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American Morning
'Gimme a Minute'; 'Paging Dr. Gupta'
Aired October 01, 2004 - 08:30 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: Lots of folks scurrying along trying to get out of the city, because it's the weekend. And it is just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. "Gimme a Minute" panel coming up. They're anxiously awaiting their chance to weigh in on the presidential debate.
And also, we're looking at just what doctors are doing to fix Prime Minister Tony Blair's -- British prime minister, that is, Tony Blair's heart. Can the procedure, involving a catheter in the heart chamber, be considered routine? Sanjay is going to explain that. And we will get back to Bill Hemmer in just a few minutes.
But for now, we want to check on the stories now in the news with Rick Sanchez, to Pakistan this morning.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we've been monitoring the situation in Iraq and in the Middle East, and now Pakistan, as you mentioned. Here's what's going on in Pakistan. Police are investigating whether a suicide bomber is to blame for this morning's attack on a crowded mosque. It's a powerful explosion that ripped the building apart, and there were as many as 800 people who were gathered there. They were there for afternoon prayers. Police are saying at least 20 people were killed in that incident.
More peacekeepers from the African Union are heading to Sudan's Darfur region. An additional 1,000 troops are going to be working with Sudanese police. Humanitarian groups say as many as 50,000 people have been killed by militia since February of last year. U.S. officials call the conflict the world's worst humanitarian case, something that was echoed last night during the debates which you may have picked up.
Here in the United States, picket lines on two coasts. Thousands of workers at seven Atlantic City casinos are on strike this morning. They're protesting the use of subcontracted work to non-union employees.
And across the country, 1,400 workers at four major San Francisco hotels are on strike over health care costs and other issues. Union officials say 10 more hotels may start locking out employees as well before this is done.
And then Michael Jackson and his former lawyer, Mark Geragos, they're going to be able to concentrate on their high-profile cases for now. You see, a Los Angeles judge has postponed that lawsuit in which they sued Extra Jet (ph) over an alleged secret taping of them on a charter flight that they were not pleased about. The judge agreed to delay it until May, because Jackson is busy with his trial over the molestation charges, and Geragos, of course, as you know, is also very busy with the Scott Peterson case.
Some of the stories in the news. Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: They wear a lot of white when they show up for court, don't they, Michael Jackson, him, and all the family members.
SANCHEZ: And the gloves.
COLLINS: Yes, well, I think he got rid of the gloves a while ago.
All right, Rick Sanchez, thank so much for that.
As you know, time now for "Gimme a Minute." Here to weigh in on the week's big stories, in Pittsburgh, Bev Smith, with American Urban Radio Networks.
Bev, good morning to you.
BEV SMITH, AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORKS: Good morning to you.
In New York, WABC radio host Mark Simone.
Mark, good morning to you as well.
MARK SIMONE, WABC RADIO HOST: Good morning. Good to see you again.
COLLINS: And you, too.
And also, here in the studio, Andy Borowitz, the man behind borowitzreport.com, and "The Big Book of Shockers".
Andy, thanks for being here.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: Bev, I want to begin with you, if I could. In the first faceoff last night between President Bush and Senator John Kerry, who won?
SMITH: John Kerry won hands down. He was confident, his posture was just perfect, he articulated his position well, and he was able to recoup the slings and the arrows thrown at him by the president by explaining himself. And we appreciate the fact that he had time to do that. Hands down, John Kerry won.
COLLINS: Mark Simone, did John Kerry win this thing last night?
SIMONE: Yes, on posture, I'll give you that. I think what helped Kerry a lot were those lights that made him stop talking every two minutes. If I were Kerry, I'd carry those all with him all the time; even in his private life, he could probably use those. I think, even though he won on debating points, some things will come back to haunt him, some of the lies he told. We haven't spent $200 billion in Iraq; it's $119 billion. The subways weren't shut down in New York, as some local stations are pointing out this morning.
COLLINS: Andy, you're take on the contest?
BOROWITZ: I thought John Kerry did fine. But what's up with his tan? Is he trying to appeal to the orange states?
COLLINS: Yes, we've been talking about that fan tan for a while there.
All right, Mark, this one for you now. Getting back to the sports theme for moment, going to playing Major League Baseball inside the beltway. Montreal Expos going to the nation's Capitol. But what is the name going to be?
SIMONE: Well, it won't be the senators. You know, the Texas Rangers actually own that name. And also remember, D.C. has no -- they don't have any senators. I would think the Washington Lobbyists, the Washington Bureaucrats might be a good name. And I thought of one that I like, the Washington Halliburtons.
COLLINS: What about it, Bev? Washington Halliburtons?
SMITH: Well, I think after watching the president's performance last night, we ought to call it the Washington Flip-Flops. Didn't they do that, too? Coming from Canada into the nation's capitol? How about the Washington Flip Flops?
COLLINS: Andy?
SMITH: No comment? No comment?
BOROWITZ: You know, I think to save some money, they should recycle the Expos uniforms and call them the sexpots.
COLLINS: Doh! Hey! OK, we're going to let that one lie, Andy.
Let's get back to the debate. I want to mix it up a little bit this morning. We know that just this week, war planners got two different assessments on different sort of difficulties that they would have in Iraq, one of them mainly the situation with insurgents and what could happen there.
Do these types of discoveries, Mark, do you think a year and a half later really make a difference in voters' minds?
SIMONE: Well, you know, we get these things called estimates. Estimate is a fancy word for guess. And the same group, the NIC, the last estimate they sent over said there was definitely WMD, and we'd definitely would find stockpiles. So I don't think people fault the president for taking these with a grain of salt now.
COLLINS: Bev? SMITH: Well, I disagree. I think people are looking for evidence, people are concerned. And any information comes out, I think we have a tendency to trivialize, what Mark did a little bit ago, 200,000, 119, those are trivial points. I think people want to hear what this administration knew, knew in advance, and any information coming in that can shed, highlight, particularly to the families of the men and women who are returning injured, some in pine boxes, is important. I don't think we can trivialize this information.
COLLINS: And, Andy?
BOROWITZ: Well, pardon me while I trivialize. But I don't think those reports ever made to President Bush, because they were not released as books on tape.
COLLINS: All right, guys. Let's talk about the undercovered story of the week. Bev, you want to go ahead and begin on that one?
SMITH: I don't know if I can recuperate after that.
COLLINS: He's a tough act to follow, isn't he?
SMITH: I mean it. I really mean it. I like him a lot.
I think one of the stories that was missed by the media is the story of Dr., or professor, Alan Keyes. Alan Keyes went to the Republican Convention and certainly caused a big stink over same-sex marriage and had some very harsh things to say.
And this week we're investigating a story that appeared on the Web site www.politicalone.com about his own daughter being a lesbian. And so we did not hear enough information about that, and I'm awfully curious. Every time I hear it and read about Alan Keyes, I think people who live in glass houses shouldn't ever pick up a stone. And I wonder why the media didn't follow this one all the way through.
COLLINS: All right. Mark Simone, your thoughts?
SIMONE: Well, I thought the under-reported story was first John Edwards disappeared from the campaign trail, and now it's come out that Teresa Heinz has been put into hiding. We saw her in the debate last night, but she's nowhere to be seen on campaign trail. Proving, if he has to, Kerry can stand up to a rough dictator.
COLLINS: Right. Andy, bring it home for us.
BOROWITZ: Yikes.
Well, Heidi, after an earthquake measuring 5.9 caused no major damage in California, Governor Schwarzenegger called it a girly quake.
COLLINS: Girly quake. Thankfully it did hit where nobody lived.
Thanks so much to the three of you this morning, Bev Smith, Mark Simone and Andy Borowitz. Have a great weekend, guys. SMITH: Thank you. Thank you very much. Good to see you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, if you got all excited about those make your own photo stamps, hold your horses. They've got a bit of a snag. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" on that.
Plus, Tony Blair goes to the hospital to be treated for heart flutter. If you aren't sure what exactly that means, you are not alone. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" for some answers here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: "Paging Dr. Gupta" today. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is having a medical procedure o correct an irregular heartbeat. Dr. SAnjay Gupta in Atlanta now. Matthew Chance is also live in London outside the hospital with the very latest on all of this.
Matthew, we'll begin with you. Good morning.
MATTHEW CHANCE, SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you as well, Heidi.
Tony Blair, the British prime minister in this hospital right behind me in west of London where he'll be receiving, if he hasn't received it already, a routine procedure to correct his irregular heartbeat.
Now, neither the hospital nor the British prime minister's office have confirmed whether that procedure has taken place. We haven't had any word either about the condition of the prime minister. We're waiting eagerly to hear from some of those officials inside the hospital to tell us how the prime minister is doing.
But apparently it is a very routine operation. The risk attached to it is relatively low. Certainly the prime minister himself expects to make a full and speedy recovery, saying that he intends to be back at work on Monday morning and a scheduled visit to a number of African countries is going to take place next week, later, we understand, from Downing Street officials.
So the surgery itself relatively minor. But the fact that his health problems have raised their heads once again raising further questions in the mind of the British public, together, with his decision not to stand for election after the next parliament is resulted in Britain, raising a number of questions about the ability of Prime Minister Blair to continue to effectively run this country -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Matthew Chance, thanks so much for that, live from London this morning.
And for more on Prime Minister Tony Blair's medical procedure now, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us from the CNN Center. Sanjay, whenever me hear about heart irregularities, it sounds a little alarming.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. There are four chambers of the heart. Their are two atrium and two ventricles. In the prime minister's case, two of the chambers aren't working properly. They're short-circuiting and sometimes beating too rapidly. That is something called atrial flutter. Just as Matthew described, it can be treated very easily and very safely as well. This is how the prime minister put it yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's -- I think they call it an atrial flutter that I had last year. It recurred again in August. And actually, it doesn't stop me working. It's not really debilitating in any shape or form at all. And this is why they'll get it fixed now, I'm going for what they call a routine procedure tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTPA: And of course, that was yesterday. Actually he probably undergoing the procedure right now. Again, called atrial flutter. One way to describe it is it's as if the electrical circuits within the heart sort of short-circuit. Think of the heart as a big electrical muscle that can lead to quickened or irregular beating.
People may notice a flutter in their chest, an irregularity in their chest. Sometimes it can be up to 300 beats per minute. As you heard from both Matthew and the prime minister, this wasn't the first time he's had this problem. In October of 2003, he had this same problem and it was treated at that time with something known as cardioversion. That's where you actually put paddles on the chest and shock the heart. That's what cardioversion is.
In August of this year it recurred. And now he's having something known as a catheter ablation procedure. Simply, Heidi, what this procedure is is you actually thread some electrical wires from the groin all the way into the heart. You are trying to find that area of the heart where things are shortcircuiting. If you pass a little bit of electricity through that area, the thought is that everything will return back to normal and considered cured -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow. But how common is it, Sanjay, to have one of these heart flutters?
GUPTA: Well, it's not uncommon. People typically think of something known as atrial fibrillation. People may have heard that term. That's actually more common. But in about 6 percent of men or so you have something known as atrial flutter.
Typically it's going to be treated with medications. You actually take medications by mouth or you're given medications in your vein. If that doesn't work, then as in the prime minister's case, they resort to this cardioversion where they shock the chest. And then if that -- if it recurs even after that, this catheter ablation thing.
So it's not uncommon. It's easily treatable. And based on everything that we know, everything the prime minister has said should be accurate, he should be able to go back to work on Monday, return to a full schedule. It's not really a surgery. There is no opening of the chest. This is more of a minimally invasive procedure -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Non-invasive. We like those procedures a lot better I think.
GUPTA: That's right.
COLLINS: All right. Well, our thoughts are with him, of course. And Sanjay, thanks for breaking it down for us.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: Well, remember the postal service's make your own stamps plan? Well, it has hit a snag. I think there have been so many requests for Jack Cafferty stamps that there has been a problem, right?
Andy Serwer "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE": The whole thing is making my atrial flutter.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: Let's take a quick look back at the markets yesterday. The Dow was down a little bit here, you can see mostly because of Merck, only because of Merck. The good news is Merck is up 1 percent in pre-market trading.
Big news coming out of California this morning in the land of tech. PeopleSoft's board has removed its CEO, Craig Conway, being replaced by Dave Duffield, he's the founder of the company. You may know that these two -- this company, that is, PeopleSoft, is in a death battle with Oracle. So big news out there.
COLLINS: PeopleSoft are moving people.
SERWER: Yes, that's right. That's like a Barbra Streisand song, isn't it?
COLLINS: I'm not sure.
SERWER: People who are moving...
COLLINS: People...
SERWER: Yes. Something like that. Let's stop. OK.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: On to Stamps.com. You may remember this, that stamps.com allows to you scan your pictures in your computer and then make stamps of your own likeness on your dog's likeness. The United States Postal Service has decided that they want to put this whole thing on hold. They are reviewing this. There is no word exactly on why they've stopped this test. But maybe it has to do with some of the stamps that people were making. Maybe some of them were too racy. Do we have any examples of some that were perhaps too racy?
COLLINS: Racy? Why is that racy? That's frightening is what it is.
SERWER: Well, it's -- no, I think it's very attractive. Maybe distracting.
COLLINS: Now that's racy.
SERWER: That's -- yeah, that's racy. I think they are both distracting. They cause postal workers to stop doing their jobs.
COLLINS: Right. The question is: Are they worth 37 cents once you put a picture on it?
SERWER: Well, I'm not going to touch that. Yours certainly was. I don't know about Hemmer's.
COLLINS: All right, Andy, thanks so much for that.
Back over to Jack now.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Heidi. Coming up in "The Cafferty File," we're going to have a little quiz, something a little different this morning. And you'll see it right after we pause for these messages on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAFFERTY: This country is as sharply divided as it's been in a very long time going into this election. In stark contrast to the way we were after September 11th, now we have Messrs. Kerry and Bush screaming at each other about who is better able to defend this country.
It's a nasty discussion, and quite frankly, it's beginning to bother me some. So, we're going to have a little quiz this morning.
I want you to look at some pictures and see if you can tell the Republicans from the Democrats.
(MUSIC -- RAY CHARLES - "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL")
CAFFERTY: The music, of course, the great Ray Charles. Now let's go back to Bill in Ohio.
HEMMER: Well done, Jack. Thanks for that.
Now the day after debate number one and the spin is on. Dan Bartlett from the Bush campaign, John Edwards from the Kerry campaign, our guests in a moment here as we roll on live on the campus of Ohio State University, battleground Ohio.
Back in a moment on this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 1, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Lots of folks scurrying along trying to get out of the city, because it's the weekend. And it is just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. "Gimme a Minute" panel coming up. They're anxiously awaiting their chance to weigh in on the presidential debate.
And also, we're looking at just what doctors are doing to fix Prime Minister Tony Blair's -- British prime minister, that is, Tony Blair's heart. Can the procedure, involving a catheter in the heart chamber, be considered routine? Sanjay is going to explain that. And we will get back to Bill Hemmer in just a few minutes.
But for now, we want to check on the stories now in the news with Rick Sanchez, to Pakistan this morning.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we've been monitoring the situation in Iraq and in the Middle East, and now Pakistan, as you mentioned. Here's what's going on in Pakistan. Police are investigating whether a suicide bomber is to blame for this morning's attack on a crowded mosque. It's a powerful explosion that ripped the building apart, and there were as many as 800 people who were gathered there. They were there for afternoon prayers. Police are saying at least 20 people were killed in that incident.
More peacekeepers from the African Union are heading to Sudan's Darfur region. An additional 1,000 troops are going to be working with Sudanese police. Humanitarian groups say as many as 50,000 people have been killed by militia since February of last year. U.S. officials call the conflict the world's worst humanitarian case, something that was echoed last night during the debates which you may have picked up.
Here in the United States, picket lines on two coasts. Thousands of workers at seven Atlantic City casinos are on strike this morning. They're protesting the use of subcontracted work to non-union employees.
And across the country, 1,400 workers at four major San Francisco hotels are on strike over health care costs and other issues. Union officials say 10 more hotels may start locking out employees as well before this is done.
And then Michael Jackson and his former lawyer, Mark Geragos, they're going to be able to concentrate on their high-profile cases for now. You see, a Los Angeles judge has postponed that lawsuit in which they sued Extra Jet (ph) over an alleged secret taping of them on a charter flight that they were not pleased about. The judge agreed to delay it until May, because Jackson is busy with his trial over the molestation charges, and Geragos, of course, as you know, is also very busy with the Scott Peterson case.
Some of the stories in the news. Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: They wear a lot of white when they show up for court, don't they, Michael Jackson, him, and all the family members.
SANCHEZ: And the gloves.
COLLINS: Yes, well, I think he got rid of the gloves a while ago.
All right, Rick Sanchez, thank so much for that.
As you know, time now for "Gimme a Minute." Here to weigh in on the week's big stories, in Pittsburgh, Bev Smith, with American Urban Radio Networks.
Bev, good morning to you.
BEV SMITH, AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORKS: Good morning to you.
In New York, WABC radio host Mark Simone.
Mark, good morning to you as well.
MARK SIMONE, WABC RADIO HOST: Good morning. Good to see you again.
COLLINS: And you, too.
And also, here in the studio, Andy Borowitz, the man behind borowitzreport.com, and "The Big Book of Shockers".
Andy, thanks for being here.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: Thanks, Heidi.
COLLINS: Bev, I want to begin with you, if I could. In the first faceoff last night between President Bush and Senator John Kerry, who won?
SMITH: John Kerry won hands down. He was confident, his posture was just perfect, he articulated his position well, and he was able to recoup the slings and the arrows thrown at him by the president by explaining himself. And we appreciate the fact that he had time to do that. Hands down, John Kerry won.
COLLINS: Mark Simone, did John Kerry win this thing last night?
SIMONE: Yes, on posture, I'll give you that. I think what helped Kerry a lot were those lights that made him stop talking every two minutes. If I were Kerry, I'd carry those all with him all the time; even in his private life, he could probably use those. I think, even though he won on debating points, some things will come back to haunt him, some of the lies he told. We haven't spent $200 billion in Iraq; it's $119 billion. The subways weren't shut down in New York, as some local stations are pointing out this morning.
COLLINS: Andy, you're take on the contest?
BOROWITZ: I thought John Kerry did fine. But what's up with his tan? Is he trying to appeal to the orange states?
COLLINS: Yes, we've been talking about that fan tan for a while there.
All right, Mark, this one for you now. Getting back to the sports theme for moment, going to playing Major League Baseball inside the beltway. Montreal Expos going to the nation's Capitol. But what is the name going to be?
SIMONE: Well, it won't be the senators. You know, the Texas Rangers actually own that name. And also remember, D.C. has no -- they don't have any senators. I would think the Washington Lobbyists, the Washington Bureaucrats might be a good name. And I thought of one that I like, the Washington Halliburtons.
COLLINS: What about it, Bev? Washington Halliburtons?
SMITH: Well, I think after watching the president's performance last night, we ought to call it the Washington Flip-Flops. Didn't they do that, too? Coming from Canada into the nation's capitol? How about the Washington Flip Flops?
COLLINS: Andy?
SMITH: No comment? No comment?
BOROWITZ: You know, I think to save some money, they should recycle the Expos uniforms and call them the sexpots.
COLLINS: Doh! Hey! OK, we're going to let that one lie, Andy.
Let's get back to the debate. I want to mix it up a little bit this morning. We know that just this week, war planners got two different assessments on different sort of difficulties that they would have in Iraq, one of them mainly the situation with insurgents and what could happen there.
Do these types of discoveries, Mark, do you think a year and a half later really make a difference in voters' minds?
SIMONE: Well, you know, we get these things called estimates. Estimate is a fancy word for guess. And the same group, the NIC, the last estimate they sent over said there was definitely WMD, and we'd definitely would find stockpiles. So I don't think people fault the president for taking these with a grain of salt now.
COLLINS: Bev? SMITH: Well, I disagree. I think people are looking for evidence, people are concerned. And any information comes out, I think we have a tendency to trivialize, what Mark did a little bit ago, 200,000, 119, those are trivial points. I think people want to hear what this administration knew, knew in advance, and any information coming in that can shed, highlight, particularly to the families of the men and women who are returning injured, some in pine boxes, is important. I don't think we can trivialize this information.
COLLINS: And, Andy?
BOROWITZ: Well, pardon me while I trivialize. But I don't think those reports ever made to President Bush, because they were not released as books on tape.
COLLINS: All right, guys. Let's talk about the undercovered story of the week. Bev, you want to go ahead and begin on that one?
SMITH: I don't know if I can recuperate after that.
COLLINS: He's a tough act to follow, isn't he?
SMITH: I mean it. I really mean it. I like him a lot.
I think one of the stories that was missed by the media is the story of Dr., or professor, Alan Keyes. Alan Keyes went to the Republican Convention and certainly caused a big stink over same-sex marriage and had some very harsh things to say.
And this week we're investigating a story that appeared on the Web site www.politicalone.com about his own daughter being a lesbian. And so we did not hear enough information about that, and I'm awfully curious. Every time I hear it and read about Alan Keyes, I think people who live in glass houses shouldn't ever pick up a stone. And I wonder why the media didn't follow this one all the way through.
COLLINS: All right. Mark Simone, your thoughts?
SIMONE: Well, I thought the under-reported story was first John Edwards disappeared from the campaign trail, and now it's come out that Teresa Heinz has been put into hiding. We saw her in the debate last night, but she's nowhere to be seen on campaign trail. Proving, if he has to, Kerry can stand up to a rough dictator.
COLLINS: Right. Andy, bring it home for us.
BOROWITZ: Yikes.
Well, Heidi, after an earthquake measuring 5.9 caused no major damage in California, Governor Schwarzenegger called it a girly quake.
COLLINS: Girly quake. Thankfully it did hit where nobody lived.
Thanks so much to the three of you this morning, Bev Smith, Mark Simone and Andy Borowitz. Have a great weekend, guys. SMITH: Thank you. Thank you very much. Good to see you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, if you got all excited about those make your own photo stamps, hold your horses. They've got a bit of a snag. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" on that.
Plus, Tony Blair goes to the hospital to be treated for heart flutter. If you aren't sure what exactly that means, you are not alone. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" for some answers here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: "Paging Dr. Gupta" today. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is having a medical procedure o correct an irregular heartbeat. Dr. SAnjay Gupta in Atlanta now. Matthew Chance is also live in London outside the hospital with the very latest on all of this.
Matthew, we'll begin with you. Good morning.
MATTHEW CHANCE, SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you as well, Heidi.
Tony Blair, the British prime minister in this hospital right behind me in west of London where he'll be receiving, if he hasn't received it already, a routine procedure to correct his irregular heartbeat.
Now, neither the hospital nor the British prime minister's office have confirmed whether that procedure has taken place. We haven't had any word either about the condition of the prime minister. We're waiting eagerly to hear from some of those officials inside the hospital to tell us how the prime minister is doing.
But apparently it is a very routine operation. The risk attached to it is relatively low. Certainly the prime minister himself expects to make a full and speedy recovery, saying that he intends to be back at work on Monday morning and a scheduled visit to a number of African countries is going to take place next week, later, we understand, from Downing Street officials.
So the surgery itself relatively minor. But the fact that his health problems have raised their heads once again raising further questions in the mind of the British public, together, with his decision not to stand for election after the next parliament is resulted in Britain, raising a number of questions about the ability of Prime Minister Blair to continue to effectively run this country -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Matthew Chance, thanks so much for that, live from London this morning.
And for more on Prime Minister Tony Blair's medical procedure now, Dr. Sanjay Gupta joining us from the CNN Center. Sanjay, whenever me hear about heart irregularities, it sounds a little alarming.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. There are four chambers of the heart. Their are two atrium and two ventricles. In the prime minister's case, two of the chambers aren't working properly. They're short-circuiting and sometimes beating too rapidly. That is something called atrial flutter. Just as Matthew described, it can be treated very easily and very safely as well. This is how the prime minister put it yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's -- I think they call it an atrial flutter that I had last year. It recurred again in August. And actually, it doesn't stop me working. It's not really debilitating in any shape or form at all. And this is why they'll get it fixed now, I'm going for what they call a routine procedure tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTPA: And of course, that was yesterday. Actually he probably undergoing the procedure right now. Again, called atrial flutter. One way to describe it is it's as if the electrical circuits within the heart sort of short-circuit. Think of the heart as a big electrical muscle that can lead to quickened or irregular beating.
People may notice a flutter in their chest, an irregularity in their chest. Sometimes it can be up to 300 beats per minute. As you heard from both Matthew and the prime minister, this wasn't the first time he's had this problem. In October of 2003, he had this same problem and it was treated at that time with something known as cardioversion. That's where you actually put paddles on the chest and shock the heart. That's what cardioversion is.
In August of this year it recurred. And now he's having something known as a catheter ablation procedure. Simply, Heidi, what this procedure is is you actually thread some electrical wires from the groin all the way into the heart. You are trying to find that area of the heart where things are shortcircuiting. If you pass a little bit of electricity through that area, the thought is that everything will return back to normal and considered cured -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow. But how common is it, Sanjay, to have one of these heart flutters?
GUPTA: Well, it's not uncommon. People typically think of something known as atrial fibrillation. People may have heard that term. That's actually more common. But in about 6 percent of men or so you have something known as atrial flutter.
Typically it's going to be treated with medications. You actually take medications by mouth or you're given medications in your vein. If that doesn't work, then as in the prime minister's case, they resort to this cardioversion where they shock the chest. And then if that -- if it recurs even after that, this catheter ablation thing.
So it's not uncommon. It's easily treatable. And based on everything that we know, everything the prime minister has said should be accurate, he should be able to go back to work on Monday, return to a full schedule. It's not really a surgery. There is no opening of the chest. This is more of a minimally invasive procedure -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Non-invasive. We like those procedures a lot better I think.
GUPTA: That's right.
COLLINS: All right. Well, our thoughts are with him, of course. And Sanjay, thanks for breaking it down for us.
GUPTA: Thank you.
COLLINS: Well, remember the postal service's make your own stamps plan? Well, it has hit a snag. I think there have been so many requests for Jack Cafferty stamps that there has been a problem, right?
Andy Serwer "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE": The whole thing is making my atrial flutter.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: Let's take a quick look back at the markets yesterday. The Dow was down a little bit here, you can see mostly because of Merck, only because of Merck. The good news is Merck is up 1 percent in pre-market trading.
Big news coming out of California this morning in the land of tech. PeopleSoft's board has removed its CEO, Craig Conway, being replaced by Dave Duffield, he's the founder of the company. You may know that these two -- this company, that is, PeopleSoft, is in a death battle with Oracle. So big news out there.
COLLINS: PeopleSoft are moving people.
SERWER: Yes, that's right. That's like a Barbra Streisand song, isn't it?
COLLINS: I'm not sure.
SERWER: People who are moving...
COLLINS: People...
SERWER: Yes. Something like that. Let's stop. OK.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: On to Stamps.com. You may remember this, that stamps.com allows to you scan your pictures in your computer and then make stamps of your own likeness on your dog's likeness. The United States Postal Service has decided that they want to put this whole thing on hold. They are reviewing this. There is no word exactly on why they've stopped this test. But maybe it has to do with some of the stamps that people were making. Maybe some of them were too racy. Do we have any examples of some that were perhaps too racy?
COLLINS: Racy? Why is that racy? That's frightening is what it is.
SERWER: Well, it's -- no, I think it's very attractive. Maybe distracting.
COLLINS: Now that's racy.
SERWER: That's -- yeah, that's racy. I think they are both distracting. They cause postal workers to stop doing their jobs.
COLLINS: Right. The question is: Are they worth 37 cents once you put a picture on it?
SERWER: Well, I'm not going to touch that. Yours certainly was. I don't know about Hemmer's.
COLLINS: All right, Andy, thanks so much for that.
Back over to Jack now.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Heidi. Coming up in "The Cafferty File," we're going to have a little quiz, something a little different this morning. And you'll see it right after we pause for these messages on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAFFERTY: This country is as sharply divided as it's been in a very long time going into this election. In stark contrast to the way we were after September 11th, now we have Messrs. Kerry and Bush screaming at each other about who is better able to defend this country.
It's a nasty discussion, and quite frankly, it's beginning to bother me some. So, we're going to have a little quiz this morning.
I want you to look at some pictures and see if you can tell the Republicans from the Democrats.
(MUSIC -- RAY CHARLES - "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL")
CAFFERTY: The music, of course, the great Ray Charles. Now let's go back to Bill in Ohio.
HEMMER: Well done, Jack. Thanks for that.
Now the day after debate number one and the spin is on. Dan Bartlett from the Bush campaign, John Edwards from the Kerry campaign, our guests in a moment here as we roll on live on the campus of Ohio State University, battleground Ohio.
Back in a moment on this Friday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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