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CNN Live At Daybreak

Several Hundred Tons of High Explosives Missing in Iraq; Workers/Fans Mourn Hendrick Motorsports Plane Crash Victims; Red Sox 2-0 in World Series.

Aired October 25, 2004 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you. From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news -- South of Baghdad, several hundred tons of high explosives are missing from a former Iraqi military base. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, plans to report the materials' disappearance to the U.N. Security Council later today. The agency has said the explosives could be a bonanza for terrorists. The John Kerry camp calls the discovery of the missing explosives and I'm quoting here, a grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq.

A roadside bomb today targets a U.S. military convoy. Three Iraqi civilians are hurt. It comes after 48 Iraqi Army recruits were gunned down by insurgents northeast of Baghdad over the weekend.

And in Boston, Massachusetts, Curt Schilling (INAUDIBLE) has them smiling. The Red Sox win game two of the World Series 6-2 over the St. Louis Cardinal The series now moves to St. Louis, next game tomorrow. Boy, Curt Schilling, he's an iron man. Unbelievable, his ankle's bleeding again during the game.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It seemed so (ph).

COSTELLO: But he got a good game.

JERAS: (INAUDIBLE) hurt. Did you play hurt?

COSTELLO: I certainly did. In my high school softball league I did.

JERAS: I know. I had chronic ankle problems as well, but soaked it up.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Jacqui. We are in the fun stretch now, just eight more days to go before we head to the polls and the presidential campaigns will spend the next seven days crisscrossing the country in a final push for support. It seems like the two most important words this week are going to be undecided and battleground. Both George Bush and John Kerry are in full campaign mode in those battleground states, trying to lure the last undecided voter. We have two reports this morning. CNN's Frank Buckley is with the Kerry campaign in Florida, but we start with White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux who has a look at the heavyweights hitting the campaign trail for the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Bush camp is unleashing its biggest and brightest stars to campaign with President Bush in his race to the finish. Senior campaign officials confirm California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will travel with Mr. Bush late this week for a high-profile trip to the battleground state of Ohio. Last week, Schwarzenegger broke ranks with Mr. Bush and his party on the issue of stem cell research, but the Bush campaign has been in talks with the governor for weeks to put the two together.

Bush aides say Schwarzenegger is arguably the most popular Republican, who enjoys mass appeal among voters (ph). Best known for his role as "The Terminator"...

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, CALIFORNIA: Let's welcome the president of the United States George Bush.

MALVEAUX: ... he also gave President Bush's father a boost in his campaign when he introduced him in Columbus, Ohio, in 1988 and 1992. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Senator John McCain, familiar faces on the campaign trail, will also be helping Mr. Bush close the deal with the undecided.

DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIR.: President Bush is going to talk about his vision, his plans for the future, appeal to those undecided voters who are still making up their minds and will talk directly to them about what he's doing to help them in their daily lives and how those differ from Senator Kerry's plans and his record.

MALVEAUX: Bush aides say they are particularly hopeful in improving their numbers among black and Hispanic voters. In the 2000 presidential race, Mr. Bush got 9 percent of the African-American vote and 35 percent of Hispanics. This time, aides say they're confident Hispanic support will be higher and the African-American vote double.

BARTLETT: All Americans, whether you're African-American, Hispanic or not, all want to live in a safe country and they believe and have trust in President Bush's stewardship in the war on terror.

MALVEAUX (on-camera): Early Sunday evening, President Bush campaigns in New Mexico, where he was courting the Hispanic vote. At the 2000, he lost that state by just 366 votes, but this time around the Bush camp is confident they may be able to pull out a win.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Crawford, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Senator John Kerry went to church in Fort Lauderdale to rally an important part of his Democratic base, African-American voters, later delivering a speech about values as he tries to connect with the still undecided.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe to my core that we must keep faith, not only with the creator, but also with the present and future generations.

BUCKLEY: Kerry advisors say the speech, an attempt to reassure the majority of Americans who say they want a president grounded in faith. Kerry said, as a Catholic, he disagreed with some bishops who said, he must carry out the positions of the church on issues like abortion and stem cell research.

KERRY: I love my church. I respect the bishops, but I respectfully disagree.

BUCKLEY: As Kerry was talking values, a comment from President Bush on national security, an issue the president has tried to use against Kerry, was catching the attention of Kerry's campaign. President Bush saying in an interview with the FOX News Channel...

GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whether or not we can be ever fully safe is up in the air.

BUCKLEY: At a rally in Boca Raton, Kerry jumped on it.

KERRY: Well let me tell you something ladies and gentlemen, you make me president of the United States, we're going to win the war on terror. It's not going to be up in the air whether or not we make America safe.

BUCKLEY: As Kerry campaigned in south Florida, the man who lost Florida by 537 votes in the last presidential election, Al Gore, appeared at a rally in Tallahassee to try to help this year's Democratic president candidate.

AL GORE (D), FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: The stakes are extremely high. Don't let anybody ever tell you that elections don't matter. We have seen over the last four years the elections do matter.

BUCKLEY: On Sunday, it was the former vice president, today the former president. Bill Clinton, who appears with Senator Kerry at a rally in another battleground state, Pennsylvania.

Frank Buckley, CNN, Boca Raton, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And as CNN plans live coverage of that Kerry/Clinton event in Philadelphia at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 Pacific time.

In news across America this morning, workers and fans gather at Hendrick Motorsports after a plane carrying members of a NASCAR team crashed. They were on their way to Sunday's race in Martinsville, Virginia. Ten people died in that crash. Rick Hendrick owns the cars driven by NASCAR champs Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte among others. Rick Hendrick's son and brother were among the victims. Federal investigators are expected at the crash scene later today.

A United Airlines flight from Chicago to Brazil turned around after one of its engines caught fire. The plane landed safely back at O'Hare airport with no injuries among the 179 passengers. Cause of the engine fire still under investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BARNER, PASSENGER: We got to probably about 100 feet or 200 feet. All of a sudden, there's almost like engine was backfiring. There was flames shooting out of the engine and the plane was shuddering as it was doing that.

KELLY ANDERSON, PASSENGER: I was just really thankful when the plane stopped, because I kind of felt like everything was getting better now or it's going to get better. We're going to make it home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And again, everybody is home safe and sound this morning. Look at that. Look at that gas pump. Amazingly, no one was hurt here either as a result of this accident.

In Canton, Ohio, the family in the car on the right able to escape just before their car became engulfed in flames. The woman who hit the pump fled the scene on foot. Yes, she just ran away. She was later arrested for leaving the scene of an accident and driving without a license.

Still to come, Japan gets rocked. A string of earthquakes leaves even the tallest skyscrapers rattled. We'll get a report on the devastation there.

And then the polls, the pollsters and the predictions that will give us all something to do for the next eight days and later, the nation's (INAUDIBLE) returning from war without arms, legs, and a normal life. I'll speak to General Cody (ph), who's trying to change that. But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time now for a little business buzz. Not sure if you're safe online? Well, you're not alone in your worries. Sasha Salama has the story live from the Nasdaq MarketSite. Good morning.

SASHA SALAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Most people, when they use their home computer, do think they're safe. You don't think that somebody is going to break into your computer. Well, you're not alone, but the problem is that most people are not safe.

A new study that's coming out today says that 3/4 of adults thought they were safe from online threat, but when experts visited those people in their homes and examined their computers, they found that their anti-virus software hadn't been updated in the last seven days. They found that 2/3 of users weren't - didn't have any kind of firewall protection program in their computer and spyware was found on the computers of 80 percent of those people in the study. Spyware, by the way, tracks what Internet sites you're browsing.

So the bottom line is that people are not as safe at home on their computers as they think. What are companies doing about this? Well, Microsoft for one spent nearly $1 billion on a recent upgrade to improve security for its customers and Dell, as well as America Online are trying to educate customers on how to remove spyware programs from their computers. Also we should mention the Homeland Security Department offers free e-mail tests for any home computer users to try to help you keep yourself secure.

So it's something to be aware of and something to be a little bit scared about because I don't know about you Carol, I don't really think that I'm in any kind of danger when I use my home computer.

COSTELLO: No, you mean from viruses, in danger.

SALAMA: Yeah.

COSTELLO: But a lot of people would say that computer - like Microsoft - it's about time that they're helping consumers out with this.

SALAMA: Yeah, it is about time, because people in the industry know all about this stuff and know how to protect themselves at home. But your average American doesn't. So yeah, some people say that it is about time they spend money and some people say it's a little - too little, too late.

COSTELLO: (INAUDIBLE) If you're like me, you don't know what you're doing on the computer anyway. Sasha Salama, live from the Nasdaq MarketSite. Thank you.

Your news, money, weather and sports at 6:15 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning. At least five are dead after Israeli air strikes hit a refugee camp in Gaza. Israeli sources say the camp was the base for mortar attacks launched over the weekend.

Religious leaders from across the country will be coming to Washington for the funeral of Cardinal James Hickey. Cardinal Hickey is the former archbishop of Washington. He was 84. The funeral will be held on Saturday.

In money news, gas prices up again. Do I need to tell you that? The price per gallon is up a nickel over the past two weeks and now it costs an average of $2.04 for a gallon of unleaded regular.

In culture, "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels has been honored with the Mark Twain Award for American Humor. The gala at the Kennedy Center featured past and present stars of the long-running show. Former winners of the Twain Award include Richard Pryor and Bob Newhart. In sports, it was just another Sunday for the New England Patriots. The Pats beat the New York Jets 13-7 to extend their record winning streak to 21 games. Get this, they have not lost since September 28th of last year. (INAUDIBLE) center and Jacqui Jeras. I've heard that like three times this morning. I'm still saying wow.

JERAS: It's amazing.

COSTELLO: Over a year, that's just amazing.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Will do, thank you Jacqui.

Japan is jolted by more strong aftershocks today and the casualty count from the weekend earthquake has now risen to 25 dead and more than 1,000 injured. Our Atika Shubert has the latest for you from Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Authorities have confirmed the death toll has risen slightly. At least 25 people have been killed in the series of earthquakes over the weekend, more than 1,000 injured. Scores of homes have been destroyed. Other buildings severely damaged and as a result, tens of thousands of residents are now camped out in schools, gyms, any public space that will take them at this point. Relief workers are struggling to get them food, water and blankets, supplies that they will need to survive over the next few days before they get the all clear to go home.

Because there are aftershocks still continuing and there was a powerful one early this morning, authorities do not want the residents to go home just yet. They are wanting them to stay away until they can make sure that any of the structures that are still standing have not been too severely damaged and are structurally sound. They are worried that any further tremors may cause buildings to collapse and further injure people.

So far, however, in the aftershocks that followed the earthquakes, there have been no further injuries fortunately. In the meantime, however, relief workers are having difficulty getting relief supplies into the area because transportation and roads were severely damaged. Roads were cracked open. Several tunnels and bridges collapsed entirely, which cut off several villages. That required the government to airlift food, water and other supplies into those areas. It could still be a few days still before residents are able to come back and start rebuilding their lives and picking up the pieces.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK, what will be the headline by next Wednesday morning? Bush wins in a landslide; Kerry pulls off a win. The answer is anybody's guess or is it? We'll talk to a "TIME" magazine correspondent about the often confusing world of polling.

And later, what happens to the wounded? I'll talk with a general who's trying to make veterans' lives a little easier.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We use the words battleground states a lot when covering the race for the White House. They are the swing states where the candidates are spending most of their time. All this week, we'll tell you more about these states. First Wisconsin. President Bush campaigns there tomorrow. The state has 10 electoral votes. Al Gore won it by more than 5,000 votes in 2000. Wisconsin had the second highest voter turnout in 2000.

Senator Kerry is campaigning in New Hampshire today, trying to capture that state's four electoral votes. Bush won it in 2000 by only 1.3 percent. Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton are the only Democrats to ever win New Hampshire.

Numbers are always a big deal in elections, but this year, the numbers, as in the polls have been confounding, confusing, dare we say meaningless? Now (ph) to New York and "TIME" magazine's Mitch Frank. Good morning, Mitch.

MITCH FRANK, TIME MAGAZINE: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So the polls are confusing this year. Are they meaningless?

FRANK: No, they certainly are not meaningless, but we have to take them with a grain of salt. The polls are most effective to kind of give us an idea of the general trends of the political race. They can give us an idea that Kerry is up or Bush is up, but we have to remember that they're not an exact snapshot and there's always a margin of error.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about that, because a lot of people ask me this question about polls. How many people are actually polled?

FRANK: Well, the average poll and it varies from poll to poll, but the average national political poll that we heard about is about 1,000 voters and through statistical math, pollsters could explain a lot better than me, that gives you a 95 percent chance of certainty that the result is going to be within plus or minus 3 points.

COSTELLO: Yeah, but Mitch, let's say somebody calls me by phone, a pollster. I would probably hang up on the poor pollster.

FRANK: Yeah and that's an increasing problem for pollsters is getting people on the phone and to take time, especially as we have more busy lives, more erratic work schedules. And more and more people have cells phones and not land lines. That's going to about 4 percent now. But the pollsters that we talked to, you know, they make five to 10 attempts to reach you and about 50 percent of the people they actually get on the phone, go ahead and answer all their questions.

COSTELLO: So how do they compensate for the people who don't answer the phone?

FRANK: Well, they compensate by weighting the data. Basically what they do is they take census data on age, race, region of the country you're from, what level of education and they weight the data depending on the 1,000 people they spoke to. So if let's say, other people they talk to, 60 percent are high school graduates, but the national figure is 80 percent, they'll weight that 60 percent to be worth 80 of the poll answer.

COSTELLO: OK, so final question, what do the latest polls say right now?

FRANK: Well the latest poll that "TIME" magazine has, has the president up by 5 points now, 51 percent to 46 and that's with likely voters, which is another thing you got to keep in mind, the difference between likely and registered and who's going to actually show up on election day.

COSTELLO: Mitch Frank from "TIME" magazine joining DAYBREAK this morning. Thank you so much.

FRANK: Thank you.

COSTELLO: The number of days until the election is in the single digits now and the campaigns pulling out all the stops. Coming up, what some big wigs are doing (INAUDIBLE) to kick it up a notch in the final week. We're talking about Bill Clinton. Yes, he's back on the campaign trail. Plus, where have all the tomatoes gone? A nationwide shortage could affect your lunch orders. This is DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning to you from the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Now in the news, a roadside bomb today targets a U.S. military convoy. Three Iraqi civilians are hurt. It comes after 48 Iraqi Army recruits were gunned down by insurgents northeast of Baghdad over the weekend.

In Virginia, officials are trying to find out what caused a plane crash that killed all 10 on board. The twin engine plane, owned by a top stock car racing team, was heading to a race.

On the campaign trail, former President Bill Clinton is joining John Kerry for a Philadelphia rally today. Kerry also visits New Hampshire, Michigan and Wisconsin. George Bush is rallying supporters in Colorado and then he'll head on to Iowa and Wisconsin.

Some of you seem to be feeling a bit more charitable lately. A survey says donations to the nation's biggest charities rose slightly last year. Donations fell in 2002, the first drop in a decade.

From the forecast center, Jacqui Jeras in for Chad Myers this morning. Good morning, Jacqui.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, Jacqui.

The Democrats roll out the big guns in the final days of the presidential campaign. Bill Clinton back on the stump and Jimmy Carter in print (ph). The former president tells Britain's "Guardian" newspaper, this from President Clinton, he says and I quote, the U.S. suffered in 9/11 a terrible and shocking attack.

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 25, 2004 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you. From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news -- South of Baghdad, several hundred tons of high explosives are missing from a former Iraqi military base. The International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, plans to report the materials' disappearance to the U.N. Security Council later today. The agency has said the explosives could be a bonanza for terrorists. The John Kerry camp calls the discovery of the missing explosives and I'm quoting here, a grave and catastrophic mistake in a tragic series of blunders in Iraq.

A roadside bomb today targets a U.S. military convoy. Three Iraqi civilians are hurt. It comes after 48 Iraqi Army recruits were gunned down by insurgents northeast of Baghdad over the weekend.

And in Boston, Massachusetts, Curt Schilling (INAUDIBLE) has them smiling. The Red Sox win game two of the World Series 6-2 over the St. Louis Cardinal The series now moves to St. Louis, next game tomorrow. Boy, Curt Schilling, he's an iron man. Unbelievable, his ankle's bleeding again during the game.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It seemed so (ph).

COSTELLO: But he got a good game.

JERAS: (INAUDIBLE) hurt. Did you play hurt?

COSTELLO: I certainly did. In my high school softball league I did.

JERAS: I know. I had chronic ankle problems as well, but soaked it up.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Jacqui. We are in the fun stretch now, just eight more days to go before we head to the polls and the presidential campaigns will spend the next seven days crisscrossing the country in a final push for support. It seems like the two most important words this week are going to be undecided and battleground. Both George Bush and John Kerry are in full campaign mode in those battleground states, trying to lure the last undecided voter. We have two reports this morning. CNN's Frank Buckley is with the Kerry campaign in Florida, but we start with White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux who has a look at the heavyweights hitting the campaign trail for the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Bush camp is unleashing its biggest and brightest stars to campaign with President Bush in his race to the finish. Senior campaign officials confirm California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will travel with Mr. Bush late this week for a high-profile trip to the battleground state of Ohio. Last week, Schwarzenegger broke ranks with Mr. Bush and his party on the issue of stem cell research, but the Bush campaign has been in talks with the governor for weeks to put the two together.

Bush aides say Schwarzenegger is arguably the most popular Republican, who enjoys mass appeal among voters (ph). Best known for his role as "The Terminator"...

GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, CALIFORNIA: Let's welcome the president of the United States George Bush.

MALVEAUX: ... he also gave President Bush's father a boost in his campaign when he introduced him in Columbus, Ohio, in 1988 and 1992. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Senator John McCain, familiar faces on the campaign trail, will also be helping Mr. Bush close the deal with the undecided.

DAN BARTLETT, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIR.: President Bush is going to talk about his vision, his plans for the future, appeal to those undecided voters who are still making up their minds and will talk directly to them about what he's doing to help them in their daily lives and how those differ from Senator Kerry's plans and his record.

MALVEAUX: Bush aides say they are particularly hopeful in improving their numbers among black and Hispanic voters. In the 2000 presidential race, Mr. Bush got 9 percent of the African-American vote and 35 percent of Hispanics. This time, aides say they're confident Hispanic support will be higher and the African-American vote double.

BARTLETT: All Americans, whether you're African-American, Hispanic or not, all want to live in a safe country and they believe and have trust in President Bush's stewardship in the war on terror.

MALVEAUX (on-camera): Early Sunday evening, President Bush campaigns in New Mexico, where he was courting the Hispanic vote. At the 2000, he lost that state by just 366 votes, but this time around the Bush camp is confident they may be able to pull out a win.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Crawford, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Senator John Kerry went to church in Fort Lauderdale to rally an important part of his Democratic base, African-American voters, later delivering a speech about values as he tries to connect with the still undecided.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe to my core that we must keep faith, not only with the creator, but also with the present and future generations.

BUCKLEY: Kerry advisors say the speech, an attempt to reassure the majority of Americans who say they want a president grounded in faith. Kerry said, as a Catholic, he disagreed with some bishops who said, he must carry out the positions of the church on issues like abortion and stem cell research.

KERRY: I love my church. I respect the bishops, but I respectfully disagree.

BUCKLEY: As Kerry was talking values, a comment from President Bush on national security, an issue the president has tried to use against Kerry, was catching the attention of Kerry's campaign. President Bush saying in an interview with the FOX News Channel...

GEORGE W. BUSH (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whether or not we can be ever fully safe is up in the air.

BUCKLEY: At a rally in Boca Raton, Kerry jumped on it.

KERRY: Well let me tell you something ladies and gentlemen, you make me president of the United States, we're going to win the war on terror. It's not going to be up in the air whether or not we make America safe.

BUCKLEY: As Kerry campaigned in south Florida, the man who lost Florida by 537 votes in the last presidential election, Al Gore, appeared at a rally in Tallahassee to try to help this year's Democratic president candidate.

AL GORE (D), FMR. VICE PRESIDENT: The stakes are extremely high. Don't let anybody ever tell you that elections don't matter. We have seen over the last four years the elections do matter.

BUCKLEY: On Sunday, it was the former vice president, today the former president. Bill Clinton, who appears with Senator Kerry at a rally in another battleground state, Pennsylvania.

Frank Buckley, CNN, Boca Raton, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And as CNN plans live coverage of that Kerry/Clinton event in Philadelphia at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, 10:00 Pacific time.

In news across America this morning, workers and fans gather at Hendrick Motorsports after a plane carrying members of a NASCAR team crashed. They were on their way to Sunday's race in Martinsville, Virginia. Ten people died in that crash. Rick Hendrick owns the cars driven by NASCAR champs Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte among others. Rick Hendrick's son and brother were among the victims. Federal investigators are expected at the crash scene later today.

A United Airlines flight from Chicago to Brazil turned around after one of its engines caught fire. The plane landed safely back at O'Hare airport with no injuries among the 179 passengers. Cause of the engine fire still under investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BARNER, PASSENGER: We got to probably about 100 feet or 200 feet. All of a sudden, there's almost like engine was backfiring. There was flames shooting out of the engine and the plane was shuddering as it was doing that.

KELLY ANDERSON, PASSENGER: I was just really thankful when the plane stopped, because I kind of felt like everything was getting better now or it's going to get better. We're going to make it home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And again, everybody is home safe and sound this morning. Look at that. Look at that gas pump. Amazingly, no one was hurt here either as a result of this accident.

In Canton, Ohio, the family in the car on the right able to escape just before their car became engulfed in flames. The woman who hit the pump fled the scene on foot. Yes, she just ran away. She was later arrested for leaving the scene of an accident and driving without a license.

Still to come, Japan gets rocked. A string of earthquakes leaves even the tallest skyscrapers rattled. We'll get a report on the devastation there.

And then the polls, the pollsters and the predictions that will give us all something to do for the next eight days and later, the nation's (INAUDIBLE) returning from war without arms, legs, and a normal life. I'll speak to General Cody (ph), who's trying to change that. But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Monday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time now for a little business buzz. Not sure if you're safe online? Well, you're not alone in your worries. Sasha Salama has the story live from the Nasdaq MarketSite. Good morning.

SASHA SALAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Most people, when they use their home computer, do think they're safe. You don't think that somebody is going to break into your computer. Well, you're not alone, but the problem is that most people are not safe.

A new study that's coming out today says that 3/4 of adults thought they were safe from online threat, but when experts visited those people in their homes and examined their computers, they found that their anti-virus software hadn't been updated in the last seven days. They found that 2/3 of users weren't - didn't have any kind of firewall protection program in their computer and spyware was found on the computers of 80 percent of those people in the study. Spyware, by the way, tracks what Internet sites you're browsing.

So the bottom line is that people are not as safe at home on their computers as they think. What are companies doing about this? Well, Microsoft for one spent nearly $1 billion on a recent upgrade to improve security for its customers and Dell, as well as America Online are trying to educate customers on how to remove spyware programs from their computers. Also we should mention the Homeland Security Department offers free e-mail tests for any home computer users to try to help you keep yourself secure.

So it's something to be aware of and something to be a little bit scared about because I don't know about you Carol, I don't really think that I'm in any kind of danger when I use my home computer.

COSTELLO: No, you mean from viruses, in danger.

SALAMA: Yeah.

COSTELLO: But a lot of people would say that computer - like Microsoft - it's about time that they're helping consumers out with this.

SALAMA: Yeah, it is about time, because people in the industry know all about this stuff and know how to protect themselves at home. But your average American doesn't. So yeah, some people say that it is about time they spend money and some people say it's a little - too little, too late.

COSTELLO: (INAUDIBLE) If you're like me, you don't know what you're doing on the computer anyway. Sasha Salama, live from the Nasdaq MarketSite. Thank you.

Your news, money, weather and sports at 6:15 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning. At least five are dead after Israeli air strikes hit a refugee camp in Gaza. Israeli sources say the camp was the base for mortar attacks launched over the weekend.

Religious leaders from across the country will be coming to Washington for the funeral of Cardinal James Hickey. Cardinal Hickey is the former archbishop of Washington. He was 84. The funeral will be held on Saturday.

In money news, gas prices up again. Do I need to tell you that? The price per gallon is up a nickel over the past two weeks and now it costs an average of $2.04 for a gallon of unleaded regular.

In culture, "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels has been honored with the Mark Twain Award for American Humor. The gala at the Kennedy Center featured past and present stars of the long-running show. Former winners of the Twain Award include Richard Pryor and Bob Newhart. In sports, it was just another Sunday for the New England Patriots. The Pats beat the New York Jets 13-7 to extend their record winning streak to 21 games. Get this, they have not lost since September 28th of last year. (INAUDIBLE) center and Jacqui Jeras. I've heard that like three times this morning. I'm still saying wow.

JERAS: It's amazing.

COSTELLO: Over a year, that's just amazing.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Will do, thank you Jacqui.

Japan is jolted by more strong aftershocks today and the casualty count from the weekend earthquake has now risen to 25 dead and more than 1,000 injured. Our Atika Shubert has the latest for you from Tokyo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Authorities have confirmed the death toll has risen slightly. At least 25 people have been killed in the series of earthquakes over the weekend, more than 1,000 injured. Scores of homes have been destroyed. Other buildings severely damaged and as a result, tens of thousands of residents are now camped out in schools, gyms, any public space that will take them at this point. Relief workers are struggling to get them food, water and blankets, supplies that they will need to survive over the next few days before they get the all clear to go home.

Because there are aftershocks still continuing and there was a powerful one early this morning, authorities do not want the residents to go home just yet. They are wanting them to stay away until they can make sure that any of the structures that are still standing have not been too severely damaged and are structurally sound. They are worried that any further tremors may cause buildings to collapse and further injure people.

So far, however, in the aftershocks that followed the earthquakes, there have been no further injuries fortunately. In the meantime, however, relief workers are having difficulty getting relief supplies into the area because transportation and roads were severely damaged. Roads were cracked open. Several tunnels and bridges collapsed entirely, which cut off several villages. That required the government to airlift food, water and other supplies into those areas. It could still be a few days still before residents are able to come back and start rebuilding their lives and picking up the pieces.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Tokyo.

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COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK, what will be the headline by next Wednesday morning? Bush wins in a landslide; Kerry pulls off a win. The answer is anybody's guess or is it? We'll talk to a "TIME" magazine correspondent about the often confusing world of polling.

And later, what happens to the wounded? I'll talk with a general who's trying to make veterans' lives a little easier.

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COSTELLO: We use the words battleground states a lot when covering the race for the White House. They are the swing states where the candidates are spending most of their time. All this week, we'll tell you more about these states. First Wisconsin. President Bush campaigns there tomorrow. The state has 10 electoral votes. Al Gore won it by more than 5,000 votes in 2000. Wisconsin had the second highest voter turnout in 2000.

Senator Kerry is campaigning in New Hampshire today, trying to capture that state's four electoral votes. Bush won it in 2000 by only 1.3 percent. Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton are the only Democrats to ever win New Hampshire.

Numbers are always a big deal in elections, but this year, the numbers, as in the polls have been confounding, confusing, dare we say meaningless? Now (ph) to New York and "TIME" magazine's Mitch Frank. Good morning, Mitch.

MITCH FRANK, TIME MAGAZINE: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So the polls are confusing this year. Are they meaningless?

FRANK: No, they certainly are not meaningless, but we have to take them with a grain of salt. The polls are most effective to kind of give us an idea of the general trends of the political race. They can give us an idea that Kerry is up or Bush is up, but we have to remember that they're not an exact snapshot and there's always a margin of error.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about that, because a lot of people ask me this question about polls. How many people are actually polled?

FRANK: Well, the average poll and it varies from poll to poll, but the average national political poll that we heard about is about 1,000 voters and through statistical math, pollsters could explain a lot better than me, that gives you a 95 percent chance of certainty that the result is going to be within plus or minus 3 points.

COSTELLO: Yeah, but Mitch, let's say somebody calls me by phone, a pollster. I would probably hang up on the poor pollster.

FRANK: Yeah and that's an increasing problem for pollsters is getting people on the phone and to take time, especially as we have more busy lives, more erratic work schedules. And more and more people have cells phones and not land lines. That's going to about 4 percent now. But the pollsters that we talked to, you know, they make five to 10 attempts to reach you and about 50 percent of the people they actually get on the phone, go ahead and answer all their questions.

COSTELLO: So how do they compensate for the people who don't answer the phone?

FRANK: Well, they compensate by weighting the data. Basically what they do is they take census data on age, race, region of the country you're from, what level of education and they weight the data depending on the 1,000 people they spoke to. So if let's say, other people they talk to, 60 percent are high school graduates, but the national figure is 80 percent, they'll weight that 60 percent to be worth 80 of the poll answer.

COSTELLO: OK, so final question, what do the latest polls say right now?

FRANK: Well the latest poll that "TIME" magazine has, has the president up by 5 points now, 51 percent to 46 and that's with likely voters, which is another thing you got to keep in mind, the difference between likely and registered and who's going to actually show up on election day.

COSTELLO: Mitch Frank from "TIME" magazine joining DAYBREAK this morning. Thank you so much.

FRANK: Thank you.

COSTELLO: The number of days until the election is in the single digits now and the campaigns pulling out all the stops. Coming up, what some big wigs are doing (INAUDIBLE) to kick it up a notch in the final week. We're talking about Bill Clinton. Yes, he's back on the campaign trail. Plus, where have all the tomatoes gone? A nationwide shortage could affect your lunch orders. This is DAYBREAK.

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COSTELLO: And good morning to you from the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.

Now in the news, a roadside bomb today targets a U.S. military convoy. Three Iraqi civilians are hurt. It comes after 48 Iraqi Army recruits were gunned down by insurgents northeast of Baghdad over the weekend.

In Virginia, officials are trying to find out what caused a plane crash that killed all 10 on board. The twin engine plane, owned by a top stock car racing team, was heading to a race.

On the campaign trail, former President Bill Clinton is joining John Kerry for a Philadelphia rally today. Kerry also visits New Hampshire, Michigan and Wisconsin. George Bush is rallying supporters in Colorado and then he'll head on to Iowa and Wisconsin.

Some of you seem to be feeling a bit more charitable lately. A survey says donations to the nation's biggest charities rose slightly last year. Donations fell in 2002, the first drop in a decade.

From the forecast center, Jacqui Jeras in for Chad Myers this morning. Good morning, Jacqui.

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COSTELLO: All right. Thank you, Jacqui.

The Democrats roll out the big guns in the final days of the presidential campaign. Bill Clinton back on the stump and Jimmy Carter in print (ph). The former president tells Britain's "Guardian" newspaper, this from President Clinton, he says and I quote, the U.S. suffered in 9/11 a terrible and shocking attack.

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