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Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe Call It Quits; Democrats Distance Themselves From Kerry Controversy; Hezbollah Power Play; U.S. And Iraqi Forces Make New Push Into Baghdad's Most Dangerous Areas To Root Out Insurgents; Striesand Show Interrupted; Haunted Philly Prison
Aired November 01, 2006 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, is Oscar a home-wrecker? Well, this year's best actress, Reese Witherspoon, and her movie star husband, Ryan Phillippe, are ending their marriage.
She joins a growing number of Oscar winners who thank their husbands or beaus in acceptance speeches, before deciding to go their own way.
Here's CNN's Sibila Vargas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REESE WITHERSPOON, ACTRESS: I have been really, really lucky to have such a wonderful family support me and believe in me so much.
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After seven years of marriage, two children and an Oscar, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe are calling it quits.
WITHERSPOON: I really feel like that's the reason I'm here.
VARGAS: It seems to be a common occurrence: Win the coveted statue, thank the man in your life in front of the world, then splitsville.
JULIA ROBERTS, ACTRESS: Life's too short.
VARGAS: Of the last nine best actress winners, six have ended their relationships with the man they thanked...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you realize that you forgot to thank your husband, who was crying in the audience, all the ladies noticed.
HILARY SWANK, ACTRESS: I know. How can you not thank that?
VARGAS: ... or didn't thank on Oscar night.
YVONNE THOMAS, LOS ANGELES PSYCHOLOGIST: It's really hard if you stop feeling like you're part of the couple, and just part of the entourage.
VARGAS: Los Angeles psychologist and columnist Yvonne Thomas says, many factors can cause couples to separate, but, when it comes to extremely successful women, she has noticed a pattern.
THOMAS: I have seen it too many times, and it's very disturbing for the couple. Unfortunately, the man can start to feel resentful, jealous, hostile, competitive with his loved one.
These are all very high-profile, very successful women. And I think it's really hard to be known as -- if you're the guy, you know, the significant partner of this acclaimed woman, as Mr. My Wife.
VARGAS: However, Thomas says it takes more than a best actress statue to ruin a healthy relationship.
THOMAS: What happens with the Oscar situation is that maybe it expedites and it quickens what might have happened.
VARGAS: Thomas says, it's likely feelings of resentment and jealousy were already there.
THOMAS: Whatever cracks were there to begin with, whether you know it or not, under pressure, under stress, even the good stress, will start to come out.
VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: After half-a-century on the air, a TV icon decides it's time to come on down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE PRICE IS RIGHT")
BOB BARKER, HOST: Let's think car. Car. What else does has she won? What else has she won? The car.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, just ahead in the NEWSROOM, an announcement some of us never expected to hear.
PHILLIPS: Let's get straight to the newsroom -- Fredricka Whitfield with details on a developing story at the top of the hour -- Fred.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, police are still descending upon a Houston apartment complex, possibly looking for someone involved in a shooting that took place earlier today, where one person died. At least two others were shot and injured and hospitalized.
You're looking at pictures that have been provided to us from our affiliate KHOU. Residents claim they saw police approach an apartment unit there at Keegan's Mill Apartments on Keegan's Ridge in West Bellfort, and then heard shots being fired. Some of the residents say they believe that one of the suspects involved in the shooting that involved five people earlier today may have been inside that apartment building. We're still waiting for information about exactly what is at the root of this standoff, if, indeed, it is being connected to the shooting that took place earlier today -- again, one person killed, two others who were wounded in a shooting that involved five people, we're hearing from our affiliate KHOU there in Houston -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Fred, we will stay on top of it. Thanks.
LEMON: The Esperanza fire is all but out in Southern California. Today, tributes are pouring in for a fifth fallen firefighter, as investigators turn their attention to a man charged with arson in two other fires.
CNN's Kareen Wynter joins U.S. from Riverside.
Kareen, what is the latest?
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, not a -- just a person of interest, not a suspect at this time, that is what investigators in Riverside County, California, are calling 37-year-old Raymond Oyler in relationship to last weekend's deadly Esperanza wildfire. He is being held at a detention center here.
Here is a mug shot of him. He was arrested just last night, being held on $25,000 bond, arrested last night on two counts of arson for cases involving two other wildfires from earlier this year in June, again, not in connection with last week's Esperanza wildfire, which scorched more than 40,000 acres and killed five firefighters.
One of those firefighters, a fifth and remaining firefighter, 23- year-old Pablo Cerda, he suffered burns to more than 90 percent of his body. He died last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. DEV GNANADEV, ARROWHEAD REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: We did talk to the family and gave them an option for us to take -- go take him to the operating room again for further surgeries, with knowing that his progress is very, very poor. And they decided to let Pablo go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: Now, Cerda was in his second season with the Forest Service.
As for Oyler, he will be arraigned tomorrow in court -- Don.
LEMON: All right, Kareen. I stand corrected. Kareen Wynter reporting from Riverside, thank you very much.
PHILLIPS: Flames consumed a historic Reno, Nevada, hotel overnight, killing six people and leading to arson and murder charges against a woman. Police say Valerie Moore set fire to her mattress, sparking the deadly blaze at the Mizpah Hotel. Some people jumped from windows to escape. Others had to be rescued in cherry-pickers. The Mizpah was built 84 years ago and had recently been renovated.
No happy Halloween in one Michigan city this year. Devil's Night came to Saginaw. Sixteen houses around town burned. There were 24 fires reported in all. Crews were kept so busy, several of the fires reignited after firefighters moved on to the next blaze. Most of the fires were in abandoned homes.
The name Devil's Night was coined for fires set in Detroit in the 1980s and '90s on the night before Halloween.
LEMON: Critical words, canceled appearances, and calls for an apology -- and that's just the reaction from the Democrats. Senator John Kerry's self-descried botched joke about President Bush has taken on a life of its own.
Now Democratic candidates are distancing themselves from Kerry. And Republicans, sensing political advantage, are thrilled to exploit the miscue.
Let's bring in our White House correspondent, Ed Henry, with the very latest on this.
Hi, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Don.
That's right. The White House is delighted that people are talking about this, rather than the actual war in Iraq, also delighted that Democrats are fighting amongst themselves, Democratic candidates, like Harold Ford Jr., that key Senate race down in Tennessee, today demanding that Senator Kerry apologize -- Congressman Ford, of course, a former leader within Kerry's presidential campaign.
White House spokesman Tony Snow today, at his briefing, kept insisting the White House is not actually fanning the flames, even though it was Snow yesterday who really got this going by first demanding that apology at his briefing yesterday. The president kicked it into high gear last night at a rally in Georgia, also demanding an apology from the senator.
And, as Tony Snow was speaking today, the White House was releasing excerpts of a speech that Vice President Cheney will be delivering later this evening in Montana at a campaign rally, in which, among other things, the vice president will joke that Senator Kerry -- quote -- "was for the joke before he was against it," of course an allusion to that infamous moment in the 2004 campaign.
Tony Snow's point is that it was John Kerry who made the original comment. He held that press conference yesterday to give this a little bit more life, and, then, this morning, called into the "Don Imus" radio show to try to explain himself. And Snow actually tried to say -- and tried to keep a straight face at the same time -- tried to say that the White House was trying to help the senator.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He's coming out and accusing Republicans of dirty tricks.
I mean, this is helpful advice. We're trying to help you out. We're throwing you a lifeline, buddy. Just say you're sorry. It's not hard.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Hardly throwing a lifeline, though. In fact, the White House is clearly hoping this controversy lasts as long as it can. Having John Kerry front and center right now, having Democrats squirm about that prospect, is something the White House really enjoys, on the eve of these midterm elections -- Don.
LEMON: Yes. That's almost as animated as I have ever seen Tony Snow.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: We have got the midterms coming up. How is this flap, Kerry flap, playing out on the campaign trail, Ed?
HENRY: Well, we talked about some of the Democrats trying to distance themselves from Senator Kerry.
Some Republicans now on the other side trying to jump on it -- Congressman Ron Lewis of Kentucky, for example, hosted the first lady today in his district. He's in a tough race. Take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RON LEWIS (R), KENTUCKY: Mrs. Bush, I'm sure you're aware, Fort Knox is the best training facility in the Army.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
LEWIS: And I don't know how they do military training in Massachusetts...
(LAUGHTER)
LEWIS: ... but we have the best and brightest right here at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: The first lady herself did not touch the controversy. Perhaps the closest she came was when she kicked off her remarks and said she thought that was a very funny introduction from the congressman.
But, clearly, again, you can see Republicans really pouncing on this. They see the -- the prospect of having John Kerry, his name out there, him trying to explain himself, they think they're just delighted about this on the eve of the election -- Don.
LEMON: All right, Ed Henry at the White House -- thank you, sir.
HENRY: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: It's her party, and she ran because she wanted to.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: But Katherine Harris has seen scant support from fellow Republicans in her U.S. Senate bid in Florida. Some even actively discouraged her from running.
CNN's John Zarrella has more on Florida's stubborn stumper.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: Good to see you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good to see you.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Florida Senator Bill Nelson has good reason to be all smiles.
NELSON: Holy smokes, you act like this is a big deal.
ZARRELLA: Nelson is cruising, a double-digit lead over his Republican challenger, high-profile, highly controversial Congresswoman Katherine Harris.
REP. KATHERINE HARRIS (R-FL), FLORIDA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Floridians want someone that is going to keep government out of their business.
ZARRELLA: Harris was Florida's secretary of state during the bitterly disputed 2000 presidential election, and certified the vote for President George Bush while the vote count was still being contested.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 2000)
HARRIS: I hereby declare Governor George W. Bush the winner of Florida's 25 electoral votes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZARRELLA: The issue has dogged her ever since. Many Democrats have held her personally responsible for Bush's victory. Harris is constantly defending her role. HARRIS: There are so many poor reports that were completely false, when I know I followed the letter of the law. And I'm grateful for that.
Gracias, senor.
ZARRELLA: But the Republican Party is far from grateful that she's in the race. Concerned she would galvanize Democrats, they discouraged her from running. The president's brother, Florida's Republican Governor Jeb Bush, was blunt.
GOV. JEB BUSH (R), FLORIDA: We also already have a candidate in the race -- I just -- who is a good person. I just don't believe she can win.
ZARRELLA: But Harris refused to cave. She has said she would use millions of her own family money in the campaign.
SUSAN MACMANUS, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: The only thing that will really win it for Katherine Harris is a massively larger Republican turnout than Democratic turnout, and for all the Republicans who are wavering to vote a straight ticket and include her in it.
ZARRELLA: Analysts say Harris held her own in the first debate with Nelson. There were no fireworks. Both candidates agreed on many issues. They disagreed on whether the U.S. dependency on foreign oil could be muted by drilling in ANWR, the delicate Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
NELSON: It doesn't take a mathematical genius to understand you can't drill your way out of the problem.
HARRIS: If you were to take the entire area of ANWR and size up where we're going to drill, it's the equivalent of having a football field and putting a postage stamp in the middle of it.
ZARRELLA: Political experts say just holding her own in debates won't do it. The lack of party support and the stigma of 2000 may simply be too much for Katherine Harris to overcome.
John Zarrella, CNN, Davie, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And join us next Tuesday, Election Day, for the races, the ruts, and the ramifications.
LEMON: CNN's election prime time begins at 7:00 Eastern. Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Paula Zahn and Lou Dobbs leads the best political team on television, as your votes are counted.
And our coverage continues with a special addition of "LARRY KING LIVE" at midnight. Hear from the winners and losers across the country, plus expert analysis, only on CNN, America's campaign headquarters. A political power play in Lebanon -- Hezbollah's leader demands seats in the Lebanese cabinet, amid whispers of a plot to topple that government -- details ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: In the air and on the ground, Israeli troops launched an overnight assault on Palestinian militants in Gaza. At least six Palestinians and Israeli soldiers were killed. Dozens of people were wounded, with local hospitals saying it had used up all of its blood supply. The Israeli military says it moved in to stop rocket attacks on towns just north of Gaza. Commanders say the operation will probably take several days.
Westerners wanted in Iran's official news agency says travel agents are being offered bonus money to get European and American tourists to visit, 20 bucks a person. Apparently, Iran's political leadership hopes to show ordinary Americans that the current nuclear standoff is with the Bush administration, not U.S. citizens.
Last week, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, voiced opposition to a proposal that would require fingerprinting for Americans who visit Iran.
PHILLIPS: Well, tense and tangled politics in Lebanon -- a day after Hezbollah made some serious demands of top officials, there are concerns that the militant group and its allies are plotting to topple the prime minister, Fuad Siniora's government.
Now, today, the White House warned that Hezbollah, Iran and Syria need to keep their hands off Lebanon's leadership.
Press Secretary Tony Snow said -- quote -- "Any attempt to destabilize Lebanon's democratically elected government through such tactics as manufactured demonstrations and violence, or by physically threatening its leaders would, at the very least, be a clear violation of Lebanon's sovereignty and United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1559, 1680, and 1701."
The White House says it thinks the alleged plot and Hezbollah's political demands are tied to Rafik Hariri's assassination nearly two years ago.
CNN's Jim Clancy has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In September, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah brought out hundreds of thousands of his supporters, as he celebrated a self-proclaimed victory over Israel.
Tuesday, Nasrallah warned, those supporters were ready to face the pro-Western alliance that controls Lebanese politics today.
"We are able, with our political allies, from tomorrow morning to go out and surround the parliament and topple the government and impose early elections on the whole country," Nasrallah said. But he added that wasn't his preferred strategy. He would prefer political negotiations. And he gave Lebanon's elected leadership two weeks to agree.
It was a bare-knuckles challenge to the pro-Western March 14th alliance that saw hundreds of thousands turn out more than a year earlier. They were there to protest the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and demand Syrian troops get out of Lebanon.
Nasrallah and his backers in Tehran and Damascus appear confident, now is the time to force a national unity government that would give Hezbollah decisive powers. Hezbollah has handed out hundreds of millions of dollars in cash from Iran to help Lebanese rebuild, after their homes were destroyed in the disastrous month-long war with Israel last summer.
Syria and its allies want to head off calls to bring the cases of the murdered former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and other anti-Syrian voices who were assassinated before an international criminal court. Nasrallah's demands for more political control were matched by confidence that a much-awaited prisoner exchange with Israel was drawing closer.
"The negotiations are ongoing," Nasrallah told Lebanese TV, "and we have reached the stage for exchanging ideas, or, more accurately, exchanging conditions."
Nasrallah used the interview to once again deny it was his order to kidnap two Israeli soldiers that sparked the month-long war that killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, and caused billions of dollars in damage.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: So, Jim, do you think Hezbollah is stronger now than it was before?
CLANCY: There's a lot of people that think so, because they have been able to re-arm in -- in great measure. They have been getting arms across the Syrian border, according to some sources inside Lebanon.
They're also looking at this prisoner swap that would see perhaps dozens of Lebanese, of Syrian, of Palestinian prisoners going free, in exchange for those two Israeli. That would bolster their position. Still, there are a lot of people that are concerned in the country that this is really pushing it to the brink, and that Hezbollah is taking a serious chance here.
We talked with Walid Jumblatt a little bit earlier today, Kyra. He's one of the most prominent voices, anti-Syrian voices, in that March 14th alliance, March 14th movement.
And he says: You know, we were negotiating to disarm Hezbollah as a militia, saying that we would do it through negotiations. And now he says: Hezbollah is coming to us, saying they are going to topple our government by force.
PHILLIPS: So, it wasn't long ago that we saw the bombing and the fighting, and we -- we were all over this story. And we haven't really talked about it a lot, until today.
What is it like there right now? Is it as intense as it was when we there, covering the onset of what -- this war that we were watching?
CLANCY: Well, that is -- that was the war between Hezbollah and Israel, the one that many people say is a proxy war that's taking place, Kyra, really between Washington and Tehran, as well as Damascus.
But this is the internal politics of Lebanon, largely, and the forces that are backed by Syria that realize, how damaging would it be if Syrian officials in Hafez al-Assad -- not Hafez al-Assad -- his son Bashar Assad's government -- were be drawn into this investigation, were to be put up in front of a criminal court? How damaging would that be, not only to the Syrians, but to Hezbollah, that has gotten all its support from -- so, it's serious politics going on in Lebanon right now.
PHILLIPS: So, how strong is Hezbollah politically?
CLANCY: Well, they're strong. There's no doubt about it. They're strong militarily. They're in a position here.
They have their supporters. They have passed out hundreds of millions of dollars. There's a lot of people that will come out in the streets. He proved that back in September.
But, when you put those people on the streets, and then you put -- bring out the pro-democracy, pro-Western forces, put them in the streets, the people that don't want to see the Syrians controlling Lebanese politics, what happens then? What if somebody fires a shot? Lebanon, remember, fought a nine-year-long civil war. Thousands upon thousands of people were killed. And Lebanese are worried about the situation.
PHILLIPS: Jim Clancy, thanks.
LEMON: Going door to door on a deadly mission, U.S. and Iraqi troops try to root out insurgents and illegal weapons.
That's ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Americans go out to eat more often than ever before. But just how often?
Cheryl Casone, New York Stock Exchange, answer that. I bet it's a lot, because we're reporting on it, right?
CHERYL CASONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. You know, it is a lot, Don, actually. When it comes to eating out, those living in the great state of Texas, those are the ones taking the cake. According to a new Zagat survey, people in Houston eat out 4.2 times a week, followed closely by Austin and Dallas/Fort Worth -- Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, all close to the top as well.
Here in New York, people eat out just 3.3 times a week, maybe because restaurant food is so expensive here. It definitely is. The average meal costs nearly $40 in New York, the priciest of any American city. I can confirm this, absolutely.
Overall, the survey says that 83 percent of people eat out as often or more than they did just two years ago. And that is a good sign for the restaurant industry and the restaurant business -- Don.
LEMON: You know what? I am shocked. Because, when I lived in New York, I never -- my stove was spotless, because I never used it.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Either you eat out or you order in. You can order in anything...
(CROSSTALK)
CASONE: There is an apple and I think some Diet Coke in my refrigerator right now.
(LAUGHTER)
CASONE: Put it that way, you know?
LEMON: There you go.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: So, what are people eating, going to eat? What are they doing? What are they eating?
(CROSSTALK)
CASONE: Well, what was your favorite food when you lived here?
LEMON: Probably -- I ate a lot of Chinese food. There was a good place on the corner of 24th or Ninth or 10th...
CASONE: OK.
LEMON: ... my favorite, Szechuan something.
(CROSSTALK)
CASONE: I'm going to write that down.
LEMON: Slice of pizza?
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: I'm not a big pizza person, but I like Chinese.
CASONE: Yes. Well, you know, all right, pizza. Kyra, I heard you there.
(LAUGHTER)
CASONE: And -- and this is included, I think, in this one.
Not surprisingly, Italian food is the number-one thing that people go out for eating. And that includes pizzerias -- nearly a third of respondents saying Italian is their favorite food.
I mean, my people. I'm Casone. They know what they're doing.
LEMON: Yes. They do.
CASONE: All right.
American food coming in second at 16 percent, and French actually was third.
PHILLIPS: Hey, Cheryl...
LEMON: Cheryl...
CASONE: But...
(CROSSTALK)
CASONE: What?
LEMON: You got...
PHILLIPS: Wait, Cheryl. Your necklace is rubbing up against your mike.
LEMON: Yes. Yes.
CASONE: Oh. Oh, is it? Oh, sorry.
LEMON: Yes.
PHILLIPS: There you go.
(CROSSTALK)
CASONE: Oh, wow. Gosh.
PHILLIPS: Now we can hear you.
Fashionable and making strange noises at the same time on live television.
LEMON: French food. (LAUGHTER)
LEMON: French food or Italian food. Say that again. Italian food was number one, right, followed by French food, and then American food.
CASONE: Yes, Italian food, American, and then French.
But here's the thing with number four. If you add up Japanese, Chinese and then Thai, they actually place right behind Italian at 25 percent, if you add up all of those. So, the survey also found that restaurants opening this year far outpaced closings, another good sign when it comes to the restaurant industry. And the average cost of a meal rose 2.8 percent below overall growth in consumer prices.
LEMON: All right.
CASONE: Let's talk Wall Street, shall we?
LEMON: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
CASONE: I hope they can hear me now.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Don't go anywhere.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: I just want -- I want to know where soul food fell on that...
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: We were laughing about that. Just kidding.
PHILLIPS: Jonathan Freed, you know, one of our correspondents, who is freezing his little booty off in Green Bay, Wisconsin, covering the election, says, "I make a habit out of eating anything that will make my doctor angry with me."
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: So, there you go.
(CROSSTALK)
CASONE: Absolutely.
LEMON: Thank you, Cheryl.
CASONE: You bet. PHILLIPS: Well, new concerns about old-fashioned voter fraud -- dead people registered to vote, will it have an impact in tight races? We will take a closer look -- ahead from the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Senator John Kerry describes his comments as a botched joke, but it's the Republicans who are laughing now.
Plans for Kerry to campaign with two House hopefuls and a Senate candidate this week are off, a reaction to comments Kerry made Monday. He told a group of California students that they should study hard because -- quote -- "If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
Kerry says that he was mocking President Bush and his Iraq policies. Republicans say Kerry insulted U.S. troops and they question his refusal to apologize.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: He's coming out and accusing Republicans of dirty tricks. I mean, this is helpful advice! We're trying to help you out. We're throwing you a lifeline, buddy. Just say you're sorry. It's not hard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy. It anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the president and his failed team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Two Democratic Senate candidates have joined Republican calls for Kerry to issue an apology.
LEMON: Working to root out insurgents, U.S. and Iraqi forces making a new push into Baghdad's most dangerous areas.
CNN's John Roberts followed them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The streets of Baghdad ran bloody -- a car bombing, this time as a wedding party was passing by. The carnage, 15 dead, including four children. Tragically, scenes like this have become part of the daily traffic report in Baghdad, a place where it seems there is no end to the death and no shortage of ways to die.
The U.S. military has launched a new push into Baghdad's troubled neighborhoods, working hand in hand with newly minted Iraqi troops to root out illegal weapons and the insurgents and militia members who would use them.
SGT. BRANDON GRAY, U.S. MILITARY: They're definitely the key and the biggest thing is the people -- they trust them. They trust the Iraqi army. I have been in numerous houses and I always ask them, are you ready for the Iraqi army to take control? And yes, they are. They all trust them.
ROBERTS: The work is exhausting, searching hundreds of homes, going door to door, breaking down some, never knowing if their next step could be their last.
(on camera): A sergeant from this battalion was killed on Monday during a very similar clearing operation. He was leading the search of the house. There were children at home at the time when suddenly a man appeared with an AK-47 and opened fire. The sergeant went down. The man was killed by the rest of the patrol. The sergeant was only a few weeks away from going home.
(voice-over): Why was he shot? His colleagues just don't know, but they carry on the mission, another deadly reminder of Baghdad's dangers etched in their minds.
CAPT. TIM SAWYER, U.S. MILITARY: It makes them think. Makes them maintain their discipline and standards.
ROBERTS: Working these streets is tough enough, but what makes these soldiers furious is when they come up against Baghdad's tangled web of politics. It happened again when Iraq's prime minister ordered checkpoints around the Mahdi militia stronghold of Sadr City taken down. The U.S. Army had the area blocked off, searching for a kidnapped soldier. Residents in the Mahdi militia celebrated the opening of the checkpoints as a victory over the U.S. military.
Despite their efforts to rein in the violence, American forces seem powerless to stop it -- a car bombing here, a victim of militia death squads there, another day on Baghdad streets and the body count continues to climb.
John Roberts, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Watch more of John Roberts weeknights on "A.C. 360." That's at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
PHILLIPS: Fallen heroes -- 105 servicemen and women killed in Iraq in October, one of the deadliest months of the war. Final good- byes are far too common. Honor guards with rifles upright and faces full of grace comfort every devastated family, like this one, Private First Class Steven Brooknell's (ph) family, from Prattville, Alabama.
In Philadelphia, words of consolation for the mother of Army Corporal Carl W. Johnson, II.
In Bedford, Virginia, it's hugs for the father of Marine 2nd Lieutenant Joshua L. Booth. That's Booth's daughter, Grace. These are just three of the 105 men and women who have fallen in Iraq over the last month. Here are 26 more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Keep your eye on the political eight ball. There are eight key states where Senate seats could go either way depending on voter turnout. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, and Montana are all considered in play. Democrats only hold one of those seats. That's New Jersey. To gain the upper hand in the upper House, they need to pick six more.
Now, the Senate race in Virginia is extremely close. A new CNN poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation gives Democrat James Webb a slight advantage. Among likely voters, Webb got 50 percent. George Allen received 46 percent.
PHILLIPS: Just who is James Webb, the man who has turned the Virginia Senate contest into a surprisingly tight race? Here is a look at how this combat veteran and former Republican got to where he is today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are two things that define James Webb: military service, what he calls "the supreme test of honor"; and fierce loyalty to the men and women in the armed services. Webb's father was a bomber pilot in World War II. His Marine son is serving in the Iraq War. Webb wears an old pair of his son's combat boots on the campaign trail as a way of honoring his son and all the people sent into harm's way.
As a Naval Academy graduate, Webb fought in Vietnam as a Marine rifle platoon and company commander in 1969. He was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts. One of Webb's six novels, "Fields of Fire," like Webb, about a Marine in combat in Vietnam.
Back from Vietnam, Webb received his law degree from Georgetown University Law School. Webb speaks Vietnamese, and his third wife is also a lawyer, who is a young girl came to this country with thousands of other Vietnamese who fled by boat after the war.
Webb's first foray in national politics came as the Navy Secretary in the Reagan administration. Webb says he joined the Republican administration because of its commitment to a strong military. One of the main reasons he says he's running for Senate as a Democrat is because of his opposition to the Iraq War.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well, this year tight races can turn on almost anything. That's why there's so much concern over electronic voting fraud. But in New York state, they're also concerned with a more low tech type of voter fraud.
CNN's Mary Snow takes a look at that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a suspicion that's haunted elections past, but could the names of dead people potentially be used in present elections? That's a question posed by the "Poughkeepsie Journal of New York." It did its own analysis of the state's new database of 11 million-plus registered voters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We found that in New York State, in its voter registration database, there were as many as 77,000 people who were deceased but were still registered to vote.
SNOW: Reporter John Farrow says, make no mistake, the analysis is not an exact science, and he did not find any fraud, but says his investigation points to the possibility of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our report quantifies, if you will, or gives an estimate for the first time of a potential for fraud involving deceased registered voters in this brand new database.
SNOW: That database is only three months old. A spokesman for the Board of Elections was unable to appear on camera for an interview, but told us he was concerned by the paper's results. He added that the board will complete its own analysis by May of 2007.
Doug Chapin of the nonpartisian group electionline.org, says he's not all that surprised by the findings.
DOUG CHAPIN, DIR., ELECTIONLINE.ORG: It's worth looking carefully at, but I don't think all 77,000 of those people are going to rise from the dead and descend on the polls on Election Day.
SNOW: Chapin says suspicions about dead people voting are nothing new, and it swirled in Chicago following the election of John F. Kennedy. Chapin says, more often than not, it's more fiction than fact.
CHAPIN: When you hear stories about perhaps in the 1960 election whether or not there were some dead voters who turned out to vote on Election Day, rarely proven, often repeated.
SNOW: And it's being repeated again in an election year, where so many tight races, where everything is coming under scrutiny. To illustrate the point that every vote counts, analysts look to the 2004 governor's race in Washington State that had two recounts. Democrat Christine Gregoire was ultimately named the winner with a 133-vote victory.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, after half a century on the air, a TV icon decides it's time to "Come on down."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now, here is the star of "The Price is Right," Bob Barker!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Just ahead on the NEWSROOM, an announcement some of us never expected to hear.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Miles O'Brien drools at these type of segments. Images of earth and beyond. A rare treat from the Hubble Space Telescope.
LEMON: Oh, but it's not Miles who's looking at them. Guess who's -- I feel like Karl (ph) -- guess who's been looking at these images?
Oh there he is, Rob Marciano.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Miles and I share one thing. We're both kind of sky geeks, we kind of look at the sky in many different ways. And these images from the Hubble are just -- you know, they've been around for years, but it's just really cool to look at them.
And I report from friends at Albiracast (ph), Dave Jones sent these in to us. First, a picture of the Hubble itself. It orbits around at about 350 miles. It's been up since 1990. They've had several repair missions since the beginning of 1990, and the last one, as they announced yesterday, the last mission to repair it will be May in 2008. And Discovery's going to head out there. So we're really excited about that.
All right. Some cool shots for you. This is the Whirlpool Galaxy. This isn't an artist's rendition. This an actual picture of a galaxy, stars, and gas and dust. This is 31 million light years away.
All right. The next one's really cool. Isn't that neat? Man.
The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula. Basically, what astronomers describe this as is hydrogen gas and dust, kind of the incubators of stars. That picture was taken way back in 1995.
Next picture up should be Mars. This was taken in 2003. You may remember that's when we made a big deal of -- Mars was the closest it was to the Earth in 60,000 years, about 35 million miles away. And you can see one of the polar ice caps there of frozen -- likely carbon dioxide.
And another shot for you. This is the Helix Nebula. I'm told this is a trillion-mile-long tunnel of glowing gases. That picture was taken back in 2002.
You can look at that stuff for days. Hope you enjoyed that.
All right. The Hubble circulates around the Earth, orbits around the Earth 350 miles up. The satellites that take our pictures for weather are what are called geostationary satellites, meaning they rotate at the same Earth that the Earth rotates. And to do that, they've got to be about 22,000 miles up. So this picture that you're seeing is from a geostationary satellite, taking snapshots of the clouds, actually infrared, so they're actually sending infrared radiation and getting these waves back and measuring the temperature of the clouds.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Well, the longtime host of "The Price is Right" has decided the time is right. At the age of 82, the young age of 82, Bob Barker has announced his retirement, ending a daytime network television career that stretches back to the Eisenhower administration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now, here is the star of "The Price is Right," Bob Barker!
PHILLIPS (voice-over): Americans have been welcoming Bob Barker into their homes five days a week, every week for half a century, nearly since the dawn of television. In an industry where constant change is the norm, where today's overnight sensation is tomorrow's instant failure, it's a record that may never be matched.
Barker graduated from college with a degree in economics. But for nearly 35 years, he's been asking other people to speculate on financial matters as host of "The Price is Right."
BOB BARKER, HOST, "THE PRICE IS RIGHT": Is it number one that is most expensive? Number two?
PHILLIPS: Thirty-five years is a remarkable run, but "The Price is Right" is only Barker's second act. Barker launched his television career in 1956 with another popular game show, "Truth or Consequences." Long before anyone had coined the term "Reality TV," Barker would require contestants to perform bizarre stunts, sometimes inside the studio, sometimes outside.
Barker was still hosting "Truth or Consequences" when he took over "The Price is Right," in 1972. Eighteen years later, in 1990, "The Price is Right" replaced "Truth or Consequences" as the longest running daytime game show in TV history. And it's still going strong today.
As host of "The Price is Right," Barker's easy-going style was a vivid counterpoint to the borderline of some contestants. On one show a contestant wearing a tube top jumped up and down so excitedly, she exposed, well, both of her breasts.
In an industry where there's always been a premium on youth, Barker was one of the first game show hosts to let his hair go gray.
BARKER: Lady in the back row says she loves my hair.
PHILLIPS: Barker's long career has not been without controversy. In 1994 one of the models on the show, Diane Parkinson, accused him of sexual harassment. Barker, a widower, admitted having an affair with Parkinson, but said the relationship was consensual.
BARKER: As god is my witness, I have never forced her to do one thing that she did not want to do, ever. Sexually or any other way, ever.
PHILLIPS: The suit eventually was dropped.
And outspoken advocate of animal welfare, Barker routinely urged his audiences to spay or neuter their pets.
BARKER: Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered.
PHILLIPS: He quit as M.C. of the "Miss USA Pageant" because the prizes included fur coats.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, Barker jokes that at the age of 82 he wants to retire while he's still young. His last show will be June 7th of next year. CBS says "The Price is Right" will continue with a new host.
LEMON: He is one of a kind, that's because he's so completely natural in himself on TV, like one other person we know -- Wolf.
PHILLIPS: I don't know if Wolf Blitzer ever watched "The Price is Right."
LEMON: Of course you did, didn't you?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Of course I watched "The Price is Right." I watch all of those shows. What do you think, I just read the "Wall Street Journal" all day?
PHILLIPS: I thought you were kind of geeky. I am shocked, actually.
LEMON: Oh, come on.
BLITZER: I loved those shows. "Seinfeld," especially.
Let's get to what's coming up at the top of the hour. Happening right now, President Bush is standing by his men. He says Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney are both here to stay until he leaves office in January 2009.
Plus, Iraq in turmoil. U.S. military commanders indicating Iraq is edging toward chaos. Also, John Kerry, foot in mouth. Republicans pounding away once again on the campaign trail at his gaffe. Some Democrats doing the same thing.
And running away from President Bush. We'll find out why some Republicans right now are desperately trying to distance themselves from the commander-in-chief.
All that coming up, here in the "SITUATION ROOM," right at the top of the hour. Back to you guys.
LEMON: Wolf, we look forward to that.
We know you were watching this last night. The NBA season got underway. You see the Bulls and the Heat? great game. It got underway last night with one big difference. Players are trying to get used to a new ball. Instead of the traditional leather, the National Basketball Association has switched to a synthetic ball. Players don't really like it, saying it handles differently than the other ball. One study shows that the new balls bounce lower and more erratically. The commissioner, David Stern, says the league is sticking with those new basketballs.
We did try to get one today but we couldn't.
PHILLIPS: Why not? No hook up?
LEMON: We didn't have a key to the arena downstairs.
PHILLIPS: We tried.
Well, the closing bell and a wrap of the action on Wall Street straight ahead. Don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: It's been a Las Vegas icon since it opened in 1958. I can't get enough of the music. It's doors closed today at high noon for the last time. Stardust Casino joins a long line of Vegas spots giving way to new mega-resorts.
Now, when it opened, the Stardust was billed as the largest resort in the world. They're going to implode it in January. It will be replaced by a $4 billion casino complex called "Echelon Place."
LEMON: I believe I believe that music ...
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: It's a perfect segue to Ali Velshi, actually. He likes the old tunes.
LEMON: ... speaking of Vegas and money.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm glad you decided to go with that because there was no chance that there was a Vegas story I was going to share with you. I like the tunes, love the tunes.
PHILLIPS: Ali, as we know, what we know what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
VELSHI: That's exactly right. And I'm not going to be the one to break that rule.
(MARKET REPORT)
VELSHI: Let's take you over to Wolf. He's in New York.
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