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Charges in Virginia Senate Campaign About Explicit Books

Aired October 28, 2006 - 11:30   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Southern California's deadly wildfire is now 40 percent contained. Police say it is arson. And now there's a half million dollar reward offered. We'll have a live report from California in just a moment.
A week-and-a-half before mid-term elections, President Bush is trying to help embattled fellow Republicans. He's scheduled to make appearances in Indiana and South Carolina today.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, a new bid to reduce violence in the Iraqi capital. U.S.-led forces staged a raid of South Baghdad. They say they killed one suspected terrorist and detained 10 other people. A U.S. Marine was killed in Anbar Province yesterday, raising the October U.S. death toll to 98.

The St. Louis Cardinals, they are the world champions of baseball. The Cards beat the Detroit Tigers 4-2 win in St. Louis last night, winning the World Series four games to one.

Congratulations to them.

In next month's elections, it is not the economy.

So, what is it?

HOLMES: One problem we'll be discussing, electronic voting.

Are your poll workers ready?

NGUYEN: Well, do you use Google?

President Bush does. And let me tell you this. If you're Googling right now, why don't you Google the newsroom, because you're in it. The news is unfolding live on Saturday, the 28th day of October.

Good morning, everyone.

A live look here at the big newsroom at the Atlanta center. I guess it is the world headquarters, I should say, for CNN.

Good morning.

I'm Betty Nguyen.

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes.

Thank you so much for being with us.

NGUYEN: Take a look at this. In Southern California, firefighters, they are reporting progress in containing the deadly Esperanza wildfire.

CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman is in Beaumont, California with the latest on this.

The good news, though, is at least some progress is being made -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Betty.

The encouraging news came within the last hour. We were talking yesterday about 5 percent containment. This morning, 25 percent and the latest announcement, 40 percent containment of this 39,900 acre fire. And also good news, the amount of acres burnt hasn't increased since last night. The fire is burning within itself. So that news about the fire is encouraging.

Two thousand firefighters here, 171 fire engines, dozens of helicopters and planes, including something very unusual -- a DC-10 jumbo jet retro fitted to drop flame retardant. It's a very unusual sight to see at a brush fire, but this gives you an idea of how big and hard this has been to fight.

We are dealing, though, here, with a lot of solemnness, a lot of sadness, a lot of grief because of the deaths of four firefighters. A fifth is in the hospital in poor condition.

They were in their fire truck, which was overtaken by flames. You can see -- we have video -- the fire truck that is still there on the scene. They were trying to save a house. They were in the truck. Three of them did not have a chance. One of them went to the hospital and died. And that fifth, as we said, burns over 90 percent of his body, in poor condition.

Reporters talked with the girlfriend of one and the mother and sister of another.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITNEY LINGAFELTER, FIREFIGHTER'S GIRLFRIEND: I just want him back. That's all I want. I want him back. I'm angry at whoever -- whoever started this fire. I'm so angry at them because they killed him.

GLORIA AYALA, FIREFIGHTER'S MOTHER: He was too new. He was too green to be in there. He only started October 4th. He was doing temp work before. I don't know. I need to know if that was right or wrong.

MONICA AYALA, FIREFIGHTER'S SISTER: My brother was amazing. I looked up to him. He was my hero. I'm going to miss him a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: It's so incredibly sad. And what makes it worse is that it's believed that an arsonist or arsonists started this fire. They could ultimately, if they're found, be charged with murder. There's a $500,000 reward for information that leads to their capture and their conviction.

Now, we just, minutes ago, talked with a firefighter who told us the most incredible story. He told us that two days ago, when this fire started, they were trapped by flames and he thought he wasn't going to make it.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: It started to jump right over the top of the road and as we were back in there, we had no escape route and the only route was down the road. And the flames were jumping over the top of the road. And we literally just had to hold our place and the flames ended up jumping up over the top of the engine and under it. And the firefighters were jumping in the engine to get away from it. And it moved so fast it literally moved under and over the top of the engine and jumped on the other side of the road about a good 25, 30 feet and lit the other side of the hill up.

TUCHMAN: Did you think you were going to die?

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: Yes. Always, on conditions like this. I don't mind telling you, I was scared for my life. We got the heck out of there.

TUCHMAN: How did you get out?

UNIDENTIFIED FIREFIGHTER: We drove through the flames.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

TUCHMAN: Drove through the flames. You heard it right. It's a very tough line of work in here, a lot of stories like that here at this command center, right now the fire that is still burning, but 40 percent contained -- Betty, back to you.

NGUYEN: Well, hopefully they can contain the whole thing and get this over and done with. Too many lives have been lost.

Gary, thanks for keeping us on top of all of that -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, thank you, Betty.

Well, 40 percent contained, that's good to hear, at least. And, of course, you've been following the weather. It is a big deal with this thing.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely.

HOLMES: Look in here. I mean, I was in California. I lived there for several years. I'm used to the marine layer. WOLF: absolutely.

HOLMES: But is that what I'm looking at here? Or a little mix of...

WOLF: You're -- that's a great call. You're actually seeing some of a little of it way back in the background. But some of this, you see just in the foreground here. This is a little bit of the smoke that we've had from these fires. And Mother Nature is going to give them a little bit of a break in the afternoon, not in terms of rainfall, but the winds will subside a little bit.

HOLMES: They'll take it.

They'll take it.

WOLF: I'm telling you. The winds are a huge deal.

Let's move over in this direction. We'll talk about those winds a little bit. The problem is you've got a very dry breeze that kicks in. We've heard of those, the Santa Ana winds -- very low humidity the strong wind gusts, at times topping 35 miles per hour, which we expect through most of the day, will push those flames and, at the same time, further dry out a lot of the foliage that we have on top of those ridges, on top of those hills.

And as it dries out the vegetation, you have, of course, more fuel for the fires. Then, more wind continues to carry some of those embers down the hillsides, with more vegetation that has already been dried out by the subsequent winds. And then, sure enough, it just feeds upon itself.

It's a process that we're hoping is going to end tonight, not only because of the efforts of the firefighters, but we're expecting those winds to decrease after 9:00 p.m. this evening.

That's the latest we have on your forecast for the West Coast, at least in terms of the fires.

We're going to talk about a lot more coming up.

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: Well, for more on the California wildfire, all you have to do is click onto cnn.com. There are also details about the firefighter who was severely burned.

HOLMES: President Bush on the campaign trail and on the defensive as the battle for control of Congress hits crunch time. We do have live pictures here to show you right now of President Bush on the campaign trail.

Of course, the mid-term elections 10 days away.

The president today is visiting Indiana and South Carolina. And as he campaigns, he's also trying to calm a controversy over some comments made by his vice president, Dick Cheney.

We're going to head to the White House now and CNN's Elaine Quijano with the latest on what's happening.

We just saw the president. It looked like he landed there. His first stop today, I believe, was in Indiana. So what's the word today?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you.

HOLMES: He hasn't landed yet. I guess we are -- we're just keeping an eye on that shot, waiting for him to land.

QUIJANO: Good morning to you, T.J.

Well, that's right, the president now in crunch time, really. He'll be at his campaign rally there in Indiana, as you mentioned, shortly.

But the president actually began his day dealing with some foreign policy issues. The president started with a videoconference meeting with Iraq's prime minister, Nuri Al-Maliki.

We're told by a senior administration official it lasted almost an hour long, 50 minutes, a little bit after 7:15 this morning. And a joint statement was sent out by the White House just a short time ago, essentially talking about some of the issues they discussed, including developing Iraq's security forces, promoting reconciliation and the international compact to help the Iraqis achieve their goals.

Now, this is particularly significant because it's coming at a time, this videoconference meeting, coming at a time when there have been questions raised about tensions between Baghdad and Washington. But the White House clearly today, T.J. trying to downplay that notion, trying to dispel any notions of tensions, saying essentially that the Iraqi government and the U.S. government are on the same page about what steps to take next for Iraq's future -- T.J.

HOLMES: And the talk this week, a little bit, the past couple of days, has been about the vice president's remarks about torture. And his wife dumped into the conversation a little bit.

So, is he still defending or are they trying to let it go away?

QUIJANO: Well, you know, the vice president was actually asked about this by reporters yesterday who were traveling with him. And essentially said, well, I never used the word water boarding.

Here, in fact, is a little bit of what the vice president said to reporters on board Air Force Two, saying: "I didn't say anything about water boarding. Those were all his comments. He didn't even use that phrase."

And the questioner said, he said dunking in the water. And the vice president said I didn't say anything, he did. Now, what the vice president was referring to there was a radio interview earlier this week. And critics have jumped on that radio interview, saying that essentially it illustrates that the vice president endorses torture.

Here now, take a listen, is that radio interview, the White House saying that instead, the vice president's comments there misconstrued.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM RADIO INTERVIEW, COURTESY WDAY RADIO)

SCOTT HENNEN, HOST: Would you agree a dunk in water is a no- brainer if it can save lives?

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it -- it's a no-brainer for me, but I -- for a while there I was criticized as being the vice president for torture. We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in. We live up to our obligations and the international treaties that we're party to and so forth. But the fact is you can have a fairly robust interrogation program without torture and we need to be able to do that. And thanks to the leadership of the president now and the action of the Congress, we have that authority and we are able to continue the program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: So the vice president yesterday, after those comments had been played and re-aired throughout the week, addressing a question about it, saying he never used the word water boarding -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Elaine Quijano from the White House.

We want to clear up, as well, we saw that live shot of the president's plane. He's getting ready to leave, of course, hitting the campaign trail today. But he's getting ready to take off.

Surely, we're keeping an eye on that plane.

NGUYEN: Well, one of the key weapons in the Republican arsenal, First Lady Laura Bush. She is stumping for Republican Congressional candidates right now in New York. And later today, the first lady attends rallies in Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

HOLMES: As Republicans fight to keep control of the House and Senate, President Bush touts economic growth as a key reason Americans should support the GOP.

But this year, many voters appear to be tuning out that message.

Here's CNN's senior political analyst, Bill Schneider.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've always felt the economy is -- is a determinant issue, if not the determinant issue, in campaigns. We've had a little history of that in our family.

WILLLIAM SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): His dad found that out in 1992. When the economy is really bad, or really good, the economy is the issue.

How can you tell?

Here's a handy indicator. For over 30 years, polls for CNN and "Time" magazine have been asking people, how well are things going in the country today?

In economic bad times, no more than 40 percent say things are going well. Like 1974, after the first oil shock and the Watergate scandal. And 1980, the malaise election. And the deep recessions of 1982 and 1990. And 1992, when it was the economy, stupid.

In good times, 60 percent or more say things are going well. Like 1984, when Ronald Reagan proclaimed it was "Morning In America." And the "Reagan Recovery" in 1986 and 1988. And the Clinton boom of the late 1990s. Good times were the main reason why Democrats did well in 1998, even though President Clinton was facing impeachment.

What happens when the number who say things are going well falls in the middle?

Then you don't get a pocketbook election. The election is about something else. In 1976, Watergate and the Nixon pardon. In 1978, the tax revolt. 1994, the Republican revolution. 2002 and 2004, the war on terror.

So where are we in 2006?

According to a CNN poll by the Opinion Research Corporation, about half the country says things are going well, while half say things are going badly.

Here's the good news. The stock market has reached record highs. Gas prices have dropped.

Now here's the bad news. Wages are stagnant. Home values are dropping. Manufacturing jobs are fleeing overseas.

(on camera): The punch line? For most voters, 2006 is not a pocketbook election. It's about something else. More than anything else, war.

Bill Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

NGUYEN: Ahead in the newsroom, our Arwa Damon with the high price the U.S. is paying for the war in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE) ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bringing down Iraqi deaths cost the men of Captain William Wade's company five of their own in their first six weeks here.

CAPT. WILLIAM WADE, U.S. ARMY: This is tough, but it's the mission, it's what we're given. And it's tough to lose soldiers. We've lost quite a few already.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: October -- it is now the fourth deadliest month in the war for U.S. forces in Iraq. The death of a Marine yesterday raises the month's death toll in the war to 98. The Marine died of injuries sustained during military operations in Anbar Province.

U.S. troops, of course, dying to protect Iraqis.

CNN's Arwa Damon takes us on patrol with American forces in a dangerous Baghdad neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: This is where we got attacked the other night, Friday night, attacked twice.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Task Force 126 was called back to Iraq a month early, to the Baghdad neighborhood of Adamiyah, because the Iraqi troops were not getting the job done. These battle-scarred streets were once a favorite hangout for Baghdad's youth.

That's outgoing gunfire from an Iraqi Army checkpoint a few meters away. It just came under attack, so the soldiers are jumpier than usual.

Down the street, U.S. troops are conducting what they call a soft-knock search -- no kicking down doors. They don't want to make new enemies as they look for a suspected bomb maker. But there is nothing in this house, just a frightened family and a distraught father who doesn't know how to keep them safe.

"No one knows how to protect themselves anymore," he says.

Even the Americans struggle with that.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: When we get our mission, scan the rooftops and then scan out into the fields.

DAMON: The Americans handed this neighborhood over to the Iraqi Army 10 months ago. Soon afterwards, security crumbled and sectarian killings spiked. Hundreds of people who live in this predominantly Sunni neighborhood were abducted and killed by what are believed to be Shia death squads who live a short drive away. LT. ALAN ETIENNE, U.S. ARMY: Because we haven't had too many people getting -- too many civilians being killed, too many I.D.s going off, mortars coming into the neighborhood. And so -- and they actually asked for the help of the Americans to help, I guess, quell the situation there.

DAMON: U.S. commanders estimate that since they took over, sectarian violence in Adamiyah has decreased about 80 percent. But bringing down Iraqi deaths cost the men of Captain William Wade's company five of their own in their first six weeks here.

WADE: This is tough, but it's the mission. It's what we're given. And it's tough to lose soldiers. We've lost quite a few already.

DAMON: And the violence here is far from over. The patrol stops to check on their Iraqi Army counterparts and finds them at what is now a familiar sight in Iraq -- a bomb killed two Iraqis outside a shop in a predominantly Sunni residential area. The Iraqi Army colonel on site says the attack was only to drive the Shia and Sunni apart.

The Americans here are starting from scratch, getting to know the neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: What about your security concerns? Do you guys have any security concerns? Are there any bad elements coming into this area?

DAMON: Maha Jawad's son siphons fuel out of his mother's car to run-their generator.

MAHA JAWAD, RESIDENT: It's a generator.

DAMON: It's safer than waiting in line at the pump.

JAWAD: For this?

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: Yes.

JAWAD: You see what I do for generator.

(CROSSTALK)

JAWAD: It's a generator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She tries to get some fuel for the generator.

JAWAD: I take (UNINTELLIGIBLE) car to the generator.

DAMON: The Americans have managed to improve security here, at least for now. But it has come at a high cost.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

NGUYEN: Well, election day is just around the corner.

Are your poll workers tech savvy enough to get the vote counted?

HOLMES: And Veronica de la Cruz from the Dot-Com Desk is here with a little fire and ice this morning.

Which one are you (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh.

HOLMES: Yes.

DE LA CRUZ: All right, T.J. You're going to have to stick around for the -- after the break. I'm going to tell you. We've also invited you out there to become a member of our news team by sending us your pictures and video of all on a little fire and ice.

We're going to have the best I-Reports coming up.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Well, you've heard the phrase activist judges. We have results this morning from a new CNN poll. And despite complaints, two thirds of Americans don't believe elected officials should have more control over federal judges. In our poll, released here for the first time, 67 percent of the people surveyed by Opinion Research on behalf of CNN say federal judges should not be subject to more control. Only 30 percent say they should.

Now, 41 percent of those polled say decisions made by federal judges are about right. Thirty-four percent say they're too liberal and 20 percent too conservative.

The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percent.

You'll want to tune in this weekend for more of CNN's Broken Government series from the best political team on television. You can see Jeffrey Toobin's documentary, "Judges On Trial." That's tonight at 8:00 Eastern.

And Sunday night at 7:00 Eastern Lou Dobbs looks at democracy at risk and the problems with electronic voting.

HOLMES: All right, Veronica de la Cruz back with us here now.

And I'm stuck on this fire and ice thing so...

DE LA CRUZ: Yes, I thought you were trying to say I had some sort of a split personality.

HOLMES: No, I'm just wondering which one you were.

DE LA CRUZ: So you kind of threw me.

HOLMES: Which one you were.

So which one are you?

DE LA CRUZ: Well, you know, it's a secret.

HOLMES: All right.

DE LA CRUZ: I don't think I'm going to share that with you.

HOLMES: Well, you can put it on an I-Report.

DE LA CRUZ: Right. Right.

Talking a I-Reports, we are focusing on I-Reports focused on fire and ice, starting with this one, the Esperanza Fire in Southern California. Let's go to that. This is a photo from Karen in Banning. She took this photo, T.J. from her own backyard. You can really see the smoke creeping over the mountain. Isn't that amazing? Absolutely incredible. That's her backyard and she said that she was safe from the fire.

HOLMES: Well, that's scary.

DE LA CRUZ: I know.

And then we're going to go to this one from 12-year-old Willis Mattei. He is our I-Reporter of the week. He captured these shots of a slurry bomber flying over the Atlas Peak fire in Napa County, California. This is a completely different fire. Shot from a safe distance here and with dad's permission, of course. Now, the good news here is that the fire crews brought this blaze under control on Thursday night. So good job, Willis. A future CNN photojournalist for sure, wouldn't you say?

HOLMES: Oh, yes. You've got to protect those grapes, too. They got the fire out in there, in Napa.

DE LA CRUZ: Right. Right.

OK, let's go to the other extreme now.

How about this for a snow day?

Tammy McHale of the Ridgeview area of Colorado Springs. She woke up in the morning, she took a look out the window, she couldn't even open the door. Talk about being snowed in.

NGUYEN: I'm just cold looking at it.

DE LA CRUZ: Seriously.

Wow!

And speaking of being snowed in, definitely a snow day, also, in Castle Rock. This is a photo by Paulette Murphy. I love this picture. I love this photo. NGUYEN: I wonder how many inches that is.

DE LA CRUZ: I know.

NGUYEN: That is a -- like a lot of snow.

DE LA CRUZ: That's her jeep right there. She lives south of Denver...

NGUYEN: Was that what that was?

DE LA CRUZ: Yes.

NGUYEN: I couldn't tell exactly what kind of vehicle that was.

DE LA CRUZ: She says that it is a winter wonderland there right now.

And don't forget that you can see more video and photos like this on our Web site or send in your own I-Report.

Join the world's most powerful news team.

We'd like to thank everyone out there who contributed to our coverage with their pictures. And that URL is cnn.com/iexchange.

I'm still stuck on that fire and ice thing. You have me perplexed and flustered this morning.

NGUYEN: I get it.

DE LA CRUZ: Thanks a lot.

NGUYEN: The fire and then the...

HOLMES: Why don't you just tell us and get it out there?

Just...

DE LA CRUZ: A little bit of both, then.

HOLMES: A little bit of both.

NGUYEN: Oh, a little bit of both, exactly.

HOLMES: OK.

Thank you, Veronica.

DE LA CRUZ: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNNE CHENEY: Jim Webb is full of baloney. I have never written anything sexually explicit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Lynne Cheney defends himself and her writing.

HOLMES: Also, electronic voting -- how safe is your vote?

NGUYEN: Plus, in flight out of the loop -- passengers in FAA headquarters were not told about a JetBlue pilot test. We'll tell you about it, though.

You're in THE NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: A check of your headlines now. The reward stands at $500,000 for information on who set the California wildfire that killed four firefighters. The Esperanza fire covered more than 60 square miles. Calmer winds today may make it a bit easier to fight that fire.

To Iraq now where a U.S. Marine has died and he is the 98th American to die there this month. The Marine died yesterday from enemy action in Anbar province. This month has been the fourth deadliest for U.S. troops.

NGUYEN: DC sniper Lee Boyd Malvo says he killed a man on a Tucson, Arizona golf course back in 2002. Malvo has been granted immunity. Now he says he was with John Allen Mohammed at the time of that shooting. Malvo and Mohammed were convicted of several killings in the Washington area the same year.

It's just about time to fall back, so most of the U.S. sets their clocks back one hour to standard time at 2:00 a.m. tomorrow, the last Sunday in October. And starting next year, daylight saving, no "S" there folks, daylight saving time, as Reynolds Wolf will point out very clearly to you, will start earlier in the year and that will be early in the year and end a little bit later. Does that make sense to you? It starts early in the year and then ends a little bit later. Bottom line here folks, set your clocks back an hour tonight. You'll be A-OK.

HOLMES: I understood you perfectly, Betty.

The fight for a Senate seat in Virginia takes a literal turn, literally. Republican Senator George Allen is accusing his Democratic opponent of demeaning women in novels he's written. Allen's campaign released the charge along with highlighted passages from books written by former Navy Secretary Jim Webb. Webb wrote several historical books set in the Vietnam war era. The Allen campaign released segments from the books containing acts of incest and graphic sex. Webb shot back, accusing the Allen campaign of a smear tactic 10 days before the election. He told the "The Washington Post" radio the books were serious works. Webb also point out that the novel "Sisters" written by Lynne Cheney also contained some graphic material. However, the vice president's wife, Lynne Cheney defended herself and her writing yesterday in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. The vice president's wife denied putting anything graphic in her novel. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNNE CHENEY: Jim Webb is full of baloney. I have never written anything sexually explicit. His novels are full of sexual explicit references to incest, sexually explicit references -- well, you know, I just don't like grandchildren to turn on the television set. This morning, Imus was reading from the novels, and it is XXX rated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And that was Lynne Cheney on "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer. You can catch "The Situation Room" every Monday through Friday afternoon at 4:00 Eastern only on CNN.

NGUYEN: All right, in case you're counting, which you should be, we are just 10 days away from when millions of Americans will be going to the polls. Will the machines and poll workers be ready? That's a good question. In a moment, aAn elections expert will give us his views but first, Kitty Pilgrim looks at how one city is preparing for the big day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Election judges in Baltimore, Maryland, volunteer and then they have to take a class. The Schaeffer Center at the University of Baltimore has trained 5,000 judges. All of the election judges, even if they served before, are being trained and Baltimore is also recruiting hundreds more to help. For the September primary, poll workers showed up late. Some didn't show up at all, and many had no clue how to operate the new electronic machines. Election officials say some poll workers hadn't even seen the machines until Election Day.

EDWARD HAILES, ADVANCEMENT PROJECT: Sometimes they're referred to as the weakest link in our democracy, but everyone acknowledges that they are the background of our democracy and we need sufficient numbers of well-trained poll workers available on Election Day to prevent any potential train wrecks.

PILGRIM: The course includes training on the problematic electronic poll books. After classes, election workers know how to check in voters and process votes.

JOHN WILLIS, UNIV. OF BALTIMORE: It's a very hard task, particularly when you change systems. We just shouldn't be doing this three weeks before the election. We need to start this process well before the election. It's an administrative management problem.

PILGRIM: Baltimore has scheduled more than 80 classes, running up to two or three days before the election. The president of the Baltimore board of elections says the new equipment had him concerned from the beginning.

ARMSTEAD JONES, PRES., BALTIMORE ELECTION BOARD: I had anticipated the issues. First of all, Baltimore city was never in favor of getting the Diebold equipment. We fought that issue for two years and then of course, mandated by law of the state, I had to unify the system and we finally had to come on board.

PILGRIM: Baltimore officials say after these classes, if the technology fails, manufacturers won't be able to blame the poll workers anymore. Kitty Pilgrim, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: OK, but not all poll workers get that kind of training. In fact, listen to this. There will be 1.2 million poll workers this year. The average age of a poll worker is 73. And most poll workers are not computer savvy and are seasonal workers, so do you feel there's a problem there? Jeff Zaino, who is with the American Arbitration Association, his organization conducts more elections worldwide than any other. Jeff, let me pose that question to you. Do you think poll worker training is the problem here?

JEFF ZAINO, AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSN: Absolutely. There's been a lot of discussion about the technology of the machines being the problem. However, we've seen that human error has really been the issue. Like you said, the average age of a poll worker is 73 years old. These are dedicated, hard working people but they're not computer savvy.

NGUYEN: So why aren't more trained? I mean this is a big election. We knew it was coming. It's not like it just popped up out of nowhere. Why aren't more poll workers trained?

ZAINO: The focus was after the 2000 election was introducing the new technology and we've seen a 50 percent increase in the introduction of new technology; 38 percent of our voters will be using new technology. Sp most of our resources have been put towards the technology, not the training and that has been the issue. We saw this in some of the primaries in September in Maryland, also in March in Illinois. There was problems with human error.

NGUYEN: Let's talk about the technology, since there is a large focus on that and there are a lot of questions about that. You've been overseeing private elections in the private sector for over 50 years. When we talk about the software here, are there glitches in it? Is it I guess susceptible to fraud and to all kinds of other things, even like hacking? I mean, is there a big problem with the electronic voting machines?

ZAINO: There is issues with any technology when you introduce new technology and sure, there's issues with software crashing. However, we've seen over the years at the American Arbitration Association when we conduct hundreds of elections each week with this technology that the problems have been human error, not the technology. With respect to the issue of hacking, as long as you don't have the network systems or the systems in a network, you can avoid a lot of those issues.

NGUYEN: You know, you talk about it's mainly human error but let me point this out. About 48 percent of voters will be using these optical scanning machines, machines that don't account for erasures or if you want to scratch something out and mark something else out, stray marks, things like that. Is that a concern for you? ZAINO: Absolutely. We stopped using optical scan about six years ago. It's good technology. You see it with lotteries and school tests. However it's not user friendly. You got to fill in that oval. Also like you said, it cannot read erasures, stray marks and cross outs. So therefore, if you have a close election and you compare the results, the electronic results with the manual results, they're going to be different and that's a problem.

NGUYEN: So in order for us not to see a debacle like we saw back in the 2000 presidential election, should the country go to a standardized electronic voting system and a system that includes a backup, say a paper trail, so votes aren't simply lost if there's a computer glitch?

ZAINO: I don't think we'll ever get to a standardized system. Most states purchase multiple systems, use multiple inventors. It would be nice if you have a recount, it's much easier if you have one standard and one system, but I don't see that happening in our country. With respect to the voter verified paper trail, yes, it's a very good idea and hopefully we're going to get there. Twenty seven states right now have legislation requiring a paper trail. Four states will have machines hooked up with the paper trail for this election.

NGUYEN: Everybody wants their vote counted. Jeff Zaino, thanks so much for spending a little time with us today.

ZAINO: Thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The regulations are clear. We don't do test flying with passengers on board.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Jetblue tries out a test program. Should passengers have known about it?

NGUYEN: And a slip of the tongue leads to a leader's new nickname, the Googler in chief. That straight ahead in the newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: The Cardinals championship win getting big hits right now on cnn.com. St. Louis Cardinals fans say last night's World Series win was an amazing end to an up and down season, no doubt. They beat the Detroit Tigers four games to one. Congratulations to them.

From sports to sex and politics of all things. Many cnn.commers I should call them, cnn.commers. Well, they are also checking out the bitter Senate race in Virginia. Republican incumbent George Allen has pulled up some sexual passages from novels written by his Democratic opponent Jim Webb. Webb calls the moves baseless character assassination. And sex and torture, plus children's books? The most watched video is Lynne Cheney's testy interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. It's generating big buzz all over the Internet this morning. The vice president's wife fiercely defends her husband and the Bush administration. You have to see this; it's good. And she also takes some serious swings at CNN. All those stories and much, much more at your fingertips at cnn.com. TJ?

HOLMES: Well, Betty, pilots are being tested while flying a plane. The passengers didn't know it. Neither did top FAA officials. CNN's Jeanne Meserve reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jetblue says it was merely gathering information about pilot fatigue. In a DVD prepared for its pilots and obtained by CNN, the airline explains how it will study alertness, using a wrist monitor and this in-flight performance test.

JETBLUE VIDEO: When the bull's eye comes up, it will be counting in milliseconds. As soon as you push the button, it measures your reaction time.

MESERVE: On about 50 Jetblue flights in May of 2005, data was collected while pilots flew 9 1/2, sometimes 10 1/2 hours a day instead of the eight hours the government usually allows. There was a third pilot on board to take the controls if needed, but there were also passengers who were never told about the special circumstances.

CAPT. PAUL RICE, AIRINE PILOTS ASSN: The regulations are clear. We don't do test flying with passengers on board.

MESERVE: The Federal Aviation Administration in Washington didn't know about the data collection either. Jetblue had sought and obtained permission only from the FAA regional office in New York.

MICHAEL GOLDFARB, FORMER FAA CHIEF OF STAFF: (INAUDIBLE) Washington for approval, yes. Should they have known that? Absolutely.

MESERVE: The FAA in Washington reprimanded both the regional office and Jetblue and says if asked, it would have rejected the airline's request. Jetblue, which turned down a request for an on- camera interview, insists it was flying within legal limits. The information it collected hasn't been released, but is being analyzed and will be published in a scientific journal in December. Jetblue also says passengers were not on an experimental flight, that it was doing data collection, not testing. But its own DVD contradicts this.

JETBLUE VIDEO: Also in the PDA is a special performance test. It's a very simple reaction time test or measure of sustained attention.

MESERVE: Pilots scheduling is a hot issue in aviation, as airlines struggling for financial survival seek ways to run their airlines more efficiently. Pilots argue safety could be compromised.

RICE: It's a money issue. It's simply a money issue.

MESERVER: There is consensus that pilot work rules do need to be re-evaluated, but some experts say Jetblue's move to do it unilaterally was an effort to get an edge on its competitors, and may set back an industry-wide government-sanctioned examination of the issues. Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: We got a birthday here to tell you about, if you can rustle up 120 candles, we'd sure appreciate it. Statue of liberty, 120 years old today. President Grover Cleveland dedicated lady liberty on this day in 1886 and of course, been shining her light over New York harbor ever since. So happy birthday.

NGUYEN: She doesn't look day over 100.

HOLMES: Got a song for her and everything this morning.

NGUYEN: All right, TJ, listen to this, first there was this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I hear there's rumors on the Internets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Yeah. The Internets. You remember the Internets.

NGUYEN: With an "S," plural.

HOLMES: He's moved beyond the Internets now to the Google, at least it's singular, though, just one Google. That's coming up ahead in the newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Ah, it looks nice, doesn't it?

NGUYEN: Beautiful.

HOLMES: Snow days. It is nice, but it's not fun to drive around in but it's nice to look at. Many folks go digging out after this week's blizzard brought up to two feet of snow in some areas of Colorado. Hundreds of miles of roads however are open again. Good news there and power is back on to thousands of those residents there.

NGUYEN: I can tell you who is not complaining, those skiers out there, as long as they can get up the slopes, they're A-OK, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. Conditions are going to be great out there for the skiers. It's a beautiful time there in the snow, although let me give you a word of advice. Although it may be tempting, although it may be interesting to you, do not under any circumstances eat yellow snow. Seriously. I'm absolutely serious when I tell you that. All right. Here's what we have right now in parts of the west. It's amazing, very dry conditions for southern California, especially for those who are fighting the fires. They need a break. They're going to get a break later on today, not because of precipitation, but because those winds are expected to subside, especially into the later evening hours and should be a better day for them tomorrow.

But notice the big contrast you have from the west into the central plains and then into the east. Heavy rainfall through parts of the eastern seaboard, especially in midtown, Manhattan, up in New York. Heavy rainfall there, anywhere from two to three inches possible in some places and that runoff could cause some ponding in roadways. Be careful, you're getting a break right now in places like Newark, as well as downtown New York but into the afternoon, more showers are possible, but plenty of sunshine through the central plains with high temperatures in Kansas City going up to 55, 64 for Dallas, Texas. That's the latest on your forecast. Let's send it back to you.

NGUYEN: Reynolds I really wanted to talk about the exact chemical makeup of this yellow snow that you speak off, but I've been told that we just don't have time.

WOLF: I just go right up to the edge but I'm going to let you take it the rest of the way.

NGUYEN: We shall move on.

President Bush is a 21st century president, right? We know that but like many of his fellow baby boomers, he still appears to have a 20th century vocabulary. CNN's Jeanne Moos has the story of a president trapped by the Internet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He can handle a power saw, but when it comes to the power of the Internet --

BUSH: I hear there's rumors on the Internets.

MOOS: Not once, but at least twice, President Bush has inexplicably added an "S."

BUSH: We can have filters on Internets.

MOOS:: Leading young whipper snappers to mock him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone's on the Internets, yeah. That's our fearless leader, woo!

MOOS: And now the leader doubled googler-in-chief by the "Wall Street Journal" has struck again. During a CNBC interview, the president was asked if he ever Googles.

BUSH: Occasionally. One of the things I've used on the Google is I can pull up maps.

MOOS: The Google? It may be petty, but "the Google" had techno geeks agog. I wonder on which one of the Internets he uses the Google posted one.

JACOB WEISBERG, EDITOR, SLATE: He was just referring to it as the Google like the Donald.

MOOS: Forget the Donald.

BUSH: But I'm the decider.

MOOS: When the decider says the Google, the editor, who is working on a sixth edition of Bushisms is the man to call. Jacob Weisberg e-mailed back that he was eating the lunch when he was called for an interview.

WEISBERG: It's a little bit the way my mom talks about technology. It's sweet. It's kind of endearing. She calls to tell you that she got an e-mail.

MOOS: President Bush said he uses the Google to look at satellite maps of his ranch in Crawford, Texas, remind me of where I want to be sometimes. But who are we to talk? I had to get my producer to help. So we're downloading Google earth. We're not sure if the president did this or knows how to do this. I don't know how to do this. Next thing you know, we were zooming in on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. You practically can see him in there. He's on the Internets.

"THE COLBERT REPORT" FROM COMEDY CENTRAL: I'm no fan of the Internets.

MOOS: Comedians and Internet wags have immortalized the Internets.

BUSH: I hear there's rumors on the Internets.

MOOS: As for the Google, the company says it's flattered. He can call it whatever the heck he wants to call it. Besides, he's technically correct. There is more than one Internet. Internet two is a better faster network used by universities and others. The president's not the only politician to get tripped up by the Internet.

"THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART," COMEDY CENTRAL: It's a series of tubes.

The Internet is a series of tubes through which these services started.

MOOS: Better to have those tubes tied than the president's tongue. Jeanne Moos, the CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: He's out ahead I think. Everybody's going to be calling it the Google. NGUYEN: You think so?

HOLMES: He's setting a trend for the rest of the country.

We've got several more things, great shows coming up for you here.

NGUYEN: Yes and you could find them on the Internets but we suggest that you just watch it here.

HOLMES: On the CNN. First the war on the middle class, if you haven't seen this Lou Dobbs special, you might want to tune in for this one.

NGUYEN: And 2:00 p.m., "Broken Government," plus headlines. They are coming your way. You want to stick around for that.

HOLMES: And they're coming up with who, none other than the --.

NGUYEN: Fredricka Whitfield. Have a great day.

HOLMES: Take care.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Trick or treating safety isn't just for the trick or treaters. It's up to you to make sure those little candy fiends go home without any bumps or scratches. Make sure all walkways are well lit and clear of props. Think about using battery powered lights instead of candles inside jack-o'-lanterns. If you do use candles, make sure anything flammable like paper or cloth stays far away. Remember, any trips or falls could become your problem. An umbrella liability policy can buy you peace of mind. $1 million of coverage above your existing home owner's policy costs just $150 for or $300 a year. I'm Gerri Willis and that's your tip of the day.

For more, watch open house every Saturday 9:30 Eastern right here on CNN.

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