Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
President Bush and Senator Kerry Jousted Face to Face for the Last Time
Aired October 14, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, breaking news to tell you about. Smoke rising from near the green zone in Baghdad. That is happening right now. It follows reports of two loud blasts coming from the area. Those blasts occurred, oh, just about 15 minutes ago. The U.S. military has no immediate word on the explosions, but we are following the story. Brent Sadler will join us live shortly.
The first poll after last night's final presidential debate gives John Kerry the nod over George W. Bush. A CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll finds 52 percent of 511 respondents say Kerry won; 39 percent give Bush the victory. We're going to take a closer look at those numbers and review the candidates' comments just ahead on DAYBREAK.
A drive-by shooting in Baghdad early today leaves a journalist dead. The woman worked for a Kurdish-owned television station. A judge was also killed nearby about the same time.
And an important hearing on the Michael Jackson child molestation case is set for today. The defense wants prosecutors to turn over evidence, including the names of their confidential informants.
To the Weather Center now and Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: There are now fewer than 20 days until the election. Well, let's be exact, 19 days until the election. The candidates can now see the finish line. President Bush and Senator Kerry jousted face-to-face for the last time, focusing on domestic issues and over foreign policy.
So who won? We've got numbers for you. A CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll taken right after the debate showed that Senator Kerry comes out on top.
Now for just the facts, ma'am. The fact check has become as much a part of the post-debate review as the spin. Just how closely did what the candidates say line up with reality?
Our Jeanne Meserve takes the spin out. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For this one night, at least, Tempe, Arizona was the home of the whopper. Both candidates got facts wrong.
BUSH: I don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. That's kind of one of those exaggerations.
MESERVE: Well, he said something awfully close in March of 2002.
BUSH: I repeat what I said, I truly am not that concerned about him.
MESERVE: But Kerry got things wrong, too.
KERRY: Let me just share something. This president is the first president ever, I think, not to meet with the NAACP. This is a president who hasn't meet with the Black Congressional Caucus.
MESERVE: It is true that Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover not to meet with the NAACP. But he has met with the Congressional Black Caucus at least twice, once last February.
BUSH: He voted to increase taxes 98 times.
MESERVE: But an independent analysis says that counts multiple votes on the same bill.
KERRY: Five hundred thousand kids lost after school programs because of your budget.
MESERVE: Wrong. Bush did propose cutting $400 million in after school funding in his 2004 budget, but Congress refused to go along. No children lost their program.
BUSH: He's proposed $2.2 trillion of new spending and yet...
MESERVE: Bush was using an old figure from the conservative American Enterprise Institute. An analysis by the non-partisan Concord Coalition says Kerry's proposals will cost $1.3 trillion. That group put the very same price tag on the proposals of George W. Bush.
KERRY: Five million Americans have lost their health insurance in this country.
MESERVE: Well, the number of uninsured has gone up, but Kerry is incorrect to suggest that all those people lost their health care coverage. In previous debates, Kerry repeatedly got one fact wrong.
KERRY: And so today, we are 90 percent of the casualties and 90 percent of the cost, $200 billion. We could have saved $200 billion and an invasion of Iraq.
MESERVE: Wednesday night, he put it differently. KERRY: And America now is paying already $120 billion, up to $200 billion before we're finished.
MESERVE: He got it right, finally.
Jean Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: So, Bush and Kerry both stand accused of using some fuzzy math. But they both scored points.
CNN Radio's Dick Uliano is in Tempe, Arizona, where he had a pretty good seat -- good morning, Dick.
DICK ULIANO, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
COSTELLO: So, tell us, how do you think it went?
ULIANO: Well, I thought that it was a scrappy debate, not unlike the past two. It seems that both these candidates really can defend their positions vociferously, with great feistiness. I mean they really went toe to toe. If people wanted a real good exchange of views between the two leading candidates for the presidency, I think they were very well served by this debate last night and the past two.
COSTELLO: You know, I've been reading some of the editorials in newspapers across the country this morning and many say this debate was just all over the place, it really wasn't like on point per se. They'd start talking out about one subject and then they'd go to the other suddenly and you didn't know where -- what they were talking about.
ULIANO: I think, yes. I think that that's right. I think that -- and that was really in the hands of moderator Bob Schieffer, of CBS News. He said at the beginning he's the one who chose the questions. His guidance was to pick questions with domestic issues in mind and he came up with some 18 or 19 different questions. And a good point in that, I think, is, for example, they spent a good deal of time talking about religious faith and it came up in two different questions, with Kerry talking about his Catholic roots and the president talking about how much he likes to pray.
COSTELLO: You know, the other thing I found interesting in speaking about Bob Schieffer, who, you know, who am I to criticize Bob Schieffer, but the very first question dealt with national security. And this debate was supposed to center on domestic issues.
ULIANO: I think that's a point well taken. Yes, because the first one zeroed in on national security and yet the first one out of the box was a similar question about being safe and secure in the United States. And, you know, how about the last question? Tell us about your wives and daughters. That was the final question and it kind of gave Kerry sort of the funniest line of the night when he said we all married up. In my case, I guess I did the most. COSTELLO: I know both candidates looked really human when they were talking about their wives, didn't they?
Did you get a chance to talk to people who watched the debate? And then, did you get a chance to talk to those same people after?
ULIANO: Yes. I talked to a few people who saw the debate and the people that I spoke with liked what they saw. These were people, by the way, for the most part, who had a candidate in mind, were supporters of either President Bush or Senator Kerry going in. And coming out they felt that what their candidate said simply affirmed their position.
There was one woman I talked to from Phoenix, Arizona, a woman in public relations, by the way, who is an undecided voter, undecided going in. And, Carol, after 90 minutes of debate and watching two previous debates, she's still undecided and not sure who's she's going to vote for. When will she make up her mind? She said probably on election day.
COSTELLO: Yes, November 2.
Dick Uliano reporting live from Tempe, Arizona.
Thanks very much, Dick.
Both candidates, as Dick said, are competing for those undecided voters in the all important swing states. One of those states is Ohio, where they have 20 electoral votes up for grabs.
Bill Hemmer is in Columbus, Ohio, where he used a low tech way to gauge voter preference after the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Who in 20 days will vote for President Bush? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Now, for Senator Kerry, who will vote for John Kerry on November 2? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.
Now, who's undecided still at this point? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven still undecided.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: A statistical dead heat, just like the Gallup poll.
Bill will be back later in the show with a more scientific approach on voter attitudes.
Let's talk more about that breaking news out of Baghdad this morning.
We talked about those two loud explosions that Brent Sadler heard as he was doing his live shot in the 5:00 hour of DAYBREAK. He has a little more information to impart. These are live pictures of the aftermath of those explosions -- Brent, what more can you tell us?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.
We can confirm that Iraqi police say that this attack was inside the green zone. That's the heavily fortified area home to the U.S. and British embassies, as well as many of Iraq's interim government officials.
Now, two blasts -- I heard them while I was on air -- about 30 minutes ago, two powerful explosions from the direction of the green zone, as I say. And then we saw, and these pictures, I hope, of recordings of about 20 minutes ago of heavy plumes of smoke spiraling from a blast or blast sites. And we still do not have any information of what was hit inside the green zone. We do not know if it was explosives detonated inside the green zone or whether or not some rocket or mortar attack happened about 20 minutes, half an hour ago.
So still very sketchy on the immediate aftermath of that. All we can confirm, two loud blasts, a lot of smoke, at least one fire blazing in the direction of the green zone, inside the green zone, we can now confirm, but no reports at this stage of any casualties.
I might like to add here that we're just on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims. And this time, about this time last year, at the start of Ramadan, there was a serious escalation in attacks against U.S. forces at that time. And there has been a lot of word on the streets that the Ramadan period, starting Friday, could well usher in another escalation in insurgent attacks against U.S. forces, Iraqi security forces and Iraqi police.
That may be a background to what we're seeing now, it may not. But certainly a lot of concern among Iraqi society that Ramadan may see an upsurge, an even greater upsurge in violence at the same time as we're seeing a daily increase in offensive actions by the U.S.- backed Iraqi security forces against insurgent strongholds in Ramadi, north of the capital; in Ba'qubah; and not least in that key rebel stronghold of Falluja, where Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has issued, just within the past 24 hours, Carol, an ultimatum that Falluja has to hand over the most wanted terror suspect in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, or face a renewed military offensive against Falluja -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
You know, the other thing, would you say, is it fair to say -- we know that there has been a lot of violence in Sadr City, which is really a slum of Baghdad. But within the Baghdad proper, have attacks like this increased in recent months?
SADLER: They spike, Carol. But if you look at the overall graph line, there has been an escalation in terms of acts of violence nationwide. We don't see all of them, of course. We just see what we get reports of and what we get video of. But certainly in the month that I've been here so far, compared to when I was here three months ago, I have certainly heard with my own ears and seen with my own eyes more bumps in the night, more explosions during the day time. And, you know, this is not to be unexpected as far as U.S. military commanders are concerned. This is a critical period, a potential turning point for the future of Iraq in this three month, four month period to the run-up of elections at the end of January.
COSTELLO: Well, you stay safe.
Brent Sadler reporting live for us from Baghdad this morning.
Terrorism did play a small part in the debate last night. But the issue of enemy combatants did not come up. We want to update you, though, on an accused enemy combatant, Yaser Hamdi. This morning, he is talking. In an exclusive interview, Hamdi told CNN producer Rida Said he's not bitter, but he wishes the wheels of justice had turned a bit faster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YASER HAMDI, FORMER DETAINEE: I really want to say for the people that, you know, I was really hoping that my case would be solved earlier than that. I was hoping that the people and the American government will understand and take my case more seriously. And I was hoping that it will go more faster in the court system. And I was hoping to reach the Supreme Court faster and they would look at my case, because I believe that I was innocent and I was locked down for the wrong reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Hamdi was captured in Afghanistan three years ago and held in jail in the United States until this week, when he was released in Saudi Arabia.
Coming up on DAYBREAK, surgeries to help you lose weight -- are the risks worth the outcomes, though?
And later, Tommy goes back to school. That's Tommy Lee, as in Pamela Lee's ex-husband and Motley Crue's ex-drummer. Wait until you hear what the other students think of the aging rocker turned reality star. Oh, yes, and he's a marching band member, too, for the University of Nebraska.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time now for a little business buzz.
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Dell unveils new gadgets, hoping to take a bite out of Apple's iPod. Is that possible, Carrie Lee?
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dell certainly hopes so, Carol. They're rolling out what's called the Dell Pocket D.J. It weighs a little bit more than the Apple iPod Mini, at 4.4 ounces. But it has more storage, 5 gigabytes versus Apple Mini iPod's four, and it costs less, $50 cheaper; $199 for the Dell product versus about $249 for the Apple. Of course, Dell can offer lower price points because consumers buy directly from the company rather than going through retail stores. So it's a streamlined process.
Also, Dell is rolling out its first photo printer, which can print 4x6 photos, as well as smaller photos, and that's going to challenge Hewlett Packard, Epson and Canon. And Dell is offering a new plasma flat screen television, complimenting its original flat screen television, or an existing one that uses LCD display.
So all of these products will be shipping by mid-November. It's really going to be the iPod Mini, though, that's going to be the interesting one to watch, because remember earlier this week, Virgin Group rolled out its Virgin player. So more and more of these portable music players hitting the market.
By the way, though, Apple iPod is doing very well. Part of the reason, a big part of the reason for Apple's success in the recent quarter. The stock did well yesterday, during the regular session, up another 5 1/2 percent after hours, after handily beating the Wall Street estimate on profits. Profits more than doubling in the year ago period, in large part, Carol, because of those iPod products. So Apple a stock to watch today.
COSTELLO: It seems everybody has one.
LEE: Yes.
COSTELLO: Thank you.
Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq market site.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It is 6:18 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
Just minutes ago, the heavily fortified green zone in Baghdad was rocked by two explosions, the Iraqi government offices as well as the U.S. Embassy inside that green zone. We'll bring you more on this breaking story as we get it.
The tour bus involved in a fatal accident over the weekend in Arkansas never should have been on the road. That's the finding of a Transportation Safety Board investigation. Fourteen people died in that crash.
In money news, the price of oil is still bubbling upward. The latest hike was more than a dollar a barrel. Worries over tight heating supplies this winter are driving prices up.
In culture, Starbucks is expanding its custom music concept. The coffee giant will put on demand CD burning stations in 45 outlets in Seattle and Austin next month. The first Starbucks Hear Music coffeehouse opened in Santa Monica, California earlier this year.
In sports, another post-season win for the Yankees. The Yanks beat the Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez 3-1, to take a 2-0 lead in the American League championship series. Game three is Friday in Boston and St. Louis won over Houston -- Chad.
MYERS: And the game is in St. Louis tonight, and there could be a couple of showers maybe slowing that game down. But it does not look like a rainout.
COSTELLO: Good.
MYERS: I say that, you know, I say that and all of a sudden it rains for three straight hours. But certainly there will be showers in suspected terrorists today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
Do you need a good reason to consider weight loss surgery? How about this laundry list of ailments?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. FREDERICK FINELLI, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER: Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep apnea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Coming up, the benefits of some radical surgeries which aren't considered so radical anymore.
You're watching DAYBREAK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTER UPDEGRAVE, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": Most people these days are naturally going to incur some kind of a debt, maybe to buy a car or to buy a house, credit cards, that sort of thing. But by managing it a little bit better, we can really reduce the amount that we pay.
For example, with credit cards, the average rate is somewhere around 18 percent. But there are plenty of cards out there that charge half that, or even less. And if you can manage to use one of those cards and transfer your balance to one of those kind of cards, you can save some decent money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Obese people who undergo radical stomach surgery can shed far more than unwanted pounds. A new study finds many can put an end to the number of fat related ailments.
CNN medical correspondent Christy Feig has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maria Dipcheck (ph) says she tried every diet out there to lose weight. By the time she topped the scale at 350 pounds, the excess weight was even causing sleep apnea.
MARIA DIPCHECK: I would literally wake up in the middle of the night just gasping for breath.
FEIG: She finally opted for surgery to rearrange the intestines so her body absorbed less food. In addition to losing 185 pounds, her sleep apnea disappeared.
Now, a new study in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" says that's one of several added benefits.
FINELLI: It works really well for reducing the incidence of diseases, and specifically the most common diseases that occur with obesity. These are diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep apnea.
FEIG: Researchers say the more than 22,000 people in the study lost an average of 61 percent of their excess weight. Diabetes was eliminated in nearly 77 percent of those with the disease. High blood pressure in nearly 62 percent. Cholesterol levels improved in at least 70 percent. And sleep apnea disappeared in nearly 86 percent of those with that ailment.
All four conditions are strongly linked to obesity and can be deadly.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FEIG: Now, it's important to point out that this study was funded by Johnson & Johnson, maker of surgical equipment, including staplers used in obesity surgery. But many of the doctors that we talked to who perform this surgery and weren't involved in the study say they've seen exactly the same results in their patients -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Christy Feig, thanks.
I want to ask you one more thing before you go.
You know, we're hearing about this VeriChip. It stores medical information and it's actually implanted into a patient's body.
Tell us more about that.
FEIG: Absolutely. It's raising all kinds of controversy. It was just approved by the FDA yesterday. People on both sides of this debate feel very strongly. There are health sides to it. Many people criticize our health system because of the archaic medical records system we have that's mostly on paper. They say we need to go electronic. This would take us there.
But certainly there's a lot of personal information in your medical records that this would also give a lot of people access to. So those privacy advocates want you to, you know, have some protection up front of some sort, maybe only have what you're allergic to, what drugs you're allergic to or what your blood type is, so if you were in a car wreck and you went to the emergency room and you were unconscious, they could find out that kind of information.
But they're very concerned that people are going to have access to way too much of your personal information.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more about this in the months to come.
Christy Feig live in Washington this morning.
Thank you.
Lynne Cheney says one comment in last night's debate crossed the line. We'll tell you what John Kerry said that had the vice president's wife, ooh, she was made.
And we'll take you back to Baghdad's green zone to bring you more details on the latest round of explosions in the city.
This is DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
We're going to break format right now because we do have breaking news out of Baghdad. We want to take you there now.
Two loud explosions were heard, oh, about an hour ago. Brent Sadler was standing doing a live shot during the time. You heard those explosions behind you.
Brent -- what more can you tell us now?
SADLER: Yes, good morning, Carol.
Two powerful explosions within the past hour. Pretty soon afterwards, we were able to confirm that it was actually inside the green zone. That's the heavily fortified part of central Baghdad that's home to the U.S. Embassy, to the British embassy and many, many of Iraq's interim government officials.
Now, it's still too early to say what caused these very loud explosions, resulting in plumes of smoke coming out of the green zone. But CNN has just spoken to a doctor inside the Ebinseiner Hospital (ph), that is inside the green zone. And that doctor reports many casualties, "many casualties," including soldiers and civilians. That's the latest information we get. We've got as far as who might have been caught in these two blasts. What the target was, whether it was explosions, explosives placed on the ground, whether it was a rocket attack, mortars, we still don't know at this stage.
What I can confirm, two powerful blasts within less than a minute of each other, I would guess, at the time, about an hour ago, inside the green zone, resulting in at least one fire, smoke billowing from a blast or blast sites and now confirmation of many casualties, according to a doctor inside the Ebinseiner Hospital inside the green zone, including soldiers and civilians -- Carol.
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 14, 2004 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news, breaking news to tell you about. Smoke rising from near the green zone in Baghdad. That is happening right now. It follows reports of two loud blasts coming from the area. Those blasts occurred, oh, just about 15 minutes ago. The U.S. military has no immediate word on the explosions, but we are following the story. Brent Sadler will join us live shortly.
The first poll after last night's final presidential debate gives John Kerry the nod over George W. Bush. A CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll finds 52 percent of 511 respondents say Kerry won; 39 percent give Bush the victory. We're going to take a closer look at those numbers and review the candidates' comments just ahead on DAYBREAK.
A drive-by shooting in Baghdad early today leaves a journalist dead. The woman worked for a Kurdish-owned television station. A judge was also killed nearby about the same time.
And an important hearing on the Michael Jackson child molestation case is set for today. The defense wants prosecutors to turn over evidence, including the names of their confidential informants.
To the Weather Center now and Chad -- good morning.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: There are now fewer than 20 days until the election. Well, let's be exact, 19 days until the election. The candidates can now see the finish line. President Bush and Senator Kerry jousted face-to-face for the last time, focusing on domestic issues and over foreign policy.
So who won? We've got numbers for you. A CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll taken right after the debate showed that Senator Kerry comes out on top.
Now for just the facts, ma'am. The fact check has become as much a part of the post-debate review as the spin. Just how closely did what the candidates say line up with reality?
Our Jeanne Meserve takes the spin out. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For this one night, at least, Tempe, Arizona was the home of the whopper. Both candidates got facts wrong.
BUSH: I don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. That's kind of one of those exaggerations.
MESERVE: Well, he said something awfully close in March of 2002.
BUSH: I repeat what I said, I truly am not that concerned about him.
MESERVE: But Kerry got things wrong, too.
KERRY: Let me just share something. This president is the first president ever, I think, not to meet with the NAACP. This is a president who hasn't meet with the Black Congressional Caucus.
MESERVE: It is true that Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover not to meet with the NAACP. But he has met with the Congressional Black Caucus at least twice, once last February.
BUSH: He voted to increase taxes 98 times.
MESERVE: But an independent analysis says that counts multiple votes on the same bill.
KERRY: Five hundred thousand kids lost after school programs because of your budget.
MESERVE: Wrong. Bush did propose cutting $400 million in after school funding in his 2004 budget, but Congress refused to go along. No children lost their program.
BUSH: He's proposed $2.2 trillion of new spending and yet...
MESERVE: Bush was using an old figure from the conservative American Enterprise Institute. An analysis by the non-partisan Concord Coalition says Kerry's proposals will cost $1.3 trillion. That group put the very same price tag on the proposals of George W. Bush.
KERRY: Five million Americans have lost their health insurance in this country.
MESERVE: Well, the number of uninsured has gone up, but Kerry is incorrect to suggest that all those people lost their health care coverage. In previous debates, Kerry repeatedly got one fact wrong.
KERRY: And so today, we are 90 percent of the casualties and 90 percent of the cost, $200 billion. We could have saved $200 billion and an invasion of Iraq.
MESERVE: Wednesday night, he put it differently. KERRY: And America now is paying already $120 billion, up to $200 billion before we're finished.
MESERVE: He got it right, finally.
Jean Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: So, Bush and Kerry both stand accused of using some fuzzy math. But they both scored points.
CNN Radio's Dick Uliano is in Tempe, Arizona, where he had a pretty good seat -- good morning, Dick.
DICK ULIANO, CNN RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.
COSTELLO: So, tell us, how do you think it went?
ULIANO: Well, I thought that it was a scrappy debate, not unlike the past two. It seems that both these candidates really can defend their positions vociferously, with great feistiness. I mean they really went toe to toe. If people wanted a real good exchange of views between the two leading candidates for the presidency, I think they were very well served by this debate last night and the past two.
COSTELLO: You know, I've been reading some of the editorials in newspapers across the country this morning and many say this debate was just all over the place, it really wasn't like on point per se. They'd start talking out about one subject and then they'd go to the other suddenly and you didn't know where -- what they were talking about.
ULIANO: I think, yes. I think that that's right. I think that -- and that was really in the hands of moderator Bob Schieffer, of CBS News. He said at the beginning he's the one who chose the questions. His guidance was to pick questions with domestic issues in mind and he came up with some 18 or 19 different questions. And a good point in that, I think, is, for example, they spent a good deal of time talking about religious faith and it came up in two different questions, with Kerry talking about his Catholic roots and the president talking about how much he likes to pray.
COSTELLO: You know, the other thing I found interesting in speaking about Bob Schieffer, who, you know, who am I to criticize Bob Schieffer, but the very first question dealt with national security. And this debate was supposed to center on domestic issues.
ULIANO: I think that's a point well taken. Yes, because the first one zeroed in on national security and yet the first one out of the box was a similar question about being safe and secure in the United States. And, you know, how about the last question? Tell us about your wives and daughters. That was the final question and it kind of gave Kerry sort of the funniest line of the night when he said we all married up. In my case, I guess I did the most. COSTELLO: I know both candidates looked really human when they were talking about their wives, didn't they?
Did you get a chance to talk to people who watched the debate? And then, did you get a chance to talk to those same people after?
ULIANO: Yes. I talked to a few people who saw the debate and the people that I spoke with liked what they saw. These were people, by the way, for the most part, who had a candidate in mind, were supporters of either President Bush or Senator Kerry going in. And coming out they felt that what their candidate said simply affirmed their position.
There was one woman I talked to from Phoenix, Arizona, a woman in public relations, by the way, who is an undecided voter, undecided going in. And, Carol, after 90 minutes of debate and watching two previous debates, she's still undecided and not sure who's she's going to vote for. When will she make up her mind? She said probably on election day.
COSTELLO: Yes, November 2.
Dick Uliano reporting live from Tempe, Arizona.
Thanks very much, Dick.
Both candidates, as Dick said, are competing for those undecided voters in the all important swing states. One of those states is Ohio, where they have 20 electoral votes up for grabs.
Bill Hemmer is in Columbus, Ohio, where he used a low tech way to gauge voter preference after the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Who in 20 days will vote for President Bush? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Now, for Senator Kerry, who will vote for John Kerry on November 2? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.
Now, who's undecided still at this point? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven still undecided.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: A statistical dead heat, just like the Gallup poll.
Bill will be back later in the show with a more scientific approach on voter attitudes.
Let's talk more about that breaking news out of Baghdad this morning.
We talked about those two loud explosions that Brent Sadler heard as he was doing his live shot in the 5:00 hour of DAYBREAK. He has a little more information to impart. These are live pictures of the aftermath of those explosions -- Brent, what more can you tell us?
BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning.
We can confirm that Iraqi police say that this attack was inside the green zone. That's the heavily fortified area home to the U.S. and British embassies, as well as many of Iraq's interim government officials.
Now, two blasts -- I heard them while I was on air -- about 30 minutes ago, two powerful explosions from the direction of the green zone, as I say. And then we saw, and these pictures, I hope, of recordings of about 20 minutes ago of heavy plumes of smoke spiraling from a blast or blast sites. And we still do not have any information of what was hit inside the green zone. We do not know if it was explosives detonated inside the green zone or whether or not some rocket or mortar attack happened about 20 minutes, half an hour ago.
So still very sketchy on the immediate aftermath of that. All we can confirm, two loud blasts, a lot of smoke, at least one fire blazing in the direction of the green zone, inside the green zone, we can now confirm, but no reports at this stage of any casualties.
I might like to add here that we're just on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims. And this time, about this time last year, at the start of Ramadan, there was a serious escalation in attacks against U.S. forces at that time. And there has been a lot of word on the streets that the Ramadan period, starting Friday, could well usher in another escalation in insurgent attacks against U.S. forces, Iraqi security forces and Iraqi police.
That may be a background to what we're seeing now, it may not. But certainly a lot of concern among Iraqi society that Ramadan may see an upsurge, an even greater upsurge in violence at the same time as we're seeing a daily increase in offensive actions by the U.S.- backed Iraqi security forces against insurgent strongholds in Ramadi, north of the capital; in Ba'qubah; and not least in that key rebel stronghold of Falluja, where Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has issued, just within the past 24 hours, Carol, an ultimatum that Falluja has to hand over the most wanted terror suspect in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, or face a renewed military offensive against Falluja -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
You know, the other thing, would you say, is it fair to say -- we know that there has been a lot of violence in Sadr City, which is really a slum of Baghdad. But within the Baghdad proper, have attacks like this increased in recent months?
SADLER: They spike, Carol. But if you look at the overall graph line, there has been an escalation in terms of acts of violence nationwide. We don't see all of them, of course. We just see what we get reports of and what we get video of. But certainly in the month that I've been here so far, compared to when I was here three months ago, I have certainly heard with my own ears and seen with my own eyes more bumps in the night, more explosions during the day time. And, you know, this is not to be unexpected as far as U.S. military commanders are concerned. This is a critical period, a potential turning point for the future of Iraq in this three month, four month period to the run-up of elections at the end of January.
COSTELLO: Well, you stay safe.
Brent Sadler reporting live for us from Baghdad this morning.
Terrorism did play a small part in the debate last night. But the issue of enemy combatants did not come up. We want to update you, though, on an accused enemy combatant, Yaser Hamdi. This morning, he is talking. In an exclusive interview, Hamdi told CNN producer Rida Said he's not bitter, but he wishes the wheels of justice had turned a bit faster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YASER HAMDI, FORMER DETAINEE: I really want to say for the people that, you know, I was really hoping that my case would be solved earlier than that. I was hoping that the people and the American government will understand and take my case more seriously. And I was hoping that it will go more faster in the court system. And I was hoping to reach the Supreme Court faster and they would look at my case, because I believe that I was innocent and I was locked down for the wrong reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Hamdi was captured in Afghanistan three years ago and held in jail in the United States until this week, when he was released in Saudi Arabia.
Coming up on DAYBREAK, surgeries to help you lose weight -- are the risks worth the outcomes, though?
And later, Tommy goes back to school. That's Tommy Lee, as in Pamela Lee's ex-husband and Motley Crue's ex-drummer. Wait until you hear what the other students think of the aging rocker turned reality star. Oh, yes, and he's a marching band member, too, for the University of Nebraska.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Time now for a little business buzz.
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Dell unveils new gadgets, hoping to take a bite out of Apple's iPod. Is that possible, Carrie Lee?
CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dell certainly hopes so, Carol. They're rolling out what's called the Dell Pocket D.J. It weighs a little bit more than the Apple iPod Mini, at 4.4 ounces. But it has more storage, 5 gigabytes versus Apple Mini iPod's four, and it costs less, $50 cheaper; $199 for the Dell product versus about $249 for the Apple. Of course, Dell can offer lower price points because consumers buy directly from the company rather than going through retail stores. So it's a streamlined process.
Also, Dell is rolling out its first photo printer, which can print 4x6 photos, as well as smaller photos, and that's going to challenge Hewlett Packard, Epson and Canon. And Dell is offering a new plasma flat screen television, complimenting its original flat screen television, or an existing one that uses LCD display.
So all of these products will be shipping by mid-November. It's really going to be the iPod Mini, though, that's going to be the interesting one to watch, because remember earlier this week, Virgin Group rolled out its Virgin player. So more and more of these portable music players hitting the market.
By the way, though, Apple iPod is doing very well. Part of the reason, a big part of the reason for Apple's success in the recent quarter. The stock did well yesterday, during the regular session, up another 5 1/2 percent after hours, after handily beating the Wall Street estimate on profits. Profits more than doubling in the year ago period, in large part, Carol, because of those iPod products. So Apple a stock to watch today.
COSTELLO: It seems everybody has one.
LEE: Yes.
COSTELLO: Thank you.
Carrie Lee live from the Nasdaq market site.
Your news, money, weather and sports.
It is 6:18 Eastern.
Here's what's all new this morning.
Just minutes ago, the heavily fortified green zone in Baghdad was rocked by two explosions, the Iraqi government offices as well as the U.S. Embassy inside that green zone. We'll bring you more on this breaking story as we get it.
The tour bus involved in a fatal accident over the weekend in Arkansas never should have been on the road. That's the finding of a Transportation Safety Board investigation. Fourteen people died in that crash.
In money news, the price of oil is still bubbling upward. The latest hike was more than a dollar a barrel. Worries over tight heating supplies this winter are driving prices up.
In culture, Starbucks is expanding its custom music concept. The coffee giant will put on demand CD burning stations in 45 outlets in Seattle and Austin next month. The first Starbucks Hear Music coffeehouse opened in Santa Monica, California earlier this year.
In sports, another post-season win for the Yankees. The Yanks beat the Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez 3-1, to take a 2-0 lead in the American League championship series. Game three is Friday in Boston and St. Louis won over Houston -- Chad.
MYERS: And the game is in St. Louis tonight, and there could be a couple of showers maybe slowing that game down. But it does not look like a rainout.
COSTELLO: Good.
MYERS: I say that, you know, I say that and all of a sudden it rains for three straight hours. But certainly there will be showers in suspected terrorists today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you this morning.
Do you need a good reason to consider weight loss surgery? How about this laundry list of ailments?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. FREDERICK FINELLI, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL CENTER: Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep apnea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Coming up, the benefits of some radical surgeries which aren't considered so radical anymore.
You're watching DAYBREAK.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALTER UPDEGRAVE, SENIOR EDITOR, "MONEY": Most people these days are naturally going to incur some kind of a debt, maybe to buy a car or to buy a house, credit cards, that sort of thing. But by managing it a little bit better, we can really reduce the amount that we pay.
For example, with credit cards, the average rate is somewhere around 18 percent. But there are plenty of cards out there that charge half that, or even less. And if you can manage to use one of those cards and transfer your balance to one of those kind of cards, you can save some decent money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Obese people who undergo radical stomach surgery can shed far more than unwanted pounds. A new study finds many can put an end to the number of fat related ailments.
CNN medical correspondent Christy Feig has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maria Dipcheck (ph) says she tried every diet out there to lose weight. By the time she topped the scale at 350 pounds, the excess weight was even causing sleep apnea.
MARIA DIPCHECK: I would literally wake up in the middle of the night just gasping for breath.
FEIG: She finally opted for surgery to rearrange the intestines so her body absorbed less food. In addition to losing 185 pounds, her sleep apnea disappeared.
Now, a new study in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" says that's one of several added benefits.
FINELLI: It works really well for reducing the incidence of diseases, and specifically the most common diseases that occur with obesity. These are diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep apnea.
FEIG: Researchers say the more than 22,000 people in the study lost an average of 61 percent of their excess weight. Diabetes was eliminated in nearly 77 percent of those with the disease. High blood pressure in nearly 62 percent. Cholesterol levels improved in at least 70 percent. And sleep apnea disappeared in nearly 86 percent of those with that ailment.
All four conditions are strongly linked to obesity and can be deadly.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FEIG: Now, it's important to point out that this study was funded by Johnson & Johnson, maker of surgical equipment, including staplers used in obesity surgery. But many of the doctors that we talked to who perform this surgery and weren't involved in the study say they've seen exactly the same results in their patients -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Christy Feig, thanks.
I want to ask you one more thing before you go.
You know, we're hearing about this VeriChip. It stores medical information and it's actually implanted into a patient's body.
Tell us more about that.
FEIG: Absolutely. It's raising all kinds of controversy. It was just approved by the FDA yesterday. People on both sides of this debate feel very strongly. There are health sides to it. Many people criticize our health system because of the archaic medical records system we have that's mostly on paper. They say we need to go electronic. This would take us there.
But certainly there's a lot of personal information in your medical records that this would also give a lot of people access to. So those privacy advocates want you to, you know, have some protection up front of some sort, maybe only have what you're allergic to, what drugs you're allergic to or what your blood type is, so if you were in a car wreck and you went to the emergency room and you were unconscious, they could find out that kind of information.
But they're very concerned that people are going to have access to way too much of your personal information.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more about this in the months to come.
Christy Feig live in Washington this morning.
Thank you.
Lynne Cheney says one comment in last night's debate crossed the line. We'll tell you what John Kerry said that had the vice president's wife, ooh, she was made.
And we'll take you back to Baghdad's green zone to bring you more details on the latest round of explosions in the city.
This is DAYBREAK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: And good morning to you.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
We're going to break format right now because we do have breaking news out of Baghdad. We want to take you there now.
Two loud explosions were heard, oh, about an hour ago. Brent Sadler was standing doing a live shot during the time. You heard those explosions behind you.
Brent -- what more can you tell us now?
SADLER: Yes, good morning, Carol.
Two powerful explosions within the past hour. Pretty soon afterwards, we were able to confirm that it was actually inside the green zone. That's the heavily fortified part of central Baghdad that's home to the U.S. Embassy, to the British embassy and many, many of Iraq's interim government officials.
Now, it's still too early to say what caused these very loud explosions, resulting in plumes of smoke coming out of the green zone. But CNN has just spoken to a doctor inside the Ebinseiner Hospital (ph), that is inside the green zone. And that doctor reports many casualties, "many casualties," including soldiers and civilians. That's the latest information we get. We've got as far as who might have been caught in these two blasts. What the target was, whether it was explosions, explosives placed on the ground, whether it was a rocket attack, mortars, we still don't know at this stage.
What I can confirm, two powerful blasts within less than a minute of each other, I would guess, at the time, about an hour ago, inside the green zone, resulting in at least one fire, smoke billowing from a blast or blast sites and now confirmation of many casualties, according to a doctor inside the Ebinseiner Hospital inside the green zone, including soldiers and civilians -- Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
