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American Morning
Is It a Whole New Race for the White House? Is Mount St. Helens About to Blow?
Aired October 04, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Is it a whole new race for the White House? John Kerry comes back in the polls. How big a bounce did he get from the debate last week?
Another day in Baghdad begins in carnage. More than a hundred dead and wounded in two separate car bombings there.
Is Mount St. Helens about to blow? Scientists issue their highest alert yet.
And SpaceshipOne getting ready for another twisting, turning ride into space on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
All right, ready to start a whole new week here in the month of October.
Good morning, I'm Bill Hemmer.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Heidi Collins, in for Soledad.
Stories that we are following this morning, the resurgence of Senator Kerry after the first debate is putting new pressure on both candidates now. Bill Schneider is going to be with us in just a few minutes to look at the new numbers and tell us what the response will likely be from each campaign.
HEMMER: Also watching this thing in the America Northwest over the weekend. Taking you out to Mount St. Helens today. They are waiting for the volcano can make its next move. How the greatest risk from an eruption might be to the people in the air and not on the ground. So we'll talk about that in a moment.
That huge void you feel today on AMERICAN MORNING is because Jack Cafferty is on vacation, all week, in fact, right?
COLLINS: All week.
HEMMER: But we've a guy who can fill that void, do we not?
COLLINS: We do indeed.
HEMMER: We call him Drew. Andy Borowitz with us, question of the Day coming up this hour. COLLINS: For now, though, we are going to get started and check the stories now in the news this morning. Daryn Kagan standing by at the CNN Center to do just that.
Daryn, good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Heidi.
Officials in Baghdad are at the site with two separate car bombings this morning. Sources say the first blast targeted an Army recruitment center near the heavily fortified green zone. Just a short time later, witnesses say they saw another explosion at a nearby Baghdad hotel. At least 16 people were killed in the attacks. Dozens more are wounded. In just about a half hour, we'll have the latest for you on the security situation with Brent Sadler in Baghdad.
The Supreme Court begins its new term this morning. This is the longest serving supreme court since the 1820s. The justices have accepted 49 cases for review so far. That means they'll be hearing arguments until early February. Topping today's agenda, federal guidelines for sentencing prisoners.
The first of the 2004 Nobel Prizes was announced early this morning. American Richard Axel and Linda Buck were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their study of the sense of smell. Winners of the prize in other categories will be announced this week, with the Peace Prize being announced on Friday.
SpaceshipOne is ready for its second trip into space. The rocket plane turned over 29 times last Wednesday before reaching an altitude of almost 63 miles. In less than three hours, that craft will try to duplicate that feat. If successful, the flight could earn the $10 million X Prize. Space correspondent Miles O'Brien is in the Mojave desert. He joins us in the next hour with more on that, and the prize and the race.
For now though, Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Yes, boy, and that was a pretty frightening ride last time around for Mike Melvill. So hopefully we'll see a smoother flight this time around.
KAGAN: Fasten your seat belts, literally.
COLLINS: You got it. Daryn Kagan, thanks for that.
Well, the race is back on. Our post-debate poll shows John Kerry has once again pulled even with President Bush. CNN/"USA Today/Gallup survey shows likely voters are evenly split on who they would vote for if the election were held today. President Bush had an eight point lead before last week's debate. He still holds a 2 percentage point edge over Senator Kerry among registered voters, but that's well within the margin of error.
And both candidates are digesting the latest seesaw in the polls while they prep for this week's debate on domestic issue. We have a report from each camp now.
Dana Bash live at the White House, and Frank Buckley live at John Kerry's first stop in Hampton, New Hampshire today. We're going to begin, though, with Dana.
Dana, what does was the Bush campaign have to say about these latest poll numbers.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, one top Bush aide I talked to conceded that more voters obviously seem to like John Kerry now than before the debate, but noted, a majority of Americans still according to our poll are not prepared to vote for the senator, and the president is going to spend this week trying to make sure that doesn't happen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): The president spent a rare day off the campaign trail on a bike trail, as his post-debate lead against John Kerry evaporated, now a neck-and-neck race. And his campaign team is trying to regroup from what they only privately admit was a disappointing debate.
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMM. DIR.: Every good team goes back and looks at the tapes and looks at transcripts and does that to see where opportunities could be, you know, found and things like that.
BASH: The president went over some potential opportunities at a Sunday debate prep session inside the White House.
While still trying to manage expectation, aides are hoping the format for round two, a town hall, will help.
BARTLETT: President Bush is very comfortable caulk talking to real people and talking to them about the big issues of the day.
BASH: One issue Bush officials would rather not talk about, but camp Kerry is counting on, whether the White House brushed aside known doubts about Iraq's nuclear capability in the run-up to war. In September 2002, on CNN's "LATE EDITION," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice warned of aluminum tube shipments to Iraq.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATL. SECURITY ADVISER: High quality aluminum tubes that are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs.
BASH: An exhaustive "New York Times" report said Rice's staff knew then the energy department had already concluded what was later widely accepted, the tubes were not for nuclear use. Rice now says she was aware of some debate, but relied on a multiagency intelligence assessment and has no regrets.
RICE: If you underestimate the nuclear threat of a tyrant, you make a really big mistake, and I stand by that decision of the administration to this very day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Since last week's debate, the president has been trying to shift the focus of the Iraq discussion from his decisions of war, his defense of war, what you just heard, back to what Senator Kerry would do as commander in chief. And Bush aides feel that is critical to making sure the tightening of the polls doesn't turn into a full- fledged Kerry lead. So expect the president to talk about Iraq this week just as much as domestic issue as he prepares for the debate -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, a lot of prep going on, I'm sure.
Dana Bash, thanks so much, live from the White House.
John Kerry has also seized on the nuclear controversy, but how much mileage can he get out of it, while he, too, has a domestic policy debate to prepare for?
Well, Frank Buckley is traveling with the Kerry campaign in Hampton, New Hampshire this morning.
Frank, good morning to you.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Kerry advisers tell us that questions about President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq will remain a constant theme during the next month. But right now, as you say, the primary focus of the campaign is on domestic issues. It's part of a shift that began over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Senator John Kerry met with locked-out steelworkers from a titanium plant and took questions at a town hall event in Austintown, Ohio, as he focused on the economy.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everything is going up in America except the wages of the Americans under this administration, and I'm going to change that.
BUCKLEY: The focus on jobs part of what a senior Kerry strategist called a very aggressive move away from the foreign policy focus in the campaign to domestic issues. Commercials on the economy like this one...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: I have a specific plan to strengthen our economy and create jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: ... are to replace all previous Kerry commercials on national security. And on the stump, Kerry concentrates on jobs. But just a day after the pivot to domestic policy began, Kerry doubled back to Iraq, after this article in "The New York Times" asserted that Bush administration officials used disputed intelligence information on Iraq and its potential nuclear weapons program as they made the case for war.
KERRY: That raises serious questions about whether or not the administration was open and honest in making the case for the war in Iraq. These are questions that the president must face.
BUCKLEY: But last night, as Kerry campaigned at a predominantly African-American church in Cleveland, he returned to his focus on domestic issues.
KERRY: When I'm president, I'll tell you, we're going to raise the minimum age, we're going to stand up and we're going to fully fund No Child Left Behind.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: And the focus on the domestic issues continues here in New Hampshire later this morning with a discussion on one of the hottest social issues of the election season. That is stem cell research. Senator Kerry saying that he will show the distinction, the differences between himself and President Bush. He says that he will increase federal funding for stem cell research as opposed to President Bush who has limited federal funding to a certain number of lines for stem cell research.
Appearing here on the stage in this high school gymnasium, with Senator Kerry will be the actor Michael J. Fox -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, thanks so much for that. Frank Buckley, from New Hampshire this morning, thanks.
From Washington this morning, our senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Here, Bill, good morning to you on a Monday morning.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POL. ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
First poll numbers. The vote now, Bush and Kerry 49 to 49. Is this all rooted in Thursday's debate, Bill?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POL. ANALYST: Well, a lot of it is rooted in that debate. Our polls show better than two to one American voters thought that John Kerry won that debate; 57 percent said Kerry, just 25 percent said President Bush. It looks like Kerry finally got his convention bounce, but it turned out to be a debate bounce.
HEMMER: Also when asked who they trust more commander in chief, George Bush still leads in the category, as he does when it comes to terrorism, national security, the issue of Iraq. What else is at work here as you look at the trust issue?
SCHNEIDER: Well, what you can see is Kerry resolving some doubts about whether he's able and qualified to serve as commander in chief. Voters still see Bush slightly more qualified. He's led the country in two wars. But I think the debate really created a lot of doubts, dismayed a lot of voters about President Bush, and helped to resolve some of the doubts they had about Senator Kerry. So now, we've ended up with a debate -- with a race that's neck and neck. Get your bags packed for Tallahassee.
HEMMER: Hopefully not, or Columbus, Ohio.
Another question about Iraq, though, Bill, and it was asked whether or not in our polling whether it was a mistake to go. You believe this is significant, 51 percent say no, 48 percent say yes. Why so significant do you read this this morning, Bill?
SCHNEIDER: Reporter: Because this is one of the two factors that really tightened up the race. The bad news coming out of Iraq, we heard it a few minutes ago -- Daryn Kagan and Brent Sadler will have some details -- talking about the disruptions there, the bombings that continue, the kidnappings, the brutal murders and execution, and of course the continuing U.S. losses. That bad news is having an effect on this race. It's creating some dismay about what Americans are accomplishing in Iraq. It's helping to tighten up this race. And it's not because people believe that Kerry has an exit strategy and Bush doesn't. They're not sure either man has an exit strategy, but they are getting very much more concerned about Iraq than they were just a week ago. And concern about Iraq drives up the Kerry vote.
HEMMER: So then take the strategy for this coming Friday night, debate No. 2. How do things change given poll numbers of the weekend?
SCHNEIDER: Well, President Bush needs a recovery strategy. Some of us remember way back in 1984 when President Reagan was deemed to have lost the first debate to Walter Mondale. He needed a recovery strategy in the second debate, and he did it with a simple quick quip, saying that he would not dispute his -- he would not take advantage of his opponent's youth and inexperience. Everyone had a good laugh, and voters felt reassured about Ronald Reagan. Bush needs that kind of recovery strategy.
Kerry has to sustain the momentum. He's trying to do it by focusing on domestic issues. For the Republicans, they want to keep the focus on 9/11, the war on terror. It's an issue that works for them. But their critics, Democrats say, that's just fear mongering among voters.
HEMMER: Thank you, Bill, talk to you again later this week.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
HEMMER: Bill Schneider in D.C.
HEMMER: And tomorrow night, the vice presidential candidates debate in Cleveland, Ohio, their one and only. And AMERICAN MORNING is there for all the pre and post-debate analysis. We'll be in northern Ohio, starting tomorrow morning.
(WEATHER REPORT) COLLINS: Meanwhile, though, sad news from Hollywood this morning. "Psycho" actress Janet Leigh is dead. Leigh appeared in more than 50 films. Her most famous scene though took place in the shower, in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller. Leigh is also Jamie Lee Curtis' mother. She was 77 years old.
Do you know how she was discovered? A California ski resort that her parents worked at. They had a family picture of her at the front desk. Some guy from MGM came in, saw it and said, hmm, she looks like a star.
HEMMER: Is that right? Right time, right place.
COLLINS: That's pretty amazing, huh?
HEMMER: And she, you know, in one of the most critical themes ever in the history of filmmaking.
COLLINS: And frightening I might add. Who doesn't think about that in the shower?
Still to come though this morning, new crash tests are out now. The cars that fared the worst just ahead.
HEMMER: Also in a moment here, another wave of violence rocking Iraq, the latest from Brent Sadler, standing by in Baghdad. We'll get to Brent after the break.
COLLINS: And Mount St. Helens now at its highest alert level. One of the biggest concerns if it erupts, we'll go there live, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Mount St. Helens is drawing a big crowd for a volcanic show that scientists say could come at any time. The explosion alert level is now at its highest stage. A new tremor and volcanic gas build-up were detected yesterday inside the crater.
Bonnie Lippitt with the U.S. Forest Service is joining us from Mount St. Helens now to give us an update on all of this.
Good morning to you, Bonnie. Thanks for being here. Wondering if you could do just that and update us on what you know? We're hearing this thing can go off pretty much at any time?
BONNIE LIPPITT, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: Well, that's what the scientists are telling us, it could go off at any time, and that means any time in the next two or three minutes, or any time in the next two or three days, or maybe any time in the next two or three months. So that any time is a time that isn't specific.
COLLINS: Yes, and pretty tough to prepare for when you get guidelines like that, I imagine. But you know, back in 1980, when Mount St. Helens erupted 57 people were killed, ash was spewn all over the place. How does this compare to what you're hearing to what's going on right now?
LIPPITT: Well, the mountain is a different mountain than it was back in 1980. It's quite a bit shorter. There's a lot less volume to it as a result of the 1980 eruption.
What the scientists have been indicating to us is that what they expect would be a small explosion, possibly from the dome steam, maybe a little ash, and the possibility that some magma would erupt on to the surface of the lava dome and enlarging that. That's what they are indicating is the most likely scenario right now.
COLLINS: Tell us a little bit about what happened over the weekend, though. There was some pretty tense moments, and certainly some activity to talk about.
LIPPITT: Saturday morning, there was a change in the kind of earthquake activity that occurs under the mountain. We've been having earthquakes, two to three a minute, magnitude two, magnitude three. This has been going on for several days.
What happened Saturday morning was that a different kind of earthquake occurred called a harmonic tremor. And what the scientists liken it to is thinking about having water in the pipes, and your pipes rattle or vibrate. They call this type of earthquake activity a harmonic tremor, and it can be a signal that, just like in your pipes with fluid moving, it can indicate that in a volcano magma is moving. And that period of harmonic tremors, as they call them, lasted for about 50 minutes. And it was based on that change that the U.S. Geological Survey changed their alert level here from a level two to a level three and that's what prompted them...
COLLINS: Sunday I know...
LIPPITT: And that's what prompted the U.S. Forest Service to evacuate the Johnson Ridge Visitor Center and pull back to a little safer distance.
COLLINS: Sure, better safe than sorry, especially in this case.
We know that Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who's going to be talking to us a little bit later this morning, actually got to tour the area. She said there are certainly some concerns for public safety. I want to listen what she had to say and get your comment in a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GALE NORTON, SECY. OF INTERIOR : The greatest public safety concern at this point is an ash plume and the spread of ash itself, that might come from an explosion. This is a concern for aircraft travel, and that is the primary concern.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Have local airports been feeling any of the impact here yet? Or are we going to see a change in the way the commercial traffic is routed? Or what is going to happen with the ash?
LIPPITT: Right now, there's no impact on the commercial airline traffic, either out of Seattle or out of Portland. But certainly if there were an event to occur, actually the U.S. Geological Survey, one of the first groups on the list is the Federal Aviation Administration, specifically for that reason, for that threat to commercial safety, and they would let them know as soon as anything happened so that they could make the necessary diversions.
COLLINS: All right, wonderful.
Bonnie Lippitt, we certainly appreciate your time this morning, from the U.S. Forest Service, and certainly wish you the best of luck as well.
And as we mentioned, in our final hour at 9:00 Eastern, we will be talking more about Mount St. Helens with Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton.
HEMMER: In a moment here, the latest car crash testing: which flunked and which passed? We'll have the list for you in a moment, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.
Which new cars hold up best in crashes? Let's find out with Gerri Willis, "Minding Your Business" today for Andy Serwer.
And good morning to you. And you have the list, Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
I do indeed.
We've some numbers here you're definitely going to want to see. This is side-impact crash tests, the results from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. You'll want to see the makes and models here that did well. Saab 9-3 at the top of the list here. What you should know is that this car got best pick rating for both front and side car crashes, very big deal there.
You can see the rest of the list. These are the best picks. There's also a list of those that received acceptable ratings, as well.
And, Bill, you got to hear this. Guess what car did terribly?
HEMMER: I know the answer.
WILLIS: You know the answer.
HEMMER: It's Jaguar, right?
WILLIS: That's right, $31,000 you can't get a good side test out of this car. Amazing that it performed so poorly. Can't buy safety with luxury.
HEMMER: But it was just a side test, right?
WILLIS: That's right. This is just the side-impact test.
The way they do this is they ram an SUV traveling at 31 miles per hour traveling into the side of these cars.
HEMMER: Still a great looking car, though. I mean, come on.
WILLIS: Looks or safety? What are you all about, Bill.
HEMMER: Keep the speed down and enjoy the ride.
Thank you, Gerri. Good to have you here.
WILLIS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: All right, time now for the Question of the Day.
Jack Cafferty, as you know, is off, but Andy Borowitz is here.
Good morning.
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE BOROWITZ REPORT": Good morning.
And it's debate week, right?
COLLINS: It is indeed, again.
BOROWITZ: Well, we're going to talk about some other debates. You know, tomorrow is the much-anticipated debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards, much anticipated by everyone except me. I think as long as we're going to have debates among people than the presidential candidate, why thought think outside of the box, like the Bush twins versus the Kerry daughters perhaps. Or one of John Kerry's veteran buddies versus one of the president's Alabama National Guard pals. Or, my dream matchup, the women behind the men, which leads me to our Question of the Day, if Laura Bush debated Teresa Heinz Kerry, who would win and why? E-mail us now at am@CNN.com.
HEMMER: Something to ponder.
By the way, did you see the style section of "The New York Times" on Sunday. Our friend Andy Borowitz is now a huge star.
BOROWITZ: Oh my gosh.
HEMMER: Featured prominently in this article. Let me get to it here. I'll find it in a second here, kind of thick on Sundays. You're getting 100,000 hits on your Web site a day.
BOROWITZ: At Borowitzreport.com.
HEMMER: Are you kidding me? BOROWITZ: And I saw another headline in another paper that said, "Satire is So Sexy." I love that. I love that, which means they were referring directly to me.
HEMMER: Which puts you in that category, right?
BOROWITZ: There you go. There I am.
HEMMER: Anyway, check it our, really good article, too. And congratulations to you.
BOROWITZ: Thank you.
HEMMER: I just wanted to know if you wanted to give any of us credit here at AMERICAN MORNING, because we started it all.
BOROWITZ: You got me on my way. And now 100,000 hit as day and "The New York Times."
COLLINS: Don't the credit away. It's all you.
BOROWITZ: It's all me.
Satire is so sexy.
COLLINS: It is. It is. I can tell right there.
All right, well, still to come on our Monday edition of "90 Second Pop," here it is.
After three decades of "SNL," the show's 30th season kicked off this weekend with some new faces and surprise cameos.
And Billy Joel has a new uptown girl. The scoop on their wedding and why his ex-wife, Christie Brinkley, decided to attend.
Stay with us, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 4, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Is it a whole new race for the White House? John Kerry comes back in the polls. How big a bounce did he get from the debate last week?
Another day in Baghdad begins in carnage. More than a hundred dead and wounded in two separate car bombings there.
Is Mount St. Helens about to blow? Scientists issue their highest alert yet.
And SpaceshipOne getting ready for another twisting, turning ride into space on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
All right, ready to start a whole new week here in the month of October.
Good morning, I'm Bill Hemmer.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Heidi Collins, in for Soledad.
Stories that we are following this morning, the resurgence of Senator Kerry after the first debate is putting new pressure on both candidates now. Bill Schneider is going to be with us in just a few minutes to look at the new numbers and tell us what the response will likely be from each campaign.
HEMMER: Also watching this thing in the America Northwest over the weekend. Taking you out to Mount St. Helens today. They are waiting for the volcano can make its next move. How the greatest risk from an eruption might be to the people in the air and not on the ground. So we'll talk about that in a moment.
That huge void you feel today on AMERICAN MORNING is because Jack Cafferty is on vacation, all week, in fact, right?
COLLINS: All week.
HEMMER: But we've a guy who can fill that void, do we not?
COLLINS: We do indeed.
HEMMER: We call him Drew. Andy Borowitz with us, question of the Day coming up this hour. COLLINS: For now, though, we are going to get started and check the stories now in the news this morning. Daryn Kagan standing by at the CNN Center to do just that.
Daryn, good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Heidi.
Officials in Baghdad are at the site with two separate car bombings this morning. Sources say the first blast targeted an Army recruitment center near the heavily fortified green zone. Just a short time later, witnesses say they saw another explosion at a nearby Baghdad hotel. At least 16 people were killed in the attacks. Dozens more are wounded. In just about a half hour, we'll have the latest for you on the security situation with Brent Sadler in Baghdad.
The Supreme Court begins its new term this morning. This is the longest serving supreme court since the 1820s. The justices have accepted 49 cases for review so far. That means they'll be hearing arguments until early February. Topping today's agenda, federal guidelines for sentencing prisoners.
The first of the 2004 Nobel Prizes was announced early this morning. American Richard Axel and Linda Buck were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their study of the sense of smell. Winners of the prize in other categories will be announced this week, with the Peace Prize being announced on Friday.
SpaceshipOne is ready for its second trip into space. The rocket plane turned over 29 times last Wednesday before reaching an altitude of almost 63 miles. In less than three hours, that craft will try to duplicate that feat. If successful, the flight could earn the $10 million X Prize. Space correspondent Miles O'Brien is in the Mojave desert. He joins us in the next hour with more on that, and the prize and the race.
For now though, Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: Yes, boy, and that was a pretty frightening ride last time around for Mike Melvill. So hopefully we'll see a smoother flight this time around.
KAGAN: Fasten your seat belts, literally.
COLLINS: You got it. Daryn Kagan, thanks for that.
Well, the race is back on. Our post-debate poll shows John Kerry has once again pulled even with President Bush. CNN/"USA Today/Gallup survey shows likely voters are evenly split on who they would vote for if the election were held today. President Bush had an eight point lead before last week's debate. He still holds a 2 percentage point edge over Senator Kerry among registered voters, but that's well within the margin of error.
And both candidates are digesting the latest seesaw in the polls while they prep for this week's debate on domestic issue. We have a report from each camp now.
Dana Bash live at the White House, and Frank Buckley live at John Kerry's first stop in Hampton, New Hampshire today. We're going to begin, though, with Dana.
Dana, what does was the Bush campaign have to say about these latest poll numbers.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, one top Bush aide I talked to conceded that more voters obviously seem to like John Kerry now than before the debate, but noted, a majority of Americans still according to our poll are not prepared to vote for the senator, and the president is going to spend this week trying to make sure that doesn't happen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): The president spent a rare day off the campaign trail on a bike trail, as his post-debate lead against John Kerry evaporated, now a neck-and-neck race. And his campaign team is trying to regroup from what they only privately admit was a disappointing debate.
DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMM. DIR.: Every good team goes back and looks at the tapes and looks at transcripts and does that to see where opportunities could be, you know, found and things like that.
BASH: The president went over some potential opportunities at a Sunday debate prep session inside the White House.
While still trying to manage expectation, aides are hoping the format for round two, a town hall, will help.
BARTLETT: President Bush is very comfortable caulk talking to real people and talking to them about the big issues of the day.
BASH: One issue Bush officials would rather not talk about, but camp Kerry is counting on, whether the White House brushed aside known doubts about Iraq's nuclear capability in the run-up to war. In September 2002, on CNN's "LATE EDITION," national security adviser Condoleezza Rice warned of aluminum tube shipments to Iraq.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATL. SECURITY ADVISER: High quality aluminum tubes that are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs.
BASH: An exhaustive "New York Times" report said Rice's staff knew then the energy department had already concluded what was later widely accepted, the tubes were not for nuclear use. Rice now says she was aware of some debate, but relied on a multiagency intelligence assessment and has no regrets.
RICE: If you underestimate the nuclear threat of a tyrant, you make a really big mistake, and I stand by that decision of the administration to this very day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Since last week's debate, the president has been trying to shift the focus of the Iraq discussion from his decisions of war, his defense of war, what you just heard, back to what Senator Kerry would do as commander in chief. And Bush aides feel that is critical to making sure the tightening of the polls doesn't turn into a full- fledged Kerry lead. So expect the president to talk about Iraq this week just as much as domestic issue as he prepares for the debate -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, a lot of prep going on, I'm sure.
Dana Bash, thanks so much, live from the White House.
John Kerry has also seized on the nuclear controversy, but how much mileage can he get out of it, while he, too, has a domestic policy debate to prepare for?
Well, Frank Buckley is traveling with the Kerry campaign in Hampton, New Hampshire this morning.
Frank, good morning to you.
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Kerry advisers tell us that questions about President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq will remain a constant theme during the next month. But right now, as you say, the primary focus of the campaign is on domestic issues. It's part of a shift that began over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY (voice-over): Senator John Kerry met with locked-out steelworkers from a titanium plant and took questions at a town hall event in Austintown, Ohio, as he focused on the economy.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everything is going up in America except the wages of the Americans under this administration, and I'm going to change that.
BUCKLEY: The focus on jobs part of what a senior Kerry strategist called a very aggressive move away from the foreign policy focus in the campaign to domestic issues. Commercials on the economy like this one...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: I have a specific plan to strengthen our economy and create jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BUCKLEY: ... are to replace all previous Kerry commercials on national security. And on the stump, Kerry concentrates on jobs. But just a day after the pivot to domestic policy began, Kerry doubled back to Iraq, after this article in "The New York Times" asserted that Bush administration officials used disputed intelligence information on Iraq and its potential nuclear weapons program as they made the case for war.
KERRY: That raises serious questions about whether or not the administration was open and honest in making the case for the war in Iraq. These are questions that the president must face.
BUCKLEY: But last night, as Kerry campaigned at a predominantly African-American church in Cleveland, he returned to his focus on domestic issues.
KERRY: When I'm president, I'll tell you, we're going to raise the minimum age, we're going to stand up and we're going to fully fund No Child Left Behind.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: And the focus on the domestic issues continues here in New Hampshire later this morning with a discussion on one of the hottest social issues of the election season. That is stem cell research. Senator Kerry saying that he will show the distinction, the differences between himself and President Bush. He says that he will increase federal funding for stem cell research as opposed to President Bush who has limited federal funding to a certain number of lines for stem cell research.
Appearing here on the stage in this high school gymnasium, with Senator Kerry will be the actor Michael J. Fox -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, thanks so much for that. Frank Buckley, from New Hampshire this morning, thanks.
From Washington this morning, our senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Here, Bill, good morning to you on a Monday morning.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POL. ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
First poll numbers. The vote now, Bush and Kerry 49 to 49. Is this all rooted in Thursday's debate, Bill?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POL. ANALYST: Well, a lot of it is rooted in that debate. Our polls show better than two to one American voters thought that John Kerry won that debate; 57 percent said Kerry, just 25 percent said President Bush. It looks like Kerry finally got his convention bounce, but it turned out to be a debate bounce.
HEMMER: Also when asked who they trust more commander in chief, George Bush still leads in the category, as he does when it comes to terrorism, national security, the issue of Iraq. What else is at work here as you look at the trust issue?
SCHNEIDER: Well, what you can see is Kerry resolving some doubts about whether he's able and qualified to serve as commander in chief. Voters still see Bush slightly more qualified. He's led the country in two wars. But I think the debate really created a lot of doubts, dismayed a lot of voters about President Bush, and helped to resolve some of the doubts they had about Senator Kerry. So now, we've ended up with a debate -- with a race that's neck and neck. Get your bags packed for Tallahassee.
HEMMER: Hopefully not, or Columbus, Ohio.
Another question about Iraq, though, Bill, and it was asked whether or not in our polling whether it was a mistake to go. You believe this is significant, 51 percent say no, 48 percent say yes. Why so significant do you read this this morning, Bill?
SCHNEIDER: Reporter: Because this is one of the two factors that really tightened up the race. The bad news coming out of Iraq, we heard it a few minutes ago -- Daryn Kagan and Brent Sadler will have some details -- talking about the disruptions there, the bombings that continue, the kidnappings, the brutal murders and execution, and of course the continuing U.S. losses. That bad news is having an effect on this race. It's creating some dismay about what Americans are accomplishing in Iraq. It's helping to tighten up this race. And it's not because people believe that Kerry has an exit strategy and Bush doesn't. They're not sure either man has an exit strategy, but they are getting very much more concerned about Iraq than they were just a week ago. And concern about Iraq drives up the Kerry vote.
HEMMER: So then take the strategy for this coming Friday night, debate No. 2. How do things change given poll numbers of the weekend?
SCHNEIDER: Well, President Bush needs a recovery strategy. Some of us remember way back in 1984 when President Reagan was deemed to have lost the first debate to Walter Mondale. He needed a recovery strategy in the second debate, and he did it with a simple quick quip, saying that he would not dispute his -- he would not take advantage of his opponent's youth and inexperience. Everyone had a good laugh, and voters felt reassured about Ronald Reagan. Bush needs that kind of recovery strategy.
Kerry has to sustain the momentum. He's trying to do it by focusing on domestic issues. For the Republicans, they want to keep the focus on 9/11, the war on terror. It's an issue that works for them. But their critics, Democrats say, that's just fear mongering among voters.
HEMMER: Thank you, Bill, talk to you again later this week.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
HEMMER: Bill Schneider in D.C.
HEMMER: And tomorrow night, the vice presidential candidates debate in Cleveland, Ohio, their one and only. And AMERICAN MORNING is there for all the pre and post-debate analysis. We'll be in northern Ohio, starting tomorrow morning.
(WEATHER REPORT) COLLINS: Meanwhile, though, sad news from Hollywood this morning. "Psycho" actress Janet Leigh is dead. Leigh appeared in more than 50 films. Her most famous scene though took place in the shower, in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller. Leigh is also Jamie Lee Curtis' mother. She was 77 years old.
Do you know how she was discovered? A California ski resort that her parents worked at. They had a family picture of her at the front desk. Some guy from MGM came in, saw it and said, hmm, she looks like a star.
HEMMER: Is that right? Right time, right place.
COLLINS: That's pretty amazing, huh?
HEMMER: And she, you know, in one of the most critical themes ever in the history of filmmaking.
COLLINS: And frightening I might add. Who doesn't think about that in the shower?
Still to come though this morning, new crash tests are out now. The cars that fared the worst just ahead.
HEMMER: Also in a moment here, another wave of violence rocking Iraq, the latest from Brent Sadler, standing by in Baghdad. We'll get to Brent after the break.
COLLINS: And Mount St. Helens now at its highest alert level. One of the biggest concerns if it erupts, we'll go there live, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Mount St. Helens is drawing a big crowd for a volcanic show that scientists say could come at any time. The explosion alert level is now at its highest stage. A new tremor and volcanic gas build-up were detected yesterday inside the crater.
Bonnie Lippitt with the U.S. Forest Service is joining us from Mount St. Helens now to give us an update on all of this.
Good morning to you, Bonnie. Thanks for being here. Wondering if you could do just that and update us on what you know? We're hearing this thing can go off pretty much at any time?
BONNIE LIPPITT, U.S. FOREST SERVICE: Well, that's what the scientists are telling us, it could go off at any time, and that means any time in the next two or three minutes, or any time in the next two or three days, or maybe any time in the next two or three months. So that any time is a time that isn't specific.
COLLINS: Yes, and pretty tough to prepare for when you get guidelines like that, I imagine. But you know, back in 1980, when Mount St. Helens erupted 57 people were killed, ash was spewn all over the place. How does this compare to what you're hearing to what's going on right now?
LIPPITT: Well, the mountain is a different mountain than it was back in 1980. It's quite a bit shorter. There's a lot less volume to it as a result of the 1980 eruption.
What the scientists have been indicating to us is that what they expect would be a small explosion, possibly from the dome steam, maybe a little ash, and the possibility that some magma would erupt on to the surface of the lava dome and enlarging that. That's what they are indicating is the most likely scenario right now.
COLLINS: Tell us a little bit about what happened over the weekend, though. There was some pretty tense moments, and certainly some activity to talk about.
LIPPITT: Saturday morning, there was a change in the kind of earthquake activity that occurs under the mountain. We've been having earthquakes, two to three a minute, magnitude two, magnitude three. This has been going on for several days.
What happened Saturday morning was that a different kind of earthquake occurred called a harmonic tremor. And what the scientists liken it to is thinking about having water in the pipes, and your pipes rattle or vibrate. They call this type of earthquake activity a harmonic tremor, and it can be a signal that, just like in your pipes with fluid moving, it can indicate that in a volcano magma is moving. And that period of harmonic tremors, as they call them, lasted for about 50 minutes. And it was based on that change that the U.S. Geological Survey changed their alert level here from a level two to a level three and that's what prompted them...
COLLINS: Sunday I know...
LIPPITT: And that's what prompted the U.S. Forest Service to evacuate the Johnson Ridge Visitor Center and pull back to a little safer distance.
COLLINS: Sure, better safe than sorry, especially in this case.
We know that Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who's going to be talking to us a little bit later this morning, actually got to tour the area. She said there are certainly some concerns for public safety. I want to listen what she had to say and get your comment in a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GALE NORTON, SECY. OF INTERIOR : The greatest public safety concern at this point is an ash plume and the spread of ash itself, that might come from an explosion. This is a concern for aircraft travel, and that is the primary concern.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Have local airports been feeling any of the impact here yet? Or are we going to see a change in the way the commercial traffic is routed? Or what is going to happen with the ash?
LIPPITT: Right now, there's no impact on the commercial airline traffic, either out of Seattle or out of Portland. But certainly if there were an event to occur, actually the U.S. Geological Survey, one of the first groups on the list is the Federal Aviation Administration, specifically for that reason, for that threat to commercial safety, and they would let them know as soon as anything happened so that they could make the necessary diversions.
COLLINS: All right, wonderful.
Bonnie Lippitt, we certainly appreciate your time this morning, from the U.S. Forest Service, and certainly wish you the best of luck as well.
And as we mentioned, in our final hour at 9:00 Eastern, we will be talking more about Mount St. Helens with Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton.
HEMMER: In a moment here, the latest car crash testing: which flunked and which passed? We'll have the list for you in a moment, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.
Which new cars hold up best in crashes? Let's find out with Gerri Willis, "Minding Your Business" today for Andy Serwer.
And good morning to you. And you have the list, Gerri.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
I do indeed.
We've some numbers here you're definitely going to want to see. This is side-impact crash tests, the results from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. You'll want to see the makes and models here that did well. Saab 9-3 at the top of the list here. What you should know is that this car got best pick rating for both front and side car crashes, very big deal there.
You can see the rest of the list. These are the best picks. There's also a list of those that received acceptable ratings, as well.
And, Bill, you got to hear this. Guess what car did terribly?
HEMMER: I know the answer.
WILLIS: You know the answer.
HEMMER: It's Jaguar, right?
WILLIS: That's right, $31,000 you can't get a good side test out of this car. Amazing that it performed so poorly. Can't buy safety with luxury.
HEMMER: But it was just a side test, right?
WILLIS: That's right. This is just the side-impact test.
The way they do this is they ram an SUV traveling at 31 miles per hour traveling into the side of these cars.
HEMMER: Still a great looking car, though. I mean, come on.
WILLIS: Looks or safety? What are you all about, Bill.
HEMMER: Keep the speed down and enjoy the ride.
Thank you, Gerri. Good to have you here.
WILLIS: You're welcome.
COLLINS: All right, time now for the Question of the Day.
Jack Cafferty, as you know, is off, but Andy Borowitz is here.
Good morning.
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE BOROWITZ REPORT": Good morning.
And it's debate week, right?
COLLINS: It is indeed, again.
BOROWITZ: Well, we're going to talk about some other debates. You know, tomorrow is the much-anticipated debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards, much anticipated by everyone except me. I think as long as we're going to have debates among people than the presidential candidate, why thought think outside of the box, like the Bush twins versus the Kerry daughters perhaps. Or one of John Kerry's veteran buddies versus one of the president's Alabama National Guard pals. Or, my dream matchup, the women behind the men, which leads me to our Question of the Day, if Laura Bush debated Teresa Heinz Kerry, who would win and why? E-mail us now at am@CNN.com.
HEMMER: Something to ponder.
By the way, did you see the style section of "The New York Times" on Sunday. Our friend Andy Borowitz is now a huge star.
BOROWITZ: Oh my gosh.
HEMMER: Featured prominently in this article. Let me get to it here. I'll find it in a second here, kind of thick on Sundays. You're getting 100,000 hits on your Web site a day.
BOROWITZ: At Borowitzreport.com.
HEMMER: Are you kidding me? BOROWITZ: And I saw another headline in another paper that said, "Satire is So Sexy." I love that. I love that, which means they were referring directly to me.
HEMMER: Which puts you in that category, right?
BOROWITZ: There you go. There I am.
HEMMER: Anyway, check it our, really good article, too. And congratulations to you.
BOROWITZ: Thank you.
HEMMER: I just wanted to know if you wanted to give any of us credit here at AMERICAN MORNING, because we started it all.
BOROWITZ: You got me on my way. And now 100,000 hit as day and "The New York Times."
COLLINS: Don't the credit away. It's all you.
BOROWITZ: It's all me.
Satire is so sexy.
COLLINS: It is. It is. I can tell right there.
All right, well, still to come on our Monday edition of "90 Second Pop," here it is.
After three decades of "SNL," the show's 30th season kicked off this weekend with some new faces and surprise cameos.
And Billy Joel has a new uptown girl. The scoop on their wedding and why his ex-wife, Christie Brinkley, decided to attend.
Stay with us, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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