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CNN Live At Daybreak

"America's Voice"; Former President Clinton on Campaign Trail; "Today's Talker"; Cuba's Last Dollar Days

Aired October 26, 2004 - 06:30   ET

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

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news -- North Korea is saying no thanks to nuclear talks. That's despite pleas from Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is now on a trip to Asia. The communist nation says it would be impossible to restart the talks at this time.

Back here in the States, some tougher border security rules take effect today. Travelers from more than 20 nations must now have passports with coding that can be read by a machine.

A plea hearing in Virginia for convicted sniper Lee Malvo. He's already serving a life term for one of the Washington-area shootings. Malvo is now facing charges in two of the other attacks.

In sports, the Cardinals are hoping to ruffle some feathers today. The World Series shifts to St. Louis for game three. The Boston Red Sox up two games to nothing.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Seven days to go until Americans head to the polls. The national elections are one week away, and the candidates are doing their best to wrap up votes.

And with time running out, let's take a look at some numbers. For that, we're joined by Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport live in Princeton, New Jersey.

Frank, we're just a week away. So, where do the numbers stand?

FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP: Isn't it exciting? You know, Carol, we're following the national popular vote. Of course, the elections and the electoral vote, I'll have more about that in a moment, the Electoral College.

But this is a good indicator of what's happening in general. That's why we've been following this here at Gallup since 1936 in the pre-election environment. It's tightened up a little. We're now 51 to 46 among likely voters, quite close. Among registered voters, it's almost dead even at this point. So Kerry has gained a point or two since we last measured this race a week or two ago.

Let me show you what's happening, though, in competitive states. This is quite fascinating. We split the whole U.S. up into three groups. These are red states, the ones that Bush won comfortably last time. Look at how much he's ahead significantly in those. That's Utah and Texas and Alabama, states like that.

In the so-called blue states, New York and California and Maryland and Massachusetts, Gore is ahead in Illinois -- excuse me -- Kerry is ahead. I don't want to stay back in 2000.

But look at the showdown states. These are these key states, about 15 or 16, that were very close last time. We separate those out, look at who is ahead. No one is ahead. It's dead even. And this is the real key right now.

So, in terms of the Electoral College, every way we look at it we have to say this race is just too close to call at this point -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Just amazing. Frank, we know that interest in this election is as high as any election in years past. But how seriously are people taking it?

NEWPORT: Well, extremely seriously. Every indicator that we have in the Gallup poll shows how much people are emotionally involved in this election this year.

We thought we would share with you this question from the weekend CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll: Are you afraid of what would happen if your candidate loses and the other guy wins? And regardless of political orientation it's high. Fifty-four percent strongly agree with that and another 22 somewhat agree.

So you've got about 75 percent of Americans who are afraid -- they're willing to say they agree with that word -- if their opponent, the guy they don't support, wins this election -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Wow! That's interesting. So the scare tactics and campaign ads must be working. Can you tell us what issues, though, are most important to voters?

NEWPORT: It's very fascinating. The same trend that we have seen, it depends on who you're voting for. We gave people a list of issues, and for each one said, is this important to you in your vote? I've graphed for you here the percent who say extremely important and broken it out by Bush and Kerry voters.

Look at terrorism, the issue of terrorism, 52 percent of Bush voters say it's extremely important, but just 38 of Kerry voters. Look at the difference there. Bush voters are focused in on terrorism as a key issue.

Look at the economy. Only 28 percent of Bush voters told us that that's extremely important to their vote, but that's 51 percent of Bush voters -- Kerry voters; the same thing for health care. Bush voters not as important to them, Kerry voters very important.

So the degree to which Kerry can focus the election on these domestic issues, he's getting more voters. The degree to which Bush keeps it focused on terrorism, he gets more voters on that side -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Frank Newport, fascinating as always, thank you so much.

As Frank just told you, the Kerry voters are more interested in domestic issues. To that end, President Clinton hit the road for the Kerry campaign. In his first appearance since heart surgery, President Clinton centered his remarks on the economy and what he said are the failures of the present administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON (D), FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On the economy, we have just lived through four years of the first job losses in 70 years, record bankruptcies, middle-class incomes declining, and poverty going up. In Pennsylvania alone, you've lost 70,000 jobs as compared with the 219,000 you gained by this time when that last fellow was president -- me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We want to take you behind the headlines now. President Clinton sounded pretty amazing for a man who just had heart surgery weeks ago. Kelly Wallace has covered Clinton for a long time. She's now on the campaign trail in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Good morning -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Great to be with you.

COSTELLO: Oh, we're glad you're with us this morning. You were there in person. How did President Clinton really look to you?

WALLACE: Well, you know, Carol, we were somewhat prepared for it, because we all saw him in that interview with Diane Sawyer on "Good morning America" early yesterday and where he looked thin and pale, his voice not as strong.

And I would say those were all of the same observations. When he came out thinner than even he had looked over the summer, a little pale, voice just not as strong, energy not as high and didn't speak for as long as we know Bill Clinton can speak.

So he looked like a man, Carol, who has been through something, and clearly this...

COSTELLO: Yes.

WALLACE: ... heart bypass surgery takes some time to recover from.

COSTELLO: We have these two Associated Press photos, and we were trying to compare for our audience this morning how much thinner he looks right now and how much paler. Was there a doctor on hand behind the scenes, Kelly? WALLACE: You know, that's a good question, Carol. I have tried to ask his aides, ask if any doctors were traveling with him. I didn't get an answer. It seemed like they didn't want to answer that. And the sense is that clearly there were probably people around just in case.

Also, the president himself saying that he had consulted with his doctors, asked them what he can do. They encouraged him, he said, to try and do his events early and try not to overdo it.

So still going normally, Carol. Will shake every hand that is there. He shook some hands, but then he was gone. And our understanding was he headed to Florida. We're told he took a nap on the plane, and then had his energy back up for an event in Miami last night.

COSTELLO: A crowd of 30,000 people gathered to see Clinton and Kerry, of course. What were they saying about President Clinton?

WALLACE: Well, the crowd just was so excited, Carol. The minute they came out you saw former President Clinton with Senator Kerry, and the crowd just exploded. It was quite a picture, because you could see thousands and thousands of people crammed on a couple of city blocks in downtown Philadelphia. And any time the former president looked in someone's direction, people really just exploded.

Talking to some people after, you had these people who were definitely going to vote for Senator Kerry, but who absolutely love President Clinton and wanted to come out.

And interestingly, I talked to a couple who they said they didn't vote for President Clinton at first, but they really came to really like him during this administration, felt he was inclusive, and that they feel George Bush is exclusive. And so that's why they're coming out and hoping Bill Clinton can help John Kerry.

COSTELLO: Kelly Wallace, thanks for joining DAYBREAK this morning. Interesting stuff.

From Clinton to Giuliani. The Democrats and Republicans are putting their power players to work this week. So does it really make a difference? That's part of "Today's Talker" with Neal Boortz and Nancy Skinner when we come back.

And later, why Castro is cutting dollars out of the Cuban economy.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Hitting the road hard. That's what George Bush and John Kerry are doing in their final week of campaigning, both of them making stops today in Wisconsin, of course, a key battleground state. So the candidates are pulling out all of the stops, getting help this week from some heavy hitters, like Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani. Or does this star power really matter?

Debate time now. Joining us from the left, talk show host Nancy Skinner, and from the right, libertarian talk show host Neal Boortz.

Welcome to you both.

NEAL BOORTZ, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good morning.

NANCY SKINNER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, Neal, let's start with you. Rudy Giuliani standing beside George Bush, Rudy Giuliani a shining symbol of 9/11. Does it help George Bush really?

BOORTZ: Well, we have this celebrity culture going on in this country. There is no bigger political celebrity than Bill Clinton. So you can take Schwarzenegger and Giuliani and maybe they come close to having the impact of a Clinton on the stage. But unfortunately, the people in this country react to celebrity, and they're going to react to these people. So two varying degrees. Yes, it's going to help.

COSTELLO: Nancy, you know, Clinton was poison for Gore in 2000. Now he's a gem for Kerry in 2004. Ain't politics bizarre?

SKINNER: Well, a lot has changed since the 2000 election. And you know what? Now we know what we lost, how good it was, because Clinton was able to come out there like a rock star and say, I created 22 million jobs. I erased the deficits. And I created a surplus that this new president has erased.

What Arnold Schwarzenegger able to do? Who does he appeal to? Not like Clinton women, the black vote, working people. Schwarzenegger is appealing to moviegoers. He's a moderate. He's not going to get the base going. And Rudy Giuliani can't claim the record that Clinton can claim.

COSTELLO: I saw you shaking your head, Neal. I know you want to say something.

BOORTZ: It's the jobs thing. The jobs thing. We have, according to the federal government, 139.5 million Americans working right now, which is an all-time record. I want somebody to explain to me...

SKINNER: Neal, because...

BOORTZ: Now, Nancy, I want somebody to explain to me how we have lost jobs when we have a record number of people working.

SKINNER: Oh, that's really easy, Neal.

BOORTZ: Those two just don't add up.

SKINNER: There are more people...

COSTELLO: Now, wait a second. Nancy...

SKINNER: There are more people. So it's not in absolute terms. You haven't increased size of the working population each year. That's called population growth, Neal.

BOORTZ: Nancy...

SKINNER: What we're talking about is the rate of unemployment. And when Clinton was in office, it was 3.4 percent when President Bush took over.

COSTELLO: OK, let's...

BOORTZ: Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. You can't have...

COSTELLO: OK. One last word on this.

BOORTZ: You can't have -- a job is a job. We have a record number of jobs. Clinton says we lost jobs.

SKINNER: In absolutely terms...

BOORTZ: It can't go that way. I'm sorry.

SKINNER: In absolute terms, Neal. No more smoking mirrors and your fuzzy math that you Republicans use.

COSTELLO: OK, let's move on to our next topic of the morning, that huge weapons cache that simply disappeared near Baghdad. The Democrats are calling it the October surprise that George Bush doesn't want to see. Neal?

BOORTZ: Well, I have an "I told you so" coming on this yesterday from my show yesterday. I said yesterday that these weapons probably disappeared before U.S. troops even got into the vicinity. In fact, last night NBC news was reporting that by the time the American troops reached this particular storage facility, the weapons were already gone.

Now, Kerry and Edwards say President Bush should have done something to safeguard these weapons. I guess what they're saying is he should have invaded earlier to get those weapons so that they wouldn't have disappeared like that.

COSTELLO: Nancy?

SKINNER: You know, the weapons of mass relocation. OK? This president's main selling point is he's competent at war. And what we hear time and time again is they weren't. They were warned by the IAEA of these weapons well in advance of the war. They protected the Oil Ministry but let 380 tons of explosives unguarded. And it wasn't just before the invasion or before they were able to get there. They were able to guard the Oil Ministry but not the weapons that we were seeking to keep out of the hands of the terrorists.

You know, President Bush has one thing to run on, and that's it. And he's toast when the American public realizes how incompetent they were even at that.

BOORTZ: See? There we go. Nancy is saying we should have invaded earlier to get to those weapons before they took them away. I like that.

SKINNER: Neal, we still aren't even at that facility. They were picking over the ruins of this facility as late as last Sunday. And this is after we've known that this was -- they called it Mars on Earth, this place. It's ridiculous.

And it wasn't just this particular facility. Several other facilities were unguarded. That's why the RPGs and all of these weapons are being used to kill our soldiers from the get-go, because they guarded the Oil Ministry and not the weapons caches.

COSTELLO: OK, last word, Neal.

BOORTZ: Yes, ma'am. Well, with Nancy and the people on the left, there is nothing that George Bush can do in Iraq that is going to satisfy them. The weapons disappeared before our troops got there. That's not good enough for them. They should have gotten there earlier. It's an amazing -- an amazing tact.

COSTELLO: All right, Nancy Skinner and Neal Boortz, thanks for joining us as usual on Tuesday.

BOORTZ: You take care.

COSTELLO: Let's head live to New York now and check in with Bill and Soledad for a look at what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning to you, Carol. Some of the headlines we're looking at this morning is, of course, is the campaign countdown. Most of the polls are showing the president with a slight lead. "The L.A. Times" poll tells a different story, though. This morning, we talk to Ron Brownstein at the "Times."

We're also going to talk to the Ohio governor about a bitter fight that's going on over voter registration. That's ahead.

HEMMER: Also, the flu short shortage continues. The Illinois governor there has a unique plan to alleviate the problem. What happens if he does not get the OK from the FDA, though? We'll talk to Governor Blagojevich, who was with us in Chicago one short week ago, so he's back again today.

O'BRIEN: That's right. He's back.

Also this morning, we are telling you the story of an amputee pilot. Six years after having a leg removed, the Gulf War veteran is now making military history. We're going to chat with him about that and much, much more all ahead on this "AMERICAN MORNING" -- Carol.

HEMMER: He is one extraordinary guy, too. So...

O'BRIEN: Yes.

HEMMER: Top of the hour, Carol, we'll see you then.

COSTELLO: All right, see you in 10.

HEMMER: OK.

COSTELLO: Cuba cashing in on the American election season. Coming up, why Castro is outlawing U.S. dollars. I'll talk with our correspondent in Havana.

This is DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The U.S. dollar will soon be no good in Cuba. Only pesos, please. Cuban President Fidel Castro laid out his new plan on television.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIDEL CASTRO, CUBAN PRESIDENT (through translator): From November 8 effective, it will be necessary to pay in convertible Cuban pesos in every establishment that deals with foreign currency. And for any conversion of Cuban pesos into dollars, a 10 percent charge will be applied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So why? And why should Americans care? We take you live to Cuba now and our Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman.

Good morning -- Lucia.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

Well, this announcement has certainly fallen like a bucket of cold water on Cubans. And the reason is that up until now, the U.S. dollar has been the de facto currency in this country.

But as you just heard, President Castro says that as of November 8, it will be replaced by something they call here the convertible peso, which, Carol, many people joke is kind of like Monopoly money, because it's printed here, and it's equivalent to exactly one U.S. dollar. Anyone with real U.S. dollars, though, will have to pay a 10 percent tax to convert them into this Cuban currency as of November 8.

Now I have to explain...

COSTELLO: You're kidding.

NEWMAN: I'm sorry. Go ahead.

COSTELLO: No, the tax on changing your money over, that seems a hardship on people who don't have much in Cuba.

NEWMAN: Absolutely. I mean, people scrape and save just to have one U.S. dollar, which is used to buy just about everything here. But President Castro explained that the reason for this is that it's a response to the new White House efforts to tighten the noose on this country's communist government, which measures -- which cut off its access to the U.S. currency, such as, for example, Carol, fining foreign banks, the Swiss bank recently, that allows Cuba to deposit its U.S. tourist dollars into the account.

So the idea here is to try to encourage tourists and businesses and ordinary Cubans to use currencies such as the Canadian dollars or euros. But, of course, most people here get their money from their relatives in the United States, who use, of course, U.S. dollars.

So it means everything has just gone up by at least 10 percent -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You know, it's just amazing to me that Fidel Castro seems to do so much to hurt his own people, yet he has remained in power for so very long.

NEWMAN: Well, this measure is technically not aimed at hurting so much the people as it is to saving or trying to save this country's money, what little it has. But, of course, it will hurt ordinary people as economic measures of this type usually do, because at the end of the day, the ordinary Cubans will have to try and get money from their relatives abroad. And that is the main source of hard currency in this country. More than $1 billion come from Cubans living in other countries, especially the United States.

COSTELLO: Lucia...

NEWMAN: And it's another cross they're going to have to bear -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Lucia Newman live in Havana this morning, thank you.

Your chance to win a DAYBREAK mug in two minutes, but first, this is DAYBREAK for a Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We just thought we'd show you some awesome pictures of pumpkins, because Halloween is right around the corner. And I think I recognize this little gal.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Do you?

COSTELLO: She's a beauty.

JERAS: That's my little pumpkin.

COSTELLO: Are those all of your pumpkins in your backyard?

JERAS: No, that's my other little pumpkin. We went over to Burk's (ph) pumpkin patch in up here Amicalola Falls in northern Georgia to go and see the leaves and pick out our pumpkins and have a little picnic.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's so awesome.

JERAS: It's our annual family outing.

COSTELLO: Yes, and I know for Halloween the entire Jacqui family is going to be members of the royal family.

JERAS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Queen Jacqui...

JERAS: Yes, King Mike and Princess Aurora, as she thinks she's a princess anyway. My son is going to be a frog, but, you know, if you kiss a frog he turns into a prince.

COSTELLO: Exactly. That is a brilliant idea. Brilliant!

JERAS: I know. That's all I could come up with.

COSTELLO: We wanted to update you on Ashlee Simpson, because I know you're dying to know. She really sings for real. She did last night. Listen.

Yes, this was at last night's Radio Music Awards, where Ashlee rebounded from that horrible lip-synching snafu on "Saturday Night Live." Simpson now says it was acid reflux disease that made her lose his voice just hours before the "Saturday Night Live" appearance, and that's why she had to Lip-sync, because she had a stomach ache.

JERAS: OK, I'm not commenting anymore. Right to the mug question of the day. We know you all want one of these, right?

Today's coffee question quiz, what president nominated William Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court? And...

COSTELLO: And, go ahead.

JERAS: Oh, all right, I get two. And what year did Cuba make it legal to possess U.S. dollars?

COSTELLO: E-mail us your answers to daybreak@cnn.com -- daybreak@cnn.com.

Jacqui, thanks for filling in for Chad. JERAS: Yes, it was good to be here.

COSTELLO: Tomorrow I think Rob Marciano is in.

JERAS: I do believe for the rest of the week and I get to sleep.

COSTELLO: "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

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 26, 2004 - 06:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. From the CNN global headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news -- North Korea is saying no thanks to nuclear talks. That's despite pleas from Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is now on a trip to Asia. The communist nation says it would be impossible to restart the talks at this time.

Back here in the States, some tougher border security rules take effect today. Travelers from more than 20 nations must now have passports with coding that can be read by a machine.

A plea hearing in Virginia for convicted sniper Lee Malvo. He's already serving a life term for one of the Washington-area shootings. Malvo is now facing charges in two of the other attacks.

In sports, the Cardinals are hoping to ruffle some feathers today. The World Series shifts to St. Louis for game three. The Boston Red Sox up two games to nothing.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Seven days to go until Americans head to the polls. The national elections are one week away, and the candidates are doing their best to wrap up votes.

And with time running out, let's take a look at some numbers. For that, we're joined by Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport live in Princeton, New Jersey.

Frank, we're just a week away. So, where do the numbers stand?

FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP: Isn't it exciting? You know, Carol, we're following the national popular vote. Of course, the elections and the electoral vote, I'll have more about that in a moment, the Electoral College.

But this is a good indicator of what's happening in general. That's why we've been following this here at Gallup since 1936 in the pre-election environment. It's tightened up a little. We're now 51 to 46 among likely voters, quite close. Among registered voters, it's almost dead even at this point. So Kerry has gained a point or two since we last measured this race a week or two ago.

Let me show you what's happening, though, in competitive states. This is quite fascinating. We split the whole U.S. up into three groups. These are red states, the ones that Bush won comfortably last time. Look at how much he's ahead significantly in those. That's Utah and Texas and Alabama, states like that.

In the so-called blue states, New York and California and Maryland and Massachusetts, Gore is ahead in Illinois -- excuse me -- Kerry is ahead. I don't want to stay back in 2000.

But look at the showdown states. These are these key states, about 15 or 16, that were very close last time. We separate those out, look at who is ahead. No one is ahead. It's dead even. And this is the real key right now.

So, in terms of the Electoral College, every way we look at it we have to say this race is just too close to call at this point -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Just amazing. Frank, we know that interest in this election is as high as any election in years past. But how seriously are people taking it?

NEWPORT: Well, extremely seriously. Every indicator that we have in the Gallup poll shows how much people are emotionally involved in this election this year.

We thought we would share with you this question from the weekend CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll: Are you afraid of what would happen if your candidate loses and the other guy wins? And regardless of political orientation it's high. Fifty-four percent strongly agree with that and another 22 somewhat agree.

So you've got about 75 percent of Americans who are afraid -- they're willing to say they agree with that word -- if their opponent, the guy they don't support, wins this election -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Wow! That's interesting. So the scare tactics and campaign ads must be working. Can you tell us what issues, though, are most important to voters?

NEWPORT: It's very fascinating. The same trend that we have seen, it depends on who you're voting for. We gave people a list of issues, and for each one said, is this important to you in your vote? I've graphed for you here the percent who say extremely important and broken it out by Bush and Kerry voters.

Look at terrorism, the issue of terrorism, 52 percent of Bush voters say it's extremely important, but just 38 of Kerry voters. Look at the difference there. Bush voters are focused in on terrorism as a key issue.

Look at the economy. Only 28 percent of Bush voters told us that that's extremely important to their vote, but that's 51 percent of Bush voters -- Kerry voters; the same thing for health care. Bush voters not as important to them, Kerry voters very important.

So the degree to which Kerry can focus the election on these domestic issues, he's getting more voters. The degree to which Bush keeps it focused on terrorism, he gets more voters on that side -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Frank Newport, fascinating as always, thank you so much.

As Frank just told you, the Kerry voters are more interested in domestic issues. To that end, President Clinton hit the road for the Kerry campaign. In his first appearance since heart surgery, President Clinton centered his remarks on the economy and what he said are the failures of the present administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON (D), FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On the economy, we have just lived through four years of the first job losses in 70 years, record bankruptcies, middle-class incomes declining, and poverty going up. In Pennsylvania alone, you've lost 70,000 jobs as compared with the 219,000 you gained by this time when that last fellow was president -- me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We want to take you behind the headlines now. President Clinton sounded pretty amazing for a man who just had heart surgery weeks ago. Kelly Wallace has covered Clinton for a long time. She's now on the campaign trail in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Good morning -- Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Great to be with you.

COSTELLO: Oh, we're glad you're with us this morning. You were there in person. How did President Clinton really look to you?

WALLACE: Well, you know, Carol, we were somewhat prepared for it, because we all saw him in that interview with Diane Sawyer on "Good morning America" early yesterday and where he looked thin and pale, his voice not as strong.

And I would say those were all of the same observations. When he came out thinner than even he had looked over the summer, a little pale, voice just not as strong, energy not as high and didn't speak for as long as we know Bill Clinton can speak.

So he looked like a man, Carol, who has been through something, and clearly this...

COSTELLO: Yes.

WALLACE: ... heart bypass surgery takes some time to recover from.

COSTELLO: We have these two Associated Press photos, and we were trying to compare for our audience this morning how much thinner he looks right now and how much paler. Was there a doctor on hand behind the scenes, Kelly? WALLACE: You know, that's a good question, Carol. I have tried to ask his aides, ask if any doctors were traveling with him. I didn't get an answer. It seemed like they didn't want to answer that. And the sense is that clearly there were probably people around just in case.

Also, the president himself saying that he had consulted with his doctors, asked them what he can do. They encouraged him, he said, to try and do his events early and try not to overdo it.

So still going normally, Carol. Will shake every hand that is there. He shook some hands, but then he was gone. And our understanding was he headed to Florida. We're told he took a nap on the plane, and then had his energy back up for an event in Miami last night.

COSTELLO: A crowd of 30,000 people gathered to see Clinton and Kerry, of course. What were they saying about President Clinton?

WALLACE: Well, the crowd just was so excited, Carol. The minute they came out you saw former President Clinton with Senator Kerry, and the crowd just exploded. It was quite a picture, because you could see thousands and thousands of people crammed on a couple of city blocks in downtown Philadelphia. And any time the former president looked in someone's direction, people really just exploded.

Talking to some people after, you had these people who were definitely going to vote for Senator Kerry, but who absolutely love President Clinton and wanted to come out.

And interestingly, I talked to a couple who they said they didn't vote for President Clinton at first, but they really came to really like him during this administration, felt he was inclusive, and that they feel George Bush is exclusive. And so that's why they're coming out and hoping Bill Clinton can help John Kerry.

COSTELLO: Kelly Wallace, thanks for joining DAYBREAK this morning. Interesting stuff.

From Clinton to Giuliani. The Democrats and Republicans are putting their power players to work this week. So does it really make a difference? That's part of "Today's Talker" with Neal Boortz and Nancy Skinner when we come back.

And later, why Castro is cutting dollars out of the Cuban economy.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Hitting the road hard. That's what George Bush and John Kerry are doing in their final week of campaigning, both of them making stops today in Wisconsin, of course, a key battleground state. So the candidates are pulling out all of the stops, getting help this week from some heavy hitters, like Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani. Or does this star power really matter?

Debate time now. Joining us from the left, talk show host Nancy Skinner, and from the right, libertarian talk show host Neal Boortz.

Welcome to you both.

NEAL BOORTZ, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good morning.

NANCY SKINNER, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, Neal, let's start with you. Rudy Giuliani standing beside George Bush, Rudy Giuliani a shining symbol of 9/11. Does it help George Bush really?

BOORTZ: Well, we have this celebrity culture going on in this country. There is no bigger political celebrity than Bill Clinton. So you can take Schwarzenegger and Giuliani and maybe they come close to having the impact of a Clinton on the stage. But unfortunately, the people in this country react to celebrity, and they're going to react to these people. So two varying degrees. Yes, it's going to help.

COSTELLO: Nancy, you know, Clinton was poison for Gore in 2000. Now he's a gem for Kerry in 2004. Ain't politics bizarre?

SKINNER: Well, a lot has changed since the 2000 election. And you know what? Now we know what we lost, how good it was, because Clinton was able to come out there like a rock star and say, I created 22 million jobs. I erased the deficits. And I created a surplus that this new president has erased.

What Arnold Schwarzenegger able to do? Who does he appeal to? Not like Clinton women, the black vote, working people. Schwarzenegger is appealing to moviegoers. He's a moderate. He's not going to get the base going. And Rudy Giuliani can't claim the record that Clinton can claim.

COSTELLO: I saw you shaking your head, Neal. I know you want to say something.

BOORTZ: It's the jobs thing. The jobs thing. We have, according to the federal government, 139.5 million Americans working right now, which is an all-time record. I want somebody to explain to me...

SKINNER: Neal, because...

BOORTZ: Now, Nancy, I want somebody to explain to me how we have lost jobs when we have a record number of people working.

SKINNER: Oh, that's really easy, Neal.

BOORTZ: Those two just don't add up.

SKINNER: There are more people...

COSTELLO: Now, wait a second. Nancy...

SKINNER: There are more people. So it's not in absolute terms. You haven't increased size of the working population each year. That's called population growth, Neal.

BOORTZ: Nancy...

SKINNER: What we're talking about is the rate of unemployment. And when Clinton was in office, it was 3.4 percent when President Bush took over.

COSTELLO: OK, let's...

BOORTZ: Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. You can't have...

COSTELLO: OK. One last word on this.

BOORTZ: You can't have -- a job is a job. We have a record number of jobs. Clinton says we lost jobs.

SKINNER: In absolutely terms...

BOORTZ: It can't go that way. I'm sorry.

SKINNER: In absolute terms, Neal. No more smoking mirrors and your fuzzy math that you Republicans use.

COSTELLO: OK, let's move on to our next topic of the morning, that huge weapons cache that simply disappeared near Baghdad. The Democrats are calling it the October surprise that George Bush doesn't want to see. Neal?

BOORTZ: Well, I have an "I told you so" coming on this yesterday from my show yesterday. I said yesterday that these weapons probably disappeared before U.S. troops even got into the vicinity. In fact, last night NBC news was reporting that by the time the American troops reached this particular storage facility, the weapons were already gone.

Now, Kerry and Edwards say President Bush should have done something to safeguard these weapons. I guess what they're saying is he should have invaded earlier to get those weapons so that they wouldn't have disappeared like that.

COSTELLO: Nancy?

SKINNER: You know, the weapons of mass relocation. OK? This president's main selling point is he's competent at war. And what we hear time and time again is they weren't. They were warned by the IAEA of these weapons well in advance of the war. They protected the Oil Ministry but let 380 tons of explosives unguarded. And it wasn't just before the invasion or before they were able to get there. They were able to guard the Oil Ministry but not the weapons that we were seeking to keep out of the hands of the terrorists.

You know, President Bush has one thing to run on, and that's it. And he's toast when the American public realizes how incompetent they were even at that.

BOORTZ: See? There we go. Nancy is saying we should have invaded earlier to get to those weapons before they took them away. I like that.

SKINNER: Neal, we still aren't even at that facility. They were picking over the ruins of this facility as late as last Sunday. And this is after we've known that this was -- they called it Mars on Earth, this place. It's ridiculous.

And it wasn't just this particular facility. Several other facilities were unguarded. That's why the RPGs and all of these weapons are being used to kill our soldiers from the get-go, because they guarded the Oil Ministry and not the weapons caches.

COSTELLO: OK, last word, Neal.

BOORTZ: Yes, ma'am. Well, with Nancy and the people on the left, there is nothing that George Bush can do in Iraq that is going to satisfy them. The weapons disappeared before our troops got there. That's not good enough for them. They should have gotten there earlier. It's an amazing -- an amazing tact.

COSTELLO: All right, Nancy Skinner and Neal Boortz, thanks for joining us as usual on Tuesday.

BOORTZ: You take care.

COSTELLO: Let's head live to New York now and check in with Bill and Soledad for a look at what's coming up on "AMERICAN MORNING."

Good morning.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning to you, Carol. Some of the headlines we're looking at this morning is, of course, is the campaign countdown. Most of the polls are showing the president with a slight lead. "The L.A. Times" poll tells a different story, though. This morning, we talk to Ron Brownstein at the "Times."

We're also going to talk to the Ohio governor about a bitter fight that's going on over voter registration. That's ahead.

HEMMER: Also, the flu short shortage continues. The Illinois governor there has a unique plan to alleviate the problem. What happens if he does not get the OK from the FDA, though? We'll talk to Governor Blagojevich, who was with us in Chicago one short week ago, so he's back again today.

O'BRIEN: That's right. He's back.

Also this morning, we are telling you the story of an amputee pilot. Six years after having a leg removed, the Gulf War veteran is now making military history. We're going to chat with him about that and much, much more all ahead on this "AMERICAN MORNING" -- Carol.

HEMMER: He is one extraordinary guy, too. So...

O'BRIEN: Yes.

HEMMER: Top of the hour, Carol, we'll see you then.

COSTELLO: All right, see you in 10.

HEMMER: OK.

COSTELLO: Cuba cashing in on the American election season. Coming up, why Castro is outlawing U.S. dollars. I'll talk with our correspondent in Havana.

This is DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The U.S. dollar will soon be no good in Cuba. Only pesos, please. Cuban President Fidel Castro laid out his new plan on television.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIDEL CASTRO, CUBAN PRESIDENT (through translator): From November 8 effective, it will be necessary to pay in convertible Cuban pesos in every establishment that deals with foreign currency. And for any conversion of Cuban pesos into dollars, a 10 percent charge will be applied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So why? And why should Americans care? We take you live to Cuba now and our Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman.

Good morning -- Lucia.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

Well, this announcement has certainly fallen like a bucket of cold water on Cubans. And the reason is that up until now, the U.S. dollar has been the de facto currency in this country.

But as you just heard, President Castro says that as of November 8, it will be replaced by something they call here the convertible peso, which, Carol, many people joke is kind of like Monopoly money, because it's printed here, and it's equivalent to exactly one U.S. dollar. Anyone with real U.S. dollars, though, will have to pay a 10 percent tax to convert them into this Cuban currency as of November 8.

Now I have to explain...

COSTELLO: You're kidding.

NEWMAN: I'm sorry. Go ahead.

COSTELLO: No, the tax on changing your money over, that seems a hardship on people who don't have much in Cuba.

NEWMAN: Absolutely. I mean, people scrape and save just to have one U.S. dollar, which is used to buy just about everything here. But President Castro explained that the reason for this is that it's a response to the new White House efforts to tighten the noose on this country's communist government, which measures -- which cut off its access to the U.S. currency, such as, for example, Carol, fining foreign banks, the Swiss bank recently, that allows Cuba to deposit its U.S. tourist dollars into the account.

So the idea here is to try to encourage tourists and businesses and ordinary Cubans to use currencies such as the Canadian dollars or euros. But, of course, most people here get their money from their relatives in the United States, who use, of course, U.S. dollars.

So it means everything has just gone up by at least 10 percent -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You know, it's just amazing to me that Fidel Castro seems to do so much to hurt his own people, yet he has remained in power for so very long.

NEWMAN: Well, this measure is technically not aimed at hurting so much the people as it is to saving or trying to save this country's money, what little it has. But, of course, it will hurt ordinary people as economic measures of this type usually do, because at the end of the day, the ordinary Cubans will have to try and get money from their relatives abroad. And that is the main source of hard currency in this country. More than $1 billion come from Cubans living in other countries, especially the United States.

COSTELLO: Lucia...

NEWMAN: And it's another cross they're going to have to bear -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Lucia Newman live in Havana this morning, thank you.

Your chance to win a DAYBREAK mug in two minutes, but first, this is DAYBREAK for a Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We just thought we'd show you some awesome pictures of pumpkins, because Halloween is right around the corner. And I think I recognize this little gal.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Do you?

COSTELLO: She's a beauty.

JERAS: That's my little pumpkin.

COSTELLO: Are those all of your pumpkins in your backyard?

JERAS: No, that's my other little pumpkin. We went over to Burk's (ph) pumpkin patch in up here Amicalola Falls in northern Georgia to go and see the leaves and pick out our pumpkins and have a little picnic.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's so awesome.

JERAS: It's our annual family outing.

COSTELLO: Yes, and I know for Halloween the entire Jacqui family is going to be members of the royal family.

JERAS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Queen Jacqui...

JERAS: Yes, King Mike and Princess Aurora, as she thinks she's a princess anyway. My son is going to be a frog, but, you know, if you kiss a frog he turns into a prince.

COSTELLO: Exactly. That is a brilliant idea. Brilliant!

JERAS: I know. That's all I could come up with.

COSTELLO: We wanted to update you on Ashlee Simpson, because I know you're dying to know. She really sings for real. She did last night. Listen.

Yes, this was at last night's Radio Music Awards, where Ashlee rebounded from that horrible lip-synching snafu on "Saturday Night Live." Simpson now says it was acid reflux disease that made her lose his voice just hours before the "Saturday Night Live" appearance, and that's why she had to Lip-sync, because she had a stomach ache.

JERAS: OK, I'm not commenting anymore. Right to the mug question of the day. We know you all want one of these, right?

Today's coffee question quiz, what president nominated William Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court? And...

COSTELLO: And, go ahead.

JERAS: Oh, all right, I get two. And what year did Cuba make it legal to possess U.S. dollars?

COSTELLO: E-mail us your answers to daybreak@cnn.com -- daybreak@cnn.com.

Jacqui, thanks for filling in for Chad. JERAS: Yes, it was good to be here.

COSTELLO: Tomorrow I think Rob Marciano is in.

JERAS: I do believe for the rest of the week and I get to sleep.

COSTELLO: "AMERICAN MORNING" starts right now.

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