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CNN Live At Daybreak

Latest Developments in Senator Kerry's Campaign for President; Hikers Lost in Yosemite National Park

Aired October 22, 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.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin in for Carol Costello.

Right now in the news, court martial proceedings are going on at this hour in Baghdad for two U.S. soldiers accused in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Sergeant Javal Davis and Specialist Charles Graner are accused of abusing Iraqi detainees.

And Secretary of State Colin Powell is acknowledging the U.S. does not know how far North Korea's nuclear program has progressed. Powell leaves today for meetings with officials in Japan, China and South Korea.

And the case of a severely brain damaged Florida woman faces another milestone today. A judge is due to rule on a new trial requested by the parents of Terri Schiavo. The woman's husband wants her feeding tube removed.

It will be the St. Louis Cardinals against the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. The Cards beat the Houston Astros 5-2 for the National League championship -- Orelon, it's not going to be Texas and Boston.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

LIN: At least not in baseball.

SIDNEY: Yes, I really, well, my boyfriend was telling me, who's the expert, told me that he just knew the Astros were going to win that one so.

LIN: Oh, yes, the expert was wrong.

SIDNEY: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: Well, there are 11 days remaining until education and time is running out for the candidates in their swing states to campaign and get those votes.

John Kerry is going to hit the campaign trail today in Milwaukee, where he's going to be courting women voters in a speech at the University of Wisconsin. And then, it's cross country to Reno for a rally at the University of Nevada tonight. He ends the day in Colorado.

The director of a controversial film about John Kerry is suing Sinclair Broadcast Group. Part of the film is scheduled to air tonight on television stations owned by Sinclair, which owns one out of four TV stations. And George Butler, who has chronicled Kerry's Vietnam War years, accuses Sinclair of illegally copying his pictures and using them in the film, "Stolen Honor."

Meanwhile, Sinclair says contrary to numerous reports, it will not air the entire 45 minute film. Instead, 40 of its 62 stations will air just part of the film.

As for John Kerry, he's trying to show Americans a different side, hoping to connect with voters in those critical swing states.

CNN's Candy Crowley is following the Kerry campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An early morning in rural Ohio, a gaggle of geese and a gun-toting John Kerry. The Democratic candidate bagged a goose Thursday morning. Wednesday night, he let the cameras in to watch him watch the Red Sox game, all part of an effort to show voters what advisers call John Kerry, the guy.

The idea is to persuade voters wondering about John Kerry that he is, A, a normal guy; and, B, won't take their guns away. Democrats have long felt the rural vote is theirs if they could convince gun owners they are not after their guns.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I understand he bought a new camouflage jacket for the occasion, which did make me wonder how regularly he does go goose hunting.

CROWLEY: For the record, his campaign says the Senator borrowed the camouflage. Anyway, by the time Kerry got to Columbus he had ditched the camo for a serious suit and a speech on scientific and technological innovation.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And if George Bush had been president during other periods of American history, he would have sided with the candle lobby against electricity. He would have been with the buggy makers against the cars and the typewriter companies against the computers.

CROWLEY: This was not about electricity or computers, but about embryonic stem cell research, a subject infused with the human side by Dana Reeve's first public appearance since her husband's death.

DANA REEVE, WIDOW OF CHRISTOPHER REEVE: And I am here today because John Kerry, like Christopher Reeve, believes in keeping our hope alive.

CROWLEY: As much as the morning hunt was about rural male voters, the afternoon was about women, a voting block that has traditionally been more Democrat than Republican, but has yet to fully warm up to John Kerry.

Candy Crowley CNN, Columbus, Ohio.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: In the meantime, President Bush heads back on the campaign trail, as well, today. He's going to be in three battleground states. This morning, he has a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. And then it's on to Ohio and Florida. One day, three states, 68 electoral votes. And 21 of those 68 electoral votes comes from Pennsylvania.

Al Gore carried the Keystone State in the 2000 election. President Clinton won it in '96 and '92. But President Bush is pushing hard to change that trend.

CNN's senior White House correspondent John King has more on the issues that may swing that state.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): The background is part of the message. The president's goal, to heal a major campaign weakness.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When it comes to health care, Senator Kerry's prescription is bigger government with higher costs. My reforms will lower costs and give more control and choices to the American people.

KING: Five million Americans have lost health coverage during the Bush presidency and Senator Kerry has a big advantage on the issue, a problem for Mr. Bush in places like the Philadelphia suburbs, critical to victory in Pennsylvania. In appealing for a second look, Mr. Bush said his approach would limit the government's role but make health care more accessible and affordable by, among other things, expanding tax-free medical savings accounts, allowing small businesses to pool together to buy coverage and setting limits on medical malpractice awards.

BUSH: He has voted 10 times against medical liability reform during his Senate career.

KING: The Catholic vote is also a target and Mr. Bush met with Cardinal Justin Rigali, Philadelphia's Roman Catholic Archbishop and among the church leaders who says Catholics have a duty to vote for candidates who share the Vatican's opposition to abortion. It's a delicate balance. Courting social conservatives is critical, yet can hurt Republicans in the moderate suburbs.

WILLIAM GREEN, GOP MEDIA ADVISOR: Where he needs to be in the Philadelphia suburbs is primarily on the economy and not so much the social issues. The social issues play here in western Pennsylvania and the central part of the state.

KING: Republican polling shows Mr. Bush down a few points in Pennsylvania. BUSH: It's time to put up the signs. It is time to carry Pennsylvania.

KING: If he loses, it will not be for a lack of trying. This Hershey rally part of his 40th visit to the state as president. More to come before Election Day.

(on camera): Like abortion, guns is an issue that can play one way here in the Philadelphia suburbs yet very differently in the central and western part of the state. So perhaps no surprise that while there was no mention of the episode here, at the Hershey rally the president mocked a morning hunting trip taken by his opponent, saying that even in camouflage Senator Kerry can't hide from his liberal record.

John King CNN, Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: All right, now onto the battleground state of Ohio.

CNN's Paula Zahn hosted a town hall meeting of undecided voters in Greene County to see what's on their minds. Many had concerns about Iraq and its role in the war on terror. Representatives from the Bush and Kerry camps were in the hot seat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "PAULA ZAHN NOW")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda are the threat, but al Qaeda isn't specifically the only problem. There are other threats out there, the same mind set, the same mentality, the same hatred for this country. Saddam was one of those people. He harbored terrorists. He paid them. He trained them. He met with al Qaeda operatives. He was a threat, a substantial threat. I feel we should be in Iraq. I feel we should attack terrorism globally. We can't stop that fight.

PAULA ZAHN, HOST: All right, General Clark, I should point out the 9/11 Commission report says that there was no operational contact between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Your view of this question?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (D), KERRY-EDWARDS CAMPAIGN: The war in Iraq was a distraction. I looked at all the intelligence that I could get my hands on. I was the guy running the bombing for northern Iraq up until the summer of 2000. I worked against Saddam Hussein while I was in the Joint Staff starting in 1994. He was what we called a tier two threat. He was a problem, but he wasn't the kind of imminent threat that al Qaeda was.

By taking us into Iraq, the president distracted America and distracted our armed forces from the real war against al Qaeda around the world. He failed to capture Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well, some of the voters said neither Bush nor Kerry has been specific enough about how to get out of Iraq and how to restore peace.

Well, it looks like Senator Kerry is gaining ground in that State of Ohio. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll of registered voters favor Kerry over Bush 50 percent to 44 percent. But among likely voters, it's just about dead even -- 48 percent for Kerry, 47 percent for Bush.

The sampling error is plus or minus 4 percent. Ohio has 20 electoral votes up for grabs.

We've got some other news across America now this morning.

The Boston Police Department is apologizing for the death of a 21-year-old Red Sox fan. Victoria Snelgrove was hit in the face by a pepper spray canister fired by police. They were trying to break up crowds gathered outside Fenway Park to celebrate the Red Sox victory over the Yankees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SNELGROVE, VICTIM'S FATHER: What happened to her should not happen to any American citizen going to any type of game, no matter what. She loved the Red Sox. She went in to celebrate with friends. She was a bystander. She was out of the way, but she still got shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: An investigation has begun into how the young woman was killed by what was supposed to be a non-lethal weapon.

And thanks to a tip from a concerned resident, police in Marion, Indiana discovered two truckloads of marijuana. Two and a half tons of it, to be exact. DEA agents say they were taken aback by the sheer volume of drugs. Ten people were arrested. The marijuana has a street value of about $11 million.

You remember that pregnant woman who was arrested after talking too loudly on her cell phone at a Washington area train station? Disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges have been dropped against Sakinha Aaron. Prosecutors say a trial is not the best use of their resources.

Now, she says she is still considering a false arrest suit.

Oh, speaking of arresting, well, it looks like it's going to be an exciting World Series. Post-season baseball, the World Series is set for Saturday, and now we know which team is going to try and keep the Red Sox curse intact, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards versus the Astros, St. Louis led the league in scoring this year, but it's defensive plays like, well, like this, won the championships. Jim Edmonds stretched out to catch this drive and keep the Cardinals in the game. And then it was up to the offense. Third baseman Scott Rolen provided the big blast. His two run home run put the Cards up for good.

Now, with the game in hand, all that was left was the final out, and the celebration. The Cardinals are going to their first World Series in 17 years. Jubilant fans spilled out of St. Louis' Bush Stadium and out of the bars to celebrate in the states. But the revelry stayed pretty mild-mannered. There have been no reports of incidents between fans and police.

All right, on to the Series itself. The Red Sox host the first two games of the fall classic beginning tomorrow night. We're going to have more on the match up and the historical side of the Series in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

But, with less than two weeks to Election Day, the candidates are working hard to outline their political differences. And we're going to help them out. At the half hour, we're going to examine what the candidates say about education, if educating children builds a nation's future. What are schools in Iraq predicting? At 38 past the hour, Jane Arraf takes a look.

And at 53 past, Jeanne Moos gets some virtual help for a very real fear.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LIN: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's now 15 past the hour and here's what's all new this morning.

A senior commander of Hamas was killed during an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Israeli sources say the Palestinian was a master bomb maker. A Hamas spokesman says the group will revenge his death.

Rescue efforts are going on right now at the scene of that mine explosion in central China. Several more bodies have been recovered, bringing the death toll to at least 62. A gas explosion tore through the mine two days ago. Another 90 people are still believed to be trapped deeper in the mine.

In money, profits are off at Microsoft. The company reports $2.9 billion in earnings for the last quarter. That's a $0.27 per share jump. But the profits were still lower than what Wall Street had expected.

In culture, the last beam has been put into place for a new skyscraper at ground zero. The building will replace Seven World Trade Center, which was one of the seven buildings destroyed in the 9/11 attacks.

And in sports, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 5- 2 to advance to the World Series. The Cards will meet the Boston Red Sox for game one tomorrow night.

And where will you be -- Orelon. SIDNEY: Probably sleeping, considering that this early morning stuff is way outside of my biorhythms.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: Rescue teams are going to be back out this morning in an effort to find at least two hikers still missing in Sequoia National Park in California. The two are just the latest to be caught by a surprise blizzard in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

CNN's Rusty Dornin looks at rescue efforts for many of the other stranded hikers.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): Across the Sierra Nevada, time was critical; the weather postcard perfect for rescuers. At Yosemite's El Capitan, these climbers braved the blizzard this week, hanging on ropes, huddled on the face of the granite monolith. Under warm, sunny skies, they are trying to climb out on their own.

The only way to reach stranded climbers here is to fly a helicopter to the top and rappel rescuers down the face. Here you see them retrieving the bodies of a Japanese couple who froze to death. Later, the bodies were brought down the mountain. Apparently the couple was trapped near a waterfall that was getting them wetter and wetter as temperatures dropped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're just colder and colder and with no shelter, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time without the proper equipment.

DORNIN: Across the Sierra to the southeast, four hikers rescued by a helicopter. Well prepared, they hunkered down for four days. But when the skies cleared, the snow was so deep they couldn't go anywhere.

JEFF PEACOCK, RESCUED HIKER: It took us, I don't know, 20 minutes to walk 100 yards. And we were so exhausted we could barely move.

DORNIN: His 73-year-old father says he and his son both imagined the worst.

TOM PEACOCK, RESCUED HIKER: You have all kinds of dreams about what's going to happen if you don't make it, what happens to your family.

DOUG SCHNEIDER, RESCUED HIKER: And when we heard the chopper come over, we just ran out, grabbed all our mirrors and red signal flares, and waved them in.

DORNIN: This couple and their dog also waved in the rescuers. Missing since Monday, they were picked up in yet another part of the Sierra. On another happy note, four hikers from a Santa Cruz winemaking family can toast their rescuers for finding them in the snows above Shaver Lake.

(on camera): Rusty Dornin, CNN, Yosemite National Park.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: Good news for that family.

Meantime, fast the accusations on the campaign trail. The 2004 presidential election is taking center stage here in the United States. But are the candidates selling themselves overseas?

Later this hour, we're going to go live to Tokyo, where the court of popular opinion is in full session about the Americans.

You're watching DAYBREAK for this Friday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: John Kerry's campaign says the new ads for George Bush use the politics of fear to distract voters. Bush accuses Kerry of misunderstanding terrorists. The ads air in 14 states starting today.

But late night comedian Jay Leno wasted no time taking a different perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO," COURTESY NBC)

JAY LENO, HOST: All the candidates now are trying to scare voters in the last weeks of the campaign. This is what they do. And they'll both do a pretty good job of it. I mean I think voters are petrified that on November 2 they're actually going to have to pick one of these guys, you know? And what's scarier than that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Other DAYBREAK "Eye Openers" now.

The woman in black is known as the grandmother -- there she is -- of belly dancing in South Africa. And she really is a grandmother. Katherine Harrison is also the foremost belly dancing teacher in the country. There she goes. She says she taught herself belly dancing about 30 years ago as a way to stay in shape. She now shares her skills with women of all ages.

Thousands of Pennsylvania pretzels could be on their way to American troops in Iraq. At least that's what one veteran's plan is. Operation Support in Reading, Pennsylvania was created so people could donate to the pretzel fund. Just $9 buys a case of pretzels, with first class delivery to the troops.

And meet the newest residents of a wildlife rescue center in India. The rare tiger cubs are just the second litter ever born in captivity at the center. Caretakers are celebrating with extra milk for the cubs and extra meat for the mom.

And here's what's all new in the next half hour.

No child left behind, no issue forgotten. But rising tuition and gaps in scholastic performance are cause for concern with parents. Up next, we're going to see where the presidential candidates stand on the issue of education.

This is DAYBREAK for Friday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Good morning and welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.

From CNN's Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin in for Carol Costello.

Right now in the news, in Missouri, a former employee who opened fire at a St. Louis area factory has now surrendered. Authorities say one person suffered a minor gunshot wound. The man had been fired about a year ago.

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 22, 2004 - 05:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin in for Carol Costello.

Right now in the news, court martial proceedings are going on at this hour in Baghdad for two U.S. soldiers accused in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. Sergeant Javal Davis and Specialist Charles Graner are accused of abusing Iraqi detainees.

And Secretary of State Colin Powell is acknowledging the U.S. does not know how far North Korea's nuclear program has progressed. Powell leaves today for meetings with officials in Japan, China and South Korea.

And the case of a severely brain damaged Florida woman faces another milestone today. A judge is due to rule on a new trial requested by the parents of Terri Schiavo. The woman's husband wants her feeding tube removed.

It will be the St. Louis Cardinals against the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. The Cards beat the Houston Astros 5-2 for the National League championship -- Orelon, it's not going to be Texas and Boston.

ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

LIN: At least not in baseball.

SIDNEY: Yes, I really, well, my boyfriend was telling me, who's the expert, told me that he just knew the Astros were going to win that one so.

LIN: Oh, yes, the expert was wrong.

SIDNEY: Yes.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: Well, there are 11 days remaining until education and time is running out for the candidates in their swing states to campaign and get those votes.

John Kerry is going to hit the campaign trail today in Milwaukee, where he's going to be courting women voters in a speech at the University of Wisconsin. And then, it's cross country to Reno for a rally at the University of Nevada tonight. He ends the day in Colorado.

The director of a controversial film about John Kerry is suing Sinclair Broadcast Group. Part of the film is scheduled to air tonight on television stations owned by Sinclair, which owns one out of four TV stations. And George Butler, who has chronicled Kerry's Vietnam War years, accuses Sinclair of illegally copying his pictures and using them in the film, "Stolen Honor."

Meanwhile, Sinclair says contrary to numerous reports, it will not air the entire 45 minute film. Instead, 40 of its 62 stations will air just part of the film.

As for John Kerry, he's trying to show Americans a different side, hoping to connect with voters in those critical swing states.

CNN's Candy Crowley is following the Kerry campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An early morning in rural Ohio, a gaggle of geese and a gun-toting John Kerry. The Democratic candidate bagged a goose Thursday morning. Wednesday night, he let the cameras in to watch him watch the Red Sox game, all part of an effort to show voters what advisers call John Kerry, the guy.

The idea is to persuade voters wondering about John Kerry that he is, A, a normal guy; and, B, won't take their guns away. Democrats have long felt the rural vote is theirs if they could convince gun owners they are not after their guns.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I understand he bought a new camouflage jacket for the occasion, which did make me wonder how regularly he does go goose hunting.

CROWLEY: For the record, his campaign says the Senator borrowed the camouflage. Anyway, by the time Kerry got to Columbus he had ditched the camo for a serious suit and a speech on scientific and technological innovation.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And if George Bush had been president during other periods of American history, he would have sided with the candle lobby against electricity. He would have been with the buggy makers against the cars and the typewriter companies against the computers.

CROWLEY: This was not about electricity or computers, but about embryonic stem cell research, a subject infused with the human side by Dana Reeve's first public appearance since her husband's death.

DANA REEVE, WIDOW OF CHRISTOPHER REEVE: And I am here today because John Kerry, like Christopher Reeve, believes in keeping our hope alive.

CROWLEY: As much as the morning hunt was about rural male voters, the afternoon was about women, a voting block that has traditionally been more Democrat than Republican, but has yet to fully warm up to John Kerry.

Candy Crowley CNN, Columbus, Ohio.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: In the meantime, President Bush heads back on the campaign trail, as well, today. He's going to be in three battleground states. This morning, he has a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. And then it's on to Ohio and Florida. One day, three states, 68 electoral votes. And 21 of those 68 electoral votes comes from Pennsylvania.

Al Gore carried the Keystone State in the 2000 election. President Clinton won it in '96 and '92. But President Bush is pushing hard to change that trend.

CNN's senior White House correspondent John King has more on the issues that may swing that state.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): The background is part of the message. The president's goal, to heal a major campaign weakness.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When it comes to health care, Senator Kerry's prescription is bigger government with higher costs. My reforms will lower costs and give more control and choices to the American people.

KING: Five million Americans have lost health coverage during the Bush presidency and Senator Kerry has a big advantage on the issue, a problem for Mr. Bush in places like the Philadelphia suburbs, critical to victory in Pennsylvania. In appealing for a second look, Mr. Bush said his approach would limit the government's role but make health care more accessible and affordable by, among other things, expanding tax-free medical savings accounts, allowing small businesses to pool together to buy coverage and setting limits on medical malpractice awards.

BUSH: He has voted 10 times against medical liability reform during his Senate career.

KING: The Catholic vote is also a target and Mr. Bush met with Cardinal Justin Rigali, Philadelphia's Roman Catholic Archbishop and among the church leaders who says Catholics have a duty to vote for candidates who share the Vatican's opposition to abortion. It's a delicate balance. Courting social conservatives is critical, yet can hurt Republicans in the moderate suburbs.

WILLIAM GREEN, GOP MEDIA ADVISOR: Where he needs to be in the Philadelphia suburbs is primarily on the economy and not so much the social issues. The social issues play here in western Pennsylvania and the central part of the state.

KING: Republican polling shows Mr. Bush down a few points in Pennsylvania. BUSH: It's time to put up the signs. It is time to carry Pennsylvania.

KING: If he loses, it will not be for a lack of trying. This Hershey rally part of his 40th visit to the state as president. More to come before Election Day.

(on camera): Like abortion, guns is an issue that can play one way here in the Philadelphia suburbs yet very differently in the central and western part of the state. So perhaps no surprise that while there was no mention of the episode here, at the Hershey rally the president mocked a morning hunting trip taken by his opponent, saying that even in camouflage Senator Kerry can't hide from his liberal record.

John King CNN, Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: All right, now onto the battleground state of Ohio.

CNN's Paula Zahn hosted a town hall meeting of undecided voters in Greene County to see what's on their minds. Many had concerns about Iraq and its role in the war on terror. Representatives from the Bush and Kerry camps were in the hot seat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "PAULA ZAHN NOW")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda are the threat, but al Qaeda isn't specifically the only problem. There are other threats out there, the same mind set, the same mentality, the same hatred for this country. Saddam was one of those people. He harbored terrorists. He paid them. He trained them. He met with al Qaeda operatives. He was a threat, a substantial threat. I feel we should be in Iraq. I feel we should attack terrorism globally. We can't stop that fight.

PAULA ZAHN, HOST: All right, General Clark, I should point out the 9/11 Commission report says that there was no operational contact between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Your view of this question?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (D), KERRY-EDWARDS CAMPAIGN: The war in Iraq was a distraction. I looked at all the intelligence that I could get my hands on. I was the guy running the bombing for northern Iraq up until the summer of 2000. I worked against Saddam Hussein while I was in the Joint Staff starting in 1994. He was what we called a tier two threat. He was a problem, but he wasn't the kind of imminent threat that al Qaeda was.

By taking us into Iraq, the president distracted America and distracted our armed forces from the real war against al Qaeda around the world. He failed to capture Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well, some of the voters said neither Bush nor Kerry has been specific enough about how to get out of Iraq and how to restore peace.

Well, it looks like Senator Kerry is gaining ground in that State of Ohio. A new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll of registered voters favor Kerry over Bush 50 percent to 44 percent. But among likely voters, it's just about dead even -- 48 percent for Kerry, 47 percent for Bush.

The sampling error is plus or minus 4 percent. Ohio has 20 electoral votes up for grabs.

We've got some other news across America now this morning.

The Boston Police Department is apologizing for the death of a 21-year-old Red Sox fan. Victoria Snelgrove was hit in the face by a pepper spray canister fired by police. They were trying to break up crowds gathered outside Fenway Park to celebrate the Red Sox victory over the Yankees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SNELGROVE, VICTIM'S FATHER: What happened to her should not happen to any American citizen going to any type of game, no matter what. She loved the Red Sox. She went in to celebrate with friends. She was a bystander. She was out of the way, but she still got shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: An investigation has begun into how the young woman was killed by what was supposed to be a non-lethal weapon.

And thanks to a tip from a concerned resident, police in Marion, Indiana discovered two truckloads of marijuana. Two and a half tons of it, to be exact. DEA agents say they were taken aback by the sheer volume of drugs. Ten people were arrested. The marijuana has a street value of about $11 million.

You remember that pregnant woman who was arrested after talking too loudly on her cell phone at a Washington area train station? Disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges have been dropped against Sakinha Aaron. Prosecutors say a trial is not the best use of their resources.

Now, she says she is still considering a false arrest suit.

Oh, speaking of arresting, well, it looks like it's going to be an exciting World Series. Post-season baseball, the World Series is set for Saturday, and now we know which team is going to try and keep the Red Sox curse intact, the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards versus the Astros, St. Louis led the league in scoring this year, but it's defensive plays like, well, like this, won the championships. Jim Edmonds stretched out to catch this drive and keep the Cardinals in the game. And then it was up to the offense. Third baseman Scott Rolen provided the big blast. His two run home run put the Cards up for good.

Now, with the game in hand, all that was left was the final out, and the celebration. The Cardinals are going to their first World Series in 17 years. Jubilant fans spilled out of St. Louis' Bush Stadium and out of the bars to celebrate in the states. But the revelry stayed pretty mild-mannered. There have been no reports of incidents between fans and police.

All right, on to the Series itself. The Red Sox host the first two games of the fall classic beginning tomorrow night. We're going to have more on the match up and the historical side of the Series in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

But, with less than two weeks to Election Day, the candidates are working hard to outline their political differences. And we're going to help them out. At the half hour, we're going to examine what the candidates say about education, if educating children builds a nation's future. What are schools in Iraq predicting? At 38 past the hour, Jane Arraf takes a look.

And at 53 past, Jeanne Moos gets some virtual help for a very real fear.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Friday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

LIN: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's now 15 past the hour and here's what's all new this morning.

A senior commander of Hamas was killed during an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Israeli sources say the Palestinian was a master bomb maker. A Hamas spokesman says the group will revenge his death.

Rescue efforts are going on right now at the scene of that mine explosion in central China. Several more bodies have been recovered, bringing the death toll to at least 62. A gas explosion tore through the mine two days ago. Another 90 people are still believed to be trapped deeper in the mine.

In money, profits are off at Microsoft. The company reports $2.9 billion in earnings for the last quarter. That's a $0.27 per share jump. But the profits were still lower than what Wall Street had expected.

In culture, the last beam has been put into place for a new skyscraper at ground zero. The building will replace Seven World Trade Center, which was one of the seven buildings destroyed in the 9/11 attacks.

And in sports, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 5- 2 to advance to the World Series. The Cards will meet the Boston Red Sox for game one tomorrow night.

And where will you be -- Orelon. SIDNEY: Probably sleeping, considering that this early morning stuff is way outside of my biorhythms.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: Rescue teams are going to be back out this morning in an effort to find at least two hikers still missing in Sequoia National Park in California. The two are just the latest to be caught by a surprise blizzard in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

CNN's Rusty Dornin looks at rescue efforts for many of the other stranded hikers.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): Across the Sierra Nevada, time was critical; the weather postcard perfect for rescuers. At Yosemite's El Capitan, these climbers braved the blizzard this week, hanging on ropes, huddled on the face of the granite monolith. Under warm, sunny skies, they are trying to climb out on their own.

The only way to reach stranded climbers here is to fly a helicopter to the top and rappel rescuers down the face. Here you see them retrieving the bodies of a Japanese couple who froze to death. Later, the bodies were brought down the mountain. Apparently the couple was trapped near a waterfall that was getting them wetter and wetter as temperatures dropped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're just colder and colder and with no shelter, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time without the proper equipment.

DORNIN: Across the Sierra to the southeast, four hikers rescued by a helicopter. Well prepared, they hunkered down for four days. But when the skies cleared, the snow was so deep they couldn't go anywhere.

JEFF PEACOCK, RESCUED HIKER: It took us, I don't know, 20 minutes to walk 100 yards. And we were so exhausted we could barely move.

DORNIN: His 73-year-old father says he and his son both imagined the worst.

TOM PEACOCK, RESCUED HIKER: You have all kinds of dreams about what's going to happen if you don't make it, what happens to your family.

DOUG SCHNEIDER, RESCUED HIKER: And when we heard the chopper come over, we just ran out, grabbed all our mirrors and red signal flares, and waved them in.

DORNIN: This couple and their dog also waved in the rescuers. Missing since Monday, they were picked up in yet another part of the Sierra. On another happy note, four hikers from a Santa Cruz winemaking family can toast their rescuers for finding them in the snows above Shaver Lake.

(on camera): Rusty Dornin, CNN, Yosemite National Park.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LIN: Good news for that family.

Meantime, fast the accusations on the campaign trail. The 2004 presidential election is taking center stage here in the United States. But are the candidates selling themselves overseas?

Later this hour, we're going to go live to Tokyo, where the court of popular opinion is in full session about the Americans.

You're watching DAYBREAK for this Friday.

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LIN: John Kerry's campaign says the new ads for George Bush use the politics of fear to distract voters. Bush accuses Kerry of misunderstanding terrorists. The ads air in 14 states starting today.

But late night comedian Jay Leno wasted no time taking a different perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO," COURTESY NBC)

JAY LENO, HOST: All the candidates now are trying to scare voters in the last weeks of the campaign. This is what they do. And they'll both do a pretty good job of it. I mean I think voters are petrified that on November 2 they're actually going to have to pick one of these guys, you know? And what's scarier than that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Other DAYBREAK "Eye Openers" now.

The woman in black is known as the grandmother -- there she is -- of belly dancing in South Africa. And she really is a grandmother. Katherine Harrison is also the foremost belly dancing teacher in the country. There she goes. She says she taught herself belly dancing about 30 years ago as a way to stay in shape. She now shares her skills with women of all ages.

Thousands of Pennsylvania pretzels could be on their way to American troops in Iraq. At least that's what one veteran's plan is. Operation Support in Reading, Pennsylvania was created so people could donate to the pretzel fund. Just $9 buys a case of pretzels, with first class delivery to the troops.

And meet the newest residents of a wildlife rescue center in India. The rare tiger cubs are just the second litter ever born in captivity at the center. Caretakers are celebrating with extra milk for the cubs and extra meat for the mom.

And here's what's all new in the next half hour.

No child left behind, no issue forgotten. But rising tuition and gaps in scholastic performance are cause for concern with parents. Up next, we're going to see where the presidential candidates stand on the issue of education.

This is DAYBREAK for Friday.

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LIN: Good morning and welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK.

From CNN's Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin in for Carol Costello.

Right now in the news, in Missouri, a former employee who opened fire at a St. Louis area factory has now surrendered. Authorities say one person suffered a minor gunshot wound. The man had been fired about a year ago.

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