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CNN Live At Daybreak

Campaigns Heating Up as Election Nears; 'Coffey Talk'

Aired October 07, 2004 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, ANCHOR: Good morning.
It's Thursday, October 7 and this is DAYBREAK.

From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin.

Carol Costello is off this morning.

Right now in the news, we're going to take a look at more American casualties in Iraq. One U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded when an explosion blasted a convoy near Fallujah. And that brings the U.S. death toll in Iraq to 1,066.

A car bombing in Pakistan has killed at least 39 people and wounded dozens. It happened at a gathering of Sunni Muslims and comes just six days after a suicide bomber killed 31 people at a Shiite mosque.

An Israeli missile kills two Palestinian teenagers this morning in northern Gaza. Palestinian medics say the teenagers were on their way to school. Israelis say the two were trying to launch a rocket.

In the States, Mount Saint Helens may not erupt after all. Government scientists now say seismic activity has dropped and they've lowered their volcano alert. But the scientists warn the danger could return -- Chad, hard to take seriously, you know, when we've been saying imminent eruption over the last, what, 72 hours now.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, but there were those steam eruptions and that's the water getting down and the magma coming up and the steam and that hot magma -- you know, you don't want to say it like a bad movie, magma -- but as the magma comes up and it starts pushing this dome, this lava dome up, certainly this, a potential for the eruption is certainly there.

It's now down from a three down to a two. But that's still, I mean as soon as we go and say it's not going to happen, you know something else is probably going to happen. There was just a 3.5 earthquake about a hundred miles west there of that volcano, not part of the volcano itself. So we'll have to keep watching. Obviously that area is still shaking.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: It is getting down to the wire. Less than four weeks, just 26 more days, until the presidential election. Let's see how the candidates are spending their day. George W. Bush is campaigning in Wisconsin and John Kerry has nothing public yet on his schedule, probably just debate preps for tomorrow. Democrat John Edwards is hitting daytime TV with appearances on "Live with Regis and Kelly" and "The View." And finally, Dick Cheney has a campaign appearance in Florida.

And you can bet that the attacks from both sides are only going to get harsher as the days to the election get shorter. So let's dive a little bit deeper into the campaign now with some of our experts.

Right now we're going to go to Suzanne Malveaux, who looks at the Bush team tactics. And then Frank Buckley takes on the Kerry strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, is pursuing an aggressive strategy to portray John Kerry as unfit to lead in the war on terror.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Too bad the senator would have America bend over backwards to satisfy a handful of governments with agendas different from our own. This is my opponent's alliance building strategy -- brush off your best friends, 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: At a town hall meeting in Tallahassee, Florida, Vice President Dick Cheney echoed Mr. Bush's serious doubts about Kerry's fitness to be commander in chief.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There isn't anything in John Kerry's background since, well, 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.

MALVEAUX: The tough talk from both men 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 principal rationale for going to war.

(on camera): Friday's debate is largely expected to focus on domestic issues. And in a preview, President Bush blasted Kerry as a tax and spend liberal. At the same time, he attempted to make light at what many saw as his downfall in the last debate, those grimaces and scowls. President Bush joking today if you heard such inaccurate statements, you'd understand how he could make such a face.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House. (END VIDEO TAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator John Kerry prepared for the next presidential debate at this resort in Colorado, letting John Edwards and advisers respond to President Bush's blistering criticism of Kerry during a speech in Pennsylvania.

MIKE MCCURRY, KERRY CAMPAIGN SR. ADVISER: You know, this is a greatest hit reels of all the negative attacks they've had for the last month. There was 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.

BUCKLEY: Senior strategist Mike McCurry tried to refocus reporters' attention on Iraq and a final report on WMD, which reportedly concludes that Saddam Hussein did not have stockpiles of weapons and was not moving to produce them when the war began.

MCCURRY: And it all adds up to one thing. This president did not level with the American people about the reasons for going to war. This is a damning report.

BUCKLEY: Tuesday night, Kerry watched the vice presidential debate with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, in his hotel suite. Journalists allowed in after the debate to watch as he spoke to his running mate by phone. Kerry getting a free shot at his own post- debate spin.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You were so strong on correcting the facts. They keep distorting things. And I look forward to going out and just taking on those distortions. These guys can only resort to fear and distortion, and they're unwilling to deal with the truth. So you held them accountable and you did a great, great job.

BUCKLEY: Senator Kerry is not expected to campaign during his visit to Colorado, his airport welcome rally his last scheduled public appearance. But strategists are hoping his visit will help in a state that went to Bush by eight points in 2000. Kerry and Bush are both spending time and money here.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: As Frank was just talking about, the candidates are going to face questions from voters tomorrow night in the big debate, second of three. And CNN's prime time coverage begins at 7:00 p.m., 4:00 Pacific.

In the meantime, coming up later this hour, we're going to take a closer look at the election issues with CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein. That's at 6:30 a.m. Eastern.

And please don't miss Paula Zahn's town hall meeting, because she's going to give undecided voters of Racine, Wisconsin a chance to weigh in on the election. That's tonight at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Let's go Across America now.

A judge in Los Angeles is expected to set a date for actress/singer Courtney Love today at her assault trial. Love allegedly beat a woman with a bottle at the home of her ex-boyfriend. Legal trouble seems to follow Love. Last week she was sued by a travel agency for $50,000.

In the meantime, Nevada police are searching for a former pro football player in connection with that drive by shooting at Siegfried & Roy's house. No one was injured in the September 21 shooting. Cole Ford, a place kicker for the Oakland Raiders in the mid-1990s, is wanted for assault. Police have not yet revealed a possible motive for the shooting.

Kobe Bryant's accuser will no longer be anonymous when her civil suit against the NBA star begins. A federal judge ruled that the public's interests outweigh her desire to name or stay unnamed. Attorneys for the woman who accused Bryant of rape cited death threats as a reason to protect her privacy.

And attorneys for the accuser say they expected the ruling and their client has no intention of walking away. But will the expected attention change the focus of the case?

For that, we're going to turn to our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey, who joins me now from Miami for "Coffey Talk" -- good morning, Kendall.

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Carol.

LIN: Good morning.

Well, all right, so if death threats aren't enough to protect an alleged rape victim, what is? I mean why would the court -- what would be in the public interest to expose this woman's name and identity?

COFFEY: Well, I think the reality is a lot's happened already. There is no constitutional prohibition, as you know, on media already reporting her name. She is an adult. And when an adult walks into a courtroom seeking lots of money, a lot of other doors are going to get opened, as well. I think what the judge said, the bottom line, Carol, is they've got to be treated the same. If he excludes her identity while Kobe Bryant is fair game for all kinds of press, it's implying that she's the victim. And the question of who the real victim is here is for a jury to decide.

LIN: Different rules under a civil jury then for civil -- a criminal case then, you're saying?

COFFEY: Much more exposure when you walk into a courtroom seeking money, rather than be an alleged victim in a criminal case seeking justice.

LIN: Any concerns on your part, though, just in terms of rape victims and whether people will come forward with their charges then?

COFFEY: Well, I think there are at least going to be short-term concerns and real damage to the perspective of an alleged victim. After seeing everything that this woman has been through, if you are in a similar situation, you've really got to look long and hard about whether you come forward right now, knowing that the authorities will try to protect you, but may have difficulty protecting your privacy.

LIN: Let's talk about another high profile privacy case. A court ruled yesterday that investigators did not violate Rush Limbaugh's privacy when investigators raided his doctor's offices and seized many records, including Rush Limbaugh's own personal medical records.

What does this mean? Are we going to learn more about Rush Limbaugh's health problems, things that would never be revealed publicly before?

COFFEY: Well, it could happen at some point. For now, not so. This case is far from over. There is an ability, I think, on the part of Rush Limbaugh to go to the entire 12 judges of the state appeals court that rejected his position. It was a three judge decision up to now, a 2-1 split. If that fails, he'll go to the state supreme court. And I think it's important to emphasize, Carol, this isn't meaning he's going to get arrested. This just means there's going to be an investigation.

LIN: Right. But aren't investigators -- I mean they're trying to find out two things. They're trying to find out whether he was doctor shopping for his -- because of his -- to feed his addiction to prescription drugs, and then they're also trying to find out whether there was other criminal activity amongst these doctors, right?

COFFEY: Right. But the focus of this is doctor shopping. That's what the search warrant is based upon. And what the court said basically is, look, search warrants allow you to get to private medical records no matter what protections might exist for private medical connections -- records in other cases, such as, for example, civil litigation.

LIN: All right, Kendall Coffey, good to see you.

COFFEY: OK, thanks, Carol.

LIN: Have a great day.

COFFEY: Thank you.

LIN: Well, how high will they go? It might depend on how low the temperatures go. Coming up in three minutes, I'm talking about those soaring oil prices.

And then at 20 past the hour, the controversy again erupts over the right to vote in Florida. We're going to tell you the latest in this latest dust up, whose vote is actually going to count. And at 50 past the hour, how many times have you heard it? It's not what you say, but how you say it. We're going to talk body language with a body language expert and see what advice she has to offer the presidential candidates as they prepare to face-off again.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LIN: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's now quarter past the hour of six on the East Coast.

Here's what's all new this morning.

The House Ethics Committee admonished Majority Leader Tom DeLay for the second time in two weeks. The Republican congressman was cited for perceived conflicts of interest. The action by the House carries no actual penalty.

And all is quiet on Mount Saint Helens again, at least for now. Scientists have lowered an alert level, saying a major eruption is no longer imminent. Seismic rumblings and small eruptions at the Washington State volcano last week had geologists worried.

And in money, investors are getting serious about satellite radio thanks to Howard Stern. The D.J. says broadcast rules are too strict, so in 2006, he's going to be moving his bawdy radio show to Sirius satellite radio. On the NASDAQ, shares of Sirius shot up 15 percent on the news.

In culture, students can now get footloose in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cornerstone University lifted its 63-year ban on dancing. But the Christian conservative school says it still won't allow indecent, erotic or violent dancing.

In sports, the Boston Red Sox are rolling. The Sox took a 2-0 lead in the division series with an 8-3 victory over the Anaheim Angels. Game three of the best of seven series is Friday in Boston.

Hey there -- Chad.

MYERS: And Houston did a number on the Braves yesterday, as well. It wasn't even close. The Rocket was on.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: Hey, it's beginning to feel like deja vu. The price of oil hits another new high.

Stephanie Elam has that story.

She's at the Nasdaq market site in Times Square -- good morning, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, another new level here. We're looking at $52 a barrel. That was hit yesterday, up $0.93. This is the highest closing ever for oil. Today, this morning, it's up about $52, $53. That was the high that was hit, but has now since retreated. We're seeing the strongest demand in a generation and a lack of spare capacity. Also, hurricane Ivan also impacting U.S. winter inventories.

So overall, taking a look at oil, it's on the upside by close to 60 percent since January 1. That's up about $19 for the cost of crude. Obviously, this is weighing on futures this morning.

Back to you -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thanks, Stephanie.

In the meantime, Florida is in the headlines again and once again it's over voting issues. This time it's questions about registration forms. We're going to check in with one of the reporters following the story for the "Miami Herald."

And later, one for the guys. Lisa Dreyer will tell us how diet can affect fertility.

This is DAYBREAK on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

WALTER UPDEGRAVE, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": For a lot of people, the automatic response when they get a raise is oh, I'm going to live larger. I'm going to buy more things. I'm going to buy all the things that I wanted to buy before. And that's fine, except that a better idea is maybe to put aside a portion of it, save maybe half of your raise or a little bit more, if you can afford it, and that way you're saving a little more for your future and you're getting to use some of that raise for things right now.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Twenty-six days until the nation votes for president and the Election Express in Florida is already chugging its way through controversy.

Our John Zarrella has a report from Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to elections, Florida just can't seem to steer clear of controversy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should receive your card in about three to four days, OK? Days -- excuse me, three to four weeks. ZARRELLA: Following Monday's deadline to register for the November election, it appears thousands of people who thought they were good to go are not because they didn't fill out the form completely. One small example, nearly 50 people in Miami-Dade County didn't check the citizenship box on the form. If you didn't mark the box, state elections officials say you are not registered.

State Representative Kendrick Meek argues that checking the box is not necessary as long as the form is signed.

Florida's elections director says fingers should be pointed elsewhere.

DAWN ROBERTS, FLORIDA ELECTIONS DIRECTOR: And quite frankly the outrage should be these third party groups that are just being so sloppy about registering voters. And it's going to be the people that suffer.

ZARRELLA: Third party groups may have been more than sloppy. In at least one instance, there's suspicion of fraud. About 1,500 copies of voter registration forms, many from Florida A&M University, also known as FAMU, and Florida State University, FSU, were received by the Leon County supervisor of elections in Tallahassee. All were marked Republican.

Elections officials say they contacted a large number of the applicants. Most said they had left the party preference blank. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating.

(on camera): Most elections officials say they expect turnout in November to be nothing short of staggering.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: More on this story now from Erika Bolstad, one of the "Miami Herald" reporters covering the Florida voter registration flap.

She joins me on the telephone from Miami.

Good morning, Erika.

ERIKA BOLSTAD, "THE MIAMI HERALD": Good morning.

LIN: How big a problem do you think this is going to be?

BOLSTAD: Well, I think the bigger problem, other than the citizenship registration issue, is probably that thousands of people thought they were registering to vote and, in fact, their registrations were faulty, whether they didn't fill, you know, something out on it, whether they didn't check the right box, whether their address was incorrect. And they're going to find out in the next several days and weeks that they are, in fact, not registered to vote.

LIN: And so there are no alternatives at that point? They won't be able to vote, right?

BOLSTAD: No, no, there's no alternative. They're not on the books.

LIN: Can people -- are people thinking about going to court?

BOLSTAD: There are some groups out there that have considered suing. They've been active, actively looking at lawsuits already. These were the folks who were actually trying to get the list of people whose registrations had been determined incomplete. And they were trying all last week and last weekend to contact these folks and tell them, look, you need to come in and finish filling out your voter registration form so that you're on the books.

LIN: So what are the long-term implications of this? I mean let's say election day rolls around, this isn't resolved, there's a lawsuit. Can people -- I mean can a court order that these people can fill out ballots but those ballots won't be counted until after, you know, the lawsuit is resolved? And, if so, then what happens, once again, in Florida?

BOLSTAD: That's a good question. And, of course, you know, in 2000 we had lots of problems here with access at the polls on election day, where people showed up to vote and found out that they weren't registered or that they had been registered but that they were deemed ineligible voters because they were felons and some other issues here in Florida.

LIN: Well, so, Erika, you bring up a good point. I mean on the one hand, there could be allegations of fraud by a group filling out or finishing these applications for people and registering them Republican, which means they would have to vote on the Republican ticket in the general election. But on the other hand, frankly, if people are incompetent and they can't fill out these forms, then is that really a concern whether they should be allowed to vote?

BOLSTAD: Well, I think that some of them were mistakes. I think they're, you know, some of the elections office people looking through these forms, people accidentally put on their date of birth as 2004, things like that. They missed a digit in their address, that kind of thing. There's a lot of those. And it's been hard to contact some of those people because the address, you know, they have the wrong address on their form. So it's been difficult to get in touch with them.

I don't think that all of these were deliberate errors and a lot of these people were actually registered by organizations, by get out the vote organizations who, you know, you may have been contacted in the parking lot at the grocery store.

LIN: Right. Right. Right. And they're the ones who filled out the forms.

All right, so very quickly, can people go to double check? Can go to the register of voters and actually see their application to see what its status is? BOLSTAD: Sure. They can contact them and find out whether they're actually on the books.

LIN: All right.

Thanks so much, Erika.

Erika Bolstad, "Miami Herald."

In the meantime, President Bush is going on the offensive as John Kerry prepares for the next debate, which is tomorrow night. We're going to have the latest from the campaign trail.

And also, the House ethics panel again admonishes Tom DeLay. What does this mean for the House majority leader? Details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Good morning.

It's Thursday, October 7, and this is DAYBREAK.

From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin.

Carol Costello has the day off.

Right now in the news, more American casualties in Iraq. One U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded when an explosion blasted a convoy near Fallujah. And that brings the U.S. death toll in Iraq, in the Iraq war, to 1,066.

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Aired October 7, 2004 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, ANCHOR: Good morning.
It's Thursday, October 7 and this is DAYBREAK.

From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin.

Carol Costello is off this morning.

Right now in the news, we're going to take a look at more American casualties in Iraq. One U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded when an explosion blasted a convoy near Fallujah. And that brings the U.S. death toll in Iraq to 1,066.

A car bombing in Pakistan has killed at least 39 people and wounded dozens. It happened at a gathering of Sunni Muslims and comes just six days after a suicide bomber killed 31 people at a Shiite mosque.

An Israeli missile kills two Palestinian teenagers this morning in northern Gaza. Palestinian medics say the teenagers were on their way to school. Israelis say the two were trying to launch a rocket.

In the States, Mount Saint Helens may not erupt after all. Government scientists now say seismic activity has dropped and they've lowered their volcano alert. But the scientists warn the danger could return -- Chad, hard to take seriously, you know, when we've been saying imminent eruption over the last, what, 72 hours now.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, but there were those steam eruptions and that's the water getting down and the magma coming up and the steam and that hot magma -- you know, you don't want to say it like a bad movie, magma -- but as the magma comes up and it starts pushing this dome, this lava dome up, certainly this, a potential for the eruption is certainly there.

It's now down from a three down to a two. But that's still, I mean as soon as we go and say it's not going to happen, you know something else is probably going to happen. There was just a 3.5 earthquake about a hundred miles west there of that volcano, not part of the volcano itself. So we'll have to keep watching. Obviously that area is still shaking.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: It is getting down to the wire. Less than four weeks, just 26 more days, until the presidential election. Let's see how the candidates are spending their day. George W. Bush is campaigning in Wisconsin and John Kerry has nothing public yet on his schedule, probably just debate preps for tomorrow. Democrat John Edwards is hitting daytime TV with appearances on "Live with Regis and Kelly" and "The View." And finally, Dick Cheney has a campaign appearance in Florida.

And you can bet that the attacks from both sides are only going to get harsher as the days to the election get shorter. So let's dive a little bit deeper into the campaign now with some of our experts.

Right now we're going to go to Suzanne Malveaux, who looks at the Bush team tactics. And then Frank Buckley takes on the Kerry strategy.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, is pursuing an aggressive strategy to portray John Kerry as unfit to lead in the war on terror.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Too bad the senator would have America bend over backwards to satisfy a handful of governments with agendas different from our own. This is my opponent's alliance building strategy -- brush off your best friends, 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: At a town hall meeting in Tallahassee, Florida, Vice President Dick Cheney echoed Mr. Bush's serious doubts about Kerry's fitness to be commander in chief.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There isn't anything in John Kerry's background since, well, 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.

MALVEAUX: The tough talk from both men 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 principal rationale for going to war.

(on camera): Friday's debate is largely expected to focus on domestic issues. And in a preview, President Bush blasted Kerry as a tax and spend liberal. At the same time, he attempted to make light at what many saw as his downfall in the last debate, those grimaces and scowls. President Bush joking today if you heard such inaccurate statements, you'd understand how he could make such a face.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House. (END VIDEO TAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senator John Kerry prepared for the next presidential debate at this resort in Colorado, letting John Edwards and advisers respond to President Bush's blistering criticism of Kerry during a speech in Pennsylvania.

MIKE MCCURRY, KERRY CAMPAIGN SR. ADVISER: You know, this is a greatest hit reels of all the negative attacks they've had for the last month. There was 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.

BUCKLEY: Senior strategist Mike McCurry tried to refocus reporters' attention on Iraq and a final report on WMD, which reportedly concludes that Saddam Hussein did not have stockpiles of weapons and was not moving to produce them when the war began.

MCCURRY: And it all adds up to one thing. This president did not level with the American people about the reasons for going to war. This is a damning report.

BUCKLEY: Tuesday night, Kerry watched the vice presidential debate with his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, in his hotel suite. Journalists allowed in after the debate to watch as he spoke to his running mate by phone. Kerry getting a free shot at his own post- debate spin.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You were so strong on correcting the facts. They keep distorting things. And I look forward to going out and just taking on those distortions. These guys can only resort to fear and distortion, and they're unwilling to deal with the truth. So you held them accountable and you did a great, great job.

BUCKLEY: Senator Kerry is not expected to campaign during his visit to Colorado, his airport welcome rally his last scheduled public appearance. But strategists are hoping his visit will help in a state that went to Bush by eight points in 2000. Kerry and Bush are both spending time and money here.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: As Frank was just talking about, the candidates are going to face questions from voters tomorrow night in the big debate, second of three. And CNN's prime time coverage begins at 7:00 p.m., 4:00 Pacific.

In the meantime, coming up later this hour, we're going to take a closer look at the election issues with CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein. That's at 6:30 a.m. Eastern.

And please don't miss Paula Zahn's town hall meeting, because she's going to give undecided voters of Racine, Wisconsin a chance to weigh in on the election. That's tonight at 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Let's go Across America now.

A judge in Los Angeles is expected to set a date for actress/singer Courtney Love today at her assault trial. Love allegedly beat a woman with a bottle at the home of her ex-boyfriend. Legal trouble seems to follow Love. Last week she was sued by a travel agency for $50,000.

In the meantime, Nevada police are searching for a former pro football player in connection with that drive by shooting at Siegfried & Roy's house. No one was injured in the September 21 shooting. Cole Ford, a place kicker for the Oakland Raiders in the mid-1990s, is wanted for assault. Police have not yet revealed a possible motive for the shooting.

Kobe Bryant's accuser will no longer be anonymous when her civil suit against the NBA star begins. A federal judge ruled that the public's interests outweigh her desire to name or stay unnamed. Attorneys for the woman who accused Bryant of rape cited death threats as a reason to protect her privacy.

And attorneys for the accuser say they expected the ruling and their client has no intention of walking away. But will the expected attention change the focus of the case?

For that, we're going to turn to our legal analyst, Kendall Coffey, who joins me now from Miami for "Coffey Talk" -- good morning, Kendall.

KENDALL COFFEY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, Carol.

LIN: Good morning.

Well, all right, so if death threats aren't enough to protect an alleged rape victim, what is? I mean why would the court -- what would be in the public interest to expose this woman's name and identity?

COFFEY: Well, I think the reality is a lot's happened already. There is no constitutional prohibition, as you know, on media already reporting her name. She is an adult. And when an adult walks into a courtroom seeking lots of money, a lot of other doors are going to get opened, as well. I think what the judge said, the bottom line, Carol, is they've got to be treated the same. If he excludes her identity while Kobe Bryant is fair game for all kinds of press, it's implying that she's the victim. And the question of who the real victim is here is for a jury to decide.

LIN: Different rules under a civil jury then for civil -- a criminal case then, you're saying?

COFFEY: Much more exposure when you walk into a courtroom seeking money, rather than be an alleged victim in a criminal case seeking justice.

LIN: Any concerns on your part, though, just in terms of rape victims and whether people will come forward with their charges then?

COFFEY: Well, I think there are at least going to be short-term concerns and real damage to the perspective of an alleged victim. After seeing everything that this woman has been through, if you are in a similar situation, you've really got to look long and hard about whether you come forward right now, knowing that the authorities will try to protect you, but may have difficulty protecting your privacy.

LIN: Let's talk about another high profile privacy case. A court ruled yesterday that investigators did not violate Rush Limbaugh's privacy when investigators raided his doctor's offices and seized many records, including Rush Limbaugh's own personal medical records.

What does this mean? Are we going to learn more about Rush Limbaugh's health problems, things that would never be revealed publicly before?

COFFEY: Well, it could happen at some point. For now, not so. This case is far from over. There is an ability, I think, on the part of Rush Limbaugh to go to the entire 12 judges of the state appeals court that rejected his position. It was a three judge decision up to now, a 2-1 split. If that fails, he'll go to the state supreme court. And I think it's important to emphasize, Carol, this isn't meaning he's going to get arrested. This just means there's going to be an investigation.

LIN: Right. But aren't investigators -- I mean they're trying to find out two things. They're trying to find out whether he was doctor shopping for his -- because of his -- to feed his addiction to prescription drugs, and then they're also trying to find out whether there was other criminal activity amongst these doctors, right?

COFFEY: Right. But the focus of this is doctor shopping. That's what the search warrant is based upon. And what the court said basically is, look, search warrants allow you to get to private medical records no matter what protections might exist for private medical connections -- records in other cases, such as, for example, civil litigation.

LIN: All right, Kendall Coffey, good to see you.

COFFEY: OK, thanks, Carol.

LIN: Have a great day.

COFFEY: Thank you.

LIN: Well, how high will they go? It might depend on how low the temperatures go. Coming up in three minutes, I'm talking about those soaring oil prices.

And then at 20 past the hour, the controversy again erupts over the right to vote in Florida. We're going to tell you the latest in this latest dust up, whose vote is actually going to count. And at 50 past the hour, how many times have you heard it? It's not what you say, but how you say it. We're going to talk body language with a body language expert and see what advice she has to offer the presidential candidates as they prepare to face-off again.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LIN: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's now quarter past the hour of six on the East Coast.

Here's what's all new this morning.

The House Ethics Committee admonished Majority Leader Tom DeLay for the second time in two weeks. The Republican congressman was cited for perceived conflicts of interest. The action by the House carries no actual penalty.

And all is quiet on Mount Saint Helens again, at least for now. Scientists have lowered an alert level, saying a major eruption is no longer imminent. Seismic rumblings and small eruptions at the Washington State volcano last week had geologists worried.

And in money, investors are getting serious about satellite radio thanks to Howard Stern. The D.J. says broadcast rules are too strict, so in 2006, he's going to be moving his bawdy radio show to Sirius satellite radio. On the NASDAQ, shares of Sirius shot up 15 percent on the news.

In culture, students can now get footloose in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cornerstone University lifted its 63-year ban on dancing. But the Christian conservative school says it still won't allow indecent, erotic or violent dancing.

In sports, the Boston Red Sox are rolling. The Sox took a 2-0 lead in the division series with an 8-3 victory over the Anaheim Angels. Game three of the best of seven series is Friday in Boston.

Hey there -- Chad.

MYERS: And Houston did a number on the Braves yesterday, as well. It wasn't even close. The Rocket was on.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: Hey, it's beginning to feel like deja vu. The price of oil hits another new high.

Stephanie Elam has that story.

She's at the Nasdaq market site in Times Square -- good morning, Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, another new level here. We're looking at $52 a barrel. That was hit yesterday, up $0.93. This is the highest closing ever for oil. Today, this morning, it's up about $52, $53. That was the high that was hit, but has now since retreated. We're seeing the strongest demand in a generation and a lack of spare capacity. Also, hurricane Ivan also impacting U.S. winter inventories.

So overall, taking a look at oil, it's on the upside by close to 60 percent since January 1. That's up about $19 for the cost of crude. Obviously, this is weighing on futures this morning.

Back to you -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thanks, Stephanie.

In the meantime, Florida is in the headlines again and once again it's over voting issues. This time it's questions about registration forms. We're going to check in with one of the reporters following the story for the "Miami Herald."

And later, one for the guys. Lisa Dreyer will tell us how diet can affect fertility.

This is DAYBREAK on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

WALTER UPDEGRAVE, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": For a lot of people, the automatic response when they get a raise is oh, I'm going to live larger. I'm going to buy more things. I'm going to buy all the things that I wanted to buy before. And that's fine, except that a better idea is maybe to put aside a portion of it, save maybe half of your raise or a little bit more, if you can afford it, and that way you're saving a little more for your future and you're getting to use some of that raise for things right now.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Twenty-six days until the nation votes for president and the Election Express in Florida is already chugging its way through controversy.

Our John Zarrella has a report from Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to elections, Florida just can't seem to steer clear of controversy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should receive your card in about three to four days, OK? Days -- excuse me, three to four weeks. ZARRELLA: Following Monday's deadline to register for the November election, it appears thousands of people who thought they were good to go are not because they didn't fill out the form completely. One small example, nearly 50 people in Miami-Dade County didn't check the citizenship box on the form. If you didn't mark the box, state elections officials say you are not registered.

State Representative Kendrick Meek argues that checking the box is not necessary as long as the form is signed.

Florida's elections director says fingers should be pointed elsewhere.

DAWN ROBERTS, FLORIDA ELECTIONS DIRECTOR: And quite frankly the outrage should be these third party groups that are just being so sloppy about registering voters. And it's going to be the people that suffer.

ZARRELLA: Third party groups may have been more than sloppy. In at least one instance, there's suspicion of fraud. About 1,500 copies of voter registration forms, many from Florida A&M University, also known as FAMU, and Florida State University, FSU, were received by the Leon County supervisor of elections in Tallahassee. All were marked Republican.

Elections officials say they contacted a large number of the applicants. Most said they had left the party preference blank. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating.

(on camera): Most elections officials say they expect turnout in November to be nothing short of staggering.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: More on this story now from Erika Bolstad, one of the "Miami Herald" reporters covering the Florida voter registration flap.

She joins me on the telephone from Miami.

Good morning, Erika.

ERIKA BOLSTAD, "THE MIAMI HERALD": Good morning.

LIN: How big a problem do you think this is going to be?

BOLSTAD: Well, I think the bigger problem, other than the citizenship registration issue, is probably that thousands of people thought they were registering to vote and, in fact, their registrations were faulty, whether they didn't fill, you know, something out on it, whether they didn't check the right box, whether their address was incorrect. And they're going to find out in the next several days and weeks that they are, in fact, not registered to vote.

LIN: And so there are no alternatives at that point? They won't be able to vote, right?

BOLSTAD: No, no, there's no alternative. They're not on the books.

LIN: Can people -- are people thinking about going to court?

BOLSTAD: There are some groups out there that have considered suing. They've been active, actively looking at lawsuits already. These were the folks who were actually trying to get the list of people whose registrations had been determined incomplete. And they were trying all last week and last weekend to contact these folks and tell them, look, you need to come in and finish filling out your voter registration form so that you're on the books.

LIN: So what are the long-term implications of this? I mean let's say election day rolls around, this isn't resolved, there's a lawsuit. Can people -- I mean can a court order that these people can fill out ballots but those ballots won't be counted until after, you know, the lawsuit is resolved? And, if so, then what happens, once again, in Florida?

BOLSTAD: That's a good question. And, of course, you know, in 2000 we had lots of problems here with access at the polls on election day, where people showed up to vote and found out that they weren't registered or that they had been registered but that they were deemed ineligible voters because they were felons and some other issues here in Florida.

LIN: Well, so, Erika, you bring up a good point. I mean on the one hand, there could be allegations of fraud by a group filling out or finishing these applications for people and registering them Republican, which means they would have to vote on the Republican ticket in the general election. But on the other hand, frankly, if people are incompetent and they can't fill out these forms, then is that really a concern whether they should be allowed to vote?

BOLSTAD: Well, I think that some of them were mistakes. I think they're, you know, some of the elections office people looking through these forms, people accidentally put on their date of birth as 2004, things like that. They missed a digit in their address, that kind of thing. There's a lot of those. And it's been hard to contact some of those people because the address, you know, they have the wrong address on their form. So it's been difficult to get in touch with them.

I don't think that all of these were deliberate errors and a lot of these people were actually registered by organizations, by get out the vote organizations who, you know, you may have been contacted in the parking lot at the grocery store.

LIN: Right. Right. Right. And they're the ones who filled out the forms.

All right, so very quickly, can people go to double check? Can go to the register of voters and actually see their application to see what its status is? BOLSTAD: Sure. They can contact them and find out whether they're actually on the books.

LIN: All right.

Thanks so much, Erika.

Erika Bolstad, "Miami Herald."

In the meantime, President Bush is going on the offensive as John Kerry prepares for the next debate, which is tomorrow night. We're going to have the latest from the campaign trail.

And also, the House ethics panel again admonishes Tom DeLay. What does this mean for the House majority leader? Details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Good morning.

It's Thursday, October 7, and this is DAYBREAK.

From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin.

Carol Costello has the day off.

Right now in the news, more American casualties in Iraq. One U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded when an explosion blasted a convoy near Fallujah. And that brings the U.S. death toll in Iraq, in the Iraq war, to 1,066.

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