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CNN Live Sunday

Rumsfeld Arrives in Iraq; Bush, Kerry Continue Campaigning

Aired October 10, 2004 - 11:00   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast; 8:00 a.m. at Mount St. Helens where scientists are keeping close tabs on the volcano.
Welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Ahead this hour, new insurgent attacks involving suicide bombers, as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrives there with a message for U.S. troops.

Also, the election fight over the economy separating fact from fiction as the candidates campaign.

Later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 7,000 military service members have been wounded in the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. We've been able to help most of the inpatient who have been at the military hospitals around the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Wounded Warrior and one man's cross-country mission to help.

More on those stories in a moment, first a check of the stories now in the news.

This is the scene today at a refugee camp in Gaza after another Israeli air strike. Reports say three Palestinians were wounded, one of them critically, in a strike that came just hours after a similar attack. Israel has increased its military operations in Gaza since late last month in an effort to crackdown on Palestinian militants firing rockets into Israel.

Before getting out of town for the election U.S. senators are meeting in a rare Sunday session. They are debating a $136 billion tax cut bill. Opponents have thrown up roadblocks to snarl the legislation, which contains breaks for everything from large corporations to importers of Chinese ceiling fans. The House adjourned yesterday.

Militants believe linked to Al Qaeda threatened to kidnap and kill two -- kidnapped Chinese engineers, rather, unless Pakistan releases several Al Qaeda members it's holding. The Chinese men and two Pakistani security guards were taken captive yesterday near the Afghan border. Negotiations to free the captives are under way.

We begin in Iraq on the day Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld makes a visit to the war-torn nation, suicide car bombs terrorize sections of Baghdad, killing more than a dozen people. CNN's Brent Sadler is following developments from Baghdad. He joins us live.

BRENT SADLER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks Fredricka.

Two deadly suicide car bombs in the Iraqi capital this day. One of those attacks another soldier from Task Force Baghdad, an American soldier, has died as a result of wounds he suffered in one of those suicide car bombings.

In a second attack, another suicide car bomber detonated a vehicle laden with explosives about 200 yards from a police academy. More police recruits are reported as being killed as a result of that explosion.

Now, these two new attacks are backdrop to a visit to Iraq, the first since the hand-over of power to Iraqi authorities by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He met about 1500 U.S. Marines in a town- hall style meeting, at an air base in the western desert of Iraq.

He told U.S. troops to expect an escalating level of violence in the run-up to Iraq's election at the end of January. He told them they were not fighting a conventional conflict. This is what he said:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The innocent people that are being killed, Iraqi people, are not incidental or accidental casualties. In many instances they are the targets because this is not a battle against large armies and navies and air forces. This is a test of wills that we're engaged in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SADLER: In what the Iraqi interim government is describing as a break through, they plan to hand over weapons by a militant group in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad, is expected to go ahead within the next 24 hours -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Brent Sadler thanks so much for that report from Baghdad.

On to Afghanistan now, a day after a historic presidential election international monitors are defending the process. Opposition candidates complained of voting irregularities in the election. It is discovered that ink used to stain voters hands to prevent multiple voting was easily washed off.

However, the international monitoring group says, a demand to nullify the election is unjustified. Afghan Interim President Hamid Karzai is expected to win. He called on all candidates to respect the results. It will be days before those vote results are known. Ballots are being counted by hand.

Here at home the presidential campaign is coming down to its final weeks. The candidates have been stumping all weekend.

Senator John Kerry is targeting the battleground state of Florida. He spoke about health care issues during a town hall meeting outside Ft. Lauderdale last night. Today Senator Kerry is attending church with voters in Miami. Late he leaves for Santa Fe, New Mexico where he will prepare for this week's final debate.

Meanwhile, President Bush spent the weekend campaigning in Midwest. He made stops in Iowa and Minnesota. The president is relaxing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, today. He's back on the campaign trail this week with stops in New Mexico and Colorado.

The war in Iraq is just one point of discussion in this campaign. Vice Presidential Candidate John Edwards is criticizing President Bush's military plan. He spoke to our Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), V.P. CANDIDATE: I think the reality is that this president -- our military has done everything they have been asked to do, Wolf, they have been extraordinary. Our men and women in uniform have been heroic.

But the president had a responsibility to plan for this stage, to have a plan to win the peace. And it's now absolutely clear he didn't have a plan and the results are catastrophic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And you can hear the entire interview with John Edwards on "Late Edition". That airs today on Noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific.

Expect to hear more about the economy in the third scheduled debate between the presidential candidates. Senator Kerry and President Bush have been tearing apart each other's fiscal plans. What is fact and what is fiction in their economic policies? CNN's Bob Franken gets to the bottom line.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have a seat, sir, it will be a little bit of time. OK?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Want to get confused? Listen to the takes on very same job numbers?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last Friday the job report for August showed we added 144,000 new jobs. That's 1.7 million over the last 12 months.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the first president of the United States since the Great Depression, since Herbert Hoover, who presided over the loss of jobs.

FRANKEN: Both are accurate, but does that mean that the economy is in the tank as the Democrats contend? Or has President Bush turned it around thanks to his tax cuts?

BUSH: In order to keep jobs here, in order to make sure people can work, we got to be wise about how we spend your money in Washington. And we must keep your taxes low.

FRANKEN: Making taxes low, says Kerry, for rich people.

KERRY: While he's been doing that, the tax burden of average working people in America has actually gone up.

FRANKEN: Kerry would roll back tax cuts for the wealthy, cut tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas, and cut middle-class taxes. His economic plan would include training for high-tech jobs.

The Bush plan includes job training, too, his tax policy will involve still undefined changes in the fundamental way it's collected.

Among the proposals rattling around a so-called flat tax. That would be controversial. So would his recommendation to supplant overtime with more comp time and flextime, part of an ongoing campaign to modify the overtime rules of the wage and hour laws.

As the backdrop there's the federal budget, a record surplus before the Bush administration took over. That's a record deficit now. Still another contributor to an overall uncertainty.

MICHAEL MENDEL, CHIEF ECONOMIST, "BUSINESSWEEK": This is a situation where the economy is middling, it's OK, but there's a lot of fear which is very different.

FRANKEN (on camera): A fear from not knowing what must be done for Americans to avoid losing in this economy. Democrats and Republicans each have the same answer -- elect them. Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: CNN is your campaign headquarters. We'll bring you the third and final presidential debate on Wednesday from Tempe, Arizona. CNN's live coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Meanwhile there's a breaking story we're following for you. Near Albuquerque, New Mexico, you are looking at some rescue efforts underway now after apparently a hot air balloon hit that tower you see in the background there.

We don't have any more details coming from our affiliate KOAT -- this is a live shot -- on how this accident took place. All we know is a hot air balloon hit the tower and now rescue efforts are underway to try to get the people who are in the hot air balloon.

Apparently this took place -- or is taking place rather -- in what is called Balloon Fiesta Park near Albuquerque, New Mexico. More on that when we get it.

Keeping a close eye on Mount St. Helens as well, coming up, changes in the volatile volcano, why scientists think it might be closer to erupting.

Also the scorecard for major drug rehab program in California that has become a blueprint for dealing with drug arrests around the country.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Tropical Storm Matthew, which has slowly been moving northward across the Gulf of Mexico. Finally making its way inland, it is about 40 miles to the west of New Orleans. It has finally decreased in intensity to a tropical depression. But still some squally weather expected.

CNN LIVE SUNDAY, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER FORECAST)

WHITFIELD: Well other news across America now. Let's take a look.

In fact, take a look at this live picture. It's a beautiful site. Looks peaceful and passive and serene. But guess what? Apparently beyond the haze there are some earthquake activity that is increasing around the Mount St. Helens Volcano in Washington.

And a bubble on the south side of the lava dome has risen to at least 330 feet since the end of September. Geologists say it all suggests magma is less than a mile below the surface. Scientists aren't ready to raise the alert level just yet.

Tropical Storm Matthew, it came ashore, across southeastern Louisiana. Brought high tides, steady rains and flooding. Some roads are under as much as two feet of water. This storm is expected to weaken throughout the day.

In Denver, Colorado, most of the 230 demonstrators arrested at a Columbus Day Parade have been released. The protesters had tried to block the Saturday celebration held by Italian Americans. They claim Columbus' discoveries led to the genocide of Native Americans.

Some lucky person is the sole winner of the $214.7 million Power Ball Lottery. The ticket was sold in Delaware. It's the fifth largest jackpot ever won by a single ticket holder.

Almost disgusting, isn't it, that it wasn't you?

Voters in California say they like the results of a new statewide program of treatment, not jail, for first time drug offenders. Voters approved it four years ago. CNN's Donna Tetreault has a look at how it is helping some recovering addicts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see her smile and I can feel her smile.

DONNA TETREAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tanya is a mother of a two-year-old little girl and a former drug addict. Because of a ballot proposal approved four years ago that puts addicts in treatment instead of jail, she was given a new shot at a clean and sober life -- and at being a mom.

TANYA: I can finally feel. I was missing a lot. She is two and just having that feeling of love and actually seeing it and getting it back and giving it back, is changed my life a lot.

TETREAULT: Tanya is a success story for the new program that took effect after California voters approved proposition 36 in the year 2000. The program gives judges the discretion to put drug offenders into treatment programs as an alternative to jail. And 30,000 drug offenders enter the program each year.

A new report from UCLA's Drug Research Center shows a third of them, like Tanya, successfully complete treatment and kick the habit.

Critics of the program say that's a poor track record. Defenders say more hardcore addicts, those abusing drugs for more than 10 years have participated in this program more than anybody expected.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No way out.

TETREAULT: Drug center officials believe residential treatment programs are the most effective way to help hardcore drug users because it removes them from the environment that encourages them to relapse. But Proposition 36 didn't provide enough funding, $120 million a year for five years, to handle a growing patient load.

AL SENELLA, COO, TARZANA TREATMENT CENTER: Residential beds are limited in the program because most counties designed outpatient systems of care. Limited the amount of money they would put in the residential care because the dollar was not large enough to cover all the needs.

TETREAULT: Julia is one of the addicts who couldn't get a bed. Homeless and living in the streets she relapsed into drug use repeatedly. Fortunately for her, she was assigned to another state program called Drug Court. There, under the strict supervision of a judge who schedules regular drug tests, she managed to stay clean.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first time that I got arrested and went into Drug Court was on an outpatient. I kind of ran from that, too. I wasn't sure what was going on but they do monitor really well and the judge is serious. And I was really lucky to get another chance at doing it, only this time with a residential program.

TETREAULT: State officials plan to restructure the new drug program to provide more space and resources to expand inpatient treatment of drug addicts. But funding is likely to remain a problem for years to come. Donna Tetreault for CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Back now to a breaking story we're following for you. Out of New Mexico, actually, near Albuquerque.

There where a hot air balloon filled with a few people, we don't know how many, apparently crashed into this tower. And the picture you are looking at right now, this live picture, is a rescuer who is -- has been traversing up and down this tower to try to rescue some of these folks that are in the hot air balloon.

Apparently we're being told one person is being rescued but we don't know exactly at what stage of this rescue he's in. Whether he's going to be coming down the tower as well, some other kind of apparatus is being used to help get the tourists or the folks inside the hot air balloon out.

So far we have not been told that there are any kind of life threatening injuries that have taken place only that people are being rescued from the hot air balloon that hit that tower just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. More on that in a moment.

Well the fight for the hearts and minds of Iraqis in the embattled city of Samarra coming up. How U.S. troops are trying to win support in a city where fierce fighting was going on just a few weeks ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: U.S. and Iraqi forces kept their appointment in Samarra taking back the city from insurgents this past week but the Americans have not been welcomed with entirely open arms. CNN's Jane Arraf reports from Samarra.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tentatively the citizens of Samarra emerged to calculate the cost of battle. Near the sacred Imam Al Alihadi (ph) Shrine, where some of the most intense fighting took place, women and children are beginning to venture out.

(On camera): And 48 hours ago we were on this street when it was ringing with gunfire. The fighting has stopped, but as you can see from the shuttered shops, it's a long way from normal.

Children have been hired to sweep the streets. They get $10 each, money the Americans channel through the local government.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: Are you happy that the Americans are here?

ARRAF (voice over): The boy is noncommittal. It's clear the civil affairs team has an uphill battle.

"It all came down on us, the kids," says this boy with an empty ammunition box. Al Adin Mahqmood (ph), a retired construction worker tells the U.S. troops he saw a baby shot in front of his eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: We don't shoot babies.

ARRAF: Mahqmood (ph) insists U.S. soldiers opened fire when the car ignored warnings to stop.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: Isn't it better now that the terrorists are gone?

ARRAF: "It would be better if the Americans left," Mahqmood (ph) answers.

Lieutenant Colonel Kirk Furness (ph) agrees, but says, first they need to help the government here get back on its feet.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: Tell him we're going to be working with his local city council.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: We just broke the lock to get in, to confirm it.

ARRAF: Down the street, U.S. and Iraqi special forces have raided a tailor shop. They say they have no firm evidence, but they suspect it might belong to a main financial backer of the insurgency.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: We know where you live.

ARRAF: The U.S. Special Forces dictate a note to the translator to leave for him.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: You need to give yourself up to the nearest coalition forces. If you don't give up, we are going to hunt you down.

ARRAF: In the streets Iraqi police are returning to work. This group says it is true the insurgents have targeted police, but they wish American forces had never come here.

"From the time they came until now, we have nothing. Everything has been turned upside down," says this police officer.

Nearby, a corner grocery store is the only shop open for blocks. The owner, Muhammad Ryad Achmed (ph), says there isn't enough business to stay open.

"There's no one here. They see the Americans and they are afraid," he says.

But one of the religious figures from the golden shrine tells us he's grateful to the U.S. forces.

"Thank God, they came and rid us of those evildoers. They were destroying the city," says Assyad Murwan Muhammad. He says, he's just happy to have his mosque back. Jane Arraf, CNN, Samarra. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still so much more coming up at the bottom of the hour with "Reliable Sources". Here is Howard Kurtz in Washington.

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN ANCHOR, RELIABLE SOURCES: Thanks, Fredricka.

Coming up, the debates, the spin and checking the facts. Are the media holding George Bush and John Kerry equally accountable? And are they grading the debates more on style than substance?

Plus, Howard Stern jumps ship. And one broadcasting company's last-minute anti-Kerry's bombshell. All ahead on "Reliable Sources".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Thousands of men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have come home as wounded warriors. This Sunday in our "Everyday Heroes" we introduce to you a man who is helping injured troops by taking it one mile at a time. CNN's Peter Viles has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're sitting right here. What you are going to do is go up here ...

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris Carney is getting directions from a local sheriff's deputy. It's the last day of his cross-country bicycle ride to raise money and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it possible to come around?

VILES: Carney is 34, a Long Island bartender and he never served in the military but he left home almost two months ago traveling more than 4,000 miles through 13 states. Today, the final stretch.

Carney is riding with some of those wounded warriors he wants to help. The ride has raised half a million dollars from mostly individual donors to provide backpacks filled with necessities like shaving kits, clothing and CD players for wounded soldiers arriving back in the United States.

JOHN MELIA, FOUNDER, WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: We can harness the way everyone feels. Harness all the thoughts and prayers all that we support the troops into one specific effort, we seriously make a difference and seriously help them out.

VILES: As the sun sets on the Pacific Ocean Carney reaches his goal.

(APPLAUSE, CHEERING)

VILES: And the celebration begins. John Melia is the founder of the Wounded Warrior Project. MELIA: Over 7,000 military service members have been wounded in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have been able to help most of the inpatients who have been at the military hospitals around the country.

MAX TADLOCK, MILITARY ORDER OF THE PURPLE HEART: A bunch of fine young men dedicated and have done a good job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truly in the eyes of the wounded vets he's in one of the heroes.

CARNEY: I just rode a bike. Maybe I'm a guy who had a good idea and who acted on it and put in some hard work but that's far from being a hero. You know, I had a good idea and did some hard work -- for heroes, if anything.

VILES: After a week's vacation Carney plans to go back to tending bar. He says he'll keep working for the Wounded Warrior Project until all the injured soldiers get the help they need to transition to a normal life -- Peter Viles, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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 10, 2004 - 11:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is 11:00 a.m. on the East Coast; 8:00 a.m. at Mount St. Helens where scientists are keeping close tabs on the volcano.
Welcome to CNN LIVE SUNDAY. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Ahead this hour, new insurgent attacks involving suicide bombers, as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld arrives there with a message for U.S. troops.

Also, the election fight over the economy separating fact from fiction as the candidates campaign.

Later...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over 7,000 military service members have been wounded in the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. We've been able to help most of the inpatient who have been at the military hospitals around the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Wounded Warrior and one man's cross-country mission to help.

More on those stories in a moment, first a check of the stories now in the news.

This is the scene today at a refugee camp in Gaza after another Israeli air strike. Reports say three Palestinians were wounded, one of them critically, in a strike that came just hours after a similar attack. Israel has increased its military operations in Gaza since late last month in an effort to crackdown on Palestinian militants firing rockets into Israel.

Before getting out of town for the election U.S. senators are meeting in a rare Sunday session. They are debating a $136 billion tax cut bill. Opponents have thrown up roadblocks to snarl the legislation, which contains breaks for everything from large corporations to importers of Chinese ceiling fans. The House adjourned yesterday.

Militants believe linked to Al Qaeda threatened to kidnap and kill two -- kidnapped Chinese engineers, rather, unless Pakistan releases several Al Qaeda members it's holding. The Chinese men and two Pakistani security guards were taken captive yesterday near the Afghan border. Negotiations to free the captives are under way.

We begin in Iraq on the day Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld makes a visit to the war-torn nation, suicide car bombs terrorize sections of Baghdad, killing more than a dozen people. CNN's Brent Sadler is following developments from Baghdad. He joins us live.

BRENT SADLER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks Fredricka.

Two deadly suicide car bombs in the Iraqi capital this day. One of those attacks another soldier from Task Force Baghdad, an American soldier, has died as a result of wounds he suffered in one of those suicide car bombings.

In a second attack, another suicide car bomber detonated a vehicle laden with explosives about 200 yards from a police academy. More police recruits are reported as being killed as a result of that explosion.

Now, these two new attacks are backdrop to a visit to Iraq, the first since the hand-over of power to Iraqi authorities by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He met about 1500 U.S. Marines in a town- hall style meeting, at an air base in the western desert of Iraq.

He told U.S. troops to expect an escalating level of violence in the run-up to Iraq's election at the end of January. He told them they were not fighting a conventional conflict. This is what he said:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The innocent people that are being killed, Iraqi people, are not incidental or accidental casualties. In many instances they are the targets because this is not a battle against large armies and navies and air forces. This is a test of wills that we're engaged in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SADLER: In what the Iraqi interim government is describing as a break through, they plan to hand over weapons by a militant group in Sadr City, on the outskirts of Baghdad, is expected to go ahead within the next 24 hours -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Brent Sadler thanks so much for that report from Baghdad.

On to Afghanistan now, a day after a historic presidential election international monitors are defending the process. Opposition candidates complained of voting irregularities in the election. It is discovered that ink used to stain voters hands to prevent multiple voting was easily washed off.

However, the international monitoring group says, a demand to nullify the election is unjustified. Afghan Interim President Hamid Karzai is expected to win. He called on all candidates to respect the results. It will be days before those vote results are known. Ballots are being counted by hand.

Here at home the presidential campaign is coming down to its final weeks. The candidates have been stumping all weekend.

Senator John Kerry is targeting the battleground state of Florida. He spoke about health care issues during a town hall meeting outside Ft. Lauderdale last night. Today Senator Kerry is attending church with voters in Miami. Late he leaves for Santa Fe, New Mexico where he will prepare for this week's final debate.

Meanwhile, President Bush spent the weekend campaigning in Midwest. He made stops in Iowa and Minnesota. The president is relaxing at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, today. He's back on the campaign trail this week with stops in New Mexico and Colorado.

The war in Iraq is just one point of discussion in this campaign. Vice Presidential Candidate John Edwards is criticizing President Bush's military plan. He spoke to our Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), V.P. CANDIDATE: I think the reality is that this president -- our military has done everything they have been asked to do, Wolf, they have been extraordinary. Our men and women in uniform have been heroic.

But the president had a responsibility to plan for this stage, to have a plan to win the peace. And it's now absolutely clear he didn't have a plan and the results are catastrophic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And you can hear the entire interview with John Edwards on "Late Edition". That airs today on Noon Eastern, 9:00 a.m. Pacific.

Expect to hear more about the economy in the third scheduled debate between the presidential candidates. Senator Kerry and President Bush have been tearing apart each other's fiscal plans. What is fact and what is fiction in their economic policies? CNN's Bob Franken gets to the bottom line.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have a seat, sir, it will be a little bit of time. OK?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Want to get confused? Listen to the takes on very same job numbers?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last Friday the job report for August showed we added 144,000 new jobs. That's 1.7 million over the last 12 months.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is the first president of the United States since the Great Depression, since Herbert Hoover, who presided over the loss of jobs.

FRANKEN: Both are accurate, but does that mean that the economy is in the tank as the Democrats contend? Or has President Bush turned it around thanks to his tax cuts?

BUSH: In order to keep jobs here, in order to make sure people can work, we got to be wise about how we spend your money in Washington. And we must keep your taxes low.

FRANKEN: Making taxes low, says Kerry, for rich people.

KERRY: While he's been doing that, the tax burden of average working people in America has actually gone up.

FRANKEN: Kerry would roll back tax cuts for the wealthy, cut tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas, and cut middle-class taxes. His economic plan would include training for high-tech jobs.

The Bush plan includes job training, too, his tax policy will involve still undefined changes in the fundamental way it's collected.

Among the proposals rattling around a so-called flat tax. That would be controversial. So would his recommendation to supplant overtime with more comp time and flextime, part of an ongoing campaign to modify the overtime rules of the wage and hour laws.

As the backdrop there's the federal budget, a record surplus before the Bush administration took over. That's a record deficit now. Still another contributor to an overall uncertainty.

MICHAEL MENDEL, CHIEF ECONOMIST, "BUSINESSWEEK": This is a situation where the economy is middling, it's OK, but there's a lot of fear which is very different.

FRANKEN (on camera): A fear from not knowing what must be done for Americans to avoid losing in this economy. Democrats and Republicans each have the same answer -- elect them. Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: CNN is your campaign headquarters. We'll bring you the third and final presidential debate on Wednesday from Tempe, Arizona. CNN's live coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Meanwhile there's a breaking story we're following for you. Near Albuquerque, New Mexico, you are looking at some rescue efforts underway now after apparently a hot air balloon hit that tower you see in the background there.

We don't have any more details coming from our affiliate KOAT -- this is a live shot -- on how this accident took place. All we know is a hot air balloon hit the tower and now rescue efforts are underway to try to get the people who are in the hot air balloon.

Apparently this took place -- or is taking place rather -- in what is called Balloon Fiesta Park near Albuquerque, New Mexico. More on that when we get it.

Keeping a close eye on Mount St. Helens as well, coming up, changes in the volatile volcano, why scientists think it might be closer to erupting.

Also the scorecard for major drug rehab program in California that has become a blueprint for dealing with drug arrests around the country.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Tropical Storm Matthew, which has slowly been moving northward across the Gulf of Mexico. Finally making its way inland, it is about 40 miles to the west of New Orleans. It has finally decreased in intensity to a tropical depression. But still some squally weather expected.

CNN LIVE SUNDAY, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER FORECAST)

WHITFIELD: Well other news across America now. Let's take a look.

In fact, take a look at this live picture. It's a beautiful site. Looks peaceful and passive and serene. But guess what? Apparently beyond the haze there are some earthquake activity that is increasing around the Mount St. Helens Volcano in Washington.

And a bubble on the south side of the lava dome has risen to at least 330 feet since the end of September. Geologists say it all suggests magma is less than a mile below the surface. Scientists aren't ready to raise the alert level just yet.

Tropical Storm Matthew, it came ashore, across southeastern Louisiana. Brought high tides, steady rains and flooding. Some roads are under as much as two feet of water. This storm is expected to weaken throughout the day.

In Denver, Colorado, most of the 230 demonstrators arrested at a Columbus Day Parade have been released. The protesters had tried to block the Saturday celebration held by Italian Americans. They claim Columbus' discoveries led to the genocide of Native Americans.

Some lucky person is the sole winner of the $214.7 million Power Ball Lottery. The ticket was sold in Delaware. It's the fifth largest jackpot ever won by a single ticket holder.

Almost disgusting, isn't it, that it wasn't you?

Voters in California say they like the results of a new statewide program of treatment, not jail, for first time drug offenders. Voters approved it four years ago. CNN's Donna Tetreault has a look at how it is helping some recovering addicts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see her smile and I can feel her smile.

DONNA TETREAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tanya is a mother of a two-year-old little girl and a former drug addict. Because of a ballot proposal approved four years ago that puts addicts in treatment instead of jail, she was given a new shot at a clean and sober life -- and at being a mom.

TANYA: I can finally feel. I was missing a lot. She is two and just having that feeling of love and actually seeing it and getting it back and giving it back, is changed my life a lot.

TETREAULT: Tanya is a success story for the new program that took effect after California voters approved proposition 36 in the year 2000. The program gives judges the discretion to put drug offenders into treatment programs as an alternative to jail. And 30,000 drug offenders enter the program each year.

A new report from UCLA's Drug Research Center shows a third of them, like Tanya, successfully complete treatment and kick the habit.

Critics of the program say that's a poor track record. Defenders say more hardcore addicts, those abusing drugs for more than 10 years have participated in this program more than anybody expected.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No way out.

TETREAULT: Drug center officials believe residential treatment programs are the most effective way to help hardcore drug users because it removes them from the environment that encourages them to relapse. But Proposition 36 didn't provide enough funding, $120 million a year for five years, to handle a growing patient load.

AL SENELLA, COO, TARZANA TREATMENT CENTER: Residential beds are limited in the program because most counties designed outpatient systems of care. Limited the amount of money they would put in the residential care because the dollar was not large enough to cover all the needs.

TETREAULT: Julia is one of the addicts who couldn't get a bed. Homeless and living in the streets she relapsed into drug use repeatedly. Fortunately for her, she was assigned to another state program called Drug Court. There, under the strict supervision of a judge who schedules regular drug tests, she managed to stay clean.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first time that I got arrested and went into Drug Court was on an outpatient. I kind of ran from that, too. I wasn't sure what was going on but they do monitor really well and the judge is serious. And I was really lucky to get another chance at doing it, only this time with a residential program.

TETREAULT: State officials plan to restructure the new drug program to provide more space and resources to expand inpatient treatment of drug addicts. But funding is likely to remain a problem for years to come. Donna Tetreault for CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Back now to a breaking story we're following for you. Out of New Mexico, actually, near Albuquerque.

There where a hot air balloon filled with a few people, we don't know how many, apparently crashed into this tower. And the picture you are looking at right now, this live picture, is a rescuer who is -- has been traversing up and down this tower to try to rescue some of these folks that are in the hot air balloon.

Apparently we're being told one person is being rescued but we don't know exactly at what stage of this rescue he's in. Whether he's going to be coming down the tower as well, some other kind of apparatus is being used to help get the tourists or the folks inside the hot air balloon out.

So far we have not been told that there are any kind of life threatening injuries that have taken place only that people are being rescued from the hot air balloon that hit that tower just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. More on that in a moment.

Well the fight for the hearts and minds of Iraqis in the embattled city of Samarra coming up. How U.S. troops are trying to win support in a city where fierce fighting was going on just a few weeks ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: U.S. and Iraqi forces kept their appointment in Samarra taking back the city from insurgents this past week but the Americans have not been welcomed with entirely open arms. CNN's Jane Arraf reports from Samarra.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Tentatively the citizens of Samarra emerged to calculate the cost of battle. Near the sacred Imam Al Alihadi (ph) Shrine, where some of the most intense fighting took place, women and children are beginning to venture out.

(On camera): And 48 hours ago we were on this street when it was ringing with gunfire. The fighting has stopped, but as you can see from the shuttered shops, it's a long way from normal.

Children have been hired to sweep the streets. They get $10 each, money the Americans channel through the local government.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: Are you happy that the Americans are here?

ARRAF (voice over): The boy is noncommittal. It's clear the civil affairs team has an uphill battle.

"It all came down on us, the kids," says this boy with an empty ammunition box. Al Adin Mahqmood (ph), a retired construction worker tells the U.S. troops he saw a baby shot in front of his eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: We don't shoot babies.

ARRAF: Mahqmood (ph) insists U.S. soldiers opened fire when the car ignored warnings to stop.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: Isn't it better now that the terrorists are gone?

ARRAF: "It would be better if the Americans left," Mahqmood (ph) answers.

Lieutenant Colonel Kirk Furness (ph) agrees, but says, first they need to help the government here get back on its feet.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: Tell him we're going to be working with his local city council.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: We just broke the lock to get in, to confirm it.

ARRAF: Down the street, U.S. and Iraqi special forces have raided a tailor shop. They say they have no firm evidence, but they suspect it might belong to a main financial backer of the insurgency.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: We know where you live.

ARRAF: The U.S. Special Forces dictate a note to the translator to leave for him.

UNIDENTIFIED U.S. SOLDIER: You need to give yourself up to the nearest coalition forces. If you don't give up, we are going to hunt you down.

ARRAF: In the streets Iraqi police are returning to work. This group says it is true the insurgents have targeted police, but they wish American forces had never come here.

"From the time they came until now, we have nothing. Everything has been turned upside down," says this police officer.

Nearby, a corner grocery store is the only shop open for blocks. The owner, Muhammad Ryad Achmed (ph), says there isn't enough business to stay open.

"There's no one here. They see the Americans and they are afraid," he says.

But one of the religious figures from the golden shrine tells us he's grateful to the U.S. forces.

"Thank God, they came and rid us of those evildoers. They were destroying the city," says Assyad Murwan Muhammad. He says, he's just happy to have his mosque back. Jane Arraf, CNN, Samarra. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still so much more coming up at the bottom of the hour with "Reliable Sources". Here is Howard Kurtz in Washington.

HOWARD KURTZ, CNN ANCHOR, RELIABLE SOURCES: Thanks, Fredricka.

Coming up, the debates, the spin and checking the facts. Are the media holding George Bush and John Kerry equally accountable? And are they grading the debates more on style than substance?

Plus, Howard Stern jumps ship. And one broadcasting company's last-minute anti-Kerry's bombshell. All ahead on "Reliable Sources".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Thousands of men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have come home as wounded warriors. This Sunday in our "Everyday Heroes" we introduce to you a man who is helping injured troops by taking it one mile at a time. CNN's Peter Viles has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're sitting right here. What you are going to do is go up here ...

PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris Carney is getting directions from a local sheriff's deputy. It's the last day of his cross-country bicycle ride to raise money and awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it possible to come around?

VILES: Carney is 34, a Long Island bartender and he never served in the military but he left home almost two months ago traveling more than 4,000 miles through 13 states. Today, the final stretch.

Carney is riding with some of those wounded warriors he wants to help. The ride has raised half a million dollars from mostly individual donors to provide backpacks filled with necessities like shaving kits, clothing and CD players for wounded soldiers arriving back in the United States.

JOHN MELIA, FOUNDER, WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: We can harness the way everyone feels. Harness all the thoughts and prayers all that we support the troops into one specific effort, we seriously make a difference and seriously help them out.

VILES: As the sun sets on the Pacific Ocean Carney reaches his goal.

(APPLAUSE, CHEERING)

VILES: And the celebration begins. John Melia is the founder of the Wounded Warrior Project. MELIA: Over 7,000 military service members have been wounded in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have been able to help most of the inpatients who have been at the military hospitals around the country.

MAX TADLOCK, MILITARY ORDER OF THE PURPLE HEART: A bunch of fine young men dedicated and have done a good job.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truly in the eyes of the wounded vets he's in one of the heroes.

CARNEY: I just rode a bike. Maybe I'm a guy who had a good idea and who acted on it and put in some hard work but that's far from being a hero. You know, I had a good idea and did some hard work -- for heroes, if anything.

VILES: After a week's vacation Carney plans to go back to tending bar. He says he'll keep working for the Wounded Warrior Project until all the injured soldiers get the help they need to transition to a normal life -- Peter Viles, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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