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U.S. Soldier Feared Kidnapped; Top Commander Has Hopes for Iraq Exit; Radio Talk Show Hosts Hold Summit at White House; Can Democrats Get Elected?

Aired October 24, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
DON LEMON, CO-HOST: And I'm Don Lemon. Violence in Baghdad. Now near fears. An American soldier is kidnapped. We're live in Iraq with details on that search.

PHILLIPS: Preying on the most vulnerable. Ambulances dumping patients on Skid Row. The LAPD goes undercover. We'll investigate.

LEMON: And he was missing for more than a month. Now newly reunited with his family. We'll talk about Jeff Ingram's rare form of amnesia with his mother, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A tragic Tuesday in and around Baghdad. More roadside bombings. Another U.S. soldier killed. More gruesome discoveries. And a missing U.S. soldier feared kidnapped.

CNN's Michael Ware is there.

Michael, let's begin with the soldier. Fill us in on the search.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Kyra, what the situation is, is at about 2:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon was the last time this soldier, an interpreter for a provincial reconstruction team here in Baghdad, was seen.

Now, it's believed he's an Iraqi-American. So it's believed he was going to visit his family. He was reported missing at 7:30 p.m. on Monday evening. A relative who was at the house where it's said he was abducted told the story that three vehicles pulled up with masked gunmen who handcuffed the soldier and took him away.

That's when an operation was activated and General Thurman, the commander who owns Baghdad and the 4th Infantry Division, searched house to house in the area where it's believed he was taken, including a TV station and a mosque connected to one of Iraq's key Shia political factions. Now that search continues.

We've seen this happen before when American soldiers have been taken. Andrew Maupin, some years ago, and to a lesser extent, pilots from downed helicopters and other incidents, and I hate to say it, but history does not bode well here if these facts are true, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And we talked actually Matt Maupin. We have talked a lot about him and the fact that he hasn't been found yet, Michael. Meanwhile, still no letup in the violence.

WARE: No, absolutely not. We have five dead in Baghdad, five Iraqi civilians, from bombings. We have the death of another American soldier here in Baghdad today, bringing this month's total to 91. That easily puts it as the deadliest month in Iraq this year.

And it's certainly, if it continues this way, with almost a week left to go this month, it could make the top three of the worst months in Iraq since the war began. So it really is a chilling month for U.S. troops, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Michael Ware, live from Baghdad, thanks.

LEMON: Well, here's a question. More time or more troops? A top U.S. general in Iraq and Washington's ambassador to that country say one is definitely needed. The other possibly. Let's get the latest from CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

Barbara, any words of optimism from the two men?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, clearly today the message was quite different than last week when General Caldwell talked about the violence being disheartening and saying that the Baghdad security plan was not meeting expectations.

Today, General Casey, Ambassador Khalilzad, definitely sending the message that they do have a plan, they have ideas, they're working, they have a way ahead on all of this.

On the question of more time, General Casey saying he hopes that Iraqis' forces can take over security in 12 to 18 months, but on the question of more troops, he wasn't quite so definitive. There was a bit of a maybe about all of it. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. GEORGE CASEY, COMMANDER, IRAQ MULTINATIONAL FORCE: I'm not going to get into specifics about what we're going to do with the Baghdad security plan because I don't necessarily want to telegraph what we're getting ready to do here with the enemy.

That said, I think you can expect us to continue to hold on to the focus areas with the Iraqi security forces and to follow through on what we're trying to do here on the build phase, to put -- to help with the basic -- certainly improve basic services for the population of Baghdad.

Now, do we need more troops to do that? Maybe. And as I've said all along, if we do, I will ask for the troops I need, both coalition and Iraqis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: So keep in mind what General Casey's really saying there: maybe more U.S. troops, maybe more Iraqi troops. But more Iraqi troops might be quite a problem. Because already the request for Iraqi troops to show up in Baghdad to deal with the violence hasn't been fully met by Iraqis. They're about 2,000 Iraqis short of what the U.S. requested.

And to follow up on my colleague Michael Ware in Baghdad, on the issue of this missing soldier, perhaps one of greatest mysteries at the moment is if all of this is what exactly did transpire, why was a U.S. soldier moving around Baghdad by himself?

Because of this very type of security threat, no troops go out on their own. Certainly not individually, at least with a buddy. Very strict rules about moving around outside of any U.S. military encampment.

So still a lot of mystery about what has happened to that soldier, Don.

LEMON: Yes, Barbara, that is a very good question. But I've got to ask you something. We've heard the administration and the military say all along no timetable when it comes to Iraq. No timetable. Now they're saying 12 to 18 months. It seems to be a timetable, by anyone's estimate.

STARR: Well, let's be clear, what General Casey is saying is that he hopes within 12 to 18 months he can see Iraqis take over their security. But General Casey, of course, reminded everybody that his own projection in the past, that he would begin to be able to draw down U.S. troops by the end of this year, did not come to pass.

All of this, they always say, is based on conditions on the ground, and certainly we have seen, over the last many months, those conditions have deteriorated in an awful lot of places where this sectarian violence has really taken hold.

So General Casey giving perhaps an estimate of his hope rather than a timetable exactly.

LEMON: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you very much, Barbara.

PHILLIPS: Three words you'll never -- well, you'll no longer hear from the White House, stay the course. With the violence raging in Iraq, the Bush administration is reviewing its policies and talking strategy with some of America's most heard voices, who are broadcasting from the White House lawn today.

Our White House correspondent Ed Henry is there, too -- Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon. Kyra, that's right, a lot of radio talk show hosts here, the White House trying to get their message out, various administration officials fanning out and talking to them, just two weeks before the election.

The president himself, though, is not here. He just arrived in Sarasota, Florida. He's doing some Republican fund raising in the final two weeks here. That is the backdrop, those upcoming midterm elections, the backdrop for that language shift that you mentioned. White House press secretary Tony Snow saying the president will no longer say that the U.S. is staying the course in Iraq. They say that there's a real strategic reason for that, a substantive reason, which is that they do not believe that's accurate anymore, because they say U.S. officials, military commanders on the ground are constantly shifting strategy to stay ahead of the insurgents.

But obviously, there's also a political reason for this two weeks out before the midterm elections. Republicans very worried about losing control of Congress. Mostly because of the issue of Iraq. And they certainly don't want to be in a position anymore of defending a status quo position, which it does not look like the voters want.

Democrats, as you can see, are using that status quo position in a lot of their campaign ads, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, let's talk about this radio summit. We're actually going to talk with our Glenn Beck on Headline Prime about this. He was there. He was broadcasting from there. What do you make of the timing and the interaction and why this took place now?

HENRY: Well, I can tell you, this morning, some Democrats started calling me from Capitol Hill, saying that they thought it was odd to them that this was happening two weeks before the election, that it's mostly conservative radio talk show hosts, that this is a clear attempt by the administration to get their message out to their conservative base voters, and they're using federal property to do it.

White House officials say, look, this has been done before. It's been done by this White House, it was done by the Clinton White House. You'll remember about 1993, they brought radio talk show hosts in to try to sell their health care plan. That didn't exactly work out, that salesmanship.

So the White House obviously hoping this sales pitch works better. And it's not just about getting to those conservative radio listeners. It's getting to the conservative talk show hosts. There are some liberal hosts here, as well here. Mostly conservative hosts.

But some of these conservative hosts who are normally reading from the same song sheet, if you will, as the White House. Right now very frustrated with this White House, particularly on the issue of Iraq. So this is also outreach from the White House to try to get them back on board, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed Henry at the White House, thanks, Ed.

HENRY: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And as we just talked about broadcasting from the White House today, talk radio show host -- talk radio show host. That's a lot. That's a big title, Glenn Beck from CNN Headline Prime, got to get that title in there, too. He's going to join us live ahead on the NEWSROOM. He's always got an opinion on these issues. We'll talk to him about what it was like to broadcast from there and how he asked the tough questions. LEMON: A lot of tongue twisters.

PHILLIPS: That's right.

LEMON: Let's move on now.

There may be finally some good news on the North Korea nuclear crisis. China's foreign ministry is confirming reports that North Korea says it has no plans, no plans, for another nuclear test.

A spokesman says North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il gave the word in a meeting with the Chinese official last week. And on another issue, reports that Kim said he regretted North Korea's test -- first test last month, well, China says that never happened.

PHILLIPS: Unraveling the Foley House page scandal. A House Ethics panel continues its work behind closed doors today. The House Republican campaign chairman, Tom Reynolds, is testifying. The New York Congressman has said that he warned the speaker of the House last spring about Foley and his behavior toward House pages.

Foley, a Florida Republican, resigned after instant messages he traded with a page and they became public.

House speaker Dennis Hastert is expected to sit down with the ethics panel later this week. He's said -- or he has said that he doesn't remember getting Reynolds' warning about Foley's behavior.

LEMON: It's coming fast. There's only two weeks left until the midterm elections. Can the Democrats avoid political potholes along the last stretch of the campaign trail? We're checking it all out, ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, 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, actually. In the survey by Opinion Research Corporation, 38 percent say Democrats have a clearer plan; 58 percent say they don't.

For the GOP, it's even worse: 31 percent say the Republicans have a clear plan; 67 percent say they don't.

Now another question, which party can provide strong leadership? Sixty-three percent say Democrats; 49 percent say Republicans.

What's in a name? If that name is followed by a "D" for Democrat, well, it means a lot of political baggage. Out of power in Congress for 12 years, the Democrats are not only on the campaign trail; they're on the defensive.

CNN's Candy Crowley calls it the two left feet syndrome, as she focuses on a race in North Carolina pitting an eight-term Republican against Democratic newcomer Heath Shuler.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Are you and Nancy Pelosi Democrat?

HEATH SHULER (D), NORTH CAROLINA 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'll tell you, it's the wussy factor.

MAC CLELAND (D), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: You got to lance that bubble. I mean, 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 had 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'd like.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This used to be an awful strong Democratic community here.

SHULER: I think it still is. I think it still is.

CROWLEY: If his journey's to end in Washington, Heath Shuler needs 11 district Democrats to come home.

SHULER: That's what 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)

PHILLIPS: Candy Crowley now joins us live.

OK, Candy, the wussy factor, did you coin that one? That comes from one of the characters in that piece? I just want to know.

CROWLEY: Well, you know, it's been variously called the wimp factor, the wus factor, the wussy factor. Somebody -- it didn't even strike me as odd, but I met somebody coming up in the elevator, and they said, "Only you could get away with that." And I thought, you know, because I've heard it so much in political circles, I guess it didn't strike me as, you know, particularly funny.

PHILLIPS: Well, you always lay it out there. It's true: you can get by with anything, Candy. What do you think about Democrats now? Does it look like they're getting their act together?

CROWLEY: Well, you know this is not a fair test, 2006. Because we talked to nothing but Democrats for this hour-long thing tonight, and when I said, "So you know, are you getting it together?"

And they said, "Look, there are signs. I mean, we understand what we've done wrong." But 2006 is a weighted test. This isn't about Democrats getting it together; it's about Republicans falls apart.

PHILLIPS: Well what do you think? Are they making inroads in the south?

CROWLEY: Well, I think Heath Shuler is an interesting example. Win or not win, he is the only kind of Democrat that could have run in that district, which, as you heard, is -- there's more Democrats registered than Republicans in the 11th District, but the Democrats vote Republican, because it's very conservative.

So he's sort of a southern Democrat in this sense: he's very conservative on social issues. He is anti-abortion. He is pro-second rights on the guns. So there are a number of things where he's kind of outside party orthodoxy. But he says, "Look, this is about the district. This is about reflecting the people that I would represent."

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about interesting characters. You mentioned Shuler. Interesting, but -- and it's not just because I love his name. Mudcat Saunders. You found him to be quite an interesting individual as you worked on this.

CROWLEY: He is, and this someone else that's sort of well known in Democratic circles and political circles. And you heard him talking about the culture.

He's sort of a rural voter expert. And he's advised a number of Democratic candidates along the way. And saying, look, you've got to respect the rural culture.

So when we went out to talk to him, you know, we went -- you know, NASCAR, and we heard bluegrass, and you know, we watched him bow hunt. And we watched him, you know, all sorts of sort of rural things.

And he said, you know, he talks about the metropolitan opera wing of the Democratic Party, and it's that sort of elitist feel that sometimes Democrats -- that sometimes people think Democrats put across.

So he's -- he's really good on the rural vote and how Democrats, while they can't be, all of them, of rural America, they need to respect it. And he thinks in that way rural voters will come home.

PHILLIPS: I can never pass up a chance to talk about Nancy Pelosi with you. The picture that's circulating now, of course, all over the Internet is holding this whip. Let's talk about the Pelosi factor.

CROWLEY: Well, as you know, she is in any number of commercials. She's in a commercial there in the 11th District. This is a Nancy Pelosi Democrat. And it -- what it stands for is a liberal, San Francisco representative. She is one of the more liberal members of the House.

My guess is, though, and Republicans are sort of using it as a, "Boy, the liberals are going to take over." You have to remember that between the end of this election and beginning of the 2008 election, Congress will be table-setting for the presidential race.

I think that forces and political forces and the fact that she will be speaker as opposed to just -- or should be speaker, I mean there will be a vote obviously, but everybody believes she'll be speaker, that she will be sort of pulled to the middle, in the sense that Democrats know that most of America is to the right of Nancy Pelosi, even though Nancy Pelosi will end up being speaker.

So she's got a job that's larger than representing San Francisco. And a lot of people feel that, in fact, she will moderate her tone once she becomes, if she becomes, speaker.

PHILLIPS: Candy Crowley, always great talking to you.

All right. Tonight, our CNN special series, "Broken Government", continues. This evening, our own Candy Crowley. She examines why Democratic candidates have had a hard time getting elected. "Two Left Feet" airs at 8 p.m. Eastern and again at 11 p.m. Eastern.

LEMON: All right, Kyra. Down and out of luck, out of hope, out of just about everything. We're talking about Skid Row. And ahead in the NEWSROOM, a dark tour of Skid Row in Los Angeles and how so many wind up dumped in such a desperate place.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: There are a couple of health stories we want to make note of today. The first one about walking and weight. Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh studied 209 middle aged people, all of whom were 15 to 29 pounds overweight.

After 18 months of study, here's what they found. Those who walked 40 minutes or more daily lost about seven pounds. People who didn't exercise regularly gained seven pounds. PHILLIPS: Well, in health news for women, a link between how much women weigh and how well they'll handle ovarian cancer. A study shows that overweight or obese women with ovarian cancer far worse than patients -- or fare worse, rather, than patients who have a more normal weight.

One of the study's researchers says this is just one more reason women should work to keep off those extra pounds.

LEMON: There's also news for smokers trying to recover from lung cancer. Drugs used to lower cholesterol, known as statin drugs, well, they may slow damage that smoking does to the lungs.

Researchers have released study results showing that current and former smokers who used the statin drugs lost less of their lung's ability to function than those who didn't use statins.

PHILLIPS: Well, we've been telling you expensive Google shares have gotten recently. But they're not even close to the most expensive stock on Wall Street.

Susan Lisovicz live from the New York Stock Exchange.

First, we regretted not buying enough Google. Now what's the next stock that we need to regret not putting all our money into, Susan?

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, unraveling the Foley page scandal. Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House, just entered behind closed doors just a few minutes ago. There's a tape turnaround for you. He's getting ready to set down with the ethics panel to discuss what takes place next with regard to Congressman Foley and what he and others knew about his relationship with young pages on the Hill. We're following the hearings. And if anybody steps to the mic after testifying, we, of course, will bring it to you live.

Now, let's get straight to the newsroom. T.J. Holmes working details on a developing story.

T.J., what do you have?

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, this is a story, of course, we are following here in the NEWSROOM yesterday, the developments. Two police officers shot, one killed in Alabama. Specifically Fairfield, Alabama, yesterday. Well, we're now hearing from police that they do have the three suspects they were looking for, do have them all now in custody.

This was a developing story from yesterday. A police officer, 48-year-old Mary Smith, responded to a suspicious vehicle in a neighborhood. Police believe there was an attempted burglary going on. Officer Smith was shot in the chest. She later died at the hospital. Another officer who came to back her up was also shot in the thigh. He is expected to be OK.

But police caught two suspects yesterday. And today, they say, the third that they were seeking in the shooting death of Officer Smith has turned himself in. His name has been released. Demetrius Avery Jackson Jr. of Jefferson County, a 21-year-old. A third suspect they were after, but they do say he has turned himself in. A tough story here.

This was an officer, Mary Smith, who had actually retired from one department, from the Birmingham department, just two months ago, and had joined this other department here in Fairfield. And just two months on the job at this new department, she was shot and killed. But, again, now police are saying they do have the three suspects they were looking for, all in custody.

PHILLIPS: Good news. Thanks, T.J.

LEMON: And all right, T.J. and Kyra, caught on videotape and headed for trouble. Los Angeles officials have launched a criminal investigation into the practice of dumping homeless people on Skid Row. Can you turn that volume down please a little bit please back here? On Skid Row. That happened over the weekend. Now L.A. police say they spotted five ambulances that allegedly left hospital patients on Skid Row after they'd been discharged. The patients later said they hadn't wanted to go downtown. Now police want to know if the patients were falsely imprisoned during their transfer and whether L.A.'s Metropolitan Medical Center violated any laws regarding patient treatment.

Now, a little context here. The county claims more than 90,000 homeless, more than three times the amount of New York City. Many of them end up on Skid Row, one of the meanest streets L.A. has to offer.

CNN's Randi Kaye recently spent a week there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is not just another story about homelessness. This is the story of Skid Row...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (SINGING): We're at war.

KAYE: ... the darkest, most desperate 50-block stretch in the country. It looks and feels like the third world. But this is downtown Los Angeles, the United States of America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody cares about us. Throw them some food. Give them some clothes. They take the desire for you to want to do anything. They take it out. You lose this.

KAYE: On any given night more than 2,000 homeless sleep on the streets of Skid Row, a human wasteland.

We had two deaths in the Porta-Potty. One, some lady got her throat slit. The other guy OD'd.

KAYE: Drugs are easier to buy on Skid Row than a loaf of bread. Addicts sleep wherever they pass out and feast on the high.

CAPT. ANDREW SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPT.: It amazes me sometimes, honestly, that in 21st century America we have a place like this.

KAYE: Captain Smith has seen his share of drugs and violence.

SMITH: A little narcotics transaction going on here.

KAYE: But what he saw one night in September really alarmed him.

SMITH: I saw an outside agency dropping off an individual who didn't live in this area.

Who's this guy?

KAYE: It's been rumored for decades that Skid Row's population is rising because other communities and agencies in L.A. County are unloading their unwanted, dumping their homeless, mentally ill drug addicted on the streets of Skid Row.

Out on patrol, Captain Smith says he saw two L.A. County sheriff's deputies drop off a man he described as confused.

SMITH: I watched them pull to the curb, open the door, and take a hand-cuffed prisoner out, unhandcuff him, hand him a bag of his property and begin to leave. So I, of course, stopped him and tried to figure out what was gong on.

KAYE: Smith says the man told him he had not requested to be dropped downtown, but a spokesman for the sheriff told CNN the man just released from jail had requested food and shelter, both available on Skid Row. The spokesman said deputies did not dump that man or anyone else.

According to Smith, Skid Row offers more social services than all 13 western states combined: food, shelter, medicine, even prenatal care. It's a unique setup born from good intentions, but critics now worry the free handouts are leading to dumping.

ORLANDO WARD, THE MIDNIGHT MISSION: I had a guy in our courtyard three days ago. He had a hospital gown on. He had -- the IV was still attached. So I went and asked him. I said, "How did you get down here?" And he said that the ambulance dropped him off a couple of blocks down in front of a mission.

I said, "Well, did you go in?" And he goes, "Well, they just dropped me off."

MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (D), LOS ANGELES: A great city can't be a place where we're leaving so many people behind.

KAYE: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says dumping has been going on for years.

Captain Smith's 145 officers can hardly make headway here. The streets are unsafe. San Julian Street, otherwise known as "Heroin Alley," is like a giant block party where everyone brings an illegal drug.

WARD: It's a cultural genocide. We're losing a whole -- whole generation of people to this despair and ultimately death.

KAYE: The same society that's allowing people to live on Skid Row is also allowing them to die on Skid Row. That is no way to fix the problem.

Randi Kaye, CNN on Skid Row in Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, making a run for the border. Mexican drug cartels fighting for turf and earning mucho dinero in the United States. That's coming up from the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And he's a faithful of a Montana senator, but this cameraman doesn't want him reelected. YouTube and politics. That's ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: That's right, 14 days to Election Day. The president is out campaigning. Live pictures now out of Sarasota, Florida. He's helping campaign for Vern Buchanan running for a seat in Sarasota. Vern Buchanan up against Christine Jennings, a Sarasota banker. We're monitoring the president's comments, see if he talks about other issues in addition to what he's doing there in Florida.

LEMON: Katherine Harris's old seat, isn't it?

PHILLIPS: There you go.

LEMON: Below the belt politics, or is it 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 NATIONAL 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 next senator for Montana.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we should talk about taxes a little bit.

TUCHMAN: John Tester is the Democratic challenger. Kevin O'Brien keeps his camera on Conrad Burns, hoping the three-term incumbent says something wrong or embarrassing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll call 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 mountain 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 candidate's rivals, as Virginia Senator George Allen learned.

SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: The guy over here in 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 agriculture hearing held in Montana. 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.

TESTER: A lot of people fall asleep. I'm sure you fall asleep before. TUCHMAN: Is that a little unfair?

TESTER: That meeting was about meat policy. Montana's No. 1 industry is agriculture. I wouldn't be falling asleep when we're talking about a policy that's 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 the 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 very much.

TUCHMAN (on camera): In the last congressional election in 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)

LEMON: And Gary Tuchman, part of the best political team on television. Catch more of his reports on "ANDERSON COOPER 360," "A.C. 360" airs weeknights at 10:00 Eastern.

PHILLIPS: So who knew what about Mark Foley and who did they tell? Another leading Congressional Republican faces the House Ethics committee. Details from the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Let's go straight to the Hill. Andrea Koppel joining us, talking more about the Foley fallout. The speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, right now testifying before the ethics committee.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. Until just a few moments ago, it was kept hush hush. The big question, of course, is whether top Republican leaders including Speaker Hastert were involved in some kind of cover-up over the Foley matter.

We know that Hastert has maintained that he first learned about those Foley e-mails last month when ABC News broke the story. And it said that he would fire any of his aides if they had been involved in any of a cover-up.

We also know that top Republican, including the House Majority Leader John Boehner and Tom Reynolds, the Congressman from New York who just testified this morning, had said that they both told Dennis Hastert about these e-mails last spring. That's months before Hastert has said he knew anything about this.

Now Reynolds, when he left the ethics committee after testifying for a couple of hours, made a statement on camera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. TOM REYNOLDS (R), NEW YORK: I want to thank the members of the committee today for taking time to meet with me. I was happy to voluntarily do my part to assist in their inquiry and answer any questions they had.

Earlier this month, I had several opportunities to answer your questions and tell you what I know. But the committee has asked us not to share the substance of our discussion. I would only add a full and fair investigation of the facts is vital to ensuring the continued integrity of this institution, which is why I strongly encourage any of my colleagues who have information that may be of relevance to bring it to the committee's attention at once.

Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL: Now, when this four-member bipartisan ethics committee launched its investigation a few weeks back, Kyra, they said the investigation would last weeks, not months. But the only date that Republicans and even Democrats care about right now is November 7th, and whether or not this committee will be able to wrap up and reach any kind of conclusion between now and then -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll continue to track it. Andrea Koppel, thanks so much.

LEMON: Slaughtered on the side of a Florida highway, a young family has been buried together in a single grave. A mariachi band played mournful songs as the caskets were brought to a Texas cemetery. Jose and Yessica Escobedo and their two young sons were killed almost two weeks ago. They'd been forced from their SUV on a Florida turnpike and shot.

The Saint Lucie County Sheriff's Office is still seeking tips from the public. If you know anything about this case, they're asking you to call them. That number is 772-462-3230.

PHILLIPS: Well, billions of dollars in illegal drug money is fueling the Mexican economy. No one, it seems, can stop it at this point, too. The Mexican government blames the United States for the problem.

Here's CNN's Casey Wian. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): An out-of-control turf war between Mexican drug cartels is devastating both sides of the border. Fueling the battles, billions of dollars in drug trafficking proceeds that by some estimates now top oil and remittances sent home by Mexicans living in the United States as a source of foreign revenue for Mexico.

REP. MIKE MCCAUL (R), TEXAS: The drug cartels with military- grade weapons, technology and intelligence, and their own paramilitary enforcers. They have vast networks of dedicated criminals with the ability to distribute large shipments of drugs.

WIAN: The White House Office of National Drug Control policy estimates Mexican drug traffickers receive about $14 billion a year in illegal drug sales to the United States. But the DEA says up to $25 billion in drug money crosses the U.S.-Mexico border annually. And that doesn't even count the money made from middleman and end user transactions.

Mexican drug money is a hot issue at this week's meeting of Southwestern U.S. border sheriffs in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

SHERIFF TODD GARRISON, DONA ANA COUNTY, NM: We have had an increase over the last couple of years with methamphetamines and different drugs to that type. I mean, they're coming more from Mexico than being created over here. It's cheaper to bring them across.

We had -- I had a meeting with the Mexican council just the other day. And, I mean, that's -- those are concerns on both sides of the border.

WIAN: Eighty percent of the methamphetamines, 70 to 90 percent of the cocaine, and most of the marijuana smuggled into the United States comes from Mexico. Now Mexican drug cartels are planting millions of marijuana plants on public land in the United States. DEA officials say Mexican drug cartels are spreading throughout the United States, as far north as New York.

Yet, at a conference in Mexicali this month, Mexican president Vicente Fox again blamed drug users in the United States for Mexico's drug cartel problems, saying American money is what corrupts government officials and law enforcement officers in Mexico.

(on camera): A DEA official says the government of Mexico is doing more to help stop drug trafficking, mainly by extraditing drug kingpins to the United States, where they can't reach their cartel soldiers from prison.

Casey Wian, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: It is the harshest sentence for a former Enron boss so far. Former CEO Jeffrey Skilling has been sentenced to more than 24 years in prison. Before the sentence was handed down yesterday, former Enron employees and investigators told up to -- stood up and angrily told the court, excuse me, what they thought of Skilling. A federal judge said Skilling's crimes sentenced hundreds, if not thousands of people, to a life in poverty. Enron was once the seventh largest company in the country. It lost billions of dollars when it collapsed into bankruptcy. Several million dollars of Skilling's remaining assets will go into a restitution fund for victims.

PHILLIPS: The U.N. is playing hardball with North Korea, up to a point. A look at some countermeasures in the aftermath of North Korea's nuclear test. That's coming up next.

LEMON: Plus, U.S. forces are on the hunt in Baghdad, combing the Iraqi capital for a missing U.S. soldier. The latest on the search ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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