay the course and stick in Iraq come hell or high water. And that seems to have swayed some minds in Europe, even if Europeans don't agree with the president -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Fascinating.
Walt Rodgers live from London this morning.
Let's head to Hong Kong now and Mike Chinoy to see what they're thinking there -- good morning, Mike.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, it was interesting, apart from Iraq, North Korea was one of the biggest and most important parts of this debate. North Korea's nuclear program in the past two years accelerating very dramatically while no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. The North has now declared itself a nuclear power.
But Senator Kerry and President Bush differ very sharply over whether the U.S. should talk to North Korea to get them to end their nuclear program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: For two years, this administration didn't talk at all to North Korea. While they didn't talk at all, the fuel rods came out, the inspectors were kicked out, the television cameras were kicked out and today there are four to seven nuclear weapons in the hands of North Korea.
That happened on this president's watch. Now that, I think, is one of the most serious sort of reversals or mixed messages that you could possibly send.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHINOY: North Korea has signaled a willingness to put its whole nuclear weapons program on the table if the U.S. agrees to direct negotiations. But President Bush says that's a bad idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I can't tell you how big a mistake I think that is, to have bilateral talks with North Korea. It's precisely what Kim Jong Il wants. It'll cause the six party talks to evaporate and it means that China is no longer involved in convincing, along with us, for Kim Jong Il to get rid of his weapons. It's a big mistake to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHINOY: But at the moment, those six party talks are going nowhere. In fact, the North Koreans have indicated they're not going to attend the next scheduled round. And the North does have a strong card to play because as long as Washington refuses to deal directly, it can go on making nukes -- Carol. COSTELLO: Fascinating.
Mike Chinoy live from Hong Kong this morning.
Thank you.
Explosions and the crackle of automatic weapons echoed through the streets of Samarra this morning. U.S. and Iraqi troops are fighting their way block by block, street by street, through the city north of Baghdad. So far, they've killed 94 Iraqi insurgents.
CNN's Jane Arraf is there.
She's actually embedded with the 1st Infantry Division.
We had hoped to get her live, but she taped this piece for us just about an hour ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): Iraqi security has blown the doors off of this holy shrine, according to U.S. soldiers. We're on the other side of the shrine, behind a wall with some of those soldiers who have been taking fire -- fire like that. They've been firing back, obviously, but there has been intense gunfire here.
This shrine is filled with gunmen. And the shrine itself, one of the holiest in Shia Islam. Two of the 12 imams are buried there. The twelfth imam disappeared there. It's normally full of pilgrims all over the holy sites. It's normally full of Iraqis. Today, it's deserted. Everyone has taken cover as gunfire rings out.
U.S. forces have been battling for more than 12 hours now to secure this city in a major push that they say will retake the city from insurgents.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Samarra.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: And so far, again, 94 insurgents have been killed. We have no word yet on U.S. casualties.
The U.K. is awaiting word on Tony Blair's heart.
In just two minutes, the problem with the prime minister.
Plus, the morning after -- what some of today's editorial pages have to say about the presidential debate. We'll have that story for you in five minutes.
And at 26 minutes past, we'll get you ready for the weekend with a preview of some new movie releases.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: British Prime Minister Tony Blair is at a West London hospital undergoing what he calls a routine procedure to correct a fluttering heart.
Our medical correspondent, Christy Feig, joins us from Washington to talk about the prime minister's heart and the treatments he's receiving.
Is this serious?
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
You know, it's serious in a sense, because he's a world leader. It's not as serious as, say, bypass surgery that President Clinton just recently had. It's not nearly as invasive.
Tony Blair has what he describes as a flutter. The doctors would describe it as atrial flutter. The bottom line, he's experiencing a racing heart. Now, this isn't the kind of racing heart that you and I would experience after, say, strenuous exercise. In this particular case, he is experiencing the flutter because the walls of his heart are short-circuiting. And that's what's causing the quick and irregular heartbeat that he's experiencing.
This can go as high as 300 beats a minute. Now, when it gets that high, it can be quite uncomfortable, actually. If it gets much faster, you can even pass out from it. So that is why it is a consideration.
Now, Mr. Blair does have a history of this. Last October, for example, he had a cardioversion for it when it was acting up at that point. Again, in August, it came back.
So that's why they want to do what they're calling a catheter ablation. Now, what they'll do today is basically start by giving him a mild sedative. At that point, they'll run a catheter up through his groin, the artery in his groin, up to his heart. There they'll find where the problem area is in his heart. At that point, they'll use the catheter to ablate it, to destroy the tissue that's causing the problems. That's how it gets the name catheter ablation.
The whole procedure should take maybe an hour, two hours. In the hands of the right specialist, it could be as quick as 30 minutes.
After that, he'll need about a day or two to recover. It is perfectly conceivable that he could be back in the office working as normal, as he says he will, on Monday -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, we hope so. Yes. We hope so. It sounds like a terrible procedure, though.
Thank you, Christy Feig live from Washington.
Your news, money, weather and sports. 6:15 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
Drug maker Merck could be in serious financial trouble after pulling one of its most popular drugs off store shelves. The company's value dropped by 27 percent after it announced the recall of the arthritis drug Vioxx. The recall came after a study showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke.
A former Pittsburgh Steelers player died in a head-on collision after leading police on a 40-mile chase through upstate New York. Justin Strzelczyk played for 10 years in the NFL before being released in 2000. The chase started after Strzelczyk was involved in a hit and run accident.
In money news, Kmart may be moving its headquarters to Atlanta from its home in Troy, Michigan. The "Detroit News" reports that the retailer is being drawn to the South by lower taxes and lower operating costs.
In culture, former President Jimmy Carter is celebrating his 80th birthday today. In his honor, the Carter Center in Atlanta is hosting a 13-hour piano concert by Roger Williams. Carter, by the way, is the third oldest living president. Gerald Ford is the oldest. He's 91.
In sports, the New York Yankees clinch another division title with a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins. It's the Yankees' seventh straight American League East crown and their 100th win of the season. They are only the fourth team in history to have three straight 100 win seasons.
Stop smiling in the forecast center -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Yes, a big smile. Everyone talks about how loaded they are, but, you know, I think the Braves have won 13 in a row or something silly like that. So...
COSTELLO: A pretty awesome team, but the Braves just can't do it when they get to the World Series, if they do get to the World Series. MARCIANO: Yes. It could be the fan support.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.
Oh, you know, the morning newspapers are filled with op-eds on the first presidential debate. And if you don't have time to surf the Web this morning, we have a sample.
This one is from the "New York Times." It says: "Before last night's debate, we worried that the long list of rules insisted on by both camps would create a stifled exchange of packaged sound bites. But this campaign was starved for real discussion and substance. Even a format controlled by handlers and spin doctors seemed like a breath of fresh air." Do you agree? Well, let's talk more about that.
Our own political guru, John Mercurio, who writes our online political grind, is busy this morning gathering more reaction to the debates worldwide.
He joins us live from Washington now.
Oh, he's in Miami.
Sorry, John.
Lucky you.
JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: That's OK.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning.
So, was the debate a breath of fresh air, like the "New York Times" said?
MERCURIO: I don't know if it was a breath of fresh air, but it was certainly much less stilted and more flexible than I think a lot of people were expecting. I mean, basically, you know, we spent so much time last week talking about this memorandum of understanding and how restricted they were going to be, but I felt like as soon as the curtain went up, you know, the whole thing was irrelevant.
You know, all of the networks that I watched, I was flipping the channels all last night, were showing split screens, which was a big no-no in the memorandum of understanding. The Bush campaign didn't want any, you know, expression or any coverage of what he looked like when Kerry was responding. That wasn't supposed to happen.
And the candidates also sought a lot of rebuttal time from the moderator. So there was a lot more of an exchange than I think a lot of people were expecting.
COSTELLO: So in those cutaway shots, who looked the best? Because it seemed like President Bush blinked a lot and John Kerry just had this weird look with no emotion whatsoever.
MERCURIO: Yes. Kerry had a weird smile on his face every once in a while. But I've been reading a lot of papers this morning and almost universally, from what I've seen so far, it looks like President Bush was the loser in terms of the cutaway expressions. He looked, according to the "New York Times," "petulant." He looked "annoyed," according to the "Washington Post." He looked, you know, sort of, you know, just, not very happy with the idea of John Kerry as commander-in-chief. And defensive is a word I'm seeing a lot. And I think that's all because of the cutaway shots that we got to see last night.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. This is from the "Richmond Times." I want to see what you think about this, John.
It says: "We would like to see debates, really we would. Change the format. Have the candidates speak as Lincoln and Douglas spoke. Drop the press celebrity posing as moderator."
MERCURIO: Well, that's interesting and that's actually, I think, similar to what John Kerry and his opponent in the 1996 Senate race, Bill Weld, did, and that did get a lot of praise.
You know, sure. I think that would be interesting. I actually think Jim Lehrer, who was the moderator last night, did a great job.
COSTELLO: Well, yes, he's not exactly flashy, for goodness sakes.
MERCURIO: Yes. I didn't see him showboating or anything like that.
You know, one of the most illuminating lines of the night, though, I think, you know, would have come -- would have happened under a Lincoln-Douglas style debate. And that was when you saw President Bush say the enemy attacked us and Kerry just jumped right back on him. The moderator was sort of pushed aside for as second. You know, Kerry was saying Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us. Al Qaeda attacked us. So that was a direct exchange, I think, that, you know, was sort of irrelevant to the moderator.
COSTELLO: Ooh, and didn't that violate the rules of rhetorical speaking?
MERCURIO: Sure.
COSTELLO: Another interesting bit from the "Los Angeles Times." It says: "In contrast to the president, who at times seemed tired and annoyed at having to share the stage, Kerry's command of the facts didn't get in the way of his being lucid and direct."
As you mentioned some of that. But still, on a wider -- in a wider scope, did Kerry really deliver a definite plan to get out of Iraq?
MERCURIO: Yes, I don't -- that's a very good question and I don't think he necessarily conveyed a specific plan on getting out of Iraq. I think he came into the debate thinking all he needed to do was sort of articulate a position on how we got into Iraq. And I think he did that relatively effectively.
But as far as a plan to get out, no. I think the president hit him extremely hard on his, you know, equivocation and on his sort of inability to articulate.
So, you know, did Kerry -- I think the big, big, big question of the day is did Kerry deliver the sort of deafening death blow that he needed to? And the answer, I think, is no, which is good news for the media, because that means hopefully people are actually going to be tuning into the next debate next week in St. Louis.
COSTELLO: I'm sure they will.
Thank you.
John Mercurio live from Miami this morning.
Do you need a break from all of the political talk? Well, you can go to the movies this weekend. We'll preview what's hot and what's not with the editor of "In Touch Weekly," you know, our friend Tom O'Neil.
But first, here's a look at how the overseas markets are doing on this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We're just getting in these pictures from Samarra, Iraq. That's just north of Baghdad. You see the smoke rising there near that mosque? That's a very holy shrine in the city. Armed militants were inside the shrine along with a number or weapons. Iraqi National Guardsmen broke into that shrine and we understand they confiscated a whole bunch of weapons.
Jane Arraf is embedded with the 1st Infantry Division because U.S. Army forces and Iraqi National Guard forces are fighting together for this battle of Samarra.
Jane -- what can you tell us?
ARRAF: Well, it is still (AUDIO GAP) approximately 15 hours after (AUDIO GAP) there's still gunfire ringing out here in (AUDIO GAP) where one of the holiest shrines in Shia Islam is located.
Just a couple of hours ago, Iraqi special forces, backed by U.S. special forces, blew apart the doors of this shrine to take entry to it, to capture and kill a couple of insurgents and to seize the weapons they were using (AUDIO GAP) fire from them from the holy shrine.
This has been a major battle, a major offensive. It's still going on, as you can hear, a brigade sized offensive.
The U.S. military had agreed not to patrol these streets after the transfer to sovereignty, but finding it taken over by insurgents, they said, they came back in more than three weeks ago. Last night the first night (AUDIO GAP) and we came with them as they cleared this city sector by sector. There is still fighting going on, but the U.S. appears to be in control of most of it -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Iraqi National Guardsmen fighting alongside U.S. forces, Jane.
Who is leading the charge? ARRAF: Iraqi special forces, actually, were leading the charge. Iraqi National Guard were there, as well, but I should have mentioned that it was the new Iraqi special forces that led the charge into the mosque. Obviously, a very delicate area.
At one point, someone came out with a rocket propelled grenade to shoot at the U.S. soldiers and they fired back. There was a fire (AUDIO GAP) in front of the mosque. Soldiers lined up and down the street, U.S. soldiers, an amazing sight.
This part of the city is absolutely deserted and this is the worst kind of fighting for American soldiers. Tanks cannot go in these narrow streets. They had to proceed on foot. And almost every alley they went through, they were getting shot at.
Despite that, very few U.S. casualties. One person believed to have been wounded. They say they have killed 94 insurgents and possibly more -- Carol.
COSTELLO: They've killed 94 insurgents.
Jane, I talked with an adviser to the Iraqi interior minister early this morning. He says that Iraqi forces and U.S. forces now have control of the city of Samarra.
Is that what it looks like from your standpoint?
ARRAF: From my standpoint, it's a very different Samarra than the one that I have known, which is normally a bustling city full of pilgrims from around the world. We have to remind our viewers that this is really quite an amazing place. The shrine is home to the -- two of the 12 imams are buried there. And the 12th imam, who disappeared here, Shias believe will come back, signaling a new -- signaling judgment day. This is a sacred place for Shia Muslims all over the world and it's normally thronged with people.
Right now these streets are deserted. The only Iraqis we've seen are those who have been detained by U.S. forces and the Iraqi National Guardsmen and special forces who are securing the mosque. Other than that, it is just U.S. soldiers and a deadly silence -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jane, the adviser to the Iraqi interior minister also told me the people of Samarra reached out for help from the Iraqi Governing Council.
Is that how it went down?
ARRAF: It's so hard to tell. It's a similar case to what we saw unfold in Najaf, where townspeople really did appear to be held hostage by just a few hundred, in that case, militia loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr. In this case, the feeling is that these are former regime elements and perhaps 25 to 30 foreign fighters. But they managed to really hold hostage this city of 200,000.
Certainly commerce has stopped. People were afraid. And according to what we've heard, people flooded out of the city, which is why we're seeing no one in the streets.
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Aired October 1, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can make America safer than President Bush has made us.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe I'm going to win because the American people know I know how to lead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Face to face, Bush and Kerry square off as the nation watches.
It is Friday, October 1.
This is DAYBREAK.
And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news...
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just a little example of what's going on here.
COSTELLO: Oh, and you can hear it in the background, gunmen in the alleys, on the rooftops, a major offensive going on right now in the streets of Samarra near a famous mosque.
Jane Arraf is there embedded with the 1st Infantry Division. She says dozens of insurgents have been killed. And we'll hear more from Jane in 10 minutes.
It's back on the road for the presidential candidates after last night's debate.
President Bush heads to the critical state of Pennsylvania for a rally this morning in Allentown, and then later it's on to New Hampshire.
Senator John Kerry is staying in the Sunshine State. He's got an afternoon rally in Tampa and one later tonight in Kissimmee.
Britain's Tony Blair is undergoing a non-surgical heart procedure this morning. The prime minister has a recurring heart murmur. Before going to the hospital, Mr. Blair announced that he'll seek a third term as prime minister, but will not seek a fourth.
To the forecast center.
Chad has the day off.
Rob Marciano is here -- good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi.
Is a murmur serious, because I think I have a murmur somewhere?
COSTELLO: I have one.
MARCIANO: OK, so...
COSTELLO: Usually it's not serious, but we're going to have Christy Feig in later to explain.
MARCIANO: But it's more serious if you're a world leader, I suppose. They take it more seriously.
COSTELLO: Well, everything is more serious when you're a world leader.
MARCIANO: I've got you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Debate number one now history. Both candidates were given plenty of chances to plead their case before the voters, but will either one get a bump from their performance?
We get more on the style and the substance from CNN's Dan Lothian.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In their first face-off in Florida, Senator John Kerry accused the president of diverting his attention from the real war on terror by going into Iraq.
KERRY: The president just talked about Iraq as a center of the war on terror. Iraq was not even close to the center of the war on terror before the president invaded it. This president has made, I regret to say, a colossal error of judgment.
LOTHIAN: President Bush responded by portraying Kerry as a candidate trying to have it both ways.
BUSH: First of all, what my opponent wants you to forget is that he voted to authorize the use of force and now says it's the wrong war at the wrong time at the wrong place. I don't see how you can lead this country to succeed in Iraq if you say wrong war, wrong time, wrong place. LOTHIAN: It's a phrase the president would use repeatedly, attempting to show how Kerry's mixed message would send the wrong message to world leaders.
Kerry did acknowledge making mistakes, but gave a defense.
KERRY: When I talked about the $87 billion, I made a mistake in how I talked about the war. But the president made a mistake in invading Iraq. Which is worse?
LOTHIAN: As both campaigns worked their war rooms, sending out rapid fire responses and fact checks, and as hundreds of people protested outside, two interesting moments from the candidates. First, after Kerry gave a laundry list of how he would deal with homeland security, President Bush saw an opening.
BUSH: I don't think we want to get to how he's going to pay for all these promises. It's like a huge tax gap and -- anyway, that's for another debate.
LOTHIAN: Then when the president seemed to imply that Iraq attacked the U.S., Senator Kerry pounced on it.
KERRY: Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us. Al Qaeda attacked us.
LOTHIAN: Even though the president at times seemed to be frustrated, no one appeared to land fatal blows in this first round.
Dan Lothian, CNN, Coral Gables, Florida.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: Of course, the debate was watched with great interest across the globe.
We have two reports, one from Hong Kong and our Mike Chinoy, and from Britain we have Walter Rodgers there.
Walt -- let's start with you.
WALTER RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, because of the early hour here, CNN brought in a representative group of Europeans, fed them bagels and lox and blueberry muffins, sat them down and then we showed them the debate.
It was very interesting. I walked in afterwards and I said how many of you thought George Bush won the debate? No hands went up. How many of you thought John Kerry won the debate? All the hands went up. Overwhelming unanimous.
You asked them who they think will win the election, however, everybody thinks Bush will win the election.
One British fellow said Kerry had competence, Bush had confidence. And I think the president, out of sheer rigidity and stolidity, sold some Europeans on the fact that he is going to stay the course and stick in Iraq come hell or high water. And that seems to have swayed some minds in Europe, even if Europeans don't agree with the president -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Fascinating.
Walt Rodgers live from London this morning.
Let's head to Hong Kong now and Mike Chinoy to see what they're thinking there -- good morning, Mike.
MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, it was interesting, apart from Iraq, North Korea was one of the biggest and most important parts of this debate. North Korea's nuclear program in the past two years accelerating very dramatically while no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. The North has now declared itself a nuclear power.
But Senator Kerry and President Bush differ very sharply over whether the U.S. should talk to North Korea to get them to end their nuclear program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: For two years, this administration didn't talk at all to North Korea. While they didn't talk at all, the fuel rods came out, the inspectors were kicked out, the television cameras were kicked out and today there are four to seven nuclear weapons in the hands of North Korea.
That happened on this president's watch. Now that, I think, is one of the most serious sort of reversals or mixed messages that you could possibly send.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHINOY: North Korea has signaled a willingness to put its whole nuclear weapons program on the table if the U.S. agrees to direct negotiations. But President Bush says that's a bad idea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: I can't tell you how big a mistake I think that is, to have bilateral talks with North Korea. It's precisely what Kim Jong Il wants. It'll cause the six party talks to evaporate and it means that China is no longer involved in convincing, along with us, for Kim Jong Il to get rid of his weapons. It's a big mistake to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHINOY: But at the moment, those six party talks are going nowhere. In fact, the North Koreans have indicated they're not going to attend the next scheduled round. And the North does have a strong card to play because as long as Washington refuses to deal directly, it can go on making nukes -- Carol. COSTELLO: Fascinating.
Mike Chinoy live from Hong Kong this morning.
Thank you.
Explosions and the crackle of automatic weapons echoed through the streets of Samarra this morning. U.S. and Iraqi troops are fighting their way block by block, street by street, through the city north of Baghdad. So far, they've killed 94 Iraqi insurgents.
CNN's Jane Arraf is there.
She's actually embedded with the 1st Infantry Division.
We had hoped to get her live, but she taped this piece for us just about an hour ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
ARRAF (voice-over): Iraqi security has blown the doors off of this holy shrine, according to U.S. soldiers. We're on the other side of the shrine, behind a wall with some of those soldiers who have been taking fire -- fire like that. They've been firing back, obviously, but there has been intense gunfire here.
This shrine is filled with gunmen. And the shrine itself, one of the holiest in Shia Islam. Two of the 12 imams are buried there. The twelfth imam disappeared there. It's normally full of pilgrims all over the holy sites. It's normally full of Iraqis. Today, it's deserted. Everyone has taken cover as gunfire rings out.
U.S. forces have been battling for more than 12 hours now to secure this city in a major push that they say will retake the city from insurgents.
Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Samarra.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: And so far, again, 94 insurgents have been killed. We have no word yet on U.S. casualties.
The U.K. is awaiting word on Tony Blair's heart.
In just two minutes, the problem with the prime minister.
Plus, the morning after -- what some of today's editorial pages have to say about the presidential debate. We'll have that story for you in five minutes.
And at 26 minutes past, we'll get you ready for the weekend with a preview of some new movie releases.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: British Prime Minister Tony Blair is at a West London hospital undergoing what he calls a routine procedure to correct a fluttering heart.
Our medical correspondent, Christy Feig, joins us from Washington to talk about the prime minister's heart and the treatments he's receiving.
Is this serious?
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
You know, it's serious in a sense, because he's a world leader. It's not as serious as, say, bypass surgery that President Clinton just recently had. It's not nearly as invasive.
Tony Blair has what he describes as a flutter. The doctors would describe it as atrial flutter. The bottom line, he's experiencing a racing heart. Now, this isn't the kind of racing heart that you and I would experience after, say, strenuous exercise. In this particular case, he is experiencing the flutter because the walls of his heart are short-circuiting. And that's what's causing the quick and irregular heartbeat that he's experiencing.
This can go as high as 300 beats a minute. Now, when it gets that high, it can be quite uncomfortable, actually. If it gets much faster, you can even pass out from it. So that is why it is a consideration.
Now, Mr. Blair does have a history of this. Last October, for example, he had a cardioversion for it when it was acting up at that point. Again, in August, it came back.
So that's why they want to do what they're calling a catheter ablation. Now, what they'll do today is basically start by giving him a mild sedative. At that point, they'll run a catheter up through his groin, the artery in his groin, up to his heart. There they'll find where the problem area is in his heart. At that point, they'll use the catheter to ablate it, to destroy the tissue that's causing the problems. That's how it gets the name catheter ablation.
The whole procedure should take maybe an hour, two hours. In the hands of the right specialist, it could be as quick as 30 minutes.
After that, he'll need about a day or two to recover. It is perfectly conceivable that he could be back in the office working as normal, as he says he will, on Monday -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, we hope so. Yes. We hope so. It sounds like a terrible procedure, though.
Thank you, Christy Feig live from Washington.
Your news, money, weather and sports. 6:15 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
Drug maker Merck could be in serious financial trouble after pulling one of its most popular drugs off store shelves. The company's value dropped by 27 percent after it announced the recall of the arthritis drug Vioxx. The recall came after a study showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke.
A former Pittsburgh Steelers player died in a head-on collision after leading police on a 40-mile chase through upstate New York. Justin Strzelczyk played for 10 years in the NFL before being released in 2000. The chase started after Strzelczyk was involved in a hit and run accident.
In money news, Kmart may be moving its headquarters to Atlanta from its home in Troy, Michigan. The "Detroit News" reports that the retailer is being drawn to the South by lower taxes and lower operating costs.
In culture, former President Jimmy Carter is celebrating his 80th birthday today. In his honor, the Carter Center in Atlanta is hosting a 13-hour piano concert by Roger Williams. Carter, by the way, is the third oldest living president. Gerald Ford is the oldest. He's 91.
In sports, the New York Yankees clinch another division title with a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins. It's the Yankees' seventh straight American League East crown and their 100th win of the season. They are only the fourth team in history to have three straight 100 win seasons.
Stop smiling in the forecast center -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Yes, a big smile. Everyone talks about how loaded they are, but, you know, I think the Braves have won 13 in a row or something silly like that. So...
COSTELLO: A pretty awesome team, but the Braves just can't do it when they get to the World Series, if they do get to the World Series. MARCIANO: Yes. It could be the fan support.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you.
Oh, you know, the morning newspapers are filled with op-eds on the first presidential debate. And if you don't have time to surf the Web this morning, we have a sample.
This one is from the "New York Times." It says: "Before last night's debate, we worried that the long list of rules insisted on by both camps would create a stifled exchange of packaged sound bites. But this campaign was starved for real discussion and substance. Even a format controlled by handlers and spin doctors seemed like a breath of fresh air." Do you agree? Well, let's talk more about that.
Our own political guru, John Mercurio, who writes our online political grind, is busy this morning gathering more reaction to the debates worldwide.
He joins us live from Washington now.
Oh, he's in Miami.
Sorry, John.
Lucky you.
JOHN MERCURIO, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: That's OK.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning.
So, was the debate a breath of fresh air, like the "New York Times" said?
MERCURIO: I don't know if it was a breath of fresh air, but it was certainly much less stilted and more flexible than I think a lot of people were expecting. I mean, basically, you know, we spent so much time last week talking about this memorandum of understanding and how restricted they were going to be, but I felt like as soon as the curtain went up, you know, the whole thing was irrelevant.
You know, all of the networks that I watched, I was flipping the channels all last night, were showing split screens, which was a big no-no in the memorandum of understanding. The Bush campaign didn't want any, you know, expression or any coverage of what he looked like when Kerry was responding. That wasn't supposed to happen.
And the candidates also sought a lot of rebuttal time from the moderator. So there was a lot more of an exchange than I think a lot of people were expecting.
COSTELLO: So in those cutaway shots, who looked the best? Because it seemed like President Bush blinked a lot and John Kerry just had this weird look with no emotion whatsoever.
MERCURIO: Yes. Kerry had a weird smile on his face every once in a while. But I've been reading a lot of papers this morning and almost universally, from what I've seen so far, it looks like President Bush was the loser in terms of the cutaway expressions. He looked, according to the "New York Times," "petulant." He looked "annoyed," according to the "Washington Post." He looked, you know, sort of, you know, just, not very happy with the idea of John Kerry as commander-in-chief. And defensive is a word I'm seeing a lot. And I think that's all because of the cutaway shots that we got to see last night.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. This is from the "Richmond Times." I want to see what you think about this, John.
It says: "We would like to see debates, really we would. Change the format. Have the candidates speak as Lincoln and Douglas spoke. Drop the press celebrity posing as moderator."
MERCURIO: Well, that's interesting and that's actually, I think, similar to what John Kerry and his opponent in the 1996 Senate race, Bill Weld, did, and that did get a lot of praise.
You know, sure. I think that would be interesting. I actually think Jim Lehrer, who was the moderator last night, did a great job.
COSTELLO: Well, yes, he's not exactly flashy, for goodness sakes.
MERCURIO: Yes. I didn't see him showboating or anything like that.
You know, one of the most illuminating lines of the night, though, I think, you know, would have come -- would have happened under a Lincoln-Douglas style debate. And that was when you saw President Bush say the enemy attacked us and Kerry just jumped right back on him. The moderator was sort of pushed aside for as second. You know, Kerry was saying Saddam Hussein didn't attack us. Osama bin Laden attacked us. Al Qaeda attacked us. So that was a direct exchange, I think, that, you know, was sort of irrelevant to the moderator.
COSTELLO: Ooh, and didn't that violate the rules of rhetorical speaking?
MERCURIO: Sure.
COSTELLO: Another interesting bit from the "Los Angeles Times." It says: "In contrast to the president, who at times seemed tired and annoyed at having to share the stage, Kerry's command of the facts didn't get in the way of his being lucid and direct."
As you mentioned some of that. But still, on a wider -- in a wider scope, did Kerry really deliver a definite plan to get out of Iraq?
MERCURIO: Yes, I don't -- that's a very good question and I don't think he necessarily conveyed a specific plan on getting out of Iraq. I think he came into the debate thinking all he needed to do was sort of articulate a position on how we got into Iraq. And I think he did that relatively effectively.
But as far as a plan to get out, no. I think the president hit him extremely hard on his, you know, equivocation and on his sort of inability to articulate.
So, you know, did Kerry -- I think the big, big, big question of the day is did Kerry deliver the sort of deafening death blow that he needed to? And the answer, I think, is no, which is good news for the media, because that means hopefully people are actually going to be tuning into the next debate next week in St. Louis.
COSTELLO: I'm sure they will.
Thank you.
John Mercurio live from Miami this morning.
Do you need a break from all of the political talk? Well, you can go to the movies this weekend. We'll preview what's hot and what's not with the editor of "In Touch Weekly," you know, our friend Tom O'Neil.
But first, here's a look at how the overseas markets are doing on this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We're just getting in these pictures from Samarra, Iraq. That's just north of Baghdad. You see the smoke rising there near that mosque? That's a very holy shrine in the city. Armed militants were inside the shrine along with a number or weapons. Iraqi National Guardsmen broke into that shrine and we understand they confiscated a whole bunch of weapons.
Jane Arraf is embedded with the 1st Infantry Division because U.S. Army forces and Iraqi National Guard forces are fighting together for this battle of Samarra.
Jane -- what can you tell us?
ARRAF: Well, it is still (AUDIO GAP) approximately 15 hours after (AUDIO GAP) there's still gunfire ringing out here in (AUDIO GAP) where one of the holiest shrines in Shia Islam is located.
Just a couple of hours ago, Iraqi special forces, backed by U.S. special forces, blew apart the doors of this shrine to take entry to it, to capture and kill a couple of insurgents and to seize the weapons they were using (AUDIO GAP) fire from them from the holy shrine.
This has been a major battle, a major offensive. It's still going on, as you can hear, a brigade sized offensive.
The U.S. military had agreed not to patrol these streets after the transfer to sovereignty, but finding it taken over by insurgents, they said, they came back in more than three weeks ago. Last night the first night (AUDIO GAP) and we came with them as they cleared this city sector by sector. There is still fighting going on, but the U.S. appears to be in control of most of it -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Iraqi National Guardsmen fighting alongside U.S. forces, Jane.
Who is leading the charge? ARRAF: Iraqi special forces, actually, were leading the charge. Iraqi National Guard were there, as well, but I should have mentioned that it was the new Iraqi special forces that led the charge into the mosque. Obviously, a very delicate area.
At one point, someone came out with a rocket propelled grenade to shoot at the U.S. soldiers and they fired back. There was a fire (AUDIO GAP) in front of the mosque. Soldiers lined up and down the street, U.S. soldiers, an amazing sight.
This part of the city is absolutely deserted and this is the worst kind of fighting for American soldiers. Tanks cannot go in these narrow streets. They had to proceed on foot. And almost every alley they went through, they were getting shot at.
Despite that, very few U.S. casualties. One person believed to have been wounded. They say they have killed 94 insurgents and possibly more -- Carol.
COSTELLO: They've killed 94 insurgents.
Jane, I talked with an adviser to the Iraqi interior minister early this morning. He says that Iraqi forces and U.S. forces now have control of the city of Samarra.
Is that what it looks like from your standpoint?
ARRAF: From my standpoint, it's a very different Samarra than the one that I have known, which is normally a bustling city full of pilgrims from around the world. We have to remind our viewers that this is really quite an amazing place. The shrine is home to the -- two of the 12 imams are buried there. And the 12th imam, who disappeared here, Shias believe will come back, signaling a new -- signaling judgment day. This is a sacred place for Shia Muslims all over the world and it's normally thronged with people.
Right now these streets are deserted. The only Iraqis we've seen are those who have been detained by U.S. forces and the Iraqi National Guardsmen and special forces who are securing the mosque. Other than that, it is just U.S. soldiers and a deadly silence -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jane, the adviser to the Iraqi interior minister also told me the people of Samarra reached out for help from the Iraqi Governing Council.
Is that how it went down?
ARRAF: It's so hard to tell. It's a similar case to what we saw unfold in Najaf, where townspeople really did appear to be held hostage by just a few hundred, in that case, militia loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr. In this case, the feeling is that these are former regime elements and perhaps 25 to 30 foreign fighters. But they managed to really hold hostage this city of 200,000.
Certainly commerce has stopped. People were afraid. And according to what we've heard, people flooded out of the city, which is why we're seeing no one in the streets.
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