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American Morning
Kamber & May; Sky Watchers Across America Will Get Rare Celestial Treat Tonight
Aired October 27, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Campaigning on caffeine -- John Kerry and George Bush trying to keep the pressure up and their supporters motivated with only six days to go. The fight over those missing explosives in Iraq now heating up on the trail again. Is this the October surprise?
In close and looking at Titan. Saturn's mystery moon has scientists very excited again today.
And on the brink of World Series victory, something that makes Boston fans very nervous, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning, everyone.
8:00 here in New York.
Good to have you along with us today.
We are getting closer and closer to the big day and a lot of talk today regarding George Bush and John Kerry, where they are going, what they have to do to close out the deal on the campaign next Tuesday. We'll take a look at electoral maps, so critical, as we learned four years ago; and also the formulas for victory for each man on Election Day. So we'll get to that.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, just in time for Halloween, a medical story that's pretty scary. Imagine being in the middle of your operation and then suddenly your anesthesia wears off. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us to talk about that.
HEMMER: That's the kind of thing you don't want to think about around this time.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm happy with the story.
O'BRIEN: He's happy, yes.
HEMMER: Keep me happy.
CAFFERTY: Wednesday, "Things People Say." Coming up in the "Cafferty File," we're going to tell you how John Kerry might be able to win himself another Purple Heart. It's not pretty. And Susan Sarandon talks about why she won't pose nude, which we're happy about.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
Let's get to Heidi Collins now.
Top of the hour, top stories now -- Heidi, good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you guys.
And good morning to you, everyone.
New fallout this morning over claims that nearly 400 tons of powerful explosives disappeared in Iraq one day after Pentagon officials say the Al-Qaqaa storage site was searched repeatedly by U.S. troops in April of last year. The unit's commander tells the "New York Times" that he didn't even know the facility was considered sensitive. We'll have much more on this story, including its impact on the campaign trail, coming up in just a bit.
Amnesty International says the U.S. is not doing enough to investigate the abuse of prisoners in its custody. In a report released today, the group calls for an independent examination into the torture of terror suspects at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-controlled facilities. Amnesty officials also say the recent conviction of soldiers for the abuse does not address what it sees as a policy of torture.
In California, the prosecution in the Scott Peterson case will call rebuttal witnesses to testify today. The defense rested its case yesterday without calling Peterson to the stand. Closing arguments are set to begin on Monday, with jury deliberations likely starting on Wednesday. The trial has lasted now more than five months.
Back over to you guys.
HEMMER: Courtroom observers stunned by that yesterday, resting in the way they did.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: So, Dean Johnson is going to be back with us this morning and we'll get his...
COLLINS: Yes. Not too much of a surprise, though, that they didn't bring Scott Peterson to the stand.
HEMMER: Yes, that's probably true.
Thank you, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Heidi.
With just days to go until America chooses a leader, President Bush is once again trolling for votes in key battleground states. His first stop today is Pennsylvania.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us from there this morning -- good morning to you, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
President Bush this morning is campaigning in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This is a county he won by 35 percent back in 2000, but he lost the state overall by 4 percent. The strategy now is, of course, to rally his supporters, but also today to make a direct appeal to the Democrats.
But the problem the campaign is having now is competing with the headlines.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am determined to win this war on terror and I will always support the men and women of the United States military.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): For a second day, President Bush's campaign message was overshadowed by the controversy over who was to blame for the nearly 400 tons of missing explosives in Iraq.
QUESTION: Mr. President, who's responsible for the weapons missing in Iraq?
MALVEAUX: At first Mr. Bush, who was visiting a dairy farm on his bus tour through southwestern Wisconsin, chose to stay on message, ignoring a reporter's shouted question about the explosives. But Senator Kerry threw down the gauntlet.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. President, what else are you being silent about? What else are you keeping from the American people?
MALVEAUX: By midday, aides alerted reporters to a new line in Mr. Bush's next stump speech.
BUSH: My opponent has no plan, no vision, just a long list of complaints.
MALVEAUX: Vice President Dick Cheney, campaigning in Pensacola, Florida, accused Kerry of unfairly jumping to conclusions about when the explosives went missing and who was to blame.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And it is not at all clear that those explosives were even at the weapons facility when our troops arrived in the area of Baghdad.
MALVEAUX: Perceiving a possible vulnerability in the Bush camp, the Kerry campaign released a new ad on the controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM KERRY CAMPAIGN AD) KERRY: And now failed to secure 380 tons of deadly explosives, the kind used for attacks in Iraq and for terrorist bombings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now, today, Soledad, the president is going to make his pitch to Democrats by arguing that his policies when it comes to national security, health care and education are superior to that of Kerry's. He is also going to recognize, as well, former Democratic presidents like Truman, Roosevelt and even Kennedy, saying that these were men of resolve in times of national crises. He'll compare that to the character of Kerry. And also, equally important, is that he's going to be delivering that message with none other than the Georgia Democrat, Senator Zell Miller, who, of course, is expected to deliver the kind of red meat that the Republicans are looking for -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne, is there a sense that the president, at some point before the election, will, indeed, either take a question or release any kind of statement on these missing explosives?
MALVEAUX: Well, what the pattern here is is that usually Cheney will say something if the president is not going to directly address this. It is not surprising, however, that if somebody did ask the president that he would address this, essentially saying the same thing that his aides are saying, as well as Cheney, simply saying that, look, it still remains a question of investigation in terms of where those weapons went, how they went missing, but at the same time that the U.S. military has done all that it can, has done a sufficient job in making sure that the Iraqis are safe and that the Americans are safe.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux this morning.
Suzanne, thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: Those missing explosives in Iraq will no doubt continue to be a topic of scrutiny today.
Let's debate that issue now with our Democratic consultant, Victor Kamber. Vic, good morning to you.
VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Also, former RNC communications director Clifford May.
Cliff, good morning, as well.
CLIFFORD MAY, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: Cliff, start with you.
Does this contribute, these missing explosives, does it contribute to the claim that this was mishandled? MAY: I think that's the idea here. But let's understand something.
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the senior foreign policy adviser to Senator Kerry, said yesterday we don't know what happened here. Surely we can agree, Victor and I, that if we don't know what happened here, for Senator Kerry to try to take partisan advantage from it would absolutely irresponsible.
Secondly, let me point out this. These weapons Saddam Hussein should not have had all these years. They were prohibited under the agreements of 1991. This shows yet again that the U.N. was not doing its job.
And thirdly, the charge is, on its face, very unlikely. We're talking about, as Heidi said, 400 tons of weapons. You don't stuff that -- looters don't stuff that into their pockets and purses. You need 40 trucks to do it. That could have happened before the U.S. occupation. Forty trucks did not move across Iraq with that kind of explosives after the U.S. was there.
HEMMER: Let me get Vic to respond to all three.
Victor?
KAMBER: Well, it's the if it, could have, would have situation that he's talking about. What we do know, I agree, we cannot put blame without knowing. But let's look at what we do know. We do know there were massive munitions there in that situation. We have an international nuclear agency that informed the United States beforehand that these -- that this massive weapon -- not weapons, but...
MAY: Explosives.
KAMBER: ... explosives were located there. We also know for a fact that the internal government, the puppet government of George Bush, the government that we put in place, claimed that those explosives were taken after we had come into Iraq. And we have a third independent source, journalist -- sometimes not so independent -- a journalistic source who indicated that while she was there with the troops, there was no inspections made.
Now, the biggest question to me is George Bush, Dick Cheney knew about this issue months ago. It's not something that they just happened to pick up the "New York Times" and read. As we know, the president doesn't even read the paper. But they knew this months ago and they've kept it a secret from the American public.
HEMMER: Let me get back to Cliff on this.
You're muttering the words not true during this.
Why, Cliff?
MAY: Well, we have not a shred of evidence that the explosives that we're talking about, including explosives that could be used to detonate a nuclear weapon, were at the camp at the time that the Americans first got there. The Americans got...
KAMBER: I didn't say that, Cliff.
MAY: ... to this facility...
KAMBER: I didn't say that.
MAY: You said the Iraqis said so and they didn't...
KAMBER: The Iraqis, yes.
MAY: No. They said April. We got, our troops got there, the 101st Airborne, on April 10, the day after Baghdad fell.
KAMBER: So the puppet government is lying.
MAY: No, the puppet government of -- the so-called puppet government, and I think it's outrageous that you'd call it that...
KAMBER: What else is it?
MAY: That this government that has been in -- this government is the interim government that is a whole lot better than Saddam Hussein's and that precedes what we will hope will be a democratic process.
KAMBER: And you're saying...
(CROSSTALK)
MAY: No, I'm not saying...
HEMMER: Let me just -- let me try to...
MAY: Between April and -- look, very simple...
HEMMER: Let me try and advance this conversation, just for the sake of our viewers here.
If John Kerry wins on Tuesday, what will change in Iraq under his presidency?
Vic?
KAMBER: I think he'll reach out to other leaders in the world to try to have them join in. I think he'll sit down with the U.N. and try to bring about a greater participation in trying to end the insurgency that exists there. We're not -- it's not going to happen overnight. If the question was on Tuesday or November, or Wednesday, November 3, John Kerry, when he's elected president, all of a sudden everything's hunky dory, no. It's a new leader. It's a new image. It's a new time. And I think he begins changing that whole process of what we have today. MAY: We have no idea, unfortunately, what John Kerry would do if he became president in regard to Iraq. At times he has said that he would fight the insurgency. At times he has indicated that he would get us out of there.
Vic really thinks that the French Foreign Legion is coming in just because Senator Kerry goes off and has Chablis and Common Bear (ph) with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Jacques Chirac...
KAMBER: I think more than one Canadian is going to be with us.
MAY: It's not happening. Oh, great. We're going to get the Canadians in there and that's going to be...
KAMBER: Like more than one...
MAY: ... and that's going to resolve...
KAMBER: ... Canadian is going to be with us.
MAY: I love the Canadians, but look. That's...
KAMBER: That's all I'm saying.
MAY: What, look, but you agree with me that if we don't know what happened, Kerry should not be running ads trying to place the blame on Bush...
KAMBER: I blame Bush...
MAY: ... when he doesn't know the answer.
KAMBER: ... for not being honest with the American public, for not sharing with the American public...
MAY: Well, hundreds...
KAMBER: ... a problem.
MAY: Hundreds of thousands of tons of explosives and munitions have been destroyed in Iraq by...
KAMBER: Give him credit. Give him credit for what he's done, but also let's question him for what he hasn't done.
HEMMER: And, Cliff, get in your point...
MAY: No.
HEMMER: Then Victor, I want a response. Then we're going to wrap it up.
MAY: Let me just also point out this. If, as it appears, a high U.N. official leaked this story to the "New York Times" in order to influence American elections, this is a scandal of major proportions and I hope the media will look into that very thoroughly. HEMMER: Victor, you get the last word.
KAMBER: Oh, if it's a scandal, it should be looked into. If a foreign leader intruded, including the president of Iraq, who intruded to try to help George Bush, let's investigative, let's scandalize it. We have an election next week. Let's elect John Kerry.
HEMMER: Thank you, gentlemen.
Victor Kamber, Clifford May, thanks for your time today.
MAY: Thank you.
HEMMER: Kamber and May -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Weather now and Rob Marciano at the CNN Center for us -- hey, Rob, good morning again.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to you, again, Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, the Boston Red Sox's pitcher Pedro Martinez has pitched for 13 years in the big leagues. He's won more than 180 games, collected three Cy Young Awards. But until last night, he'd never won or even played in a World Series game.
Larry Smith has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his first World Series, Pedro Martinez made a lasting impression. The three time Cy Young Award winner stymied the Cardinals in game three Tuesday night, striking out six and retiring the last 14 batters he faced in a 4-1 Boston victory.
PEDRO MARTINEZ, RED SOX PITCHER: I was really happy and lucky to actually be one out of one in a World Series game and actually give my fans and everybody that sympathizes with me and my team a win in my first time out in a World Series.
TROT NIXON, RED SOX RIGHT FIELDER: He felt like he needed a big, a big night. We knew he needed a big night. But, you know, we've got extreme confidence in Pedro and what he's capable of doing.
JOHNNY DAMON, RED SOX CENTER FIELDER: This was awesome. This is what people will be talking about for a long time. People have always wanted to see Pedro in the World Series and he definitely showed up tonight.
SMITH: The Red Sox defense, that committed eight errors combined in the first two games of the Series, was flawless, turning a pair of double plays to snuff out Cardinal rallies as the Sox won their seventh in a row, tying a major league post-season record. MARTINEZ: Thanks to god my teammates did the work for me, did the dirty work, played some defense that gave us a little bit of a break in a third inning play. And after that, I just used my experience and I threw strikes and got them swinging.
SCOTT ROLEN, CARDINALS THIRD BASEMAN: We didn't play a very clean game tonight. There's no doubt. We haven't really played a very clean game this Series yet. So, you know, instead of looking back, let's look forward.
SMITH (on camera): With a 3-0 Series lead, the Red Sox are in the exact opposite position they were in during the American League Championship Series. But their attitude and purpose remain the same -- just win the next one.
Larry Smith, CNN, St. Louis.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
O'BRIEN: And that next one is tonight. A Red Sox win, of course, means a sweep of the Series.
HEMMER: They have so many personalities on that Boston Red Sox roster. These guys are jokers to the core. It helps to keep them loose, I think, and get them to where they are. I wonder where Bill Buckner is today, though. Bill Buckner was the first baseman for the Boston Red Sox back in 19 -- and that ball went underneath his legs, the Mets won the World Series. Maybe he's hiding low, staying low until after the Series is over.
O'BRIEN: Do you think it changes for him once it's over and he kind of clears that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
HEMMER: Yes, for sure.
O'BRIEN: They can move on?
HEMMER: They ought to crown him king, make him feel better. We'll see.
In a moment here, that bitter fight for votes in Ohio. How many voters will be turned away from the polls on Tuesday?
And we'll tell you why the accusations are already flying back in Columbus, Ohio in a moment on that.
O'BRIEN: Also, a nightmare turned reality -- waking up while doctors perform surgery on you. Dr. Gupta tells us what you can do to prevent it from happening to you.
HEMMER: Also, a special show in the night sky again. We'll tell you how to get the best view of tonight's lunar eclipse and what it has to do with the World Series. We'll explain after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: Sky watchers across America will get a rare celestial treat tonight -- a total lunar eclipse will be visible. It's the last one until March of 2007.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson is director of New York's Hayden Planetarium.
He's also the author of the book "Origins."
He joins us this morning to talk about what is going to be a spectacular show.
Nice to see you.
Good morning.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, DIRECTOR, HAYDEN PLANETARIUM: Yes, it's good to be back.
Thanks.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of the timing.
When should people start looking out their windows or out in the front yard?
DEGRASSE: Well, the eclipse begins a little bit after 8:00. But that's the boring part of the eclipse. The eclipse...
O'BRIEN: You don't see anything.
DEGRASSE: The eclipse doesn't get exciting until the moon enters the dark part of earth's shadow. And that's 9:15 or so Eastern time. And, but anyone who can see the moon will see this eclipse. So it's not like you have to be in some special tract on the surface of the earth.
O'BRIEN: But if it's overcast, you're out of luck.
DEGRASSE: Yes, it'll just go home. Yes, do watch it on the Internet at that point.
O'BRIEN: Right. Exactly. At least I'm somewhere else.
It's not very common and yet it's not uncommon.
DEGRASSE: That's right. That's right. The press always makes a whole big flurry, oh, an eclipse is coming...
O'BRIEN: Yes, we do.
DEGRASSE: Rare eclipse.
O'BRIEN: That's right.
DEGRASSE: And there's been three of these kinds of eclipses in the last two years. So they're more common than presidential elections but you don't say rare presidential election coming up. So they're just rare enough so that when they hit the news, you get excited, but don't lose sleep over it.
O'BRIEN: There are some Red Sox fans, and I'm not making this up, who say this is a sign. And I would imagine that historically people have always said the eclipse is a sign of something.
DEGRASSE: It is a cosmic alignment. The sun, the earth, the moon are in an exact line. And this eclipse is the first in the history of the universe that will be visible during a game of the World Series. And so if the Red Sox needed something to clasp to say this is their moment, this is their moment.
O'BRIEN: They are saying it's their moment already, just because of all the victories.
DEGRASSE: That's true. But the eclipse can't hurt. And there's all this talk about what the earth will look like -- what the moon will look like in mid-eclipse, because the light from the sun as it comes around earth's atmosphere can redden the surface of the moon. And so the moon basically turns this deep, deep blood red. And, of course, red is the color of the Red Sox. But it's also the color of the Cardinals.
O'BRIEN: I was going to say, you see, that's not going to help you there.
Now, doesn't what's happening on earth make a big difference to exactly what you're going to see outside of just the red glow around?
DEGRASSE: That's a good point. You know, when I grew up, all of these eclipses that I saw had a deep red moon. And the last 10 or 20 years or so, the moon's just been dark. And so I'm wondering whether back then we just had more polluted skies, because pollution makes for more of a red condition than without it. So I'll be curious to see what color the moon turns tonight. It should end right at about the end of the -- the moon should emerge back into sunlight right at the...
O'BRIEN: Just as the game is wrapping up.
DEGRASSE: Just as the game is wrapping up.
O'BRIEN: Hmm...coincidence? I don't think so.
Let's talk for just one moment about the Cassini mission.
DEGRASSE: Oh, sure.
O'BRIEN: The probe in the middle of its seven year mission. They're looking closely at Titan. Hopefully it'll be -- get some really pretty amazing shots of this.
DEGRASSE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: But the goal is, what? I mean because obviously it's got some relevance to what happens to us here on earth.
DEGRASSE: You have four rocky bodies in the solar system that have atmospheres -- Venus, earth, mars and Titan, this moon of Saturn. And Titan is not just a -- it's not just another body in the outer solar system. It is filled with chemistry that you do in an organic chemistry lab. And, in fact, if you were to stop a lab, you would go see the list of ingredients on the surface of Titan and put that in your lab, if you want to experiment with what life will do.
So it is a number one target to search for what might be a whole biology off of the surface of the earth. And we're all very excited for this close encounter. And later in December, there will be a probe that'll drop down, land on Titan and explore Titan.
O'BRIEN: And then it really gets exciting.
DEGRASSE: That's right.
O'BRIEN: Neil DeGrasse Tyson, nice to see you, as always.
DEGRASSE: It's a pleasure to be back.
O'BRIEN: Thanks so much.
DEGRASSE: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: We want to get a break.
Almost 21 minutes past the hour now.
An uplifting story on this Wednesday morning. Why a little girl in Oklahoma may be nothing short of a miracle. Heroic doctors in a race against the clock. Her story in a moment as we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back.
Checking in back with Jack -- good morning.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Bill.
An update on a story that was in "The File" yesterday.
We have some pictures of this party that this Dallas judge named Faith Johnson threw for this dirt bag fugitive named Billy Williams in her courtroom. That's right. The judge threw this clown a party. She was so happy that he'd been captured the party was complete with cake and balloons. There's the judge there. And there's the defendant.
This guy has a criminal record that reaches from here to next week, including murder. So they had a party for him in the courtroom. Anyway, when it was over, they led him away to serve the rest of his life in prison.
HEMMER: Texas?
CAFFERTY: What?
HEMMER: Texas?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: She was celebrating that he'd been captured so she was happy he'd been captured and she was giving him a party because it was his last party ever?
CAFFERTY: I don't know what she was doing.
HEMMER: I think she said something similar to it made my day to see you back in my courtroom. I'm glad you're back in custody.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Oh, so she's celebrating his capture.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: OK, thanks.
CAFFERTY: Six days to go now until the election. Time running out for an October surprise. Candidates on both sides are concerned that the opponent, the other guy, might have something up his sleeve that would give him a last minute advantage. Speculation this time around ranging from the Bush administration suddenly producing Osama bin Laden to the down side, an attack like the one on the Madrid trains that suddenly influenced the outcome of those elections last spring.
The question we're asking this morning, besides why would a judge throw a dirt bag a party in the courtroom at the taxpayers' expense, the other question we're asking this morning is what do you think will be this election's October surprise?
Here be the answers.
Jim in Burlington, Vermont: "It's bin Laden. He's been locked in a cave in Afghanistan for six months waiting for Dick Cheney to pick him up on November the 1st."
Dewey writes: "I'm surprised the election is this close, as polarized as the nation has become. Anything short of bin Laden walking up the steps of the White House and turning himself in won't change the outcome."
Jon in Chandler, Arizona writes: "The October surprise is the "New York Times" article about the missing explosives and that it was somehow all Bush's fault. The story was false. It blew up in the liberals' faces. Is it not amazing that Kerry is so desperate he would still be mentioning this without even checking on the story's validity?"
Rick in Ontario, Canada: "Let's just pray that there is an October surprise that's one for the good guys, even if politically motivated, such as the capture of Osama or al-Zarqawi and not one that these criminals surprise us w."
O'BRIEN: That's right.
CAFFERTY: Am@cnn.com.
HEMMER: I like that.
Thank you, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Jack, thanks.
Still ahead this morning, the list of swing states is shrinking. But Carlos Watson says there are some surprise wildcard states to consider. A look at that is ahead.
Plus, is Ohio the Florida of 2004? The Buckeye State gears up for what could be a huge controversy come Election Day.
That's ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 27, 2004 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
Campaigning on caffeine -- John Kerry and George Bush trying to keep the pressure up and their supporters motivated with only six days to go. The fight over those missing explosives in Iraq now heating up on the trail again. Is this the October surprise?
In close and looking at Titan. Saturn's mystery moon has scientists very excited again today.
And on the brink of World Series victory, something that makes Boston fans very nervous, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN broadcast center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: Good morning, everyone.
8:00 here in New York.
Good to have you along with us today.
We are getting closer and closer to the big day and a lot of talk today regarding George Bush and John Kerry, where they are going, what they have to do to close out the deal on the campaign next Tuesday. We'll take a look at electoral maps, so critical, as we learned four years ago; and also the formulas for victory for each man on Election Day. So we'll get to that.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also this morning, just in time for Halloween, a medical story that's pretty scary. Imagine being in the middle of your operation and then suddenly your anesthesia wears off. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to join us to talk about that.
HEMMER: That's the kind of thing you don't want to think about around this time.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm happy with the story.
O'BRIEN: He's happy, yes.
HEMMER: Keep me happy.
CAFFERTY: Wednesday, "Things People Say." Coming up in the "Cafferty File," we're going to tell you how John Kerry might be able to win himself another Purple Heart. It's not pretty. And Susan Sarandon talks about why she won't pose nude, which we're happy about.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jack.
Let's get to Heidi Collins now.
Top of the hour, top stories now -- Heidi, good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you guys.
And good morning to you, everyone.
New fallout this morning over claims that nearly 400 tons of powerful explosives disappeared in Iraq one day after Pentagon officials say the Al-Qaqaa storage site was searched repeatedly by U.S. troops in April of last year. The unit's commander tells the "New York Times" that he didn't even know the facility was considered sensitive. We'll have much more on this story, including its impact on the campaign trail, coming up in just a bit.
Amnesty International says the U.S. is not doing enough to investigate the abuse of prisoners in its custody. In a report released today, the group calls for an independent examination into the torture of terror suspects at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-controlled facilities. Amnesty officials also say the recent conviction of soldiers for the abuse does not address what it sees as a policy of torture.
In California, the prosecution in the Scott Peterson case will call rebuttal witnesses to testify today. The defense rested its case yesterday without calling Peterson to the stand. Closing arguments are set to begin on Monday, with jury deliberations likely starting on Wednesday. The trial has lasted now more than five months.
Back over to you guys.
HEMMER: Courtroom observers stunned by that yesterday, resting in the way they did.
COLLINS: Yes.
HEMMER: So, Dean Johnson is going to be back with us this morning and we'll get his...
COLLINS: Yes. Not too much of a surprise, though, that they didn't bring Scott Peterson to the stand.
HEMMER: Yes, that's probably true.
Thank you, Heidi.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Heidi.
With just days to go until America chooses a leader, President Bush is once again trolling for votes in key battleground states. His first stop today is Pennsylvania.
White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us from there this morning -- good morning to you, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
President Bush this morning is campaigning in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This is a county he won by 35 percent back in 2000, but he lost the state overall by 4 percent. The strategy now is, of course, to rally his supporters, but also today to make a direct appeal to the Democrats.
But the problem the campaign is having now is competing with the headlines.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am determined to win this war on terror and I will always support the men and women of the United States military.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): For a second day, President Bush's campaign message was overshadowed by the controversy over who was to blame for the nearly 400 tons of missing explosives in Iraq.
QUESTION: Mr. President, who's responsible for the weapons missing in Iraq?
MALVEAUX: At first Mr. Bush, who was visiting a dairy farm on his bus tour through southwestern Wisconsin, chose to stay on message, ignoring a reporter's shouted question about the explosives. But Senator Kerry threw down the gauntlet.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. President, what else are you being silent about? What else are you keeping from the American people?
MALVEAUX: By midday, aides alerted reporters to a new line in Mr. Bush's next stump speech.
BUSH: My opponent has no plan, no vision, just a long list of complaints.
MALVEAUX: Vice President Dick Cheney, campaigning in Pensacola, Florida, accused Kerry of unfairly jumping to conclusions about when the explosives went missing and who was to blame.
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And it is not at all clear that those explosives were even at the weapons facility when our troops arrived in the area of Baghdad.
MALVEAUX: Perceiving a possible vulnerability in the Bush camp, the Kerry campaign released a new ad on the controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM KERRY CAMPAIGN AD) KERRY: And now failed to secure 380 tons of deadly explosives, the kind used for attacks in Iraq and for terrorist bombings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEO TAPE)
MALVEAUX: Now, today, Soledad, the president is going to make his pitch to Democrats by arguing that his policies when it comes to national security, health care and education are superior to that of Kerry's. He is also going to recognize, as well, former Democratic presidents like Truman, Roosevelt and even Kennedy, saying that these were men of resolve in times of national crises. He'll compare that to the character of Kerry. And also, equally important, is that he's going to be delivering that message with none other than the Georgia Democrat, Senator Zell Miller, who, of course, is expected to deliver the kind of red meat that the Republicans are looking for -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne, is there a sense that the president, at some point before the election, will, indeed, either take a question or release any kind of statement on these missing explosives?
MALVEAUX: Well, what the pattern here is is that usually Cheney will say something if the president is not going to directly address this. It is not surprising, however, that if somebody did ask the president that he would address this, essentially saying the same thing that his aides are saying, as well as Cheney, simply saying that, look, it still remains a question of investigation in terms of where those weapons went, how they went missing, but at the same time that the U.S. military has done all that it can, has done a sufficient job in making sure that the Iraqis are safe and that the Americans are safe.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux this morning.
Suzanne, thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: Those missing explosives in Iraq will no doubt continue to be a topic of scrutiny today.
Let's debate that issue now with our Democratic consultant, Victor Kamber. Vic, good morning to you.
VICTOR KAMBER, DEMOCRATIC CONSULTANT: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: Also, former RNC communications director Clifford May.
Cliff, good morning, as well.
CLIFFORD MAY, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning.
HEMMER: Cliff, start with you.
Does this contribute, these missing explosives, does it contribute to the claim that this was mishandled? MAY: I think that's the idea here. But let's understand something.
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the senior foreign policy adviser to Senator Kerry, said yesterday we don't know what happened here. Surely we can agree, Victor and I, that if we don't know what happened here, for Senator Kerry to try to take partisan advantage from it would absolutely irresponsible.
Secondly, let me point out this. These weapons Saddam Hussein should not have had all these years. They were prohibited under the agreements of 1991. This shows yet again that the U.N. was not doing its job.
And thirdly, the charge is, on its face, very unlikely. We're talking about, as Heidi said, 400 tons of weapons. You don't stuff that -- looters don't stuff that into their pockets and purses. You need 40 trucks to do it. That could have happened before the U.S. occupation. Forty trucks did not move across Iraq with that kind of explosives after the U.S. was there.
HEMMER: Let me get Vic to respond to all three.
Victor?
KAMBER: Well, it's the if it, could have, would have situation that he's talking about. What we do know, I agree, we cannot put blame without knowing. But let's look at what we do know. We do know there were massive munitions there in that situation. We have an international nuclear agency that informed the United States beforehand that these -- that this massive weapon -- not weapons, but...
MAY: Explosives.
KAMBER: ... explosives were located there. We also know for a fact that the internal government, the puppet government of George Bush, the government that we put in place, claimed that those explosives were taken after we had come into Iraq. And we have a third independent source, journalist -- sometimes not so independent -- a journalistic source who indicated that while she was there with the troops, there was no inspections made.
Now, the biggest question to me is George Bush, Dick Cheney knew about this issue months ago. It's not something that they just happened to pick up the "New York Times" and read. As we know, the president doesn't even read the paper. But they knew this months ago and they've kept it a secret from the American public.
HEMMER: Let me get back to Cliff on this.
You're muttering the words not true during this.
Why, Cliff?
MAY: Well, we have not a shred of evidence that the explosives that we're talking about, including explosives that could be used to detonate a nuclear weapon, were at the camp at the time that the Americans first got there. The Americans got...
KAMBER: I didn't say that, Cliff.
MAY: ... to this facility...
KAMBER: I didn't say that.
MAY: You said the Iraqis said so and they didn't...
KAMBER: The Iraqis, yes.
MAY: No. They said April. We got, our troops got there, the 101st Airborne, on April 10, the day after Baghdad fell.
KAMBER: So the puppet government is lying.
MAY: No, the puppet government of -- the so-called puppet government, and I think it's outrageous that you'd call it that...
KAMBER: What else is it?
MAY: That this government that has been in -- this government is the interim government that is a whole lot better than Saddam Hussein's and that precedes what we will hope will be a democratic process.
KAMBER: And you're saying...
(CROSSTALK)
MAY: No, I'm not saying...
HEMMER: Let me just -- let me try to...
MAY: Between April and -- look, very simple...
HEMMER: Let me try and advance this conversation, just for the sake of our viewers here.
If John Kerry wins on Tuesday, what will change in Iraq under his presidency?
Vic?
KAMBER: I think he'll reach out to other leaders in the world to try to have them join in. I think he'll sit down with the U.N. and try to bring about a greater participation in trying to end the insurgency that exists there. We're not -- it's not going to happen overnight. If the question was on Tuesday or November, or Wednesday, November 3, John Kerry, when he's elected president, all of a sudden everything's hunky dory, no. It's a new leader. It's a new image. It's a new time. And I think he begins changing that whole process of what we have today. MAY: We have no idea, unfortunately, what John Kerry would do if he became president in regard to Iraq. At times he has said that he would fight the insurgency. At times he has indicated that he would get us out of there.
Vic really thinks that the French Foreign Legion is coming in just because Senator Kerry goes off and has Chablis and Common Bear (ph) with (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Jacques Chirac...
KAMBER: I think more than one Canadian is going to be with us.
MAY: It's not happening. Oh, great. We're going to get the Canadians in there and that's going to be...
KAMBER: Like more than one...
MAY: ... and that's going to resolve...
KAMBER: ... Canadian is going to be with us.
MAY: I love the Canadians, but look. That's...
KAMBER: That's all I'm saying.
MAY: What, look, but you agree with me that if we don't know what happened, Kerry should not be running ads trying to place the blame on Bush...
KAMBER: I blame Bush...
MAY: ... when he doesn't know the answer.
KAMBER: ... for not being honest with the American public, for not sharing with the American public...
MAY: Well, hundreds...
KAMBER: ... a problem.
MAY: Hundreds of thousands of tons of explosives and munitions have been destroyed in Iraq by...
KAMBER: Give him credit. Give him credit for what he's done, but also let's question him for what he hasn't done.
HEMMER: And, Cliff, get in your point...
MAY: No.
HEMMER: Then Victor, I want a response. Then we're going to wrap it up.
MAY: Let me just also point out this. If, as it appears, a high U.N. official leaked this story to the "New York Times" in order to influence American elections, this is a scandal of major proportions and I hope the media will look into that very thoroughly. HEMMER: Victor, you get the last word.
KAMBER: Oh, if it's a scandal, it should be looked into. If a foreign leader intruded, including the president of Iraq, who intruded to try to help George Bush, let's investigative, let's scandalize it. We have an election next week. Let's elect John Kerry.
HEMMER: Thank you, gentlemen.
Victor Kamber, Clifford May, thanks for your time today.
MAY: Thank you.
HEMMER: Kamber and May -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Weather now and Rob Marciano at the CNN Center for us -- hey, Rob, good morning again.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning to you, again, Soledad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, the Boston Red Sox's pitcher Pedro Martinez has pitched for 13 years in the big leagues. He's won more than 180 games, collected three Cy Young Awards. But until last night, he'd never won or even played in a World Series game.
Larry Smith has this report.
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LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his first World Series, Pedro Martinez made a lasting impression. The three time Cy Young Award winner stymied the Cardinals in game three Tuesday night, striking out six and retiring the last 14 batters he faced in a 4-1 Boston victory.
PEDRO MARTINEZ, RED SOX PITCHER: I was really happy and lucky to actually be one out of one in a World Series game and actually give my fans and everybody that sympathizes with me and my team a win in my first time out in a World Series.
TROT NIXON, RED SOX RIGHT FIELDER: He felt like he needed a big, a big night. We knew he needed a big night. But, you know, we've got extreme confidence in Pedro and what he's capable of doing.
JOHNNY DAMON, RED SOX CENTER FIELDER: This was awesome. This is what people will be talking about for a long time. People have always wanted to see Pedro in the World Series and he definitely showed up tonight.
SMITH: The Red Sox defense, that committed eight errors combined in the first two games of the Series, was flawless, turning a pair of double plays to snuff out Cardinal rallies as the Sox won their seventh in a row, tying a major league post-season record. MARTINEZ: Thanks to god my teammates did the work for me, did the dirty work, played some defense that gave us a little bit of a break in a third inning play. And after that, I just used my experience and I threw strikes and got them swinging.
SCOTT ROLEN, CARDINALS THIRD BASEMAN: We didn't play a very clean game tonight. There's no doubt. We haven't really played a very clean game this Series yet. So, you know, instead of looking back, let's look forward.
SMITH (on camera): With a 3-0 Series lead, the Red Sox are in the exact opposite position they were in during the American League Championship Series. But their attitude and purpose remain the same -- just win the next one.
Larry Smith, CNN, St. Louis.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
O'BRIEN: And that next one is tonight. A Red Sox win, of course, means a sweep of the Series.
HEMMER: They have so many personalities on that Boston Red Sox roster. These guys are jokers to the core. It helps to keep them loose, I think, and get them to where they are. I wonder where Bill Buckner is today, though. Bill Buckner was the first baseman for the Boston Red Sox back in 19 -- and that ball went underneath his legs, the Mets won the World Series. Maybe he's hiding low, staying low until after the Series is over.
O'BRIEN: Do you think it changes for him once it's over and he kind of clears that (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
HEMMER: Yes, for sure.
O'BRIEN: They can move on?
HEMMER: They ought to crown him king, make him feel better. We'll see.
In a moment here, that bitter fight for votes in Ohio. How many voters will be turned away from the polls on Tuesday?
And we'll tell you why the accusations are already flying back in Columbus, Ohio in a moment on that.
O'BRIEN: Also, a nightmare turned reality -- waking up while doctors perform surgery on you. Dr. Gupta tells us what you can do to prevent it from happening to you.
HEMMER: Also, a special show in the night sky again. We'll tell you how to get the best view of tonight's lunar eclipse and what it has to do with the World Series. We'll explain after this on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: Sky watchers across America will get a rare celestial treat tonight -- a total lunar eclipse will be visible. It's the last one until March of 2007.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson is director of New York's Hayden Planetarium.
He's also the author of the book "Origins."
He joins us this morning to talk about what is going to be a spectacular show.
Nice to see you.
Good morning.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, DIRECTOR, HAYDEN PLANETARIUM: Yes, it's good to be back.
Thanks.
O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of the timing.
When should people start looking out their windows or out in the front yard?
DEGRASSE: Well, the eclipse begins a little bit after 8:00. But that's the boring part of the eclipse. The eclipse...
O'BRIEN: You don't see anything.
DEGRASSE: The eclipse doesn't get exciting until the moon enters the dark part of earth's shadow. And that's 9:15 or so Eastern time. And, but anyone who can see the moon will see this eclipse. So it's not like you have to be in some special tract on the surface of the earth.
O'BRIEN: But if it's overcast, you're out of luck.
DEGRASSE: Yes, it'll just go home. Yes, do watch it on the Internet at that point.
O'BRIEN: Right. Exactly. At least I'm somewhere else.
It's not very common and yet it's not uncommon.
DEGRASSE: That's right. That's right. The press always makes a whole big flurry, oh, an eclipse is coming...
O'BRIEN: Yes, we do.
DEGRASSE: Rare eclipse.
O'BRIEN: That's right.
DEGRASSE: And there's been three of these kinds of eclipses in the last two years. So they're more common than presidential elections but you don't say rare presidential election coming up. So they're just rare enough so that when they hit the news, you get excited, but don't lose sleep over it.
O'BRIEN: There are some Red Sox fans, and I'm not making this up, who say this is a sign. And I would imagine that historically people have always said the eclipse is a sign of something.
DEGRASSE: It is a cosmic alignment. The sun, the earth, the moon are in an exact line. And this eclipse is the first in the history of the universe that will be visible during a game of the World Series. And so if the Red Sox needed something to clasp to say this is their moment, this is their moment.
O'BRIEN: They are saying it's their moment already, just because of all the victories.
DEGRASSE: That's true. But the eclipse can't hurt. And there's all this talk about what the earth will look like -- what the moon will look like in mid-eclipse, because the light from the sun as it comes around earth's atmosphere can redden the surface of the moon. And so the moon basically turns this deep, deep blood red. And, of course, red is the color of the Red Sox. But it's also the color of the Cardinals.
O'BRIEN: I was going to say, you see, that's not going to help you there.
Now, doesn't what's happening on earth make a big difference to exactly what you're going to see outside of just the red glow around?
DEGRASSE: That's a good point. You know, when I grew up, all of these eclipses that I saw had a deep red moon. And the last 10 or 20 years or so, the moon's just been dark. And so I'm wondering whether back then we just had more polluted skies, because pollution makes for more of a red condition than without it. So I'll be curious to see what color the moon turns tonight. It should end right at about the end of the -- the moon should emerge back into sunlight right at the...
O'BRIEN: Just as the game is wrapping up.
DEGRASSE: Just as the game is wrapping up.
O'BRIEN: Hmm...coincidence? I don't think so.
Let's talk for just one moment about the Cassini mission.
DEGRASSE: Oh, sure.
O'BRIEN: The probe in the middle of its seven year mission. They're looking closely at Titan. Hopefully it'll be -- get some really pretty amazing shots of this.
DEGRASSE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: But the goal is, what? I mean because obviously it's got some relevance to what happens to us here on earth.
DEGRASSE: You have four rocky bodies in the solar system that have atmospheres -- Venus, earth, mars and Titan, this moon of Saturn. And Titan is not just a -- it's not just another body in the outer solar system. It is filled with chemistry that you do in an organic chemistry lab. And, in fact, if you were to stop a lab, you would go see the list of ingredients on the surface of Titan and put that in your lab, if you want to experiment with what life will do.
So it is a number one target to search for what might be a whole biology off of the surface of the earth. And we're all very excited for this close encounter. And later in December, there will be a probe that'll drop down, land on Titan and explore Titan.
O'BRIEN: And then it really gets exciting.
DEGRASSE: That's right.
O'BRIEN: Neil DeGrasse Tyson, nice to see you, as always.
DEGRASSE: It's a pleasure to be back.
O'BRIEN: Thanks so much.
DEGRASSE: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: We want to get a break.
Almost 21 minutes past the hour now.
An uplifting story on this Wednesday morning. Why a little girl in Oklahoma may be nothing short of a miracle. Heroic doctors in a race against the clock. Her story in a moment as we continue.
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HEMMER: Welcome back.
Checking in back with Jack -- good morning.
CAFFERTY: Thanks, Bill.
An update on a story that was in "The File" yesterday.
We have some pictures of this party that this Dallas judge named Faith Johnson threw for this dirt bag fugitive named Billy Williams in her courtroom. That's right. The judge threw this clown a party. She was so happy that he'd been captured the party was complete with cake and balloons. There's the judge there. And there's the defendant.
This guy has a criminal record that reaches from here to next week, including murder. So they had a party for him in the courtroom. Anyway, when it was over, they led him away to serve the rest of his life in prison.
HEMMER: Texas?
CAFFERTY: What?
HEMMER: Texas?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: She was celebrating that he'd been captured so she was happy he'd been captured and she was giving him a party because it was his last party ever?
CAFFERTY: I don't know what she was doing.
HEMMER: I think she said something similar to it made my day to see you back in my courtroom. I'm glad you're back in custody.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Oh, so she's celebrating his capture.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: OK, thanks.
CAFFERTY: Six days to go now until the election. Time running out for an October surprise. Candidates on both sides are concerned that the opponent, the other guy, might have something up his sleeve that would give him a last minute advantage. Speculation this time around ranging from the Bush administration suddenly producing Osama bin Laden to the down side, an attack like the one on the Madrid trains that suddenly influenced the outcome of those elections last spring.
The question we're asking this morning, besides why would a judge throw a dirt bag a party in the courtroom at the taxpayers' expense, the other question we're asking this morning is what do you think will be this election's October surprise?
Here be the answers.
Jim in Burlington, Vermont: "It's bin Laden. He's been locked in a cave in Afghanistan for six months waiting for Dick Cheney to pick him up on November the 1st."
Dewey writes: "I'm surprised the election is this close, as polarized as the nation has become. Anything short of bin Laden walking up the steps of the White House and turning himself in won't change the outcome."
Jon in Chandler, Arizona writes: "The October surprise is the "New York Times" article about the missing explosives and that it was somehow all Bush's fault. The story was false. It blew up in the liberals' faces. Is it not amazing that Kerry is so desperate he would still be mentioning this without even checking on the story's validity?"
Rick in Ontario, Canada: "Let's just pray that there is an October surprise that's one for the good guys, even if politically motivated, such as the capture of Osama or al-Zarqawi and not one that these criminals surprise us w."
O'BRIEN: That's right.
CAFFERTY: Am@cnn.com.
HEMMER: I like that.
Thank you, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Jack, thanks.
Still ahead this morning, the list of swing states is shrinking. But Carlos Watson says there are some surprise wildcard states to consider. A look at that is ahead.
Plus, is Ohio the Florida of 2004? The Buckeye State gears up for what could be a huge controversy come Election Day.
That's ahead as AMERICAN MORNING continues right after this.
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