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CNN Live At Daybreak

Ohio Voting Problems; New Al Qaqaa Evidence Could Be Damning For Bush Administration; Telementoring

Aired October 29, 2004 - 05:30   ET

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

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news -- Yasser Arafat flying to Paris for tests to find out what is causing a blood disorder. His plane left Amman, Jordan, after the Palestinian leaders was helicoptered there from his West Bank compound.

At least two bombs exploded in southern Thailand today wounding 12 people. The blast follows Monday's death of 78 people in stampede as police broke a demonstration by Muslims.

Mark Hacking is to be arraigned today in Salt Lake City for the death of his wife, Lori. Hacking is accused of killing his wife and then dumping her body in the trash.

Boston will toast its world champion Red Sox tomorrow with a parade stretching from Fenway Park all the way to City Hall. The Red Sox, incidentally, are the first World Series winners to appear on a Wheaties box since the 1999 Yankees.

Sorry, Mr. Yankee fan.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, it's been a while. It was 2000 since Yankees last won, not 1918.

COSTELLO: He's so bitter.

MARCIANO: Hey, I can't help it.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

COSTELLO: Guess what, Rob.

MARCIANO: What's that?

COSTELLO: Only four days until Election Day.

MARCIANO: Oh. The pressure is on.

COSTELLO: It is. It is still anybody's guess as to who will be the next president of the United States.

Is Ohio the new Florida? Controversy over voter registration is already threatening the election's outcome. And with 20 electoral votes hanging in the balance, Ohio's issues could surely tip the scales for either candidate.

CNN's Joe Johns has more on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With tens of thousands of newly registered voters challenged by Ohio Republicans before the election, the system is already showing signs of confusion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, these ballots have to be challenged.

JOHNS: In some smaller counties, hearings to verify the residency of voters began Thursday. But in six other counties, including two of the largest, which encompass Cleveland and Columbus, challenge voters showed up for hearings only to find they had been halted the day before by a federal judge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your right to vote has been challenged by a qualified elector.

JOHNS: The Ohio Republican Party says it filed its challenges after sending letters to newly registered voters, returned as undeliverable.

MARK WEAVER, OHIO GOP ELECTION ATTORNEY: Here in Ohio, we regularly send out mailers to new registrants saying welcome to being a voter and please vote for our candidates. This time, when we sent out those new mailers, we had thousands, tray loads, coming back saying no such person lives here.

JOHNS: The Democrats argue undeliverable mail doesn't necessarily mean a person's registration should be thrown out. That there may be innocent reasons.

It suggests that somebody who might be serving in the military, many of these cases, have addresses here in Ohio that are just simply addresses of record, but not places where they receive mail. It suggests that people might not mailbox, but instead a post office box. It suggests that people may have been living in a dorm room number down. So, lots of students have been attacked. It suggests that maybe somebody moved from one part of the county to the next.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then also on the ...

JOHNS: Case in point, Christopher Smith of Bexley. He changed addresses here in September and somebody misspelled his new street name in the elections computer. His registration was challenged.

CHRISTOPHER SMITH, CHALLENGED VOTER: If I feel it is my right to vote. I want to vote. They're not going to rob me of it, just because I moved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming out of the year 2000, there is a lot of confusion anyway. And I think this just goes to further add to that confusion. JOHNS: This leaves local election officials scrambling and hoping to be prepared for Tuesday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That report from CNN's Joe Johns. And here is a final note on Ohio -- John F. Kennedy is the only president in the last 120 years to win the election without winning Ohio.

Election officials in Florida are scrambling to mail out new absentee ballots. Up to 14,000 are due to go out today to Broward County residents who requested them weeks ago but never received them. The county blames the post office, but officials say they did nothing wrong. Law enforcement officials say they have found no illegal activity.

As you might imagine, Florida is trying to escape the glare of the spotlight when it comes to counting ballots. Toward that end, Florida now has electronic voting machines and early voting for the first time in a presidential election. But will that be enough?

CNN's Richard Quest takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: Let us in! Let us in! Let us in!

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Chaos, confusion, electoral collapse. Those hanging pregnant and dimpled chads heaped misery and ridicule on Florida's election in 2000.

(on camera): These ballot boxes having failed spectacularly four years ago, have now been consigned to the electoral history bin. And instead, in Florida, they have substituted them with thousands of computers.

(voice-over): Stored in a warehouse outside Miami, Florida's officials are hoping these machines will salvage this states reputation.

(on camera): The world is watching to ask a simple question: Can Florida run an election?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, and we've answered that question here, for our citizens, numerous times. You know these new machines -- new to the world, at least -- really for us are machines that we've used in three very large elections, in dozens of smaller elections. We've tested and retested them they've worked very well.

QUEST (voice over): If you can use a cash machine, you can pretty much use one of these computers. A simple screen showing the candidates, you touch where you want to vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once I am satisfied with all of the choices that I'm making, yes?

QUEST (on camera): I can vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can vote. You press that flashing red vote button. And that is the same as dropping the old punch card in the ballot box, from the old days. And the machine thanks us for voting. And it really is that simple.

QUEST (voice over): And now the machines are being put to the big test. Early voting in Florida means they are already in use.

At the Coral Gables Library, voters are waiting up to two hours to cast their ballots. It is slow going, but all seemed happy with the new process.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything, very clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you make a mistake you can go back and correct it. I love it.

QUEST: The electoral stakes could hardly be higher. The officials here know the lawyers are waiting, whatever the results.

(on camera): Are you nervous?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm excited. I'm excited. And...

QUEST: That's not my question. Are you nervous?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't describe it as nervous. I would describe it as excited, full of anticipation, aware of the importance of what we're doing. And certainly, we all want to finally see this thing that we anticipate going well, actually go well.

QUEST: So, voting is underway. The machines are working well. The election is truly in the home stretch.

Richard Quest, CNN, Miami, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Well, maybe not everything is going all that swimmingly in Florida. We'll find out when we talk to Erika Bolstad of "The Miami Herald". We'll talk to her about an hour from now, on DAYBREAK.

Also, CNN's Paula Zahn is on location on Election Eve in Florida. Tune in Monday for a town hall meeting on the undecided vote. That airs at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

And join CNN for complete coverage on election night. We'll bring you real-time results live from Times Square. Have the big board at the Nasdaq. Our election team kicks off a full-court press of coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Tuesday night.

Question again this morning: When did tons of explosives go missing near Baghdad? Before or after the U.S. occupied the area? It is a major issue now in the presidential race. Now there is some new evidence that could be very damning for the Bush administration.

Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pentagon's argument that the stockpile of powerful HMX explosive was likely long-gone from the Al Qaqaa facility when U.S. troops arrived in April of 2003, was seriously undercut by this video, shot by Minneapolis television station KSTP.

Reporter Dean Staley was embedded with soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division when they entered a locked bunker at the Al Qaqaa facility on April 18, 2003, nearly a month into the war. But to get in they cut what now appears to be an International Atomic Energy Agency seal.

DEAN STALEY, FMR. KSTP-TV REPORTER: We thought it might have been some sort of booby trap, because it was such a thin wire. But we broke the lock and broke that wire to get in.

MCINTYRE: That IAEA seal, arms experts tell CNN, is the strongest evidence yet that at least some of the missing explosives were in side, because HMX was the only material placed under seal at Al Qaqaa.

And the reporter says the troops he was with were on an unofficial mission just looking around. They were not searching for or securing any material. There was, he said, nothing to stop anyone from looting.

STALEY: And some of the bunkers were even locked. I mean, we had to break a couple of padlocks to get into some of them. Others we did not, they were wide open.

We also saw Iraqis at the time, driving around in a pickup truck, an old beat up pickup truck, clearly scavenging. Clearly sort of looking around. And we kept an eye on them, because this was sort of no-man's land.

MCINTYRE: The revelation came on a day when the Pentagon released this satellite photograph taken on March 17, 2003, a few days before the war began. It shows a truck and heavy equipment transporter outside one bunker that is not believed to have contained HMX. But the Pentagon admits the photograph is inconclusive, showing there was only activity at the site and not that any explosives were moved.

Still Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in a series of radio interviews, repeated the Pentagon's contention that it is unlikely the stockpile could have been looted after the U.S. got there.

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We had total control of the air. We would have seen anything like that. And so the idea that it was suddenly looted and moved out, all of these tons of equipment, is I think, at least, debatable. And it is very likely that just as the United States would do, that Saddam Hussein moved munitions when he knew the war was coming.

MCINTYRE (on camera): The Pentagon says the video is just another piece in the puzzle as it tries to reconstruct what happened to what the IAEA now says is more than 360 tons, not 380 tons, of missing high explosives. Still unclear is whether any was stolen or successfully destroyed by U.S. troops.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: David Kaye, the former American inspector, who directed the hunt for weapons in Iraq will be a guest on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." Find out what he has to say about those missing explosives and the videotape. That will happen this morning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Celebrity star power, in five minutes, from the Governator to the Boss, the presidential candidates bring out the big guns. And that brings us to our E-mail Question of the Morning: Do these celebrity appearances really affect your vote? We'll read some of your thoughts a little later on in the newscast. We have some good ones in already -- daybreak@cnn.com.

Presidential politics and pumpkins -- in seven minutes, our Jeanne Moos carves up the competitors.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather, and sports -- it is 5:46 Eastern. Here's what is all new this morning.

An ailing Yasser Arafat is being flown to France right now for medical treatment. The 75-year-old Palestinian leader has a blood disorder. He'll be checked into a military hospital in Paris.

Cambodia's new king is being prepared for his coronation. Buddhist monks are bathing the former ballet dancer in waters meant to wash away impurities. Then tomorrow, he'll be crowned.

In money news, jobless claims are up; 350,000 people requested unemployment assistance last week. That is 20,000 more than the previous week. The government says some of those are still hurricane related job losses.

In culture, health officials want to scare you out of wearing decorative Halloween contact lenses. They point out that lenses sold without a prescription can cause serious eye injury, even blindness. And besides, they're illegal. Don't wear them.

In sports, now that the World Series is over players have begun to file for free agency. Astros' star centerfielder Carlos Beltran was one of the first to file. And 17 Red Sox players are eligible, but only outfielder Gabe Kapler filed on the first day.

MARCIANO: Very interesting.

COSTELLO: I wonder how many of those players will be going to the Yankees, Rob?

MARCIANO: Well, you know what? That may be the one time that Steinbrenner draws the line.

COSTELLO: Oh, come on.

MARCIANO: I'll be curious how many actually stay in Boston to try to defend. That is what I'm very curious about.

COSTELLO: Well, I hope they do, because they are such a wonderful team, together.

MARCIANO: I would like to see that, too. So the Yankees could take them next year! No, just kidding. All right enough of that. I'm still bitter, Carol. You're right.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you. Both presidential candidates are shameless namedroppers. We told you that before. Names of Leonardo DiCaprio and Jon Bon Jovi dropped all the time, just a couple of the many celebs coming out of the woodwork to stump for their candidate John Kerry.

Even Bruce Springsteen's music and the Boss, himself, accompanied the senator's rallies.

On the Republican side, George Bush has the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, hitting the stump with him, and many more.

This brings us to our E-mail Question of the Day: Do celebrity appearances really affect your vote?

Rob Marciano, are you there with me? Come on, join in on this e- mail extravaganza, because most people are saying, no. They don't care what celebrities are saying. No, no, no.

This is Dan from Michigan: "I think the concept of changing your vote because an actor or musician says you should, no offense to the Boss, but I don't think he's a political analyst."

Let me go to the next one. This is from Dan in Roswell, Georgia. He says: "It doesn't matter at all whether famous stars campaign with our politicians or not. Though people like DiCaprio and Bruce Springsteen may hang out with the candidates and think the politicians represent a character of their own -- Godzilla."

I don't think he likes either candidate, Rob. But you know what? When you attract 80,000 people to a rally, as Bruce Springsteen did at Ohio State University during the John Kerry rally, at least that brings many more people to the table for John Kerry to speak to. Whether they left when John Kerry started to speak is another matter. And I don't know the answer to that question.

This is from L.A. from Carmel, Indiana: "If someone needs to make up their mind because of what a celebrity or musician says, they shouldn't be allowed to vote.

MARCIANO: Am I supposed to be downstairs for this?

COSTELLO: Oh, I can't hear Rob. He joined in for a second, and then he was gone.

Keep the e-mails coming -- daybreak@cnn.com.

Politics and pumpkins in the week ahead. Halloween on Sunday gives way Election Day on Tuesday, the last day for attack ads.

In the meantime, ahead of the ghouls and gourds weekend, Jeanne Moos visits a few scary pumpkin patches.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sharpen you knives, whip out the power tools, while the candidates are carving up each other, why not carve up a pumpkin?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can anything be spookier than a George Bush jack-o'-lantern?

MOOS: Well, maybe a John Kerry "Hello Weenie" beverage coaster, or what some called Senator Kerry's Great Pumpkin Tan.

But spookiest of all? A presidential rotting contest whether the Kerry or the Bush pumpkin rots first. Ask Tom Nardone.

TOM NARDONE, EXTREMEPUMPKINS.COM.: Here is what makes it an extreme pumpkin.

MOOS: Nardone runs extremepumpkins.com featuring everything from the puking pumpkin to the drowning pumpkin, in a bag. By day two of the rotting contest, squirrels had gotten to George Bush's ear. And by day five, they knocked the little Ralph Nader pumpkin out of the race. By day nine, Bush was way ahead in the rotting, which meant Kerry was losing but looked better doing it.

While the candidates themselves are photographed picking pumpkins, critics used pumpkins to pick on the candidates. Take this Name Kerry's Pumpkin Contest on an anti-Kerry Web site.

And then, there are bipartisan pumpkins, huge painted ones to stick it to the president. A liberal group called True Majority Action has a designed a "No W" pumpkin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you have a line through your W.

MOOS: It shows up better by candlelight. The group came up with a stencil that 30,000 people have downloaded. But after poking the pattern... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is easier than I'm making it look, I assure you.

MOOS: But will folks get it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see lots of eyes.

MOOS: What do you see here? What pattern?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see confusion. I don't see a pattern. I see it is all screwed up.

MOOS: And when told it was an anti-Bush pumpkin. They imagined things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see the ears and the eyes, and there is like his little goofy, "What, me worry?" grin.

MOOS: No grinning back at the rotting contest where both candidates have completely collapsed. Bush won by a day, but who wants to win a rot race?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ooooh.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Science goes were no man has gone before. Coming up, how doctors of the future are taking medicine to the extreme. We'll explore this new technology straight ahead. You are watching DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: High above the Earth, aboard the International Space Station, for example, an astronaut requires an emergency operation and there's no doctor on board. Now that's a real problem, but maybe not.

Here's CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: In the television series "Star Trek," doctors of the future may treat a patient even in the far reaches of outer space.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just feel that weight (ph), as much as you can.

GUPTA: But for now, NASA astronauts are being trained to act as doctors in extreme environments.

DR. NEHRAN ANVARI, NEEMO 7 MISSION: With this technology, people who are not doctors, people who are not surgeons can perform emergency surgery to save somebody's life. GUPTA: The technology is called telementoring. Dr. Anvari is a general surgeon guiding astronauts on NEEMO 7. That is the NASA Extreme Environmental Mission Operations.

ANVARI: Guiding an astronaut, who acted as my left and right hand, to perform the surgery.

GUPTA: Using telecommunication lines from a hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Dr. Anvari gives surgical instructions to NASA astronauts located in Aquarius. That is an underwater habitat similar in size to the space shuttle off the coast of Florida.

ANVARI: You're operating with somebody who has absolutely no knowledge of human anatomy, surgical instruments, or what they are supposed to do. So, you really go back to the basics and try and be as simple as possible, trying to coach them through it; potentially a dangerous, life-threatening operation.

Not even a spill of blood or bile.

GUPTA: NASA astronaut Cady Coleman has flown in space twice. She has no formal medical training but just completed her first operation.

CADY COLEMAN, NASA ASTRONAUT: We have gone from Band-Aids to gallbladders, I think it is some pretty big stuff.

GUPTA: From gallbladders to kidney stones, to repairing an injured artery, telementoring can be a surgical solution for soldiers in the field to remote areas lacking doctors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In order to send people further we'd like to send them as safely as we can. We like to send them with all the capabilities that we can.

GUPTA (on camera): As doctors prepare to use their skills beyond the confines hospitals like these, they may find that in extreme situations almost anyone can act as a surgeon.

(voice-over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: For more on this story or any health story, head to our Web site, cnn.com/health.

Taking a trip in search of a cure. Poor health forces Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to leave home for the first time in nearly three years. In fact, he couldn't leave the country, but he has now. We'll have the latest at the top of the hour for you.

This is DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired October 29, 2004 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. Welcome to the second half hour of DAYBREAK. From the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta, I'm Carol Costello.
Now in the news -- Yasser Arafat flying to Paris for tests to find out what is causing a blood disorder. His plane left Amman, Jordan, after the Palestinian leaders was helicoptered there from his West Bank compound.

At least two bombs exploded in southern Thailand today wounding 12 people. The blast follows Monday's death of 78 people in stampede as police broke a demonstration by Muslims.

Mark Hacking is to be arraigned today in Salt Lake City for the death of his wife, Lori. Hacking is accused of killing his wife and then dumping her body in the trash.

Boston will toast its world champion Red Sox tomorrow with a parade stretching from Fenway Park all the way to City Hall. The Red Sox, incidentally, are the first World Series winners to appear on a Wheaties box since the 1999 Yankees.

Sorry, Mr. Yankee fan.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, it's been a while. It was 2000 since Yankees last won, not 1918.

COSTELLO: He's so bitter.

MARCIANO: Hey, I can't help it.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

COSTELLO: Guess what, Rob.

MARCIANO: What's that?

COSTELLO: Only four days until Election Day.

MARCIANO: Oh. The pressure is on.

COSTELLO: It is. It is still anybody's guess as to who will be the next president of the United States.

Is Ohio the new Florida? Controversy over voter registration is already threatening the election's outcome. And with 20 electoral votes hanging in the balance, Ohio's issues could surely tip the scales for either candidate.

CNN's Joe Johns has more on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With tens of thousands of newly registered voters challenged by Ohio Republicans before the election, the system is already showing signs of confusion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Chairman, these ballots have to be challenged.

JOHNS: In some smaller counties, hearings to verify the residency of voters began Thursday. But in six other counties, including two of the largest, which encompass Cleveland and Columbus, challenge voters showed up for hearings only to find they had been halted the day before by a federal judge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your right to vote has been challenged by a qualified elector.

JOHNS: The Ohio Republican Party says it filed its challenges after sending letters to newly registered voters, returned as undeliverable.

MARK WEAVER, OHIO GOP ELECTION ATTORNEY: Here in Ohio, we regularly send out mailers to new registrants saying welcome to being a voter and please vote for our candidates. This time, when we sent out those new mailers, we had thousands, tray loads, coming back saying no such person lives here.

JOHNS: The Democrats argue undeliverable mail doesn't necessarily mean a person's registration should be thrown out. That there may be innocent reasons.

It suggests that somebody who might be serving in the military, many of these cases, have addresses here in Ohio that are just simply addresses of record, but not places where they receive mail. It suggests that people might not mailbox, but instead a post office box. It suggests that people may have been living in a dorm room number down. So, lots of students have been attacked. It suggests that maybe somebody moved from one part of the county to the next.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then also on the ...

JOHNS: Case in point, Christopher Smith of Bexley. He changed addresses here in September and somebody misspelled his new street name in the elections computer. His registration was challenged.

CHRISTOPHER SMITH, CHALLENGED VOTER: If I feel it is my right to vote. I want to vote. They're not going to rob me of it, just because I moved.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming out of the year 2000, there is a lot of confusion anyway. And I think this just goes to further add to that confusion. JOHNS: This leaves local election officials scrambling and hoping to be prepared for Tuesday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That report from CNN's Joe Johns. And here is a final note on Ohio -- John F. Kennedy is the only president in the last 120 years to win the election without winning Ohio.

Election officials in Florida are scrambling to mail out new absentee ballots. Up to 14,000 are due to go out today to Broward County residents who requested them weeks ago but never received them. The county blames the post office, but officials say they did nothing wrong. Law enforcement officials say they have found no illegal activity.

As you might imagine, Florida is trying to escape the glare of the spotlight when it comes to counting ballots. Toward that end, Florida now has electronic voting machines and early voting for the first time in a presidential election. But will that be enough?

CNN's Richard Quest takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWD: Let us in! Let us in! Let us in!

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Chaos, confusion, electoral collapse. Those hanging pregnant and dimpled chads heaped misery and ridicule on Florida's election in 2000.

(on camera): These ballot boxes having failed spectacularly four years ago, have now been consigned to the electoral history bin. And instead, in Florida, they have substituted them with thousands of computers.

(voice-over): Stored in a warehouse outside Miami, Florida's officials are hoping these machines will salvage this states reputation.

(on camera): The world is watching to ask a simple question: Can Florida run an election?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, and we've answered that question here, for our citizens, numerous times. You know these new machines -- new to the world, at least -- really for us are machines that we've used in three very large elections, in dozens of smaller elections. We've tested and retested them they've worked very well.

QUEST (voice over): If you can use a cash machine, you can pretty much use one of these computers. A simple screen showing the candidates, you touch where you want to vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once I am satisfied with all of the choices that I'm making, yes?

QUEST (on camera): I can vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can vote. You press that flashing red vote button. And that is the same as dropping the old punch card in the ballot box, from the old days. And the machine thanks us for voting. And it really is that simple.

QUEST (voice over): And now the machines are being put to the big test. Early voting in Florida means they are already in use.

At the Coral Gables Library, voters are waiting up to two hours to cast their ballots. It is slow going, but all seemed happy with the new process.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything, very clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you make a mistake you can go back and correct it. I love it.

QUEST: The electoral stakes could hardly be higher. The officials here know the lawyers are waiting, whatever the results.

(on camera): Are you nervous?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm excited. I'm excited. And...

QUEST: That's not my question. Are you nervous?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't describe it as nervous. I would describe it as excited, full of anticipation, aware of the importance of what we're doing. And certainly, we all want to finally see this thing that we anticipate going well, actually go well.

QUEST: So, voting is underway. The machines are working well. The election is truly in the home stretch.

Richard Quest, CNN, Miami, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Well, maybe not everything is going all that swimmingly in Florida. We'll find out when we talk to Erika Bolstad of "The Miami Herald". We'll talk to her about an hour from now, on DAYBREAK.

Also, CNN's Paula Zahn is on location on Election Eve in Florida. Tune in Monday for a town hall meeting on the undecided vote. That airs at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

And join CNN for complete coverage on election night. We'll bring you real-time results live from Times Square. Have the big board at the Nasdaq. Our election team kicks off a full-court press of coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Tuesday night.

Question again this morning: When did tons of explosives go missing near Baghdad? Before or after the U.S. occupied the area? It is a major issue now in the presidential race. Now there is some new evidence that could be very damning for the Bush administration.

Senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Pentagon's argument that the stockpile of powerful HMX explosive was likely long-gone from the Al Qaqaa facility when U.S. troops arrived in April of 2003, was seriously undercut by this video, shot by Minneapolis television station KSTP.

Reporter Dean Staley was embedded with soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division when they entered a locked bunker at the Al Qaqaa facility on April 18, 2003, nearly a month into the war. But to get in they cut what now appears to be an International Atomic Energy Agency seal.

DEAN STALEY, FMR. KSTP-TV REPORTER: We thought it might have been some sort of booby trap, because it was such a thin wire. But we broke the lock and broke that wire to get in.

MCINTYRE: That IAEA seal, arms experts tell CNN, is the strongest evidence yet that at least some of the missing explosives were in side, because HMX was the only material placed under seal at Al Qaqaa.

And the reporter says the troops he was with were on an unofficial mission just looking around. They were not searching for or securing any material. There was, he said, nothing to stop anyone from looting.

STALEY: And some of the bunkers were even locked. I mean, we had to break a couple of padlocks to get into some of them. Others we did not, they were wide open.

We also saw Iraqis at the time, driving around in a pickup truck, an old beat up pickup truck, clearly scavenging. Clearly sort of looking around. And we kept an eye on them, because this was sort of no-man's land.

MCINTYRE: The revelation came on a day when the Pentagon released this satellite photograph taken on March 17, 2003, a few days before the war began. It shows a truck and heavy equipment transporter outside one bunker that is not believed to have contained HMX. But the Pentagon admits the photograph is inconclusive, showing there was only activity at the site and not that any explosives were moved.

Still Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in a series of radio interviews, repeated the Pentagon's contention that it is unlikely the stockpile could have been looted after the U.S. got there.

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We had total control of the air. We would have seen anything like that. And so the idea that it was suddenly looted and moved out, all of these tons of equipment, is I think, at least, debatable. And it is very likely that just as the United States would do, that Saddam Hussein moved munitions when he knew the war was coming.

MCINTYRE (on camera): The Pentagon says the video is just another piece in the puzzle as it tries to reconstruct what happened to what the IAEA now says is more than 360 tons, not 380 tons, of missing high explosives. Still unclear is whether any was stolen or successfully destroyed by U.S. troops.

Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: David Kaye, the former American inspector, who directed the hunt for weapons in Iraq will be a guest on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." Find out what he has to say about those missing explosives and the videotape. That will happen this morning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.

Celebrity star power, in five minutes, from the Governator to the Boss, the presidential candidates bring out the big guns. And that brings us to our E-mail Question of the Morning: Do these celebrity appearances really affect your vote? We'll read some of your thoughts a little later on in the newscast. We have some good ones in already -- daybreak@cnn.com.

Presidential politics and pumpkins -- in seven minutes, our Jeanne Moos carves up the competitors.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather, and sports -- it is 5:46 Eastern. Here's what is all new this morning.

An ailing Yasser Arafat is being flown to France right now for medical treatment. The 75-year-old Palestinian leader has a blood disorder. He'll be checked into a military hospital in Paris.

Cambodia's new king is being prepared for his coronation. Buddhist monks are bathing the former ballet dancer in waters meant to wash away impurities. Then tomorrow, he'll be crowned.

In money news, jobless claims are up; 350,000 people requested unemployment assistance last week. That is 20,000 more than the previous week. The government says some of those are still hurricane related job losses.

In culture, health officials want to scare you out of wearing decorative Halloween contact lenses. They point out that lenses sold without a prescription can cause serious eye injury, even blindness. And besides, they're illegal. Don't wear them.

In sports, now that the World Series is over players have begun to file for free agency. Astros' star centerfielder Carlos Beltran was one of the first to file. And 17 Red Sox players are eligible, but only outfielder Gabe Kapler filed on the first day.

MARCIANO: Very interesting.

COSTELLO: I wonder how many of those players will be going to the Yankees, Rob?

MARCIANO: Well, you know what? That may be the one time that Steinbrenner draws the line.

COSTELLO: Oh, come on.

MARCIANO: I'll be curious how many actually stay in Boston to try to defend. That is what I'm very curious about.

COSTELLO: Well, I hope they do, because they are such a wonderful team, together.

MARCIANO: I would like to see that, too. So the Yankees could take them next year! No, just kidding. All right enough of that. I'm still bitter, Carol. You're right.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Those are the latest headlines for you. Both presidential candidates are shameless namedroppers. We told you that before. Names of Leonardo DiCaprio and Jon Bon Jovi dropped all the time, just a couple of the many celebs coming out of the woodwork to stump for their candidate John Kerry.

Even Bruce Springsteen's music and the Boss, himself, accompanied the senator's rallies.

On the Republican side, George Bush has the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, hitting the stump with him, and many more.

This brings us to our E-mail Question of the Day: Do celebrity appearances really affect your vote?

Rob Marciano, are you there with me? Come on, join in on this e- mail extravaganza, because most people are saying, no. They don't care what celebrities are saying. No, no, no.

This is Dan from Michigan: "I think the concept of changing your vote because an actor or musician says you should, no offense to the Boss, but I don't think he's a political analyst."

Let me go to the next one. This is from Dan in Roswell, Georgia. He says: "It doesn't matter at all whether famous stars campaign with our politicians or not. Though people like DiCaprio and Bruce Springsteen may hang out with the candidates and think the politicians represent a character of their own -- Godzilla."

I don't think he likes either candidate, Rob. But you know what? When you attract 80,000 people to a rally, as Bruce Springsteen did at Ohio State University during the John Kerry rally, at least that brings many more people to the table for John Kerry to speak to. Whether they left when John Kerry started to speak is another matter. And I don't know the answer to that question.

This is from L.A. from Carmel, Indiana: "If someone needs to make up their mind because of what a celebrity or musician says, they shouldn't be allowed to vote.

MARCIANO: Am I supposed to be downstairs for this?

COSTELLO: Oh, I can't hear Rob. He joined in for a second, and then he was gone.

Keep the e-mails coming -- daybreak@cnn.com.

Politics and pumpkins in the week ahead. Halloween on Sunday gives way Election Day on Tuesday, the last day for attack ads.

In the meantime, ahead of the ghouls and gourds weekend, Jeanne Moos visits a few scary pumpkin patches.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Sharpen you knives, whip out the power tools, while the candidates are carving up each other, why not carve up a pumpkin?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can anything be spookier than a George Bush jack-o'-lantern?

MOOS: Well, maybe a John Kerry "Hello Weenie" beverage coaster, or what some called Senator Kerry's Great Pumpkin Tan.

But spookiest of all? A presidential rotting contest whether the Kerry or the Bush pumpkin rots first. Ask Tom Nardone.

TOM NARDONE, EXTREMEPUMPKINS.COM.: Here is what makes it an extreme pumpkin.

MOOS: Nardone runs extremepumpkins.com featuring everything from the puking pumpkin to the drowning pumpkin, in a bag. By day two of the rotting contest, squirrels had gotten to George Bush's ear. And by day five, they knocked the little Ralph Nader pumpkin out of the race. By day nine, Bush was way ahead in the rotting, which meant Kerry was losing but looked better doing it.

While the candidates themselves are photographed picking pumpkins, critics used pumpkins to pick on the candidates. Take this Name Kerry's Pumpkin Contest on an anti-Kerry Web site.

And then, there are bipartisan pumpkins, huge painted ones to stick it to the president. A liberal group called True Majority Action has a designed a "No W" pumpkin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you have a line through your W.

MOOS: It shows up better by candlelight. The group came up with a stencil that 30,000 people have downloaded. But after poking the pattern... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is easier than I'm making it look, I assure you.

MOOS: But will folks get it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see lots of eyes.

MOOS: What do you see here? What pattern?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I see confusion. I don't see a pattern. I see it is all screwed up.

MOOS: And when told it was an anti-Bush pumpkin. They imagined things.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see the ears and the eyes, and there is like his little goofy, "What, me worry?" grin.

MOOS: No grinning back at the rotting contest where both candidates have completely collapsed. Bush won by a day, but who wants to win a rot race?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ooooh.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Science goes were no man has gone before. Coming up, how doctors of the future are taking medicine to the extreme. We'll explore this new technology straight ahead. You are watching DAYBREAK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: High above the Earth, aboard the International Space Station, for example, an astronaut requires an emergency operation and there's no doctor on board. Now that's a real problem, but maybe not.

Here's CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: In the television series "Star Trek," doctors of the future may treat a patient even in the far reaches of outer space.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just feel that weight (ph), as much as you can.

GUPTA: But for now, NASA astronauts are being trained to act as doctors in extreme environments.

DR. NEHRAN ANVARI, NEEMO 7 MISSION: With this technology, people who are not doctors, people who are not surgeons can perform emergency surgery to save somebody's life. GUPTA: The technology is called telementoring. Dr. Anvari is a general surgeon guiding astronauts on NEEMO 7. That is the NASA Extreme Environmental Mission Operations.

ANVARI: Guiding an astronaut, who acted as my left and right hand, to perform the surgery.

GUPTA: Using telecommunication lines from a hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Dr. Anvari gives surgical instructions to NASA astronauts located in Aquarius. That is an underwater habitat similar in size to the space shuttle off the coast of Florida.

ANVARI: You're operating with somebody who has absolutely no knowledge of human anatomy, surgical instruments, or what they are supposed to do. So, you really go back to the basics and try and be as simple as possible, trying to coach them through it; potentially a dangerous, life-threatening operation.

Not even a spill of blood or bile.

GUPTA: NASA astronaut Cady Coleman has flown in space twice. She has no formal medical training but just completed her first operation.

CADY COLEMAN, NASA ASTRONAUT: We have gone from Band-Aids to gallbladders, I think it is some pretty big stuff.

GUPTA: From gallbladders to kidney stones, to repairing an injured artery, telementoring can be a surgical solution for soldiers in the field to remote areas lacking doctors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In order to send people further we'd like to send them as safely as we can. We like to send them with all the capabilities that we can.

GUPTA (on camera): As doctors prepare to use their skills beyond the confines hospitals like these, they may find that in extreme situations almost anyone can act as a surgeon.

(voice-over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: For more on this story or any health story, head to our Web site, cnn.com/health.

Taking a trip in search of a cure. Poor health forces Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to leave home for the first time in nearly three years. In fact, he couldn't leave the country, but he has now. We'll have the latest at the top of the hour for you.

This is DAYBREAK.

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