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American Morning

Comair Crash; Tropical Storm Ernesto

Aired August 28, 2006 - 06:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It is Monday, August 28. I'm Miles O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Here's a look at what's happening this morning.

In Lexington, Kentucky, investigators want to know why that doomed Comair flight was on a runway too short for commercial jets. Today they're goring to transcribe the pilot's last words from the cockpit voice recorder. Forty-nine of 50 people on board died when that jet crashed yesterday.

M. O'BRIEN: A hurricane watch in effect for Florida's southern peninsula. This as Tropical Storm Ernesto creeps closer to the Gulf of Mexico. It's expected to reach hurricane strength before it gets there.

Ernesto is toying with Atlantis. The space shuttle poised for liftoff to the International Space Station. In an hour, NASA slated to decide whether to roll Atlantis back to the hangar to protect it from high winds. The launch delayed over the weekend after lightning struck the launch pad Friday. The shuttle was not harmed.

President Bush heads to the Gulf Coast one year after Katrina. It's a two-day trip that begins in Mississippi today. No new proposals for aid for victims in the offing, just a presidential expression of support for those trying to rebuild there.

S. O'BRIEN: In Baghdad this morning, a suicide car bomber has killed at least 11 people. Another 63 people wounded. The attack happened at an Iraqi police checkpoint near the Interior Ministry.

In Turkey, nobody is claiming responsibility yet for bombings that wounded 27 people. Last night, at least three explosions rocked the Mediterranean resort town of Marmaris. Another bomb went off in Istanbul.

M. O'BRIEN: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is in Beirut to talk Mideast peace. He's scheduled to meet with Lebanese leaders. They will talk about deploying that 15,000-strong peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

Severe weather expert Chad Myers watching Ernesto this morning.

Hello, -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.

We do -- we are seeing a little bit of explosive nature here to the storm this morning, all the way from very, very close to Guantanamo Bay southward back over to Port-au-Prince. Now the whole area here to the north of Cuba is very warm. The hamian waters are increasingly warm, 86 to 88 degrees here, so as the storm moves over Cuba and then into the gulf stream, or into the Florida Straits, we will see significant increase in intensity possibilities here.

Right now the storm is only a 50-mile-per-hour storm, and that's great. I would love to see it move on shore at a 50-mile-per-hour storm. I just don't think that's likely. This storm, as it gets into the water, will increase in intensity. And the forecast is for it to get to be a Category 1 storm, about 75 miles per hour. But there is still a potential, if you remember what happened to Katrina last year when it was still east of Florida but in that gulf stream water, it just took off and got to a Category 2 rather quickly.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you guys.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Chad Myers.

This morning in Lexington, Kentucky, federal crash investigators will try to figure out how and why the flight crew of a Comair flight headed to Atlanta used the wrong runway yesterday morning. The Bombardier CRJ-100, 50 souls aboard, sped down the shorter of two runways at the airport, crashing into the woods, killing all but one person. The sole survivor, the plane's co-pilot or first officer.

CNN's Jason Carroll live now from Lexington with more.

Jason, good morning.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Miles.

You know with each passing hour it's becoming more and more clear why that plane crashed. As you said, the plane was on the wrong runway, a runway that was too short for a plane of that size to take off safely.

Here are the chain of events that went down yesterday. The plane was cleared to take off shortly at 6:00 a.m. The tower did clear the pilot to take off from the longer runway. That is Runway number 22 at Blue Grass Airport. That runway about 7,000 feet long. But for some reason, Miles, he turned on the shorter runway, Runway number 26, which is only about half as long.

The plane crashed through a perimeter fence at the end of the runway into farmland and burst into flames. The plane's first officer was pulled from the wreckage. He is the only survivor and he is now in critical condition.

Investigators have also recovered both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBBIE HERSMAN, NTSB SPOKESWOMAN: We're still working on determining what was going on in the cockpit, what information was discussed between air traffic controllers and the pilots. We are going to look at that, that's part of our investigation, and we hope to have more information about that later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: One of the main questions investigators obviously are going to be looking at is why the crew didn't immediately realize they were on the wrong runway. Investigators will be downloading information from the cockpit voice recorder later today -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Jason, the first officer, the co-pilot, critical condition. Is there much optimism they'll be able to talk to him or her anytime soon?

CARROLL: Obviously that is the hope of investigators. It is unclear at this point how serious his injuries are, but obviously investigators want to talk to him. But we're hearing that they're probably going to be able to get pretty solid information from the cockpit voice recorder, so they'll be relying on that as well -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: And finally, as to who was in the control tower at the time and what that person might have said as by way of instructions to that plane or scene?

CARROLL: Well yesterday I did speak with one of the main investigators from NTSB, wanted to know from him if they had received the recorders from the tower. We know that they have received the black boxes, but wanted to know if they received recordings from the tower. He said that they had put a request in. That was yesterday evening. So far this morning no indication if they have in fact received that and so they can get more information about exactly who was in the tower, what information was relayed from the tower to the crew in the aircraft -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Jason Carroll in Lexington, thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Turning now to Tropical Storm Ernesto. A state of emergency has already been ordered in Florida as the storm bears down on Cuba's coast.

Let's get right to Morgan Neill joining us by phone from Havana.

Morgan, good morning. How is it looking where you are?

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Soledad, Ernesto is expected to make landfall in another five or six hours, expected to come ashore on Cuba's southeastern coast. Their preparations have really been in full swing since Saturday. Cuba's eastern and central provinces have been on hurricane alert since Sunday. And under Cuba's system of disaster preparedness, that means very specific things.

For example, it means drainage systems have been cleaned. People have been evacuated, some 300,000 people at this point. As well, livestock and valuable machinery have been moved to safe locations. Now it's coordinating (ph) that throughout this process it's the state, the government that is taking every step in that process, bring -- sending buses to evacuate people, water and food to the evacuation centers to make sure that people have enough to get by on if the storm is to last awhile.

Now radio and television, again controlled by the state, began to transmit warnings about Ernesto really Saturday night and the message had been running nonstop since then. The warnings tell people not just to stay alert to the storm's development, but very specific things again. Things like avoid flooded areas, flooded streets, look out for fallen cables and don't assume that the storm is over just because the winds have died down.

Now as far as the storm itself, forecasters here, they say it is a good sign that the winds have died down. But they said since the beginning that the biggest danger posed by Ernesto in Cuba is from heavy, intense rain and the floods that they could provoke. And they say that risk remains a danger -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Morgan Neill for us in Havana.

Morgan, thanks.

In Florida, tourists are already being ordered out of the Keys.

CNN's Rusty Dornin is live from Key West.

Hey, Rusty, good morning.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

And we did see a few tourists leave yesterday afternoon, last night. Things are fairly quiet here on Duval Street in Key West. In fact, we're hearing trucks from deliveries of course that are bringing things still into town.

Now they get prepared early in the Keys, because the Keys are very vulnerable to storms like this. Key West gets hit directly by a hurricane every seven years and just in a brush with a hurricane every two years. I'll let this truck go by here. But they take it very seriously.

And 72 hours before, they ask all the tourists to leave, then they begin their operations center. They open emergency shelters in case there are people with special needs. And all of those things are happening this morning. They're opening the emergency operation center. They're trying to get to patients with special needs.

The schools in the area are closed until further notice. So they have a lot of plans in place, because, of course, in the Keys, there is only one way in and there's only one way out. And they do encourage people, if they don't want to stay here, the businesses are closed, that it might be better if they did leave.

Now we talked to some folks last night who said that they were going to board up their shops, keep them closed, but did think they were going to leave. And there were others that said, no, we're going to ride it out here, we're going to see what happens. So they're really on a standby here right now, because, as you can see, it's not raining and it's not windy yet.

S. O'BRIEN: And hopefully it won't get too bad.

Rusty Dornin for us this morning in Key West.

Rusty, thanks.

Be sure to stay with CNN for the very latest on Ernesto. We are your hurricane headquarters and your tropical storm headquarters, too -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Happening in America.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is dismissing criticism he doesn't have a plan to rebuild the city. At a Katrina memorial event in the Lower Ninth Ward yesterday, he said plans are under way for a bigger New Orleans. He offered no specifics however.

The suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey killing has his first Colorado court appearance today. John Karr to hear the charges he's facing in a short court appearance this afternoon, two public defenders representing him.

In Detroit, public school starts a week from tomorrow, but teachers there threatening to go on strike. The 9,500-member Detroit Federation of Teachers overwhelmingly rejected a two-year contract proposal. Teachers plan demonstrations at their schools today, which is when they were supposed to report for work.

A New York City firefighters killed, four others injured, after the floor of a burning discount store collapsed. The firefighters fell to the basement. They became trapped beneath burning debris. The 25-year-old rookie firefighter who was killed had served in Iraq -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well the party might still be going on this morning for the winners of the 58th Annual Emmy Awards. Conan O'Brien hosted the ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A.

"The Office" took home the trophy for the best comedy. The heart-pounding spy thriller "24" won the Emmy for the outstanding drama series after five tries. Well there he is. Acceptance speech went on quite a while, actually. That's Kiefer Sutherland picking up the award for the actor -- best actor in a drama.

And Mariska Hargitay won the best actress in a drama for her role in "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." Love. And Tony Shaloub took home the trophy for the best actor in a comedy for "Monk." Also love. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss won best actress in a comedy for "The New Adventures of Old Christine." Good for her.

A little controversy, though, did you see this?

M. O'BRIEN: I did, and it was unfortunate.

S. O'BRIEN: They did this prerecorded skit, and it was meant to spoof the TV show "Lost." And they were talking about how Conan O'Brien is seen in this plane crash skit. But of course the skit aired just hours after 49 people died in the Comair crash that we've been talking about. It's incredibly insensitive in fact. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O'BRIEN, EMMY AWARD HOST: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you headed to Los Angeles for the Emmys, -- Mr. O'Brien?

C. O'BRIEN: That's right, I'm hosting. It's my second time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you nervous?

C. O'BRIEN: Nervous, what could possibly go wrong?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Well imagine you're the station manager in Lexington, Kentucky where they just had this big disaster. The manager of this says he was just stunned by the skit. And there are some complaints going to NBC.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, yes. Imagine...

S. O'BRIEN: They had a lot of time to change that.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, there was time. It's a live program, in any case.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

Still this -- still to come this morning, is Louisiana ready for this other major storm that is heading that direction?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN (on camera): If the hurricane comes,...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Well that's the governor. That's me. But the person I'm talking to is the governor of Louisiana. We're going to talk to Governor Blanco about what the plan is.

M. O'BRIEN: We know what she looks like. S. O'BRIEN: The plan for Ernesto and the plan beyond. We'll sit down with her, also talk to her about the anniversary of Katrina on its way.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, a hero's welcome in Africa for Barack Obama. The Illinois senator traces his roots on a mission of mercy.

And you may have noticed something a little different at the gas station, lower prices? What? There's a newsflash. But how low will they go?

S. O'BRIEN: And Andy Serwer is back from vaca with business headlines.

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

Back with those lower gas prices, you guys.

S. O'BRIEN: Taking credit, right?

SERWER: That's right.

Another chapter in the great online business dating game, this time Google and eBay hooking up. We will bring you the details coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, investigators looking for clues in yesterday's deadly Comair crash. Today they'll listen to the cockpit voice recorder which captures flight crew conversations. The crew tried to take off on a runway too short for that particular airplane.

Tropical Storm Ernesto is swirling toward Cuba. Right now it's about 45 miles south-southeast of Guantanamo. We're tracking it.

And Florida bracing for the worst, folks there are stocking up on hurricane supplies. A hurricane watch is in effect along the southern tip of the Florida peninsula.

Which brings us to our severe weather expert Chad Myers.

Chad, it always amazes me in Florida, of all places,...

MYERS: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: ... they're stocking up on hurricane supplies now. They know -- they should know by now to be ready, right?

MYERS: True, but there are some things that you don't think about buying or you don't know what you're going to need unless you know what side of the storm you're on, you know. I mean, and that's the big story here today, too. This thing, at least for the past four days before, starting on Wednesday of last week, looked like it had its eye set on New Orleans and then it looked like it was going to Corpus Christi. Well now the thing hasn't moved to the west. And so because it hasn't made any westward progress, that turn that we always get appears like it might come sooner now in the process, so that turn could take it on up into the Florida Keys.

And if you're in the Keys, or if you're visiting the Keys, you need to get out of there, if you're visiting, for one. But if you're living there, you need to kind of pay attention to what side of the storm you're going to be on. Looks like late, late Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, approaching looks like Key Largo, maybe just to the north of Marathon, Islamarada and then on up into Miami-Dade.

Ad then eventually actually over Cape -- over the Cape Canaveral area where obviously they're going to start to move that shuttle in I think if they can't launch it. They've got to get it out of there and got to get it back inside. And then on up the East Coast, making another landfall in the North Carolina Outer Banks as a bigger storm yet, because it's going to have some more time over water. The more time it spends over Cuba, the smaller it is. The more time it spends over water, the bigger it gets.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Keep an eye on Ernesto. We'll keep an eye on where the tracks are going. We always show you these spaghetti tracks. Well they ran this special jet, Miles, this gulf stream yesterday that drops a bunch of drops on. These little drop things with a little umbrella that will go down and it will actually tell you -- a little parachute that tells us where all these things are going, where all the movements are of all the layers of the atmosphere. And that cluster of forecasts always gets better when that happens. And it's really forecast and really focused now over Florida this morning.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: All right.

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

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Chad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well even though Tropical Storm Ernesto is not expected to hit Louisiana, the state is taking no chances. The Governor, Kathleen Blanco, has activated the state's emergency operations center. And I spoke with Governor Blanco about their preparation. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO, LOUISIANA: We are watching Ernesto and we don't trust him.

S. O'BRIEN (on camera): What's the plan? If the hurricane comes and now it's a mandatory evacuation, it means everybody has got to go, no shelters of last resort?

BLANCO: That's correct. We have created three state shelters. The state never really had its own shelters before, but those are designated for people without transportation. And we will be bringing them to the state shelters in north Louisiana.

S. O'BRIEN: One of the sheriff's said to me, what do I do if people don't go? I mean I can't arrest them. I can't cuff them. I can't make them go. What do you do if there's a couple that will not leave and if there's a couple with children that won't go?

BLANCO: Well let me just say they need to talk to the people in Cameron Parish. Cameron was totally devastated but did not lose a single life. It's erased off the map, all of the homes and the buildings, the businesses. But they didn't lose a single life and they went in there and they got the last recalcitrant people who want to stay to actually leave. I think if you really have a mind to getting people out, you can do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: That's Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco.

We're going to be live in New Orleans tomorrow on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Be sure to join me for our special coverage begins at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time. That's tomorrow morning.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, one year after Katrina the storm and the government mishandling in its wake casting a shadow on the midterm elections. The political agenda ahead.

And Ford has a better idea, considering several options to become more competitive. Stay with us for that in business news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Two of the biggest names on the Web getting together, Google and eBay. What are they up to, -- Andy Serwer?

SERWER: Miles, they are forming an alliance and this is what's called click-to-call technology. And in this Google will be supplying ads to eBay. And what you do is you simply click on them and you call. And this is a new technology involving both properties. And it shows again the power of these two companies.

Also, Google will be exclusive advertiser at eBay internationally. You may remember that eBay signed Yahoo! up domestically. And it just shows again how powerful all these big companies are, these Internet companies and they're really the movers and shakers in the ad business these days.

M. O'BRIEN: But when you go to eBay, you're there to buy something. Are you there to click on an ad? Are they finding that people use -- see the ads?

SERWER: They are finding that people are. And especially when you're able to just click on it and you're right away dialing the company up that the ad...

M. O'BRIEN: I see.

SERWER: ... that's advertising. That's big stuff.

M. O'BRIEN: OK.

SERWER: Another story to tell you about from the "Detroit News" this morning concerning Ford. Ford may be looking to sell its finance unit, Ford Credit. And this is interesting, because, for two reasons. Number one, the company says it wasn't interested in doing this. Well of course all things change when conditions change, number one.

And number two, it may be linked to that story a couple of days ago concerning Robert Rubin, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary who is now a senior official at Citigroup. You may remember he decided to leave Ford's board because of a potential conflict of interest. Now does that mean that Citigroup would be interested in buying Ford Credit or investing in it? It wouldn't mean that they would simply be an advisory in the transaction.

M. O'BRIEN: Right. Right.

SERWER: It would mean that they would be taking an active role. So perhaps that's a signal.

M. O'BRIEN: That would explain that move.

SERWER: That's right.

S. O'BRIEN: It sure would.

SERWER: It sure would. And it means that you know maybe they're not going to be buying it, but it means that they're at least interested in looking at it, maybe a bidder we should say. And again, that's an exclusive with the "Detroit News."

Let's check the markets for you. Last week a little bit of a pullback here. You can see concerns about the economy slipping. All three major indices down. Oil prices have backed off, as Soledad said earlier, gasoline prices falling a little bit. This morning, though, need to tell you that futures in the market are down a little bit. And later on, Miles, I'm going to be talking about Coke and Pepsi in India, interesting goings on there.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, allegations there are pesticides in the soda.

SERWER: And they've been fighting these charges for a long time and now they're fighting back, so we'll bring that to you coming up soon.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks, -- Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: The morning's top stories are straight ahead, including looking for clues in the Comair plane crash. We're live in Lexington, Kentucky this morning.

Plus, a hurricane watch in southern Florida. Could Ernesto be the first major storm of the season? Take a look at that and much more ahead as well on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning, investigators looking for clues in yesterday's deadly Comair crash. Today, they'll listen to the last words from the cockpit voice recorder, last words of the flight crew. The plane was on a runway too short for a jet of that size, went down shortly after takeoff in Lexington, Kentucky, yesterday morning.

Tropical Storm Ernesto swirling toward Cuba. Ernesto could become a hurricane before it reaches the Gulf of Mexico. A hurricane watch already in effect for parts of Florida.

In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber has killed 10. Dozens more wounded. It happened at an Iraqi police checkpoint near the interior ministry.

Good morning to you. I'm Miles O'Brien.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Soledad O'Brien.

We're expecting to learn more today about the pilot's last words during that doomed Comair flight. It could help investigators determine exactly what went wrong when that jet crashed yesterday morning at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport. All but one of 50 people on board were killed.

CNN's Jason Carroll live in Lexington, Kentucky, for us.

Good morning, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Soledad.

NTSB investigators will be back out here this morning at the crash site, trying to get more information. But it's already become very clear that that Comair jet crashed because it was on a wrong runway, a runway that was too short for a commercial airliner.

The way that we know what happened yesterday is the following.

Yesterday, the tower cleared the aircraft to take off at 6:00 a.m. The pilot was cleared to take off from a longer runway. That is runway number 22. That runway is about 7,000 feet long. But for some reason, the pilot turned on the shorter runway. That's runway 26.

That runway only about half as long. The plane crashed through a perimeter fence at the end of the runway, into a farmland and burst into flames.

The plane's first officer was pulled from the wreckage. He is the only survivor. He's in critical condition.

Also on board, Soledad, Jon Hooker, a former University of Kentucky baseball player, and his new bride, Scarlett Parsley. They had just been married the day before the crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a very, very excited, very happy guy last night. And Scarlett was a beautiful young woman. And she seemed very happy. And it's such a tragic losses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Many stories of tragedy keep coming in, in the coming hours. Investigators have recovered both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. Both of those items are in Washington right now. Investigators are downloading information from both of those items, and they are hoping to find out more reasons why the crew ended up on the wrong runway -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, that this is the big and perplexing question this morning. What a sad story. What a sad story for all 49 people on board, and, of course, the 50th, who's in critical condition.

Thanks. Appreciate the update for us -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Tropical storm Ernesto now taking aim on Cuba, while forecasters try to find out what is next.

Chad Myers joining us now from our severe weather center. He's tracking the storm.

We're getting some more detailed information. Each time, it seems, Chad, it moves a little to the east.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It does. And if it keeps going that way it's going to miss the U.S. altogether. And wouldn't that be a real good thing? Although, it would obviously hit the Bahamas, and that's not good for them.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: As Chad said, Tropical Storm Ernesto closing in on Cuba now. They're taking precautions there, particularly the eastern part of that island.

CNN's Morgan Neill on the phone now from Havana with more -- Morgan.

MORGAN NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, that's right. Ernesto is expected to make landfall here in another four and a half, five hours or so. It's expected to come up on Cuba's southeastern coast, where there really have been preparations in full swing since late Saturday.

The latest we've heard is flights and trains have been canceled to that part of the country. Cuba's eastern and central provinces have been on hurricane alert since Sunday.

Now, under Cuba's system of disaster preparedness, that means things like drainage systems have been cleaned, people have been evacuated. The latest we heard is some 300,000 people, livestock and valuable machinery being moved to safe locations.

As well, radio and television, all controlled by the state, have been transmitting warnings about Ernesto since late Saturday. And messages have been running really nonstop. And they're telling people not just to stay alert, but they're reminding them of specific things, precise measures. For example, avoid power cables down, try not to cross flooded streets, don't assume the storm is over just because the winds may have diminished.

Now, the forecast center here, what they've told is that while it's certainly good news that the winds speed has dropped since the storm went across a mountainous area in Haiti, the danger this storm presents for Cuba has been intense rain since the beginning. That's what they're worried about, the intense rains and the flooding that it may bring. And that risk remains a danger here -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Morgan Neill in Havana.

Thank you very much -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Now to Florida, where the people are getting ready for Ernesto's arrival. Pictures from Pensacola on the Florida panhandle this morning. Let's show them. You can see folks preparing, just incase.

The greatest danger, though, is in southern Florida, especially in the Keys. And tourists there have already been told to leave. People living in mobile homes are also being encouraged to head north.

They're also watching the weather closely in Louisiana. Of course tomorrow is marking the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. And I'll be live in New Orleans with a closer look at the conditions and the big concerns of the city and the rest of the Gulf Coast as well. Be sure to join me and Miles for AMERICAN MORNING'S special coverage. We begin at 6:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning.

And be sure to stay tuned to CNN for the very latest on Ernesto. We're your hurricane headquarters, and, of course, your tropical storm headquarters, too.

Still to come this morning, the politics of Katrina. Could Gulf Coast concerns have an effect on the midterm election? We're going to take a look at that.

M. O'BRIEN: And BellSouth is giving in to government pressure. And it could be good news for some people who use BellSouth to reach the Internet via DSL.

We'll have details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) M. O'BRIEN: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Beirut now. New video you see there of that arrival. He's there to meet with leaders of the Lebanese government, trying to hash out details of that peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon, among other issues.

CNN's Jim Clancy joining us live now from Beirut with more.

Hello, Jim.

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.

You know, it's been two weeks since the cease-fire went into effect. It's largely holding, but a lot of people are asking, where are the thousands of peacekeepers, the additional UNIFIL forces that were supposed to be in here?

This trip by Kofi Annan a very important one. He's really seen as single-handedly, if you will, holding up, bridging the support that's needed for the cease-fire and that resolution, 1701. He talked about it soon after he arrived.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: A very critical time for Lebanon. And I think it's important that I come here myself to discuss with the Lebanese authorities the aftermath of the war and the measures we need to take to implement the U.N. resolutions, and also to underscore international solidarity. And we are going to work with the government. And I look for to my meetings with the prime minister and the other ministers and look forward to discussing with them the work we all have ahead of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Now, right after he arrived here he was met by the foreign minister there on the tarmac at Hariri International Airport in Beirut. He's going to be meeting, as he said, with the prime minister. He'll also hold talks with the parliamentary speaker, Nabih Berri, a man who has been a conduit to the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in the past. Expected to be in that same role.

On their agenda, of course, details of the deployment of the troops controlling any arms flow coming in from Syria, along its border, ending the Israeli air and sea blockade. And, of course, Miles, the prisoner swap. Israel very keen on all of this, too, to see that happening. We understand that Germany may right now, behind the scenes, be involved in discussions about that.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, you mentioned the prisoner swap. This all began with the kidnapping, abduction of those two Israel border guards right at the outset of this. What about the fate of them?

CLANCY: Well, we don't know anything about that. We do know that Hezbollah has said on day one they were ready to exchange prisoners.

We heard from Hassan Nasrallah in a television interview on Sunday night that he is going to welcome -- Hezbollah will welcome the peacekeepers. And he also mentioned the prisoner swap.

He said that there were efforts under way to get that moving, but the two sides, of course, have to be brought together. Some of these other issues are going to have to be sorted out as well -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, and that issue of arms coming across that border with Syria into southern Lebanon, what's to be done about that?

CLANCY: Well, you hit right there on the critical issue, I think, in these talks today with the U.N. secretary-general. Remember, he's going to Israel next.

Lebanon is being strangled by two hands, one Israeli, one Syrian. The Israelis are demanding that the UNIFIL peacekeepers deploy at border crossings at the airport, at the port, in order to scan everything that's coming in. They want to stop the flow of any more missiles coming in.

On the other hand, Syria is saying, if you do that, if you put the international peacekeepers there, we're going to completely shut down the land borders into Lebanon. Lebanon is caught in a squeeze in the middle, perhaps responding to that today. They're unveiling a new plan to put in closed-circuit television cameras, new scanning equipment to bring is more robust controls all along the border with Syria, as well as some of the key ports and airports here, trying to give the reassurances, hoping that's going to be enough to diffuse this major, major issue -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Mr. Clancy, thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, BellSouth feeling the pressure. The government had some questions about the company's high-speed Internet fees. We'll tell you what it means for consumers just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Think you don't have time to fit healthy eating into your daily routine? Think again. Registered dietitian and author Ellie Krieger has a few tips for people on the go.

ELLIE KRIEGER, REGISTERED DIETITIAN: Your first stop should be the produce section, where you will find more pre-cut, pre-washed options than ever before. Here we have vegetables, fruits, just about everything to be healthy.

One of my favorite staples in the freezer section is frozen shrimp. It is just so convenient. You can make a shrimp cocktail if you have guests. You can throw some shrimp into a tomato sauce. It's just a really easy, convenient way to get some good, lean protein.

Tuna in a pouch is one of the most convenient ways to get good healthy protein on the run.

Next stop, dairy. From individual yogurts to drinkable yogurts, to individual milks that you can tote along with you, all really easy ways to get your calcium.

COHEN: Thanks, Ellie.

For the Bod Squad, Elizabeth Cohen, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: President Bush will begin a two-day visit of the Gulf Coast today to mark the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. That tops our look ahead at the week in politics.

"TIME" magazine correspondent Perry Bacon Jr. is live for us in Washington D.C., this morning.

Hey, Perry. Good morning. Nice to see you.

PERRY BACON JR., "TIME" MAGAZINE: Hey, Soledad. Thanks for having me.

S. O'BRIEN: You're most welcome.

So we know President Bush is heading to the Gulf. There's also a bunch of Democrats that have either been to the Gulf or are heading to the Gulf, including Harry Reid and also Nancy Pelosi. What's the strategy as this big anniversary approaches? What's the politics behind the strategy, too?

BACON: The strategy for both sides is to sort of play -- you know, sort of talk about Katrina and frame it in their terms, what it means to the election. So Bush is going to talk about, you know, what has happened since Katrina in terms of the federal government getting money down there and making sure that resources are available for people. He'll take a tour on Monday and Tuesday, today and tomorrow, through Mississippi and also through Louisiana and talk about sort of what the government has done.

The Democrats, you know, are being, of course -- being critical of everything Bush has -- a lot of things Bush has done this year. So they're going to talk about the fact that they think that too much of the money for Katrina relief went to big contractors, rather than sort of local people in Louisiana and Mississippi. And they're also going to talk about the fact that not enough money has come back to -- come back to people -- homeowners from insurance companies. They're going to attack those and attack Bush in those two ways.

S. O'BRIEN: So we'll probably see the Republicans touting all the progress, we'll see the Democrats touting all the damage and destruction that has yet to be moved forward.

When you consider that, and then you consider the 9/11 anniversary coming up soon, as Election Day rolls around, does it really matter? Do people really look back at these anniversaries and how the politicians presented themselves and say, "Ooh, that's going to affect how I vote"?

BACON: I don't think the anniversaries matter. I think the events certainly do. I think Hurricane Katrina was a -- was a very damaging thing for President Bush. And I think -- but I think people's impressions about these events are sort of set in.

I think people have sort of thought, you saw Katrina, and the polls all suggest people were disappointed in President Bush's performance. And I think that stayed there. But 9/11 is something that was sort of seen as a moment where Bush led the country very strongly, and I think that's an event that was helpful for him.

But I think perceptions about those things are already sort of set now. And the biggest issues in the election will be gas prices, the war in Iraq. And I think terrorism will be important, but more about what Democrats and Republicans say about how to prevent future terrorism incidents. I think another -- another London-like attack -- London-like plot would be important in the elections, but I'm not sure the 9/11 anniversary will be necessarily.

S. O'BRIEN: Interesting. We know you've got the inside political scoop. Why don't you tell us what you think the big inside political story is this week?

BACON: The big story this week to watch is there's a big campaign in Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum is a senator -- is the senator there. He's a well-known Republican, a little bit controversial as well for some of the comments he made about gays, particularly. And Democrats thought they were going to beat him.

The candidate they had Bob Casey, had an 11 and 12-point lead a year ago. But Santorum has run a lot of ads, and he's got the lead -- he's shrunken Casey's lead to half now. This will be a week.

Casey is trying to respond, the Democrat is trying to respond by putting up a lot of his own ads. And they're also going to be having a debate on Sunday that will be important to see how Pennsylvania voters see both of them when they're one on one, in a debate for the first time.

S. O'BRIEN: If, indeed, Santorum wins after being so far behind a year ago in the polls, at least, what does that mean? What's the bigger picture?

BACON: The bigger picture is that if the Democrats can't beat someone like Santorum, they certainly are not going to win the House -- I mean, the Senate. This has been a year where people think that Democrats have a great chance of winning the House and the Senate. But if they can't beat Santorum, who's in Pennsylvania, which is a Democratic state, that means they're in a lot of trouble on Election Day.

S. O'BRIEN: Going to have big implications. We're watching that race, and I know you are, too.

Perry Bacon Jr. with "TIME" magazine.

Nice to see you, Perry. Thanks for talking with us.

BACON: Thank you for having me.

S. O'BRIEN: My pleasure.

A short break. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business" coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Coke and Pepsi in something together. This is some -- this is one occasion where these competitors actually are having to join ranks, in a sense. A marketing problem, a perception problem in India.

Andy Serwer here with more.

ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": Good morning, Miles.

That's right. And how are Coke and Pepsi responding to allegations that there are pesticide residues in their sodas in India? An organization called the Center for Science and the Environment to the New Delhi-based research group made these allegations three weeks ago, and since then there's been a bit of confusion by both companies.

How can they respond? How are they responding?

At first, it took them a while to get the research., then it took them a while to study it. Now they've started to take ads out saying that it's not true.

Meanwhile, seven of 28 states in India have partially or completely banned the sodas, 10,000 schools have also done that. And, you know, it's interesting, because it's sort of hard to explain how you'd have pesticide residues at both companies, obviously with both -- with different facilities.

The companies say they're awaiting research reports by different companies, and so they're sort of lying low. Meanwhile, criticism mounts there.

Meanwhile, back in then United States, have you heard about what I'm calling the greedy fee and BellSouth? I just love this one. This is a good thing here.

This all goes back to something called the universal service fund. This is a fee that the government imposed on high-speed Internet customers to subsidize people in poor and rural areas, and also urban areas. It was about $1 to $3 a month. Well, they decided to get rid of this fee in August, but BellSouth decided to keep the fee and use the monies for other purposes.

S. O'BRIEN: Because lowering your prices would set a bad precedent.

SERWER: Yes. And Soledad, they needed to recover a number of costs remaining from previous regulatory obligations and other network expenses.

S. O'BRIEN: Misk (ph).

SERWER: That's where they said the money was going.

M. O'BRIEN: Interesting, yes.

SERWER: Now BellSouth, though, has backed off and they said they will no longer charge their high-speed Internet customers $2.97 a month.

No word yet from Verizon, which has a similar little -- what I'm calling greedy fee.

S. O'BRIEN: Are they dropping it or are they...

SERWER: They're dropping it. BellSouth is dropping.

S. O'BRIEN: OK.

SERWER: Yes, they are.

M. O'BRIEN: For now at least.

SERWER: For now, until you're not paying attention next month.

S. O'BRIEN: Right, exactly. And there's no media attention.

SERWER: Then they're back -- yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Then it will be called something else, but probably not the greedy fee.

SERWER: Not the greedy fee. They're not going to call it that.

S. O'BRIEN: That has red flags all over it. You know how that is.

SERWER: Yes, it does. Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: We're going to take a look at the forecast this morning. Chad's got that at the CNN Center.

Hey, Chad.

MYERS: Good morning, Soledad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.

M. O'BRIEN: In Lexington, Kentucky, this morning, investigators trying to unravel the riddle of Comair Flight 5191. Trying to find out why the flight crew chose a wrong runway.

S. O'BRIEN: A state of emergency in Florida right now. People are preparing for Tropical Storm Ernesto.

M. O'BRIEN: A weather watch at NASA as well. Any moment now we'll learn if the next shuttle mission will be put on hold, the shuttle will be put in the hangar, maybe.

S. O'BRIEN: And television's biggest night hits a bit of a bump. Controversy this morning over host Conan O'Brien's Emmy opener.

That, much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.

Welcome back to you from your vacation.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much. It's good to be back.

S. O'BRIEN: It's nice to have you back.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

I'm Miles O'Brien. We're glad you're with us as well.

A deadly decision in Kentucky. A pilot at Lexington's Blue Grass Airport trying to take off from a runway too short for an airplane of that size.

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