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Top U.S. General in Iraq Says Troops Won't Leave For at Least a Year; White House Shifts Wording of Strategy in Iraq; Video Sharing Sites Take Campaigns To New Level; Barack Obama Is Talk Of The Town
Aired October 24, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Good morning, everyone.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Heidi Collins.
For the next three hours, watch events unfold live on this Tuesday, the 24th of October.
Here now is what is on the run-down.
Stepping up -- Iraqi leaders now talking timetable for taking more control of their country.
HARRIS: Iraq the top issue as Democrats and Republicans fight it out for control in Washington.
Does either party have a solution?
The heads of both parties are with us this hour.
COLLINS: A major tourist destination in the crosshairs of a major storm. Tracking Hurricane Paul as it eyes the Baja Peninsula.
You are in THE NEWSROOM.
The battleground is Iraq, but make no mistake, the entire Middle East is at stake. That according to the top U.S. general in Iraq and Washington's ambassador to that country. Their joint news conference ended just about an hour ago. It included some sobering assessments of the war.
Let's go ahead and go straight to the Pentagon now with CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr -- Barbara, we heard 12 to 18 months that Khalilzad was talking about before Iraqi security forces could conceivably take over.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi.
That's the timeframe they were talking about.
But this press conference by Khalilzad was as much an effort to lay out that there are these kinds of timeframes, timelines, there is a plan and everybody is following it. That was the tone today.
Very different. An effort, clearly, to come back from General Caldwell's press conference last week, when he talked about the violence in Baghdad as being disheartening and that the Baghdad security plan just wasn't working out the way they had hoped.
This was much more here's what we're doing, here are the timelines, here are our goals. Everything is on track and this is what we hope to achieve.
This 12 to 18 months for the Iraqis taking over, however, as everyone will always say in the military, the enemy has a vote. Whether that happens still remains to be seen.
One of the major stumbling blocks, of course, the militias and the death squads, and especially the Mahdi Army militia of Muqtada al- Sadr, someone that is causing an awful lot of problems for U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Here's what was said about all of that today at the briefing and whether they can really get a handle on that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. GEORGE CASEY, COMMANDER, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ: I still very strongly believe that we need to continue to reduce our forces as the Iraqis continue to improve, because we need to get out of their way. The Iraqis are getting better. Their leaders are feeling more responsible for the security in Iraq and they want to take the reigns. And I think we need to do that.
But I can't tell you right now until we get through Ramadan here and the rest of this when that might be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: General Casey also still holding the door open to the possibility that more U.S. troops might be needed in Iraq.
And what can we look forward to around here for the rest of today, Heidi?
Well, more briefings by top military officials. General Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, will face reports here in the Pentagon at 3:45 East Coast time -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, so we'll definitely be watching for that.
But, Barbara, what does it tell you if we talk about a little bit of a possible change in tone? Does that proceed a change in policy in Iraq?
STARR: Not likely a change in policy. That's -- that's something for people to watch as they try and puzzle their way through all of this. Policy is at the very top of the -- of the situation here, the pyramid, if you will. Policy remains the same, the ambassador said, a free, democratic, multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian democracy in Iraq, as a beacon for the Middle East.
But getting there, tactics, how to get there, is still highly problematic. Both men clearly trying to present a very calm, organized front today. But the violence does go on. And, Heidi, here's just one barometer of how tough it is in Baghdad. They are still, by U.S. military calculations, 2,000 Iraqi troops short of what they want to be. They had requested several battalions from the Iraqi Army. Only some showed up.
So they're still 2,000 short on Iraqi troops of what they hoped for inside Baghdad, where most of the violence is taking place -- Heidi.
COLLINS: CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr watching everything that is happening there for us today.
Barbara, thank you.
HARRIS: Well, the violence rages on in Iraq, where President Bush says he will no longer stay the course. The White House says that phrase won't be used anymore to describe Iraq policy.
White House correspondent Ed Henry joins us with more -- Ed, good morning.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.
As you just heard Barbara say, unlikely to have a change in policy. But you're right, a change in language from this White House. Tony Snow, the spokesman, explaining that they believe stay the course no longer accurately references exactly what the administration's approach is, that they are not staying the course, that they are constantly adapting to the enemy, adapting tactics and strategy based on facts on the ground.
So, you might ask, where did stay the course come from?
Well, it came from the president himself. He has been using that mantra over and over in recent months, using it as the counter balance to what he says is the Democratic plan, cut and run, withdraw troops from Iraq.
But that was then, this is now. Now is two weeks before the mid- term elections. Republicans are very nervous they're going to lose control of Congress, mostly because of the issue of Iraq.
So here's Tony Snow's explanation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Because it let the wrong impression about what was going on and it allowed critics to say well, here's an administration that's just embarked upon a policy, not looking at what the situation is when, in fact, it's just the opposite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, this change comes on a morning when basically the White House is now facing new pressure from a Republican senator about Iraq. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina telling the Associated Press: "We're on the verge of chaos and the current plan is not working."
When he was asked in the interview whether he believes Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or military generals like General Casey should go, should they be held accountable, Senator Graham basically said, "all of them" -- Tony.
HARRIS: Hey, Ed, I noticed there's a tent behind you there. I understand this is Radio Day at the White House. But only conservative radio hosts can play. Explain that to me.
HENRY: Well, it's a conservative talk radio summit. We already saw Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, this morning, heading over to that tent to talk to these conservative talk radio hosts.
I recall back in the Clinton administration, they had a similar event like this to promote Bill Clinton's health care plan. That didn't go so well, as you'll recall.
HARRIS: Yes.
HENRY: But he had both sides. He had talk show hosts from all across the spectrum.
The White House making no bones about the fact that they're reaching out directly to conservatives here. This is a key part of their base, not just because it's a medium that reaches their base voters, conservatives all around the country. But they need to reach these talk show hosts, directly, too.
The problem for this White House is some of these conservative talk show hosts have turned on Republicans, are complaining about the war in Iraq, complaining about runaway spending on Capitol Hill. They're disillusioned.
And so the White House is reaching out to these talk show hosts, as well as their listeners -- Tony.
HARRIS: White House correspondent Ed Henry for us.
Ed, thank you.
HENRY: Thank you.
COLLINS: A search for answers in Baghdad.
Was a U.S. soldier kidnapped or did he abandon his duties?
The U.S. military's official line is "whereabouts unknown," as American forces conduct door-to-door searches now in Baghdad. The missing soldier has not been identified. CNN has learned he is an Iraqi-American working as a translator. HARRIS: We're still checking in with Paul, Hurricane Paul. Diminished in strength just a bit -- is that correct, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It did. It was shear to part overnight. A hurricane likes to be all out there all by itself -- no wind, nothing else, no dry air, obviously. But this storm really encountered an awful lot of both. And the shear now has pushed the convection from where it was, around Socorro Island, now to the south of Cabo San Lucas. You don't have that one core, that one cell, that one eye moving around a center, you begin to lose the speed. You begin to lose the intensity, and, therefore, you begin to lose what was yesterday almost a category three hurricane.
Now down to 80 miles per hour. That's a category one. And by the time it makes landfall very close to Mazatlan, it will only be a tropical storm.
The threat here, though, is the amount of rainfall that's going to come down with this storm before it finally ends. Here is the radar from the Mexican government out of Los Cabos. There is an awful lot of rain to the south of Los Cabos; San Jose del Cabo, as well. And this rain is going to push into the western sections of continental Mexico. And there's 15,000 foot, 10,000 foot mountain peaks there, not that far from Mazatlan.
Well, now, this water that piles up here is going to run-back down to the ocean. We're going to be talking about mudslides more than anything else. Not wind damage, mudslides with this storm.
COLLINS: Yes, boy, that landscape is not going to help them out that much at all.
HARRIS: No. No.
COLLINS: Ouch.
MYERS: The topography is like that.
COLLINS: Yes.
MYERS: Yes.
COLLINS: All right, Chad.
We'll check in with you a little bit later on.
MYERS: All right.
COLLINS: Thank you.
MYERS: Sure.
The mid-term elections just two weeks away from today. Control of Congress hanging in the balance.
So, which party has a clear plan to solve the nation's problems? According to a new CNN poll, not much to brag about for either party, really.
In the survey, by Opinion Research Corporation, 38 percent of the respondents say Democrats have a clear plan; 58 percent say they don't. The GOP, 31 percent say Republicans have a clear plan; 67 percent say they don't.
And another question, which party can provide strong leadership?
Well, 63 percent of the respondents say Democrats; 49 percent say Republicans.
America's so-called broken government -- we're taking an in-depth look at that issue all week long here at CNN.
Tonight, "Two Left Feet."
Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley takes a look at the Democratic Party and its problems.
You can watch at 8:00 Eastern, only right here on CNN.
He is a faithful follower of a Montana senator. But this cameraman just doesn't want him reelected. YouTube and politics. That's coming up.
HARRIS: Youth sports and parents behaving badly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we heard was gun, gun. And I looked to the sidelines and saw the two gentlemen fighting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Consider this a wake up call for parents sitting on the sidelines.
And his name is on everyone's lips -- well, almost.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Barrack? Barrack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does he do, anything good? I never heard of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barack Obama? I never heard of him, to tell you the truth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His name is like Iraqa Impala (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: His name, Iraqa Impala? COLLINS: Oh, yes.
HARRIS: Well, could his name wind up on everyone's ballot?
That story coming up.
You are in THE NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: China shoots down reports of North Korea's nuclear apology. China's foreign ministry said today North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il did not apologize for carrying out a nuclear test earlier this month.
South Korean media had reported Kim expressed regret for the blast during a meeting with the Chinese delegation in Pyongyang last week.
China's foreign ministry does confirm at that meeting, North Korea did say it had no plans to conduct a second nuclear test.
HARRIS: Below the belt politics or showing it like it is?
Video sharing sites take campaigns to a whole new level.
CNN's Gary Tuchman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Conrad Burns is campaigning fiercely to try to keep his U.S. Senate seat.
SEN. CONRAD BURNS (R), MONTANA: I know how contagious it can be whenever -- whenever everybody gets together.
TUCHMAN: And when the Montana Republican hits the trail, he is shadowed by this man with a video camera; a man who comes faithfully to Conrad Burns' events, but who does not come with good intentions.
KEVIN O'BRIEN, TESTER CAMPAIGN EMPLOYEE: I definitely want John Tester as the next senator for Montana.
JOHN TESTER (D), SENATE CANDIDATE: I think we should talk about taxes a little bit here.
TUCHMAN: John Tester is the Democratic challenger. But Kevin O'Brien keeps his camera on Conrad Burns, hoping the three-term incumbent says something wrong or embarrassing.
BURNS: Oh, Hugo. I'll call you back, Hugo.
TUCHMAN: So he can put it for the world to see on the immensely popular video sharing Web site, YouTube. This campaign event took place in Tulsa, Montana.
BURNS: OK, that's Hugo. Hugo is a nice little Guatemalan man who's doing some painting for me in Virginia.
TUCHMAN: Terrorism was a topic at this picnic in Mile City.
BURNS: To fight this enemy that's a taxicab driver in the daytime but a killer at night.
TUCHMAN: And more of the same two days later in Butte.
BURNS: Where our kids can go to bed at night and not worry about the guy that drives a taxicab in the daytime and kills at night.
TUCHMAN: Campaign operatives are taking advantage of this new technology to try to politically harm their candidates' rivals, as Virginia Senator George Allen learned.
SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: The fellow here, over here, with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is, he's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere.
TUCHMAN: To some, the word Macaca is racially insensitive. Allen issued an apology.
Kevin O'Brien is paid by the Tester campaign. He says he's put nearly 17,000 miles on his car in less than half a year following Conrad Burns.
O'BRIEN: Sometimes I'm stunned and, you know, have to go back to the videos to make sure that my eyes and my ears weren't tricking me.
TUCHMAN: His eyes weren't tricking him when Conrad Burns started nodding off in an agriculture hearing held in Montana.
(VIDEO CLIP FROM AGRICULTURE HEARING)
TUCHMAN: This clip, with music dubbed in, has been downloaded more than 90,000 times, according to YouTube. But is this below the belt politics?
John Tester doesn't think so.
(on camera): A lot of people fall asleep. I fall asleep and I'm sure you've fallen asleep before.
Isn't that a little unfair?
TESTER: Well, that meeting was about ag policy. Montana's number one industry is agriculture. I wouldn't be falling asleep when we're talking about ag policy. It's pretty doggoned important to our economy.
TUCHMAN: Not surprisingly, Burns campaign workers don't enjoy seeing their candidate ridiculed.
BURNS: It looks like a big lunch.
TUCHMAN: But at this campaign event at a senior center, the senator and the renegade cameraman take some time to say hi to each other.
BURNS: I'm hungry, dear. I'm hungry. I get over here and there's calories and cholesterol.
TUCHMAN: Senator Burns, it seems, likes O'Brien.
BURNS: We love him. He's really a nice guy. And we have to feed him at our picnics and our dinners because I don't think the Democrats are paying him very much.
TUCHMAN (on camera): In the last Congressional election year of 2004, YouTube did not exist. So this is new territory for politicians like Conrad Burns, whose opinions about it may be shaped by whether they win or lose.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Bozeman, Montana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: His name is on everyone's lips, right?
Well, well, almost everyone's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Barrack? Barrack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does he do, anything good? I never heard of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barack Obama? I never heard of him, to tell you the truth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His name is like Iraqa Impala.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Iraqa Zimbabwe (ph).
HARRIS: That is going to be the tease of the day. I can't wait to get to the piece.
Could his name, is the question, wind up on everyone's ballot?
Jeanne Moos gets it right. That's next.
COLLINS: And we are Minding Your Business.
Andy Serwer is here now with a live preview -- hey, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Hey, Heidi.
Justice is served to Enron's Jeff Skilling.
So, how many years did he get?
We'll find out.
Stay tuned.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: He's opening the door and letting in all the buzz. Democratic Senator Barack Obama testing the waters for a White House run.
As our Jeanne Moos reports, he is the talk of the town.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN VIDEO COLUMNIST (voice-over): Barack Obama has been generating buzz from Africa to Oprah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW," COURTESY HARPO PRODUCTIONS)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: You'd be doing a little dance too if everyone were asking you...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEET THE PRESS," COURTESY NBC NEWS)
TIM RUSSERT, HOST: Are you ready to be president?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE SITUATION ROOM")
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Is it a silly question?
OBAMA: Making sure the Democrats...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're too busy to think about running for president?
MOOS: But we're not too busy to ask.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will he or won't he?
MILITARY OPERATIONS: We now have an answer, sort of. He will, maybe, possibly, someday -- maybe someday soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEET THE PRESS," COURTESY NBC NEWS)
RUSSERT: But it's fair to say you're thinking about running for president in 2008? OBAMA: It's fair, yes.
RUSSERT: It sounds as if the door has opened a bit.
OBAMA: A bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Can you imagine if he opened it all the way?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We certainly have seen a lot of him lately, haven't we?
MOOS (on camera): Too much or not enough?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know, I didn't pay attention. He certainly makes sense when he talks, which a lot of them don't.
MOOS (voice-over): Reporters love digging out those old sound bites from back when the door was closed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "MEET THE PRESS," COURTESY NBC NEWS)
RUSSERT: But, so you will not run-for president or vice president in 2008?
OBAMA: I will not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW," COURTESY HARPO PRODUCTIONS)
WINFREY: Would you announce on this show?
OBAMA: Oprah, you're my girl.
WINFREY: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: And Obama's the cover boy on "Time" magazine. It sure beats the cover a questioner displayed at Hillary's latest Senate debate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From "Time" magazine.
MOOS: That's Senator Clinton giggling. She is used to deflecting the "are you running for president question?."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I have made no decisions about any future plans.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM NY1)
CLINTON: I don't know what the future holds. I can't make a decision now.
QUESTION: But, come on, senator. You haven't thought about it at all? About running for president?
CLINTON: I didn't say that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: The Obama watch has already started churning out puns. "'She better watch her Barack."
What's next? Barack to the future?
Folks on the streets of New York seem to think he has a future.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he's awesome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he is fabulous.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Best thing since Bill Clinton.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He certainly is an attractive person and that's a pleasant change.
MOOS: Speaking of changes, when Senator Clinton proposed changing defense secretaries, getting rid of Donald Rumsfeld. Her Senate opponent fired back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM NY1)
JOHN SPENCER (R), SENATE CANDIDATE: You're not president yet, Mrs. Clinton, so do not call for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "LARRY KING LIVE")
OBAMA: There is a famous saying that every United States senator wakes up in the morning and looks in the mirror and looks at a future president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: But at least when a senator looks in the mirror...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Brixman Omen (ph)? Something like that?
MOOS: ... He knows how to say his own name.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Barrack? Barrack.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does he do, anything good? I never heard of him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barack Obama? I never heard of him, to tell you the truth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His name is like Iraqa Impala (ph).
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: I'm sorry, I just can't move on very well after that.
HARRIS: That's insane.
COLLINS: The Enron saga may finally be over now that Jeff Skilling has been sentenced.
Andy Serwer is Minding Your Business -- Andy, we all know how to say your name.
Twenty-four years here for Skilling.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Twenty-four years and four months, Heidi. That's what Jeff Skilling got yesterday from Judge Sim Lake down in Houston. And he was allowed to go home, Heidi. He wasn't sentenced right away. But he's got to wear one of those ankle bracelet monitor system. He's probably going to be starting his time in 30 to 45 days.
He was not emotional when the sentence was read and he didn't express any remorse. Part of that probably has to do with the fact that he is planning to appeal.
Basically, Skilling said outside the courtroom that a lot of bad things happened at Enron, but he's not responsible for them -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right.
Well, I'm not going to comment on that.
Did any of the famous, though, have the opportunity to give Skilling a little bit of a piece of their mind maybe?
SERWER: Yes, that was part of the sentencing. And 10 or so individuals did get a chance to speak. And some of them had extremely harsh words for Skilling, as you might imagine, calling him a liar, a thief and a drunk. You remember those public intoxication episodes over the past couple of months.
There were a couple who did speak in defense of Skilling, so that's a rather different take on things. But basically he sat there and listened to them, and not a lot of fun-for him, I would imagine.
COLLINS: All right, so what about Skilling's assets?
You know, we learned some very interesting and somewhat disheartening facts about Ken Lay. Of course, a very different situation there.
But what about his assets?
SERWER: Well, that's right. They estimate that Skilling has about $60 million worth of assets. That includes his $5 million mansion in Houston. About $45 million will go to the victims of Enron. His assets will be liquidated. That leaves about $15 million, which is going to go to his team of lawyers. And his lawyers say, though, that he owes them probably another $15 million.
Not clear where that money is going to come from. Maybe from working in the prison shop or something.
COLLINS: Oh, I don't know. That's a lot of license plates.
SERWER: But $45 million is going to go to the victims. So that's sort of how it breaks down.
COLLINS: Wow!
$15 million.
All right, Andy Serwer, thank you.
SERWER: OK, Heidi.
Thanks.
HARRIS: Three words you won't hear from the White House anymore -- a change on Iraq ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
COLLINS: Also, walk and lose -- we have results from a couple of health studies that could be just the motivation you need to get up and get going.
HARRIS: Come on.
COLLINS: Stay here. Keep it in THE NEWSROOM, everybody.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: OK. Time to get back to the New York Stock Exchange, just in time for the sounding, the ringing of the opening bell to begin the trading day at the New York Stock Exchange there. Folks from Douglas Emmett sounding the bell.
What is that company?
That is a southern California-based real estate investment trust, one of those REITs that's real popular today.
COLLINS: Show off.
HARRIS: Well, you know. I try to the best I can.
The Dow closed up, what, 104 -- there we go, the sounding of the bell.
We will check, take a look ahead to the business day with Andy Serwer a little later in the hour.
COLLINS: More time and maybe more troops. That according to the top U.S. commander in Iraq. General George Casey says Iraqi security forces will not be ready to take the lead for at least another year.
And he says he will not hesitate to ask for more troops if they are needed. Casey held a joint news conference with the U.S. ambassador to Iraq within the past couple of hours. Both men say the war can still be won.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. GEORGE CASEY, CMDR., MULTI-NATL FORCE IRAQ: Make no mistake about it, we are in a tough fight here in the center of the country and in Anbar province. But I think it's important to remind people that 90 percent of the sectarian violence in Iraq takes place in about a 30-mile radius from the center of Baghdad.
And secondly, that 90 percent of all violence takes place in five provinces. This is not a country that is awash in sectarian violence. The situation is hard, but it's not a country that's awash in sectarian violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Interesting perspective. Interesting to look at it that way, changing the message, not the strategy. The White House switch in Iraq falls short for critics. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHIT HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A stunning about-face from the White House today. The administration announcing it's throwing out its Iraq war rallying cry.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must stay the course.
We stay the course.
We will stay the course.
MALVEAUX: No more of that from Mr. Bush, his spokesman said. That message wasn't working.
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It allowed critics to say well here's an administration that has just embarked upon a policy of not looking at what the situation is, when, in fact, it's just the opposite.
MALVEAUX: It turns out, as the president explains -- BUSH: Stay the course is about a quarter right. Stay the course means keep doing what you're doing. My attitude is don't do what you are doing if it's not working. Change.
MALVEAUX: Change is exactly what Democrats and now some prominent Republicans have been calling for, as midterm elections approach.
October is now the deadliest month for U.S. troops in nearly two years and about 100 Iraqis are killed each day. The Bush administration is under tremendous political pressure to change course.
SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: I don't believe that a shift in tactics ought to wait until after the election. There are too many casualties there.
MALVEAUX: Over the weekend, the president huddled with his top generals at the White House to strategize about what to do next. The plan is to push the Iraqis to take over their own security as quickly as possible.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is appropriate to have benchmarks and milestones.
MALVEAUX: But Democrats say the administration's proposal is the height of hypocrisy.
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: We set out benchmarks, we tried to get them to accept benchmarks a year and a half ago and the president called it cutting and running. Now the president is calling for benchmarks.
MALVEAUX (on camera): But White House officials say those benchmarks are not for withdrawing U.S. troops, which they believe would be catastrophic to Iraq's future. But the truth is the distinction is largely semantic.
(voice-over): President Bush has said repeatedly, as soon as the Iraqis can protect themselves, U.S. troops will be able to come home.
NORMAN ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: It's a non- denial denial. It's clear that they're sending a signal that they're changing the course now, not staying the course.
MALVEAUX: While the White House says it has abandoned that stay the course message, its strategy remains the same.
SNOW: Are there dramatic shifts in policy? The answer is no.
MALVEAUX: And some critics say that's exactly the problem.
FRED KAGAN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: Because this is the same strategy that's produced so much failure so far.
MALVEAUX: And the strategy has resulted in falling poll numbers, both for the president and those in Congress who supported him. They face voters in two weeks, voters who say Iraq is their number one issue.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: I want to go ahead and get back to Chad Myers now, at the weather center. We're looking at the northeast, best I can tell.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: It's the return of the gift.
COLLINS: I love my partner.
HARRIS: Still to come, youth sports and parents behaving badly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we heard was gun, gun and I looked to the sidelines and saw --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A wake-up call for parents sitting on the sidelines. That story is straight ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Candy Crowley. What's up with Democrats? Why do they keep losing elections? It's part of our broken government series. I will have a preview coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: The midterm elections just two weeks from today, control of Congress hanging in the balance. So which party has a clear plan to solve the nation's problems? Well, according to a new CNN poll, not much to brag about for either party really.
In a survey by Opinion Research Corporation 38 percent of the respondents say Democrat have a clear plan, 58 percent say they do not. For the GOP, 31 percent say the Republicans have a clear plan, 67 percent say they do not.
Another question, which party can provide strong leadership? Sixty three percent of the respondents say Democrats. Forty nine percent say Republicans.
The Democratic party, on the outside looking in. The party hasn't controlled Congress for 12 years. Well, the White House in Republican hands since the 2000 election. So what are the Democrats doing wrong and how do they win over skeptical voters? CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley looked into a North Carolina race where a six term Republican congressman faces a challenge from a political new comer, Democrat Heath Shuler. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CROWLEY: Are you a Nancy Pelosi Democrat?
HEATH SHULER (D), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: You know, I don't like to classify.
CROWLEY (voice-over): Washington liberal does not play well in North Carolina conservative. It is part of why over the past three decades, southern and rural, mostly white Democrats have looked inside the National Democratic Party and gone elsewhere.
BRUCE REED, DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP COUNCIL: Our biggest problem is that of late we've been losing elections.
CROWLEY: What is wrong with these people? From Virginia to Montana to Georgia, crack open a Democrat and they will tell you, it's the wussy factor.
MAX CLELAND (D), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: You have got to lance that bubble. I mean, you know, it's been a narrative for the Republicans for decades now, kind of an underlying narrative against the Democrats, that they're soft on communism, and not soft on terrorism.
CROWLEY: It's the culture
DAVID "MUDCAT" SAUNDERS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: The culture is the reason the Democrats have been losing elections. It has nothing to do with policy. It has to do with culture.
CROWLEY: It's the guns.
GOV. BRIAN SCHWEITZER (D), MONTANA: People ask me how many guns I have, I tell them none of your damn business and I tell them not as many as I would like.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This used to be an awful strong Democratic community right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it still is. I think it still is.
CROWLEY: If his journey is to end in Washington, Heath Shuler needs 11th district Democrats to come home.
SHULER: That's why we have to do a good job of being in a district like this, where they can talk and they can spread the word and say, you know, he's not like some of the national Democrats, you know. He's one of us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: America's so-called broken government. We are taking an in-depth look at that issue all week long, right here on CNN. Tonight, two left feet. And our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley joining us now. She's taking a look at the Democratic party and its problems. Candy tell me, how tough is it for Democrats like Shuler to actually win in the south?
CROWLEY: Well, they do win, obviously, not on the national level. In the last two elections, Gore and Kerry, they didn't win a single southern state. So obviously on a national level it's a problem. What you are seeing in Democrats like Heath Shuler, more and more, is a Democrat that breaks the template. He is anti-abortion. He is pro gun rights. He is anti-gay marriage.
So there are a number of things -- and it's particularly on social issues, where Democrats are breaking from the party template in order to speak to their own conservative constituencies.
COLLINS: But you have spoken with a lot of Democrats. What did they tell you is their biggest problem, the biggest challenge in actually winning an election?
CROWLEY: Really, it all comes down to the fact that you do have a party that cannot win on liberal votes alone. They have to have conservative Democrats. They have to have moderates. So, it's that juggling act between keeping the liberal core of the party, and that is the people who are most reliably able to show up at the voting polls, and the moderates and the conservative Democrats, who can swing to the Republican party pretty easily. They haven't been able to put together that majority.
COLLINS: Well, if Democrats make gains in this election, does that mean that that trend of losing could be over?
CROWLEY: Well, we'll see. You know, everybody looks to at least some minimal gains by Democrats this year, but all the Democrats I have talked to -- we talked to a lot of them over the past month -- said, listen, if we win this year, it's not because we're getting it together. It's because Republicans are falling apart. So, not a true test at this point. It's really something that takes place over a couple of election cycles.
COLLINS: And again, I always go back to, what is it, 40 to 60 percent of Americans do not vote.
CROWLEY: Exactly, exactly. They need something that really gets them out there. I mean, if there is a really electric candidate, you see more people come out. But, you know, it's a pretty poor voting record when you look at the raw numbers.
COLLINS: All right, CNN's Candy Crowley. Candy, thank you for that.
Also want to remind everybody once again, America's so called Broken Government, an in-depth look here at CNN, this issue. Tonight, Two Left Foot. Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, takes a look at our Democratic party and its problems. That will come your way 8:00 Eastern, something you will see only on CNN.
HARRIS: Ohio, a key path to President Bush's re-election. Two years later, a mine field for some Republicans.
CNN's Joe Johns charts the changing political landscape.
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JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For years, marketers have come here to Ohio to test new products. Politicians, pollsters and pundits also come here to take the pulse of the nation. And what they've learned, as Halloween looms, is that these are very scary times for Republicans.
Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican Congressman, just pleaded guilty to corruption charges.
Another GOP representative, Debra Price, who once counted disgraced Congressman Mark Foley as a friend, is now in trouble, largely because of that friendship.
GOP Senator Mike Dewine is having an especially tough time. The national party has turned its attention elsewhere, to races it considers more competitive. And there's the governor here, Republican Bob Taft. He pleaded no contest to misdemeanor ethics violations. It adds up to something akin to a House of Horrors for conservatives.
DAVE ZANOTTI, AMERICAN POLICY ROUNDTABLE: They're embarrassed about what's happened in the Taft administration and they are stumbling over it. They don't see anything happening on the national or state ticket to sort of cleanse that out and purge that out and move forward.
JOHNS (on camera): Call it the fear factor. Scandal, plus the war in Iraq and the administration's handling of it, is scaring Republicans to the point that they fear losing control of the House or the Senate, so much so that there's already finger-pointing.
(voice-over): Former House majority leader Dick Armey is even questioning what once seemed sacred.
DICK ARMEY, FORMER HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: The religious right has pushed our party very hard in recent years to use the power of big government in a more expansive way, to start dictating the terms of morality and righteous behavior in the country. It is antithetical to the history of our party that we use the power of the government to impose standards of conduct on the individual.
JOHNS: Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, a darling of the right back in the day, sees a failure of leadership.
BOB BARR, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: And the concern that the Republicans seem to have, and what they are sort of portraying to the country, is a party that cares more about simply staying in office than doing the right thing, the exciting thing for the conservative base that brought them to power in the first place.
JOHNS: Still, some Republicans are hoping for a Halloween trick. CHARLES BLACK, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: By rallying our voters to turn out here during the last two weeks of the election, we can win majority control of both houses.
JOHNS: Maybe, or maybe that's false optimism when polls show Democrats, especially in House races, seemingly pulling ahead. What's clearest right now is that despite all the obstacles, Republicans still have a tremendous ability to get out their vote.
Here in Ohio, for example, while the Democrat Sherrod Brown enjoys a big lead in the polls, Republican organizers say they have been working on overdrive to get Republican voters to turn out and they are more confident than ever they will succeed.
So at the epicenter of political pulse taking, Republicans in Ohio believe in their ability to organize the right voters to get out on election day, but they also worry about the defections of so many spooked conservatives, a scary moment in this election season.
Joe Johns, CNN, Columbus, Ohio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And still ahead, top Democratic and Republican officials and which party they think stands to best control one of -- or maybe even both of the houses of Congress.
COLLINS: Would more U.S. troops mean more targets? U.S. military commanders looking for a better solution in Iraq. That's ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
HARRIS: And we're minding your business. Andy Serwer here with a preview. Good morning, Andy.
SERWER: Good morning Tony. Another day, another record on Wall Street. We'll check in on the stock market. Plus if you were going to put your name on U.S. currency, would you use your nickname or your full name? Stay tuned. You're in THE NEWSROOM.
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HARRIS: Here's a wake-up call for parents. It comes from Philadelphia, where police say a dad pulled a gun on his son's football coach because his son wasn't getting enough playing time. The age of the kids, five and six. Here's an eyewitness.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All we heard was gun, gun. And I looked to the sidelines, and saw the two gentlemen fighting. And I turned and got all the kids off the field. And I -- I said, boys, let's go this way. I got them all down. I said, get down on the ground.
HARRIS: No shots were fired. The father was fired with assault and endangerment.
Warren Buffett is a happy man this morning. Shares in his company hit a major milestone. But first a look at stocks overall.
Andy Serwer is here minding your business. Hi Andy.
(MARKET REPORT)
COLLINS: Iraqi boys still waiting for their policemen father to come home from work, but he will not be back, just one of 4,000 tragedies. We'll tell you the story coming up in THE NEWSROOM.
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COLLINS: The end of Ramadan, a time of celebration for most Muslims, but a time of mourning for too many Iraqi families. This is just one story from CNN's Arwa Damon.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Policeman Mohammed al-Moshhadanni (ph) left his home at 8:00 a.m. four days into Ramadan. An hour and a half later, his body was found dumped next to a kindergarten just outside his neighborhood.
GHANIYE NASIR, VICTIM'S MOTHER (through translator): They dumped him on the sidewalk. Pouring blood, they shot him here and here and here, pouring blood and dead, in the streets.
DAMON: No one knows why he was killed. All the family knows is their grief.
NASIR: It's too hard. It's hard. He's gone. I will never find anyone like him. My son, a part of my heart is gone. He's worth millions. He's my soul.
DAMON: Saher mourning veil hides her tears, but nothing can hide her pain. Muhammad was her childhood sweetheart. Theirs was a marriage that bridged sectarian divides. His family, Sunni. Hers, Shia.
SAHER SABEH, VICTIM'S WIFE: For three days I was in shock. I only knew how to breathe. What are my children's crimes? Their father is gone.
DAMON: Holidays and celebrations will never be the same. Five- year-old Yussef and two-year-old Hassan are too young to understand what happened to their father.
From the little one's perspective, Eid (ph), which marks the end of Ramadan, still means time at the park with the neighborhood kids.
Residents say safe enough, thanks to the Mahdi Militia pulling security. Militias and toy guns, just a part of Iraqi society. This year, daddy is not here to catch Yussef at the bottom of the slide, push him on the swing, or carry Hassan around.
SABAH: My older son still asks me why isn't daddy back from work. He asks me, where is daddy? And the little one, he still does not sleep because he is used to his father sleeping next to him.
DAMON: Hassan still runs after cars he thinks are his father coming home.
SABAH: It's like I'm looking at him when I'm looking at his children. I was always affectionate with him, but now, even more.
DAMON: Ghaniye has buried her son. Saher will live without her husband. The boys will grow up without their father. Some 4,000 Iraqi policemen were killed in the past two years. Mohammed al- Moshhadanni is one of them.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
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