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American Morning
Critical Issues in the Battleground States; An Interview with Paul Hamm
Aired October 22, 2004 - 08:00 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Back through the swing states and the campaign turns to health care, a strong issue for Democrats. But has the president found an edge?
Celebration spoiled...
(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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Police kill a Red Sox fan after the team's last win. What happens now?
And saved -- the stranded mountain climbers who are now in from the cold.
Plus, an Olympic controversy finally put to rest. We're going to talk to gold medalist Paul Hamm, who keeps what he won, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, this is AMERICAN MORNING on the road with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
Good morning and welcome from Chicago, everybody.
Isn't that a beautiful shot of the Adler Planetarium, which is where we are this morning?
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Right on Lake Michigan, by the way. A huge place out -- it looks like an ocean sometimes, every time we come up here to the Great Lakes.
O'BRIEN: Apparently this used to be, this location used to be a manmade island and they built it on -- and they built a land bridge. A little factoid about the Adler Planetarium I bet you didn't know.
HEMMER: One of the great places to visit here in Chicago.
We've been throughout the...
O'BRIEN: What was that? Oh.
HEMMER: It was the Jetsons family or so. See that right there on the screen? That's right. There's his boy Leroy.
We started out on the river, we cruised on over to the Magnificent Mile, Union Station on Wednesday. We were nearby yesterday at the Field Museum. Remember Sue, T. Rex? And today, we shift east to the Adler Planetarium.
Good morning.
Welcome back to Chicago.
Some of the news making headlines today, President Bush speaking out about health care -- I like that -- hammering his message over and over in the State of Pennsylvania. We'll look at the president's strategy with 11 days to go and talk about that old bit of conventional wisdom, of all politics being local. Jeff Greenfield has a few thoughts on that in a moment here.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, here in Chicago, controversy over the renovations in Soldier's Field. Critics say it looks like a spaceship landed on the Lincoln Memorial. We're going to see what that could mean for the home of the Bears.
HEMMER: There was a lot of criticism when they retrofitted that stadium. I, for one, think it looks great. Soldier Field is such a wonderful football destination. And I think they improved it, actually. And I'm in the minority.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But it looks weird. You know, driving out here yesterday...
O'BRIEN: Yes, it does.
CAFFERTY: ... we had to go right by it to get to the museum and I didn't recognize it. I asked the driver, I said, "What is that?" He said, "Soldier Field."
HEMMER: Pow!
CAFFERTY: It does look like a space ship landed.
HEMMER: Oh, with the Greek columns on the outside.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I think that's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
HEMMER: And forget...
O'BRIEN: And then the thing around the side.
CAFFERTY: They should have left it alone.
HEMMER: But every seat is on top of the field. It brings you really close to the game. CAFFERTY: They should have left it alone.
HEMMER: All right. It's done now.
CAFFERTY: You know, some things you can't improve on. Other things you can.
Coming up in the "Cafferty File," students at DePaul University here in Chicago sound off in "The File" on the election, the high cost of going to college and who serves the best draft beer near the campus. And a look -- and that's the thing that really matters to college students, let's face it. And a look at some of the great movies made here in Chicago. And, I don't know, I didn't know this, there was a time when Chicago's reputation as the home of gangsters and the mob and organized crime got so bad that Mayor Daley, a fine, upstanding gentleman in his own right, told Hollywood don't bother coming here anymore and he shut down movie production in the city...
HEMMER: Is that right?
CAFFERTY: ... because it was reflecting poorly on the image of his town. And then eventually they got it worked out because Hollywood brings jobs and money to the economy and yada yada.
O'BRIEN: Someone did the math and...
CAFFERTY: They've done over 200 first run films in this town.
O'BRIEN: Really?
CAFFERTY: Yes. It's a big film production center.
HEMMER: Listen, for the entire week I've been here, I've only heard great things about how Chicagoans feel about the current mayor.
CAFFERTY: Yes?
HEMMER: They love this guy. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
CAFFERTY: Yes. No, I'm talking about the original Mayor Daley.
HEMMER: Correct, his father.
CAFFERTY: And they elected him whether they loved him or not because he controlled how they counted the votes.
HEMMER: Hello.
Thank you, Jack.
Heidi Collins also here with us in Chicago -- good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you guys, as well.
Now in the news this morning, there are reports of some 90 people trapped in a coal mine in central China. Wednesday's gas explosion leveled parts of the mine, killing more than 60 people. Friends and family of the victims remain huddled around the mine, hoping for news about those still missing. The cause of the blast still being investigated.
In California, a search resumes this morning for two elderly hikers missing in Sequoia National Park. Yesterday, rescue crews airlifted a group of four men stranded in the Sierra Mountain range in freezing temperatures. More than 20 people have been rescued in the area following a heavy snowstorm earlier this week.
Some news about the flu vaccine shortage now. Health officials have announced the availability of a million more doses of the flu mist vaccine. The nasal spray is approved only for healthy people between the ages of five and 49. Health care workers are encouraged to use it.
And in sports, it's their first World Series match up since 1967. Cardinals versus the Red Sox. St. Louis clinched the National League pennant last night against the Astros with a 5-2 victory. Game one, World Series, tomorrow night in Boston.
Do you like that stadium, Bill Hemmer?
HEMMER: Yes, I do, as a matter of fact.
More later.
COLLINS: You got it.
HEMMER: Thanks, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: Politics now.
It is back to battleground Pennsylvania this morning for President Bush. He spent the day there yesterday, as well. The big issue is health care.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us with more this morning -- good morning to you, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, President Bush, of course, is preparing for his closing argument. Bush aides today he will concentrate on the contrast between his record and Kerry's on issues like family, security, family budget, values, retirement. Yesterday he was in the critical state of Pennsylvania. That is where he returns today, to focus on an issue that polls show his most vulnerable -- health care.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With your help, we will carry Pennsylvania on November the 2nd. MALVEAUX (voice-over): Possibly an attainable goal, Bush aides say. Two events in Pennsylvania -- an evening rally in Hershey and earlier a speech focused on health care in suburban Philadelphia, where voters say that matters. The president's main objective now in the race to the finish is to convince voters the gulf in how he and John Kerry would lead is enormous.
BUSH: On issue after issue after issue, my opponent wants the government to dictate to the American people. I want the American people to decide. He trusts government, I trust the people.
MALVEAUX: The president argued one example is his health care agenda, which allows the marketplace to set costs, not the government.
BUSH: The Kerry plan would move America down the road toward federal control of health care, which would lead to lower quality and health care rationing.
MALVEAUX: The Kerry camp says none of those claims are true. They say, in fact, under Mr. Bush's watch, five million Americans have lost their health insurance and Medicare premiums are up 17 percent. A Bush adviser says, however, that their focus groups show voters, particularly women, are less likely to feel comfortable giving the government a bigger role in health care.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now this morning, the Bush camp releases a new ad. It is running on national cable, as well as some battleground states. It's called "Wolves." It's a terrorism ad that shows a wolf moving through the brush. It says that one year after the first World Trade Center bombing that Kerry voted to cut intelligence. It says that would weaken the country's defense. The final line, "Weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm." You see a pack of wolves lurking in the distance. Bush aides say that represents the terrorism threat.
Of course, that is a message, Soledad, that the president is going to take with him to three very important states today -- Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania, Canton, Ohio and then again back to St. Petersburg, Florida.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux is with the Bush campaign.
Suzanne, thanks for that.
And health care continues to be a major topic for Senator Kerry, as well. He addressed supporters yesterday in Minneapolis, vowing to lift President Bush's ban on federal funding for stem cell research.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to help cure disease by investing in science itself and in new technologies. We're not going to stand in the way of the future. We're not going to set up ideological barricades in front of the future. We're going to lift President Bush's ban on federal funding for stem cell research. We're going to go forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Senator Kerry begins his day in Wisconsin before he has to Colorado and Nevada. Tomorrow, it's off to New Mexico and Florida, where he's going to get some help from Al Gore -- Bill.
HEMMER: All politics is local, right? That's how the saying goes. But how true is it in a national election with war and health care and taxes now front and center?
Our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, back in New York City with some answers -- Jeff, good morning to you.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
HEMMER: First, how true is it, that famous saying that all politics is local?
GREENFIELD: Well, like a lot of well known truths, it's sort of true. We just saw that wolf in the woods ad. That's not about a local issue. And, by the way, it's a direct borrowing from Ronald Reagan's bear in the woods ads 20 years ago, referring to the Soviet Union.
But as I was saying, the emergence of an extremist worldwide movement aimed at killing as many Americans as possible, that's not local. And neither is the debate over Iraq or Social Security.
But there are local concerns that could affect the vote in several key states, and as we all know, it's those electoral votes that are going to decide who the president is.
The "Wall Street Journal" pointed some of this out yesterday, and there are others, as well.
HEMMER: Take us inside some of the local issues on the significant level that could impact nationally. Are what, Jeff?
GREENFIELD: OK, let's look at Nevada, usually a reliably Republican state. Four years ago -- Clinton actually had carried that, I believe, twice. Four years ago, George Bush said that Yucca Mountain would not be designated the permanent depository for nuclear waste unless it could be proven scientifically safe. Two years later, his administration said OK, it is safe. Opponents call that a betrayal. John Kerry has been saying he would stop that dump.
In Wisconsin, not surprisingly, dairy farmers are important there. They're worried about the possible end of milk subsidies.
In Iowa, the Kerry campaign thinks that methamphetamine abuse is a way of connecting with middle class families whose concern about their kids often translates into socially conservative votes.
And then there's gun ownership. That's an issue that ex- President Clinton thinks cost Gore the state of West Virginia and quite possibly Ohio, as well. And in Florida, the Cuban-American community, normally Republican anyway, as you remember, Bill, went overwhelmingly for Bush in 2000 on a kind of local issue. It was outraged by the Clinton administration's return to Cuba of young Elian Gonzalez, who had survived a boat lift.
Now, this year there is some anger over the Bush administration's sharp limits on family travel to Cuba and on the sending of the money back to relatives. Maybe the Kerry campaign thinks that could put some of those Republican votes into their camp.
HEMMER: Take it one step further. What about referenda in the individual states? What about actual voting issues in these states?
GREENFIELD: Yes. Now, the best known example is the proposal to ban same-sex marriages, to block judges in state courts from ruling on this, as the Massachusetts court did. You've got three battleground states -- Michigan, Ohio and Oregon -- that will be voting on Election Day whether to put this ban into their constitutions. Republicans are hoping this is going to bring out a big vote among social conservatives. That is a vote that obviously they think could help Bush in those states.
HEMMER: Got it.
Eleven days and counting.
Are you going to Fenway this weekend, by the way?
GREENFIELD: Much as I thought I could research the significant political implications, I am going to Florida. I think that state's a little more in play than Massachusetts.
HEMMER: All right, well, keep trying looking for those excuses.
Thank you, Jeff.
Have a good weekend.
Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: In fact, a sad angle on that story. The Boston Police Department now taking full responsibility for the death of a 21-year- old Red Sox fan. Rowdy fans were celebrating, in fact, Boston's victory over New York when they clashed with police early yesterday and burned a car, held some bottles. The police fired several pepper spray canisters into the crowd and one hit the fan, Victoria Snelgrove, right in the face. Snelgrove died hours later.
Her father, speaking outside the family's home, expressed outrage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SNELGROVE: 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)
O'BRIEN: The Boston police commissioner says the department is going to conduct an internal investigation. Snelgrove, a journalism major at Emerson College in Boston, would have been 22 next week.
HEMMER: So sobering in light of the good celebrations in that town.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HEMMER: Well, on a Friday, looking toward the weekend and looking toward the weather.
Orelon Sidney working for Chad Myers.
It's good here in Chicago, by the way.
It's nice.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is.
HEMMER: Forties, maybe, yes?
SIDNEY: You're right, 49 degrees right now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Let's take a moment and look at the local papers. I've got the "Chicago Trib" this morning. And above the fold on the front page we've got "Bears Get Flu Shots Despite the Shortage." They're talking about members of the Chicago Bears. Here, is that helping? There you go. Yes, see that?
Apparently some members of the Chicago Bears went ahead and got their flu shots. Don't think they're in the high risk category, actually, when especially a lot of seniors aren't able to get shots and they've lined up and have been turned away frustrated. Lots of people up in arms about that, although the article does note that several Bears players, or many Bears players, opted out of the flu shots.
HEMMER: And many fans are upset by the way the team is playing this year.
O'BRIEN: That's a whole other issue.
HEMMER: And the Chicago...
O'BRIEN: That's not on the front page.
HEMMER: That's right.
And the "Chicago Sun-Times," this was the lead story in every newscast yesterday around 6:00 local time -- "City Truck Scandal Nets the Biggest Fish Yet." This is a scandal that has erupted here about thousands of dollars in bribes here in the City of Chicago. So it's getting a lot of play. The other thing I think is very interesting now, we've been in Chicago about six days now. I saw my first political ad yesterday, Barack Obama, the Alan Keyes race. We see very little advertising here in Chicago, because frankly this state is not in play, according to the polling.
O'BRIEN: Right.
HEMMER: So you go to Columbus, Ohio, you go to Orlando, Florida, a completely different matter. But not here in Chicago.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, we've got more on today's location, the Adler Planetarium. We're even going to give you some tips on how you can get a great view of next week's lunar eclipse.
HEMMER: Also, Bill Clinton getting ready to head back out on the stump for John Kerry. But there may be some risk involved, we're told. A big slice of deep dish politics coming up in Congress in a moment.
O'BRIEN: And now that gymnast Paul Hamm gets to keep his gold medal, does he think the sport needs to make some changes? We're going to ask him coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A controversy lingering from the Athens Olympics has finally been resolved. American gymnast Paul Hamm gets to keep his contested gold medal. In Switzerland yesterday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejecting an appeal from a South Korean gymnast, who claimed a scoring error deprived him of the gold.
And Paul Hamm joins us this morning from New York.
Nice to see you, Paul.
Thanks for being with us.
PAUL HAMM, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: I know you're -- you are wearing your gold medal. Congratulations. It's been a really long road when you consider that the competition was about two months ago.
How are you feeling today?
HAMM: I feel great. Yesterday was, you know, obviously a great day for me. It was wonderful news to find out that I got to keep my medal and that this was finally over.
O'BRIEN: The court ruled that the protest had to take place during the competition. In some ways it was sort of a sense of like a statute of limitations had kind of expired. He wasn't allowed to make the complaint, the South Korean gymnast.
Do you think that ruling on the technicality in any way diminishes your victory?
HAMM: I don't really see it as a ruling on a technicality. The reason that that rule is there is very important, because it affects the way the competition outcome would be. If the correct start value would have been given, we will never know what the outcome of the meet would have been. And it's just speculation to say whether or not someone would have won if that tenth would have been given.
O'BRIEN: Do you think any of this should ever have gone to court? It seems like we're hearing more and more of these, after a competition, someone walks away unhappy. The next thing you know it ends up in some kind of litigation.
HAMM: I don't think things like this should go to court. And, I mean, that's something that the court also ruled, was that they really don't even have jurisdiction over this matter. It's a matter of field of play and should be decided on the field of play. That is one reason why they said that they cannot step in and make a decision on this case.
O'BRIEN: It's been, I know, for you, a heart wrenching eight weeks, to a large degree. The International Gymnastics Federation president, in fact, at one point said he thought you should turn over your gold medal. He -- to the South Korean gymnast. You have said that you would like to get an apology from that Federation, the FIG.
Do you expect that you're going to get one?
HAMM: It would be wonderful if I could get an apology from them, just because I felt like they handled the situation in the wrong way. And I thought that it could have been put to an end, really, after the competition was over. And I really am not at this point expecting an apology. I think that it would be nice, but it doesn't seem likely at this point.
O'BRIEN: Sometimes controversy, as you well know, is really good for P.R. But sometimes it is not good.
Do you feel that all this controversy and the court case, which has dragged out over eight weeks, has hurt your ability to leverage your win and your gold medal, which is an incredibly remarkable achievement, into, you know, being on the cover of a Wheaties box and a marketing opportunity for you?
HAMM: It's really hard for me to say whether or not this whole experience is a positive or a negative. But the fact is it that, you know, my life is really great. And, you know, I went to the Olympics. I won three medals and I'm healthy. And, you know, what more could you ask for being a 22-year-old?
O'BRIEN: And you've got a big old gold medal around your neck this morning.
What more could you ask for?
Paul Hamm, it's nice to have you.
Congratulations to you.
And it's great that it's all finally resolved for you, as well.
HAMM: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for being with us -- Bill.
HEMMER: Let's get a break here.
In a moment, the recently renovated Soldier Field right over there, in fact. It's one of the big landmarks here in Chicago. Progress may have come at a steep price, though, and we're not talking about money in this case.
First, though, this hour's Chicago fun fact. What is distinctive about the Chicago Public Library?
O'BRIEN: Is it the hours?
HEMMER: That and more. We'll have an answer after the break here.
Live in Chicago on a Friday morning on the road with AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAFFERTY: I know, beautiful, right?
HEMMER: The sun up here on Lake Michigan.
The sun up here on Lake Michigan.
Welcome back, everybody.
You've thought about it. What's distinctive about the Chicago Public Library? A good question. The answer, the world's largest public library, 750,000 square feet. It holds more than two million books, as well. A great sight in Chicago.
Back over to Jack inside.
Hope you're warm, my friend -- good morning.
CAFFERTY: ... has been out all this week talking to -- here we are -- talking to Chicagoans about various topics. We went to DePaul University, where we talked to students about the issues that have the people fired up on campus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd say a lot of people I know are thinking about either tuition or things like the war, because no one wants to go to the draft.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Politics is really a big issue on campus and especially with DePaul being such like a liberal school. There's a lot of tension. Like some of the kids are super polarized and they're all for Bush. And then a lot of kids are all for Kerry. A majority of the kids are all for Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am finding things like turning back to the abortion issue constantly. I find that we aren't really getting past that in our conversations very much. Like I'm personally more concerned about like social issues, poverty issues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd say people are more focused on like their social life than the election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Some of the students at DePaul University.
Coming up later in the "Cafferty File," a trip down Chicago movie memory lane. There were some great films made in this city. You'll recognize a lot of the titles.
Back to you -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thanks for that.
There is a longstanding political event in New York called the Alfred E. Smith Dinner. It was held last night. Usually in an election year, the presidential candidates attend and usually they make some jokes and have a lot of fun. This year, though, neither candidate was invited.
The host, the Archdiocese of New York, felt campaign issues might detract from the spirit of that event. However, the former President Bush was invited. He kept it a bit light last night in New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I worried about him getting his words twisted up like he did when he was a kid. I'll never forget the paper he wrote in the fourth grade where he explained that in 1519 Ferdinand Magellan set out to circumcise the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The Alfred Smith Dinner is held every year to honor the New York governor and the first Catholic to be nominated for president in the United States.
A big political story here in Chicago last night. Barack Obama and Alan Keyes held yet another debate before their Senate face-off in about 11 days from now.
Let's get a break. In a moment, just how close are we to another manned mission to the moon? We'll ask one of the experts here at the planetarium, the Adler Planetarium.
Also, serving up some deep dish politics. Today, why one expert says all those polls we keep hearing about are meaningless.
AMERICAN MORNING from Chicago, back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, on the road in Chicago.
HEMMER: Good morning, everyone.
We're live at the Adler Planetarium right on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Soledad's dancing because she goes home today.
O'BRIEN: Isn't that great music? No?
HEMMER: She goes home to see her four children.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HEMMER: You're looking forward to that, aren't you?
O'BRIEN: Yes, I am.
HEMMER: That's right...
O'BRIEN: Although we've had a wonderful visit.
HEMMER: Yes, we have.
O'BRIEN: A good time.
HEMMER: Yes, we've got a lot of pictures.
O'BRIEN: Yes. We had a nice time.
HEMMER: A lot of stories.
O'BRIEN: And we had some great music and beautiful pieces.
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 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Back through the swing states and the campaign turns to health care, a strong issue for Democrats. But has the president found an edge?
Celebration spoiled...
(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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Police kill a Red Sox fan after the team's last win. What happens now?
And saved -- the stranded mountain climbers who are now in from the cold.
Plus, an Olympic controversy finally put to rest. We're going to talk to gold medalist Paul Hamm, who keeps what he won, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, this is AMERICAN MORNING on the road with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.
Good morning and welcome from Chicago, everybody.
Isn't that a beautiful shot of the Adler Planetarium, which is where we are this morning?
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Right on Lake Michigan, by the way. A huge place out -- it looks like an ocean sometimes, every time we come up here to the Great Lakes.
O'BRIEN: Apparently this used to be, this location used to be a manmade island and they built it on -- and they built a land bridge. A little factoid about the Adler Planetarium I bet you didn't know.
HEMMER: One of the great places to visit here in Chicago.
We've been throughout the...
O'BRIEN: What was that? Oh.
HEMMER: It was the Jetsons family or so. See that right there on the screen? That's right. There's his boy Leroy.
We started out on the river, we cruised on over to the Magnificent Mile, Union Station on Wednesday. We were nearby yesterday at the Field Museum. Remember Sue, T. Rex? And today, we shift east to the Adler Planetarium.
Good morning.
Welcome back to Chicago.
Some of the news making headlines today, President Bush speaking out about health care -- I like that -- hammering his message over and over in the State of Pennsylvania. We'll look at the president's strategy with 11 days to go and talk about that old bit of conventional wisdom, of all politics being local. Jeff Greenfield has a few thoughts on that in a moment here.
O'BRIEN: Also this morning, here in Chicago, controversy over the renovations in Soldier's Field. Critics say it looks like a spaceship landed on the Lincoln Memorial. We're going to see what that could mean for the home of the Bears.
HEMMER: There was a lot of criticism when they retrofitted that stadium. I, for one, think it looks great. Soldier Field is such a wonderful football destination. And I think they improved it, actually. And I'm in the minority.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But it looks weird. You know, driving out here yesterday...
O'BRIEN: Yes, it does.
CAFFERTY: ... we had to go right by it to get to the museum and I didn't recognize it. I asked the driver, I said, "What is that?" He said, "Soldier Field."
HEMMER: Pow!
CAFFERTY: It does look like a space ship landed.
HEMMER: Oh, with the Greek columns on the outside.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I think that's (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
HEMMER: And forget...
O'BRIEN: And then the thing around the side.
CAFFERTY: They should have left it alone.
HEMMER: But every seat is on top of the field. It brings you really close to the game. CAFFERTY: They should have left it alone.
HEMMER: All right. It's done now.
CAFFERTY: You know, some things you can't improve on. Other things you can.
Coming up in the "Cafferty File," students at DePaul University here in Chicago sound off in "The File" on the election, the high cost of going to college and who serves the best draft beer near the campus. And a look -- and that's the thing that really matters to college students, let's face it. And a look at some of the great movies made here in Chicago. And, I don't know, I didn't know this, there was a time when Chicago's reputation as the home of gangsters and the mob and organized crime got so bad that Mayor Daley, a fine, upstanding gentleman in his own right, told Hollywood don't bother coming here anymore and he shut down movie production in the city...
HEMMER: Is that right?
CAFFERTY: ... because it was reflecting poorly on the image of his town. And then eventually they got it worked out because Hollywood brings jobs and money to the economy and yada yada.
O'BRIEN: Someone did the math and...
CAFFERTY: They've done over 200 first run films in this town.
O'BRIEN: Really?
CAFFERTY: Yes. It's a big film production center.
HEMMER: Listen, for the entire week I've been here, I've only heard great things about how Chicagoans feel about the current mayor.
CAFFERTY: Yes?
HEMMER: They love this guy. (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
CAFFERTY: Yes. No, I'm talking about the original Mayor Daley.
HEMMER: Correct, his father.
CAFFERTY: And they elected him whether they loved him or not because he controlled how they counted the votes.
HEMMER: Hello.
Thank you, Jack.
Heidi Collins also here with us in Chicago -- good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you guys, as well.
Now in the news this morning, there are reports of some 90 people trapped in a coal mine in central China. Wednesday's gas explosion leveled parts of the mine, killing more than 60 people. Friends and family of the victims remain huddled around the mine, hoping for news about those still missing. The cause of the blast still being investigated.
In California, a search resumes this morning for two elderly hikers missing in Sequoia National Park. Yesterday, rescue crews airlifted a group of four men stranded in the Sierra Mountain range in freezing temperatures. More than 20 people have been rescued in the area following a heavy snowstorm earlier this week.
Some news about the flu vaccine shortage now. Health officials have announced the availability of a million more doses of the flu mist vaccine. The nasal spray is approved only for healthy people between the ages of five and 49. Health care workers are encouraged to use it.
And in sports, it's their first World Series match up since 1967. Cardinals versus the Red Sox. St. Louis clinched the National League pennant last night against the Astros with a 5-2 victory. Game one, World Series, tomorrow night in Boston.
Do you like that stadium, Bill Hemmer?
HEMMER: Yes, I do, as a matter of fact.
More later.
COLLINS: You got it.
HEMMER: Thanks, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: Politics now.
It is back to battleground Pennsylvania this morning for President Bush. He spent the day there yesterday, as well. The big issue is health care.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us with more this morning -- good morning to you, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, President Bush, of course, is preparing for his closing argument. Bush aides today he will concentrate on the contrast between his record and Kerry's on issues like family, security, family budget, values, retirement. Yesterday he was in the critical state of Pennsylvania. That is where he returns today, to focus on an issue that polls show his most vulnerable -- health care.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With your help, we will carry Pennsylvania on November the 2nd. MALVEAUX (voice-over): Possibly an attainable goal, Bush aides say. Two events in Pennsylvania -- an evening rally in Hershey and earlier a speech focused on health care in suburban Philadelphia, where voters say that matters. The president's main objective now in the race to the finish is to convince voters the gulf in how he and John Kerry would lead is enormous.
BUSH: On issue after issue after issue, my opponent wants the government to dictate to the American people. I want the American people to decide. He trusts government, I trust the people.
MALVEAUX: The president argued one example is his health care agenda, which allows the marketplace to set costs, not the government.
BUSH: The Kerry plan would move America down the road toward federal control of health care, which would lead to lower quality and health care rationing.
MALVEAUX: The Kerry camp says none of those claims are true. They say, in fact, under Mr. Bush's watch, five million Americans have lost their health insurance and Medicare premiums are up 17 percent. A Bush adviser says, however, that their focus groups show voters, particularly women, are less likely to feel comfortable giving the government a bigger role in health care.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now this morning, the Bush camp releases a new ad. It is running on national cable, as well as some battleground states. It's called "Wolves." It's a terrorism ad that shows a wolf moving through the brush. It says that one year after the first World Trade Center bombing that Kerry voted to cut intelligence. It says that would weaken the country's defense. The final line, "Weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm." You see a pack of wolves lurking in the distance. Bush aides say that represents the terrorism threat.
Of course, that is a message, Soledad, that the president is going to take with him to three very important states today -- Wilkes- Barre, Pennsylvania, Canton, Ohio and then again back to St. Petersburg, Florida.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux is with the Bush campaign.
Suzanne, thanks for that.
And health care continues to be a major topic for Senator Kerry, as well. He addressed supporters yesterday in Minneapolis, vowing to lift President Bush's ban on federal funding for stem cell research.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to help cure disease by investing in science itself and in new technologies. We're not going to stand in the way of the future. We're not going to set up ideological barricades in front of the future. We're going to lift President Bush's ban on federal funding for stem cell research. We're going to go forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Senator Kerry begins his day in Wisconsin before he has to Colorado and Nevada. Tomorrow, it's off to New Mexico and Florida, where he's going to get some help from Al Gore -- Bill.
HEMMER: All politics is local, right? That's how the saying goes. But how true is it in a national election with war and health care and taxes now front and center?
Our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, back in New York City with some answers -- Jeff, good morning to you.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
HEMMER: First, how true is it, that famous saying that all politics is local?
GREENFIELD: Well, like a lot of well known truths, it's sort of true. We just saw that wolf in the woods ad. That's not about a local issue. And, by the way, it's a direct borrowing from Ronald Reagan's bear in the woods ads 20 years ago, referring to the Soviet Union.
But as I was saying, the emergence of an extremist worldwide movement aimed at killing as many Americans as possible, that's not local. And neither is the debate over Iraq or Social Security.
But there are local concerns that could affect the vote in several key states, and as we all know, it's those electoral votes that are going to decide who the president is.
The "Wall Street Journal" pointed some of this out yesterday, and there are others, as well.
HEMMER: Take us inside some of the local issues on the significant level that could impact nationally. Are what, Jeff?
GREENFIELD: OK, let's look at Nevada, usually a reliably Republican state. Four years ago -- Clinton actually had carried that, I believe, twice. Four years ago, George Bush said that Yucca Mountain would not be designated the permanent depository for nuclear waste unless it could be proven scientifically safe. Two years later, his administration said OK, it is safe. Opponents call that a betrayal. John Kerry has been saying he would stop that dump.
In Wisconsin, not surprisingly, dairy farmers are important there. They're worried about the possible end of milk subsidies.
In Iowa, the Kerry campaign thinks that methamphetamine abuse is a way of connecting with middle class families whose concern about their kids often translates into socially conservative votes.
And then there's gun ownership. That's an issue that ex- President Clinton thinks cost Gore the state of West Virginia and quite possibly Ohio, as well. And in Florida, the Cuban-American community, normally Republican anyway, as you remember, Bill, went overwhelmingly for Bush in 2000 on a kind of local issue. It was outraged by the Clinton administration's return to Cuba of young Elian Gonzalez, who had survived a boat lift.
Now, this year there is some anger over the Bush administration's sharp limits on family travel to Cuba and on the sending of the money back to relatives. Maybe the Kerry campaign thinks that could put some of those Republican votes into their camp.
HEMMER: Take it one step further. What about referenda in the individual states? What about actual voting issues in these states?
GREENFIELD: Yes. Now, the best known example is the proposal to ban same-sex marriages, to block judges in state courts from ruling on this, as the Massachusetts court did. You've got three battleground states -- Michigan, Ohio and Oregon -- that will be voting on Election Day whether to put this ban into their constitutions. Republicans are hoping this is going to bring out a big vote among social conservatives. That is a vote that obviously they think could help Bush in those states.
HEMMER: Got it.
Eleven days and counting.
Are you going to Fenway this weekend, by the way?
GREENFIELD: Much as I thought I could research the significant political implications, I am going to Florida. I think that state's a little more in play than Massachusetts.
HEMMER: All right, well, keep trying looking for those excuses.
Thank you, Jeff.
Have a good weekend.
Here's Soledad.
O'BRIEN: In fact, a sad angle on that story. The Boston Police Department now taking full responsibility for the death of a 21-year- old Red Sox fan. Rowdy fans were celebrating, in fact, Boston's victory over New York when they clashed with police early yesterday and burned a car, held some bottles. The police fired several pepper spray canisters into the crowd and one hit the fan, Victoria Snelgrove, right in the face. Snelgrove died hours later.
Her father, speaking outside the family's home, expressed outrage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SNELGROVE: 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)
O'BRIEN: The Boston police commissioner says the department is going to conduct an internal investigation. Snelgrove, a journalism major at Emerson College in Boston, would have been 22 next week.
HEMMER: So sobering in light of the good celebrations in that town.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HEMMER: Well, on a Friday, looking toward the weekend and looking toward the weather.
Orelon Sidney working for Chad Myers.
It's good here in Chicago, by the way.
It's nice.
ORELON SIDNEY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it is.
HEMMER: Forties, maybe, yes?
SIDNEY: You're right, 49 degrees right now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Let's take a moment and look at the local papers. I've got the "Chicago Trib" this morning. And above the fold on the front page we've got "Bears Get Flu Shots Despite the Shortage." They're talking about members of the Chicago Bears. Here, is that helping? There you go. Yes, see that?
Apparently some members of the Chicago Bears went ahead and got their flu shots. Don't think they're in the high risk category, actually, when especially a lot of seniors aren't able to get shots and they've lined up and have been turned away frustrated. Lots of people up in arms about that, although the article does note that several Bears players, or many Bears players, opted out of the flu shots.
HEMMER: And many fans are upset by the way the team is playing this year.
O'BRIEN: That's a whole other issue.
HEMMER: And the Chicago...
O'BRIEN: That's not on the front page.
HEMMER: That's right.
And the "Chicago Sun-Times," this was the lead story in every newscast yesterday around 6:00 local time -- "City Truck Scandal Nets the Biggest Fish Yet." This is a scandal that has erupted here about thousands of dollars in bribes here in the City of Chicago. So it's getting a lot of play. The other thing I think is very interesting now, we've been in Chicago about six days now. I saw my first political ad yesterday, Barack Obama, the Alan Keyes race. We see very little advertising here in Chicago, because frankly this state is not in play, according to the polling.
O'BRIEN: Right.
HEMMER: So you go to Columbus, Ohio, you go to Orlando, Florida, a completely different matter. But not here in Chicago.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, we've got more on today's location, the Adler Planetarium. We're even going to give you some tips on how you can get a great view of next week's lunar eclipse.
HEMMER: Also, Bill Clinton getting ready to head back out on the stump for John Kerry. But there may be some risk involved, we're told. A big slice of deep dish politics coming up in Congress in a moment.
O'BRIEN: And now that gymnast Paul Hamm gets to keep his gold medal, does he think the sport needs to make some changes? We're going to ask him coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: A controversy lingering from the Athens Olympics has finally been resolved. American gymnast Paul Hamm gets to keep his contested gold medal. In Switzerland yesterday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejecting an appeal from a South Korean gymnast, who claimed a scoring error deprived him of the gold.
And Paul Hamm joins us this morning from New York.
Nice to see you, Paul.
Thanks for being with us.
PAUL HAMM, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: I know you're -- you are wearing your gold medal. Congratulations. It's been a really long road when you consider that the competition was about two months ago.
How are you feeling today?
HAMM: I feel great. Yesterday was, you know, obviously a great day for me. It was wonderful news to find out that I got to keep my medal and that this was finally over.
O'BRIEN: The court ruled that the protest had to take place during the competition. In some ways it was sort of a sense of like a statute of limitations had kind of expired. He wasn't allowed to make the complaint, the South Korean gymnast.
Do you think that ruling on the technicality in any way diminishes your victory?
HAMM: I don't really see it as a ruling on a technicality. The reason that that rule is there is very important, because it affects the way the competition outcome would be. If the correct start value would have been given, we will never know what the outcome of the meet would have been. And it's just speculation to say whether or not someone would have won if that tenth would have been given.
O'BRIEN: Do you think any of this should ever have gone to court? It seems like we're hearing more and more of these, after a competition, someone walks away unhappy. The next thing you know it ends up in some kind of litigation.
HAMM: I don't think things like this should go to court. And, I mean, that's something that the court also ruled, was that they really don't even have jurisdiction over this matter. It's a matter of field of play and should be decided on the field of play. That is one reason why they said that they cannot step in and make a decision on this case.
O'BRIEN: It's been, I know, for you, a heart wrenching eight weeks, to a large degree. The International Gymnastics Federation president, in fact, at one point said he thought you should turn over your gold medal. He -- to the South Korean gymnast. You have said that you would like to get an apology from that Federation, the FIG.
Do you expect that you're going to get one?
HAMM: It would be wonderful if I could get an apology from them, just because I felt like they handled the situation in the wrong way. And I thought that it could have been put to an end, really, after the competition was over. And I really am not at this point expecting an apology. I think that it would be nice, but it doesn't seem likely at this point.
O'BRIEN: Sometimes controversy, as you well know, is really good for P.R. But sometimes it is not good.
Do you feel that all this controversy and the court case, which has dragged out over eight weeks, has hurt your ability to leverage your win and your gold medal, which is an incredibly remarkable achievement, into, you know, being on the cover of a Wheaties box and a marketing opportunity for you?
HAMM: It's really hard for me to say whether or not this whole experience is a positive or a negative. But the fact is it that, you know, my life is really great. And, you know, I went to the Olympics. I won three medals and I'm healthy. And, you know, what more could you ask for being a 22-year-old?
O'BRIEN: And you've got a big old gold medal around your neck this morning.
What more could you ask for?
Paul Hamm, it's nice to have you.
Congratulations to you.
And it's great that it's all finally resolved for you, as well.
HAMM: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks for being with us -- Bill.
HEMMER: Let's get a break here.
In a moment, the recently renovated Soldier Field right over there, in fact. It's one of the big landmarks here in Chicago. Progress may have come at a steep price, though, and we're not talking about money in this case.
First, though, this hour's Chicago fun fact. What is distinctive about the Chicago Public Library?
O'BRIEN: Is it the hours?
HEMMER: That and more. We'll have an answer after the break here.
Live in Chicago on a Friday morning on the road with AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAFFERTY: I know, beautiful, right?
HEMMER: The sun up here on Lake Michigan.
The sun up here on Lake Michigan.
Welcome back, everybody.
You've thought about it. What's distinctive about the Chicago Public Library? A good question. The answer, the world's largest public library, 750,000 square feet. It holds more than two million books, as well. A great sight in Chicago.
Back over to Jack inside.
Hope you're warm, my friend -- good morning.
CAFFERTY: ... has been out all this week talking to -- here we are -- talking to Chicagoans about various topics. We went to DePaul University, where we talked to students about the issues that have the people fired up on campus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd say a lot of people I know are thinking about either tuition or things like the war, because no one wants to go to the draft.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Politics is really a big issue on campus and especially with DePaul being such like a liberal school. There's a lot of tension. Like some of the kids are super polarized and they're all for Bush. And then a lot of kids are all for Kerry. A majority of the kids are all for Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am finding things like turning back to the abortion issue constantly. I find that we aren't really getting past that in our conversations very much. Like I'm personally more concerned about like social issues, poverty issues.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd say people are more focused on like their social life than the election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAFFERTY: Some of the students at DePaul University.
Coming up later in the "Cafferty File," a trip down Chicago movie memory lane. There were some great films made in this city. You'll recognize a lot of the titles.
Back to you -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thanks for that.
There is a longstanding political event in New York called the Alfred E. Smith Dinner. It was held last night. Usually in an election year, the presidential candidates attend and usually they make some jokes and have a lot of fun. This year, though, neither candidate was invited.
The host, the Archdiocese of New York, felt campaign issues might detract from the spirit of that event. However, the former President Bush was invited. He kept it a bit light last night in New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I worried about him getting his words twisted up like he did when he was a kid. I'll never forget the paper he wrote in the fourth grade where he explained that in 1519 Ferdinand Magellan set out to circumcise the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The Alfred Smith Dinner is held every year to honor the New York governor and the first Catholic to be nominated for president in the United States.
A big political story here in Chicago last night. Barack Obama and Alan Keyes held yet another debate before their Senate face-off in about 11 days from now.
Let's get a break. In a moment, just how close are we to another manned mission to the moon? We'll ask one of the experts here at the planetarium, the Adler Planetarium.
Also, serving up some deep dish politics. Today, why one expert says all those polls we keep hearing about are meaningless.
AMERICAN MORNING from Chicago, back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING, on the road in Chicago.
HEMMER: Good morning, everyone.
We're live at the Adler Planetarium right on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Soledad's dancing because she goes home today.
O'BRIEN: Isn't that great music? No?
HEMMER: She goes home to see her four children.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
HEMMER: You're looking forward to that, aren't you?
O'BRIEN: Yes, I am.
HEMMER: That's right...
O'BRIEN: Although we've had a wonderful visit.
HEMMER: Yes, we have.
O'BRIEN: A good time.
HEMMER: Yes, we've got a lot of pictures.
O'BRIEN: Yes. We had a nice time.
HEMMER: A lot of stories.
O'BRIEN: And we had some great music and beautiful pieces.
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