Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Report Delcares There Are no WMD's in Iraq; Battles Continue Against al-Sadr's Militia
Aired October 06, 2004 - 17:00 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.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: long lines in public rushes at doctors' offices. Is the shortage in flu vaccine a health care crisis? Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): The CIA file. A massive report on Iraq's weapons. A massive headache for the president?
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tyrants and terrorists will not give us polite notice before they launch an attack on our country.
BLITZER: They're still at each other's threat.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These people are incapable of admitting that they made a mistake.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What we've seen during the course of this campaign and especially the debate the other night is a lot of tough talk.
BLITZER: Naughty on the air. Earnhardt earns a fine from NASCAR.
HOWARD STERN, RADIO PERSONALITY: I put my money where my mouth is.
BLITZER: Howard Stern moves his mouth to another kind of radio.
Also on the air, Rush Limbaugh's latest letdown.
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, October 6, 2004.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: It runs more than 1,000 pages, but the report by the CIA's chief weapons hunter is mostly about what was not found in Iraq: no weapons stockpiles, no active programs to make illegal weapons. But the report does conclude that if Saddam Hussein could have, he would have.
Let's turn to our national security correspondent, David Ensor -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, that's right. It is over 1,000 pages that land with a thump on the American political scene in the heat of a presidential campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR (voice-over): The careful analysts hired by the CIA to lead the search for weapons of mass destruction found himself in the glare of TV lights with his words parsed by both parties in this election year. His key finding giving ammunition to Democrats who charge the president went to war over stockpiles of weapons that were not there.
CHARLES DUELFER, CIA ADVISER: Neither can we definitively answer some questions about possible retained stocks. Though, as I say, it is my judgment that retained stocks do not exist.
ENSOR: Charles Duelfer said his team has found no weapons, does not expect them to be found and no evidence of any meaningful chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programs activity since the mid 1990s.
That said, Duelfer said Saddam Hussein himself, now a prisoner, has admitted he wanted to keep whatever weapons he could, given U.N. sanctions. Still, Duelfer's Iraq Survey Group has spent $900 million thus far, said one senator, who questioned the point of it all.
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D-MA), ARMED SERVICES CMTE.: Isn't this a total waste of money? Why does the search keep going on and on and on, and aren't we at the point where we have to admit the stockpiles don't exist, and then what's obviously become a wild goose chase.
The Bush administration hope we'd find something, anything to justify the war, but, instead, you're basically -- he nailed the door shut on any justification for the war.
DUELFER: You say wild goose chase. And we've had a lot of people who have -- we've had a couple of people die, we'd have many people wounded, and to tell them they've been involved in a wild goose chase, to me, is -- it's not really what we're doing. We were meant to find what existed with respect to WMD. We weren't tasked to find weapons. We were tasked to find the truth of the program.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: Senator John McCain, a supported of the war, asked Duelfer whether in his view if U.N. sanctions had continued to collapse and if the U.S. had not gone to war, would Saddam Hussein still be trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction? "To me," said Duelfer, "that is quite clear" -- Wolf.
BLITZER: David Ensor, thanks very much for that report.
In Iraq today, U.S. forces kept up the pressure on insurgents in Fallujah, even as a bloody bombing in the north took the lives of a dozen Iraqi national guard members. But there's a plan to end violence that has plagued a sprawling Baghdad slum.
CNN's senior international correspondent Brent Sadler reports from the Iraqi capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His outlawed Medhi Army militia has battled Iraqi and U.S. troops for months. Muqtada al-Sadr, political outcast, renegade, Shia Muslim cleric making moves that is could end deadly clashes in Baghdad's slum district of Sadr City, home to around one-tenth of Iraq's entire population. For al-Sadr, possible entry into mainstream politics one day, if loyal militants disarm. Conditional first, they say, on a cease-fire ending U.S. airstrikes.
KAREEM AL BAKHATTI, AL-SADR TRIBAL ELDER (through translator): Secondly, that Sadr followers will turn in their weapons in exchange for cash payments. Thirdly, immunity from prosecution for most of the cleric's followers and, fourth, release of detainees.
SADLER: No to an immediate cease-fire says the government of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Weapons first. But yes to amnesty for many if the initiative holds.
AYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: They will respect and abide by the rule of law in the city. They will welcome the police to go back to all the streets of the city.
SADLER: Replacing the chaotic control of al-Sadr militiamen. In the past month, U.S. warplanes have pounded Mehdi Army fighters here, sparking growing unrest, claim Iraqi officials, among embattled and impoverished Shia Muslims in this densely populated neighborhood of some 2 million people.
(on camera): Senior Iraqi government officials concede that a not-so-subtle blend of U.S.-led military firepower and Iraqi dialogue should break the violent deadlock in Sadr City.
(voice-over): A vital proving ground for joint Iraqi-U.S. strategy to overcome insurgents in other rebel strongholds with intensifying offensives on both the political and military fronts.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: President Bush today defended his pre-war concerns about Iraq's weapons, insisting Saddam Hussein did pose a threat. His comments came during a hard-hitting attack on his Democratic rival.
Let's go live to our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, today President Bush insists that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States and to the world. It is really the centerpiece of his reelection campaign that he made the right decision to invade Iraq and that he is the commander in chief that is fit to lead in the war on terror.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BUSH: Iraq is no diversion. It is the place where civilization is taking a decisive stand against chaos and terror, and we must not waver.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, is pursuing an aggressive strategy to portray John Kerry as unfit to lead on the war on terror.
BUSH: The senator would have America bend over backwards to satisfy a handfull of governments with the agendas different from our own. It is my opponent's alliance-building strategy, brush off your best friend, fawn over your critics, and that is no way to gain the respect of the world.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush further chided Kerry for his 1991 vote against the Persian Gulf War.
BUSH: If that coalition didn't pass his global test, clearly nothing will.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush's speech comes on the same day the administration's own investigative body, the Iraq Survey Group, concluded there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasion, the administration's principle rationale for going to war. Previewing a strategy for this Friday's presidential debate, Mr. Bush blasted Kerry as a tax and spend liberal.
BUSH: My opponent and I have a very different view on how to grow our economy. Let me start with taxes. I have a record of reducing them. He has a record of raising them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now, Wolf, the next debate is going to be in a town hall format. That, of course, is going to be something that the president is going to be preparing for in earnest in the days to come. The president today trying to make light of what many saw as his downfall, those cutaways, the grimaces and scowls that the president had made. And the president today making a joke about it, saying that if you heard such inaccurate statements that you might make a face too -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thank you very much.
John Kerry, meanwhile, is in Colorado, a state once solidly in the Bush column but now seen increasingly as a battleground state. Our national correspondent, Frank Buckley, is in Englewood, Colorado, where Kerry is prepping for the next debate. FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is a state that went to the Republicans in 2000 by 8 points, but it's a state that Democrats now believe is in play. They've spent the money and time here. And now, Senator Kerry is spending a couple of days here preparing for the debate.
We haven't seen him today. He has been hunkered down at this hotel and golf resort with advisers in a ballroom that we're told has been converted into a town hall-style setting. That's the format for Friday's debate.
Senator Kerry did watch the vice presidential debate last night herer in his hotel suite with his wife, Teresa. He later called his running mate, John Edwards, on the telephone to congratulate him on his performance.
Now today Senator Kerry did not directly respond to the blistering criticism that came his way from President Bush, but his advisers did respond, and they said it was an act of desperation by the Bush campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE MCCURRY, KERRY ADVISER: This is a greatest hit reels of all the negative attack ads they've had for the last month. There's nothing new that the president had to say today about Iraq, about our economy, about health care, about where America will be four years from now. We choose to define this race about the future, who has the best plan for America, and I think when you hear the president having nothing but negative things to say about his opponent, you pretty well know they don't have a lot to say about America's future. That's a very telling comment about where they think things stand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: Senator Kerry not doing any campaigning while he's here in Colorado. He will stay hunkered down, the strategy they used in Wisconsin in the days leading up to the debate on foreign policy and homeland security. Advisers saying it gave him a chance to clear his head and to get rested up and to focus on the issues that came up in that debate. They're using a similar strategy this time leading up to Friday's debate.
BLITZER: Thank you, Frank Buckley, in Colorado.
Kerry was seen in an appearance on the "Dr. Phil" show airing today although it was taped last month. Among the topics of the wide- ranging interview, explaining divorce to children. Kerry shared his personal experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have to really look them in the eye and tell them the truth.
DR. PHIL MCGRAW, HOST, "DR. PHIL": Did you sit down with the two of them?
KERRY: Yes, we did.
MCGRAW: As a couple?
KERRY: As a couple, absolutely.
MCGRAW: What did you say?
KERRY: It was an ongoing effort to try to make sure that they knew their lives weren't going to change, that both of us would be there for them, that this wasn't anything to do with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Dr. Phil recently aired a similar interview with the president and Mrs. Laura Bush.
Fears of increased terrorist activity because of a coincidence in timing. We'll have details.
The U.S. election and the Muslim holy month happening at the same time. Will it be a recipe for disaster?
Flu shot fears. Some people are already panicking over the vaccine shortage. There are long lines at doctors' offices around the country. Is this a real crisis? We'll have details of that as well.
Also ahead...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD STERN, RADIO TALKSHOW HOST: This marks the death of AM/FM radio, I guarantee you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Surprise announcement. Howard Stern pulls the plug on commercial radio. Find out what's next for the famous shock jock.
My guest, Pat O'Brien, from the insider. He'll join me live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The Muslim holy month of Ramadan which is set by a lunar calendar is expected to begin around the end of next week. Because of the presidential election next month, U.S. officials are concerned terrorists may strike during the month of Ramadan. Joining us with more on this CNN's Zain Verjee. She's at the CNN Center in Atlanta -- Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, terrorists are likely to exploit any window of opportunity to further their agenda. One of those windows may be coming up in the next few weeks. A look now at the timing of past attacks could be revealing about possible future attacks. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE (voice-over): The International Red Cross attacked in Baghdad, a U.S. military helicopter shot down in central Iraq, a housing compound targeted in Riyadh, Italian troops killed in Nasiriyah, two synagogues attacked in Istanbul. Terror in 2003, terrorists symbolically timed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
M.J. GOHEL, TERROR EXPERT: It is a time which can be exploited by radical clerics to motivate individuals into perhaps taking action on the basis that they're somehow serving their religion.
VERJEE: Terrorism experts say there is more alarm this year because of a combination that is both psychologically significant and potentially lethal.
GOHEL: Now that the U.S. elections are going to almost coincide with Ramadan there's almost a double temptation, as it were, to perpetrate some kind of atrocity.
VERJEE: And terror analysts see another temptation for terrorists, exploiting a symbolic date in Muslim history, a date many in the West don't know of.
ED HUTALING, ISLAM WITHOUT ILLUSIONS: Within Ramadan there is the anniversary of the battle of Badr which was the first jihad that took place in 624, and the commanding general of the underdog Muslims that were fighting this war was Mohammed himself.
VERJEE: The anniversary of the battle of Badr falls on almost the same day as the U.S. election. U.S. counterterrorism officials say they're concerned al Qaeda wants to attack the U.s. homeland or strike American interests abroad ahead of November 2. Iraq, terror analysts say, is the likeliest of targets. But Islamic experts insist on caution when connecting Ramadan with terror.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Normally, it's millions and millions of ordinary peace-loving Muslims.
VERJEE: About a billion Muslims will mark Ramadan this year, the vast majority do not support the handful of terrorists that are intent on destruction, say experts, and will celebrate peacefully. Ramadan is an important holiday on the Islamic calendar because the Koran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed then. Muslims fast and pray for a month.
Terrorism experts and Islamic scholars say Ramadan does give extremists an opportunity to enlist new recruits. Anger and emotions are heightened in the Arab-Muslim world over the war in Iraq and the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Some terrorism analysts say there is likely to be an influx of recruits in Iraq during Ramadan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: Ramadan will start when the new moon cited this month by religious authorities possibly on October 15 or 16 -- Wolf. BLITZER: Zain Verjee, reporting for us. Zain, thank you very much.
Rationing flu shots. Health officials responding to a shortage as people around the country scrambling to get the vaccine. Will this health care situation reach crisis levels?
Inside the federal prison in Alderson, West Virginia. We have new exclusive pictures from the place Martha Stewart will soon call home.
And a ruling on records against conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. The latest on his legal troubles. All that coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's a worrying situation, to say the least. The flu season is just around the corner, and vaccination supplies already in short supply. U.S. Health officials are scrambling.
CNN's Brian Todd is here with details -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wolf, they are indeed scrambling to acquire more vaccines, advise the public and answer the question we all have, is this a crisis?
At a grocery store in Washington more than 100 people in line. Average wait, 3 hours. People need to get back to work, home, or school but feel they need a flu shot more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a jeopardized immune system, so I have to be very careful of any disease that is come along.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm afraid they will run out by the time the season is over.
TODD: With nearly half the expected U.S. supply of flu vaccines not available for this season and flu shot shortages now in three of the past four years, we ask the infectious disease specialists at Children's Hospital in Washington, is this a genuine health crisis?
DR. ANDY BONWIT, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: I don't think it is something to panic about because panicking doesn't do any good. And we still are going to have 54 million doses that are going to be available for the people who most need to be vaccinated.
TODD: But there is a long-term concern. One top U.S. health official tells CNN many vaccine manufacturers are reluctant to get involved in what he called the low profit, high-risk endeavor of flu vaccines. And because of that, vote, this is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Coming off a year in which 152 children in the United States died of the flu, we asked Dr. Andy Bonwit if he thinks more children will fall victim this season.
BONWIT: It's very hard to predict if there will be fewer or more deaths as a result of influenza in children or in any other age group this year.
TODD: We called several pediatricians' offices and other doctors who deal with infectious diseases. They agree it is hard to predict how bad this year will be. They all tell us they've had a rush of patients regarding flu shots, but say they're following government recommendations and rationing them. The guidelines, those over 65, kids between the ages of six months and two years, family members of kids under six months, others at high risk all get the shots.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: The doctors we spoke to say they've had to refuse shots to some patients and parents. They say this is not a crisis yet, but rather a citizenship issue and ethical challenge for all of us. Don't get the shot if you are over 2, under 65 and relatively healthy. And wash your hands a lot this winter, Wolf, and don't share a glass with anyone. Common sense.
BLITZER: Good advice all year round, in any case. Thanks very much, Brian, for that. We'll continue to monitor the story for our viewers.
Shock jock shocker Howard Stern announcing a major move. Where is he going and why?
The price of profanity. A NASCAR star fined for foul language.
Plus, Tiger Woods' wedding surprise. We'll get details on all of the above from the insiders. Pat O'Brien, he'll join me live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS from our studies in Washington.
BLITZER: Vice President Dick Cheney fresh from last night's debate is stumping for votes in Florida today. Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash is traveling with the vice president. She's joining us now live from Tallahassee with a little bit of a post- debate update -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Tallahassee was the first of three stops today in Florida. And the vice president mentioned neither he nor the president has been able to do some official campaigning here lately because, of course, of the four hurricanes that hit this state. But he did -- was very eager to repeat some of his debate lines here in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNNE CHENEY, WIFE OF DICK CHENEY: How did you like that debate last night?
(APPLAUSE)
BASH (voice-over): At a town hall in Tallahassee, Lynne Cheney found a coy way to correct her husband who chided John Edwards for saying he was so absent in the Senate they never met. They actually did twice, first at a prayer breakfast.
L. CHENEY: I know all of us will agree, it is a good thing to go to prayer breakfasts, but don't you think the senator ought to go to the Senate once in a while?
BASH: The vice president repriced other zingers for Florida voters, which he called his greatest hits.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The problem with that is there isn't anything in John Kerry's background since -- for the last 30 years that gives you any reason to believe that he would, in fact, be tough in terms of prosecuting the war on terror.
BASH: And with all the talk of him being a heartbeat away from the presidency, this question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to know about your health?
D. CHENEY: Well, it's very good.
BASH: The night before, just down the street, locals watching here in Tallahassee called the vice president impressive, but say his debate won't sway them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that his expertise is a really good point. And I don't know. I'm still reserving any final rights or opinions about who I'm voting.
BASH: Carlos Balano (ph) says he supported the war at first, but feels duped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now I'm just, like, they lied. They definitely lied.
BASH: Team Bush counted on Mr. Cheney's face-off to reassure rank-and-file Republicans, those disappointed by the president's first debate performance. For supporters here to see the vice president, it seemed to work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He looked tired. And he seemed not to be on top of things all the time. I think Cheney was able to take command of the day, be straightforward, hit the points and do what the president needed to do last week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: But several supporters here said that they are holding their breath in anticipation of Friday's rematch between President Bush and Senator Kerry. But they said, at least for now, they believe that the vice president has gone a long way in reenergizing the base -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Dana Bash, thank you very much for that. Cheney's challenger, Senator John Edwards, also headed to Florida today after the debate, holding a rally in West Palm Beach this afternoon.
CNN's Joe Johns is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT: After a late night, it was a high-energy event here in Palm Beach Florida attended by about 1,500 people, John Edwards back on the road blasting the administration.
EDWARDS: They're not going to level with the American people. Let me tell you something. Come November, the American people are going to level with them and they're going to level with a three-word message to George Bush and Dick Cheney: President John Kerry.
JOHNS: Edwards also questioned the vice president's candor. The vice president apparently made a mistake when he said he had never met Edwards before the debate, Edwards seizing on that as an issue.
EDWARDS: We have a vice president and president who still struggle with the truth, right? Three years ago, I sat at a table with the vice president, had a chance to have a conversation. We were there for an hour, a couple hours together.
JOHNS: With the debate behind him, the challenge now for Edwards will be to keep that energy going through the home stretch. He leaves Florida to go to North Carolina. From there, to New York -- Wolf.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Joe Johns reporting for us -- thanks very much, Joe.
Joining us now with their take on last night's vice presidential debate and a look ahead as well, former White House special counsel Lanny Davis and former RNC counsel Mark Braden. Thanks to both of you for joining us.
Lanny, were you surprised that Edwards really didn't fight back when Cheney went after him on his missing-in-action performance in the U.S. Senate?
LANNY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: No, because I think the American people were focused on the major issues. And that's just the partisan sniping.
BLITZER: But if someone hits you -- you are a lawyer and you're a good political lawyer -- someone hits you and you are mum, isn't that an admission of failure?
DAVIS: Well, first of all, the important issue that he did get hit back on by Senator Edwards is when he said that he had never said that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. That was a false statement. And Edwards told him that it was false and that, in fact, there is no connection and forced him to admit that.
BLITZER: Because it makes you look like you're guilty if you're silent in the face of an accusation like that.
Let me move on, because the vice president was silent in the face of strong accusations from John Edwards on his entire Halliburton record. He went after him. He didn't say a word in his defense.
MARK BRADEN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE COUNSEL: Well, I think, in fact, he did say a word in his defense.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: He just said, this is -- it's ridiculous. But he didn't go through any of the specifics.
BRADEN: Well, the specifics would take an hour to go through. And in fact the public record is very clear on that.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: He had plenty of time.
(CROSSTALK)
BRADEN: Anyone attempting to compare Halliburton to Enron is either a liar or a fool. And everyone I think actually understands that. I don't see that argument.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Cheney was also silent when Edwards, I thought effectively, recalled a lot of his votes when he was a member of the House from Wyoming, votes against Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, against plastic guns, all sorts of other sensitive issues. He didn't really rebut that.
BRADEN: Yes. I think the fact is that we shouldn't look back at almost 30 years ago of votes. Maybe we should look at votes five or six years ago.
And we could look at Senator Edwards' votes, if he any took votes. He never showed up to vote, even.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: You have to admit Cheney is a very formidable debater and a real presence.
DAVIS: Well, he's formidable and a serious man.
But when he engages in outright falsehoods and Senator Edwards says to him, you know that al Qaeda was not involved in 9/11. You've been saying the opposite, he denied it, when in fact there are plenty of video clips where he did make the connection, that's important to the American people. (CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: ... implied it, but he never was hard and fast on that. He never said there was definitely a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.
DAVIS: There is no question that the innuendo and the inference was always that conflates the war against terror and 9/11 with the Saddam Hussein ouster. And that's a simple fact that that is not true.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: On that, he is right, right?
DAVIS: And Edwards nailed him on that.
BRADEN: And the answer is, Cheney is right on that, because there is a combination of 9/11, the war on terror and Iraq.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: But if Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with al Qaeda's operational activities as far as planning or putting together 9/11, what's the connection?
BRADEN: And the connection is that this is a base for terrorism in the future; 9/11 changed, changed...
BLITZER: But there are a lot of countries potentially that have that.
BRADEN: Yes, a lot of countries.
BLITZER: Iran, for example.
BRADEN: But this is not a -- that's exactly right. And we're attempting...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: But the United States did not invade Iran.
BRADEN: Exactly right. We have not done that.
But we are attempting another approach in Iran. But the fact that you do something one way in Iran and a different way in Iraq...
BLITZER: Let's let Lanny respond.
DAVIS: Two false statements that Senator Edwards corrected last night, one is that the ouster of Saddam Hussein has anything to do with the war against terrorism. In fact, the invasion of Iraq has produced more terrorists than exist in Iraq before the invasion.
BLITZER: You want to respond to that? BRADEN: That's just nonsense.
DAVIS: That's a fact.
BRADEN: The notion that invading Iraq isn't a step in the war on terrorism is a fundamental difference, then, between the parties.
The notion is, if you get rid of a madman running a country who has gassed his people, hates America, attempted to assassinate a former president of the United States, and you don't think that advances world peace, that's a fundamental difference between us.
BLITZER: Lanny.
DAVIS: There's a second fact. That's been contradicted by the secretary of defense, the CIA, everybody else except Mark and Vice President Cheney, still trying to make that bogus connection.
The second fact that was corrected last night, the false statement by Vice President Cheney, is that Kerry and Edwards want to raise taxes. In fact, we only want to raise taxes for people over $200,000 a year. We want to cut taxes for the middle class. Vice President Cheney falsely states that we raise taxes. He doesn't defend raising taxes back to the Clinton level for people over $200,000 a year.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: He does want to raise taxes for people earning over $200,000 a year.
DAVIS: He wants to roll back their tax cuts.
BLITZER: That's the raise. That would be an increase.
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: Raising taxes to where they were when President Clinton was president.
BRADEN: What -- the result of that would be to raise taxes on many small businesses across the country because in fact they pay taxes. Most small businesses pay taxes through something called a subchapter S situation.
And so what you do is, you raise the taxes on the people who bring you jobs to our society.
BLITZER: Mark, let's look ahead to Friday night, the town hall type debate, the second presidential debate. What does the president need to do Friday night that he failed to do during the first debate at the University of Miami?
BRADEN: He need to be better on style points. I think, on a substantive, he wont debate. He clearly lost it on style points in most people's minds. He needs to be more relaxed. And I think this is a more relaxed, more personable setting for him.
BLITZER: What advice do you have, Lanny -- and I know you are always good with advice -- for the Democratic presidential candidate?
DAVIS: Stay on message on the choice you just heard between Mark and myself, between John Kerry and Edwards and between Bush and Cheney. Do you want to raise taxes on people earning more than $200,000 a year, use that money to refund and greater tax cuts for the middle class, or do you want to preserve the deficit spending of this administration by protecting the wealthy? That's the choice. And Kerry is going to make that choice very clear on Friday night.
BLITZER: We'll leave it like that.
Mark Braden, thanks very much.
BRADEN: Thank you.
BLITZER: Lanny Davis, thank you very much, a good discussion, debate, we can call that.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: No ground rules were necessary, no 32-page memoranda to work this debate out. And we did have cutaway shots.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: To our viewers, here is your chance to weigh in on the story. Our Web question of the day is this: Who do you think won last night's vice presidential debate, the vice president, Dick Cheney, or Senator John Edwards? You can vote right now. Go to CNN.com/Wolf. We'll have the results for you later in this broadcast.
There are several other stories we're following, including a major move by the top shock jock, Howard Stern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD STERN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: The reason I'm walking away from that is, I believe the future is with satellite radio.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: How will his announcement impact the airwaves?
A key also ruling for Rush Limbaugh, new details surrounding drug-related allegations.
Plus , he slipped. Now, this NASCAR star has to put his money where his mouth is.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Just two days before Martha Stewart is to begin serving time for lying to investigators, CNN has obtained exclusive pictures of the prison where she will be spending the next five months.
CNN's Mary Snow is at the prison right now in Alderson, West Virginia. Mary is joining us now live -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as one local resident put it, this tiny town of Alderson has grown a lot bigger on the map, not only as residents, but inmates wait for Martha Stewart to arrive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Martha!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Martha Stewart's new neighbors shouting out to our cameras with messages for Martha Stewart, like, free Martha.
Martha Stewart is slated to be on the prison grounds within the next 44 hours. Now, there are more than 1,000 inmate mates who are here. Martha Stewart is slated to serve five months on charges she lied about a stock sale. But most of the inmates here are here serving time on drug charges. So there's a lot of anticipation in this town. Signs have been going up throughout the town welcoming Martha Stewart.
And one very visible difference, the number of network satellite trucks parked out here outside the prison gates waiting for Martha Stewart to arrive.
And, Wolf, she is slated and ordered to be here by no later than 2:00 p.m. on Friday -- Wolf.
BLITZER: We'll be watching together with you, Mary Snow, in Alderson, West Virginia. Thank you very, very much.
After months of rumors, radio shock jock Howard Stern made it official today. He's jumping to satellite radio, a move that will shelter him from critics he calls religious cooks.
CNN's Chris Huntington has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He is lewd, crude and, according to the FCC, socially unacceptable at times.
STERN: So I was tuning into the Lingerie Bowl to see breasts.
HUNTINGTON: Howard Stern's sex-obsessed banter has cost radio stations more than $2 million in FCC fines since 1990 and drove Clear Channel Communications to drop him in February. But Sirius, with its satellite subscribers, is literally beyond the reach of the FCC obscenity police.
STERN: This marks the death of AM and FM radio. I guarantee it. I put my money where my mouth is.
HUNTINGTON: Howard Stern is the single biggest draw in radio and he's made hundreds of millions of dollars for the station that carry him, especially the Infinity Broadcasting unit of Viacom, which currently syndicates Stern's program.
And that's why Sirius Satellite Radio, the struggling subscriber- based satellite system for car radio, is betting the farm, paying $500 million over five years to carry Stern to subscribers willing to pay $12.95 a month.
SCOTT GREENSTEIN, PRESIDENT, SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO: In order for the deal to pay for itself, it requires a million of those fans to follow.
HUNTINGTON: Given that Stern has more than 10 million loyal listener, the word on Wall Street is that the Sirius deal should succeed.
BOB PECK, BEAR STEARNS: With someone as prominent as Howard Stern, this validates the whole concept of satellite radio. We think you are going to see additional deals coming.
HUNTINGTON: The only other player in satellite radio, XM Satellite Radio, just signed shock jock team Opie and Anthony and former NPR host Bob Edwards. But the Sirius-Stern deal will attract more attention.
Chris Huntington, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And, on Capitol Hill, the United States Senate has just voted in favoring of reorganizing the intelligence community in favor of the 9/11 recommendations, at least many of them, 96 in favor, two against, Robert Byrd, Fritz Hollings, two senators absent from the vote, John Kerry, John Edwards. Once again, 96-2.
It now goes to the House. The House is taking up the measure, a very different version. It will have to be reconciled. We'll see if they can.
Can commercial radio survive Howard Stern's departure? Insight ahead from the veteran entertainment journalist Pat O'Brien. He's joining us live.
Plus, the cat is out of the bag, another secret celebrity wedding. We'll have the inside scoop. All that coming up.
First, though, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER (voice-over): The running mate of Afghan President Hamid Karzai narrowly escaped an apparent assassination attempt. The convoy was traveling in the northeastern part of the country when a roadside bomb apparently planted by Taliban fighters exploded. At least one person was killed and three wounded. The attack came on the last day of campaigning for Saturday's election.
Pressure on Sudan. British Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a stern warning to the Sudan government that violence in the Darfur region must stop. The U.S. says the fighting has killed up to 50,000 people and displaced more than a million.
Nuclear dispute. A shipment of U.S. weapons-grade plutonium arrived in a French port today. The highly radioactive material will be taken by convoy to a reprocessing facility. Critics argue the shipment is vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
Kiss of death. Two Israelis and an American will share this year's Nobel prize in chemistry. They are being honored for discovering a key way cells destroy proteins starting a chemical, Kiss of Death.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Let's get some more assessment now, what all these developments mean, including the Howard Stern development.
For that, we're joined by our guest, Pat O'Brien. He's host of the new television magazine program "The Insider."
Pat, thanks very much for joining us.
PAT O'BRIEN, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Pleasure, Wolf.
BLITZER: This is a pretty huge shock, the fact that Howard is going to leave radio in a sense, regular radio, and go to satellite radio.
O'BRIEN: It came as a big surprise to almost everybody in the industry today.
And talk about this deal. First of all, satellite radio is subscription only. And it's $12, $13, $15 a month. Sirius is one of the players, and so is XM. They only have now about two million listeners. So you get a guy like Howard Stern, who has a potential 18 million loyal listeners, and it doesn't take many of those to switch over to pay for this deal.
Wolf, this deal, I'm told, could be worth $500 million over the course of five years, $100 million a year, for Howard to put together a studio and a staff. He will take everybody with him. So if he wants to be king of all media, this is it. And this is a good move for Howard, actually, because at this stage of his career, first of all, no one is going to pay $100 million and get it back. Satellite radio has the ability to get it back through listener fees. So it is a darn good move for Howard Stern.
BLITZER: All right, a good move for Howard Stern.
Rush Limbaugh, another radio personality, a pretty serious setback. His medical records, they took them. And the courts say, you know what? It was OK to take those medical records.
O'BRIEN: And he has fought this as a privacy issue. In fact, it made for one of the weirdest marriages I've seen in this country, and I'm sure you, Wolf, too, the ACLU and Rush Limbaugh. The ACLU has backed him on this. And he says it is a privacy issue. They want to find out if he was doctor-shopping for pain medication, allegedly taking or ordering 2,000 pills within a small period of time. He admitted that he's addicted to painkillers at one time.
But, you know, it is not going to make much of a difference I think to his listeners, because they're not undecided voters. They are loyal to him.
BLITZER: They love Rush.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., I want to pay a clip for your and our viewers.
O'BRIEN: Be careful.
BLITZER: Listen to this. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NASCAR DRIVER: It's a good win for us, man. It's five this year. I just can't believe it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that was your goal going in. And you unofficially take over the championship point lead again.
EARNHARDT: Hell yes, man. We just want to keep on doing good, man, one race at a time. We just might win it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does it mean to win here not only once, but to win here five times?
EARNHARDT: Well, it don't mean (EXPLETIVE DELETED) right now. Daddy done won here 10 times. So I got to do a little more -- do more winning. But we're going to get there. And he was the master. I'm just following his tracks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Well, he said, to our viewers who heard the bleep-out, it don't mean -- and then he used a bad word, Pat.
And he is paying some consequences for that. O'BRIEN: Well, two words first, Janet Jackson. It's amazing they didn't have a delay on that over at NBC, a five-second, seven- second delay, in a time when everything -- is this show delayed?
BLITZER: No.
O'BRIEN: OK, at a time when almost everything is delayed.
But he got hit with a $10,000 fine. More importantly, they took 25 points. They're in the final six races of the NASCAR season now. It is like a playoff. And he went into -- after winning Talladega, was up by 13. Now he is down by 12. He can certainly make it up.
But the argument all across the country against those loyal NASCAR fans is, why not just hit him with a big fine? This didn't happen on the track. His performance on the track allowed him to win that race and still be No. 1. This was something that happened off the track. And there's a huge discussion. Now, if he should lose the NASCAR Nextel championship this year, this will be a huge, huge story if he loses by 10 or 12 points. You are allowed 190 points a race. She's got plenty of time to make it up.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: But, boy, if he loses, that is going to big money lost to him, too.
BLITZER: Don't say bad words on television, especially if you're live.
O'BRIEN: We're not condoning swearing.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: No, no, we're not at all.
Let's talk about Tiger Woods. Congratulations to Tiger Woods. He gets married.
O'BRIEN: Yes, he did. And there was a time when everybody said, no, he is not going to get married. Yes, he is. Well, he got married yesterday in Barbados at one of the great resorts down there. He bought the whole place for a couple of days, had his buddies, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan, down.
A beautiful wedding. In fact, on "The Insider" tonight, you can see exclusive photos of that wedding. And it was gorgeous. He was married on the 18th hole. They looked great. They looked happy. They've got a $140,000-a-day yacht. He is living the life. When you have got that kind of money and that kind of life, go ahead and live it.
BLITZER: Good for Tiger.
One final thing. You have got some good pictures coming up on Martha Stewart tonight as well. O'BRIEN: Yes, we do. The "Insider" crew is down there. We talked to some of her potential inmates -- well, we have talked to some inmates in the prison down there in Alderson and show the grounds a little bit. It is not Alcatraz, OK? You'll see that on "Insider" tonight.
BLITZER: We'll be watching, Pat O'Brien, the host of "The Insider," a hot new show. We're going to be talking often, Pat O'Brien joining us.
O'BRIEN: Look forward to it, Wolf. We're excited about this.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Pat.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: See you.
BLITZER: And we'll have the results of our Web question of the day. That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Here's how you're in our Web question of the day. Who do you think won last night's vice presidential debate, Vice President Dick Cheney or Senator John Edwards? Look at this: 37 percent of you say the vice president; 63 percent of you say Senator Edwards; 213,000 people voted. Remember, this is not a scientific poll.
A reminder, you can catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at this time, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you again both 5:00 p.m., as well as noon. Friday, I'll be in Saint Louis for the second presidential debate. Thanks very much for joining us.
"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 6, 2004 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: long lines in public rushes at doctors' offices. Is the shortage in flu vaccine a health care crisis? Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): The CIA file. A massive report on Iraq's weapons. A massive headache for the president?
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tyrants and terrorists will not give us polite notice before they launch an attack on our country.
BLITZER: They're still at each other's threat.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These people are incapable of admitting that they made a mistake.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What we've seen during the course of this campaign and especially the debate the other night is a lot of tough talk.
BLITZER: Naughty on the air. Earnhardt earns a fine from NASCAR.
HOWARD STERN, RADIO PERSONALITY: I put my money where my mouth is.
BLITZER: Howard Stern moves his mouth to another kind of radio.
Also on the air, Rush Limbaugh's latest letdown.
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for Wednesday, October 6, 2004.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: It runs more than 1,000 pages, but the report by the CIA's chief weapons hunter is mostly about what was not found in Iraq: no weapons stockpiles, no active programs to make illegal weapons. But the report does conclude that if Saddam Hussein could have, he would have.
Let's turn to our national security correspondent, David Ensor -- David.
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, that's right. It is over 1,000 pages that land with a thump on the American political scene in the heat of a presidential campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR (voice-over): The careful analysts hired by the CIA to lead the search for weapons of mass destruction found himself in the glare of TV lights with his words parsed by both parties in this election year. His key finding giving ammunition to Democrats who charge the president went to war over stockpiles of weapons that were not there.
CHARLES DUELFER, CIA ADVISER: Neither can we definitively answer some questions about possible retained stocks. Though, as I say, it is my judgment that retained stocks do not exist.
ENSOR: Charles Duelfer said his team has found no weapons, does not expect them to be found and no evidence of any meaningful chemical, biological or nuclear weapons programs activity since the mid 1990s.
That said, Duelfer said Saddam Hussein himself, now a prisoner, has admitted he wanted to keep whatever weapons he could, given U.N. sanctions. Still, Duelfer's Iraq Survey Group has spent $900 million thus far, said one senator, who questioned the point of it all.
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D-MA), ARMED SERVICES CMTE.: Isn't this a total waste of money? Why does the search keep going on and on and on, and aren't we at the point where we have to admit the stockpiles don't exist, and then what's obviously become a wild goose chase.
The Bush administration hope we'd find something, anything to justify the war, but, instead, you're basically -- he nailed the door shut on any justification for the war.
DUELFER: You say wild goose chase. And we've had a lot of people who have -- we've had a couple of people die, we'd have many people wounded, and to tell them they've been involved in a wild goose chase, to me, is -- it's not really what we're doing. We were meant to find what existed with respect to WMD. We weren't tasked to find weapons. We were tasked to find the truth of the program.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ENSOR: Senator John McCain, a supported of the war, asked Duelfer whether in his view if U.N. sanctions had continued to collapse and if the U.S. had not gone to war, would Saddam Hussein still be trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction? "To me," said Duelfer, "that is quite clear" -- Wolf.
BLITZER: David Ensor, thanks very much for that report.
In Iraq today, U.S. forces kept up the pressure on insurgents in Fallujah, even as a bloody bombing in the north took the lives of a dozen Iraqi national guard members. But there's a plan to end violence that has plagued a sprawling Baghdad slum.
CNN's senior international correspondent Brent Sadler reports from the Iraqi capital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRENT SADLER, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His outlawed Medhi Army militia has battled Iraqi and U.S. troops for months. Muqtada al-Sadr, political outcast, renegade, Shia Muslim cleric making moves that is could end deadly clashes in Baghdad's slum district of Sadr City, home to around one-tenth of Iraq's entire population. For al-Sadr, possible entry into mainstream politics one day, if loyal militants disarm. Conditional first, they say, on a cease-fire ending U.S. airstrikes.
KAREEM AL BAKHATTI, AL-SADR TRIBAL ELDER (through translator): Secondly, that Sadr followers will turn in their weapons in exchange for cash payments. Thirdly, immunity from prosecution for most of the cleric's followers and, fourth, release of detainees.
SADLER: No to an immediate cease-fire says the government of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Weapons first. But yes to amnesty for many if the initiative holds.
AYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER: They will respect and abide by the rule of law in the city. They will welcome the police to go back to all the streets of the city.
SADLER: Replacing the chaotic control of al-Sadr militiamen. In the past month, U.S. warplanes have pounded Mehdi Army fighters here, sparking growing unrest, claim Iraqi officials, among embattled and impoverished Shia Muslims in this densely populated neighborhood of some 2 million people.
(on camera): Senior Iraqi government officials concede that a not-so-subtle blend of U.S.-led military firepower and Iraqi dialogue should break the violent deadlock in Sadr City.
(voice-over): A vital proving ground for joint Iraqi-U.S. strategy to overcome insurgents in other rebel strongholds with intensifying offensives on both the political and military fronts.
Brent Sadler, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: President Bush today defended his pre-war concerns about Iraq's weapons, insisting Saddam Hussein did pose a threat. His comments came during a hard-hitting attack on his Democratic rival.
Let's go live to our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, today President Bush insists that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States and to the world. It is really the centerpiece of his reelection campaign that he made the right decision to invade Iraq and that he is the commander in chief that is fit to lead in the war on terror.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BUSH: Iraq is no diversion. It is the place where civilization is taking a decisive stand against chaos and terror, and we must not waver.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Bush, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, is pursuing an aggressive strategy to portray John Kerry as unfit to lead on the war on terror.
BUSH: The senator would have America bend over backwards to satisfy a handfull of governments with the agendas different from our own. It is my opponent's alliance-building strategy, brush off your best friend, fawn over your critics, and that is no way to gain the respect of the world.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush further chided Kerry for his 1991 vote against the Persian Gulf War.
BUSH: If that coalition didn't pass his global test, clearly nothing will.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush's speech comes on the same day the administration's own investigative body, the Iraq Survey Group, concluded there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the time of the U.S. invasion, the administration's principle rationale for going to war. Previewing a strategy for this Friday's presidential debate, Mr. Bush blasted Kerry as a tax and spend liberal.
BUSH: My opponent and I have a very different view on how to grow our economy. Let me start with taxes. I have a record of reducing them. He has a record of raising them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now, Wolf, the next debate is going to be in a town hall format. That, of course, is going to be something that the president is going to be preparing for in earnest in the days to come. The president today trying to make light of what many saw as his downfall, those cutaways, the grimaces and scowls that the president had made. And the president today making a joke about it, saying that if you heard such inaccurate statements that you might make a face too -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House, thank you very much.
John Kerry, meanwhile, is in Colorado, a state once solidly in the Bush column but now seen increasingly as a battleground state. Our national correspondent, Frank Buckley, is in Englewood, Colorado, where Kerry is prepping for the next debate. FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is a state that went to the Republicans in 2000 by 8 points, but it's a state that Democrats now believe is in play. They've spent the money and time here. And now, Senator Kerry is spending a couple of days here preparing for the debate.
We haven't seen him today. He has been hunkered down at this hotel and golf resort with advisers in a ballroom that we're told has been converted into a town hall-style setting. That's the format for Friday's debate.
Senator Kerry did watch the vice presidential debate last night herer in his hotel suite with his wife, Teresa. He later called his running mate, John Edwards, on the telephone to congratulate him on his performance.
Now today Senator Kerry did not directly respond to the blistering criticism that came his way from President Bush, but his advisers did respond, and they said it was an act of desperation by the Bush campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE MCCURRY, KERRY ADVISER: This is a greatest hit reels of all the negative attack ads they've had for the last month. There's nothing new that the president had to say today about Iraq, about our economy, about health care, about where America will be four years from now. We choose to define this race about the future, who has the best plan for America, and I think when you hear the president having nothing but negative things to say about his opponent, you pretty well know they don't have a lot to say about America's future. That's a very telling comment about where they think things stand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: Senator Kerry not doing any campaigning while he's here in Colorado. He will stay hunkered down, the strategy they used in Wisconsin in the days leading up to the debate on foreign policy and homeland security. Advisers saying it gave him a chance to clear his head and to get rested up and to focus on the issues that came up in that debate. They're using a similar strategy this time leading up to Friday's debate.
BLITZER: Thank you, Frank Buckley, in Colorado.
Kerry was seen in an appearance on the "Dr. Phil" show airing today although it was taped last month. Among the topics of the wide- ranging interview, explaining divorce to children. Kerry shared his personal experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have to really look them in the eye and tell them the truth.
DR. PHIL MCGRAW, HOST, "DR. PHIL": Did you sit down with the two of them?
KERRY: Yes, we did.
MCGRAW: As a couple?
KERRY: As a couple, absolutely.
MCGRAW: What did you say?
KERRY: It was an ongoing effort to try to make sure that they knew their lives weren't going to change, that both of us would be there for them, that this wasn't anything to do with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Dr. Phil recently aired a similar interview with the president and Mrs. Laura Bush.
Fears of increased terrorist activity because of a coincidence in timing. We'll have details.
The U.S. election and the Muslim holy month happening at the same time. Will it be a recipe for disaster?
Flu shot fears. Some people are already panicking over the vaccine shortage. There are long lines at doctors' offices around the country. Is this a real crisis? We'll have details of that as well.
Also ahead...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD STERN, RADIO TALKSHOW HOST: This marks the death of AM/FM radio, I guarantee you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Surprise announcement. Howard Stern pulls the plug on commercial radio. Find out what's next for the famous shock jock.
My guest, Pat O'Brien, from the insider. He'll join me live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The Muslim holy month of Ramadan which is set by a lunar calendar is expected to begin around the end of next week. Because of the presidential election next month, U.S. officials are concerned terrorists may strike during the month of Ramadan. Joining us with more on this CNN's Zain Verjee. She's at the CNN Center in Atlanta -- Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, terrorists are likely to exploit any window of opportunity to further their agenda. One of those windows may be coming up in the next few weeks. A look now at the timing of past attacks could be revealing about possible future attacks. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE (voice-over): The International Red Cross attacked in Baghdad, a U.S. military helicopter shot down in central Iraq, a housing compound targeted in Riyadh, Italian troops killed in Nasiriyah, two synagogues attacked in Istanbul. Terror in 2003, terrorists symbolically timed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
M.J. GOHEL, TERROR EXPERT: It is a time which can be exploited by radical clerics to motivate individuals into perhaps taking action on the basis that they're somehow serving their religion.
VERJEE: Terrorism experts say there is more alarm this year because of a combination that is both psychologically significant and potentially lethal.
GOHEL: Now that the U.S. elections are going to almost coincide with Ramadan there's almost a double temptation, as it were, to perpetrate some kind of atrocity.
VERJEE: And terror analysts see another temptation for terrorists, exploiting a symbolic date in Muslim history, a date many in the West don't know of.
ED HUTALING, ISLAM WITHOUT ILLUSIONS: Within Ramadan there is the anniversary of the battle of Badr which was the first jihad that took place in 624, and the commanding general of the underdog Muslims that were fighting this war was Mohammed himself.
VERJEE: The anniversary of the battle of Badr falls on almost the same day as the U.S. election. U.S. counterterrorism officials say they're concerned al Qaeda wants to attack the U.s. homeland or strike American interests abroad ahead of November 2. Iraq, terror analysts say, is the likeliest of targets. But Islamic experts insist on caution when connecting Ramadan with terror.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Normally, it's millions and millions of ordinary peace-loving Muslims.
VERJEE: About a billion Muslims will mark Ramadan this year, the vast majority do not support the handful of terrorists that are intent on destruction, say experts, and will celebrate peacefully. Ramadan is an important holiday on the Islamic calendar because the Koran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed then. Muslims fast and pray for a month.
Terrorism experts and Islamic scholars say Ramadan does give extremists an opportunity to enlist new recruits. Anger and emotions are heightened in the Arab-Muslim world over the war in Iraq and the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Some terrorism analysts say there is likely to be an influx of recruits in Iraq during Ramadan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERJEE: Ramadan will start when the new moon cited this month by religious authorities possibly on October 15 or 16 -- Wolf. BLITZER: Zain Verjee, reporting for us. Zain, thank you very much.
Rationing flu shots. Health officials responding to a shortage as people around the country scrambling to get the vaccine. Will this health care situation reach crisis levels?
Inside the federal prison in Alderson, West Virginia. We have new exclusive pictures from the place Martha Stewart will soon call home.
And a ruling on records against conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. The latest on his legal troubles. All that coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: It's a worrying situation, to say the least. The flu season is just around the corner, and vaccination supplies already in short supply. U.S. Health officials are scrambling.
CNN's Brian Todd is here with details -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wolf, they are indeed scrambling to acquire more vaccines, advise the public and answer the question we all have, is this a crisis?
At a grocery store in Washington more than 100 people in line. Average wait, 3 hours. People need to get back to work, home, or school but feel they need a flu shot more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a jeopardized immune system, so I have to be very careful of any disease that is come along.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm afraid they will run out by the time the season is over.
TODD: With nearly half the expected U.S. supply of flu vaccines not available for this season and flu shot shortages now in three of the past four years, we ask the infectious disease specialists at Children's Hospital in Washington, is this a genuine health crisis?
DR. ANDY BONWIT, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST: I don't think it is something to panic about because panicking doesn't do any good. And we still are going to have 54 million doses that are going to be available for the people who most need to be vaccinated.
TODD: But there is a long-term concern. One top U.S. health official tells CNN many vaccine manufacturers are reluctant to get involved in what he called the low profit, high-risk endeavor of flu vaccines. And because of that, vote, this is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Coming off a year in which 152 children in the United States died of the flu, we asked Dr. Andy Bonwit if he thinks more children will fall victim this season.
BONWIT: It's very hard to predict if there will be fewer or more deaths as a result of influenza in children or in any other age group this year.
TODD: We called several pediatricians' offices and other doctors who deal with infectious diseases. They agree it is hard to predict how bad this year will be. They all tell us they've had a rush of patients regarding flu shots, but say they're following government recommendations and rationing them. The guidelines, those over 65, kids between the ages of six months and two years, family members of kids under six months, others at high risk all get the shots.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: The doctors we spoke to say they've had to refuse shots to some patients and parents. They say this is not a crisis yet, but rather a citizenship issue and ethical challenge for all of us. Don't get the shot if you are over 2, under 65 and relatively healthy. And wash your hands a lot this winter, Wolf, and don't share a glass with anyone. Common sense.
BLITZER: Good advice all year round, in any case. Thanks very much, Brian, for that. We'll continue to monitor the story for our viewers.
Shock jock shocker Howard Stern announcing a major move. Where is he going and why?
The price of profanity. A NASCAR star fined for foul language.
Plus, Tiger Woods' wedding surprise. We'll get details on all of the above from the insiders. Pat O'Brien, he'll join me live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is WOLF BLITZER REPORTS from our studies in Washington.
BLITZER: Vice President Dick Cheney fresh from last night's debate is stumping for votes in Florida today. Our White House correspondent, Dana Bash is traveling with the vice president. She's joining us now live from Tallahassee with a little bit of a post- debate update -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Tallahassee was the first of three stops today in Florida. And the vice president mentioned neither he nor the president has been able to do some official campaigning here lately because, of course, of the four hurricanes that hit this state. But he did -- was very eager to repeat some of his debate lines here in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LYNNE CHENEY, WIFE OF DICK CHENEY: How did you like that debate last night?
(APPLAUSE)
BASH (voice-over): At a town hall in Tallahassee, Lynne Cheney found a coy way to correct her husband who chided John Edwards for saying he was so absent in the Senate they never met. They actually did twice, first at a prayer breakfast.
L. CHENEY: I know all of us will agree, it is a good thing to go to prayer breakfasts, but don't you think the senator ought to go to the Senate once in a while?
BASH: The vice president repriced other zingers for Florida voters, which he called his greatest hits.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The problem with that is there isn't anything in John Kerry's background since -- for the last 30 years that gives you any reason to believe that he would, in fact, be tough in terms of prosecuting the war on terror.
BASH: And with all the talk of him being a heartbeat away from the presidency, this question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to know about your health?
D. CHENEY: Well, it's very good.
BASH: The night before, just down the street, locals watching here in Tallahassee called the vice president impressive, but say his debate won't sway them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that his expertise is a really good point. And I don't know. I'm still reserving any final rights or opinions about who I'm voting.
BASH: Carlos Balano (ph) says he supported the war at first, but feels duped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now I'm just, like, they lied. They definitely lied.
BASH: Team Bush counted on Mr. Cheney's face-off to reassure rank-and-file Republicans, those disappointed by the president's first debate performance. For supporters here to see the vice president, it seemed to work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He looked tired. And he seemed not to be on top of things all the time. I think Cheney was able to take command of the day, be straightforward, hit the points and do what the president needed to do last week.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: But several supporters here said that they are holding their breath in anticipation of Friday's rematch between President Bush and Senator Kerry. But they said, at least for now, they believe that the vice president has gone a long way in reenergizing the base -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Dana Bash, thank you very much for that. Cheney's challenger, Senator John Edwards, also headed to Florida today after the debate, holding a rally in West Palm Beach this afternoon.
CNN's Joe Johns is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT: After a late night, it was a high-energy event here in Palm Beach Florida attended by about 1,500 people, John Edwards back on the road blasting the administration.
EDWARDS: They're not going to level with the American people. Let me tell you something. Come November, the American people are going to level with them and they're going to level with a three-word message to George Bush and Dick Cheney: President John Kerry.
JOHNS: Edwards also questioned the vice president's candor. The vice president apparently made a mistake when he said he had never met Edwards before the debate, Edwards seizing on that as an issue.
EDWARDS: We have a vice president and president who still struggle with the truth, right? Three years ago, I sat at a table with the vice president, had a chance to have a conversation. We were there for an hour, a couple hours together.
JOHNS: With the debate behind him, the challenge now for Edwards will be to keep that energy going through the home stretch. He leaves Florida to go to North Carolina. From there, to New York -- Wolf.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Joe Johns reporting for us -- thanks very much, Joe.
Joining us now with their take on last night's vice presidential debate and a look ahead as well, former White House special counsel Lanny Davis and former RNC counsel Mark Braden. Thanks to both of you for joining us.
Lanny, were you surprised that Edwards really didn't fight back when Cheney went after him on his missing-in-action performance in the U.S. Senate?
LANNY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: No, because I think the American people were focused on the major issues. And that's just the partisan sniping.
BLITZER: But if someone hits you -- you are a lawyer and you're a good political lawyer -- someone hits you and you are mum, isn't that an admission of failure?
DAVIS: Well, first of all, the important issue that he did get hit back on by Senator Edwards is when he said that he had never said that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11. That was a false statement. And Edwards told him that it was false and that, in fact, there is no connection and forced him to admit that.
BLITZER: Because it makes you look like you're guilty if you're silent in the face of an accusation like that.
Let me move on, because the vice president was silent in the face of strong accusations from John Edwards on his entire Halliburton record. He went after him. He didn't say a word in his defense.
MARK BRADEN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE COUNSEL: Well, I think, in fact, he did say a word in his defense.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: He just said, this is -- it's ridiculous. But he didn't go through any of the specifics.
BRADEN: Well, the specifics would take an hour to go through. And in fact the public record is very clear on that.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: He had plenty of time.
(CROSSTALK)
BRADEN: Anyone attempting to compare Halliburton to Enron is either a liar or a fool. And everyone I think actually understands that. I don't see that argument.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Cheney was also silent when Edwards, I thought effectively, recalled a lot of his votes when he was a member of the House from Wyoming, votes against Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela, against plastic guns, all sorts of other sensitive issues. He didn't really rebut that.
BRADEN: Yes. I think the fact is that we shouldn't look back at almost 30 years ago of votes. Maybe we should look at votes five or six years ago.
And we could look at Senator Edwards' votes, if he any took votes. He never showed up to vote, even.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: You have to admit Cheney is a very formidable debater and a real presence.
DAVIS: Well, he's formidable and a serious man.
But when he engages in outright falsehoods and Senator Edwards says to him, you know that al Qaeda was not involved in 9/11. You've been saying the opposite, he denied it, when in fact there are plenty of video clips where he did make the connection, that's important to the American people. (CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: ... implied it, but he never was hard and fast on that. He never said there was definitely a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.
DAVIS: There is no question that the innuendo and the inference was always that conflates the war against terror and 9/11 with the Saddam Hussein ouster. And that's a simple fact that that is not true.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: On that, he is right, right?
DAVIS: And Edwards nailed him on that.
BRADEN: And the answer is, Cheney is right on that, because there is a combination of 9/11, the war on terror and Iraq.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: But if Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with al Qaeda's operational activities as far as planning or putting together 9/11, what's the connection?
BRADEN: And the connection is that this is a base for terrorism in the future; 9/11 changed, changed...
BLITZER: But there are a lot of countries potentially that have that.
BRADEN: Yes, a lot of countries.
BLITZER: Iran, for example.
BRADEN: But this is not a -- that's exactly right. And we're attempting...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: But the United States did not invade Iran.
BRADEN: Exactly right. We have not done that.
But we are attempting another approach in Iran. But the fact that you do something one way in Iran and a different way in Iraq...
BLITZER: Let's let Lanny respond.
DAVIS: Two false statements that Senator Edwards corrected last night, one is that the ouster of Saddam Hussein has anything to do with the war against terrorism. In fact, the invasion of Iraq has produced more terrorists than exist in Iraq before the invasion.
BLITZER: You want to respond to that? BRADEN: That's just nonsense.
DAVIS: That's a fact.
BRADEN: The notion that invading Iraq isn't a step in the war on terrorism is a fundamental difference, then, between the parties.
The notion is, if you get rid of a madman running a country who has gassed his people, hates America, attempted to assassinate a former president of the United States, and you don't think that advances world peace, that's a fundamental difference between us.
BLITZER: Lanny.
DAVIS: There's a second fact. That's been contradicted by the secretary of defense, the CIA, everybody else except Mark and Vice President Cheney, still trying to make that bogus connection.
The second fact that was corrected last night, the false statement by Vice President Cheney, is that Kerry and Edwards want to raise taxes. In fact, we only want to raise taxes for people over $200,000 a year. We want to cut taxes for the middle class. Vice President Cheney falsely states that we raise taxes. He doesn't defend raising taxes back to the Clinton level for people over $200,000 a year.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: He does want to raise taxes for people earning over $200,000 a year.
DAVIS: He wants to roll back their tax cuts.
BLITZER: That's the raise. That would be an increase.
(CROSSTALK)
DAVIS: Raising taxes to where they were when President Clinton was president.
BRADEN: What -- the result of that would be to raise taxes on many small businesses across the country because in fact they pay taxes. Most small businesses pay taxes through something called a subchapter S situation.
And so what you do is, you raise the taxes on the people who bring you jobs to our society.
BLITZER: Mark, let's look ahead to Friday night, the town hall type debate, the second presidential debate. What does the president need to do Friday night that he failed to do during the first debate at the University of Miami?
BRADEN: He need to be better on style points. I think, on a substantive, he wont debate. He clearly lost it on style points in most people's minds. He needs to be more relaxed. And I think this is a more relaxed, more personable setting for him.
BLITZER: What advice do you have, Lanny -- and I know you are always good with advice -- for the Democratic presidential candidate?
DAVIS: Stay on message on the choice you just heard between Mark and myself, between John Kerry and Edwards and between Bush and Cheney. Do you want to raise taxes on people earning more than $200,000 a year, use that money to refund and greater tax cuts for the middle class, or do you want to preserve the deficit spending of this administration by protecting the wealthy? That's the choice. And Kerry is going to make that choice very clear on Friday night.
BLITZER: We'll leave it like that.
Mark Braden, thanks very much.
BRADEN: Thank you.
BLITZER: Lanny Davis, thank you very much, a good discussion, debate, we can call that.
(LAUGHTER)
BLITZER: No ground rules were necessary, no 32-page memoranda to work this debate out. And we did have cutaway shots.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: To our viewers, here is your chance to weigh in on the story. Our Web question of the day is this: Who do you think won last night's vice presidential debate, the vice president, Dick Cheney, or Senator John Edwards? You can vote right now. Go to CNN.com/Wolf. We'll have the results for you later in this broadcast.
There are several other stories we're following, including a major move by the top shock jock, Howard Stern.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD STERN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: The reason I'm walking away from that is, I believe the future is with satellite radio.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: How will his announcement impact the airwaves?
A key also ruling for Rush Limbaugh, new details surrounding drug-related allegations.
Plus , he slipped. Now, this NASCAR star has to put his money where his mouth is.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Just two days before Martha Stewart is to begin serving time for lying to investigators, CNN has obtained exclusive pictures of the prison where she will be spending the next five months.
CNN's Mary Snow is at the prison right now in Alderson, West Virginia. Mary is joining us now live -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as one local resident put it, this tiny town of Alderson has grown a lot bigger on the map, not only as residents, but inmates wait for Martha Stewart to arrive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, Martha!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Martha Stewart's new neighbors shouting out to our cameras with messages for Martha Stewart, like, free Martha.
Martha Stewart is slated to be on the prison grounds within the next 44 hours. Now, there are more than 1,000 inmate mates who are here. Martha Stewart is slated to serve five months on charges she lied about a stock sale. But most of the inmates here are here serving time on drug charges. So there's a lot of anticipation in this town. Signs have been going up throughout the town welcoming Martha Stewart.
And one very visible difference, the number of network satellite trucks parked out here outside the prison gates waiting for Martha Stewart to arrive.
And, Wolf, she is slated and ordered to be here by no later than 2:00 p.m. on Friday -- Wolf.
BLITZER: We'll be watching together with you, Mary Snow, in Alderson, West Virginia. Thank you very, very much.
After months of rumors, radio shock jock Howard Stern made it official today. He's jumping to satellite radio, a move that will shelter him from critics he calls religious cooks.
CNN's Chris Huntington has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He is lewd, crude and, according to the FCC, socially unacceptable at times.
STERN: So I was tuning into the Lingerie Bowl to see breasts.
HUNTINGTON: Howard Stern's sex-obsessed banter has cost radio stations more than $2 million in FCC fines since 1990 and drove Clear Channel Communications to drop him in February. But Sirius, with its satellite subscribers, is literally beyond the reach of the FCC obscenity police.
STERN: This marks the death of AM and FM radio. I guarantee it. I put my money where my mouth is.
HUNTINGTON: Howard Stern is the single biggest draw in radio and he's made hundreds of millions of dollars for the station that carry him, especially the Infinity Broadcasting unit of Viacom, which currently syndicates Stern's program.
And that's why Sirius Satellite Radio, the struggling subscriber- based satellite system for car radio, is betting the farm, paying $500 million over five years to carry Stern to subscribers willing to pay $12.95 a month.
SCOTT GREENSTEIN, PRESIDENT, SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO: In order for the deal to pay for itself, it requires a million of those fans to follow.
HUNTINGTON: Given that Stern has more than 10 million loyal listener, the word on Wall Street is that the Sirius deal should succeed.
BOB PECK, BEAR STEARNS: With someone as prominent as Howard Stern, this validates the whole concept of satellite radio. We think you are going to see additional deals coming.
HUNTINGTON: The only other player in satellite radio, XM Satellite Radio, just signed shock jock team Opie and Anthony and former NPR host Bob Edwards. But the Sirius-Stern deal will attract more attention.
Chris Huntington, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: And, on Capitol Hill, the United States Senate has just voted in favoring of reorganizing the intelligence community in favor of the 9/11 recommendations, at least many of them, 96 in favor, two against, Robert Byrd, Fritz Hollings, two senators absent from the vote, John Kerry, John Edwards. Once again, 96-2.
It now goes to the House. The House is taking up the measure, a very different version. It will have to be reconciled. We'll see if they can.
Can commercial radio survive Howard Stern's departure? Insight ahead from the veteran entertainment journalist Pat O'Brien. He's joining us live.
Plus, the cat is out of the bag, another secret celebrity wedding. We'll have the inside scoop. All that coming up.
First, though, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER (voice-over): The running mate of Afghan President Hamid Karzai narrowly escaped an apparent assassination attempt. The convoy was traveling in the northeastern part of the country when a roadside bomb apparently planted by Taliban fighters exploded. At least one person was killed and three wounded. The attack came on the last day of campaigning for Saturday's election.
Pressure on Sudan. British Prime Minister Tony Blair issued a stern warning to the Sudan government that violence in the Darfur region must stop. The U.S. says the fighting has killed up to 50,000 people and displaced more than a million.
Nuclear dispute. A shipment of U.S. weapons-grade plutonium arrived in a French port today. The highly radioactive material will be taken by convoy to a reprocessing facility. Critics argue the shipment is vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
Kiss of death. Two Israelis and an American will share this year's Nobel prize in chemistry. They are being honored for discovering a key way cells destroy proteins starting a chemical, Kiss of Death.
And that's our look around the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Let's get some more assessment now, what all these developments mean, including the Howard Stern development.
For that, we're joined by our guest, Pat O'Brien. He's host of the new television magazine program "The Insider."
Pat, thanks very much for joining us.
PAT O'BRIEN, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Pleasure, Wolf.
BLITZER: This is a pretty huge shock, the fact that Howard is going to leave radio in a sense, regular radio, and go to satellite radio.
O'BRIEN: It came as a big surprise to almost everybody in the industry today.
And talk about this deal. First of all, satellite radio is subscription only. And it's $12, $13, $15 a month. Sirius is one of the players, and so is XM. They only have now about two million listeners. So you get a guy like Howard Stern, who has a potential 18 million loyal listeners, and it doesn't take many of those to switch over to pay for this deal.
Wolf, this deal, I'm told, could be worth $500 million over the course of five years, $100 million a year, for Howard to put together a studio and a staff. He will take everybody with him. So if he wants to be king of all media, this is it. And this is a good move for Howard, actually, because at this stage of his career, first of all, no one is going to pay $100 million and get it back. Satellite radio has the ability to get it back through listener fees. So it is a darn good move for Howard Stern.
BLITZER: All right, a good move for Howard Stern.
Rush Limbaugh, another radio personality, a pretty serious setback. His medical records, they took them. And the courts say, you know what? It was OK to take those medical records.
O'BRIEN: And he has fought this as a privacy issue. In fact, it made for one of the weirdest marriages I've seen in this country, and I'm sure you, Wolf, too, the ACLU and Rush Limbaugh. The ACLU has backed him on this. And he says it is a privacy issue. They want to find out if he was doctor-shopping for pain medication, allegedly taking or ordering 2,000 pills within a small period of time. He admitted that he's addicted to painkillers at one time.
But, you know, it is not going to make much of a difference I think to his listeners, because they're not undecided voters. They are loyal to him.
BLITZER: They love Rush.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., I want to pay a clip for your and our viewers.
O'BRIEN: Be careful.
BLITZER: Listen to this. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DALE EARNHARDT JR., NASCAR DRIVER: It's a good win for us, man. It's five this year. I just can't believe it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that was your goal going in. And you unofficially take over the championship point lead again.
EARNHARDT: Hell yes, man. We just want to keep on doing good, man, one race at a time. We just might win it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does it mean to win here not only once, but to win here five times?
EARNHARDT: Well, it don't mean (EXPLETIVE DELETED) right now. Daddy done won here 10 times. So I got to do a little more -- do more winning. But we're going to get there. And he was the master. I'm just following his tracks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Well, he said, to our viewers who heard the bleep-out, it don't mean -- and then he used a bad word, Pat.
And he is paying some consequences for that. O'BRIEN: Well, two words first, Janet Jackson. It's amazing they didn't have a delay on that over at NBC, a five-second, seven- second delay, in a time when everything -- is this show delayed?
BLITZER: No.
O'BRIEN: OK, at a time when almost everything is delayed.
But he got hit with a $10,000 fine. More importantly, they took 25 points. They're in the final six races of the NASCAR season now. It is like a playoff. And he went into -- after winning Talladega, was up by 13. Now he is down by 12. He can certainly make it up.
But the argument all across the country against those loyal NASCAR fans is, why not just hit him with a big fine? This didn't happen on the track. His performance on the track allowed him to win that race and still be No. 1. This was something that happened off the track. And there's a huge discussion. Now, if he should lose the NASCAR Nextel championship this year, this will be a huge, huge story if he loses by 10 or 12 points. You are allowed 190 points a race. She's got plenty of time to make it up.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: But, boy, if he loses, that is going to big money lost to him, too.
BLITZER: Don't say bad words on television, especially if you're live.
O'BRIEN: We're not condoning swearing.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: No, no, we're not at all.
Let's talk about Tiger Woods. Congratulations to Tiger Woods. He gets married.
O'BRIEN: Yes, he did. And there was a time when everybody said, no, he is not going to get married. Yes, he is. Well, he got married yesterday in Barbados at one of the great resorts down there. He bought the whole place for a couple of days, had his buddies, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan, down.
A beautiful wedding. In fact, on "The Insider" tonight, you can see exclusive photos of that wedding. And it was gorgeous. He was married on the 18th hole. They looked great. They looked happy. They've got a $140,000-a-day yacht. He is living the life. When you have got that kind of money and that kind of life, go ahead and live it.
BLITZER: Good for Tiger.
One final thing. You have got some good pictures coming up on Martha Stewart tonight as well. O'BRIEN: Yes, we do. The "Insider" crew is down there. We talked to some of her potential inmates -- well, we have talked to some inmates in the prison down there in Alderson and show the grounds a little bit. It is not Alcatraz, OK? You'll see that on "Insider" tonight.
BLITZER: We'll be watching, Pat O'Brien, the host of "The Insider," a hot new show. We're going to be talking often, Pat O'Brien joining us.
O'BRIEN: Look forward to it, Wolf. We're excited about this.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Pat.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: See you.
BLITZER: And we'll have the results of our Web question of the day. That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Here's how you're in our Web question of the day. Who do you think won last night's vice presidential debate, Vice President Dick Cheney or Senator John Edwards? Look at this: 37 percent of you say the vice president; 63 percent of you say Senator Edwards; 213,000 people voted. Remember, this is not a scientific poll.
A reminder, you can catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays at this time, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you again both 5:00 p.m., as well as noon. Friday, I'll be in Saint Louis for the second presidential debate. Thanks very much for joining us.
"LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
