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American Morning
Campaign Countdown; Missing Ballots in Florida; Curse Reversed
Aired October 28, 2004 - 9:00 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: There is uncertainty in the Middle East this morning, with Yasser Arafat now gravely ill, as reported. A decision coming soon over how to treat the Palestinian leader.
Missing explosives in Iraq dominating the campaign. Both candidates now with a chance to seize the advantage on the road.
And was Boston ever ready for this? The world champion Boston Red Sox returning home on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome, everybody. Lots going on this morning in the presidential campaign. And with just five days to go, tens of thousands of absentee ballots in Florida now suddenly missing.
Who's to blame? And is one candidate going to be more effected than the other? We're going to talk about the legal implications with an election lawyer in Florida in just a few moments.
HEMMER: Also, they're going nuts on Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Red Sox fans going throughout the night there. Their team has won the World Series. Only took them 86 years to get there. And we love this guy swinging in the tree.
No curse could stop this team this year. They beat the St. Louis Cardinals four games to none. They won eight straight, four against the Yankees, four against St. Louis, 3-0 the final last night.
We'll take you back to Boston live in a moment for what is shaping up to be a very big day in that city's history. They're going to have a parade over the weekend. But no doubt they're going for it already today.
CAFFERTY: Is that a record? I think it is, 4-4 like that, where you sweep in the series and then sweep...
HEMMER: I think you're right, yes.
CAFFERTY: ... the playoffs -- the championship series and then sweep the World Series?
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: I bet you that's never been done before. I mean, not that that matters. Just inquiring minds want to know this stuff.
"The New York Times," you've got to give them credit. They kidnapped and are driving the debate in the last week of the presidential campaign with that front-page story on the missing explosives in Iraq, even though there are serious questions about the veracity of that piece. Nevertheless, it's all Bush and Kerry are talking about, with just a few days to go.
Is that what they should be focused on with five days before we go to the polls? AM@CNN.com. Getting some great mail. We'll read some of the letters in about 25 minutes or thereabouts.
HEMMER: All right. Thank you, Jack.
Heidi Collins has the headlines again this morning at the top of the hour.
Good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you guys, as well. And good morning to you, everybody.
"Now in the News" this morning, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may be taken abroad for medical treatment. That's the latest from Palestinian sources. Now doctors are deciding this morning whether to move Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from his compound to a hospital.
A senior Palestinian aide says the 75-year-old is "seriously, seriously ill." It is not clear at this hour, though, what exactly is wrong.
Another woman taken hostage in Iraq. According to the Arabic network Al Jazeera, insurgents have abducted a Polish national. The group is demanding the country pull its troops out of Iraq.
In Baghdad, an American soldier was killed earlier this morning by what is said to be a car bomb. Two other U.S. soldiers were wounded in that attack.
In Russia, an investigation under way into the cause of yet another mine explosion, the sixth this year. The methane blast in western Siberia killed 13 miners last night and injured nearly two dozen others. Rescue teams evacuated 67 miners.
And lots of eyes were looking towards the sky last night as the Earth's shadow eclipsed the moon. The unusually long lunar eclipse began at 9:14 Eastern, ended just before midnight. But, if you did happen to miss that gap of time there, the celestial sight, you'll have to wait another two-and-a-half years, unfortunately, for the next one.
I could make a joke about the Red Sox there. But I won't. Because I think as we've seen, all the papers have already done that this morning.
O'BRIEN: Lots of other people doing it. We don't need to pile up.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes. We'll be above it.
O'BRIEN: That's the way it is. Heidi, thanks.
Well, both presidential candidates will spend the day crisscrossing numerous battleground states today with just five days now until America goes to the polls. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux and national correspondent Kelly Wallace are traveling with the Bush and Kerry campaigns respectively.
We begin with Suzanne this morning in suburban Detroit, where the president's going to hold a rally in just a few minutes.
Hey, Suzanne. Good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Just within moments in Saginaw, that is where the president is going to be holding that rally. Very interesting here in Michigan. It was just two weeks ago it looked like this state was out of the president's reach. That has all changed now.
The Bush camp changing its schedule. He was here yesterday. He's here today. He'll be back on Saturday.
It was just last night in Pontiac where the president met with several dozen African-American leaders, as well as the boxing promoter, Don King. All of this as an effort to try to court the African-American vote.
Now, as you know, of course, the strategy here, the president has generally performed well in western Michigan. But he is really going after traditional Democrats, those in the suburbs of the southeast. Blue collar Democrats, those traditionalists who respond to those hot- button social issues like gay marriage, stem cell research and abortion rights. And even those in Detroit, the home to the original Reagan Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Many Democrats in this country do not recognize their party anymore. And today I want to speak to every one of them here in the state of Michigan. If you believe America should lead with strength and purpose and competence in our ideals, I would be honored to have your support, and I'm asking for your vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, that is a message he's also going to take to stops in Ohio, as well as Pennsylvania later today. It is a message, however, that has been lost and overshadowed by the controversy over those missing weapons in Iraq. I should also let you know, as well, of course, Soledad, the event we expect that is going to steal the headlines is tomorrow. That is when President Bush appears with perhaps the biggest rock star of the Republican Party, California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another, effort to try to go after those moderates -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: We will be talking about that when that happens. Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning. Suzanne, thanks.
Let's turn to Kelly, who is in Toledo, Ohio, as she's traveling with the Kerry campaign.
Good morning to you, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
We are learning that Senator Kerry for the fourth day in a row will hammer away at the Bush administration over those missing explosives in Iraq. A senior Kerry adviser telling us the reason the senator is doing this is because the administration is "all over the map with excuses." The adviser saying Senator Kerry will once again accuse President Bush of "incompetence" for failing to give the orders to secure those explosives. This, as we are seeing Senator Kerry's strategy in these final days. Everywhere he goes he is trying to convince those undecided voters that because of the war in Iraq, President Bush doesn't deserve to be rehired as commander in chief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For the sake of our brave men and women in uniform, for the sake of those troops who are in danger, because of your wrong decisions, you owe America real answers about what happened, not just political attacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And the reason Senator Kerry is talking about Iraq more than domestic issues, clearly the campaign has determined that it must do more to try and narrow the president's national security advantage in these final days. The senator here in Toledo, Ohio, then he goes to Madison, Wisconsin, Soledad.
He's bringing out a rock star of his own, Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen and Senator Kerry then coming back here for another rally in Columbus, Ohio. This is Senator Kerry trying to keep Wisconsin in the Democratic column and trying to steal away Ohio, which went Republican four years ago -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: In the final days of the campaigning it's all about the rock stars, isn't it? Kelly Wallace for us this morning with the Kerry campaign.
WALLACE: It sure is.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Kelly -- Bill. HEMMER: In Florida, meanwhile, the postal service is putting out an APB on thousands of absentee ballots that have gone missing in Broward County. David Cardwell is an elections lawyer who used to run the elections office there in Florida years ago. He's an attorney, lives in Orlando. He's back with us.
David, good morning to you. Nice to see you again.
DAVID CARDWELL, ELECTIONS LAWYER: Hello, Bill.
HEMMER: Here's my understanding. Fifty-eight thousand never mailed out, apparently, or never received by those who requested them. But already there's a story this morning that says 76,000 will be mailed out again anew. Is that where we stand on this issue today?
CARDWELL: Well, somewhat. There have been also a couple more events that have happened. It's like in Florida, there's something new every day.
The state criminal law enforcement agency was brought in to look to see if there was any criminal wrongdoing. They issued a result yesterday, saying they could not find any criminal intent. It seems like it's the proverbial "lost in the mail." But some of those 58,000 ballots the supervisor now says are trickling back in.
So right now it's a mystery as to what happened to them from when they were dropped off at the post office to when they did or did not get to the voters. So they're making up for it by urging them to either get another ballot and vote absentee or to come in and vote early, which is contributing to the long lines in Broward County.
HEMMER: Well, let's get to the long lines in a moment here, the early voting issue. The postal service said this yesterday: "All absentee ballots are processed and delivered immediately. There is no backlog of absentee ballots in postal facilities."
Back to the issue. If you're going to mail out 76,000 more ballots, isn't there a chance or possibility that somebody could vote twice, then?
CARDWELL: There is the possibility. That hopefully will get caught at the supervisor's office. If a -- if two ballots come in from the same elector, customarily they will keep the second one and discard the first one. But that remains to be seen whether that will be done. That's something that will go to the canvassing board when they canvass the absentee ballots.
HEMMER: Listen, we vote in five days, David. Can this get fixed by then?
CARDWELL: It's going to be close, just like the election. It's going to depend on those ballots that have been mailed to get there quickly. According to the post office, they go out the very same day or the next day. And if someone gets an absentee ballot, they need to return those immediately. Let me just add this: while the numbers are much larger in Broward, we're having the same problem in some other counties, to where people are saying they're not getting their initial ballot and have to make a second request. So it may be just that the system is overloaded.
HEMMER: Let's get to early voting, then. Leon County, up around Tallahassee, 40,000 are voting early there. It's my understanding it's never been that heavy before. What is your sense about how the early voting is going at this point in Florida, David?
CARDWELL: Right now it's going incredibly heavy. In fact, there was an article in this morning's "Orlando Sentinel" saying that by Election Day we could have two million voters. That's a third of the total turnout in Florida in 2000 that could vote either absentee or by early voting. It's just an incredible number.
What remains to be seen is whether this early voting are either new voters that have just registered or this is their first time voting, or whether these are voters that would have voted on Election Day or absentee, but taking advantage of early voting. And will they be replaced by new voters on Election Day, or is this just the fact that it's a matter of time that they're voting early rather than on Election Day?
HEMMER: Listen, you know that state better than anyone when it comes to election policy and the rules and the laws going back decades. What's going on in Broward County?
CARDWELL: You know, the Curse of the Bambino was erased last night. I think we've got the curse of Broward. And hopefully we'll get over it.
Broward is an incredibly large, diverse county. There are incredible strains on the election system there. When you have an election this close, with this level of turnout, you're going to have some glitches.
We just hope that they can all be fixed. I think we fixed the problems from 2000, but we're finding we have new problems in 2004.
HEMMER: Thank you, David. Something tells me we're going to talk again real soon.
CARDWELL: Oh, I'm sure, Bill.
HEMMER: See you later.
CARDWELL: OK.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, for the Red Sox nation, 1918 at long last is really history. Generations have come and gone since the Sox won a World Series. But last night in St. Louis, 86 years of baseball baggage were finally purged in one fell sweep. CNN's Alina Cho is live outside Fenway Park in Boston with reaction this morning.
Got to imagine it's pretty good. Good morning to you, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very good, to say the least, Soledad. Good morning to you.
"Sox Shocked The World," in fact, is the headline in the "Boston Herald" today. And that they did.
Fans have been waiting a long time for this, 86 years to be exact, as you said. So what's a couple more hours?
Many of these fans stayed up through the night and into the morning, came here to Fenway Park braving the chilly temperatures to welcome the Red Sox home. And now, for the first time in a long time, they are world series champions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): From Fenway through the Back Bay, Red Sox fans call it the game of the century. The team's first World Series win in 86 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We shocked the world. Greatest team ever. Best postseason ever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't expect it, but it happened. And that's even better.
CHO: At Whiskey's Bar on Boylston Street, where they serve up St. Louis ribs, they were also serving up a World Series sweep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't believe I am where I am right now. I am...
CHO (on camera): Is this your girlfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... about to cry.
CHO: You've been waiting all these years. And now what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now we're going to win the Super Bowl! We're going to undefeated. The Super Bowl, the World Series. Beantown, baby! Beantown!
CHO (voice-over): Throughout the city police and revelers flooded the streets near Fenway Park. Officers used restraint this time after a Red Sox celebration last week turned deadly. A college student was killed after police fired a pepper-filled pellet and hit her in the eye.
This celebration was marked by two dozen arrests and dozens of injuries. But mostly happy fans. Fans like John Little (ph) and his good luck charm, Yogi. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say hello.
CHO: Ever since little changed Yogi's uniform, the Red Sox have been undefeated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't put it in words. There's no way to put it in words.
CHO: One Yankee fan was there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I'm nauseous. I mean, the Earth is starting to spin in a different direction.
CHO: Call it reversing the curse, putting the hex to rest. Whatever you call it, Boston has done it, and fans shared the moment with the late Red Sox great Ted Williams.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what he would have wanted!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Manny Ramirez, the MVP of the World Series, was asked what he was going to do now that the Red Sox have won the World Series. He joked, "I'm going to Disney World."
Curt Schilling really is going to Disney World. In fact, he told us that he had to rush off to the airport because his kids are already waiting on the tarmac, if you can believe it.
The celebration here in Boston is far from over. A parade is planned, and the mayor says that will likely happen on Saturday.
And Soledad, to answer Jack's question, Boston winning eight games straight in the postseason is a record. Never been done before. But keep in mind, this team has done a lot of things this year that no one thought they ever could -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Sure did. Understatement there. Alina Cho for us. Thanks, Alina -- Bill.
HEMMER: Let's get some more sunshine now from Boston, across the country. Rob Marciano is checking the weather now, working for Chad.
Good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Bill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Thank you, Rob. Good news there.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, President Bush and Senator Kerry trade barbs over missing explosives in Iraq. But Bill Schneider tells us why one candidate might want to look at the bigger picture.
HEMMER: Also, think you have a handful at home? How would you like to be a single mother raising four kids, three of them triplets? We'll see how one woman handles it ahead this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Looking at a live picture of the president. He's in Saginaw, Michigan, this morning. He's going to be visiting other states, as well, Ohio and Pennsylvania, as he continues his trek to try to get some of those swing states to swing his direction.
We continue to talk this morning about the campaign and the election. The issue of those missing explosives in Iraq continues to be a hot-button issue for both the Bush and Kerry campaigns yesterday. That will likely be the story most people expect as well today. CNN's senior political analyst here to give us the blow by blow, as we like to call it, of how the candidates are handling it.
Let's start with what President Bush said for the first time after a couple of days of silence on this issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Now the senator is making wild charges about missing explosives, when his top foreign policy adviser admits, "We do not know the facts." Think about that. The senator's denigrating the action of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts. Unfortunately, that's part of a pattern of saying almost anything to get elected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The president's been doing very well in the polls on terror. Do you think that the weapons, explosives and weapons, too, controversy could change his fairly strong lead?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: What he's saying is he's echoing the words of a Kerry adviser that the facts aren't clear. What's clear is that the weapons are missing.
What's not clear, whether the explosives were gone when the U.S. troops arrived, whether the troops conducted a thorough search of the stockpile, whether there was policy guidance given to the U.S. military commanders to guarantee the securing and if necessary the destruction of those weapons. And it's also not clear whether the Bush administration was hiding any information about those missing weapons.
I think there are a lot of murky details here. And it's probably too late in the campaign for the voters to sort them out.
O'BRIEN: It's so murky. And that's what people are hammering Senator Kerry about. Let's listen to what he's had to say on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KERRY: What we're seeing is a White House that is dodging and bobbing and weaving in their usual efforts to avoid responsibility. Just as they've done every step of the way in our involvement in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Not -- murky I think is a really good description. Doesn't he run the risk of sort of continuing to hammer a point that no one really knows where the truth lies yet?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, there is a risk here that, instead of drawing attention to the Bush record, it could be a distraction because he gets into a dog fight over the details. Kerry has to keep the focus on President Bush's record, his record on the economy, on health care, on jobs, and on the problems the United States is facing in Iraq now.
O'BRIEN: Focus, of course, is what everyone's hoping to grab, and maybe even move. Dick Cheney talked about Senator Kerry. Let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, in the closing days of this campaign, John Kerry is trying every which way to cover up his record of weakness on national defense. But he can't do it. It won't work. As we like to say in Wyoming, you can put all the lipstick you want on a pig, but at the end of the day it's still a pig.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: It's a funny line, but clearly he's also trying to shift focus onto Senator Kerry. How is that working?
SCHNEIDER: Well, I'm not sure it's going to work. Because when an incumbent president is running for re-election, the vote is always a referendum on the incumbent president.
And the voters are 50-50 on the Bush record. So he's trying to say this is really a referendum on, hello, the challenger? Senator Kerry, is he strong or tough enough to protect and defend the country? The issue should be, has President Bush made the country safer and more prosperous? He's the president.
O'BRIEN: Five days to go. We've done the blow by blow today. We're going to continue our series until it's over. Bill Schneider, nice to see you in person here on the set.
SCHNEIDER: Good to see you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: Twenty-three minutes now past the hour. Tough news out of Iraq just crossing now.
CNN confirming an Iraqi militant group claiming on its Web site that it has killed 11 members of the Iraqi National Guard. Explaining that it shot 10, beheaded one.
This goes along with a story from last week where nearly 50 Iraqi National Guards, recent recruits were killed in eastern Iraq. This latest story crossing just minutes ago. Much more when we get it.
Let's get a break now. Back in a moment after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back. Back to the "Question of the Day" and Jack.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Bill.
Five days to go until the election now, and candidates exchanging heated accusations over those missing explosives. The bottom line is that there are 380 tons of powerful explosives, they are missing. Nobody knows where they are.
The issue, though, is monopolizing the campaign in the home stretch. Both sides fighting to get control and use the story to their advantage.
And our question is whether that's what they ought to be doing. Are the missing explosives what the candidates should be discussing in the five days remaining before the election?
Jerileah -- which is kind of a pretty name -- in Ridgecrest, California, writes: "Jack, if we want to anticipate the road ahead, we better be looking through the rearview mirror, because those who refuse to understand history are doomed to repeat it."
Debra in Dallas, Texas, "No, but we should take every opportunity to honestly acknowledge the corruption in the United Nations and how the French, Germans and Chinese stole from the world in the Oil for Food program. Putting Kerry in the White House would be worse than putting the fox in the hen house."
Wilhelmina from Long Island writes: "Where are the missing flu shots?"
And on the subject of the Halloween masks, Ian in Providence, Rhode Island, "Gerald Ford has a scary face? This from a guy whose face could back a mule away from a feed bin."
I assume he's talking about yours truly.
HEMMER: Wow.
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: Eat up.
O'BRIEN: Not true, Jack. You're very handsome.
CAFFERTY: Well -- thank you. O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning, the very latest on Yasser Arafat's illness and whether he's going to get the chance to leave his compound for treatment. We'll take you live to Ramallah just ahead.
Plus, triplets and a 5-year-old. A single mom, it's a tough road for this woman. Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us how she's dealing with the financial and emotional costs. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired October 28, 2004 - 9:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There is uncertainty in the Middle East this morning, with Yasser Arafat now gravely ill, as reported. A decision coming soon over how to treat the Palestinian leader.
Missing explosives in Iraq dominating the campaign. Both candidates now with a chance to seize the advantage on the road.
And was Boston ever ready for this? The world champion Boston Red Sox returning home on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome, everybody. Lots going on this morning in the presidential campaign. And with just five days to go, tens of thousands of absentee ballots in Florida now suddenly missing.
Who's to blame? And is one candidate going to be more effected than the other? We're going to talk about the legal implications with an election lawyer in Florida in just a few moments.
HEMMER: Also, they're going nuts on Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Red Sox fans going throughout the night there. Their team has won the World Series. Only took them 86 years to get there. And we love this guy swinging in the tree.
No curse could stop this team this year. They beat the St. Louis Cardinals four games to none. They won eight straight, four against the Yankees, four against St. Louis, 3-0 the final last night.
We'll take you back to Boston live in a moment for what is shaping up to be a very big day in that city's history. They're going to have a parade over the weekend. But no doubt they're going for it already today.
CAFFERTY: Is that a record? I think it is, 4-4 like that, where you sweep in the series and then sweep...
HEMMER: I think you're right, yes.
CAFFERTY: ... the playoffs -- the championship series and then sweep the World Series?
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: I bet you that's never been done before. I mean, not that that matters. Just inquiring minds want to know this stuff.
"The New York Times," you've got to give them credit. They kidnapped and are driving the debate in the last week of the presidential campaign with that front-page story on the missing explosives in Iraq, even though there are serious questions about the veracity of that piece. Nevertheless, it's all Bush and Kerry are talking about, with just a few days to go.
Is that what they should be focused on with five days before we go to the polls? AM@CNN.com. Getting some great mail. We'll read some of the letters in about 25 minutes or thereabouts.
HEMMER: All right. Thank you, Jack.
Heidi Collins has the headlines again this morning at the top of the hour.
Good morning to you.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you guys, as well. And good morning to you, everybody.
"Now in the News" this morning, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may be taken abroad for medical treatment. That's the latest from Palestinian sources. Now doctors are deciding this morning whether to move Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from his compound to a hospital.
A senior Palestinian aide says the 75-year-old is "seriously, seriously ill." It is not clear at this hour, though, what exactly is wrong.
Another woman taken hostage in Iraq. According to the Arabic network Al Jazeera, insurgents have abducted a Polish national. The group is demanding the country pull its troops out of Iraq.
In Baghdad, an American soldier was killed earlier this morning by what is said to be a car bomb. Two other U.S. soldiers were wounded in that attack.
In Russia, an investigation under way into the cause of yet another mine explosion, the sixth this year. The methane blast in western Siberia killed 13 miners last night and injured nearly two dozen others. Rescue teams evacuated 67 miners.
And lots of eyes were looking towards the sky last night as the Earth's shadow eclipsed the moon. The unusually long lunar eclipse began at 9:14 Eastern, ended just before midnight. But, if you did happen to miss that gap of time there, the celestial sight, you'll have to wait another two-and-a-half years, unfortunately, for the next one.
I could make a joke about the Red Sox there. But I won't. Because I think as we've seen, all the papers have already done that this morning.
O'BRIEN: Lots of other people doing it. We don't need to pile up.
COLLINS: Yes. Yes. We'll be above it.
O'BRIEN: That's the way it is. Heidi, thanks.
Well, both presidential candidates will spend the day crisscrossing numerous battleground states today with just five days now until America goes to the polls. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux and national correspondent Kelly Wallace are traveling with the Bush and Kerry campaigns respectively.
We begin with Suzanne this morning in suburban Detroit, where the president's going to hold a rally in just a few minutes.
Hey, Suzanne. Good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
Just within moments in Saginaw, that is where the president is going to be holding that rally. Very interesting here in Michigan. It was just two weeks ago it looked like this state was out of the president's reach. That has all changed now.
The Bush camp changing its schedule. He was here yesterday. He's here today. He'll be back on Saturday.
It was just last night in Pontiac where the president met with several dozen African-American leaders, as well as the boxing promoter, Don King. All of this as an effort to try to court the African-American vote.
Now, as you know, of course, the strategy here, the president has generally performed well in western Michigan. But he is really going after traditional Democrats, those in the suburbs of the southeast. Blue collar Democrats, those traditionalists who respond to those hot- button social issues like gay marriage, stem cell research and abortion rights. And even those in Detroit, the home to the original Reagan Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Many Democrats in this country do not recognize their party anymore. And today I want to speak to every one of them here in the state of Michigan. If you believe America should lead with strength and purpose and competence in our ideals, I would be honored to have your support, and I'm asking for your vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, that is a message he's also going to take to stops in Ohio, as well as Pennsylvania later today. It is a message, however, that has been lost and overshadowed by the controversy over those missing weapons in Iraq. I should also let you know, as well, of course, Soledad, the event we expect that is going to steal the headlines is tomorrow. That is when President Bush appears with perhaps the biggest rock star of the Republican Party, California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another, effort to try to go after those moderates -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: We will be talking about that when that happens. Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning. Suzanne, thanks.
Let's turn to Kelly, who is in Toledo, Ohio, as she's traveling with the Kerry campaign.
Good morning to you, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
We are learning that Senator Kerry for the fourth day in a row will hammer away at the Bush administration over those missing explosives in Iraq. A senior Kerry adviser telling us the reason the senator is doing this is because the administration is "all over the map with excuses." The adviser saying Senator Kerry will once again accuse President Bush of "incompetence" for failing to give the orders to secure those explosives. This, as we are seeing Senator Kerry's strategy in these final days. Everywhere he goes he is trying to convince those undecided voters that because of the war in Iraq, President Bush doesn't deserve to be rehired as commander in chief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For the sake of our brave men and women in uniform, for the sake of those troops who are in danger, because of your wrong decisions, you owe America real answers about what happened, not just political attacks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And the reason Senator Kerry is talking about Iraq more than domestic issues, clearly the campaign has determined that it must do more to try and narrow the president's national security advantage in these final days. The senator here in Toledo, Ohio, then he goes to Madison, Wisconsin, Soledad.
He's bringing out a rock star of his own, Bruce Springsteen. Springsteen and Senator Kerry then coming back here for another rally in Columbus, Ohio. This is Senator Kerry trying to keep Wisconsin in the Democratic column and trying to steal away Ohio, which went Republican four years ago -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: In the final days of the campaigning it's all about the rock stars, isn't it? Kelly Wallace for us this morning with the Kerry campaign.
WALLACE: It sure is.
O'BRIEN: Thanks, Kelly -- Bill. HEMMER: In Florida, meanwhile, the postal service is putting out an APB on thousands of absentee ballots that have gone missing in Broward County. David Cardwell is an elections lawyer who used to run the elections office there in Florida years ago. He's an attorney, lives in Orlando. He's back with us.
David, good morning to you. Nice to see you again.
DAVID CARDWELL, ELECTIONS LAWYER: Hello, Bill.
HEMMER: Here's my understanding. Fifty-eight thousand never mailed out, apparently, or never received by those who requested them. But already there's a story this morning that says 76,000 will be mailed out again anew. Is that where we stand on this issue today?
CARDWELL: Well, somewhat. There have been also a couple more events that have happened. It's like in Florida, there's something new every day.
The state criminal law enforcement agency was brought in to look to see if there was any criminal wrongdoing. They issued a result yesterday, saying they could not find any criminal intent. It seems like it's the proverbial "lost in the mail." But some of those 58,000 ballots the supervisor now says are trickling back in.
So right now it's a mystery as to what happened to them from when they were dropped off at the post office to when they did or did not get to the voters. So they're making up for it by urging them to either get another ballot and vote absentee or to come in and vote early, which is contributing to the long lines in Broward County.
HEMMER: Well, let's get to the long lines in a moment here, the early voting issue. The postal service said this yesterday: "All absentee ballots are processed and delivered immediately. There is no backlog of absentee ballots in postal facilities."
Back to the issue. If you're going to mail out 76,000 more ballots, isn't there a chance or possibility that somebody could vote twice, then?
CARDWELL: There is the possibility. That hopefully will get caught at the supervisor's office. If a -- if two ballots come in from the same elector, customarily they will keep the second one and discard the first one. But that remains to be seen whether that will be done. That's something that will go to the canvassing board when they canvass the absentee ballots.
HEMMER: Listen, we vote in five days, David. Can this get fixed by then?
CARDWELL: It's going to be close, just like the election. It's going to depend on those ballots that have been mailed to get there quickly. According to the post office, they go out the very same day or the next day. And if someone gets an absentee ballot, they need to return those immediately. Let me just add this: while the numbers are much larger in Broward, we're having the same problem in some other counties, to where people are saying they're not getting their initial ballot and have to make a second request. So it may be just that the system is overloaded.
HEMMER: Let's get to early voting, then. Leon County, up around Tallahassee, 40,000 are voting early there. It's my understanding it's never been that heavy before. What is your sense about how the early voting is going at this point in Florida, David?
CARDWELL: Right now it's going incredibly heavy. In fact, there was an article in this morning's "Orlando Sentinel" saying that by Election Day we could have two million voters. That's a third of the total turnout in Florida in 2000 that could vote either absentee or by early voting. It's just an incredible number.
What remains to be seen is whether this early voting are either new voters that have just registered or this is their first time voting, or whether these are voters that would have voted on Election Day or absentee, but taking advantage of early voting. And will they be replaced by new voters on Election Day, or is this just the fact that it's a matter of time that they're voting early rather than on Election Day?
HEMMER: Listen, you know that state better than anyone when it comes to election policy and the rules and the laws going back decades. What's going on in Broward County?
CARDWELL: You know, the Curse of the Bambino was erased last night. I think we've got the curse of Broward. And hopefully we'll get over it.
Broward is an incredibly large, diverse county. There are incredible strains on the election system there. When you have an election this close, with this level of turnout, you're going to have some glitches.
We just hope that they can all be fixed. I think we fixed the problems from 2000, but we're finding we have new problems in 2004.
HEMMER: Thank you, David. Something tells me we're going to talk again real soon.
CARDWELL: Oh, I'm sure, Bill.
HEMMER: See you later.
CARDWELL: OK.
HEMMER: Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, for the Red Sox nation, 1918 at long last is really history. Generations have come and gone since the Sox won a World Series. But last night in St. Louis, 86 years of baseball baggage were finally purged in one fell sweep. CNN's Alina Cho is live outside Fenway Park in Boston with reaction this morning.
Got to imagine it's pretty good. Good morning to you, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very good, to say the least, Soledad. Good morning to you.
"Sox Shocked The World," in fact, is the headline in the "Boston Herald" today. And that they did.
Fans have been waiting a long time for this, 86 years to be exact, as you said. So what's a couple more hours?
Many of these fans stayed up through the night and into the morning, came here to Fenway Park braving the chilly temperatures to welcome the Red Sox home. And now, for the first time in a long time, they are world series champions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): From Fenway through the Back Bay, Red Sox fans call it the game of the century. The team's first World Series win in 86 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We shocked the world. Greatest team ever. Best postseason ever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We didn't expect it, but it happened. And that's even better.
CHO: At Whiskey's Bar on Boylston Street, where they serve up St. Louis ribs, they were also serving up a World Series sweep.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't believe I am where I am right now. I am...
CHO (on camera): Is this your girlfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... about to cry.
CHO: You've been waiting all these years. And now what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now we're going to win the Super Bowl! We're going to undefeated. The Super Bowl, the World Series. Beantown, baby! Beantown!
CHO (voice-over): Throughout the city police and revelers flooded the streets near Fenway Park. Officers used restraint this time after a Red Sox celebration last week turned deadly. A college student was killed after police fired a pepper-filled pellet and hit her in the eye.
This celebration was marked by two dozen arrests and dozens of injuries. But mostly happy fans. Fans like John Little (ph) and his good luck charm, Yogi. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say hello.
CHO: Ever since little changed Yogi's uniform, the Red Sox have been undefeated.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't put it in words. There's no way to put it in words.
CHO: One Yankee fan was there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I'm nauseous. I mean, the Earth is starting to spin in a different direction.
CHO: Call it reversing the curse, putting the hex to rest. Whatever you call it, Boston has done it, and fans shared the moment with the late Red Sox great Ted Williams.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what he would have wanted!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Manny Ramirez, the MVP of the World Series, was asked what he was going to do now that the Red Sox have won the World Series. He joked, "I'm going to Disney World."
Curt Schilling really is going to Disney World. In fact, he told us that he had to rush off to the airport because his kids are already waiting on the tarmac, if you can believe it.
The celebration here in Boston is far from over. A parade is planned, and the mayor says that will likely happen on Saturday.
And Soledad, to answer Jack's question, Boston winning eight games straight in the postseason is a record. Never been done before. But keep in mind, this team has done a lot of things this year that no one thought they ever could -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Sure did. Understatement there. Alina Cho for us. Thanks, Alina -- Bill.
HEMMER: Let's get some more sunshine now from Boston, across the country. Rob Marciano is checking the weather now, working for Chad.
Good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Bill.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: Thank you, Rob. Good news there.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, President Bush and Senator Kerry trade barbs over missing explosives in Iraq. But Bill Schneider tells us why one candidate might want to look at the bigger picture.
HEMMER: Also, think you have a handful at home? How would you like to be a single mother raising four kids, three of them triplets? We'll see how one woman handles it ahead this hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Looking at a live picture of the president. He's in Saginaw, Michigan, this morning. He's going to be visiting other states, as well, Ohio and Pennsylvania, as he continues his trek to try to get some of those swing states to swing his direction.
We continue to talk this morning about the campaign and the election. The issue of those missing explosives in Iraq continues to be a hot-button issue for both the Bush and Kerry campaigns yesterday. That will likely be the story most people expect as well today. CNN's senior political analyst here to give us the blow by blow, as we like to call it, of how the candidates are handling it.
Let's start with what President Bush said for the first time after a couple of days of silence on this issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Now the senator is making wild charges about missing explosives, when his top foreign policy adviser admits, "We do not know the facts." Think about that. The senator's denigrating the action of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts. Unfortunately, that's part of a pattern of saying almost anything to get elected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The president's been doing very well in the polls on terror. Do you think that the weapons, explosives and weapons, too, controversy could change his fairly strong lead?
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: What he's saying is he's echoing the words of a Kerry adviser that the facts aren't clear. What's clear is that the weapons are missing.
What's not clear, whether the explosives were gone when the U.S. troops arrived, whether the troops conducted a thorough search of the stockpile, whether there was policy guidance given to the U.S. military commanders to guarantee the securing and if necessary the destruction of those weapons. And it's also not clear whether the Bush administration was hiding any information about those missing weapons.
I think there are a lot of murky details here. And it's probably too late in the campaign for the voters to sort them out.
O'BRIEN: It's so murky. And that's what people are hammering Senator Kerry about. Let's listen to what he's had to say on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KERRY: What we're seeing is a White House that is dodging and bobbing and weaving in their usual efforts to avoid responsibility. Just as they've done every step of the way in our involvement in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Not -- murky I think is a really good description. Doesn't he run the risk of sort of continuing to hammer a point that no one really knows where the truth lies yet?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, there is a risk here that, instead of drawing attention to the Bush record, it could be a distraction because he gets into a dog fight over the details. Kerry has to keep the focus on President Bush's record, his record on the economy, on health care, on jobs, and on the problems the United States is facing in Iraq now.
O'BRIEN: Focus, of course, is what everyone's hoping to grab, and maybe even move. Dick Cheney talked about Senator Kerry. Let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, in the closing days of this campaign, John Kerry is trying every which way to cover up his record of weakness on national defense. But he can't do it. It won't work. As we like to say in Wyoming, you can put all the lipstick you want on a pig, but at the end of the day it's still a pig.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: It's a funny line, but clearly he's also trying to shift focus onto Senator Kerry. How is that working?
SCHNEIDER: Well, I'm not sure it's going to work. Because when an incumbent president is running for re-election, the vote is always a referendum on the incumbent president.
And the voters are 50-50 on the Bush record. So he's trying to say this is really a referendum on, hello, the challenger? Senator Kerry, is he strong or tough enough to protect and defend the country? The issue should be, has President Bush made the country safer and more prosperous? He's the president.
O'BRIEN: Five days to go. We've done the blow by blow today. We're going to continue our series until it's over. Bill Schneider, nice to see you in person here on the set.
SCHNEIDER: Good to see you.
O'BRIEN: Thanks -- Bill.
HEMMER: Twenty-three minutes now past the hour. Tough news out of Iraq just crossing now.
CNN confirming an Iraqi militant group claiming on its Web site that it has killed 11 members of the Iraqi National Guard. Explaining that it shot 10, beheaded one.
This goes along with a story from last week where nearly 50 Iraqi National Guards, recent recruits were killed in eastern Iraq. This latest story crossing just minutes ago. Much more when we get it.
Let's get a break now. Back in a moment after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back. Back to the "Question of the Day" and Jack.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Bill.
Five days to go until the election now, and candidates exchanging heated accusations over those missing explosives. The bottom line is that there are 380 tons of powerful explosives, they are missing. Nobody knows where they are.
The issue, though, is monopolizing the campaign in the home stretch. Both sides fighting to get control and use the story to their advantage.
And our question is whether that's what they ought to be doing. Are the missing explosives what the candidates should be discussing in the five days remaining before the election?
Jerileah -- which is kind of a pretty name -- in Ridgecrest, California, writes: "Jack, if we want to anticipate the road ahead, we better be looking through the rearview mirror, because those who refuse to understand history are doomed to repeat it."
Debra in Dallas, Texas, "No, but we should take every opportunity to honestly acknowledge the corruption in the United Nations and how the French, Germans and Chinese stole from the world in the Oil for Food program. Putting Kerry in the White House would be worse than putting the fox in the hen house."
Wilhelmina from Long Island writes: "Where are the missing flu shots?"
And on the subject of the Halloween masks, Ian in Providence, Rhode Island, "Gerald Ford has a scary face? This from a guy whose face could back a mule away from a feed bin."
I assume he's talking about yours truly.
HEMMER: Wow.
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: Eat up.
O'BRIEN: Not true, Jack. You're very handsome.
CAFFERTY: Well -- thank you. O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning, the very latest on Yasser Arafat's illness and whether he's going to get the chance to leave his compound for treatment. We'll take you live to Ramallah just ahead.
Plus, triplets and a 5-year-old. A single mom, it's a tough road for this woman. Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us how she's dealing with the financial and emotional costs. Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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