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CNN Live At Daybreak
Big Win by Boston Red Sox; Coal Mining Accident Kills Almost 60 in China
Aired October 21, 2004 - 05:00 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reese. The Boston Red Sox have won the pennant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It is the greatest comeback in baseball history.
It is Thursday, October 22.
And this is CNN DAYBREAK.
Good morning.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin in for Carol Costello.
Right now in the news, there are fears this morning that we could see a repeat of the flu shot shortage next year. The drug's maker, Chiron, says it cannot guarantee it will be ready to meet the demand for flu shots in the U.S. in 2005.
The highest ranking soldier charged with abusing inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison is expected to be sentenced today. Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick, an Army Reservist, plead guilty Wednesday to five charges.
Pakistani officials have arrested two al Qaeda suspects. One of the men is said to be wanted by the U.S. and is known within the terror network as "Electronic." Pakistani officials say the other man was carrying important documents.
And check out this huge twister caught on tape at Cape Canaveral, Florida. There are no reports of injuries, but some damage is reported at Port Canaveral -- Orelon, amazing.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That was a good picture. Good thing there was no injuries with that. There was a couple of tornado warnings yesterday evening, about 6:30 Eastern, in parts of eastern and southern Florida. And that probably was the water spout that came, I think that was why it came onshore.
LIN: OK, that's why it was so big and so visual, you can see there. SIDNEY: Yes. Well, and of course it's so flat, too. I mean there's nothing to get in the way.
LIN: Yes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LIN: You know, it isn't often that we start the show with sports, but we had to make an exception due to the historical nature of Boston Red Sox, their fans and the World Series. The Red Sox completed an improbable comeback to beat the Yankees last night 10-3. It was their fourth straight win and now the Red Sox are just four more wins away from reversing the curse of the Bambino.
CNN's Mark McKay explains and picks up the story here.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As they celebrated under the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium, Red Sox players had to be pinching themselves. Could this have actually happened? After a nightmarish start to the American League championship series, Boston enjoyed a dream finish and a World Series bound for the first time in 18 years at the expense of their greatest rival.
CURT SCHILLING, RED SOX PITCHER: We just beat the best organization in sports history. We're going to get to the World Series in an unprecedented fashion. So, what an appropriate group of guys to do it.
KEVIN MILLER, RED SOX FIRST BASEMAN: And you've got to win four games, not three. It's just like when you're hitting, you get three strikes, not two. And I'll tell you right now, they didn't win the fourth.
THEO EPSTEIN, RED SOX GENERAL MANAGER: This one's for all the great Red Sox teams that couldn't quite beat the Yankees, you know, since '49. Suddenly our team last year fell just short against these guys.
MCKAY: History has never been kind to Boston. If the Red Sox exercised demons against the Yankees, they did so in grand fashion, after being victimized by past play-off home runs from such unlikely heroes as Bucky Danton and Aaron Boone, this Red Sox team turned the tables by simply bombing the Bronx Bombers.
ALEX RODRIGUEZ, YANKEES THIRD BASEMAN: It's something that's going to hurt all winter. And I think it's going to make us stronger and make us hungrier for next year. And we'll be back.
DEREK LOWE, RED SOX PITCHER: We'll take a trip to the World Series no matter the road. But coming through Yankee Stadium, falling down 3-0 to these guys, to be down in the ninth inning in game four and come back to beat them in Yankee Stadium makes it beyond the imagination. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole Babe Ruth, the whole curse, I mean after a while you start to believe in it because of just all of the stuff that keeps happening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't alive in 1918 so I, this is my second year, and I know this is my second year and we're going to the World Series. So I'm just excited to be a part of that.
MCKAY (on camera): With history in their back pocket, the Red Sox will now go about the business of trying to reverse the curse. Eighty-six years after winning their last World Series title, the Red Sox play host to game one of the 2004 fall classic Saturday at Fenway Park.
Mark McKay, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: So, the Boston Red Sox fans taunted their Yankee counterparts with cheers of, "Who's Your Daddy?" And now they get to do what Yankee fans have been doing a lot the last decade, and that's watching their team in the World Series.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the Bronx and Yankee Stadium. Can you believe that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now here we are. And we did it. We made world history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing, man! And it's been a long time coming, a long time coming. You've got to be here to believe it, baby. We're going all the way in the World Series, baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Oh, and the Yankee fans are now left to wonder what happened. A historical collapse for the team everyone expected to win. The Yankees are now a footnote in history, as the only team in major league history to lose after taking a three game lead in a post- season series.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four games in a row, not good. I mean nobody ever thought it, nobody, OK? It's some story. They're a great team. You've got to give it to the Red Sox, man. They came back and did it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, it had to happen some day. It just sucks when it happens to the Yankees.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: All right, the Red Sox should enjoy it while it lasts, because they don't have an opponent yet for the World Series. The Cardinals and Astros are tied at three games apiece in the National League Championship Series. The Cardinals won game six in extra innings, to force tonight's decisive seventh game.
And, a different sort of competition. It's getting closer to the wire now. Just 12 days until the presidential election. And the candidates are blazing the campaign trail. Today, President Bush will be stumping in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. He's got two stops there, one in Downingtown, where he's going to be talking about medical liability reform and health care. And later, he's got a rally in Hershey.
Now, President Bush narrowly lost Pennsylvania back in 2000 and he's now focusing on voters there and in other states he narrowly lost.
Our senior White House correspondent John King is on the road with President Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First stop Iowa. His opponent a little more than an hour up the road. The president eager to set them much farther apart.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iraq is no diversion, but a central commitment in the war on terror.
KING: Mr. Bush seized on a recent quote from a senior Kerry foreign policy adviser suggesting the term war on terror is a metaphor comparable to the war on poverty.
BUSH: Confusing food programs with terrorist killings reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the war we face. And that is very dangerous thinking.
KING: The president's stops were in a trio of states that were shaded blue when the votes were counted four years ago. Mr. Bush lost Iowa by just 4,144 votes; Wisconsin by 5,708. In Minnesota, the margin was larger, 58,607 votes. Combined, the three states offer 27 electoral votes.
Iowa and Wisconsin are within reach for Mr. Bush, and places where he stresses opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
BUSH: We stand for a culture of life in which every person matters and every being counts. We stand for marriage and family, which are the foundations of our society.
KING: Rural and small town America does tend to be more conservative. But values are only part of the president's appeal.
RICK FARMER, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF AKRON: It has something to do with his kind of common man way. People feel that they can relate to him. He's from Texas, so he sounds a little bit like they sound. And John Kerry seems like he's from Boston and doesn't really relate to them very well. KING: Minnesota is the long shot of the three states Mr. Bush visited Wednesday. This absentee ballot drive at the Minneapolis airport is part of the Bush effort to engineer an upset or at least force Senator Kerry to work harder.
(on camera): As the president campaigned, the White House moved quickly to try to head off another Iraq war controversy. Conservative minister Pat Robertson says the president told him confidently just before the war there would be no major U.S. casualties. Senior Bush aides, including one in the room for that meeting, say the president said no such thing and that Reverend Robertson must have misunderstood.
John King, CNN, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: Well, John Kerry is clearly getting an early start on the campaign trail this morning. He got a 6:45 a.m. stop in Poland, Ohio, and then an afternoon speech in Columbus. He'll be talking stem cell research and will be introduced by the widow of the late actor Christopher Reeve.
Now later this evening, Kerry will be in Minneapolis.
Clearly, he's got to be in attack mode. He is taking aim at George W. Bush's record as a war time president.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, is with the Kerry camp.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Retired military behind him, flags to the side, it was billed as a speech on the war in Iraq and terrorism. It was intended as a full scale assault on the commander-in-chief.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, the president says he's a leader. Well, Mr. President, look behind you. There's hardly anyone there.
CROWLEY: With the calendar closing in, John Kerry is looking at a 20 point deficit on the leadership question, who is stronger, more decisive. He needs to break that down.
KERRY: The president keeps saying how certain he is about things. But you can't just be always certain and frequently wrong. It doesn't make sense.
CROWLEY: The senator spent nearly an hour in Waterloo, Iowa recycling policy positions, looking to whittle down the president's advantage on terrorism and Iraq.
KERRY: Our troops are the best trained, best led forces in the world and they have been doing their job honorably and bravely. And the problem...
(APPLAUSE)
KERRY: The problem is the commander-in-chief has not been doing his.
CROWLEY: Kerry accused the president of miscalculating, misjudging and bungling just about everything, including the decision to deny reconstruction contracts to countries that did not support the war.
KERRY: I mean that's almost like a schoolyard decision, you know? You learn more in elementary school and high school than they seem to have applied in the conduct of this war.
CROWLEY: His alternative plans and the thrust of Kerry's complaints are not new, but the criticisms are more detailed now, the words more slicing and sharply condescending. It's getting personal out here.
(on camera): Kerry aides believe the few voters who are left undecided and maybe even some soft Bush voters are merely looking for an excuse to abandon the president. So over the final days of this campaign, Kerry will be doing a mix of venues, those that make him look presidential, as he reaches out to swing voters at rallies like this one, which stir up the base.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Pittsburgh.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: Oh, in the meantime, nobody really knows exactly what was going through Teresa Heinz Kerry's mind. But she has offered an apology to First Lady Laura Bush. In a "USA Today" interview, the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate said she did not think Mrs. Bush ever had a real job. She said later she was sincerely sorry for that remark. Teresa Heinz Kerry added she had forgotten that Mrs. Bush was a schoolteacher and librarian for about 10 years and there couldn't be a more important job than teaching children.
Now, the Bush camp gave a short shrift to the apology.
Other news across America right now, search crews recovered the last five bodies from a commuter plane crash in northern Missouri. Thirteen people were killed when the plane went down while attempting to land in Kirksville. But miraculously, two people survived the accident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JOHN KROGH, COMMUTER CRASH SURVIVOR: Then all of a sudden there was just a crashing sound, which didn't really shock the plane too much. And as I thought back on it later, I'm sure that was a wing hitting a tree. And then within maybe, I don't know, two seconds, maybe later, big time crashes occurred as the plane went into the trees and sort of come apart. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Considering the pictures that you're looking at right now, it's amazing that the survivors suffered only broken bones and a few burns.
Meanwhile, the cause of that crash is under investigation.
And bad weather may be to blame after an air ambulance crash near Pensacola, Florida. The pilot and at least one crew member were killed. The second crew member is still missing. The helicopter was on its way to pick up a critically ill patient when bad weather forced the pilot to try and return to the airport.
In a Manhattan courtroom, troublesome singer Courtney Love pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. The charge stemmed from a microphone throwing incident at a New York club in March. Courtney Love can stay out of prison if she completes drug testing and counseling. She still faces assault charges in California.
George Bush, John Kerry -- both want to get a hold of the nation's purse strings. But what will that mean to your bottom line?
We're going to examine where the candidates stand on the economy. That's after the half hour.
Also, we're going to take you live to Tokyo, where the biggest typhoon to hit Japan in decades is leaving mudslides and flooding behind. That's coming about 17 until the hour.
And trying to figure out who gets a flu shot and who does not is turning out to be all about luck.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
LIN: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It is now 17 past the hour and here's what's new this morning.
At least 39 people have been killed by a powerful typhoon in Japan. The storm caused massive flooding and mudslides in rural areas. It is the tenth typhoon that Japan has been hit by this year alone.
And the family of Margaret Hassan is pleading with her captors to let her go. The CARE director was abducted Tuesday in Baghdad and her husband says he is shocked, since she isn't involved in politics or religion in the region, and she's lived there for more than 30 years.
Now in money, more money troubles for Delta Airlines. Delta announced a $646 million loss in the third quarter. The airline also warned that a court supervised restructuring may be needed.
In culture, Miss. America may be missing from network television next year. ABC dropped the pageant from its schedule, citing poor ratings. The Miss. America pageant has been televised every year since 1954.
And in sports, the impossible became possible. The Red Sox beat the Yankees in game seven of the American League championship series. They are the first team in baseball history to come back from a three game deficit to win a series.
And in weather -- Orelon, what's up?
(WEATHER REPORT)
LIN: We want to move now on to a tragedy that is unfolding this hour in China. There has been a huge coal mine explosion and nearly 150 workers are either dead or missing. So we're going to get the latest details right now from Jaime FlorCruz.
He joins me live from Beijing -- Jaime, what is happening in terms of the search for survivors?
JAMIE FLORCRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very grim, Carol. This one is a major mining accident. This one happening in a mine in central China. Three thousand workers are at work in this mine. But when the accident happened Wednesday night, some 400 workers were under the -- were in the pit. Most of them escaped when there was a gas explosion. But many of them were trapped.
So far, 46 bodies have been found and 92 others are missing, with very little chance of survival.
Now, unfortunately accidents like this are all too common in China; in fact, so common that just last year alone, some 6,600 Chinese died in mining accidents. And this one is a -- is just the most serious one this year. The reason why it is so common is because many mines in China are poorly managed, use outdated equipment and ignore safety measures. They've been ordered to close down, but local officials have kept them open because they want the profits as well as they don't want the workers out of work.
So unfortunately this will probably just -- things like this will happen quite often in China -- Carol.
LIN: And, Jaime, what's it worth to the people who actually work in these mines? How much do they actually make doing this kind of dangerous work?
FLORCRUZ: Well, they make decent money relative to the living standards where they work. But, yes, relative to the danger that they face, it's very little money. But in places like Henan Province, where this occurred, many people there are in dire need of work no matter how dangerous they are -- Carol.
LIN: All right, the search continues, but, Jaime, it doesn't sound like they're very optimistic. We'll stay on top of this story with you.
Jaime FlorCruz live in Beijing.
Now the residents on the island of Japan are cleaning up after the mess there, after a devastating storm. We're going to go live to Tokyo at 40 past the hour for the latest.
And what if your vote could go to the highest bidder? Does that sound funny? It doesn't sound funny to me. But one Missouri man is not laughing after a political prank goes awry. We're going to explain.
You're watching DAYBREAK for Thursday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Teresa Heinz Kerry's remarks about Laura Bush's work history didn't go unnoticed by late night comedians. The Democrat's wife told a newspaper she didn't think Laura Bush, a former schoolteacher and librarian for 10 years, ever had a real job. Well, Teresa Heinz Kerry later apologized.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO," COURTESY NBC)
JAY LENO, HOST: And Teresa Heinz Kerry's defenders said oh, she just says those things once in a while because she's eccentric. Do you know what eccentric means? Anybody know what it means? It's when someone is crazy but they're rich. Like you never seen an eccentric homeless guy, you know? See the old guy urinating in the street, oh, he's just eccentric. You know, he's --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Well, I don't know if you can equate her remarks with a, you know, eccentric homeless guy.
Anyway, time for our DAYBREAK "Eye Opener" now.
We're going to call it miniature golf. But in England, it's called crazy golf. And that's where 50 competitors lined up for the World Crazy Golf Championships. In the end, it was British champion Tom Davies who used his mastery of the windmill hole to capture the world title.
And the "Black Widow" has struck again. That's her in the hat. I don't know if you saw it. There you go. Sonya Thomas ate 8.6 pounds of sweet potato casserole at the North Carolina State Fair. That is a mouthful. And that's her 20th world eating record. Her titles include everything from chicken wings to oysters.
And a Missouri man is facing jail time after putting his vote up for sale. Prosecutors say 24-year-old Tim Hubbard put his vote on eBay, with an opening bid of $25. Hubbard says the offer to sell his vote for president was a joke and he didn't know it was illegal. Still, he faces up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. And here's what's all new in the next half hour.
Bread and butter issues are taking center stage this political season. But when it comes to your money, what plans do the candidates have to put more of it in your pocket?
That's coming up.
This is DAYBREAK.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
DONNA ROSATO, WRITER, "MONEY": Chilly weather usually keeps most tourists away from Europe in the winter. But Rome is a great destination in January and February. Rome tends to be a little bit warmer than the rest of Europe. So if you go during this time of year, you can get some fantastic deals on air fare.
It's typically in the mid to high 50s in Rome in February and March. That's fine for, you know, walking around the rooms and visiting some of the more popular museums and art galleries in Rome. One thing to keep in mind is that some restaurants may be closed and some hotels may trim their hours. But in general in the city, everything should be operating as normal. Families will enjoy a Rome destination because there's a lot of art and architecture to see and there's a lot of outdoor activity.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 21, 2004 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Reese. The Boston Red Sox have won the pennant.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It is the greatest comeback in baseball history.
It is Thursday, October 22.
And this is CNN DAYBREAK.
Good morning.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin in for Carol Costello.
Right now in the news, there are fears this morning that we could see a repeat of the flu shot shortage next year. The drug's maker, Chiron, says it cannot guarantee it will be ready to meet the demand for flu shots in the U.S. in 2005.
The highest ranking soldier charged with abusing inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib Prison is expected to be sentenced today. Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick, an Army Reservist, plead guilty Wednesday to five charges.
Pakistani officials have arrested two al Qaeda suspects. One of the men is said to be wanted by the U.S. and is known within the terror network as "Electronic." Pakistani officials say the other man was carrying important documents.
And check out this huge twister caught on tape at Cape Canaveral, Florida. There are no reports of injuries, but some damage is reported at Port Canaveral -- Orelon, amazing.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That was a good picture. Good thing there was no injuries with that. There was a couple of tornado warnings yesterday evening, about 6:30 Eastern, in parts of eastern and southern Florida. And that probably was the water spout that came, I think that was why it came onshore.
LIN: OK, that's why it was so big and so visual, you can see there. SIDNEY: Yes. Well, and of course it's so flat, too. I mean there's nothing to get in the way.
LIN: Yes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LIN: You know, it isn't often that we start the show with sports, but we had to make an exception due to the historical nature of Boston Red Sox, their fans and the World Series. The Red Sox completed an improbable comeback to beat the Yankees last night 10-3. It was their fourth straight win and now the Red Sox are just four more wins away from reversing the curse of the Bambino.
CNN's Mark McKay explains and picks up the story here.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As they celebrated under the hallowed grounds of Yankee Stadium, Red Sox players had to be pinching themselves. Could this have actually happened? After a nightmarish start to the American League championship series, Boston enjoyed a dream finish and a World Series bound for the first time in 18 years at the expense of their greatest rival.
CURT SCHILLING, RED SOX PITCHER: We just beat the best organization in sports history. We're going to get to the World Series in an unprecedented fashion. So, what an appropriate group of guys to do it.
KEVIN MILLER, RED SOX FIRST BASEMAN: And you've got to win four games, not three. It's just like when you're hitting, you get three strikes, not two. And I'll tell you right now, they didn't win the fourth.
THEO EPSTEIN, RED SOX GENERAL MANAGER: This one's for all the great Red Sox teams that couldn't quite beat the Yankees, you know, since '49. Suddenly our team last year fell just short against these guys.
MCKAY: History has never been kind to Boston. If the Red Sox exercised demons against the Yankees, they did so in grand fashion, after being victimized by past play-off home runs from such unlikely heroes as Bucky Danton and Aaron Boone, this Red Sox team turned the tables by simply bombing the Bronx Bombers.
ALEX RODRIGUEZ, YANKEES THIRD BASEMAN: It's something that's going to hurt all winter. And I think it's going to make us stronger and make us hungrier for next year. And we'll be back.
DEREK LOWE, RED SOX PITCHER: We'll take a trip to the World Series no matter the road. But coming through Yankee Stadium, falling down 3-0 to these guys, to be down in the ninth inning in game four and come back to beat them in Yankee Stadium makes it beyond the imagination. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The whole Babe Ruth, the whole curse, I mean after a while you start to believe in it because of just all of the stuff that keeps happening.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't alive in 1918 so I, this is my second year, and I know this is my second year and we're going to the World Series. So I'm just excited to be a part of that.
MCKAY (on camera): With history in their back pocket, the Red Sox will now go about the business of trying to reverse the curse. Eighty-six years after winning their last World Series title, the Red Sox play host to game one of the 2004 fall classic Saturday at Fenway Park.
Mark McKay, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: So, the Boston Red Sox fans taunted their Yankee counterparts with cheers of, "Who's Your Daddy?" And now they get to do what Yankee fans have been doing a lot the last decade, and that's watching their team in the World Series.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the Bronx and Yankee Stadium. Can you believe that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now here we are. And we did it. We made world history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing, man! And it's been a long time coming, a long time coming. You've got to be here to believe it, baby. We're going all the way in the World Series, baby.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Oh, and the Yankee fans are now left to wonder what happened. A historical collapse for the team everyone expected to win. The Yankees are now a footnote in history, as the only team in major league history to lose after taking a three game lead in a post- season series.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four games in a row, not good. I mean nobody ever thought it, nobody, OK? It's some story. They're a great team. You've got to give it to the Red Sox, man. They came back and did it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, it had to happen some day. It just sucks when it happens to the Yankees.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: All right, the Red Sox should enjoy it while it lasts, because they don't have an opponent yet for the World Series. The Cardinals and Astros are tied at three games apiece in the National League Championship Series. The Cardinals won game six in extra innings, to force tonight's decisive seventh game.
And, a different sort of competition. It's getting closer to the wire now. Just 12 days until the presidential election. And the candidates are blazing the campaign trail. Today, President Bush will be stumping in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. He's got two stops there, one in Downingtown, where he's going to be talking about medical liability reform and health care. And later, he's got a rally in Hershey.
Now, President Bush narrowly lost Pennsylvania back in 2000 and he's now focusing on voters there and in other states he narrowly lost.
Our senior White House correspondent John King is on the road with President Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First stop Iowa. His opponent a little more than an hour up the road. The president eager to set them much farther apart.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iraq is no diversion, but a central commitment in the war on terror.
KING: Mr. Bush seized on a recent quote from a senior Kerry foreign policy adviser suggesting the term war on terror is a metaphor comparable to the war on poverty.
BUSH: Confusing food programs with terrorist killings reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the war we face. And that is very dangerous thinking.
KING: The president's stops were in a trio of states that were shaded blue when the votes were counted four years ago. Mr. Bush lost Iowa by just 4,144 votes; Wisconsin by 5,708. In Minnesota, the margin was larger, 58,607 votes. Combined, the three states offer 27 electoral votes.
Iowa and Wisconsin are within reach for Mr. Bush, and places where he stresses opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
BUSH: We stand for a culture of life in which every person matters and every being counts. We stand for marriage and family, which are the foundations of our society.
KING: Rural and small town America does tend to be more conservative. But values are only part of the president's appeal.
RICK FARMER, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF AKRON: It has something to do with his kind of common man way. People feel that they can relate to him. He's from Texas, so he sounds a little bit like they sound. And John Kerry seems like he's from Boston and doesn't really relate to them very well. KING: Minnesota is the long shot of the three states Mr. Bush visited Wednesday. This absentee ballot drive at the Minneapolis airport is part of the Bush effort to engineer an upset or at least force Senator Kerry to work harder.
(on camera): As the president campaigned, the White House moved quickly to try to head off another Iraq war controversy. Conservative minister Pat Robertson says the president told him confidently just before the war there would be no major U.S. casualties. Senior Bush aides, including one in the room for that meeting, say the president said no such thing and that Reverend Robertson must have misunderstood.
John King, CNN, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: Well, John Kerry is clearly getting an early start on the campaign trail this morning. He got a 6:45 a.m. stop in Poland, Ohio, and then an afternoon speech in Columbus. He'll be talking stem cell research and will be introduced by the widow of the late actor Christopher Reeve.
Now later this evening, Kerry will be in Minneapolis.
Clearly, he's got to be in attack mode. He is taking aim at George W. Bush's record as a war time president.
Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, is with the Kerry camp.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Retired military behind him, flags to the side, it was billed as a speech on the war in Iraq and terrorism. It was intended as a full scale assault on the commander-in-chief.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, the president says he's a leader. Well, Mr. President, look behind you. There's hardly anyone there.
CROWLEY: With the calendar closing in, John Kerry is looking at a 20 point deficit on the leadership question, who is stronger, more decisive. He needs to break that down.
KERRY: The president keeps saying how certain he is about things. But you can't just be always certain and frequently wrong. It doesn't make sense.
CROWLEY: The senator spent nearly an hour in Waterloo, Iowa recycling policy positions, looking to whittle down the president's advantage on terrorism and Iraq.
KERRY: Our troops are the best trained, best led forces in the world and they have been doing their job honorably and bravely. And the problem...
(APPLAUSE)
KERRY: The problem is the commander-in-chief has not been doing his.
CROWLEY: Kerry accused the president of miscalculating, misjudging and bungling just about everything, including the decision to deny reconstruction contracts to countries that did not support the war.
KERRY: I mean that's almost like a schoolyard decision, you know? You learn more in elementary school and high school than they seem to have applied in the conduct of this war.
CROWLEY: His alternative plans and the thrust of Kerry's complaints are not new, but the criticisms are more detailed now, the words more slicing and sharply condescending. It's getting personal out here.
(on camera): Kerry aides believe the few voters who are left undecided and maybe even some soft Bush voters are merely looking for an excuse to abandon the president. So over the final days of this campaign, Kerry will be doing a mix of venues, those that make him look presidential, as he reaches out to swing voters at rallies like this one, which stir up the base.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Pittsburgh.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LIN: Oh, in the meantime, nobody really knows exactly what was going through Teresa Heinz Kerry's mind. But she has offered an apology to First Lady Laura Bush. In a "USA Today" interview, the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate said she did not think Mrs. Bush ever had a real job. She said later she was sincerely sorry for that remark. Teresa Heinz Kerry added she had forgotten that Mrs. Bush was a schoolteacher and librarian for about 10 years and there couldn't be a more important job than teaching children.
Now, the Bush camp gave a short shrift to the apology.
Other news across America right now, search crews recovered the last five bodies from a commuter plane crash in northern Missouri. Thirteen people were killed when the plane went down while attempting to land in Kirksville. But miraculously, two people survived the accident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JOHN KROGH, COMMUTER CRASH SURVIVOR: Then all of a sudden there was just a crashing sound, which didn't really shock the plane too much. And as I thought back on it later, I'm sure that was a wing hitting a tree. And then within maybe, I don't know, two seconds, maybe later, big time crashes occurred as the plane went into the trees and sort of come apart. (END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Considering the pictures that you're looking at right now, it's amazing that the survivors suffered only broken bones and a few burns.
Meanwhile, the cause of that crash is under investigation.
And bad weather may be to blame after an air ambulance crash near Pensacola, Florida. The pilot and at least one crew member were killed. The second crew member is still missing. The helicopter was on its way to pick up a critically ill patient when bad weather forced the pilot to try and return to the airport.
In a Manhattan courtroom, troublesome singer Courtney Love pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. The charge stemmed from a microphone throwing incident at a New York club in March. Courtney Love can stay out of prison if she completes drug testing and counseling. She still faces assault charges in California.
George Bush, John Kerry -- both want to get a hold of the nation's purse strings. But what will that mean to your bottom line?
We're going to examine where the candidates stand on the economy. That's after the half hour.
Also, we're going to take you live to Tokyo, where the biggest typhoon to hit Japan in decades is leaving mudslides and flooding behind. That's coming about 17 until the hour.
And trying to figure out who gets a flu shot and who does not is turning out to be all about luck.
But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Thursday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
LIN: Your news, money, weather and sports.
It is now 17 past the hour and here's what's new this morning.
At least 39 people have been killed by a powerful typhoon in Japan. The storm caused massive flooding and mudslides in rural areas. It is the tenth typhoon that Japan has been hit by this year alone.
And the family of Margaret Hassan is pleading with her captors to let her go. The CARE director was abducted Tuesday in Baghdad and her husband says he is shocked, since she isn't involved in politics or religion in the region, and she's lived there for more than 30 years.
Now in money, more money troubles for Delta Airlines. Delta announced a $646 million loss in the third quarter. The airline also warned that a court supervised restructuring may be needed.
In culture, Miss. America may be missing from network television next year. ABC dropped the pageant from its schedule, citing poor ratings. The Miss. America pageant has been televised every year since 1954.
And in sports, the impossible became possible. The Red Sox beat the Yankees in game seven of the American League championship series. They are the first team in baseball history to come back from a three game deficit to win a series.
And in weather -- Orelon, what's up?
(WEATHER REPORT)
LIN: We want to move now on to a tragedy that is unfolding this hour in China. There has been a huge coal mine explosion and nearly 150 workers are either dead or missing. So we're going to get the latest details right now from Jaime FlorCruz.
He joins me live from Beijing -- Jaime, what is happening in terms of the search for survivors?
JAMIE FLORCRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very grim, Carol. This one is a major mining accident. This one happening in a mine in central China. Three thousand workers are at work in this mine. But when the accident happened Wednesday night, some 400 workers were under the -- were in the pit. Most of them escaped when there was a gas explosion. But many of them were trapped.
So far, 46 bodies have been found and 92 others are missing, with very little chance of survival.
Now, unfortunately accidents like this are all too common in China; in fact, so common that just last year alone, some 6,600 Chinese died in mining accidents. And this one is a -- is just the most serious one this year. The reason why it is so common is because many mines in China are poorly managed, use outdated equipment and ignore safety measures. They've been ordered to close down, but local officials have kept them open because they want the profits as well as they don't want the workers out of work.
So unfortunately this will probably just -- things like this will happen quite often in China -- Carol.
LIN: And, Jaime, what's it worth to the people who actually work in these mines? How much do they actually make doing this kind of dangerous work?
FLORCRUZ: Well, they make decent money relative to the living standards where they work. But, yes, relative to the danger that they face, it's very little money. But in places like Henan Province, where this occurred, many people there are in dire need of work no matter how dangerous they are -- Carol.
LIN: All right, the search continues, but, Jaime, it doesn't sound like they're very optimistic. We'll stay on top of this story with you.
Jaime FlorCruz live in Beijing.
Now the residents on the island of Japan are cleaning up after the mess there, after a devastating storm. We're going to go live to Tokyo at 40 past the hour for the latest.
And what if your vote could go to the highest bidder? Does that sound funny? It doesn't sound funny to me. But one Missouri man is not laughing after a political prank goes awry. We're going to explain.
You're watching DAYBREAK for Thursday.
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LIN: Teresa Heinz Kerry's remarks about Laura Bush's work history didn't go unnoticed by late night comedians. The Democrat's wife told a newspaper she didn't think Laura Bush, a former schoolteacher and librarian for 10 years, ever had a real job. Well, Teresa Heinz Kerry later apologized.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO," COURTESY NBC)
JAY LENO, HOST: And Teresa Heinz Kerry's defenders said oh, she just says those things once in a while because she's eccentric. Do you know what eccentric means? Anybody know what it means? It's when someone is crazy but they're rich. Like you never seen an eccentric homeless guy, you know? See the old guy urinating in the street, oh, he's just eccentric. You know, he's --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Well, I don't know if you can equate her remarks with a, you know, eccentric homeless guy.
Anyway, time for our DAYBREAK "Eye Opener" now.
We're going to call it miniature golf. But in England, it's called crazy golf. And that's where 50 competitors lined up for the World Crazy Golf Championships. In the end, it was British champion Tom Davies who used his mastery of the windmill hole to capture the world title.
And the "Black Widow" has struck again. That's her in the hat. I don't know if you saw it. There you go. Sonya Thomas ate 8.6 pounds of sweet potato casserole at the North Carolina State Fair. That is a mouthful. And that's her 20th world eating record. Her titles include everything from chicken wings to oysters.
And a Missouri man is facing jail time after putting his vote up for sale. Prosecutors say 24-year-old Tim Hubbard put his vote on eBay, with an opening bid of $25. Hubbard says the offer to sell his vote for president was a joke and he didn't know it was illegal. Still, he faces up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. And here's what's all new in the next half hour.
Bread and butter issues are taking center stage this political season. But when it comes to your money, what plans do the candidates have to put more of it in your pocket?
That's coming up.
This is DAYBREAK.
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DONNA ROSATO, WRITER, "MONEY": Chilly weather usually keeps most tourists away from Europe in the winter. But Rome is a great destination in January and February. Rome tends to be a little bit warmer than the rest of Europe. So if you go during this time of year, you can get some fantastic deals on air fare.
It's typically in the mid to high 50s in Rome in February and March. That's fine for, you know, walking around the rooms and visiting some of the more popular museums and art galleries in Rome. One thing to keep in mind is that some restaurants may be closed and some hotels may trim their hours. But in general in the city, everything should be operating as normal. Families will enjoy a Rome destination because there's a lot of art and architecture to see and there's a lot of outdoor activity.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
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