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For Second Time in Week, Tom DeLay Nailed by Ethics Committee; Potential Election Problems in Florida

Aired October 07, 2004 - 11:30   ET

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

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


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan in Atlanta. Let's check what's happening now in the news for Thursday, October 7th. President Bush is campaigning in the swing state of Wisconsin today, ahead of Friday's debate with John Kerry. He holds a rally in Wausau this afternoon, and then heads to debate host city of St. Louis.
Kerry traveled to St. Louis today from Colorado where he is practicing for the debate. Staffers say Kerry has been going through the paces in a hotel ballroom, complete with podiums and television lights.

A car bomb today in the central Pakistani city of Multan killed at least 39 people. The explosion targeted a crowd gathered to mark a Sunni militant leader's death.

And the Powerball jackpot for this weekend's drawing is up to $215 million.

Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.

House majority leader Tom Delay is known on Capitol Hill as "The Hammer." For the second time in a week, he has been nailed, though, by the Ethics Committee for questionable actions.

Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry has more on his latest tactics and now the official reaction.

Ed, good morning.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

It's now been three public admonishments in one week. You're right, it was the second time last night. But there were actually two admonishments in one last night. So the total is three in one week, four in recent years, four times that the House Ethics Committee has publicly admonished Tom DeLay for improper behavior.

And the news now is just moments ago, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer, became the first leader in Congress to say, he thinks Tom DeLay should resign as majority leader. Now House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat, stopped short of saying that DeLay should actually resign. She threw it in the Republican's lap, and said that they should decide whether or not they want what she called an ethically challenged majority leader to stay in place. Here's what Pelosi said, followed by what Hoyer said. Hoyer says that what DeLay said last night, DeLay said the charges have been dismissed, and that essentially he's been vindicated. Hoyer says that's not the case.

Here's Pelosi and Hoyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The ethical cloud that has been hanging over the capital has burst. The repeated abuses of power by the Republican majority leader have earned him three rebukes by the Ethics Committee in a single week, bringing dishonor to the House of Representatives and placing a heavy burden on his fellow House Republicans.

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD): Mr. DeLay's defiant and deliberately misleading statements last night show nothing but contempt for the ethics process and the high ethical standards that the American people want their political leaders to observe and respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, that is the Democratic line, obviously. I can tell you that Republican members of Congress are privately saying that they do not think Tom DeLay is going to be forced out as majority leader. They think he still has support within the party.

But Republicans are privately saying that if DeLay ever had hopes of moving up and some day becoming speaker of the house that all of these public admonishments could come back to haunt him if he ever does want to move up the leadership ladder.

I can tell you, DeLay himself put out a statement last night, saying that all these charges have been politically motivated, A Democratic attempt to smear him, and DeLay's attorney told reporters that there's no chance, no slippage of report, DeLay will stay on as majority.

Let me quickly tell you what he was publicly admonished for. There were three charges that the House Ethics Committee was looking at, and one of them was the panel criticized DeLay for appearing to link campaign money to legislative action in his dealings with Weststar Energy, a Kansas company.

The ethics panel also criticized DeLay for using federal resources, for using the Federal Aviation Administration to intervene in a Texas political matter.

Now the third charge that the ethics committee did not act on was involving charges that DeLay used his pact to funnel illegal campaign contributions to Texas Republicans running for state office in Texas. The reason why the Ethics Committee did not get involved there is that three DeLay allies have been indicted by a Texas prosecutor. That's ongoing, so the Ethics Committee did not want to get involved in that. They've been indicted on charges of money laundering.

And I can tell, though DeLay is saying this is politically motivated, it's just coming from Democrats, one of the problems he's going to face here is that the ethics committee is bipartisan. There are five Republicans, five Democrats on that committee. These public admonishments that are coming out are bipartisan. It's going to make it harder for DeLay to say that it's politically motivated -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, and our time is short, so I'm going have to save my En Henry question for another time.

But, Ed Henry, thank you, from Capitol Hill.

HENRY: Thank you.

KAGAN: Looking at potential election problems. Where else? Florida, before the first votes are even cast?

More now from John Zarrella.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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're not registered. State representative Kendra Meek (ph) 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, FLA. ELECTIONS DIR.: And quite frankly, the outrage should be the 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. Election 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 election officials say they expect turnout in November to be nothing short of staggering.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, after tomorrow night's presidential debate will come to spin, both campaigns make their top strategists available to the media. Should you buy the hard sell? Our Anderson Cooper does not, not for a single minute.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): know we're all being spun. After all, we are set up called the spin room. And we know they are the not turning wool into yarn in there.

JEFF GREENFIELD, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The day that someone comes out from the campaign and says my guy really stunk out the joint, I will personally send that person a check for $100. This is the most useless exercise in post modern media coverage that I know of. And I think really, enough is enough. This is joke. And we should just cut it out.

COOPER: Right on, Jeff. But maybe it's too much to expect. So drawing on my vast gameshow experience -- did I mention my 1 celebrity Jeopardy, let's try another way to shorten the spin cycle. Whenever we hear out of control spin, a buzzer.

MARY BETH CAHILL, KERRY-EDWARDS CAMPAIGN: I think that John Edwards showed tonight a great deal of strength and conviction. And I think seeing him, the American people know that he's ready to step forward and to lead this country if necessary.

COOPER: Let's try that again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wolf, here's what I think you saw tonight. The vice president did a fantastic job.

COOPER: Promising.

CAHILL: I think that John Edwards did tremendously well here.

I think that Vice President Cheney came across as sort of grumpy and angry. I

think that John Edwards was substantive and ranged widely around all kinds of issues.

I think it was an interesting discussion, but I think that John Edwards came off by far the better.

COOPER: When it comes to John Edwards, I would respectfully disagree with Mary Beth. They hired the best lawyer they could in America to be their vice president and even he couldn't defend the Kerry record.

Even he couldn't defend 30 years of being wrong on defense.

Even he couldn't explain if he can't stand up to Howard Dean, how can you stand up to the terrorists?

And even he couldn't explain why you can say on the one hand you are for middle class tax cuts, and then you miss the votes on it. I thought it was a great debate, and I thought the vice president won.

COOPER: Now, that's a good way to control the spin "Inside the Box."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: "ANDERSON COOPER 360," the news and much more, weeknights at 7:00 Eastern on CNN.

Also, you're not going to want to miss Paula Zahn townhall meeting. She'll give undecided voters in Racine, Wisconsin a chance to weigh in on the election. That's tonight at 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

One house and a whole lot of babies. Up next, we're checking in with our own Soledad O'Brien for the next installment in our series on living with multiple births.

And later, Martha Stewart's final full day of freedom, we'll take a look ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right. Researchers are calling for more studies of medications similar to Vioxx. After the popular arthritis drug was pulled off the market, they're concerned about whether the other medications might also increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes. A leading cardiologist wants a congressional investigation into the problems of Vioxx and the way the FDA handles the concerns.

More now on our series "Crowded House," looking at multiple births. Today, we check in again with Soledad O'Brien, of CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." She's getting ready to rejoin us here after a maternity leave. Also our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta examines what happens when depression interferes with the joys of motherhood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're a big boy!

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Just over 2 weeks old, and Soledad's babies get their first checkup. Their bill of health and Soledad's: fine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right.

GUPTA: But this is the time where, for some moms, things aren't fine; in fact, far from it.

KIM BRYANT, MOTHER OF TWINS: It's time to eat.

GUPTA: Twenty-six-year-old Kim Bryant knew something was wrong when several weeks after giving birth she still couldn't get up off the couch to cradle her twins.

BRYANT: I could barely hold them. I was just in a lot of pain. And it was really just affecting me the fact that I couldn't really respond to my own kids.

GUPTA: Although Kim was never clinically diagnosed with depression, hers is a common story. Eighty percent of women experience baby blues for a few days after birth. But for 10 percent, especially those with a history of depression, those blues can spiral into full-flown depression.

BRYANT: It's just, you know, a hormonal thing. You have you so many hormones, and once you get pregnant, they're trying to leave and sort their way out.

GUPTA: And as soon as a woman delivers, those hormones change. Some say that can be even more dramatic in the case of multiples. That hasn't been proven. But still, many of these women experience depression even during pregnancy. And then they face the difficult question of whether to take medication.

DR. LORI ATSHULLER, UCLA MOOD DISORDERS RESEARCH CENTER: Most women are very concerned about what affects the anti-depressant would have on the developing fetus.

GUPTA: For Kim and many women, that concern remains even after the birth.

BRYANT: I was still, you know, trying to breast feed, so I didn't want any medication interfering with that.

GUPTA: Some consumers groups are ardently opposed to pregnant women taking anti-depressants, saying they could cause problems for the baby in the late stages of pregnancy. But doctors argue a depressed mom could be dangerous for a baby's health.

DR. ZACHARY STOWE, EMORY U. WOMEN'S HEALTH PROG.: Maternal depression during pregnancy is associated with lower birth weight, pre-term delivery, higher rates of smoking and alcohol use.

GUPTA: So a tough choice, but they agreed that leaving depression unchecked would be the worist decision of all.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Next week Sanjay will go to a very crowded house to talk with the multiples themselves. We're going to meet the Swift family. Do this math -- they had triplets and quadruplets. You're going to see what life is like as multiples grow up. That's part four of hour series, "Crowded House," coming up next Thursday.

Well, somewhere out there, Martha Stewart is enjoying her last full day of freedom for a while. Up next, preparing for prison and what it's going to mean for her company.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: It looks like this is the last day of freedom for Martha Stewart before she begins her five-month prison sentence. Stewart has until 2:00 p.m. tomorrow to report to a federal prison in Alderson, West Virginia. She opted to go ahead and serve her sentence for lying about a stock sale while she appeals her conviction.

Now that Martha Stewart is heading to prison, what becomes of her company? The domestic icon's legal troubles have take a toll on the empire that she built.

Our Allan Chernoff looks at the potential for that company, though, to make a comeback.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Martha Stewart can look forward to getting out of prison in five months. For her business, though, there is no timetable for recovery.

SHARON PATRICK, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: Psychologically, obviously this has been very traumatic for the company.

CHERNOFF: Ms. Stewart's legal trouble has punished Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, transforming it into a money losing operation. Advertisers ran from "Martha Stewart Living" magazine after criminal charges were filed and Stewart's conviction accelerated the exodus. There has been collateral damage, as well. Sales of Martha Stewart Everyday products at Kmart have fallen. Her syndicated television show is on hiatus. The company is shutting its direct mail Catalog for Living. And this year it has been cutting one of every five jobs.

Veteran media analyst Dennis McAlpine says Martha Stewart is damaged goods.

DENNIS MCALPINE, MEDIA ANALYST: I don't think there's a prayer in the world that she's going to totally improve her image. She may make it better, but, you know, can a leopard change its spots? In the mind of the advertisers, they don't need this. They'd rather be with Oprah. And Martha Stewart is not Oprah.

CHERNOFF: A comeback is dependent upon luring back advertisers. That's the purpose of trade publication ads urging them to take a look at "Living," which now has Martha Stewart's name in small type.

PATRICK: The advertisers are looking for a resolution and we have every reason to believe that that will happen. It won't be tomorrow.

CHERNOFF: Some ad executives are willing to bet on Martha Stewart.

STEVE FEULING, STARCOM WORLDWIDE: I think we'll be recommending to our clients to reconsider that magazine and put it back into their schedules for next year. CHERNOFF (on camera): Some investors also are betting on a comeback. They've been driving the stock up over the past few weeks. But chief executive Sharon Patrick has warned only after Martha Stewart has finished her jail time and after the company is no longer the subject of what she calls "chronic negative attention" will advertisers come back.

Allan Chernoff, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

KAGAN: Well, what if we told you you're not really watching television, because television isn't real? In fact, what if there is no such thing as reality? Got to take your head off for this one a little bit. It is a serious head trip. It's a little movie that is defying the odds, and it's opening people's minds. You're going to meet its maker, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: It is quite an accomplishment when quantum physics pulls moviegoers into a theater, but the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know?" is doing just that. The film, well, it's really hard to describe, but it's kind of part documentary, part science lesson, part New Age food for the soul.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Come on, you have the ball. Take a shot.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Welcome to Duke Reginald's (ph) court of unending possibilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: "What the Bleep Do We Know?" is showing on more than a hundreds screens, and taking in millions of dollars simply on word-of- mouth reviews.

Writer-director-producer William Arntz is my guest from Los Angeles.

Good morning.

WILLIAM ARNTZ, "WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW?": Good morning.

KAGAN: I watched your movie last night. Got to say, I've never seen anything like it.

ARNTZ: Well, that's I guess why people are going to see it. It's so original, but they -- people are kind of bored by the normal movies, so this is something different. KAGAN: There's pretty much no plot. There's kind of a story line, and you see a familiar face, actress Majerle Matalin (ph), going through the movie, but no plot, a lot of, lot of heavy thought, and I would say that the big theme being there really is no reality, so you have the power to shape your own reality.

ARNTZ: Well, it's not that there's no reality. Let's say there are many realities, and they're all interdependent. So once you start thinking that way, there's a lot of things. You are right, you can shuffle your realities and basically make happen what you want to have happen.

KAGAN: And ultimately, really you talk about the true power of positive thinking, but you really have to believe in the positive part.

ARNTZ: Well, it's like positive thinking, it's the power of thinking, positive or negative. And what we put forth in the film is if things happen to you that you don't like in your life, it's because you had the thoughts that brought them in, which is fairly revolutionary if you really stop and think about it.

KAGAN: It is. And some people will have a hard time with that.

ARNTZ: Oh, yes.

KAGAN: And you also are not too kind to organized religion in this movie.

ARNTZ: Well, let's say certain aspects of organized religion, just mostly the part with the condemnation, where basically if you do the wrong thing, you'll fry forever in the fry-alater of eternity, you know, that kind of eternity. But there's parts of organized religion that are quite wonderful, so we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

KAGAN: OK, so you don't want anybody who perhaps is involved in organized religion just to rule out your movie.

An interesting thing about this, it's also not just a bunch of people just sharing your thoughts, you have a number of interviews with scientists, talking about how scientists plays into reality and into the power of positive thinking.

ARNTZ: Correct. And part of the reason we did that is because when you use the language of science to explain things, people can go along with it a little better. If you use the language of spirituality, people start thinking it's religious and then they start thinking, I don't know, and they're going to come try to convert me. And really, we're more about presenting ideas for people to take or leave, really.

KAGAN: And, William, in our last minute here, you've got tell me, quickly, the story of making this movie, how it turned into a little movie, and is it already bigger than anything you've imagined?

ARNTZ: It's actually not as big as I imagined it, yet.

KAGAN: That would be the power of intention.

ARNTZ: Exactly, you did watch the movie, huh?

KAGAN: Yes, I did.

ARNTZ: Yes.

KAGAN: But made for not that much money.

ARNTZ: Well, $5 million is a lot when you're writing the checks.

KAGAN: OK, I'll give you that.

Ultimately, share with us your intention for the movie. How big do you expect it to go.

ARNTZ: Well, really, my goal is to get it all the way around the world, and for 100 million people on the entire planet to see it. Once that happens, who knows what's going to happen, but that's really the overall goal of this thing.

KAGAN: All right. It is slowly being distributed across America. More people will get a chance to see it. It is called "What the Bleep Do We Know."

William Arntz, thank you for sharing the movie and sharing your insights into a different way of thinking.

ARNTZ: You're welcome. Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you so much.

That's going to do it for me, Daryn Kagan, but I'll be right back here. I have the intention to do that tomorrow morning.

Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington D.C.

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 7, 2004 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Daryn Kagan in Atlanta. Let's check what's happening now in the news for Thursday, October 7th. President Bush is campaigning in the swing state of Wisconsin today, ahead of Friday's debate with John Kerry. He holds a rally in Wausau this afternoon, and then heads to debate host city of St. Louis.
Kerry traveled to St. Louis today from Colorado where he is practicing for the debate. Staffers say Kerry has been going through the paces in a hotel ballroom, complete with podiums and television lights.

A car bomb today in the central Pakistani city of Multan killed at least 39 people. The explosion targeted a crowd gathered to mark a Sunni militant leader's death.

And the Powerball jackpot for this weekend's drawing is up to $215 million.

Keeping you informed, CNN is the most trusted name in news.

House majority leader Tom Delay is known on Capitol Hill as "The Hammer." For the second time in a week, he has been nailed, though, by the Ethics Committee for questionable actions.

Our congressional correspondent Ed Henry has more on his latest tactics and now the official reaction.

Ed, good morning.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

It's now been three public admonishments in one week. You're right, it was the second time last night. But there were actually two admonishments in one last night. So the total is three in one week, four in recent years, four times that the House Ethics Committee has publicly admonished Tom DeLay for improper behavior.

And the news now is just moments ago, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer, became the first leader in Congress to say, he thinks Tom DeLay should resign as majority leader. Now House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat, stopped short of saying that DeLay should actually resign. She threw it in the Republican's lap, and said that they should decide whether or not they want what she called an ethically challenged majority leader to stay in place. Here's what Pelosi said, followed by what Hoyer said. Hoyer says that what DeLay said last night, DeLay said the charges have been dismissed, and that essentially he's been vindicated. Hoyer says that's not the case.

Here's Pelosi and Hoyer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The ethical cloud that has been hanging over the capital has burst. The repeated abuses of power by the Republican majority leader have earned him three rebukes by the Ethics Committee in a single week, bringing dishonor to the House of Representatives and placing a heavy burden on his fellow House Republicans.

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD): Mr. DeLay's defiant and deliberately misleading statements last night show nothing but contempt for the ethics process and the high ethical standards that the American people want their political leaders to observe and respect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, that is the Democratic line, obviously. I can tell you that Republican members of Congress are privately saying that they do not think Tom DeLay is going to be forced out as majority leader. They think he still has support within the party.

But Republicans are privately saying that if DeLay ever had hopes of moving up and some day becoming speaker of the house that all of these public admonishments could come back to haunt him if he ever does want to move up the leadership ladder.

I can tell you, DeLay himself put out a statement last night, saying that all these charges have been politically motivated, A Democratic attempt to smear him, and DeLay's attorney told reporters that there's no chance, no slippage of report, DeLay will stay on as majority.

Let me quickly tell you what he was publicly admonished for. There were three charges that the House Ethics Committee was looking at, and one of them was the panel criticized DeLay for appearing to link campaign money to legislative action in his dealings with Weststar Energy, a Kansas company.

The ethics panel also criticized DeLay for using federal resources, for using the Federal Aviation Administration to intervene in a Texas political matter.

Now the third charge that the ethics committee did not act on was involving charges that DeLay used his pact to funnel illegal campaign contributions to Texas Republicans running for state office in Texas. The reason why the Ethics Committee did not get involved there is that three DeLay allies have been indicted by a Texas prosecutor. That's ongoing, so the Ethics Committee did not want to get involved in that. They've been indicted on charges of money laundering.

And I can tell, though DeLay is saying this is politically motivated, it's just coming from Democrats, one of the problems he's going to face here is that the ethics committee is bipartisan. There are five Republicans, five Democrats on that committee. These public admonishments that are coming out are bipartisan. It's going to make it harder for DeLay to say that it's politically motivated -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, and our time is short, so I'm going have to save my En Henry question for another time.

But, Ed Henry, thank you, from Capitol Hill.

HENRY: Thank you.

KAGAN: Looking at potential election problems. Where else? Florida, before the first votes are even cast?

More now from John Zarrella.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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're not registered. State representative Kendra Meek (ph) 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, FLA. ELECTIONS DIR.: And quite frankly, the outrage should be the 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. Election 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 election officials say they expect turnout in November to be nothing short of staggering.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, after tomorrow night's presidential debate will come to spin, both campaigns make their top strategists available to the media. Should you buy the hard sell? Our Anderson Cooper does not, not for a single minute.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): know we're all being spun. After all, we are set up called the spin room. And we know they are the not turning wool into yarn in there.

JEFF GREENFIELD, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: The day that someone comes out from the campaign and says my guy really stunk out the joint, I will personally send that person a check for $100. This is the most useless exercise in post modern media coverage that I know of. And I think really, enough is enough. This is joke. And we should just cut it out.

COOPER: Right on, Jeff. But maybe it's too much to expect. So drawing on my vast gameshow experience -- did I mention my 1 celebrity Jeopardy, let's try another way to shorten the spin cycle. Whenever we hear out of control spin, a buzzer.

MARY BETH CAHILL, KERRY-EDWARDS CAMPAIGN: I think that John Edwards showed tonight a great deal of strength and conviction. And I think seeing him, the American people know that he's ready to step forward and to lead this country if necessary.

COOPER: Let's try that again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wolf, here's what I think you saw tonight. The vice president did a fantastic job.

COOPER: Promising.

CAHILL: I think that John Edwards did tremendously well here.

I think that Vice President Cheney came across as sort of grumpy and angry. I

think that John Edwards was substantive and ranged widely around all kinds of issues.

I think it was an interesting discussion, but I think that John Edwards came off by far the better.

COOPER: When it comes to John Edwards, I would respectfully disagree with Mary Beth. They hired the best lawyer they could in America to be their vice president and even he couldn't defend the Kerry record.

Even he couldn't defend 30 years of being wrong on defense.

Even he couldn't explain if he can't stand up to Howard Dean, how can you stand up to the terrorists?

And even he couldn't explain why you can say on the one hand you are for middle class tax cuts, and then you miss the votes on it. I thought it was a great debate, and I thought the vice president won.

COOPER: Now, that's a good way to control the spin "Inside the Box."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: "ANDERSON COOPER 360," the news and much more, weeknights at 7:00 Eastern on CNN.

Also, you're not going to want to miss Paula Zahn townhall meeting. She'll give undecided voters in Racine, Wisconsin a chance to weigh in on the election. That's tonight at 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

One house and a whole lot of babies. Up next, we're checking in with our own Soledad O'Brien for the next installment in our series on living with multiple births.

And later, Martha Stewart's final full day of freedom, we'll take a look ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: All right. Researchers are calling for more studies of medications similar to Vioxx. After the popular arthritis drug was pulled off the market, they're concerned about whether the other medications might also increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes. A leading cardiologist wants a congressional investigation into the problems of Vioxx and the way the FDA handles the concerns.

More now on our series "Crowded House," looking at multiple births. Today, we check in again with Soledad O'Brien, of CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." She's getting ready to rejoin us here after a maternity leave. Also our senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta examines what happens when depression interferes with the joys of motherhood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're a big boy!

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Just over 2 weeks old, and Soledad's babies get their first checkup. Their bill of health and Soledad's: fine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right.

GUPTA: But this is the time where, for some moms, things aren't fine; in fact, far from it.

KIM BRYANT, MOTHER OF TWINS: It's time to eat.

GUPTA: Twenty-six-year-old Kim Bryant knew something was wrong when several weeks after giving birth she still couldn't get up off the couch to cradle her twins.

BRYANT: I could barely hold them. I was just in a lot of pain. And it was really just affecting me the fact that I couldn't really respond to my own kids.

GUPTA: Although Kim was never clinically diagnosed with depression, hers is a common story. Eighty percent of women experience baby blues for a few days after birth. But for 10 percent, especially those with a history of depression, those blues can spiral into full-flown depression.

BRYANT: It's just, you know, a hormonal thing. You have you so many hormones, and once you get pregnant, they're trying to leave and sort their way out.

GUPTA: And as soon as a woman delivers, those hormones change. Some say that can be even more dramatic in the case of multiples. That hasn't been proven. But still, many of these women experience depression even during pregnancy. And then they face the difficult question of whether to take medication.

DR. LORI ATSHULLER, UCLA MOOD DISORDERS RESEARCH CENTER: Most women are very concerned about what affects the anti-depressant would have on the developing fetus.

GUPTA: For Kim and many women, that concern remains even after the birth.

BRYANT: I was still, you know, trying to breast feed, so I didn't want any medication interfering with that.

GUPTA: Some consumers groups are ardently opposed to pregnant women taking anti-depressants, saying they could cause problems for the baby in the late stages of pregnancy. But doctors argue a depressed mom could be dangerous for a baby's health.

DR. ZACHARY STOWE, EMORY U. WOMEN'S HEALTH PROG.: Maternal depression during pregnancy is associated with lower birth weight, pre-term delivery, higher rates of smoking and alcohol use.

GUPTA: So a tough choice, but they agreed that leaving depression unchecked would be the worist decision of all.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Next week Sanjay will go to a very crowded house to talk with the multiples themselves. We're going to meet the Swift family. Do this math -- they had triplets and quadruplets. You're going to see what life is like as multiples grow up. That's part four of hour series, "Crowded House," coming up next Thursday.

Well, somewhere out there, Martha Stewart is enjoying her last full day of freedom for a while. Up next, preparing for prison and what it's going to mean for her company.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: It looks like this is the last day of freedom for Martha Stewart before she begins her five-month prison sentence. Stewart has until 2:00 p.m. tomorrow to report to a federal prison in Alderson, West Virginia. She opted to go ahead and serve her sentence for lying about a stock sale while she appeals her conviction.

Now that Martha Stewart is heading to prison, what becomes of her company? The domestic icon's legal troubles have take a toll on the empire that she built.

Our Allan Chernoff looks at the potential for that company, though, to make a comeback.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Martha Stewart can look forward to getting out of prison in five months. For her business, though, there is no timetable for recovery.

SHARON PATRICK, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: Psychologically, obviously this has been very traumatic for the company.

CHERNOFF: Ms. Stewart's legal trouble has punished Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, transforming it into a money losing operation. Advertisers ran from "Martha Stewart Living" magazine after criminal charges were filed and Stewart's conviction accelerated the exodus. There has been collateral damage, as well. Sales of Martha Stewart Everyday products at Kmart have fallen. Her syndicated television show is on hiatus. The company is shutting its direct mail Catalog for Living. And this year it has been cutting one of every five jobs.

Veteran media analyst Dennis McAlpine says Martha Stewart is damaged goods.

DENNIS MCALPINE, MEDIA ANALYST: I don't think there's a prayer in the world that she's going to totally improve her image. She may make it better, but, you know, can a leopard change its spots? In the mind of the advertisers, they don't need this. They'd rather be with Oprah. And Martha Stewart is not Oprah.

CHERNOFF: A comeback is dependent upon luring back advertisers. That's the purpose of trade publication ads urging them to take a look at "Living," which now has Martha Stewart's name in small type.

PATRICK: The advertisers are looking for a resolution and we have every reason to believe that that will happen. It won't be tomorrow.

CHERNOFF: Some ad executives are willing to bet on Martha Stewart.

STEVE FEULING, STARCOM WORLDWIDE: I think we'll be recommending to our clients to reconsider that magazine and put it back into their schedules for next year. CHERNOFF (on camera): Some investors also are betting on a comeback. They've been driving the stock up over the past few weeks. But chief executive Sharon Patrick has warned only after Martha Stewart has finished her jail time and after the company is no longer the subject of what she calls "chronic negative attention" will advertisers come back.

Allan Chernoff, CNN Financial News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

KAGAN: Well, what if we told you you're not really watching television, because television isn't real? In fact, what if there is no such thing as reality? Got to take your head off for this one a little bit. It is a serious head trip. It's a little movie that is defying the odds, and it's opening people's minds. You're going to meet its maker, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: It is quite an accomplishment when quantum physics pulls moviegoers into a theater, but the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know?" is doing just that. The film, well, it's really hard to describe, but it's kind of part documentary, part science lesson, part New Age food for the soul.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Come on, you have the ball. Take a shot.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Welcome to Duke Reginald's (ph) court of unending possibilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: "What the Bleep Do We Know?" is showing on more than a hundreds screens, and taking in millions of dollars simply on word-of- mouth reviews.

Writer-director-producer William Arntz is my guest from Los Angeles.

Good morning.

WILLIAM ARNTZ, "WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW?": Good morning.

KAGAN: I watched your movie last night. Got to say, I've never seen anything like it.

ARNTZ: Well, that's I guess why people are going to see it. It's so original, but they -- people are kind of bored by the normal movies, so this is something different. KAGAN: There's pretty much no plot. There's kind of a story line, and you see a familiar face, actress Majerle Matalin (ph), going through the movie, but no plot, a lot of, lot of heavy thought, and I would say that the big theme being there really is no reality, so you have the power to shape your own reality.

ARNTZ: Well, it's not that there's no reality. Let's say there are many realities, and they're all interdependent. So once you start thinking that way, there's a lot of things. You are right, you can shuffle your realities and basically make happen what you want to have happen.

KAGAN: And ultimately, really you talk about the true power of positive thinking, but you really have to believe in the positive part.

ARNTZ: Well, it's like positive thinking, it's the power of thinking, positive or negative. And what we put forth in the film is if things happen to you that you don't like in your life, it's because you had the thoughts that brought them in, which is fairly revolutionary if you really stop and think about it.

KAGAN: It is. And some people will have a hard time with that.

ARNTZ: Oh, yes.

KAGAN: And you also are not too kind to organized religion in this movie.

ARNTZ: Well, let's say certain aspects of organized religion, just mostly the part with the condemnation, where basically if you do the wrong thing, you'll fry forever in the fry-alater of eternity, you know, that kind of eternity. But there's parts of organized religion that are quite wonderful, so we don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

KAGAN: OK, so you don't want anybody who perhaps is involved in organized religion just to rule out your movie.

An interesting thing about this, it's also not just a bunch of people just sharing your thoughts, you have a number of interviews with scientists, talking about how scientists plays into reality and into the power of positive thinking.

ARNTZ: Correct. And part of the reason we did that is because when you use the language of science to explain things, people can go along with it a little better. If you use the language of spirituality, people start thinking it's religious and then they start thinking, I don't know, and they're going to come try to convert me. And really, we're more about presenting ideas for people to take or leave, really.

KAGAN: And, William, in our last minute here, you've got tell me, quickly, the story of making this movie, how it turned into a little movie, and is it already bigger than anything you've imagined?

ARNTZ: It's actually not as big as I imagined it, yet.

KAGAN: That would be the power of intention.

ARNTZ: Exactly, you did watch the movie, huh?

KAGAN: Yes, I did.

ARNTZ: Yes.

KAGAN: But made for not that much money.

ARNTZ: Well, $5 million is a lot when you're writing the checks.

KAGAN: OK, I'll give you that.

Ultimately, share with us your intention for the movie. How big do you expect it to go.

ARNTZ: Well, really, my goal is to get it all the way around the world, and for 100 million people on the entire planet to see it. Once that happens, who knows what's going to happen, but that's really the overall goal of this thing.

KAGAN: All right. It is slowly being distributed across America. More people will get a chance to see it. It is called "What the Bleep Do We Know."

William Arntz, thank you for sharing the movie and sharing your insights into a different way of thinking.

ARNTZ: You're welcome. Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you so much.

That's going to do it for me, Daryn Kagan, but I'll be right back here. I have the intention to do that tomorrow morning.

Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington D.C.

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