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American Morning
News; International
Aired October 11, 2004 - 07:30 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. Just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING. We're going to be talking more about the death of Christopher Reeve coming up in just a few minutes.
We'll talk to one of the doctors that treated Christopher Reeve over the years, Dr. John McDonald, who can tell us about Reeve's spinal cord injury and the progress he had made over the years trying to recover. And when you look back at when it happened to where he was when he died, there had been some serious progress to talk about.
It's an inspiration to...
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A brave, tough fight to the very end, too.
Also back to politics. Jeff Greenfield stops by. After Friday night's debate, now three days away from the final debate in Arizona, we'll let you know on whether or not Jeff believes anything has shifted as a result of the first two. So, we'll get to Jeff in a moment here.
COLLINS: First, though, we want to check the stories now in the news, once again with Kelly Wallace this morning. Kelly, good morning. More prizes to be awarded, right?
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: The final Nobel Prize goes to men this time, Heidi, not women.
COLLINS: Oh, well.
WALLACE: American Finn Kydland and Edward Prescott were awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics. Kydland and Prescott won for their work with dynamic macroeconomics. The award comes with a $1.3 million prize.
In Egypt, international officials are trying to identify the remaining body following last week's bombings. The death toll from the attack rose to 34 over the weekend. Egyptian police have questioned some 600 people. They are now searching for a man believed to have purchased explosives in the area. It is not clear if he's connected to the bombings.
Here in the United States, investigators in Arkansas are trying to find out why a tour bus overturned. At least 14 people were killed, more than a dozen others were injured in the Saturday morning accident. Investigators will use computer models to reconstruct what happened. Authorities say they are trying to find out if the driver fell asleep.
And federal authorities believe Washington State's ferry system could be a terror target. "The Seattle Times" reports that groups of men have been seen videotaping ferry operations. One of the men is tied to a federal investigation, prompting officials to say the system is under terrorist surveillance. The state's ferry system is the nation's largest. It started using tighter security checks this weekend.
That gets you caught up. Now back to Bill and Heidi.
HEMMER: All right, Kelly, thanks.
COLLINS: Actor Christopher Reeve died yesterday from heart failure in a suburban New York City hospital. Reeve went into cardiac arrest and then into a coma on Saturday. He was 52 years old.
It's been nine years since a horse riding accident left the popular actor paralyzed from the neck down. But Reeve never gave up hope that he would one day be able to walk again. He spoke with CNN's Larry King last summer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Do you still think you will walk again?
CHRISTOPHER REEVE, ACTOR/ACTIVIST: I certainly have the motto that nothing is impossible. I think the question of whether I will walk is going to depend on politics. It's going to depend on collaborations between scientists around the world. It'll depend on economics -- a lot of factors that I knew very little about when I was injured eight years ago.
And I think my purpose when I was 42 in saying that I would walk by the time I was 50 was to be provocative, to be a voice saying why can't we do this? Don't tell me the reasons why not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Dr. John McDonald is a neurologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and Christopher Reeve's doctor for five years. He is joining me now live this morning. Doctor, good morning to you.
Let me ask you if you could explain in what capacity you treated Christopher Reeve, and whether or not you were surprised by this news this morning?
DR. JOHN MCDONALD, NEUROLOGIST, WASHINGTON UNIV.: Yeah, I began to treat Chris in 1999 and really have continued that up until today, really designing his neuro-rehabilitative recovery program. And of course, we were very surprised, and our hearts go out to his family and his loved ones. COLLINS: As well for us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
We know that he suffered what was quite common to people who deal with paralysis, something called a pressure wound. Can you describe a little bit about what that was, and then how it ultimately led to a heart failure?
MCDONALD: Yeah, I mean, I think the details of his death aren't that critical. What we should really point to is what he really, you know, brought to light is that we really can accomplish something and provide recovery or function, even long after an injury. And he himself was able to demonstrate that. In the end, he was able to move most of his limbs and recovered sensation throughout his entire body, something that wasn't thought to be possible.
But despite that, he still was vulnerable to the same thing everyone who is gravitationally challenged comes across, which is pressure wounds that can develop within minutes. And that, of course, can lead to infections and sepsis and, in this case, death.
COLLINS: We were just looking at some incredible video of some of the rehabilitation that he had been doing for so long. Can you sort of generalize then about the progress that he made? Was this remarkable? Was this expected? I mean, he worked so very hard every single day to make some of that progress.
MCDONALD: Yeah, Chris was just an amazing individual and I think so dedicated to his rehabilitation. And as a result, he's changed not only his life and recovery, but I think everyone else with spinal cord injury.
He really had almost no recovery from his injury in the first three years after his injury, which there's really no chance for further recovery after that. But then went on to go from no movement or sensation below the neck from years five through eight to being able to recover sensation throughout his entire body and be able to move most of his limbs by year eight after his injury.
So, something totally unprecedented before, demonstrating that it is possible to recover function and substantial function even with catastrophic neurologic injuries.
COLLINS: It is an incredible fight that he did put up, and raised so very much money, too, for the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, research grants that I'm sure he will very desperately want that research to continue.
Doctor, we appreciate your time this morning. John McDonald, a neurologist who worked with Christopher Reeve. Thank you again.
MCDONALD: Thank you.
HEMMER: Twenty-four minutes now before the hour, and only 22 days before the presidential election. Both candidates now getting ready for the final debate Wednesday night, Tempe, Arizona. President Bush spending part of Saturday and Sunday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, getting ready for the showdown. He'll campaign in Colorado today.
Democratic challenger John Kerry spends time in New Mexico today after campaigning in Florida again yesterday, two swing states still up for grabs.
And now, only three days from the final debate, our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield checks in now on a Monday morning. Good morning to you.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Good morning.
HEMMER: As best you can, give us a sense about where you think this campaign stands today?
GREENFIELD: Well,we've had about six weeks when President Bush appeared to be opening a measurable lead. And the numbers now suggest, once, again a close national race. You want to poll that (INAUDIBLE) you want one that shows Kerry four points ahead, well we've got them.
But it is, as we all know, the state electoral map that gives you a sharper picture of well you might want to own the Maalox concession at both campaigns, because both of them have serious problems in states they have to win.
Now first, look at some states that Al Gore won back in 2000 and that Kerry more or less has to win. Now, he has opened up the lead in Pennsylvania. That's the one Bush most wants to take away. He's got a small lead in Michigan.
But in three Midwestern states -- Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin -- with a total of 27 electoral votes, that's like Florida, Kerry is tied in the first two and a little behind in Wisconsin. And he is struggling in New Mexico. He won that one by I think 366 votes last time.
All right, what about Bush? Well, he appears to have a small lead in Florida. Bill, you remember Florida. But in Ohio, Kerry appears to have pulled into a tie. Let's all recite this now: No Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio.
Bush appears to have fallen behind in New Hampshire, and he has dangerously small leads in West Virginia, Nevada, and perhaps Colorado. Now, keep in mind, Kerry needs to take 10 electoral votes away from Bush's 2000 states to win.
HEMMER: Coming off of Friday night, did this campaign change much after debate number two?
GREENFIELD: I think for me what it showed really dramatically was how different the two campaign strategies are. President Bush's campaign sees this as a mobilization election, turn out your people. So, his tough stance, his approach -- some people thought he was shouting -- I think it was about reminding voters that he's the commander in chief in wartime. Also his answer on abortion, flat out: no tax dollars and a ban on partial-birth abortions. That goes right to his socially conservative base.
Kerry's goal, by contrast, is to talk to the middle. And that's why the stem-cell research argument is aimed right at those voters -- you know, people who might like Bush on one issue, but really want to see stem-cell research developed. Also, importing cheaper drugs from Canada and arguing not about the morality about Iraq, but its execution. It was bad judgment.
We also have to remind ourselves again how often the consensus wisdom about these debates is wrong. The first debate was on foreign policy. Bush wanted it; it helped Kerry. Domestic issues, supposedly Kerry's strength -- remember, Bill, domestic issues also mean social issues, guns, gay marriage, faith in American life -- and that's where Bush can play to his base.
HEMMER: All right. Our focus group Friday night in Columbus, Ohio, 24 people -- 11 thought Bush won, 11 thought Kerry won, and two said it was a tie. Does it get any closer than that?
GREENFIELD: Well, it, you know, I would have thought four years ago that it can't get closer than coming down to 537 votes. But you know, but we'll see.
HEMMER: Let me take you to a "New York Times" magazine article over the weekend. John Kerry said this, "We have to get back to the place we were where terrorists are not the focus our lives, but they're a nuisance. As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution, we're never going to end illegal gambling, but we're going to reduce it."
Does this become a nuisance of sorts for John Kerry?
GREENFIELD: You know, I find that a little hard to think that this is going to have the impact of, say, the Swift Boat Veterans, because it's -- if he had said I think terrorism is just like gambling and prostitution, first of all, no candidate is that brain dead to have said that. And he didn't. He said, you know, if we really work at this right, we can get it into a measurable box.
But you know, in a campaign three weeks to go, the other -- any campaign will seize on anything the other guy has said. The way you mentioned to Marc Racicot that Bush once said we can't win this war, he didn't exactly mean that either. So, I think everybody has to take some decaf about this.
And may I leave you with one small thought?
HEMMER: You may.
GREENFIELD: I love this one. If John Kerry takes Nevada and New Hampshire away from Bush and everything else remains the same, do you know what we have? You ask could it get any closer.
HEMMER: Tell me.
GREENFIELD: We have an electoral tie: 269, 269. The election is thrown into the House for president and the Senate for vice president. So, you may have to have a hotel room in Washington, D.C. not Columbus, Ohio.
HEMMER: Perhaps. It depends on what happens in Colorado if that ballot issue goes through.
GREENFIELD: We'll get to that another time.
HEMMER: They split the electoral votes.
GREENFIELD: We'll get to that -- believe me, we'll cover that this week. That's another one.
HEMMER: OK. Wednesday night, another reminder, our coverage begins at 7:00 in primetime -- Tempe, Arizona. The debate begins here at 9:00 here on CNN.
Back across the room and Heidi with more now -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Want to check on the weather once again. Chad Myers at the CNN Center with the very latest on the weather this morning. Got some flooding out in the Louisiana area, I know that much, right, Chad?
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Thank you, Chad.
In a moment here, Wall Street eying these record oil prices again. How will that affect the markets? Get a preview in a moment on that.
COLLINS: And the coming election has former Hollywood bad boy Sean Penn furious at the creators of "South Park" and the new "Team America." "90-Second Pop" has a scoop on that, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Want to check in with Jack now and the "Question of the Day" once again. Good morning to you.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Heidi. Thanks.
Four years after the Florida recount disaster, we still haven't managed to fix the process by which we elect a president in this country. The fly in this year's ointment is something called provisional ballots. Every state must provide them to voters if they can't be found on the registration lists, if they show up at the wrong polling place, or if they don't have proper identification.
You have you then give them a provisional ballot. The votes will be cast on those. And then those ballots will be held separately from the others until the identities can be confirmed. We ought to be able to do that in, what, nine months, maybe a year?
If you don't know where you're supposed to vote and you're not on the registration list and you don't have any ID, you shouldn't be allowed to participate in the democratic process because you're too dumb to go to the thing and get -- I mean, just stay home. It's problematic for the rest of us who want to get this thing over with.
But I digress. We lost between one-and-a-half and three million votes in the last election election. This could be worse. There are challenges in five different states already. I mean, if you don't have any ID -- well...
HEMMER: Yeah.
CAFFERTY: Natalie in Mt. Lookout, West Virginia: "I believe the only way to have honest elections is with a piece of paper and an ink pen. The voter puts an "X" in the box next to the name of the candidate they want to vote for. I don't care about the cost. I don't care about the effort or time it takes. I care about accuracy and accountability."
Linda in Jacksonville: "What great embarrassment we will all feel if this election is a failure because we can't tally the votes correctly. The whole world is looking at us. Our men and women are dying in Iraq so they will have the freedoms to vote as we do. We must do this right."
Kim in Largo, Florida: "Does it matter if the vote is accurate? The 2000 vote was accurate, but Gore's not in the White House. Bush was never elected by the popular vote. The only votes that seem to matter are the electoral college." That's right, Kim. That would be the way this system is set up. We do have an electoral college, and that's how it works here.
You'd think I wouldn't be this cranky after having a week off.
Chris in Princeton, New Jersey: "I'm not confident every vote will be counted in this election. We will be voting on electronic machines in New Jersey that do not create a receipt or a back-up ballot, making a manual recount impossible." Hey, it's New Jersey.
And Dewey in Columbus, Ohio: "You're kidding, right? We know how to do this right. We have for a long time. But in the U.S., it's always been the case of the process itself is political and therefore vulnerable to mistakes and manipulations. Before most of you were born I studied gerrymandering in school. Didn't you?"
That's -- if you don't have any ID and you go to the wrong polling place...
HEMMER: But you digress.
One other caveat in this, since 2000, Florida signed up 850,000 new voters on the registration rolls. In Ohio, they signed up 400,000. Who knows which way those people are going to go if they...
CAFFERTY: Or if their votes will even be counted.
HEMMER: Correct. Did I say welcome back, by the way?
CAFFERTY: Well, thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Yeah, it's great to have you.
CAFFERTY: I really missed this place...
HEMMER: Here is Andy right now. Good morning to you, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you again.
Let's check out a little business news. First of all, last week, not a good one on Wall Street. Dow down triple digits. Why? The price of oil keeps on going higher. It's heading toward $54 a barrel this morning. Also, drug stocks got killed with all that news about Merck and Chiron. This morning, the stock market is open; the bond market is closed. So, let's not forget that.
Let's talk football, because I did pretty well last week, as a matter of fact. So, I'm happy do this segment. You can see me at the top -- 9-4. I picked the Giants. I picked the 49ers. I picked the Steelers. They all won.
CAFFERTY: How are the Redskins doing?
SERWER: We're going to get to that in a second. Carol Costello's Lions -- oh, my, they even won.
How about the Redskins? I'm outing them right here, right now. The Redskins are terrible. I'm sorry, Coach Gibbs, but they are really not good.
COLLINS: I know.
SERWER: They lost to the only NFL team named after a poem, the Ravens. That's pathetic.
HEMMER: I'm just happy the Bengals didn't lose.
SERWER: Yeah, right.
CAFFERTY: They didn't play.
HEMMER: They had a bye week.
COLLINS: ... overall number now, because we were tied, and he had one more than me.
SERWER: Oh, the cume. I think I might be...
COLLINS: I think I'm in second.
SERWER: ... doing OK.
HEMMER: Well done. Congratulations.
SERWER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Good way to start your week.
SERWER: Yes.
COLLINS: Still to come now this morning. We have been remembering the life all morning long, so far, and enduring the legacy of Christopher Reeve. We're going to talk about that a little bit more coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: It is "90-Second Pop" for a Monday, and the gang is all here. Toure, CNN pop culture correspondent -- good morning, Toure.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for having me.
COLLINS: Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine. Sarah, hello.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
COLLINS: And BJ Sigesmund, staff editor for "US Weekly."
BJ SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Good morning.
COLLINS: BJ, nice to see you.
You guys, it's a tough morning today. I mean, kind of a big surprise over the weekend. We learned actually yesterday that Christopher Reeve passed away. And Toure, you know, he had just spent so much time working on stem-cell research, on his efforts and his spirit to sort of be really a role model for other people who are dealing with paralysis. What a loss.
TOURE: Yeah, and he's continued to work. He directed a movie that's coming out on A&E later this month called "The Brook Ellison Story" about a young woman who gets hit by a car and paralyzed from the neck down.
So, I mean, still out there trying to, you know, be a part of the Hollywood community and be a part of doing what he loved to do and such a great figure. I mean, I remember going to see "Superman" as a kid and just, like, wow! Like nobody else could have been "Superman."
BERNARD: That's what was so amazing about it, though, the fact that when you grew up with that movie, you didn't think anything in the world could happen to someone like that. And that just made it...
SIGESMUND: Also amazing, he was like 25 when he got that role. You know, he seemed like such an adult, didn't he? Such a grown adult, to think of him being only 25. BERNARD: And it was so amazing, he did -- he was virtually unknown. He had some soap opera work before that. But he beat out about 200 other people to get that role. And he did a lot of his own stunts. I mean, he was so athletic, and that was really one of the reasons why he got the part.
COLLINS: Also did that beautiful move...
SIGESMUND: "Somewhere in Time."
COLLINS: Yes.
SIGESMUND: Yeah. That was -- that's actually my favorite Christopher Reeve movie. It's with Jane Seymour. It's a very romantic, sad, sad story. But beautiful. And that actually was one of the films that he was able to do when he was on hiatus from being the Man of Steel. Because being the Man of Steel, I think it was a great role for him, but it was never probably the acting, you know, that he wanted to do.
TOURE: But there was so much even within that. I remember like "Superman" -- when he gives away his powers and he goes to the bar, but he still got the jaw. He still looks like Superman, and he gets beat up. And it's like, oh my God, that's so sad. Like, it's still Superman.
COLLINS: He will certainly be very, very missed, not only by his family, of course, but by all of us who watched him for all of those years.
Want to move on BJ to Sean Penn. Some pretty feisty words for the creators of "South Park," Trey Parker and Matt Stone and now the new "Team America," about the position on apathetic voters -- not happy. In fact, I want to share this. He wrote a letter, and I want to share what he wrote to them.
It says this: "I do mind when anybody who doesn't have a child doesn't have a child at war, is encouraging that there's 'no shame in not voting.' No one's ignorance, including a couple of hip cross- dressers, is an excuse. All best, and a sincere 'beep' you."
SIGESMUND: Here's what happened. Here's a little bit of the back story. The guys behind "South Park" have made a new movie called "Team America," which comes out this Friday, which is all done with puppets and which lampoons and satirizes both the war on terror and, more importantly, celebrities and celebrities standing up and speaking out against the war on terror.
So, last week in an interview with "Rolling Stone" they said -- they were talking about P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" campaign and saying that they think it's dangerous for democracy. That we shouldn't just be encouraging everyone to vote. What if you don't know anything about the issues? What if you don't know anything about anything? Should you then vote? They said this in "Rolling Stone."
So, Sean Penn, who is lampooned in the movie -- this is important to know -- wrote them this open letter saying how can you -- that is so irresponsible of you to say that people shouldn't vote. I'll take you to Fallujah. I'll take you to Baghdad. Let me show you what I've seen.
BERNARD: There were other celebrities lampooned in this movie, too, right? There was Alec Baldwin they made fun of, Tim Robbins.
TOURE: But this is not about the movie. This is about his anger about them suggesting it's OK to not vote. And what we're seeing here is the anger of the left this year. That people on the left are mad about what the president has done and the administration we have lived under and the Iraq war and just their anger I mean, under Clinton, you saw the right was angry, and now the left is just furious.
BERNARD: And what's going to happen unfortunately, even though he's trying to express himself and make a point, is I think that the "South Park" guys just have their first episode for the season, don't you think? I mean, they are just going to take that now and put that right into the show.
SIGESMUND: And also, most importantly before then, more people are going to go see the movie this weekend just to see what Sean Penn is so upset about on what this film...
BERNARD: That's right. Sean Penn just gave them a -- good publicity.
SIGESMUND: He did.
COLLINS: All right. Let's talk J. Lo now before we go, because what segment would be complete without talking about J. Lo. Kicked off another season of "Inside the Actor's Studio" last night featuring Jennifer Lopez. Did we know this was going to happen?
BERNARD: That's right.
COLLINS: Kind of a surprise?
BERNARD: Well, kind of a surprise. I mean, this is the forum where we're used to seeing Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, much more legendary actors. And so, Jennifer was very smart, actually, in doing this, because she got to really control it and make the whole thing about her career. Although Marc Anthony was in the audience, I have to say.
TOURE: But I mean, taking her this seriously is like -- it gives me a headache. It's like mind-numbingly difficult. I mean, it's like Jacques Derrida considering a Hello Kitty bag? It's like you cannot take her this seriously.
COLLINS: Fabulous analogy. Unfortunately, that is all the time that we have. Got to leave it there with the Hello Kitty bag.
Toure, Sarah, and BJ, you guys thanks so much as always.
Bill, back to you. HEMMER: Toure was just getting warmed up, too.
COLLINS: Yeah.
BERNARD: Yeah. We cut him off.
HEMMER: All right. In a moment here, with more pain at the pump, what vehicle is the biggest gas guzzler at all. Back in a moment, top of the hour here on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 11, 2004 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. Just about half past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING. We're going to be talking more about the death of Christopher Reeve coming up in just a few minutes.
We'll talk to one of the doctors that treated Christopher Reeve over the years, Dr. John McDonald, who can tell us about Reeve's spinal cord injury and the progress he had made over the years trying to recover. And when you look back at when it happened to where he was when he died, there had been some serious progress to talk about.
It's an inspiration to...
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A brave, tough fight to the very end, too.
Also back to politics. Jeff Greenfield stops by. After Friday night's debate, now three days away from the final debate in Arizona, we'll let you know on whether or not Jeff believes anything has shifted as a result of the first two. So, we'll get to Jeff in a moment here.
COLLINS: First, though, we want to check the stories now in the news, once again with Kelly Wallace this morning. Kelly, good morning. More prizes to be awarded, right?
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: The final Nobel Prize goes to men this time, Heidi, not women.
COLLINS: Oh, well.
WALLACE: American Finn Kydland and Edward Prescott were awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics. Kydland and Prescott won for their work with dynamic macroeconomics. The award comes with a $1.3 million prize.
In Egypt, international officials are trying to identify the remaining body following last week's bombings. The death toll from the attack rose to 34 over the weekend. Egyptian police have questioned some 600 people. They are now searching for a man believed to have purchased explosives in the area. It is not clear if he's connected to the bombings.
Here in the United States, investigators in Arkansas are trying to find out why a tour bus overturned. At least 14 people were killed, more than a dozen others were injured in the Saturday morning accident. Investigators will use computer models to reconstruct what happened. Authorities say they are trying to find out if the driver fell asleep.
And federal authorities believe Washington State's ferry system could be a terror target. "The Seattle Times" reports that groups of men have been seen videotaping ferry operations. One of the men is tied to a federal investigation, prompting officials to say the system is under terrorist surveillance. The state's ferry system is the nation's largest. It started using tighter security checks this weekend.
That gets you caught up. Now back to Bill and Heidi.
HEMMER: All right, Kelly, thanks.
COLLINS: Actor Christopher Reeve died yesterday from heart failure in a suburban New York City hospital. Reeve went into cardiac arrest and then into a coma on Saturday. He was 52 years old.
It's been nine years since a horse riding accident left the popular actor paralyzed from the neck down. But Reeve never gave up hope that he would one day be able to walk again. He spoke with CNN's Larry King last summer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Do you still think you will walk again?
CHRISTOPHER REEVE, ACTOR/ACTIVIST: I certainly have the motto that nothing is impossible. I think the question of whether I will walk is going to depend on politics. It's going to depend on collaborations between scientists around the world. It'll depend on economics -- a lot of factors that I knew very little about when I was injured eight years ago.
And I think my purpose when I was 42 in saying that I would walk by the time I was 50 was to be provocative, to be a voice saying why can't we do this? Don't tell me the reasons why not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Dr. John McDonald is a neurologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, and Christopher Reeve's doctor for five years. He is joining me now live this morning. Doctor, good morning to you.
Let me ask you if you could explain in what capacity you treated Christopher Reeve, and whether or not you were surprised by this news this morning?
DR. JOHN MCDONALD, NEUROLOGIST, WASHINGTON UNIV.: Yeah, I began to treat Chris in 1999 and really have continued that up until today, really designing his neuro-rehabilitative recovery program. And of course, we were very surprised, and our hearts go out to his family and his loved ones. COLLINS: As well for us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
We know that he suffered what was quite common to people who deal with paralysis, something called a pressure wound. Can you describe a little bit about what that was, and then how it ultimately led to a heart failure?
MCDONALD: Yeah, I mean, I think the details of his death aren't that critical. What we should really point to is what he really, you know, brought to light is that we really can accomplish something and provide recovery or function, even long after an injury. And he himself was able to demonstrate that. In the end, he was able to move most of his limbs and recovered sensation throughout his entire body, something that wasn't thought to be possible.
But despite that, he still was vulnerable to the same thing everyone who is gravitationally challenged comes across, which is pressure wounds that can develop within minutes. And that, of course, can lead to infections and sepsis and, in this case, death.
COLLINS: We were just looking at some incredible video of some of the rehabilitation that he had been doing for so long. Can you sort of generalize then about the progress that he made? Was this remarkable? Was this expected? I mean, he worked so very hard every single day to make some of that progress.
MCDONALD: Yeah, Chris was just an amazing individual and I think so dedicated to his rehabilitation. And as a result, he's changed not only his life and recovery, but I think everyone else with spinal cord injury.
He really had almost no recovery from his injury in the first three years after his injury, which there's really no chance for further recovery after that. But then went on to go from no movement or sensation below the neck from years five through eight to being able to recover sensation throughout his entire body and be able to move most of his limbs by year eight after his injury.
So, something totally unprecedented before, demonstrating that it is possible to recover function and substantial function even with catastrophic neurologic injuries.
COLLINS: It is an incredible fight that he did put up, and raised so very much money, too, for the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, research grants that I'm sure he will very desperately want that research to continue.
Doctor, we appreciate your time this morning. John McDonald, a neurologist who worked with Christopher Reeve. Thank you again.
MCDONALD: Thank you.
HEMMER: Twenty-four minutes now before the hour, and only 22 days before the presidential election. Both candidates now getting ready for the final debate Wednesday night, Tempe, Arizona. President Bush spending part of Saturday and Sunday at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, getting ready for the showdown. He'll campaign in Colorado today.
Democratic challenger John Kerry spends time in New Mexico today after campaigning in Florida again yesterday, two swing states still up for grabs.
And now, only three days from the final debate, our senior analyst Jeff Greenfield checks in now on a Monday morning. Good morning to you.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Good morning.
HEMMER: As best you can, give us a sense about where you think this campaign stands today?
GREENFIELD: Well,we've had about six weeks when President Bush appeared to be opening a measurable lead. And the numbers now suggest, once, again a close national race. You want to poll that (INAUDIBLE) you want one that shows Kerry four points ahead, well we've got them.
But it is, as we all know, the state electoral map that gives you a sharper picture of well you might want to own the Maalox concession at both campaigns, because both of them have serious problems in states they have to win.
Now first, look at some states that Al Gore won back in 2000 and that Kerry more or less has to win. Now, he has opened up the lead in Pennsylvania. That's the one Bush most wants to take away. He's got a small lead in Michigan.
But in three Midwestern states -- Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin -- with a total of 27 electoral votes, that's like Florida, Kerry is tied in the first two and a little behind in Wisconsin. And he is struggling in New Mexico. He won that one by I think 366 votes last time.
All right, what about Bush? Well, he appears to have a small lead in Florida. Bill, you remember Florida. But in Ohio, Kerry appears to have pulled into a tie. Let's all recite this now: No Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio.
Bush appears to have fallen behind in New Hampshire, and he has dangerously small leads in West Virginia, Nevada, and perhaps Colorado. Now, keep in mind, Kerry needs to take 10 electoral votes away from Bush's 2000 states to win.
HEMMER: Coming off of Friday night, did this campaign change much after debate number two?
GREENFIELD: I think for me what it showed really dramatically was how different the two campaign strategies are. President Bush's campaign sees this as a mobilization election, turn out your people. So, his tough stance, his approach -- some people thought he was shouting -- I think it was about reminding voters that he's the commander in chief in wartime. Also his answer on abortion, flat out: no tax dollars and a ban on partial-birth abortions. That goes right to his socially conservative base.
Kerry's goal, by contrast, is to talk to the middle. And that's why the stem-cell research argument is aimed right at those voters -- you know, people who might like Bush on one issue, but really want to see stem-cell research developed. Also, importing cheaper drugs from Canada and arguing not about the morality about Iraq, but its execution. It was bad judgment.
We also have to remind ourselves again how often the consensus wisdom about these debates is wrong. The first debate was on foreign policy. Bush wanted it; it helped Kerry. Domestic issues, supposedly Kerry's strength -- remember, Bill, domestic issues also mean social issues, guns, gay marriage, faith in American life -- and that's where Bush can play to his base.
HEMMER: All right. Our focus group Friday night in Columbus, Ohio, 24 people -- 11 thought Bush won, 11 thought Kerry won, and two said it was a tie. Does it get any closer than that?
GREENFIELD: Well, it, you know, I would have thought four years ago that it can't get closer than coming down to 537 votes. But you know, but we'll see.
HEMMER: Let me take you to a "New York Times" magazine article over the weekend. John Kerry said this, "We have to get back to the place we were where terrorists are not the focus our lives, but they're a nuisance. As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution, we're never going to end illegal gambling, but we're going to reduce it."
Does this become a nuisance of sorts for John Kerry?
GREENFIELD: You know, I find that a little hard to think that this is going to have the impact of, say, the Swift Boat Veterans, because it's -- if he had said I think terrorism is just like gambling and prostitution, first of all, no candidate is that brain dead to have said that. And he didn't. He said, you know, if we really work at this right, we can get it into a measurable box.
But you know, in a campaign three weeks to go, the other -- any campaign will seize on anything the other guy has said. The way you mentioned to Marc Racicot that Bush once said we can't win this war, he didn't exactly mean that either. So, I think everybody has to take some decaf about this.
And may I leave you with one small thought?
HEMMER: You may.
GREENFIELD: I love this one. If John Kerry takes Nevada and New Hampshire away from Bush and everything else remains the same, do you know what we have? You ask could it get any closer.
HEMMER: Tell me.
GREENFIELD: We have an electoral tie: 269, 269. The election is thrown into the House for president and the Senate for vice president. So, you may have to have a hotel room in Washington, D.C. not Columbus, Ohio.
HEMMER: Perhaps. It depends on what happens in Colorado if that ballot issue goes through.
GREENFIELD: We'll get to that another time.
HEMMER: They split the electoral votes.
GREENFIELD: We'll get to that -- believe me, we'll cover that this week. That's another one.
HEMMER: OK. Wednesday night, another reminder, our coverage begins at 7:00 in primetime -- Tempe, Arizona. The debate begins here at 9:00 here on CNN.
Back across the room and Heidi with more now -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Want to check on the weather once again. Chad Myers at the CNN Center with the very latest on the weather this morning. Got some flooding out in the Louisiana area, I know that much, right, Chad?
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Thank you, Chad.
In a moment here, Wall Street eying these record oil prices again. How will that affect the markets? Get a preview in a moment on that.
COLLINS: And the coming election has former Hollywood bad boy Sean Penn furious at the creators of "South Park" and the new "Team America." "90-Second Pop" has a scoop on that, coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Want to check in with Jack now and the "Question of the Day" once again. Good morning to you.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Heidi. Thanks.
Four years after the Florida recount disaster, we still haven't managed to fix the process by which we elect a president in this country. The fly in this year's ointment is something called provisional ballots. Every state must provide them to voters if they can't be found on the registration lists, if they show up at the wrong polling place, or if they don't have proper identification.
You have you then give them a provisional ballot. The votes will be cast on those. And then those ballots will be held separately from the others until the identities can be confirmed. We ought to be able to do that in, what, nine months, maybe a year?
If you don't know where you're supposed to vote and you're not on the registration list and you don't have any ID, you shouldn't be allowed to participate in the democratic process because you're too dumb to go to the thing and get -- I mean, just stay home. It's problematic for the rest of us who want to get this thing over with.
But I digress. We lost between one-and-a-half and three million votes in the last election election. This could be worse. There are challenges in five different states already. I mean, if you don't have any ID -- well...
HEMMER: Yeah.
CAFFERTY: Natalie in Mt. Lookout, West Virginia: "I believe the only way to have honest elections is with a piece of paper and an ink pen. The voter puts an "X" in the box next to the name of the candidate they want to vote for. I don't care about the cost. I don't care about the effort or time it takes. I care about accuracy and accountability."
Linda in Jacksonville: "What great embarrassment we will all feel if this election is a failure because we can't tally the votes correctly. The whole world is looking at us. Our men and women are dying in Iraq so they will have the freedoms to vote as we do. We must do this right."
Kim in Largo, Florida: "Does it matter if the vote is accurate? The 2000 vote was accurate, but Gore's not in the White House. Bush was never elected by the popular vote. The only votes that seem to matter are the electoral college." That's right, Kim. That would be the way this system is set up. We do have an electoral college, and that's how it works here.
You'd think I wouldn't be this cranky after having a week off.
Chris in Princeton, New Jersey: "I'm not confident every vote will be counted in this election. We will be voting on electronic machines in New Jersey that do not create a receipt or a back-up ballot, making a manual recount impossible." Hey, it's New Jersey.
And Dewey in Columbus, Ohio: "You're kidding, right? We know how to do this right. We have for a long time. But in the U.S., it's always been the case of the process itself is political and therefore vulnerable to mistakes and manipulations. Before most of you were born I studied gerrymandering in school. Didn't you?"
That's -- if you don't have any ID and you go to the wrong polling place...
HEMMER: But you digress.
One other caveat in this, since 2000, Florida signed up 850,000 new voters on the registration rolls. In Ohio, they signed up 400,000. Who knows which way those people are going to go if they...
CAFFERTY: Or if their votes will even be counted.
HEMMER: Correct. Did I say welcome back, by the way?
CAFFERTY: Well, thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Yeah, it's great to have you.
CAFFERTY: I really missed this place...
HEMMER: Here is Andy right now. Good morning to you, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you again.
Let's check out a little business news. First of all, last week, not a good one on Wall Street. Dow down triple digits. Why? The price of oil keeps on going higher. It's heading toward $54 a barrel this morning. Also, drug stocks got killed with all that news about Merck and Chiron. This morning, the stock market is open; the bond market is closed. So, let's not forget that.
Let's talk football, because I did pretty well last week, as a matter of fact. So, I'm happy do this segment. You can see me at the top -- 9-4. I picked the Giants. I picked the 49ers. I picked the Steelers. They all won.
CAFFERTY: How are the Redskins doing?
SERWER: We're going to get to that in a second. Carol Costello's Lions -- oh, my, they even won.
How about the Redskins? I'm outing them right here, right now. The Redskins are terrible. I'm sorry, Coach Gibbs, but they are really not good.
COLLINS: I know.
SERWER: They lost to the only NFL team named after a poem, the Ravens. That's pathetic.
HEMMER: I'm just happy the Bengals didn't lose.
SERWER: Yeah, right.
CAFFERTY: They didn't play.
HEMMER: They had a bye week.
COLLINS: ... overall number now, because we were tied, and he had one more than me.
SERWER: Oh, the cume. I think I might be...
COLLINS: I think I'm in second.
SERWER: ... doing OK.
HEMMER: Well done. Congratulations.
SERWER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Good way to start your week.
SERWER: Yes.
COLLINS: Still to come now this morning. We have been remembering the life all morning long, so far, and enduring the legacy of Christopher Reeve. We're going to talk about that a little bit more coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: It is "90-Second Pop" for a Monday, and the gang is all here. Toure, CNN pop culture correspondent -- good morning, Toure.
TOURE, CNN POP CULTURE CORRESPONDENT: Thanks for having me.
COLLINS: Sarah Bernard, contributing editor for "New York" magazine. Sarah, hello.
SARAH BERNARD, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: Good morning.
COLLINS: And BJ Sigesmund, staff editor for "US Weekly."
BJ SIGESMUND, STAFF EDITOR, "US WEEKLY": Good morning.
COLLINS: BJ, nice to see you.
You guys, it's a tough morning today. I mean, kind of a big surprise over the weekend. We learned actually yesterday that Christopher Reeve passed away. And Toure, you know, he had just spent so much time working on stem-cell research, on his efforts and his spirit to sort of be really a role model for other people who are dealing with paralysis. What a loss.
TOURE: Yeah, and he's continued to work. He directed a movie that's coming out on A&E later this month called "The Brook Ellison Story" about a young woman who gets hit by a car and paralyzed from the neck down.
So, I mean, still out there trying to, you know, be a part of the Hollywood community and be a part of doing what he loved to do and such a great figure. I mean, I remember going to see "Superman" as a kid and just, like, wow! Like nobody else could have been "Superman."
BERNARD: That's what was so amazing about it, though, the fact that when you grew up with that movie, you didn't think anything in the world could happen to someone like that. And that just made it...
SIGESMUND: Also amazing, he was like 25 when he got that role. You know, he seemed like such an adult, didn't he? Such a grown adult, to think of him being only 25. BERNARD: And it was so amazing, he did -- he was virtually unknown. He had some soap opera work before that. But he beat out about 200 other people to get that role. And he did a lot of his own stunts. I mean, he was so athletic, and that was really one of the reasons why he got the part.
COLLINS: Also did that beautiful move...
SIGESMUND: "Somewhere in Time."
COLLINS: Yes.
SIGESMUND: Yeah. That was -- that's actually my favorite Christopher Reeve movie. It's with Jane Seymour. It's a very romantic, sad, sad story. But beautiful. And that actually was one of the films that he was able to do when he was on hiatus from being the Man of Steel. Because being the Man of Steel, I think it was a great role for him, but it was never probably the acting, you know, that he wanted to do.
TOURE: But there was so much even within that. I remember like "Superman" -- when he gives away his powers and he goes to the bar, but he still got the jaw. He still looks like Superman, and he gets beat up. And it's like, oh my God, that's so sad. Like, it's still Superman.
COLLINS: He will certainly be very, very missed, not only by his family, of course, but by all of us who watched him for all of those years.
Want to move on BJ to Sean Penn. Some pretty feisty words for the creators of "South Park," Trey Parker and Matt Stone and now the new "Team America," about the position on apathetic voters -- not happy. In fact, I want to share this. He wrote a letter, and I want to share what he wrote to them.
It says this: "I do mind when anybody who doesn't have a child doesn't have a child at war, is encouraging that there's 'no shame in not voting.' No one's ignorance, including a couple of hip cross- dressers, is an excuse. All best, and a sincere 'beep' you."
SIGESMUND: Here's what happened. Here's a little bit of the back story. The guys behind "South Park" have made a new movie called "Team America," which comes out this Friday, which is all done with puppets and which lampoons and satirizes both the war on terror and, more importantly, celebrities and celebrities standing up and speaking out against the war on terror.
So, last week in an interview with "Rolling Stone" they said -- they were talking about P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" campaign and saying that they think it's dangerous for democracy. That we shouldn't just be encouraging everyone to vote. What if you don't know anything about the issues? What if you don't know anything about anything? Should you then vote? They said this in "Rolling Stone."
So, Sean Penn, who is lampooned in the movie -- this is important to know -- wrote them this open letter saying how can you -- that is so irresponsible of you to say that people shouldn't vote. I'll take you to Fallujah. I'll take you to Baghdad. Let me show you what I've seen.
BERNARD: There were other celebrities lampooned in this movie, too, right? There was Alec Baldwin they made fun of, Tim Robbins.
TOURE: But this is not about the movie. This is about his anger about them suggesting it's OK to not vote. And what we're seeing here is the anger of the left this year. That people on the left are mad about what the president has done and the administration we have lived under and the Iraq war and just their anger I mean, under Clinton, you saw the right was angry, and now the left is just furious.
BERNARD: And what's going to happen unfortunately, even though he's trying to express himself and make a point, is I think that the "South Park" guys just have their first episode for the season, don't you think? I mean, they are just going to take that now and put that right into the show.
SIGESMUND: And also, most importantly before then, more people are going to go see the movie this weekend just to see what Sean Penn is so upset about on what this film...
BERNARD: That's right. Sean Penn just gave them a -- good publicity.
SIGESMUND: He did.
COLLINS: All right. Let's talk J. Lo now before we go, because what segment would be complete without talking about J. Lo. Kicked off another season of "Inside the Actor's Studio" last night featuring Jennifer Lopez. Did we know this was going to happen?
BERNARD: That's right.
COLLINS: Kind of a surprise?
BERNARD: Well, kind of a surprise. I mean, this is the forum where we're used to seeing Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, much more legendary actors. And so, Jennifer was very smart, actually, in doing this, because she got to really control it and make the whole thing about her career. Although Marc Anthony was in the audience, I have to say.
TOURE: But I mean, taking her this seriously is like -- it gives me a headache. It's like mind-numbingly difficult. I mean, it's like Jacques Derrida considering a Hello Kitty bag? It's like you cannot take her this seriously.
COLLINS: Fabulous analogy. Unfortunately, that is all the time that we have. Got to leave it there with the Hello Kitty bag.
Toure, Sarah, and BJ, you guys thanks so much as always.
Bill, back to you. HEMMER: Toure was just getting warmed up, too.
COLLINS: Yeah.
BERNARD: Yeah. We cut him off.
HEMMER: All right. In a moment here, with more pain at the pump, what vehicle is the biggest gas guzzler at all. Back in a moment, top of the hour here on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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