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American Morning
Kerry Campaign; "State of the Ballot"; Rehnquist Hospitalized; Amputee Pilot
Aired October 26, 2004 - 07:30 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
With seven days to go before the election, we're going to take a closer look at all that could go wrong. Jeff Toobin is going to join us this morning, looking at tracking down voters who double-dip, casting ballots in more than one state.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Kind of like (INAUDIBLE), huh? Double- dip, we'll get to Jeff in a moment.
Also, the chief justice, William Rehnquist, undergoing surgery for cancer. Is the seriousness of his condition being downplayed? We'll look at what they are saying in Washington and new questions about the future for the court pending the news that broke yesterday.
O'BRIEN: The top stories, though, first, before we get to any of that. Heidi Collins at the news desk for us.
Good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys, once again.
There is word this hour almost 80 people have been killed after a riot in southern Thailand. Hundreds of people were apparently arrested and stuffed into trucks by Thai police following a major protest yesterday. Sources now say at least 78 of those people were crushed and suffocated on the way to the police station.
To the Middle East now. The Israeli army says Palestinian militants have launched three rockets into Israel. No details yet on any damage.
Meanwhile, Israel's Parliament is set to vote today on the controversial plan to pull out of Gaza. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says the disengagement plan is a gateway to a new future with the Palestinians. But some Israeli critics call it treason.
Investigators are planning to release a report today of the likely cause of the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 three years ago. This was the scene; 265 people were killed when the flight hit a New York City neighborhood. There is a dispute now, though, between Airbus, who manufactured the plane, and American Airlines over whether the pilot used the rudder incorrectly to steady the plane after it ran into turbulence from another flight. The country's largest wireless company is in the making. Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless could officially join forces today. The Federal Communications Commission is expected to approve the merger. Some 47 million people could be affected. And if you think that's a lot, that's nothing according to the money: $41 billion acquisition.
HEMMER: Wow! A big company.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Thank you, Heidi.
Just a week to go now before Election Day 2004, and both candidates are trying to find some way to gain an edge with voters in those critical battleground states. One of those states is Wisconsin. That's where Kelly Wallace is this morning live in Green Bay.
Good morning -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
As you know, Wisconsin was won very narrowly by Al Gore back in 2000. Senator Kerry beginning his day with a speech on homeland security, which will include sharp attacks on President Bush; this, as this campaign is trying very, very hard to eliminate the president's national security advantage in these seven days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice over): In Macomb County, Michigan, last night, home of the highly-coveted Reagan Democrats, Senator John Kerry losing his voice but not his focus. This was the message of the day.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The unbelievable incompetence again and again of this administration and this president has put our troops and our country at greater risk. George Bush has failed the essentially test of a commander-in-chief.
WALLACE: The senator in his speech today expected to continue hammering away at the president over missing explosives in Iraq, trying to convince undecided voters the war has increased the dangers for Americans.
KERRY: He brags about making America safer, but once again the president has failed to deliver.
WALLACE: A constant story line of this campaign, illustrated in the latest polls, Senator Kerry trailing the president by nearly 20 points when voters are asked who can better handle terrorism. Camp Kerry's goal in the final week? Narrowing the gap with tough rhetoric...
KERRY: How this administration has failed to make the American people safer.
WALLACE: ... and new faces on the stump. One of the September 11 widows traveling with Elizabeth Edwards in Minnesota yesterday.
This, though, the photo-op of the day as far as team Kerry was concerned, former President Clinton turning out tens of thousands in downtown Philadelphia and later in Miami, trying to fire up the Democrats to get out and vote.
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON (D), FMR.PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Remember, we won this state the last two times. They just didn't count them the last time. We can win it again. Let's go for three in a row.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (on camera): And the former president will be stumping in Nevada, New Mexico and his home state of Arkansas, which aides say now looks very close. As for Senator Kerry, he will be going to Nevada and New Mexico.
Bill, the campaign scrapping plans for him to visit Colorado on this day, a sign this campaign might not necessarily think that state remains within reach -- Bill.
HEMMER: Not much sleep with seven days to go, is there, Kelly?
WALLACE: Excuse me? Say that again.
HEMMER: Not much sleep with seven days to go. I understand Senator Kerry told his staff to go ahead and write that off, right?
WALLACE: Not much -- yes, exactly, right. Four rallies a day. And that's the key. Everywhere they go has to matter. I talked to one of the top Kerry advisors, asking about this. He said, look, we reserve the right to change the schedule at any time. Clearly, they are going to the states they think are most competitive and the most within reach right now -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly. Kelly Wallace in Green Bay this morning -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: It is not a crime to be registered to vote in more than one state, but actually casting two ballots is a whole different story. And tracking down double voters can be difficult, if not impossible. So could this be a factor in next week's election?
To continue our series, "The State of the Ballot," I'm joined by CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeff Toobin.
Good morning. Nice to see you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, ma'am.
O'BRIEN: Many people are registered to vote in more than one state, I guess, because when you move it's hard or you don't have to always unregister. But how many people are we talking about are they concerned about could actually vote twice? TOOBIN: No one knows for sure. The "New York Daily News" did an investigation involving New York and Florida, two states between which a lot of people move. It showed 1,600 people voted in both states in the last election.
O'BRIEN: Voted or were registered?
TOOBIN: Voted, they claim. I mean, no one knows for sure, because, you know, people registered differently under slightly different name, middle initials, middle name change. It's very hard to merge and purge these lists. Clearly it is illegal to do it. How you track it down, how often it happens, it's very hard to tell.
O'BRIEN: So it's illegal to vote more than once, obviously, but it's not illegal to be registered. Why is there no real process for keeping track of who is registered?
TOOBIN: Like so much with voting, it's dealt with in kind of a casual way. The usual way it's supposed to be dealt with is that when you register in a new state, the board of elections of the new state is supposed to contact your former state and get you off the rolls there. That process rarely works at all, and it certainly rarely works well.
Florida, this is a particularly big issue, because 400,000 people a year move to Florida, all of whom presumably were registered in some other state.
O'BRIEN: And as we've seen, a very small number of voters could play a big role in the election. Why not with the state of technology as it is today, why not is this more -- done in some kind of a better fashion where you can just rely on technology to (INAUDIBLE) rolls?
TOOBIN: There is not even a central database for individual states, much less the whole country. So the idea of doing this sufficiently is way off in the future.
O'BRIEN: So then give me a sense of what the potential implications are in this election.
TOOBIN: Well, the big issue is going to be in Florida. And Democrats are very concerned that Republicans are going to challenge lots of voters, saying, look, you're registered in another state, you can't vote there. First of all, they say it's no crime to be -- there's nothing wrong with being registered in two states. Second, they'll say there's no way you can prove that someone else voted.
Republicans are saying we are simply trying to enforce the law; that it is illegal to vote in two states and we're not going to sit by for vote fraud.
I think the most interesting thing to watch will be how does the process work? Because the mere act of challenging lots of voters by tying up the polls that may be as significant as any result. And I think this is in many states, Ohio, Florida, the issue of challenges at the polls and how that affects voters online is going to be something to watch on Election Day.
O'BRIEN: Another issue is the Supreme Court has suddenly become a campaign issue with news, of course, that Chief Justice Rehnquist is battling thyroid cancer. He's now recovering after throat surgery this past weekend. We've got more from justice correspondent Kelli Arena on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It took nearly everyone by surprise, but the seriousness of the chief justice's health problem was immediately apparent.
BRAD BERENSON, FMR.SUPREME COURT CLERK: Everybody has been aware really for years that there could be a Supreme Court vacancy, but this is a very, very visible reminder of it in the homestretch of a presidential campaign.
ARENA: Chief Justice William Rehnquist remains in the hospital. He's been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. His doctors aren't talking. The Supreme Court says he is expected to be on the bench when the court reconvenes next Monday.
WILLIAM REHNQUIST, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT: Nothing is so dear and precious as time.
ARENA: Several senior government sources tell CNN the situation is far more serious than the public statement reveals, but say it's unlikely the court will elaborate, especially with one week to go before the election.
EDWARD LAZARUS, AUTHOR, "CLOSED CHAMBER": They don't like the idea of the Supreme Court being a sort of political football that the candidates trot out at their convenience. They want to be seen above politics.
ARENA: Rehnquist is described as both proud and stubborn.
REHNQUIST: Don't get in my way.
ARENA: At 80, he's the second oldest serving chief justice, a post he's held for 18 years. He joined the bench in 1972 and has led an increasingly conservative course.
BERENSON: The court has steadily but slowly moved more in his direction.
ARENA: The public knows him best from the impeachment trial of President Clinton.
REHNQUIST: And he hereby is acquitted of the charge in the said article.
ARENA: And then there was the Bush v. Gore decision four years ago. (on camera): In 2000, the Supreme Court sided with Bush in a 5-4 decision. If this election ends up in the high court as well and Rehnquist is unable to participate, that could leave the justices split 4-4.
Kelly Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: All right, right back to Jeff Toobin. That is the $64,000 question. OK, the justices, let's say hypothetically, are split 4-4. What happens?
TOOBIN: You know, many appeals courts and even state supreme courts have procedures for using substitute justices for when there is a vacancy. Not the Supreme Court. A 4-4 decision affirms the decision of the lower court. What that would have meant four years ago is that the Florida Supreme Court would have been affirmed, the recount would have proceeded, Al Gore might be president. So that gives you an idea of how significant a vacancy can be.
O'BRIEN: Of course, they're saying that actually he's going to be back on the bench next week. So...
TOOBIN: We shall see.
O'BRIEN: ... we shall see. Jeff Toobin, thanks, as always -- Bill.
HEMMER: Twenty minutes before the hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a major milestone for Google, and it's bad news for its main rival. Andy is "Minding Your Business" just ahead.
HEMMER: Also, an inspiring store in a moment. Six years after his leg was amputated, a Gulf War veteran gets back in the pilot seat to make history. He shares that story live in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: He is a Gulf War veteran whose military duties once included flying Air Force Two. And now after being grounded by the loss of a limb, this pilot is now soaring again and how. His story this morning now from the Pentagon and Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's been six years since Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Lourake climbed into the cockpit. Lourake is making aviation history, he first U.S. Air Force pilot to fly with an above-the-knee amputation. Watching intently, young soldiers wounded in Iraq, now fellow amputees.
With advanced prosthetics, Lourake wears a leg driven by computer technology. Today's military amputees have a better chance of staying on duty. Lourake convinced his medical board to let him try.
LT. COL. ANDREW LOURAKE, AIR FORCE PILOT: I'm just tenacious, I guess. I had to at least try it. And I had to show everybody and prove to everybody that I was capable of it.
STARR: But how does Lourake feel the pedals of the airplane? He bounces three times on his artificial limb, signaling the computer to better hold his artificial leg in a bent position. Then he pushes against the pedal. Even after working for months to regain his strength, Lourake reminds today's vets it's a tough road.
LOURAKE: There were dark moments for me, as well. You're not whole anymore. So you get -- depression sets in. Drugs and pain do some really weird things to your mind.
STARR: But he is showing the wounded from Iraq what is possible.
LOURAKE: Military DOD careers are not over with limb loss now if you can prove yourself and prove that you can do your job.
STARR: Now celebration, congratulations, and a second chance at the flying career he loves for Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Lourake.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: And this morning I'm honored to welcome Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Lourake to AMERICAN MORNING. Colonel, thanks for your time. And good morning to you.
LOURAKE: Bill, good morning, and welcome to Andrews..
HEMMER: There are so many fascinating things about your story. This is just one of them. Seventeen surgeries. It's my understanding that you concluded based on your own research the only chance you would have to fly again is if you amputated your own leg above the knee. How did you conclude that, Colonel?
LOURAKE: Well, the only choice that I had after all of the surgeries that I had, was to either fuse it, because the total knee joint that they had put in kept failing. So if I wanted to get back in the cockpit, I had to have a leg that bent. And the only way to do that was with the prosthetic.
And I did a lot of research to find out what technology was available. And recently to the market at that point was a leg called the C-Leg made by the Otto Bock Company, and it essentially enables above-knee amputees to live a very normal life and to do a lot of things that normal prosthetics can't.
HEMMER: What does flying mean to you to go to these lengths? LOURAKE: I wanted to do it since I was a kid. And it was part of my makeup. The Air Force had trained me and they had spent a lot of money on me. So I wanted to make sure that I could do everything that I possibly could to pay them back.
HEMMER: You mentioned in the story with Barbara Starr that drugs and pain can play tricks on your mind. Did you have dark days? And if so, how did you overcome them?
LOURAKE: Oh, absolutely. The dark days, I had a lot of them. The drugs and the pain do some really crazy things to your mind. The way I essentially got over it was all of the support from all of my family, friends and co-workers. They are truly the stars of this story that enabled me to essentially get over everything that I had gone through and return to the cockpit.
HEMMER: I also understand you visit injured veterans quite often at Walter Reed Medical Center there in the D.C. area. Do they give you strength? Or what do you get out of those visits, Colonel?
LOURAKE: They give me incredible strength. I am truly a proud American to be able to go and talk to the wounded that have come back. It gives me a lot more than I'm sure it gives them. It mean a lot for me as an American, as a DOD employee, a fellow soldier so to speak, to go there and show them that life is not over, that life is very normal as soon as they get out of that pain and from those drugs.
HEMMER: I understand you've got a pretty wicked sense of humor, too. We saw in the videotape slapping a handicap sticker against the cockpit window. Humor help, doesn't it?
LOURAKE: Oh, absolutely. Amputees have a strange sense of humor.
HEMMER: My best to you. And we should point out, you're just not a pilot, you fly the vice president, the first lady, the secretary of defense. Our best to you. And thanks for your time this morning, Colonel.
LOURAKE: OK, Bill, thanks for having me.
HEMMER: A pleasure having you with us today.
Now -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, just how big is Google these days? Well, take a look who is smaller. Andy is "Minding Your Business." We've got that coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Google's fortunes keep on clicking. And now there is yet another reason for the company to say Yahoo! For that and a market preview, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."
Let's start with the market. ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: OK, let's do that. I've got some...
O'BRIEN: That and a preview.
SERWER: Yes, OK. We've got some good news for you, Soledad. Those striking Norwegian oil workers?
O'BRIEN: Resolved?
SERWER: They're going back to work.
O'BRIEN: Yeah!
SERWER: The price of oil is falling.
O'BRIEN: Yeah!
SERWER: Futures are up.
O'BRIEN: Yeah!
SERWER: Let's check out what happened yesterday, though. Kind of directionless trading. Traders on edge, just like everyone else across the country, waiting for the election to happen. That's basically what's going on this week on Wall Street.
The Dow was down about seven points, and Nasdaq the S&P also down a buck. Maybe W. called up that labor minister, Dagfinn Hoeybraaten, over in Norway.
O'BRIEN: Taking your advice.
SERWER: Yes, exactly. I'm sure that's what happened.
Let's talk about Google. This is -- last week we were out in Chicago when we were at the Adler Planetarium, I said gravity is still in effect. Apparently not. And if we're going to page Dr. Sherwood (ph) here, I want to tell you this patient is looking speculative. Very speculative.
Google up $15 yesterday to $187. It now is worth more than Yahoo. It's worth more than Boeing. It's worth more than Anheuser- Busch, and it's worth more than McDonald's. That's just one company there.
Now, get this -- the two founders, remember these guys, Sergey Brin and Larry Page? They're now worth $7.1 billion. That's more -- $4 billion more than when the IPO happened.
O'BRIEN: Wow!
SERWER: I mean, this is just...
HEMMER: Is that more than day traders driving that up? SERWER: Well, what it is it's momentum traders, which is people on Wall Street who buy stocks because they are going up. I mean, and they just keep pushing it up for each other. And, eventually, I promise you, eventually this will end. It may not. It's going to making me look bad for a couple more days and weeks, but at some point it's going to stop.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Google and the Patriots are killing you, aren't they?
SERWER: They are! It's been a terrible fall for me, Jack. Thank you for reminding me.
HEMMER: What's happening?
CAFFERTY: The "Question of the Day" is about this 9/11 Commission. Ninety-six days since the commission issued its report on how to protect the country from terrorism. Congress has yet to adopt any of the major recommendations. Nothing. Originally said they couldn't do it until next year. They were much too busy. This was right after they brought the debate about a gay marriage amendment to the floor. They managed to do that like this. Then, of course, they took six weeks off.
Now they're back. They've got a couple of bills, but they can't reconcile their differences. And now they're going to leave again for a couple of months. They won't be back until January of next year. Ain't they something?
Our question is this: What's an acceptable timeframe for lawmakers to act on 9/11 Commission recommendations? We're getting some -- it's kind of a loaded question, but I did it on purpose. We're getting some great answers.
Tom in Port Matilda, Pennsylvania: "A specific timeline is not required. Effectiveness in a nonpartisan way is required. As long as we continue to act as two different countries, a red one and a blue one, we will continue to have problems."
Jeffrey in Virginia Beach: "I feel six months is an acceptable timeframe to get the ball rolling, and by rolling I don't mean just talking about it but actually showing some progress."
Doug in Bloomfield, New Jersey: "Once the lawmakers have read the 9/11 report, I think 90 days should be adequate to implement the recommendations so as not to interfere with the 2008 election campaign."
Jim writes: "Since they can't seem to get anything done, I say let's send them all home, permanently."
And finally George from Houston, Texas, writes: "I watch you every morning, and I wonder if anyone at CNN has noticed how much Jack and Bill O'Reilly look alike. They could be brothers." Well, we're not.
SERWER: No, they couldn't.
CAFFERTY: The good and the bad. Jack is the good. Have a wonderful day. Nothing to do with the "Question of the Day," but I like the letter. So I thought we'd...
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: I liked it, too, as a matter of fact. You're always good by us.
CAFFERTY: Do we look alike? Put that thing up again.
HEMMER: Yes, let's do that.
SERWER: No.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Yes, there's a little something working there.
CAFFERTY: Receding hairline.
O'BRIEN: Jack is far more handsome than Bill O'Reilly.
SERWER: And he's not wearing a pink shirt, either.
HEMMER: That's true.
In a moment here, the race for the White House is about to get down and dirty in Ohio as we speak. Lawyers are getting ready to descend upon the Buckeye State if they're not there already. What does the governor have to say about all of that? We'll talk to him at the top of the hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 26, 2004 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
With seven days to go before the election, we're going to take a closer look at all that could go wrong. Jeff Toobin is going to join us this morning, looking at tracking down voters who double-dip, casting ballots in more than one state.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Kind of like (INAUDIBLE), huh? Double- dip, we'll get to Jeff in a moment.
Also, the chief justice, William Rehnquist, undergoing surgery for cancer. Is the seriousness of his condition being downplayed? We'll look at what they are saying in Washington and new questions about the future for the court pending the news that broke yesterday.
O'BRIEN: The top stories, though, first, before we get to any of that. Heidi Collins at the news desk for us.
Good morning.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, guys, once again.
There is word this hour almost 80 people have been killed after a riot in southern Thailand. Hundreds of people were apparently arrested and stuffed into trucks by Thai police following a major protest yesterday. Sources now say at least 78 of those people were crushed and suffocated on the way to the police station.
To the Middle East now. The Israeli army says Palestinian militants have launched three rockets into Israel. No details yet on any damage.
Meanwhile, Israel's Parliament is set to vote today on the controversial plan to pull out of Gaza. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says the disengagement plan is a gateway to a new future with the Palestinians. But some Israeli critics call it treason.
Investigators are planning to release a report today of the likely cause of the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 three years ago. This was the scene; 265 people were killed when the flight hit a New York City neighborhood. There is a dispute now, though, between Airbus, who manufactured the plane, and American Airlines over whether the pilot used the rudder incorrectly to steady the plane after it ran into turbulence from another flight. The country's largest wireless company is in the making. Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless could officially join forces today. The Federal Communications Commission is expected to approve the merger. Some 47 million people could be affected. And if you think that's a lot, that's nothing according to the money: $41 billion acquisition.
HEMMER: Wow! A big company.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: Thank you, Heidi.
Just a week to go now before Election Day 2004, and both candidates are trying to find some way to gain an edge with voters in those critical battleground states. One of those states is Wisconsin. That's where Kelly Wallace is this morning live in Green Bay.
Good morning -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
As you know, Wisconsin was won very narrowly by Al Gore back in 2000. Senator Kerry beginning his day with a speech on homeland security, which will include sharp attacks on President Bush; this, as this campaign is trying very, very hard to eliminate the president's national security advantage in these seven days.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice over): In Macomb County, Michigan, last night, home of the highly-coveted Reagan Democrats, Senator John Kerry losing his voice but not his focus. This was the message of the day.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The unbelievable incompetence again and again of this administration and this president has put our troops and our country at greater risk. George Bush has failed the essentially test of a commander-in-chief.
WALLACE: The senator in his speech today expected to continue hammering away at the president over missing explosives in Iraq, trying to convince undecided voters the war has increased the dangers for Americans.
KERRY: He brags about making America safer, but once again the president has failed to deliver.
WALLACE: A constant story line of this campaign, illustrated in the latest polls, Senator Kerry trailing the president by nearly 20 points when voters are asked who can better handle terrorism. Camp Kerry's goal in the final week? Narrowing the gap with tough rhetoric...
KERRY: How this administration has failed to make the American people safer.
WALLACE: ... and new faces on the stump. One of the September 11 widows traveling with Elizabeth Edwards in Minnesota yesterday.
This, though, the photo-op of the day as far as team Kerry was concerned, former President Clinton turning out tens of thousands in downtown Philadelphia and later in Miami, trying to fire up the Democrats to get out and vote.
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON (D), FMR.PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Remember, we won this state the last two times. They just didn't count them the last time. We can win it again. Let's go for three in a row.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALLACE (on camera): And the former president will be stumping in Nevada, New Mexico and his home state of Arkansas, which aides say now looks very close. As for Senator Kerry, he will be going to Nevada and New Mexico.
Bill, the campaign scrapping plans for him to visit Colorado on this day, a sign this campaign might not necessarily think that state remains within reach -- Bill.
HEMMER: Not much sleep with seven days to go, is there, Kelly?
WALLACE: Excuse me? Say that again.
HEMMER: Not much sleep with seven days to go. I understand Senator Kerry told his staff to go ahead and write that off, right?
WALLACE: Not much -- yes, exactly, right. Four rallies a day. And that's the key. Everywhere they go has to matter. I talked to one of the top Kerry advisors, asking about this. He said, look, we reserve the right to change the schedule at any time. Clearly, they are going to the states they think are most competitive and the most within reach right now -- Bill.
HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly. Kelly Wallace in Green Bay this morning -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: It is not a crime to be registered to vote in more than one state, but actually casting two ballots is a whole different story. And tracking down double voters can be difficult, if not impossible. So could this be a factor in next week's election?
To continue our series, "The State of the Ballot," I'm joined by CNN's senior legal analyst, Jeff Toobin.
Good morning. Nice to see you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, ma'am.
O'BRIEN: Many people are registered to vote in more than one state, I guess, because when you move it's hard or you don't have to always unregister. But how many people are we talking about are they concerned about could actually vote twice? TOOBIN: No one knows for sure. The "New York Daily News" did an investigation involving New York and Florida, two states between which a lot of people move. It showed 1,600 people voted in both states in the last election.
O'BRIEN: Voted or were registered?
TOOBIN: Voted, they claim. I mean, no one knows for sure, because, you know, people registered differently under slightly different name, middle initials, middle name change. It's very hard to merge and purge these lists. Clearly it is illegal to do it. How you track it down, how often it happens, it's very hard to tell.
O'BRIEN: So it's illegal to vote more than once, obviously, but it's not illegal to be registered. Why is there no real process for keeping track of who is registered?
TOOBIN: Like so much with voting, it's dealt with in kind of a casual way. The usual way it's supposed to be dealt with is that when you register in a new state, the board of elections of the new state is supposed to contact your former state and get you off the rolls there. That process rarely works at all, and it certainly rarely works well.
Florida, this is a particularly big issue, because 400,000 people a year move to Florida, all of whom presumably were registered in some other state.
O'BRIEN: And as we've seen, a very small number of voters could play a big role in the election. Why not with the state of technology as it is today, why not is this more -- done in some kind of a better fashion where you can just rely on technology to (INAUDIBLE) rolls?
TOOBIN: There is not even a central database for individual states, much less the whole country. So the idea of doing this sufficiently is way off in the future.
O'BRIEN: So then give me a sense of what the potential implications are in this election.
TOOBIN: Well, the big issue is going to be in Florida. And Democrats are very concerned that Republicans are going to challenge lots of voters, saying, look, you're registered in another state, you can't vote there. First of all, they say it's no crime to be -- there's nothing wrong with being registered in two states. Second, they'll say there's no way you can prove that someone else voted.
Republicans are saying we are simply trying to enforce the law; that it is illegal to vote in two states and we're not going to sit by for vote fraud.
I think the most interesting thing to watch will be how does the process work? Because the mere act of challenging lots of voters by tying up the polls that may be as significant as any result. And I think this is in many states, Ohio, Florida, the issue of challenges at the polls and how that affects voters online is going to be something to watch on Election Day.
O'BRIEN: Another issue is the Supreme Court has suddenly become a campaign issue with news, of course, that Chief Justice Rehnquist is battling thyroid cancer. He's now recovering after throat surgery this past weekend. We've got more from justice correspondent Kelli Arena on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It took nearly everyone by surprise, but the seriousness of the chief justice's health problem was immediately apparent.
BRAD BERENSON, FMR.SUPREME COURT CLERK: Everybody has been aware really for years that there could be a Supreme Court vacancy, but this is a very, very visible reminder of it in the homestretch of a presidential campaign.
ARENA: Chief Justice William Rehnquist remains in the hospital. He's been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. His doctors aren't talking. The Supreme Court says he is expected to be on the bench when the court reconvenes next Monday.
WILLIAM REHNQUIST, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT: Nothing is so dear and precious as time.
ARENA: Several senior government sources tell CNN the situation is far more serious than the public statement reveals, but say it's unlikely the court will elaborate, especially with one week to go before the election.
EDWARD LAZARUS, AUTHOR, "CLOSED CHAMBER": They don't like the idea of the Supreme Court being a sort of political football that the candidates trot out at their convenience. They want to be seen above politics.
ARENA: Rehnquist is described as both proud and stubborn.
REHNQUIST: Don't get in my way.
ARENA: At 80, he's the second oldest serving chief justice, a post he's held for 18 years. He joined the bench in 1972 and has led an increasingly conservative course.
BERENSON: The court has steadily but slowly moved more in his direction.
ARENA: The public knows him best from the impeachment trial of President Clinton.
REHNQUIST: And he hereby is acquitted of the charge in the said article.
ARENA: And then there was the Bush v. Gore decision four years ago. (on camera): In 2000, the Supreme Court sided with Bush in a 5-4 decision. If this election ends up in the high court as well and Rehnquist is unable to participate, that could leave the justices split 4-4.
Kelly Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: All right, right back to Jeff Toobin. That is the $64,000 question. OK, the justices, let's say hypothetically, are split 4-4. What happens?
TOOBIN: You know, many appeals courts and even state supreme courts have procedures for using substitute justices for when there is a vacancy. Not the Supreme Court. A 4-4 decision affirms the decision of the lower court. What that would have meant four years ago is that the Florida Supreme Court would have been affirmed, the recount would have proceeded, Al Gore might be president. So that gives you an idea of how significant a vacancy can be.
O'BRIEN: Of course, they're saying that actually he's going to be back on the bench next week. So...
TOOBIN: We shall see.
O'BRIEN: ... we shall see. Jeff Toobin, thanks, as always -- Bill.
HEMMER: Twenty minutes before the hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, a major milestone for Google, and it's bad news for its main rival. Andy is "Minding Your Business" just ahead.
HEMMER: Also, an inspiring store in a moment. Six years after his leg was amputated, a Gulf War veteran gets back in the pilot seat to make history. He shares that story live in a moment on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: He is a Gulf War veteran whose military duties once included flying Air Force Two. And now after being grounded by the loss of a limb, this pilot is now soaring again and how. His story this morning now from the Pentagon and Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's been six years since Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Lourake climbed into the cockpit. Lourake is making aviation history, he first U.S. Air Force pilot to fly with an above-the-knee amputation. Watching intently, young soldiers wounded in Iraq, now fellow amputees.
With advanced prosthetics, Lourake wears a leg driven by computer technology. Today's military amputees have a better chance of staying on duty. Lourake convinced his medical board to let him try.
LT. COL. ANDREW LOURAKE, AIR FORCE PILOT: I'm just tenacious, I guess. I had to at least try it. And I had to show everybody and prove to everybody that I was capable of it.
STARR: But how does Lourake feel the pedals of the airplane? He bounces three times on his artificial limb, signaling the computer to better hold his artificial leg in a bent position. Then he pushes against the pedal. Even after working for months to regain his strength, Lourake reminds today's vets it's a tough road.
LOURAKE: There were dark moments for me, as well. You're not whole anymore. So you get -- depression sets in. Drugs and pain do some really weird things to your mind.
STARR: But he is showing the wounded from Iraq what is possible.
LOURAKE: Military DOD careers are not over with limb loss now if you can prove yourself and prove that you can do your job.
STARR: Now celebration, congratulations, and a second chance at the flying career he loves for Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Lourake.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: And this morning I'm honored to welcome Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Lourake to AMERICAN MORNING. Colonel, thanks for your time. And good morning to you.
LOURAKE: Bill, good morning, and welcome to Andrews..
HEMMER: There are so many fascinating things about your story. This is just one of them. Seventeen surgeries. It's my understanding that you concluded based on your own research the only chance you would have to fly again is if you amputated your own leg above the knee. How did you conclude that, Colonel?
LOURAKE: Well, the only choice that I had after all of the surgeries that I had, was to either fuse it, because the total knee joint that they had put in kept failing. So if I wanted to get back in the cockpit, I had to have a leg that bent. And the only way to do that was with the prosthetic.
And I did a lot of research to find out what technology was available. And recently to the market at that point was a leg called the C-Leg made by the Otto Bock Company, and it essentially enables above-knee amputees to live a very normal life and to do a lot of things that normal prosthetics can't.
HEMMER: What does flying mean to you to go to these lengths? LOURAKE: I wanted to do it since I was a kid. And it was part of my makeup. The Air Force had trained me and they had spent a lot of money on me. So I wanted to make sure that I could do everything that I possibly could to pay them back.
HEMMER: You mentioned in the story with Barbara Starr that drugs and pain can play tricks on your mind. Did you have dark days? And if so, how did you overcome them?
LOURAKE: Oh, absolutely. The dark days, I had a lot of them. The drugs and the pain do some really crazy things to your mind. The way I essentially got over it was all of the support from all of my family, friends and co-workers. They are truly the stars of this story that enabled me to essentially get over everything that I had gone through and return to the cockpit.
HEMMER: I also understand you visit injured veterans quite often at Walter Reed Medical Center there in the D.C. area. Do they give you strength? Or what do you get out of those visits, Colonel?
LOURAKE: They give me incredible strength. I am truly a proud American to be able to go and talk to the wounded that have come back. It gives me a lot more than I'm sure it gives them. It mean a lot for me as an American, as a DOD employee, a fellow soldier so to speak, to go there and show them that life is not over, that life is very normal as soon as they get out of that pain and from those drugs.
HEMMER: I understand you've got a pretty wicked sense of humor, too. We saw in the videotape slapping a handicap sticker against the cockpit window. Humor help, doesn't it?
LOURAKE: Oh, absolutely. Amputees have a strange sense of humor.
HEMMER: My best to you. And we should point out, you're just not a pilot, you fly the vice president, the first lady, the secretary of defense. Our best to you. And thanks for your time this morning, Colonel.
LOURAKE: OK, Bill, thanks for having me.
HEMMER: A pleasure having you with us today.
Now -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, just how big is Google these days? Well, take a look who is smaller. Andy is "Minding Your Business." We've got that coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Google's fortunes keep on clicking. And now there is yet another reason for the company to say Yahoo! For that and a market preview, Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."
Let's start with the market. ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: OK, let's do that. I've got some...
O'BRIEN: That and a preview.
SERWER: Yes, OK. We've got some good news for you, Soledad. Those striking Norwegian oil workers?
O'BRIEN: Resolved?
SERWER: They're going back to work.
O'BRIEN: Yeah!
SERWER: The price of oil is falling.
O'BRIEN: Yeah!
SERWER: Futures are up.
O'BRIEN: Yeah!
SERWER: Let's check out what happened yesterday, though. Kind of directionless trading. Traders on edge, just like everyone else across the country, waiting for the election to happen. That's basically what's going on this week on Wall Street.
The Dow was down about seven points, and Nasdaq the S&P also down a buck. Maybe W. called up that labor minister, Dagfinn Hoeybraaten, over in Norway.
O'BRIEN: Taking your advice.
SERWER: Yes, exactly. I'm sure that's what happened.
Let's talk about Google. This is -- last week we were out in Chicago when we were at the Adler Planetarium, I said gravity is still in effect. Apparently not. And if we're going to page Dr. Sherwood (ph) here, I want to tell you this patient is looking speculative. Very speculative.
Google up $15 yesterday to $187. It now is worth more than Yahoo. It's worth more than Boeing. It's worth more than Anheuser- Busch, and it's worth more than McDonald's. That's just one company there.
Now, get this -- the two founders, remember these guys, Sergey Brin and Larry Page? They're now worth $7.1 billion. That's more -- $4 billion more than when the IPO happened.
O'BRIEN: Wow!
SERWER: I mean, this is just...
HEMMER: Is that more than day traders driving that up? SERWER: Well, what it is it's momentum traders, which is people on Wall Street who buy stocks because they are going up. I mean, and they just keep pushing it up for each other. And, eventually, I promise you, eventually this will end. It may not. It's going to making me look bad for a couple more days and weeks, but at some point it's going to stop.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Google and the Patriots are killing you, aren't they?
SERWER: They are! It's been a terrible fall for me, Jack. Thank you for reminding me.
HEMMER: What's happening?
CAFFERTY: The "Question of the Day" is about this 9/11 Commission. Ninety-six days since the commission issued its report on how to protect the country from terrorism. Congress has yet to adopt any of the major recommendations. Nothing. Originally said they couldn't do it until next year. They were much too busy. This was right after they brought the debate about a gay marriage amendment to the floor. They managed to do that like this. Then, of course, they took six weeks off.
Now they're back. They've got a couple of bills, but they can't reconcile their differences. And now they're going to leave again for a couple of months. They won't be back until January of next year. Ain't they something?
Our question is this: What's an acceptable timeframe for lawmakers to act on 9/11 Commission recommendations? We're getting some -- it's kind of a loaded question, but I did it on purpose. We're getting some great answers.
Tom in Port Matilda, Pennsylvania: "A specific timeline is not required. Effectiveness in a nonpartisan way is required. As long as we continue to act as two different countries, a red one and a blue one, we will continue to have problems."
Jeffrey in Virginia Beach: "I feel six months is an acceptable timeframe to get the ball rolling, and by rolling I don't mean just talking about it but actually showing some progress."
Doug in Bloomfield, New Jersey: "Once the lawmakers have read the 9/11 report, I think 90 days should be adequate to implement the recommendations so as not to interfere with the 2008 election campaign."
Jim writes: "Since they can't seem to get anything done, I say let's send them all home, permanently."
And finally George from Houston, Texas, writes: "I watch you every morning, and I wonder if anyone at CNN has noticed how much Jack and Bill O'Reilly look alike. They could be brothers." Well, we're not.
SERWER: No, they couldn't.
CAFFERTY: The good and the bad. Jack is the good. Have a wonderful day. Nothing to do with the "Question of the Day," but I like the letter. So I thought we'd...
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: I liked it, too, as a matter of fact. You're always good by us.
CAFFERTY: Do we look alike? Put that thing up again.
HEMMER: Yes, let's do that.
SERWER: No.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Yes, there's a little something working there.
CAFFERTY: Receding hairline.
O'BRIEN: Jack is far more handsome than Bill O'Reilly.
SERWER: And he's not wearing a pink shirt, either.
HEMMER: That's true.
In a moment here, the race for the White House is about to get down and dirty in Ohio as we speak. Lawyers are getting ready to descend upon the Buckeye State if they're not there already. What does the governor have to say about all of that? We'll talk to him at the top of the hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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