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American Morning

Bush Trip to Canada; About Face for Ukrainian Opposition Candidate; Quiz Whiz Ken Jennings; 'Ultimate Patriot'

Aired December 02, 2004 - 07:29 ET

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

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Coming up, we're going to take a look at President Bush's schedule today. Also this morning, one of the big mysteries in the Ukraine election crisis.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. It's the before-and-after picture that we've been looking at all morning. Movie star good looks on the left of the opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, and then to the right, what happened? There are all kinds of theories, sinister and otherwise. And we will look into them.

S. O'BRIEN: I wouldn't say movie star good looks, but he was a handsome man. I'm not being facetious.

M. O'BRIEN: It's kind of a subjective thing. He could have played a role of some kind, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, everyone has something they want to ask "Jeopardy" ex-champ Ken Jennings. Like, how did you miss that last question and you lost the game? I talked to him, and I asked him exactly that. We're going to tell you what he said in just a few minutes.

M. O'BRIEN: But you're not going to spill the beans now.

S. O'BRIEN: No.

M. O'BRIEN: No.

S. O'BRIEN: No.

M. O'BRIEN: And hear the answer, yes. We'll see him squirm. All right. Another check of the headlines with Heidi Collins.

Good morning -- Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. And good morning to you, everybody. "Now in the News" this morning.

Hundreds of new American forces are heading to Iraq. The Pentagon says it is dispatching an additional 1,500 troops and extending the stays of more than 10,000 others. It's part of a plan to secure the country ahead of the scheduled January elections.

The State Department says it backs a Senate investigation, but will not weigh in on whether U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan should step down. The comment comes after a leading senator called for Annan's resignation yesterday, citing possible corruption in the U.N. Iraqi oil-for-food program. The State Department stressed Annan is cooperating with the probe.

In California, the jury in the Scott Peterson case is edging closer to a life-or-death decision. Peterson's family and friends took the stand yesterday, depicting Peterson as gentle and loving, a sharp contrast to Tuesday's testimony when Laci Peterson's mother took the stand. Testimony is in the penalty phase now. It continues in just a couple hours.

And hundreds of people in the Northeast are still without power this morning after high winds created havoc there. Winds gusting up to 50 miles an hour knocking down power lines and trees. Look at that. There were also some major downpours there as they're experiencing right now. I was rushing up the stairs this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: In high heels.

COLLINS: To sprint in high heels it's so not a good thing.

M. O'BRIEN: I hate that when I do that.

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: That's a whole other issue with you.

M. O'BRIEN: I have moved to flats.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Heidi, thanks a lot.

COLLINS: You bet.

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush is back in Washington, D.C. this morning after his two-day trip to Canada.

White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us with more on that this morning.

Hey, Suzanne, good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, of course, that trip to Canada was really seen as a dry run for President Bush's trip to Europe that he's going to be taking early next year, a lot of that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) effort that he's been talking about.

It was just yesterday he wrapped up his trip to Canada in Nova Scotia. That's Halifax, Nova Scotia. That is where the president thanked Canadians for their actions immediately following the September 11 attacks. There were some 30,000 Americans who were stranded in Canada, many of their flights diverted. And the Canadians simply helped out, gave tremendous help. President Bush arguing that the U.S. neighbor really is a natural ally in the war on terror, and he urged Canadians to get over their differences on the Iraq war, emphasizing the similarities, the shared goals between the two countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sometimes even the closest of friends disagree. And two years ago, we disagreed about the best course of action in Iraq. Yet, as your prime minister made clear in Washington earlier this year, there is no disagreement at all with what has to be done in going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And, Soledad, the president continues his diplomatic efforts today. He's going to be meeting with the president of Nigeria here at the White House. They're going to talk about a number of issues, including the crisis in Sudan, AIDS, as well as oil.

Also, of course, he's going to be meeting with the leader of Pakistan, as well as Jordan's King Abdullah in the days to come.

And on the fun side, of course, he is going to be lighting the Christmas tree later this evening. It is the official Pageant of Peace ceremony that happens every year -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And that will be really nice, as it always is. Suzanne Malveaux for us at the White House this morning. Suzanne, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Political candidates in every country spend lots of time and money to ensure that they send out the right image, both political and personal.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote tells us how for one of the candidates in the Ukrainian election, image may have been everything.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He had movie-star looks, experience in leadership as Ukraine's prime minister. But, according to the pollsters, he lacked the support of enough ordinary Ukrainians to win the presidency.

Then this September, after complaining of food poisoning, he was admitted to a hospital in Kiev, then an Austrian clinic. When he emerged, his face had changed dramatically. His small lines had turned into deep pockmarks, and with them, the contours of Ukraine's political landscape.

Yushka (ph) told his supporters the government was trying to poison him.

VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO, UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION CANDIDATE (through translator): I want to express a special message to the authorities. You will not poison us.

CHILCOTE: Ukraine's top prosecutor investigated. His conclusion: Yushchenko was suffering from herpes.

The same Kremlin spin doctors who crafted President Putin's image in Russia were in Ukraine at the time, to support the pro-Moscow candidate, Viktor Yanukovich.

"The election took on a folklorish, mythic nature," Glev Pavlovsky (ph) says. "It was a lie Yushchenko's staff used to hide the fact that their candidate was ill late in the campaign."

Whether the allegations are fairytales or not, Yushchenko, the politician, became more attractive. Some Yushchenko watchers say he even ditched the makeup he was using to cover up his new face.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Ukraine's Supreme Court is expected to make a decision on the election results by the end of the week. Yushchenko agreed yesterday to stop the blockade of government buildings, though he continued to encourage his supporters to protest in the streets -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The answer is he owns the longest and richest winning steak in game show history. The question, of course: Who is Ken Jennings?

His amazing run on "Jeopardy" is now history. It ended after 74 straight wins and more than $2.5 million.

I spoke with Ken about the end of his record-breaking streak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEN JENNINGS, ALL-TIME "JEOPARDY" CHAMP: Seventy-four days is nothing to sneeze at, even if you lose one after that. I guess if there was a moment of disappointment, you know, because playing "Jeopardy" is a lot of fun, and that's the moment when I realized I wasn't going to be able to do it anymore, you know. I lost my summer job. But...

S. O'BRIEN: You congratulated the winner. And did you, for a moment, though, feel like, she stole it from me?

JENNINGS: She deserved it. You know, she played a great game. There was nothing like I felt like I had to kick myself over. You know, she just played a better game than me. And she deserved, you know, every second of everything she got. And I was really relieved, in a way, you know, just because I had been waiting all summer to find out when this whole thing was going to be over. And now I knew the answer, you know. Finally, I had closure. That was nice.

S. O'BRIEN: Are you relieved a little bit that it's over? I mean, is it sort of time to move on, do you think?

JENNINGS: Yes. Just not being able to, you know, get on with my life, because this "Jeopardy" thing kept going on and on and on, you know. And my life had been in some holding pattern all year. And it was nice to be able to move on to the next thing.

S. O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, I am terrible at "Jeopardy," I mean, horrifically bad. I thought that was an easy question. I was, like, I got that question. Oh, don't look at the TV, like, I know the answer to that.

JENNINGS: If only I could have heard you, you know. Yes, I think it's the kind of thing that either comes to you or you don't. I've always done by own taxes, so H&R Block just didn't come to mind.

S. O'BRIEN: How did you know the answers to all of those questions? Because, again, I thought the FedEx question -- the H&R Block, the answer to the FedEx question was actually kind of easy. But there were some that were so incredibly tough that I was just amazed that you could get. How do you know the answers to that many questions across a really wide range?

JENNINGS: I guess you could see from the H&R Block question that, you know, nobody knows everything, you know. Even if you think you're pretty good, you don't know everything. But I guess I've just always been interested in a lot of different things. So maybe I sort of have a, you know, very shallow level of knowledge about a very wide range of subjects, just because I'm interested in a lot of stuff. And you tend to remember stuff about what you're interested in.

S. O'BRIEN: What do you do now? You've had some offers for book deals and some other things as well. What's your next gig going to be?

JENNINGS: I have taken a leave of absence from my job as a computer programmer to work on a book that Random House will be putting out just about my experiences and sort of trivia in our culture in general, you know, who these people are who are into trivia and, you know, why we're interested in it. And there will be some other things. There's going to be Ken trivia board game. I think, can you beat Ken, that kind of thing. And I'll do some public speaking. There's a lot of fun things. I'm looking forward to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: What's the first thing Jennings is planning to do with his winnings? Take a trip to Europe with his wife. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) leave him with about $2.4 million left over -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: So who will be doing his taxes in the future?

S. O'BRIEN: Actually, H&R Block will be doing his taxes. He said he took them up on the offer to do his taxes for the rest of his life for free.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, I bet Mr. Block himself will be helping out on that one. All right, thank you very much, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He's got more bad news from Motown to talk about .

M. O'BRIEN: And Venus and Serena Williams battle each other on the court, but they're playing for the same team in this case. The Williams sisters tell us about playing for a good cause. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: More Americans are delaying marriage to focus on school and career pursuits. According to the Census Bureau data for last year, the average age for men on their first marriage is 27 compared to 23 for 1970. For women, the average age is now 25, nearly five years older than 1970. One-third of men and 25 percent of women between the ages of 30 and 34 have never been married, nearly four times the rates in 1970.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, I get it.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: There you have it.

S. O'BRIEN: How old were you when you got married?

M. O'BRIEN: Twenty-nine. How about you?

S. O'BRIEN: I'm...

M. O'BRIEN: That's a rude question, yes.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Thirty.

S. O'BRIEN: Twenty-three.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: That's it. And, Jack, it gets a little more complicated.

CAFFERTY: Which time?

SERWER: Yes, there you go.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: It's a little more complicated.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's start with the first time.

SERWER: It's a little more complicated.

CAFFERTY: Twenty-two, which was too young.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Yes. Because I was stupid. Stupider then than I am now.

S. O'BRIEN: You said it, not me.

CAFFERTY: The United Church of Christ has put together this television ad that we're going to show you here in a second. ABC, NBC and CBS say they won't run it. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Step aside, please. No way. Not you. I don't think so. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: So the question is whether you think this thing ought to be on television or not.

The Reverend Robert Barker writes from Claire, Michigan: "This should not even be an issue for the networks. They're displaying hypocrisy in rejecting this ad, because they have no problems broadcasting programs which portray gay persons in mindless comedies or titillating dramas."

Jeff in Alma, Michigan: "If the church is paying for the ad, then why not run it? Ads don't always represent the feelings of everyone at each network. The American people should be smart enough to realize that this is a paid advertisement, not some sort of odd network endorsement."

Dave in British Columbia says: "Good grief. There are ads on TV for condoms, Viagra, Tampax, Kotex -- you name it. And they want to block an ad from a ministry inviting everyone and all into their congregation. I think not."

And Hal in Orin, Missouri, who's becoming a regular pen pal of "The Cafferty File," because the quality of his stuff is consistently pretty good. So keep the standards up there, Hal, and we'll keep reading your mail: "During the last election, 11 states passed anti- gay marriage amendments. Now this ad debacle. As comedian Lewis Black points out, it just shows us once again that America is the land where people are free to dream whatever they want, so long as that dream doesn't make mid-Westerners feel icky."

I like Lewis Black. He's a very funny guy.

S. O'BRIEN: How about the ads that are on the Super Bowl? I mean, some of those ads I thought at Super Bowl time are really kind of something.

CAFFERTY: Especially that halftime situation, where old Janet was whipping out here... S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: Well, that's what started the whole thing. That's what's gotten everyone so prudish these days, isn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: That wasn't an ad exactly.

CAFFERTY: Well, it depends on your definition of the word "is" is.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it does.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: It was an ad of sorts, wasn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, her CD six months later.

CAFFERTY: Her CWD.

S. O'BRIEN: No.

M. O'BRIEN: And no...

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: No comment on that.

M. O'BRIEN: No wardrobe malfunctions here this morning, we hope.

Andy Serwer is here to tell us about what's going on at Motown, my hometown, where car sales are not so hot.

SERWER: Yes, not so hot for the big U.S. carmakers. Let's check out this chart, because it shows that the Japanese carmakers are, in fact, continuing to make inroads. Nissan doing very, very well, and Toyota doing well. Daimler Chrysler is doing OK. And I think that's because of the Baby Bentley. Remember that car? It's the shizzle (ph). Remember the shizzle (ph) mobile? Yes, that's right.

Ford is down a bit, even though the new Mustang is doing well. And GM is doing poorly. We'll get to that in a second.

Both GM and Ford are going to be cutting back production about 6, 7, 8 percent next year. One of the reasons GM's sales are not doing so well this year is because that new lock-and-roll ad campaign they have, where you buy a car and you lock into a rate to buy a new car a couple of years down the road at the same rate with that pitch woman, Suze Orman.

CAFFERTY: Doesn't she work on CNBC...

SERWER: I don't know.

CAFFERTY: ... supposedly doing some kind of financial news program? SERWER: I knew this was get to get you going.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: And then in the next breath she's out hawking General Motors cars.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: What kind of nonsense is that?

SERWER: Well, I knew that it would get you going. That's why I brought it up. See...

M. O'BRIEN: At least he's not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at church.

SERWER: ... Americans don't want to become arbiters, and I guess they don't want to listen to Suze Orman to tell them to do that. That maybe what...

M. O'BRIEN: So it fell flat, to say the least.

SERWER: It fell flat, that's right.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Good.

SERWER: OK. I don't have a take on it. You have a take on it.

S. O'BRIEN: He has a take on everything.

SERWER: Yes, he does.

S. O'BRIEN: Moving on.

SERWER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: The most famous...

CAFFERTY: CDD, you got that.

S. O'BRIEN: The most famous sisters in tennis lend Ronald McDonald a lending hand. Venus and Serena Williams are going to join live ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: A New York City firefighter killed Monday in Iraq is being remembered as the ultimate patriot. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is now supporting a bill to designate Sergeant Christian Engeldrum's death as occurring in the line of duty so that his family can receive benefits.

CNN's Jason Carroll has more on this hero's life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll tell you, if you were allowed to pick your family, Chris would be my brother. He's my brother here as a fireman, but Chris is that kind of guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he was in the background as a spectator he wasn't happy. He had to help. He had to do something.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Ladder Company 61 in the Bronx, a memorial for the first New York City firefighter to die in Iraq, Chris Engeldrum, "Drum" to his friends. He was killed in Baghdad on Monday when his Humvee rolled over an explosive. He was 39.

It's painful to try and sum up someone's life, especially when that person made so much of his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry.

CARROLL (on camera): That's OK.

PAUL ALLEN, LADDER 61, N.Y. FIRE DEPARTMENT: We can't replace him. We can't -- we can't be a father. We can't be a wife, but we can fill in the gaps, you know.

CARROLL (voice over): Engeldrum served with honors in the Gulf War, then became a New York City police officer. He found his true joy after joining the fire department in 1999.

On 9/11, his company arrived as the first tower fell. Engeldrum rescued as many people as he could and helped raise the first flag at Ground Zero. Still, he wanted to do more. For him that meant serving in Iraq in the Army National Guard.

LT. MICHAEL OWNEY, LADDER 61 N.Y. FIRE DEPARTMENT: This guy wasn't a couch potato patriot. This guy lived it. He walked the walk and he talked the talk.

ALLEN: He thought it cowardly if he would stay here and let the rest of his unit go. If he unit was going, just like at a fire, if we were going, he was going. He wasn't going to play it safe.

CARROLL: His wife called him the "ultimate patriot." Engeldrum also leaves behind two teenage sons.

The grief is shared by his former colleagues at the firehouse, where they hang reminders of Engeldrum. And every time they head out on a call...

ALLEN: Right here behind the rubber band.

CARROLL: ... he's there too, a toy soldier stashed in every helmet, tribute to a man who was a firefighter and a soldier at heart.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: It's really heartbreaking. And we should note, too, his wife is expecting their third child as well.

We should mention that Wolf Frado Rabino (ph), a Long Island volunteer firefighter, also killed in that same attack. And New York City firefighter Daniel Swift suffered shrapnel wounds to his eyes and his leg. Obviously a heartbreaking story.

CAFFERTY: Interesting, isn't it, how some people give so much.

M. O'BRIEN: New meaning to the term "duty and honor." Truly.

All right, there is a new person in the anchor seat at the Peacock network this morning. Last night, "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw signed off for the last time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BROKAW, FMR. ANCHOR, "NBC NIGHTLY NEWS": We've been through a lot together, through dark days and nights and seasons of hope and joy. Whatever the story, I had only one objective: to get it right. When I failed, it was personally painful, and there was no greater urgency than course correction. On those occasions, I was grateful for your forbearance and always mindful that your patience and attention didn't come with a lifetime warranty.

What have I learned here? More than we have time to recount this evening. But the enduring lessons through the decades are these: It's not the questions that get us in trouble; it's the answers. And just as important, no one person has all of the answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: The 64-year-old veteran newscaster will stay on at NBC to work on at least three documentaries a year. He also plans to spend a little more time fishing, sailing, being with his family, climb a few mountains. Brian Williams takes over the newscast tonight.

S. O'BRIEN: He's a grandfather. He said he wants to spend more time -- you know, not be a fly-by grandparent. So good for him.

CAFFERTY: I worked with Tom. I got to know him a little bit when I was across the street at NBC. He has the No. 1 rated newscast in the country of the big three right now. And I firmly believe that it probably has less to do with him as a news anchorman on television than it has to do with his stroke of prescience, for want of a better way to say it, in tapping in to the World War II generation and putting out that wonderful book about the greatest generation that ever lived. He touched a nerve in this country that had gone untouched for the most part.

And people rallied to him because what came out of his attention to that subject was his sensitivity to the human condition and the sense of the scope of that accomplishment of those people who fought and won the greatest war ever fought on this planet.

So, it will be interesting to see. Brian Williams takes over the top-rated newscast. I know Brian a little bit, too. A good guy. They'll be watching closely to see what happens with the ratings.

Dan Rather is leaving at CBS. Les Moonves was quoted on the radio this morning, I was listening coming in. He said he's not unnecessarily ruling out putting on two anchors in Rather's place.

So Peter Jennings is the last man standing. The nightly news is on the three major networks, changed forever. Audience declined 40 percent over the last 15-20 years. People like us are eating away at the dominance that those three shows once had.

S. O'BRIEN: And indication of a changing time, isn't it?

CAFFERTY: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Jack, thanks.

In a moment, today's top stories, including news that thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq just found out when they're going to get a chance to come home. A look at that's ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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Aired December 2, 2004 - 07:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Coming up, we're going to take a look at President Bush's schedule today. Also this morning, one of the big mysteries in the Ukraine election crisis.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. It's the before-and-after picture that we've been looking at all morning. Movie star good looks on the left of the opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, and then to the right, what happened? There are all kinds of theories, sinister and otherwise. And we will look into them.

S. O'BRIEN: I wouldn't say movie star good looks, but he was a handsome man. I'm not being facetious.

M. O'BRIEN: It's kind of a subjective thing. He could have played a role of some kind, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Also this morning, everyone has something they want to ask "Jeopardy" ex-champ Ken Jennings. Like, how did you miss that last question and you lost the game? I talked to him, and I asked him exactly that. We're going to tell you what he said in just a few minutes.

M. O'BRIEN: But you're not going to spill the beans now.

S. O'BRIEN: No.

M. O'BRIEN: No.

S. O'BRIEN: No.

M. O'BRIEN: And hear the answer, yes. We'll see him squirm. All right. Another check of the headlines with Heidi Collins.

Good morning -- Heidi.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. And good morning to you, everybody. "Now in the News" this morning.

Hundreds of new American forces are heading to Iraq. The Pentagon says it is dispatching an additional 1,500 troops and extending the stays of more than 10,000 others. It's part of a plan to secure the country ahead of the scheduled January elections.

The State Department says it backs a Senate investigation, but will not weigh in on whether U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan should step down. The comment comes after a leading senator called for Annan's resignation yesterday, citing possible corruption in the U.N. Iraqi oil-for-food program. The State Department stressed Annan is cooperating with the probe.

In California, the jury in the Scott Peterson case is edging closer to a life-or-death decision. Peterson's family and friends took the stand yesterday, depicting Peterson as gentle and loving, a sharp contrast to Tuesday's testimony when Laci Peterson's mother took the stand. Testimony is in the penalty phase now. It continues in just a couple hours.

And hundreds of people in the Northeast are still without power this morning after high winds created havoc there. Winds gusting up to 50 miles an hour knocking down power lines and trees. Look at that. There were also some major downpours there as they're experiencing right now. I was rushing up the stairs this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: In high heels.

COLLINS: To sprint in high heels it's so not a good thing.

M. O'BRIEN: I hate that when I do that.

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: That's a whole other issue with you.

M. O'BRIEN: I have moved to flats.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Heidi, thanks a lot.

COLLINS: You bet.

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush is back in Washington, D.C. this morning after his two-day trip to Canada.

White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us with more on that this morning.

Hey, Suzanne, good morning.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Well, of course, that trip to Canada was really seen as a dry run for President Bush's trip to Europe that he's going to be taking early next year, a lot of that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) effort that he's been talking about.

It was just yesterday he wrapped up his trip to Canada in Nova Scotia. That's Halifax, Nova Scotia. That is where the president thanked Canadians for their actions immediately following the September 11 attacks. There were some 30,000 Americans who were stranded in Canada, many of their flights diverted. And the Canadians simply helped out, gave tremendous help. President Bush arguing that the U.S. neighbor really is a natural ally in the war on terror, and he urged Canadians to get over their differences on the Iraq war, emphasizing the similarities, the shared goals between the two countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sometimes even the closest of friends disagree. And two years ago, we disagreed about the best course of action in Iraq. Yet, as your prime minister made clear in Washington earlier this year, there is no disagreement at all with what has to be done in going forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And, Soledad, the president continues his diplomatic efforts today. He's going to be meeting with the president of Nigeria here at the White House. They're going to talk about a number of issues, including the crisis in Sudan, AIDS, as well as oil.

Also, of course, he's going to be meeting with the leader of Pakistan, as well as Jordan's King Abdullah in the days to come.

And on the fun side, of course, he is going to be lighting the Christmas tree later this evening. It is the official Pageant of Peace ceremony that happens every year -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And that will be really nice, as it always is. Suzanne Malveaux for us at the White House this morning. Suzanne, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Political candidates in every country spend lots of time and money to ensure that they send out the right image, both political and personal.

CNN's Ryan Chilcote tells us how for one of the candidates in the Ukrainian election, image may have been everything.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He had movie-star looks, experience in leadership as Ukraine's prime minister. But, according to the pollsters, he lacked the support of enough ordinary Ukrainians to win the presidency.

Then this September, after complaining of food poisoning, he was admitted to a hospital in Kiev, then an Austrian clinic. When he emerged, his face had changed dramatically. His small lines had turned into deep pockmarks, and with them, the contours of Ukraine's political landscape.

Yushka (ph) told his supporters the government was trying to poison him.

VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO, UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION CANDIDATE (through translator): I want to express a special message to the authorities. You will not poison us.

CHILCOTE: Ukraine's top prosecutor investigated. His conclusion: Yushchenko was suffering from herpes.

The same Kremlin spin doctors who crafted President Putin's image in Russia were in Ukraine at the time, to support the pro-Moscow candidate, Viktor Yanukovich.

"The election took on a folklorish, mythic nature," Glev Pavlovsky (ph) says. "It was a lie Yushchenko's staff used to hide the fact that their candidate was ill late in the campaign."

Whether the allegations are fairytales or not, Yushchenko, the politician, became more attractive. Some Yushchenko watchers say he even ditched the makeup he was using to cover up his new face.

Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Ukraine's Supreme Court is expected to make a decision on the election results by the end of the week. Yushchenko agreed yesterday to stop the blockade of government buildings, though he continued to encourage his supporters to protest in the streets -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: The answer is he owns the longest and richest winning steak in game show history. The question, of course: Who is Ken Jennings?

His amazing run on "Jeopardy" is now history. It ended after 74 straight wins and more than $2.5 million.

I spoke with Ken about the end of his record-breaking streak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEN JENNINGS, ALL-TIME "JEOPARDY" CHAMP: Seventy-four days is nothing to sneeze at, even if you lose one after that. I guess if there was a moment of disappointment, you know, because playing "Jeopardy" is a lot of fun, and that's the moment when I realized I wasn't going to be able to do it anymore, you know. I lost my summer job. But...

S. O'BRIEN: You congratulated the winner. And did you, for a moment, though, feel like, she stole it from me?

JENNINGS: She deserved it. You know, she played a great game. There was nothing like I felt like I had to kick myself over. You know, she just played a better game than me. And she deserved, you know, every second of everything she got. And I was really relieved, in a way, you know, just because I had been waiting all summer to find out when this whole thing was going to be over. And now I knew the answer, you know. Finally, I had closure. That was nice.

S. O'BRIEN: Are you relieved a little bit that it's over? I mean, is it sort of time to move on, do you think?

JENNINGS: Yes. Just not being able to, you know, get on with my life, because this "Jeopardy" thing kept going on and on and on, you know. And my life had been in some holding pattern all year. And it was nice to be able to move on to the next thing.

S. O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, I am terrible at "Jeopardy," I mean, horrifically bad. I thought that was an easy question. I was, like, I got that question. Oh, don't look at the TV, like, I know the answer to that.

JENNINGS: If only I could have heard you, you know. Yes, I think it's the kind of thing that either comes to you or you don't. I've always done by own taxes, so H&R Block just didn't come to mind.

S. O'BRIEN: How did you know the answers to all of those questions? Because, again, I thought the FedEx question -- the H&R Block, the answer to the FedEx question was actually kind of easy. But there were some that were so incredibly tough that I was just amazed that you could get. How do you know the answers to that many questions across a really wide range?

JENNINGS: I guess you could see from the H&R Block question that, you know, nobody knows everything, you know. Even if you think you're pretty good, you don't know everything. But I guess I've just always been interested in a lot of different things. So maybe I sort of have a, you know, very shallow level of knowledge about a very wide range of subjects, just because I'm interested in a lot of stuff. And you tend to remember stuff about what you're interested in.

S. O'BRIEN: What do you do now? You've had some offers for book deals and some other things as well. What's your next gig going to be?

JENNINGS: I have taken a leave of absence from my job as a computer programmer to work on a book that Random House will be putting out just about my experiences and sort of trivia in our culture in general, you know, who these people are who are into trivia and, you know, why we're interested in it. And there will be some other things. There's going to be Ken trivia board game. I think, can you beat Ken, that kind of thing. And I'll do some public speaking. There's a lot of fun things. I'm looking forward to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: What's the first thing Jennings is planning to do with his winnings? Take a trip to Europe with his wife. And (UNINTELLIGIBLE) leave him with about $2.4 million left over -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: So who will be doing his taxes in the future?

S. O'BRIEN: Actually, H&R Block will be doing his taxes. He said he took them up on the offer to do his taxes for the rest of his life for free.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, I bet Mr. Block himself will be helping out on that one. All right, thank you very much, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, Andy is "Minding Your Business." He's got more bad news from Motown to talk about .

M. O'BRIEN: And Venus and Serena Williams battle each other on the court, but they're playing for the same team in this case. The Williams sisters tell us about playing for a good cause. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: More Americans are delaying marriage to focus on school and career pursuits. According to the Census Bureau data for last year, the average age for men on their first marriage is 27 compared to 23 for 1970. For women, the average age is now 25, nearly five years older than 1970. One-third of men and 25 percent of women between the ages of 30 and 34 have never been married, nearly four times the rates in 1970.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, I get it.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: There you have it.

S. O'BRIEN: How old were you when you got married?

M. O'BRIEN: Twenty-nine. How about you?

S. O'BRIEN: I'm...

M. O'BRIEN: That's a rude question, yes.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Thirty.

S. O'BRIEN: Twenty-three.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: That's it. And, Jack, it gets a little more complicated.

CAFFERTY: Which time?

SERWER: Yes, there you go.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: It's a little more complicated.

S. O'BRIEN: Let's start with the first time.

SERWER: It's a little more complicated.

CAFFERTY: Twenty-two, which was too young.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Yes. Because I was stupid. Stupider then than I am now.

S. O'BRIEN: You said it, not me.

CAFFERTY: The United Church of Christ has put together this television ad that we're going to show you here in a second. ABC, NBC and CBS say they won't run it. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Step aside, please. No way. Not you. I don't think so. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: So the question is whether you think this thing ought to be on television or not.

The Reverend Robert Barker writes from Claire, Michigan: "This should not even be an issue for the networks. They're displaying hypocrisy in rejecting this ad, because they have no problems broadcasting programs which portray gay persons in mindless comedies or titillating dramas."

Jeff in Alma, Michigan: "If the church is paying for the ad, then why not run it? Ads don't always represent the feelings of everyone at each network. The American people should be smart enough to realize that this is a paid advertisement, not some sort of odd network endorsement."

Dave in British Columbia says: "Good grief. There are ads on TV for condoms, Viagra, Tampax, Kotex -- you name it. And they want to block an ad from a ministry inviting everyone and all into their congregation. I think not."

And Hal in Orin, Missouri, who's becoming a regular pen pal of "The Cafferty File," because the quality of his stuff is consistently pretty good. So keep the standards up there, Hal, and we'll keep reading your mail: "During the last election, 11 states passed anti- gay marriage amendments. Now this ad debacle. As comedian Lewis Black points out, it just shows us once again that America is the land where people are free to dream whatever they want, so long as that dream doesn't make mid-Westerners feel icky."

I like Lewis Black. He's a very funny guy.

S. O'BRIEN: How about the ads that are on the Super Bowl? I mean, some of those ads I thought at Super Bowl time are really kind of something.

CAFFERTY: Especially that halftime situation, where old Janet was whipping out here... S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

SERWER: Well, that's what started the whole thing. That's what's gotten everyone so prudish these days, isn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: That wasn't an ad exactly.

CAFFERTY: Well, it depends on your definition of the word "is" is.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, it does.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: It was an ad of sorts, wasn't it?

S. O'BRIEN: Well, her CD six months later.

CAFFERTY: Her CWD.

S. O'BRIEN: No.

M. O'BRIEN: And no...

(CROSSTALK)

S. O'BRIEN: No comment on that.

M. O'BRIEN: No wardrobe malfunctions here this morning, we hope.

Andy Serwer is here to tell us about what's going on at Motown, my hometown, where car sales are not so hot.

SERWER: Yes, not so hot for the big U.S. carmakers. Let's check out this chart, because it shows that the Japanese carmakers are, in fact, continuing to make inroads. Nissan doing very, very well, and Toyota doing well. Daimler Chrysler is doing OK. And I think that's because of the Baby Bentley. Remember that car? It's the shizzle (ph). Remember the shizzle (ph) mobile? Yes, that's right.

Ford is down a bit, even though the new Mustang is doing well. And GM is doing poorly. We'll get to that in a second.

Both GM and Ford are going to be cutting back production about 6, 7, 8 percent next year. One of the reasons GM's sales are not doing so well this year is because that new lock-and-roll ad campaign they have, where you buy a car and you lock into a rate to buy a new car a couple of years down the road at the same rate with that pitch woman, Suze Orman.

CAFFERTY: Doesn't she work on CNBC...

SERWER: I don't know.

CAFFERTY: ... supposedly doing some kind of financial news program? SERWER: I knew this was get to get you going.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: And then in the next breath she's out hawking General Motors cars.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: What kind of nonsense is that?

SERWER: Well, I knew that it would get you going. That's why I brought it up. See...

M. O'BRIEN: At least he's not (UNINTELLIGIBLE) at church.

SERWER: ... Americans don't want to become arbiters, and I guess they don't want to listen to Suze Orman to tell them to do that. That maybe what...

M. O'BRIEN: So it fell flat, to say the least.

SERWER: It fell flat, that's right.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

SERWER: Yes.

CAFFERTY: Good.

SERWER: OK. I don't have a take on it. You have a take on it.

S. O'BRIEN: He has a take on everything.

SERWER: Yes, he does.

S. O'BRIEN: Moving on.

SERWER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: The most famous...

CAFFERTY: CDD, you got that.

S. O'BRIEN: The most famous sisters in tennis lend Ronald McDonald a lending hand. Venus and Serena Williams are going to join live ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: A New York City firefighter killed Monday in Iraq is being remembered as the ultimate patriot. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is now supporting a bill to designate Sergeant Christian Engeldrum's death as occurring in the line of duty so that his family can receive benefits.

CNN's Jason Carroll has more on this hero's life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll tell you, if you were allowed to pick your family, Chris would be my brother. He's my brother here as a fireman, but Chris is that kind of guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he was in the background as a spectator he wasn't happy. He had to help. He had to do something.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Ladder Company 61 in the Bronx, a memorial for the first New York City firefighter to die in Iraq, Chris Engeldrum, "Drum" to his friends. He was killed in Baghdad on Monday when his Humvee rolled over an explosive. He was 39.

It's painful to try and sum up someone's life, especially when that person made so much of his life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry.

CARROLL (on camera): That's OK.

PAUL ALLEN, LADDER 61, N.Y. FIRE DEPARTMENT: We can't replace him. We can't -- we can't be a father. We can't be a wife, but we can fill in the gaps, you know.

CARROLL (voice over): Engeldrum served with honors in the Gulf War, then became a New York City police officer. He found his true joy after joining the fire department in 1999.

On 9/11, his company arrived as the first tower fell. Engeldrum rescued as many people as he could and helped raise the first flag at Ground Zero. Still, he wanted to do more. For him that meant serving in Iraq in the Army National Guard.

LT. MICHAEL OWNEY, LADDER 61 N.Y. FIRE DEPARTMENT: This guy wasn't a couch potato patriot. This guy lived it. He walked the walk and he talked the talk.

ALLEN: He thought it cowardly if he would stay here and let the rest of his unit go. If he unit was going, just like at a fire, if we were going, he was going. He wasn't going to play it safe.

CARROLL: His wife called him the "ultimate patriot." Engeldrum also leaves behind two teenage sons.

The grief is shared by his former colleagues at the firehouse, where they hang reminders of Engeldrum. And every time they head out on a call...

ALLEN: Right here behind the rubber band.

CARROLL: ... he's there too, a toy soldier stashed in every helmet, tribute to a man who was a firefighter and a soldier at heart.

Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: It's really heartbreaking. And we should note, too, his wife is expecting their third child as well.

We should mention that Wolf Frado Rabino (ph), a Long Island volunteer firefighter, also killed in that same attack. And New York City firefighter Daniel Swift suffered shrapnel wounds to his eyes and his leg. Obviously a heartbreaking story.

CAFFERTY: Interesting, isn't it, how some people give so much.

M. O'BRIEN: New meaning to the term "duty and honor." Truly.

All right, there is a new person in the anchor seat at the Peacock network this morning. Last night, "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw signed off for the last time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BROKAW, FMR. ANCHOR, "NBC NIGHTLY NEWS": We've been through a lot together, through dark days and nights and seasons of hope and joy. Whatever the story, I had only one objective: to get it right. When I failed, it was personally painful, and there was no greater urgency than course correction. On those occasions, I was grateful for your forbearance and always mindful that your patience and attention didn't come with a lifetime warranty.

What have I learned here? More than we have time to recount this evening. But the enduring lessons through the decades are these: It's not the questions that get us in trouble; it's the answers. And just as important, no one person has all of the answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: The 64-year-old veteran newscaster will stay on at NBC to work on at least three documentaries a year. He also plans to spend a little more time fishing, sailing, being with his family, climb a few mountains. Brian Williams takes over the newscast tonight.

S. O'BRIEN: He's a grandfather. He said he wants to spend more time -- you know, not be a fly-by grandparent. So good for him.

CAFFERTY: I worked with Tom. I got to know him a little bit when I was across the street at NBC. He has the No. 1 rated newscast in the country of the big three right now. And I firmly believe that it probably has less to do with him as a news anchorman on television than it has to do with his stroke of prescience, for want of a better way to say it, in tapping in to the World War II generation and putting out that wonderful book about the greatest generation that ever lived. He touched a nerve in this country that had gone untouched for the most part.

And people rallied to him because what came out of his attention to that subject was his sensitivity to the human condition and the sense of the scope of that accomplishment of those people who fought and won the greatest war ever fought on this planet.

So, it will be interesting to see. Brian Williams takes over the top-rated newscast. I know Brian a little bit, too. A good guy. They'll be watching closely to see what happens with the ratings.

Dan Rather is leaving at CBS. Les Moonves was quoted on the radio this morning, I was listening coming in. He said he's not unnecessarily ruling out putting on two anchors in Rather's place.

So Peter Jennings is the last man standing. The nightly news is on the three major networks, changed forever. Audience declined 40 percent over the last 15-20 years. People like us are eating away at the dominance that those three shows once had.

S. O'BRIEN: And indication of a changing time, isn't it?

CAFFERTY: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Jack, thanks.

In a moment, today's top stories, including news that thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq just found out when they're going to get a chance to come home. A look at that's ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

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