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CNN Live At Daybreak

President Bush Gets Warm Reception in Former Soviet Republic of Georgia; Is Your Child's Trip to School Turning into a Dangerous Ride?

Aired May 10, 2005 - 06:00   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, a testifying sight for parents. Is your child's trip to school turning into a dangerous ride?
Also, some say the U.S. presidency needs a woman's touch. But which woman? We'll find out what you think.

And no therapist here, only prison guards. We'll find out what it's like to be mentally ill behind bars.

It is Tuesday, May 10.

You are watching DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you.

From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news, President Bush heaps praise on the former Soviet republic of Georgia. He spoke just minutes ago in the Georgian capital in Tbilisi's Freedom Square. Look at all those people. Earlier, he told the republic's president, "You've got a solid friend in America." We'll have a live report for you straight ahead.

In Baghdad, two car bombs today kill at least seven people and wound at least 14 more. The bombings came less than two hours apart. Police say one bombing was aimed at a U.S. military convoy.

And the U.S. military says four Marines with the 2nd Division have been killed in Iraq's western Anbar Province. The military says 100 insurgents and so-called foreign fighters were killed in the first 24 hours of Operation Matador.

In Berlin, a field of concrete blocks -- 60 years after World War II ended in Europe, a memorial to commemorate the six million Jews killed by the Nazis opens today.

Chad has the day off.

Rob Marciano is in -- good morning, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT) COSTELLO: A carefully crafted set, a jam packed crowd -- President Bush gets a rock star like reception in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. He just wrapped up a speech praising the people for their new democracy.

Let's go live to CNN White House correspondent John King.

He is in Freedom Square this morning -- hello, John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How are you, Carol?

Greetings from Freedom Square.

Mr. Bush now finished with his four nation, five day trip here to Europe. He's on his way out to the airport to begin the flight back to the United States. His final event will leave the president quite happy for the flight home.

As you noted, an enormous crowd here in Freedom Square, site 18 months ago of Georgia's Rose Revolution, which knocked what the locals believed and the world believed was a corrupt government trying to rig elections from power. The new president greeting Mr. Bush here today, introducing him as a freedom fighter, making note, as Mr. Bush prepared to address a crowd the government says was 150,000 people strong, that this country had been under the control of the Roman Empire, the Ottomans, the Russians and others. Mr. Bush now here, the leader of a superpower, Georgia's president said, and a friend of Georgia.

Mr. Bush speaking in his remarks here saying that the Rose Revolution 18 months ago that brought this new democratic government to power is now an example around the world, including, Mr. Bush said, in Iraq and Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You are making many important contributions to freedom's cause, but your most important contribution is your example. In recent months, the world has marveled at the hopeful changes taking place from Baghdad to Beirut to Bishkek. But before there was a Purple Revolution in Iraq or an Orange Revolution in Ukraine or a Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, there was the Rose Revolution in Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, Mr. Bush angered Russia by going first to Latvia on this trip, then finally here to Georgia, both countries once under Soviet occupation. The Russians view Mr. Bush as meddling in their backyard. The president, however, said that he hopes Russia learns to value and cherish democracies on its borders. And both to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and at each of his stops, Carol, in the former countries -- countries formerly under Soviet occupation, Mr. Bush said those lingering tensions, whether it be over borders, whether it be over Russian troops still stationed here in Georgia that the country wants to leave, Mr. Bush saying he hopes those disputes can be resolved peacefully and that he is willing to help if he can -- Carol.

COSTELLO: John King reporting live from Tbilisi, Georgia this morning.

Thank you.

We want to get more details now about Operation Matador. It's going on right now in Iraq. In this major offensive, U.S. troops are going after insurgents the military blames for all of those recent deadly attacks in Iraq.

"Chicago Tribune" reporter James Jenega is embedded with U.S. troops along Iraq's border with Syria.

James, hello to you.

JAMES JENEGA, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE" REPORTER: Good morning.

How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm fine. Hopefully you're safe over there.

Tell us, first, about how many troops are involved in Operation Matador?

JENEGA: Well, it involves a lot of the troops in the Marine Corps Regimental Combat Team Two, which is based in Anbar Province. About 1,000 troops in all are in this area, centered around al-Keim (ph) in the northwest portion of that province near the Syrian border.

COSTELLO: And what are they doing?

JENEGA: What their idea is, to probe an area north of the Euphrates River, adjacent to the Syrian border, where Marine intelligence has suggested in recent weeks and months that foreign fighters had been basing, gathering and then pushing further into Iraq to conduct suicide attacks and other insurgents attacks inside of Iraq. The idea is to push through the area and try to engage them into combat before they're able to push into Iraq and conduct those insurgent attacks.

COSTELLO: And, James, I understand part of the operation involved getting across the Euphrates River, something that was not so easy for troops. You were with them. Tell us about how that went down.

JENEGA: On Sunday morning, a number of the Marine units, the majority of the Marine units that were going to push across the Euphrates River were gathered on the south bank of the Euphrates River, near the town of Ubaydi. Ubaydi was behind them on the south side of the river. And as they were waiting to put bridging equipment across the river there, they began taking mortar fire, some pretty exact mortar fire, as well as small arms fire from the town.

The Marines had not intended to make Ubaydi part of their operation, but they were taking such intense fire from behind them that they smartly turned around and went into the town itself. The fighting lasted most of the day on Sunday and for part of the morning on Monday.

COSTELLO: And the interesting thing about Ubaydi is they gave some sort of mass signal to the insurgents.

Can you tell us about that?

JENEGA: The insurgents, as part of the armored column was moving toward that area in the night, the former night, Sunday, some of the lights were flickering on and off in one of the towns along the route which, in the past, has been a signal along these river towns that -- when American troops are moving past, the Americans believe. So as this column was moving past, the lights in one of the towns near Ubaydi went off. And at first light, the firing began from Ubaydi.

COSTELLO: Tell us how many insurgents troops suspect are there fighting.

JENEGA: What the Marines are telling us is that they believe that it's in the hundreds. How many hundreds, they don't know. They suspect that there could be as many as 200, perhaps as many as 300 insurgents. Many of them are suspected to be foreign fighters. They're not sure. Certainly some of them are Iraqi fighters. Anbar Province, particularly this part of it, near Syria, has a lot of very intricate inter-tribal rivalries where one tribe is allied with foreign jihadists and other tribes are more sympathetic to local insurgent groups, intelligence believes. And there had been fighting among those groups in the past.

So it's sort of a mix of all of those things. And so because of those reasons, the Marines are telling us it's difficult for them to tell how many they're fighting and how many are sitting it out.

COSTELLO: Can you tell us what kind of fighting is going on? You said that Marines went in some of these towns. Is it, you know, face-to-face combat? Are they using armored personnel carriers, tanks, what?

JENEGA: In Ubaydi, it was face-to-face combat. The firing, as I said, was quite intense. They went there in armored personnel carriers with tanks. They had air support from F-18s and from Huey Cobra gunships. And they were shooting down into these positions where insurgents had built fortifications, apparently.

The Marines did dismount and they went on foot and they began going house-to-house. And that's where, you know, a lot of this fighting was face-to-face for them. That was Sunday and early Monday.

Since Monday, about midday, they moved north of the Euphrates River and they're actually moving through these small towns that they had intended to hit in the first place. And they're finding that resistance there is very sporadic. They haven't had any of the kind of concentrated fighting that they saw on Sunday and Monday in Ubaydi.

COSTELLO: Tell us about casualties. JENEGA: As an embed, there are policies regarding how we can report and how soon we can report casualties, within 72 hours of any casualties that we're aware of. The reports out of Baghdad are that four have been killed in Anbar Province. It's safe to bet that they are from this part of the fight. This is the biggest fight going on, certainly in the province.

I can't say. There were a number of MediVac helicopters flying in and out of the Marine forward positions over the last couple of days.

COSTELLO: James Jenega from the "Chicago Tribune," joining us live this morning from Iraq, from the Anbar Province.

Thanks for the information.

We certainly appreciate it.

And stay safe out there.

Still to come on DAYBREAK this hour, do you think Elizabeth Dole would make a good president? How about Hillary Clinton? How about Condoleezza Rice? Would you even vote to put a woman in the White House? We have your thoughts this morning. We'll talk more about it.

Also, they keep going and going and going, but are filibusters on the Hill rolling to a stop?

And take this job and don't shove it, but quit with grace. We'll tell you why so many people want to leave their jobs right now.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:14.

Here's what's all new this morning.

Just minutes ago, President Bush wrapped up a speech to a huge crowd in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. You saw it live right here on DAYBREAK. He called government a great example of a peaceful democracy.

In money news, just call me Chevron. Well, not me, but the oil company. Chevron Texaco has shortened its name to Chevron. That's the name it had before it bought rival Texaco. Chevron says it wants to cut down on any confusion.

In culture, put this in Bridget Jones' diary. Actress Renee Zellweger and country music star Kenny Chesney have gotten married in the Virgin Islands. It's the first marriage for both.

In sports, Detroit is up 1-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers 96-81.

To the Forecast Center now and Rob.

MARCIANO: All quiet at the Palace, all quiet across the weather map today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Now to something plenty of parents worry about -- school bus safety. Two children still in critical condition today after a bus crash Monday that left two drivers dead in Liberty, Missouri. Police are investigating that accident. Safety is an issue that we all start worrying about again after crashes like yesterday's and this one in Virginia last month.

But are those concerns really justified? And just how safe are school bus trips?

CNN's Julie Vallese takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An ill bus driver, some scared children and a frantic few minutes. It's video like this that makes parents wonder how safe a child is on the school bus.

CHUCK HURLEY, NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL: Parents should be comforted that school bus travel is probably the safest time of a child's day.

VALLESE: That's because of its safety record. Fewer than 10 children a year die in school bus crashes.

Even so, some are pushing to add seat belts to buses, something the industry would support if money was no object.

CHARLES GAUTHIER, PUPIL TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION: Unless we have the necessary funding to not only pay for the shoulder belts, but also the additional school buses that we need, you may end up actually having fewer kids in yellow school buses and more kids out in less safe forms of transportation.

VALLESE: The government agrees. In tests crashing buses, both in the side and head-on, it concluded the current structure that's been around for almost 30 years is safety effective.

GAUTHIER: It's got some weaknesses in terms of side impacts and rollover impacts. But overall, it's done an excellent job.

VALLESE: It would take hundreds of millions of dollars to fit all school buses with lap shoulder belts. Some states have decided to spend money to add the belts. All new buses in California will have them.

As for the current system, it worked in this crash. No children were seriously hurt.

(on camera): Where children who take the bus do get hurt is outside the bus. So parents need to remind their children to take about 10 steps away from the side of the bus and never cross until the driver says it's OK.

Julie Vallese, CNN, Rockville, Maryland.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: And stay with us. For more about this issue. Dr. Allen Ross with the National Coalition for School Bus Safety will be a guest in a 9:00 a.m. Eastern hour of CNN's AMERICAN MORNING.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, Americans are finally focusing more on their 401(k)s. But we're still making mistakes. We'll talk about how to get the most for your company's money.

Plus, an iron lady like Margaret Thatcher -- is that the kind of woman Americans would pick as their first female president?

We'll talk about it when DAYBREAK continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Time now for a little "Business Buzz."

Are you saving for retirement? A new survey says a lot of us are, but we could be doing a whole lot better.

Carrie Lee has more -- good morning.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Good morning to you.

Well, the good news is 70 percent of people do contribute to a 401(k) retirement plan. That's a little better than last year. And this is according to a survey by Hewitt Associates. 401(k)s, of course, are retirement svgs plans that let a worker put away money tax-free. And in most cases, the employer will match a portion of that contribution.

A couple of other interesting stats from the survey. The average contribution is 8 percent of a worker's salary; men have higher account balances than women, 80 percent higher; 20 percent of workers who do contribute, though, don't contribute enough to get the full matching contribution from their employer.

And here is one surprising note. This is the bad news. Some workers haven't learned the lesson of Enron and WorldCom, despite stories of employees at those companies losing most of their retirement savings. Over 25 percent of employees have more than half of their balance invested in their own company's stock. Conventional wisdom says 10 to 20 percent is the maximum you should have in any one stock, including stock in your own company. Unfortunately, Carol, some people have learned that lesson the hard way in recent years.

COSTELLO: Diversification is always best.

LEE: Yes, it's always a good thing to do that, absolutely.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

A quick look at the futures?

LEE: Futures looking a little bit weak today. We did see some gains yesterday, a couple of big merger announcements in the oil sector. Also word that E*Trade is interesting in buying Ameritrade, two online brokers.

General Motors is going to be a stock to watch today. They're going to pay $0.50 a dividend in the second quarter. There was some concern that they would lower that, but they're holding steady. So we'll watch that Dow component today.

COSTELLO: We will.

Thank you, Carrie Lee.

Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States and the first man. It sounds strange, doesn't it?

ABC plans to air a drama depicting the challenges of being the first female president. Geena Davis will star as president of the United States. The thought of such a show intrigued us, especially after reading a line in a Joe Klein editorial in "Time" magazine this week. It was about a possible Hillary Clinton run for president.

I quote from Joe Klein's editorial. He says: "Any woman running for president will face a toughness conundrum. She will constantly have to prove her strength and be careful about showing her emotions. It will take a brilliant politician to create a credible feminine presidential style."

We have been asking your opinions this morning and we will pose your thoughts to our guest.

Katherine Spillar is the executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Good morning.

KATHERINE SPILLAR, FEMINIST MAJORITY FOUNDATION: Good morning.

COSTELLO: I guess we know where you're coming from.

SPILLAR: Yes, I guess you do.

COSTELLO: OK.

SPILLAR: You know...

COSTELLO: No, I wanted to ask you about this. A toughness conundrum? Really? Is that what we have?

SPILLAR: Well, I'll tell you, there's not many tougher women in this country than Hillary Clinton. But I'll tell you, you know, Joe Klein can have his own opinion, but he actually is out of step with where American public opinion is. Some 53 percent of Americans, both women and men, think that Hillary Clinton should run for president in 2008. That's according to a poll that was taken the past February.

COSTELLO: And not just Hillary Clinton, but Condoleezza Rice. I hear a lot of people talking about her.

SPILLAR: A lot of people, although, I'll tell you, Americans think that the Democrats will be the first party to put a woman up for the presidency.

COSTELLO: Oh, you never know.

SPILLAR: You never know.

COSTELLO: You absolutely never know.

SPILLAR: You don't know.

COSTELLO: I want to read a few e-mails, because I really want to get to the heart of this issue.

SPILLAR: OK.

COSTELLO: And this is the kind of comment that we're getting a lot of this morning. This is from Murray from Florida. He says: "One week out of each month I find myself dodging around the house, trying to stay out of the sights of a female visiting her friend of the month. I just can't see a woman in office blurting out at the wrong time because of her mood swings at the wrong people."

People still think like this.

SPILLAR: Well, some people do, you know, stereotyped die-hards. But the truth of it is, is that 81 percent of Americans say they would vote for a woman for president. I mean that is overwhelming. Now, 62 percent say the country is ready, but 81 percent say they themselves would vote for a woman for president in 2008.

COSTELLO: A lot of people have been e-mailing saying that they don't really have many women to choose from because, you know, men have been in politics for such a long period of time. The ranks of women are rather thin. So you don't have many to choose from.

SPILLAR: You know, that is true. It is a problem in the United States. You know, we consider ourselves the leading democracy in the world, but to this very day, there are only 14 women in the United States Senate, 14 precinct out of 100. We rank 60th in the world in terms of women in leadership positions. So our farm team isn't as big as other countries. But we have some incredibly talented and qualified women who could make this run for the presidency. And, frankly, many Americans fully expect that in 2008 we're going to see a woman of a major party run for president of the United States.

COSTELLO: I want to put up some pictures of the women in question and ask you about a very superficial issue, as well.

We look at what these women look like, like Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Dole and Condoleezza Rice. And we come to Margaret Thatcher, who was known as "The Iron Lady." There's certainly no question about her toughness. But take a look at what she looks like right there. She looks very businesslike, very conservative, very all business, no play.

I mean do those things come into play as far as how a woman looks?

SPILLAR: Well, I suspect that it does affect some people's attitudes, just like people looking at what a man president looks like. They want someone who inspires confidence, who they think can handle the job. The interesting thing is in that same poll, by a margin of more than two to one, Americans think a woman president would be better than a man president on foreign policy issues. And on domestic issues, the numbers are unbelievable. Sixty-seven percent of Americans think a woman president would do a better job on education and the economy than a man president.

So I think Americans are confident that a woman can lead this country. And they're waiting for a chance to vote for one.

COSTELLO: We'll see.

By the way, where are those poll numbers coming from?

SPILLAR: That's a Hearst Newspapers poll taken just this past February, very current numbers showing that the majority of Americans are ready.

COSTELLO: Katherine Spillar, the executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Thanks for talking to us on DAYBREAK this morning.

SPILLAR: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK, they sing, they read the phone book, they bring in tots. But are politicians about to kiss the front of the filibuster good-bye? We'll take a look at just how the filibuster battle might turn out when DAYBREAK returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired May 10, 2005 - 06:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead on DAYBREAK, a testifying sight for parents. Is your child's trip to school turning into a dangerous ride?
Also, some say the U.S. presidency needs a woman's touch. But which woman? We'll find out what you think.

And no therapist here, only prison guards. We'll find out what it's like to be mentally ill behind bars.

It is Tuesday, May 10.

You are watching DAYBREAK.

And good morning to you.

From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news, President Bush heaps praise on the former Soviet republic of Georgia. He spoke just minutes ago in the Georgian capital in Tbilisi's Freedom Square. Look at all those people. Earlier, he told the republic's president, "You've got a solid friend in America." We'll have a live report for you straight ahead.

In Baghdad, two car bombs today kill at least seven people and wound at least 14 more. The bombings came less than two hours apart. Police say one bombing was aimed at a U.S. military convoy.

And the U.S. military says four Marines with the 2nd Division have been killed in Iraq's western Anbar Province. The military says 100 insurgents and so-called foreign fighters were killed in the first 24 hours of Operation Matador.

In Berlin, a field of concrete blocks -- 60 years after World War II ended in Europe, a memorial to commemorate the six million Jews killed by the Nazis opens today.

Chad has the day off.

Rob Marciano is in -- good morning, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT) COSTELLO: A carefully crafted set, a jam packed crowd -- President Bush gets a rock star like reception in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. He just wrapped up a speech praising the people for their new democracy.

Let's go live to CNN White House correspondent John King.

He is in Freedom Square this morning -- hello, John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How are you, Carol?

Greetings from Freedom Square.

Mr. Bush now finished with his four nation, five day trip here to Europe. He's on his way out to the airport to begin the flight back to the United States. His final event will leave the president quite happy for the flight home.

As you noted, an enormous crowd here in Freedom Square, site 18 months ago of Georgia's Rose Revolution, which knocked what the locals believed and the world believed was a corrupt government trying to rig elections from power. The new president greeting Mr. Bush here today, introducing him as a freedom fighter, making note, as Mr. Bush prepared to address a crowd the government says was 150,000 people strong, that this country had been under the control of the Roman Empire, the Ottomans, the Russians and others. Mr. Bush now here, the leader of a superpower, Georgia's president said, and a friend of Georgia.

Mr. Bush speaking in his remarks here saying that the Rose Revolution 18 months ago that brought this new democratic government to power is now an example around the world, including, Mr. Bush said, in Iraq and Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You are making many important contributions to freedom's cause, but your most important contribution is your example. In recent months, the world has marveled at the hopeful changes taking place from Baghdad to Beirut to Bishkek. But before there was a Purple Revolution in Iraq or an Orange Revolution in Ukraine or a Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, there was the Rose Revolution in Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, Mr. Bush angered Russia by going first to Latvia on this trip, then finally here to Georgia, both countries once under Soviet occupation. The Russians view Mr. Bush as meddling in their backyard. The president, however, said that he hopes Russia learns to value and cherish democracies on its borders. And both to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and at each of his stops, Carol, in the former countries -- countries formerly under Soviet occupation, Mr. Bush said those lingering tensions, whether it be over borders, whether it be over Russian troops still stationed here in Georgia that the country wants to leave, Mr. Bush saying he hopes those disputes can be resolved peacefully and that he is willing to help if he can -- Carol.

COSTELLO: John King reporting live from Tbilisi, Georgia this morning.

Thank you.

We want to get more details now about Operation Matador. It's going on right now in Iraq. In this major offensive, U.S. troops are going after insurgents the military blames for all of those recent deadly attacks in Iraq.

"Chicago Tribune" reporter James Jenega is embedded with U.S. troops along Iraq's border with Syria.

James, hello to you.

JAMES JENEGA, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE" REPORTER: Good morning.

How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm fine. Hopefully you're safe over there.

Tell us, first, about how many troops are involved in Operation Matador?

JENEGA: Well, it involves a lot of the troops in the Marine Corps Regimental Combat Team Two, which is based in Anbar Province. About 1,000 troops in all are in this area, centered around al-Keim (ph) in the northwest portion of that province near the Syrian border.

COSTELLO: And what are they doing?

JENEGA: What their idea is, to probe an area north of the Euphrates River, adjacent to the Syrian border, where Marine intelligence has suggested in recent weeks and months that foreign fighters had been basing, gathering and then pushing further into Iraq to conduct suicide attacks and other insurgents attacks inside of Iraq. The idea is to push through the area and try to engage them into combat before they're able to push into Iraq and conduct those insurgent attacks.

COSTELLO: And, James, I understand part of the operation involved getting across the Euphrates River, something that was not so easy for troops. You were with them. Tell us about how that went down.

JENEGA: On Sunday morning, a number of the Marine units, the majority of the Marine units that were going to push across the Euphrates River were gathered on the south bank of the Euphrates River, near the town of Ubaydi. Ubaydi was behind them on the south side of the river. And as they were waiting to put bridging equipment across the river there, they began taking mortar fire, some pretty exact mortar fire, as well as small arms fire from the town.

The Marines had not intended to make Ubaydi part of their operation, but they were taking such intense fire from behind them that they smartly turned around and went into the town itself. The fighting lasted most of the day on Sunday and for part of the morning on Monday.

COSTELLO: And the interesting thing about Ubaydi is they gave some sort of mass signal to the insurgents.

Can you tell us about that?

JENEGA: The insurgents, as part of the armored column was moving toward that area in the night, the former night, Sunday, some of the lights were flickering on and off in one of the towns along the route which, in the past, has been a signal along these river towns that -- when American troops are moving past, the Americans believe. So as this column was moving past, the lights in one of the towns near Ubaydi went off. And at first light, the firing began from Ubaydi.

COSTELLO: Tell us how many insurgents troops suspect are there fighting.

JENEGA: What the Marines are telling us is that they believe that it's in the hundreds. How many hundreds, they don't know. They suspect that there could be as many as 200, perhaps as many as 300 insurgents. Many of them are suspected to be foreign fighters. They're not sure. Certainly some of them are Iraqi fighters. Anbar Province, particularly this part of it, near Syria, has a lot of very intricate inter-tribal rivalries where one tribe is allied with foreign jihadists and other tribes are more sympathetic to local insurgent groups, intelligence believes. And there had been fighting among those groups in the past.

So it's sort of a mix of all of those things. And so because of those reasons, the Marines are telling us it's difficult for them to tell how many they're fighting and how many are sitting it out.

COSTELLO: Can you tell us what kind of fighting is going on? You said that Marines went in some of these towns. Is it, you know, face-to-face combat? Are they using armored personnel carriers, tanks, what?

JENEGA: In Ubaydi, it was face-to-face combat. The firing, as I said, was quite intense. They went there in armored personnel carriers with tanks. They had air support from F-18s and from Huey Cobra gunships. And they were shooting down into these positions where insurgents had built fortifications, apparently.

The Marines did dismount and they went on foot and they began going house-to-house. And that's where, you know, a lot of this fighting was face-to-face for them. That was Sunday and early Monday.

Since Monday, about midday, they moved north of the Euphrates River and they're actually moving through these small towns that they had intended to hit in the first place. And they're finding that resistance there is very sporadic. They haven't had any of the kind of concentrated fighting that they saw on Sunday and Monday in Ubaydi.

COSTELLO: Tell us about casualties. JENEGA: As an embed, there are policies regarding how we can report and how soon we can report casualties, within 72 hours of any casualties that we're aware of. The reports out of Baghdad are that four have been killed in Anbar Province. It's safe to bet that they are from this part of the fight. This is the biggest fight going on, certainly in the province.

I can't say. There were a number of MediVac helicopters flying in and out of the Marine forward positions over the last couple of days.

COSTELLO: James Jenega from the "Chicago Tribune," joining us live this morning from Iraq, from the Anbar Province.

Thanks for the information.

We certainly appreciate it.

And stay safe out there.

Still to come on DAYBREAK this hour, do you think Elizabeth Dole would make a good president? How about Hillary Clinton? How about Condoleezza Rice? Would you even vote to put a woman in the White House? We have your thoughts this morning. We'll talk more about it.

Also, they keep going and going and going, but are filibusters on the Hill rolling to a stop?

And take this job and don't shove it, but quit with grace. We'll tell you why so many people want to leave their jobs right now.

But first, here's a look at what else is making news this Tuesday morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Your news, money, weather and sports.

It's 6:14.

Here's what's all new this morning.

Just minutes ago, President Bush wrapped up a speech to a huge crowd in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. You saw it live right here on DAYBREAK. He called government a great example of a peaceful democracy.

In money news, just call me Chevron. Well, not me, but the oil company. Chevron Texaco has shortened its name to Chevron. That's the name it had before it bought rival Texaco. Chevron says it wants to cut down on any confusion.

In culture, put this in Bridget Jones' diary. Actress Renee Zellweger and country music star Kenny Chesney have gotten married in the Virgin Islands. It's the first marriage for both.

In sports, Detroit is up 1-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers 96-81.

To the Forecast Center now and Rob.

MARCIANO: All quiet at the Palace, all quiet across the weather map today.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Now to something plenty of parents worry about -- school bus safety. Two children still in critical condition today after a bus crash Monday that left two drivers dead in Liberty, Missouri. Police are investigating that accident. Safety is an issue that we all start worrying about again after crashes like yesterday's and this one in Virginia last month.

But are those concerns really justified? And just how safe are school bus trips?

CNN's Julie Vallese takes a look.

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JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An ill bus driver, some scared children and a frantic few minutes. It's video like this that makes parents wonder how safe a child is on the school bus.

CHUCK HURLEY, NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL: Parents should be comforted that school bus travel is probably the safest time of a child's day.

VALLESE: That's because of its safety record. Fewer than 10 children a year die in school bus crashes.

Even so, some are pushing to add seat belts to buses, something the industry would support if money was no object.

CHARLES GAUTHIER, PUPIL TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION: Unless we have the necessary funding to not only pay for the shoulder belts, but also the additional school buses that we need, you may end up actually having fewer kids in yellow school buses and more kids out in less safe forms of transportation.

VALLESE: The government agrees. In tests crashing buses, both in the side and head-on, it concluded the current structure that's been around for almost 30 years is safety effective.

GAUTHIER: It's got some weaknesses in terms of side impacts and rollover impacts. But overall, it's done an excellent job.

VALLESE: It would take hundreds of millions of dollars to fit all school buses with lap shoulder belts. Some states have decided to spend money to add the belts. All new buses in California will have them.

As for the current system, it worked in this crash. No children were seriously hurt.

(on camera): Where children who take the bus do get hurt is outside the bus. So parents need to remind their children to take about 10 steps away from the side of the bus and never cross until the driver says it's OK.

Julie Vallese, CNN, Rockville, Maryland.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COSTELLO: And stay with us. For more about this issue. Dr. Allen Ross with the National Coalition for School Bus Safety will be a guest in a 9:00 a.m. Eastern hour of CNN's AMERICAN MORNING.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, Americans are finally focusing more on their 401(k)s. But we're still making mistakes. We'll talk about how to get the most for your company's money.

Plus, an iron lady like Margaret Thatcher -- is that the kind of woman Americans would pick as their first female president?

We'll talk about it when DAYBREAK continues.

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COSTELLO: Time now for a little "Business Buzz."

Are you saving for retirement? A new survey says a lot of us are, but we could be doing a whole lot better.

Carrie Lee has more -- good morning.

CARRIE LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Good morning to you.

Well, the good news is 70 percent of people do contribute to a 401(k) retirement plan. That's a little better than last year. And this is according to a survey by Hewitt Associates. 401(k)s, of course, are retirement svgs plans that let a worker put away money tax-free. And in most cases, the employer will match a portion of that contribution.

A couple of other interesting stats from the survey. The average contribution is 8 percent of a worker's salary; men have higher account balances than women, 80 percent higher; 20 percent of workers who do contribute, though, don't contribute enough to get the full matching contribution from their employer.

And here is one surprising note. This is the bad news. Some workers haven't learned the lesson of Enron and WorldCom, despite stories of employees at those companies losing most of their retirement savings. Over 25 percent of employees have more than half of their balance invested in their own company's stock. Conventional wisdom says 10 to 20 percent is the maximum you should have in any one stock, including stock in your own company. Unfortunately, Carol, some people have learned that lesson the hard way in recent years.

COSTELLO: Diversification is always best.

LEE: Yes, it's always a good thing to do that, absolutely.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

A quick look at the futures?

LEE: Futures looking a little bit weak today. We did see some gains yesterday, a couple of big merger announcements in the oil sector. Also word that E*Trade is interesting in buying Ameritrade, two online brokers.

General Motors is going to be a stock to watch today. They're going to pay $0.50 a dividend in the second quarter. There was some concern that they would lower that, but they're holding steady. So we'll watch that Dow component today.

COSTELLO: We will.

Thank you, Carrie Lee.

Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States and the first man. It sounds strange, doesn't it?

ABC plans to air a drama depicting the challenges of being the first female president. Geena Davis will star as president of the United States. The thought of such a show intrigued us, especially after reading a line in a Joe Klein editorial in "Time" magazine this week. It was about a possible Hillary Clinton run for president.

I quote from Joe Klein's editorial. He says: "Any woman running for president will face a toughness conundrum. She will constantly have to prove her strength and be careful about showing her emotions. It will take a brilliant politician to create a credible feminine presidential style."

We have been asking your opinions this morning and we will pose your thoughts to our guest.

Katherine Spillar is the executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Good morning.

KATHERINE SPILLAR, FEMINIST MAJORITY FOUNDATION: Good morning.

COSTELLO: I guess we know where you're coming from.

SPILLAR: Yes, I guess you do.

COSTELLO: OK.

SPILLAR: You know...

COSTELLO: No, I wanted to ask you about this. A toughness conundrum? Really? Is that what we have?

SPILLAR: Well, I'll tell you, there's not many tougher women in this country than Hillary Clinton. But I'll tell you, you know, Joe Klein can have his own opinion, but he actually is out of step with where American public opinion is. Some 53 percent of Americans, both women and men, think that Hillary Clinton should run for president in 2008. That's according to a poll that was taken the past February.

COSTELLO: And not just Hillary Clinton, but Condoleezza Rice. I hear a lot of people talking about her.

SPILLAR: A lot of people, although, I'll tell you, Americans think that the Democrats will be the first party to put a woman up for the presidency.

COSTELLO: Oh, you never know.

SPILLAR: You never know.

COSTELLO: You absolutely never know.

SPILLAR: You don't know.

COSTELLO: I want to read a few e-mails, because I really want to get to the heart of this issue.

SPILLAR: OK.

COSTELLO: And this is the kind of comment that we're getting a lot of this morning. This is from Murray from Florida. He says: "One week out of each month I find myself dodging around the house, trying to stay out of the sights of a female visiting her friend of the month. I just can't see a woman in office blurting out at the wrong time because of her mood swings at the wrong people."

People still think like this.

SPILLAR: Well, some people do, you know, stereotyped die-hards. But the truth of it is, is that 81 percent of Americans say they would vote for a woman for president. I mean that is overwhelming. Now, 62 percent say the country is ready, but 81 percent say they themselves would vote for a woman for president in 2008.

COSTELLO: A lot of people have been e-mailing saying that they don't really have many women to choose from because, you know, men have been in politics for such a long period of time. The ranks of women are rather thin. So you don't have many to choose from.

SPILLAR: You know, that is true. It is a problem in the United States. You know, we consider ourselves the leading democracy in the world, but to this very day, there are only 14 women in the United States Senate, 14 precinct out of 100. We rank 60th in the world in terms of women in leadership positions. So our farm team isn't as big as other countries. But we have some incredibly talented and qualified women who could make this run for the presidency. And, frankly, many Americans fully expect that in 2008 we're going to see a woman of a major party run for president of the United States.

COSTELLO: I want to put up some pictures of the women in question and ask you about a very superficial issue, as well.

We look at what these women look like, like Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Dole and Condoleezza Rice. And we come to Margaret Thatcher, who was known as "The Iron Lady." There's certainly no question about her toughness. But take a look at what she looks like right there. She looks very businesslike, very conservative, very all business, no play.

I mean do those things come into play as far as how a woman looks?

SPILLAR: Well, I suspect that it does affect some people's attitudes, just like people looking at what a man president looks like. They want someone who inspires confidence, who they think can handle the job. The interesting thing is in that same poll, by a margin of more than two to one, Americans think a woman president would be better than a man president on foreign policy issues. And on domestic issues, the numbers are unbelievable. Sixty-seven percent of Americans think a woman president would do a better job on education and the economy than a man president.

So I think Americans are confident that a woman can lead this country. And they're waiting for a chance to vote for one.

COSTELLO: We'll see.

By the way, where are those poll numbers coming from?

SPILLAR: That's a Hearst Newspapers poll taken just this past February, very current numbers showing that the majority of Americans are ready.

COSTELLO: Katherine Spillar, the executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Thanks for talking to us on DAYBREAK this morning.

SPILLAR: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK, they sing, they read the phone book, they bring in tots. But are politicians about to kiss the front of the filibuster good-bye? We'll take a look at just how the filibuster battle might turn out when DAYBREAK returns.

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