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American Morning
Amish School Killing; Foley's Lurid E-Mails; 'Denial' Defense; Humanitarian Crisis; Minding Your Business
Aired October 03, 2006 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Jason Carroll is live at the school in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Good morning, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Soledad.
Well, Charles Roberts' wife certainly doesn't know why. She described her husband as a thoughtful, loving man. Police say he is the same man who ruthlessly shot little girls in a one-room school room.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL, (voice over): Friends and family say there was nothing about Charles Roberts that made you think he was anything other than a good father and a friendly neighbor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was just your normal father. Loving father.
CARROLL: Until the morning this trucker said good-bye to his own children and went out carrying a grudge, apparently against little girls.
COL. JEFFREY MILLER, COMMISSIONER, PA. STATE POLICE: When he began shooting the victims, these victims were shot execution style in the head.
CARROLL: Roberts drove to an Amish one-room schoolhouse armed with a 12 gauge shotgun, a 9 mm pistol and 600 rounds of ammunition. He nailed the doors shut with strips of lumber. Then he separated the girls from the boys.
MILLER: At that time, he apparently told the kids to line up in front of the blackboard.
CARROLL: He tied the girls' feet together. The youngest, six. The oldest, 13. He let the boys go. Fifteen of them. He also told a pregnant teacher, as well as mothers there with their babies, that they could leave. Then Roberts called 911 to warn police to stay back or he'd start to shoot.
MILLER: We didn't have enough time to really launch a full-scale assault because we were still trying to hail him when we got word. And by the time we got word and were able to try to relay it to the perimeter, he was already shooting.
CARROLL: Police say Roberts shot the girls he held captive at the school. Some at point-blank range. Then he shot himself to death. Roberts also left his wife a suicide note, described by investigators as rambling. Police only said that he harbored an undisclosed 20-year grudge and that he wanted to attack young, female victims.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To see him, you would never have thought that anything was wrong.
CARROLL: It was the third school shooting in the nation this week. This time in an Amish community whose horses, buggies and black coats set it apart from the modern world. Roberts was not Amish. His victims were religious people who reject violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a whole, the community is going to pull together, whether it be Amish, non-Amish, whatever it might be. Everybody's going to pull together.
CARROLL: Roberts had no criminal record, no known mental health problems. He leaves behind three children of his own and few clues as to why he targeted a schoolhouse full of little girls.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Roberts left behind notes to his wife, as well as to his three children. Perhaps somewhere in those notes there's some sort of more information, some sort of a clue about this deep-seed grudge that he held for so many years.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, yes, I think you're right, everybody would like to know why. Why?
Jason Carroll for us this morning. Thanks, Jason.
Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, an influential conservative newspaper calling on House Speaker Dennis Hastert to resign. "The Washington Times" says Hastert should have done more when he found out about Congressman Mark Foley's explicit e-mails to teenage pages. The man at the center of the scandal isn't talking. He's in a rehab clinic. CNN National Correspondent Susan Candiotti is in Ft. Pierce, Florida, outside the former congressman's condo building.
Good morning, Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.
Yes, and, of course, it's still a mystery as to where that rehab center is. But on Monday night, Mr. Foley's attorney said that the ex-congressman had two lives, one in which in the public he was sober, only drank socially. But in private, he said, he drank and he was an alcoholic. And that is why he explains his friends said that they saw no sign of alcoholism before, nor has he ever sought treatment for it.
But he did say that Mr. Foley has sought counseling before for mental health problems, though the lawyer would not describe what they were. All of that, he said, led to his inappropriate behavior with congressional pages.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID ROTH, MARK FOLEY'S ATTORNEY: He is absolutely, positively not a pedophile. He is apologetic for the communications that he made while under the influence of alcohol, which he acknowledges are totally inappropriate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: So while Mr. Foley is in a treatment center for at least a month or so, the man who would like to take Mr. Foley's place in Congress, Joe Negron, this is the first day of his campaign. But, guess what, he can't really start campaigning because he has jury duty.
Back to you, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: You would think that would be an excuse to get you out of jury duty.
All right. Thank you very much, Susan Candiotti, at Ft. Pierce.
A CNN exclusive now for you. The teenager who exchanged e-mails with Foley got the job through Louisiana Congressman Rodney Alexander. CNN's Sean Callebs spoke with Alexander.
Sean, what did you learn.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we talked to him last night after spending some time trying to track him down in this very large district. Basically what Alexander says, he says it's a very sad incident. It has been a very, very difficult time, as you can imagine, for the young man at the center of this. And what we're talking about here are the e-mails. Not the really explicit text message, the instant message that came to light also out of the information.
When we talked to Alexander, he said it was a very difficult situation for this family. That he had actually gone to the family once he found out about the e-mails. And even though the family wanted the incident in his words "over," he decided it was appropriate to take it to the GOP leadership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONGRESSMAN RODNEY ALEXANDER, LOUISIANA: They asked me if the parents were concerned and were going to press any kind of charges. And I said, no, the parents want this just to go away. Their concern is to protect their child and we understand that and that's our concern. But they weren't going to press charges. So we didn't feel like that was our job to press charges, but we did feel like it was our job to notify those that are in leadership roles so they would be able to address the problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CALLEBS: Alexander says he is disappointed that people are calling for the resignation of Hastert. He called Hastert a great man and a fine gentleman who he says would not have let this situation get out of control. Those are Alexander's words. But he also goes on to say, it has been a very tough week for the family. That the young man at the center of this has received a number of e-mail threats.
M. O'BRIEN: Sean, can tell you about a little bit more about the family?
CALLEBS: All we can tell about is, it's not a family that Congressman Alexander knew extremely well. He said that he had known the family for some time. He said the young man at the center of this was just a fine student. Basically everything you'd look for to come to the page program. He said it was a wonderful opportunity for this young man, but he says there are those who simply ruined his experience in Washington. And his concern is this could scar him, could haunt him for years to come. He says there have been a number of people who have been aggressively trying to interview the 17-year- old, going to his school, also going to his family. But the family has kept extremely quiet on this front.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Sean Callebs, thank you very much.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: In California, the Day fire, just north of Los Angeles, near Ohi (ph), is now fully contained. Some 1,500 firefighters are on the scene there this morning. They're trying to keep it that way. The fire burned more than 250 square miles of brush and cost the state more than $70 million in fire fighting costs.
In Illinois, they're cleaning up this morning. Severe storms in and around the Chicago suburbs brought heavy rains, up to four inches in some places. Wind gusts of up to 65 miles an hour toppled trees and power lines and as many as 300,000 people went without electricity at the height of the storm.
That brings us right to the forecast and Chad Myers with the latest weather update for us.
Hey, Chad.
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on the program, the political fallout from the Mark Foley case. Will the e-mail scandal keep social conservatives away from the polls on Election Day? We'll take a look. Plus, Bob Woodward talking about his new book "State of Denial." Find out what he says is evidence the White House hasn't told the whole truth about Iraq. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Two American soldiers are dead this morning. They were killed in fierce fighting in eastern Afghanistan. An Afghan soldier also died in the battle. In another clash, three Afghan police men were killed when Taliban insurgents attacked their outpost near the Pakistani border.
This morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on her way to Cairo, the latest stop in her Middle East tour. The visit comes as conflict between Palestinian factions continues. Secretary Rice hopes to revive the dormant Arab/Israeli peace process and deal with other regional issues as well.
This morning, North Korea says it's going to conduct a nuclear weapons test. The announcement comes as leaders in Killjong (ph) says they feel threatened by American belligerence. That's a quote. Six party talks on North Korea's nuclear program have stalled.
Iran is proposing the French-enriched uranium for their nuclear program. The Iran deputy atomic energy chief says he hopes the offer would satisfy international demands for outside oversight of Iran's nuclear program. Iran claims it wants nuclear program for peaceful purposes. The U.S. contends they want to build nuclear weapons.
Growing criticism about the war in Iraq. It is the focus of Bob Woodward's book "State of Denial." Bob Woodward was a guest on "Larry King Live" last night and respond to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow's claim that the president is not in denial over the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB WOODWARD, AUTHOR, "STATE OF DENIAL": Well, the evidence, going way, way back, is that there is a kind of denial. Let me give you an example. And there are dozens in the book. November 11, 2003. Now this is six months, eight months after the invasion. The top CIA man, a guy named Rob Risher (ph), who is head of the division for the near east, for the Middle East for the CIA. This is one of these operatives you never hear about or see. Been to Iraq, went to the seven bases we had and he came back and briefed President Bush and the NSC. And he said there's an insurgency out there.
Don Rumsfeld, who was there, said, well, I'm not sure I agree with you. CIA man gets out the Pentagon's manual, which says, look, an insurgency is defined this way, popular support, ability to strike at will, ability to move at will and says it meets all of these criteria. President Bush says, well, I don't think we're there yet and I don't want any of my cabinet officers saying there's an insurgency. I don't want to read about it in "The New York Times."
(END VIDEO CLIP) M. O'BRIEN: Look for the White House to go on the offensive today in denying what is in "State of Denial." The president campaigning in California. Trying to insure the GOP keeps its grip on the House. CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano following the president on his west coast swing. She joins us from Stockton, California, this morning.
Good morning, Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Miles.
With just five weeks left until those congressional midterm elections, expect President Bush to, once again, come out swinging today as he continues his west coast campaign push. Now last night in Nevada we got a little sample of that. The president appearing at a fund raiser for Republican Congressional Candidate Dean Hellard (ph).
The president clearly engaged in the Republican strategy of trying to paint Democrats as being weak on the issue of national security. The president accused Democratic leaders of wanting to wait until America is attacked again. And he said Democrats should be held accountable for opposing measures like the NSA surveillance program, as well as the CIA's interrogation program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I want you all to remember when you go to the polls here in Nevada what political party supported the president to make sure we had the tools necessary to protect the American people and which political party didn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, as you might expect, the president made no mention of the fact that it was actually opposition from fellow Republicans, particularly on that issue of the detainee legislation. Of course, those Republican senators eventually reached a compromise with the White House.
Now the president's trip here to California comes as the Bush administration is trying to vigorously defend against assertions made in Bob Woodward's new book "State of Denial." That book takes a critical look at the administration's handling of the Iraq War and the war on terrorism. Now yesterday White House Spokesman Tony Snow said that any notion that President Bush is in denial about the terrorism fight is flat wrong. Meantime, today here in California, Miles, expect more tough talk from President Bush.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano in Stockton, California, thank you very much.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: A California man is facing charges that he threatened President Bush. Michael Lee Braun is his name. He allegedly sent threatening letters containing a powdery substance to a Sacramento country club where the president's going to be attending a fundraiser today. Well, the substance turned out to be baking soda. Prosecutors say Braun sent 49 other threatening letters, including threats to Vice President Dick Cheney, the first lady and the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld.
And it's not on the radar for most western news media outlets, but the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo grows more difficult, more desperate, really, every day. Thousands of people are dying. Very few people are paying attention to this huge humanitarian crisis. CNN's Anderson Cooper is there and he reports this morning from Goma (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're here in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo covering a major humanitarian crisis. A crisis which has received virtually no attention from the media over the last several years.
For the next three nights on "360," we're going to bring you exclusive reports on the crisis here in the Congo, as well as the humanitarian crisis continuing in Darfur in Sudan. We have reporters inside Darfur, as well as along the border with Chad (ph). Two major humanitarian crisis that really have not receive the kind of attention that they deserve.
You may not realize this, but the largest, the deadliest war in our lifetime, since World War II, has taken place here in the Congo over the last 10 years. From three to four million people have died. In many ways their deaths have gone unnoticed. The fighting has stopped, but the humanitarian crisis continues.
Some 1,200 people are dying every day from malnutrition and disease. Deaths which could be prevented. The U.N. has launched a massive relief effort here. Some 17,000 U.N. peacekeepers. It's the largest peace-keeping operation in U.N. history is happening now.
Also happening now, elections. The largest election effort in U.N. history as well. But the future is very uncertain. The peace here is fragile. And there is so much that needs to be done. There are war lords still with private armies.
You're going to meet one of them on "360" tonight. A man who refuses to give up his weapons and join the democratic process. A man whose soldiers are accused of human rights abuses, massive rapes and looting and summary execution of prisoners.
Rape here in the Congo has been one of the most horrific aspects of this civil war. Tens of thousands. Some aid workers say even hundreds of thousands of women have been brutally raped over the last several years and those rapes continue.
There's a lot to talk about. We're going to be covering it for the next three nights on "360. (END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: And Anderson's going to be joined by Jeff Koinange and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, all this week reporting on the situation in the Congo and elsewhere in Africa. He begins tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
Coming up this morning, is your monthly mortgage payment draining your bank account? Well, if it is, you're not alone. We'll tell you why it's costing you more to live in your home. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Housing costs taking a bigger bite out of your budget? Does it feel that way? Well, it is. Andy Serwer is here. Unless you live in Alaska.
ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Alaska, yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Alaska apparently is the place to be.
SERWER: Yes. It's stable there.
M. O'BRIEN: Steady, I should say.
SERWER: Right. The steady state of Alaska.
New numbers out from the Census Bureau, Miles, showing that Americans are having to pay more and more of their income for housing. Last year the average American spent 21 percent of their income on housing, up from 19 percent in 1999. And those two percentage points are real money, as all of us can attest to.
The reason why, housing prices going up while income is lower or stagnant. And here you go. The median home, up 32 percent over the past five years in America, to $167,500. Income, meanwhile, over that same period, down 2.8 percent. So you can see getting stretched from both ends.
And economists will tell you, you really don't want to spend more than 30 percent of your income in housing. And, you know, just when you look across the country, for instance, in California, almost half of the citizens of that state are spending 30 percent of their income on housing.
M. O'BRIEN: That's gross income? Is that how that is?
SERWER: Yes, household income. AGI, as they call it, adjusted gross income.
Now there are some other interesting numbers out of this survey as well, from the haves and have not department. For instance, the highest city with the highest price median home, San Francisco.
S. O'BRIEN: I was going to guess that. SERWER: $726,000.
S. O'BRIEN: Isn't that crazy?
SERWER: On the one side. On the other said.
S. O'BRIEN: Did you see what that buys?
M. O'BRIEN: Median, $726,000?
SERWER: Yes. Right. Median. On the other side, Detroit, $88,000. I mean, look at that. I mean that's almost ten fold. It's just amazing.
How about this, housing expenses. The most expensive state, New Jersey. Almost $2,000 a month, the average person spends on housing.
M. O'BRIEN: That includes property taxes?
SERWER: That includes everything. Right. West Virginia, about $800. So you can see just, you know, a couple hundred miles apart there. Huge differences. So always interesting stuff to look at there.
Other stories this morning. General Motors is having a board meeting. And, you know, there's a real debate now at this company whether or not it is on the turn-around road. Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian apparently thinks is not turning around, or not turning around fast enough, and he wants talks between GM and Nissan and Renault to accelerate. Rick Wagoner, the CEO there, does not necessarily want that to take place.
Wall Street seems to differ with Mr. Kerkorian, however. Last year, GM was the worst-performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrials. This year, so far, it's the best-performing stock in the Dow 30, up 70 percent. Wall Street sees the turnaround is coming. The company's market share is still slipping. There's still red ink.
But, you know, Wall Street's always trying to look over the horizon. And that is a huge move. I mean, if you were an investor, that's real money. You could actually afford to live in this country and pay your rent or a mortgage.
M. O'BRIEN: Is that because they have good products coming? Is that it?
SERWER: There's really nothing that concrete yet. I mean, there's a lot of hope there on Wall Street and nothing necessarily to base that on, except there's a new sense of urgency and some plans in the works I would say.
S. O'BRIEN: Hope it works.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe. Yes, let's hope. Let's hope.
All right. What's next? SERWER: Next we're going to be talking about -- remember the other day we were mentioning how online gambling has basically become outlawed by Congress in this country. And what are online gamblers in the United States doing about that? We'll talk about that a little bit.
M. O'BRIEN: Probably -- I take a bet that they're betting.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: That would be my bet.
SERWER: Some of them certainly are.
M. O'BRIEN: If I were betting.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you.
SERWER: Thanks, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: There's much more AMERICAN MORNING still to come.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bob Franken in Washington. Their October surprise came in very late September, but now Democrats are trying to take advantage of it in November.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Dan Lothian in Boston. Three school shootings across the country in less than a week. What's going on? We'll search for answers when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Happening this morning.
The death toll rising now in that Amish school shooting in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A fifth young girl died early this morning. She was among 11 shot by 32-year-old Charles Carl Roberts. It appears he was trying to settle a 20-year-old grudge.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says the Taliban in Afghanistan can't be beaten on the battlefield, so he's now pushing for their inclusion in Afghanistan's government.
And a new judge will be presiding over John Mark Karr's child pornography trial. That trial originally expected to begin yesterday; lost evidence leading to the delay there.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, everyone. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
With the election 35 days away, the Foley scandal is creating a political opportunity for Democrats, meaning it's time to make some new campaign commercials. AMERICAN MORNING's Bob Franken joining us live from Washington with more.
Good morning, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, Miles.
Yes, there is a new sport at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. It's called table turning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN (voice over): The White House was the setting in July as President Bush signed the Child Safety and Protection Act; among the honored guests, Congressman Mark Foley. That's providing an opportunity for Democrats who have been the target of Republican attack ads like this one that ran in Indiana.
(BEGIN CAMPAIGN COMMERCIAL)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you imagine a suspected child rapist being captured in Vanderburg (ph) County but then mistakenly released by Brad Ellsworth's sheriff's department? At the time Sheriff Ellsworth, whose department released the suspect, was in Washington, campaigning for Congress.
(END CAMPAIGN COMMERCIAL)
PAUL BEGALA, POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: The Republicans, for a long time have acted like they have a monopoly on virtue, that somehow they're closer to God or children, or to families. That's nonsense. Neither party has a monopoly on that.
FRANKEN: Democrats are particularly enjoying the fact one of the Republicans ensnared in this controversy, is the chairman of the party's congressional committee, New York Representative Tom Reynolds.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and the Congressional Page Board Chairman John Shimkus portrayed themselves as victims, too, of Foley's deceit.
DENNIS HASTERT, (R) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I've known him for all the years he as served in this House and he's deceived me, too.
FRANKEN: But now Republicans are giving careful thought to their advertising strategy.
(BEGIN CAMPAIGN COMMERCIAL)
JOHN PORTER, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE: As parents we need to know that our schools are not hiring teachers that are sexual predators. That's why I wrote a law in Congress that gives the local school districts the information they need to ensure sexual predators are not teaching our children.
(END CAMPAIGN COMMERCIAL)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRANKEN: Democrats are missing no opportunities whatsoever, Miles, to point out that among the leaders in Congress against child sexual predators was Mark Foley, Republican.
M. O'BRIEN: A bit of irony there. Bob Franken, in Washington, thank you.
Also in Washington this morning, Republicans waking up to unwelcome words. The conservative "Washington Times" newspaper is calling on the House Speaker Dennis Hastert to resign. CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider joining us now from the bureau, talk a little bit more about this.
Good morning, Bill. Good to have you with us.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Thanks, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: I want to read, for folks, just a little brief excerpt of this editorial in "The Times". It says this: "Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once. Either he was grossly negligent or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away."
Will this move Hastert to step down? Will it gain much traction, do you think?
SCHNEIDER: What we're seeing is a lot of anger and criticism coming, not just from Democrats, as Bob Franken just reported, but now also from conservatives and Republicans.
"The Washington Times" editorial page being a very much a conservative voice, Richard Viguerie, who has always been closely associated with the social conservative movement -- they're demanding, some of them, Viguerie, among others, that Hastert and other leaders resign. A lot of members of the House Republican leadership find themselves in serious political trouble right now. Partly because of a revolt from the right, not just the left.
M. O'BRIEN: When you start talking about social conservatives, they have other issues here. They have kind of a laundry list of issues with Republicans right now.
SCHNEIDER: They have a lot of grievances with the Republican Congress. They have been angry for sometime. They call it, Viguerie calls it the big government Republicans, who are running the country, at least through Congress. And he even includes President Bush in that criticism.
They're angry about government spending and the huge deficits under a Republican-controlled Congress and White House. They're angry that Congress has failed to act about immigration. And not a few of them are angry over the Iraq war and the fact this doesn't seem to have any discernible in the foreseeable future.
M. O'BRIEN: You know, it goes beyond Dennis Hastert. Here's another, there is another leader of Congress who sort of implicated in this, in some respects. Tom Reynolds, who is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee -- Congressional Committee, I should say. A Republican out of New York says this: "I don't know what else I could have done. I reported the incident. Sometimes we say, what does a good citizen do? When you see an incident, you take it to your supervisor."
Does that kind of a statement work with voters?
SCHNEIDER: I don't think so. It sounds like a bureaucratic statement. It sounds like there were procedures, internal procedures, a lot of people are angry because it looks like, smells like there might be a cover up. That the leadership of Congress wanted to cover this up in order to protect their partisan interests. They didn't want to lose the Foley seat. They didn't want to have a full-blown scandal, which is, of course, now exactly what they've got.
And Representative Reynolds is in a very tough race for re- election in his own district Upstate New York. He's one of several members of the House leadership who are being challenged both internally, in the Republican Party, and electorally at the polls.
M. O'BRIEN: And as for the Foley seat, where voters will still have to vote, because the ballots are set in motion, will have to vote for that name, Mark Foley, even though he's not really running at this point, are Republicans conceding that one?
SCHNEIDER: John Boehner indicted that he thought it would be very difficult, and he's a member of the House Republican leadership, very difficult for Republicans to hold on to that seat. There was a poll just out from a bipartisan organization, called Majority Watch, indicating that the Democrat, Mr. Mahoney (ph) has a lead now over the Republican candidate, whether he's named Mark Foley or someone to replace Mark Foley. I think the poll was taken before a replacement was named. That seat is very seriously in trouble. And it looks like Republicans are ready to concede that seat, and possibly a number of others. Not enough to give Democrats the majority, they're not conceding that, at this point, but they do say they're really on the ropes.
M. O'BRIEN: For Democrats, the magic number is 15, correct?
SCHNEIDER: Right. They need a net gain of 15 seats to take control. And the remarkable thing about this election is you've got 20, 25 seats in the House that are in trouble, and every single one of them is held by a Republican.
M. O'BRIEN: Bill Schneider, part of the best political team in television, thank you, as always.
SCHNEIDER: Sure, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Keep up with this story, plus all the latest political news at CNN's new political ticker; you'll find it at cnn.com/ticker.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: A fifth death to tell you about in that Amish school shooting in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. President Bush says he is deeply saddened by not only this recent shooting, but also a string of shootings across the nation. The president is going to hold a news conference next week to address the growing problem. Let's get right to AMERICAN MORNING Dan Lothian; he's in Boston this morning.
Hey, Dan.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning, Soledad.
Well, really it's a place where students should feel safe, but there's concern that schools continue to be easy targets for people trying to send a message with violence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN (voice over): The deadly trail of recent school shootings stretches from Colorado to Wisconsin and now rural Pennsylvania.
KENNETH TRUMP, NAT'L. SCHOOL SAFETY & SECURITY SVCS.: The common refrain we hear time and time again is we never thought it could happen here. If there's one lesson we learned from Columbine, is that we can't have that "It can't happen here" mentally.
LOTHIAN: Ken Trump and the National School Safety & Security Services began tracking cases after the 1999 rampage at Columbine High School, where 15 people died. Since then, by his count, there have been 219 deaths, not including Monday's attack.
TRUMP: The good thing is schools have done a much better job since Columbine working on preventing incidents, and improving their emergency preparedness measures.
LOTHIAN: But he says there's no way to make a campus 100 percent safe. School shootings have taken place for decades. Before Columbine, there was Pearl, Mississippi, two students killed, seven wounded. And Jonesboro, Arkansas, four students and one teacher killed.
What's behind the violence? Boston College sociologist Joseph Tecce says sometimes it's sometimes revenge.
PROF. JOSEPH TECCE, SOCIOLOGIST, BOSTON COLLEGE: There's a certain vendetta involved. There is a certain payback. "I was treated badly and school and, boy, I'm going to get back at those kids because the bully got me and now I'm going to get them".
LOTHIAN: And the fact that some of these shootings seem to occur in some kind of serial order leads Tecce and other experts to suspect copy cats.
TECCE: Well, maybe the murderer, the killer says, "Well, this other guy got a lot of publicity on this and he nailed a couple of kids. I think I'll try the same technique. Because it worked for him and it may work for me. I think I'll get my vengeance the same way as he did.
LOTHIAN: Besides the deadly consequences attacks can often leave students feeling vulnerable. But experts say they should not be paralyzed by fear.
TECCE: Parents can tell their children these are unusual circumstances, they don't happen every day. Don't go to school expecting it to happen. Go to school zeroing in on your studies.
LOTHIAN: At the same time there's a growing effort to have schools prepare and practice, much like they would for weather emergency drill.
TRUMP: Very often, after an emergency, parents want to focus on physical tangible measures such as security cameras, metal detectors and armed officers. It's the training, alertness and preparedness of staff and students that really makes a difference on a day-to-day basis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LOTHIAN: The idea here is to jolt school officials out of a sense of complacency so they'll be just as prepared to protect their students as they are to educate them, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Dan Lothian, for us this morning. Thanks.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's check back on the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, some tough talk coming out of North Korea. Just how close is that country to a nuclear test? We'll take a look.
And Elizabeth Edwards is our guest. The wife of the Democratic vice presidential hopeful back in 2004. She made news of her own when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, on the campaign trail. She's got a new book out, it is a heart-wrenching story of big losses and how she found strength. It is a wonderful book. We'll talk to her ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: North Korea, once again, ratcheting up tension this morning. Pyongyang citing what it calls American belligerence and pressure says it will conduct a nuclear test. CNN's Barbara Starr, live at the Pentagon with more -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN MORNING: Good morning to you, Miles. That announcement by North Korea getting an awful lot of attention here this morning in the Pentagon, where officials say they are monitoring the situation, looking for any new signs, indications North Korea is preparing to conduct a nuclear test.
The North Korean news agency announced a short while ago that the government in Pyongyang said, quote, "It will in the future conduct a nuclear test in a condition where safety is firmly guaranteed." That word out of Pyongyang, a little while ago. The Reuters news agency announced that South Korea said that it was stepping up it's alert levels -- not sure which alert levels -- after that announcement from North Korea.
So, what does the U.S. military -- what does the Bush administration think about all of this? The U.S. military, the U.S. intelligence community, of course, now, officials say, will continue to monitor North Korean -- known -- weapon sites, known North Korean potential nuclear test sites. They will use satellites. They will use spy aircraft with special sensors to look for any signs, any change on the ground in North Korea, that would indicate preparations for such a test.
Of course, the key issue here, Miles, is if it does happen, that would be absolute confirmation that North Korea has a nuclear capability -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Is there much doubt about that anymore, Barbara?
STARR: Not really. Of course, the intelligence community's assessment is that they do, but they have not conducted a nuclear test, at least none that anyone is aware of. So this would be very significant.
Now, everyone should recall, about two months ago or so, the intelligence community did see some signs of potential plans being made for a test at a North Korean nuclear site. It was very innocuous. What they saw was some loads of wire cabling being dropped off -- they saw this from overhead imagery -- being dropped off at that site. But that cabling would be a sign, potentially, that that site was being wired for such a test.
So it's these kinds of very innocuous signs that the intelligence community looks for and then tries to make an assessment about what exactly Pyongyang might be up to. And of course, that is always the most difficult question, Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you very much.
Up next on the program, Andy Serwer, "Mind Your Business".
Hello, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, CNN ANCHOR, AMERICAN MORNING: Hello, Miles.
With Congress essentially banning online gambling, what are those people who do that sort of thing going to do about that? Also a minister in Georgia has built a machine which he says is like an ATM for Jesus. We'll tell you about that coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, the red-hot debate over global warming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JAMES INHOFE, (R-OK) CHMN., ENVIRONMENTAL CMTE.: The American people have been served up in an unprecedented parade of environmental alarmism by the media.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: That's Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, a week ago on the Senate floor. Our story about his speech, claiming global warning is a hoax, enraged the senator. How much? Well, we'll hear for ourselves a little later this morning, the senator will join me live -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: A Chicago-area school superintendent's job is on the line today. At issue, is his idea of a joke. He edited new questions in two videotaped interviews with new faculty members. Darlene Hill from CNN affiliate WFLD has the story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DARLENE HILL, REPORTER, WFLD (voice over): This video was supposed to make administrators, staff members and new teachers, in Berman (ph) High School District 228, laugh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What were the results of the last drug test you took?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was positive, it was.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was told you were arrested before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the rumor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twice, was it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it was once.
HILL: Richard Mitchell is the superintendent. He made this using actual interviews from new teachers, but Mitchell edited in the fake funny questions and showed the clip at teachers' orientation. Then he put it on the school's web site. Now the school board president is questioning his judgment and position.
EVELYN GLEASON, PRESIDENT, SCHOOL BOARD: The context of those videos do not send the message that we want to send about what we stand for, what we do.
JAMES MADIGAN, MITCHELL'S ATTORNEY: The only reason it went up on the website is teachers, who enjoyed it so much, couldn't hear in the back of the auditorium and asked him to make it available because they thought it was so funny.
HILL (on camera): Dr. Mitchell's attorney says his client is being forced out not because of a bad joke or one in poor taste, but because Dr. Mitchell is gay. Like his personality, he's very open and comfortable about his sexuality.
(Voice over): The attorney says he's informed the board that Mitchell is ready to file a lawsuit against the board and its president, claiming that some have harassed him.
MADIGAN: I don't work for the school district, but I do know this, no teacher has complained to the teacher's union, and the video was shown over a month ago. I find it hard to believe that the board had any real issue with it.
HILL: Board members are expected to take up this issue of Mitchell's future, Tuesday night.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: That story from Reporter Darlene Hill, from CNN affiliate, WFLD, reporting.
Interesting there, huh?
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I can see how the humor might be misconstrued.
S. O'BRIEN: But no teachers complained. And the board, so far, is the only people who have problems with it. Maybe there's something else at work.
M. O'BRIEN: There's a fair amount of politics in schools, you might say. You can bet on that, right? That's a sure bet.
SERWER: Yes, you sure can.
M. O'BRIEN: Speaking of that, you're all about betting this morning.
SERWER: I am. We're following up a couple stories we reported to you first yesterday. From the world of gambling -- first of all, we told you Harrah's was looking to be bought out, potentially. And, in fact, they have been handed a bit of $15 billion, to take the company private, which would make it one of the biggest deals of all time.
Well, $15 billion? Why so much? Well, you look through what Harrah's has got. A lot of different casino properties. It also has a lot of real estate. Get this -- 350 acres on the Las Vegas Strip. That land is incredibly valuable. Analysts say that an acre goes for about $23 million on The Strip. So you multiply 350 acres times $23 million, and you get $8 billion of real estate. S. O'BRIEN: That's a lot of dough.
M. O'BRIEN: Just for a little piece of desert in Nevada.
SERWER: Yes, sitting between two huge hotels, that you can build a hotel and make hundreds of millions a year on, that's what that's all about.
Interesting that they have to get licenses from all the different states, though, the new owners of Harrah's, so it is kind of a complicated deal.
We also told you yesterday about the congressional crackdown on online gambling. This is a bill that was passed. The president still needs to sign it on November 7th. It's caused all kinds of Sturm und Drang in the online gambling world. Online gamblers outraged, shocked, dismayed, broke. They want to keep on keeping on here. There are third party sites, they say, that they'll continue to be able to use.
Basically Congress is trying to prevent banks from processing the transactions.
These online gamblers say they're going to be able to continue to do this.
And then, finally, turning to another segment of American society, church goers. Now, there's a congregation, Stephens Creek Community Church, in Augusta, Georgia, where Pastor Marty Baker has constructed what he called a giving kiosk.
He noticed that church goers often didn't have enough cash when they came to church. You know that problem. Gee, I left my wallet at home. At least the pastor does. And what he did, he -- with a computer technician -- designed an ATM where you can basically swipe your debit card or your bank card and give money directly to the church. You just type in how much money goes to a church. Now he's making and licensing and selling these giving kiosks to other churches. He says it's just like an ATM for Jesus.
And, you know, I guess it works.
M. O'BRIEN: What was Jesus' PIN? Who knows? Wow.
SERWER: Yeah, 1225, maybe.
M. O'BRIEN: It might be. Never use your birthday.
SERWER: It's an automatic tithing machine -- never use your birthday -- he wouldn't have done that.
S. O'BRIEN: That's a brilliant idea.
SERWER: It is.
S. O'BRIEN: I bet he's going to make a ton of money for his church.
SERWER: I bet.
S. O'BRIEN: And any other church that buys into that.
SERWER: I think he will. I think it works.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. What else you got?
SERWER: We're going to be talking about -- this is great. A new cell phone that if it's stolen, it screams.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, I need one of those.
SERWER: I do too. So do my kids! But we'll explain how that works, coming up.
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thank you.
SERWER: You're welcome.
S. O'BRIEN: Also ahead this morning, a look at our top stories, including the Foley fallout. One of America's most conservative newspapers calling for House Speaker Dennis Hastert to step down. Live report from Capitol Hill, is ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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