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American Morning
Bush Vs. Kerry; Sadr City Flashpoint; Back To Bargaining; Newark Plane Incidents
Aired November 01, 2006 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There he goes again. Senator John Kerry offering more political ammunition to Republicans. He claims it's just a botched joke, but the president says Kerry owes soldiers in Iraq an apology.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Some major overnight developments in that California wildfire. Arson investigators now have a person of interest they say. This as the fifth firefighter dies.
M. O'BRIEN: And three runway incidents at the nation's airports. One airliner lands on a taxiway instead of a runway. How could that have happened?
All that and more on this AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody. It is Wednesday, November 1st. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien. Thanks for being with us.
We begin with a political war of words that sounds like a flashback to the 2004 presidential campaign. Senator John Kerry, the former Democratic nominee, once again putting his foot in his mouth and the president not wasting any time taking him to task. We get more from CNN's Brian Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Not even running for office this year, John Kerry pulls a late October surprise.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.
TODD: Those comments, at a California campaign event Monday, set off a chain reaction that could only be this hot days before an election. From the president.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The senator's suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and it is shameful.
TODD: Kerry rejects the criticism. KERRY: I'm sick and tired of a whole bunch of Republican attacks, the most of which come from people who never wore the uniform and never had the courage to stand up and go to war themselves.
TODD: But Republican Senator John McCain also calls it an insult to Americans in combat. Calls for Kerry to apologize. All this about a comment Kerry's camp says he didn't even mean. A Kerry aide tells CNN, he really meant students should learn their history or they might end up like President Bush, getting their country stuck in a place like Iraq. In a news conference nearly 24 hours later, Kerry calls his remarks a botched joke.
KERRY: If anybody thinks that a veteran would somehow criticize more than 140,000 troops serving in Iraq and not the president and his people who put them there, they're crazy.
TODD: But could the Democrat's 2004 presidential torchbearer have hurt his party's momentum heading into next week? Analyst Stuart Rothenberg says he doesn't think so generally but . . .
STUART ROTHENBERG, ROTHENBERG POLITICAL REPORT: The Democratic point of view, they want everybody everything to be about George Bush and the situation on the ground in Iraq and anything that draws attention away from that can't be ideal.
TODD: Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: New in Iraq this morning. Iraqis dancing in the streets, celebrating their victory over U.S. forces, getting them to dismantle checkpoints that have been set up since last Monday in two Shiite strongholds. Loss of the checkpoints not stopping, though, the intensive search for a missing U.S. soldier. American forces questioned three suspects picked up in Sadr City.
And Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expected to ask for at least $1 billion to increase Iraqi forces and speed up their training as well. For the very latest on what's happening in Sadr City this morning, let's get right to CNN's Aneesh Raman. He's in Baghdad for us.
Hey, Aneesh, good morning.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning to you.
Traffic is moving freely today into and out of Sadr City. The U.S. military confirming to CNN that all temporary checkpoints that had been set up around that area, which houses just over 2 million people, have been dismantled. Those checkpoints, of course, were set up about a week ago as the U.S. military tried to find that U.S. soldier who was abducted on October 23rd.
They also said permanent checkpoints in and around that area had been opened up. This was, of course, preceded by yesterday's stunning announcement by Iraq's prime minister, essentially in his statement mandating that all of these checkpoints be removed by 5:00 p.m. That had been precipitated on Monday by a general strike. The 2 million or so residents feeling that their daily life had been strangled to a standstill had gone on strike, emptied the streets, shops were closed.
But today, with those checkpoints now dismantled, celebrations, as you mentioned, were taking place. They were claiming victory over the United States. The reason, that is a bastion of support for the anti-American Shia Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who, by the way, also controls one of the strongest Shia militias in Iraq, the Mehdi militia. He had, moments before the Iraqi prime minister issued his statement, issued a statement of his own. Sadr had said that if, in his words, the siege of Sadr City continued, he would be forced to resort to other things. He did not specify what those were.
Some other news, though, to tell you about. The U.S. military confirming another soldier was killed. This happened yesterday in the volatile western al Anbar Province. The reason that's important. It means the death took place in October, raising the total number of U.S. personnel killed in October to 104. That still makes it the fourth deadliest month since the war began.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: So then where you have been reporting from in Sadr City, who's in charge? Is it the U.S. forces? Is it the prime minister, al Maliki? Is it, in fact, the man who's essentially politically responsible for Sadr City? Who is it?
RAMAN: Yes, it looks the latter of two. Clearly this was a moment that the Iraqi prime minister seized upon to show that he is in control of this country. It came amid tumultuous dialogue, public dialogue between Iraqi and U.S. officials over who really was in charge. And again, it comes in the backdrop, as you mentioned, of a strong political relationship between the Iraqi prime minister and Muqtada al-Sadr.
Al-Sadr is very much a part of this government. Members in parliament, members of the cabinet, and he is, in large part, responsible for the Iraqi prime minister even taking office. So it seems, for the moment, all politics here local.
That will be troubling to some extent for U.S. officials. They've said this is good. It shows the prime minister taking control. But at the same level, it shows him taking direct advice and, given the sequence, direct sort of action based upon what he's heard from Muqtada al-Sadr.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman for us this morning. Aneesh, thanks. He's in Baghdad.
More now on the plan to increase the size of Iraq's security force. According to a Defense Department source, it's going to cost at least $1 billion. So the Pentagon's going to ask Congress for the money. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approves the plan, doesn't say just how many Iraqi troops will be added or exactly what it will cost in the end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The Iraqi government and General Casey have made their recommendations, and General Dempsey, and that I'm very comfortable with the increases they've proposed and the accelerations in achievement of some of their targets that they've proposed. And the question -- and I understand that the Iraqi government is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
S. O'BRIEN: Secretary Rumsfeld says he doubts that more American troops are going to be needed to train the Iraqis, or that U.S. units will have to stay in Iraq any longer to get that done.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: A glimmer of hope in that tense nuclear standoff with North Korea. One year after North Korean diplomats walked away from the negotiating table, and three weeks after exploding an atomic bomb, they're now vowing to return. But why now? CNN's Hugh Riminton live in Beijing via broadband technology.
Hugh, what's the latest?
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, the chief U.S. negotiator, the man who has to deal with North Korea, Christopher Hill, is right now on a plane to Beijing, going back to Washington. He's going to go there and make preparations for what could be the most crucial negotiations yet in trying to make the Korean peninsula once again nuclear-free. He says North Korea has been brought back to the negotiating table simply because the weight of international condemnation has convinced Kim Jong-il that a nuclear weapons future is simply not a viable option.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER HILL, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: We've made it very clear that if they go down this route of nuclear weapons, they don't have a future. Because, I'm telling you, nobody accepts them as a nuclear power. On the other hand, if they get off that road and on to the road of implementing this September '05 agreement, I think there's a lot there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIMINTON: Well, everyone who's been involved in this process, sat down through the months and years, knows that you can never take at face value what's coming out of North Korea. One senior analyst that we were speaking to today says he is not convinced North Korea is sincere about genuinely wanting to rid itself of a nuclear bomb given they only tested one three weeks ago. He says North Korea is probably at the moment playing for time. At the very least, when they get to the negotiating table, he believes North Korea will try to set a much higher price for disarmament than it did in the talks a year ago. Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Hugh Riminton in Beijing, thank you very much. Apologize for that rather ratty transmission from Beijing. We'll try to get that fixed.
Happening this morning.
In Gaza, six Palestinians are dead, at least 30 injured after clashes with Israeli fores, according to Palestinian security sources. The Israelis say they moved in to stop militants launching daily rocket attacks.
Another life lost in that huge arson fire in southern California. A fifth firefighter has now died. Pablo Cerda was burned over 90 percent of his body while trying to protect a home. Authorities say they are questioning a person of interest who is facing charges in two other fires this past June.
Looks like that salmonella outbreak we told you about yesterday that sickened more than 170 people in 18 states has now been contained. Massachusetts hardest hit. Fifty-one cases reported there. People usually get salmonella by eating improperly washed foods or undercooked meat and poultry.
The environmental protection agency on the scene of a sulfuric acid leak in South Hadley, Massachusetts. That's north of Springfield. A 1,500 gallon tank leaking sulfuric gas. Some residents are out of their homes this morning. Schools that were closed apparently will reopen today.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, a pair of scary incidents at the same airport in just three days, including a plane that lands on a taxiway, not a runway. We'll take a closer look at how that happened.
And Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Researchers finally may have solved the mystery of what causes it.
That's ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Top stories this morning.
The Hubble telescope is getting a new lease on life. NASA has decided to send astronauts to repair the Hubble in 2008, keeping it functioning for years to come.
South Africa's last apartheid president is dead. P.W. Botha passed away yesterday. He led South Africa's whites-only government from 1978 to 1989.
Twelve minutes past the hour. If you're about to head out the door, let's first check in with Chad at the CNN Weather Center. Good morning, Chad.
(WEATHER REPORT)
M. O'BRIEN: Federal investigators this morning looking into two airplane mishaps at Newark Airport in just the past few days. The most serious incident, an airliner filled with passengers landing not on a runway but on a parallel taxiway. Could have had catastrophic consequences. CNN's Allan Chernoff live at Newark Airport with more.
Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF: Miles, one of these situations, as you mentioned, could have been absolutely horrific. It happened on Saturday evening at about 6:30. It was a Continental plane coming in from Orlando. A 757 with 157 passengers on board.
It was approaching Newark from the north. It got clearance to land on the runway. But instead of landing on a runway, it landed on a taxiway. A taxiway that was less than one half the width of a runway. Now, fortunately, there were no planes on that taxiway. Because if there had been, it would have been a complete disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It tells me that Continental Airlines has a breakdown in its training procedures that it has to address immediately. And that, in any case, the port authority, Continental and the pilot should be grateful that there was no one else taxiing around that ramp area or any vehicles because it would have just been an unmitigated disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: Continental has grounded the pilot.
Now another incident yesterday. This one involving an empty Continental plane and a Lufthansa jet. A 747 with more than 290 passengers on board. The Lufthansa jet was taxiing, preparing to take off for Frankfurt.
What happened? As it was taxiing along, it clipped, with one of its wings, it clipped a wing of the Continental plane, which was standing still on an adjacent runway. The Continental plane, as I said, was empty. It was actually just being towed towards a maintenance hangar.
But what happened was, they turned the Lufthansa jet around, back to the terminal, emptied it out, the flight was cancelled. Both planes are now out of commission, being investigated. And, fortunately, again, in both of these incidents, no one was injured.
Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you very much, Allan Chernoff.
Certainly a couple of scary, potentially incidents. One in particular that landing on a taxiway instead of a runway.
With Google earth map technologies, satellite technology, let's take a look at what might have happened in this case and what the pilot would have seen, the flight crew would have seen, as they approached the Newark Airport.
There you see, this is the New York City area. And generally what happens is, airplanes that are landing at Newark airport, which is right there, fly down here somewhere over this part of New Jersey and they'd fly generally straight into what is called runway 22. That's a southwesterly runway. On Saturday, however, the winds were such that it favored a less used runway, runway 29, and that would bring them down -- they'd actually circle just shy of the Statue of Liberty and come in this way.
Now let's zoom in and give you a little sense of what we're talking about here and how different this runway is. This particular runway, if we could zoom right around and get a pilot's eye view of what they saw coming in, is that designed for instrument landings. Does not have an instrument approach. Not designed for bad weather. And, as a result, does not have quite the lighting scenario that you would see on a runway that has that kind of thing.
First of all, runways -- this was about 5:50 p.m., a little bit after dusk, difficult time to fly anyway -- runways are ringed with white lights. It's very obvious the white lights. Taxiways -- and this is the taxiway that they landed on -- are edged with blue lights. So that should be quite obvious. In addition, at the end of a runway, there will be a couple of blinking strobe lights and sometimes some red lights as well there to make it very clear where they're supposed to land.
Now, if you're landing at that other runway, which has the fancy instrument landing system, let's spin around and give you a sense of what that's all about, there's a much more sophisticated lighting system associated with that. There's a series of strobe lights that blink and sort of, you know, say here, land here. It's quite obvious and can be seen through bad weather situations. So, while it is not lit as well, the flight crew clearly would have seen -- should have seen the white lights as opposed to the blue lights and should have landed on the runway.
But, in any case, federal investigators now probing this. The flight crew has been grounded. And we'll keep you posted as that investigation continues.
Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: That's scary stuff.
All right, Miles, thanks.
A lot of medical stories to get for you this morning.
There might be a new way to diagnose aggressive prostate cancer. Right now there's this test called a PSA. It's used to screen men for prostate cancer. Well, doctors now think the actual number of your PSA is less important than how much that number changes over time. Some doctors are recommending that a baseline PSA test be done at 40, not 50, which means you can better monitor that number and how it's changing. That means you also might be able to diagnose prostate cancers that are life threatening. That study comes out of the "Journal of the National Cancer Institute."
Then there's this study that focuses on depression. Some good news for millions of people who suffer from depression. The study shows that anti-depressants can help most patients, though it usually does take several different tries of medications and also lots and lots of persistence from patients. The study also showed that the more medicine a patient tries, the greater the chance of a relapse. That study comes out of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
And then there's this development about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, and just what exactly causes that. Scientists say it could be a chemical imbalance in the babies. Babies who died of SIDS lacked serotonin, the chemical that regulates breathing and body temperature and waking functions. We're going to talk to Dr. Sanjay Gupta ahead this morning about these stories.
Some of the other stories we're watching for you this morning.
DNA evidence clears a Vietnam veteran who spent 18 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit.
And the government is now dropping a multimillion dollar claim against Chevron. An update on those stories straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: Happening in America this morning.
In Texas, a Vietnam veteran is free after serving 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. DNA tests proved that Larry Fuller did not rape a Dallas woman back in 1981. His conviction was thrown out and the judge apologized to him.
In Washington, D.C., a court ruling now means that tobacco companies are allowed to sell light and low tar cigarettes. A federal appeals court blocked a lower court decision that tobacco companies had to stop labeling those milder cigarettes because they were no safer than any others.
More changes coming to the Las Vegas Strip. The lights are out at the Stardust. That's a bad story. Used to be the world's largest resort. Now it's coming down. It's going to make way, of course, for a $4 billion hotel and casino complex.
ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Great sign.
M. O'BRIEN: Maybe they'll keep the sign.
S. O'BRIEN: It's a beautiful sign.
M. O'BRIEN: It's on eBay this morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, those were the days. Bob Barker says he's retiring in June. He's been hosting "The Price is Right" for 35 years. Had a national television career for 50 years. He's turning 83. Does he look amazing for 83 or what?
M. O'BRIEN: Remember when he allowed himself to go gray. You know, that was such a big deal.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, huge.
M. O'BRIEN: And he looks great.
S. O'BRIEN: Anyway, so he says he wants to retire while he's still young. He's only 83.
And it is the morning after the big night, New York's big Halloween parade. I got caught in the traffic in this yesterday. What a nightmare. Thirty thousand partiers were in the streets of Greenwich Village. All dressed, of course, completely over the top, as is always the way. No plain old witch costumes or pirate costumes for these folks.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, not for kids necessarily.
S. O'BRIEN: And then, of course, you had Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of Kiss were serving as the grand marshals of this parade.
M. O'BRIEN: What do they dress up in on Halloween? Do they take the makeup off?
S. O'BRIEN: As members of Kiss. I saw them. Yes, no, they keep it on.
SERWER: That would be scary.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, not that.
S. O'BRIEN: That and the great weather. That was a really great parade yesterday. Annoying to be stuck in the traffic, but a great parade.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
Andy Serwer is here.
Did you have a good trick or treat last night?
SERWER: I did. Very busy over at my house. There were kids coming in all night it seems. Kept me up. A lot of fun, though.
Some business news to tell you about this morning. If you're keeping score, it's the government zero and Chevron $6 million. The Department of Interior has dropped a claim against the oil giant.
It had decided that Chevron had shortchanged the government to the tune of $6 million on royalties from natural gas pumped out of the Gulf of Mexico. It claimed that Chevron sold this natural gas to a subsidiary that it owned at below market price. It was going to go after them.
And then it looked at the potential litigation and said, you know what, we're not going to win this court case. So Chevron gets to keep all the money. The government gets nothing.
In other news to tell you about this morning, the PlayStation. Only 16 days away until the PS3 is released on November 17th. We're counting down. Sony . . .
M. O'BRIEN: Will they deliver, do you think?
SERWER: I think, at this point, they've got to deliver, otherwise there are going to be thousands of very angry people at game stops and all those -- and Wal-Mart and all those other stores. Now the company is warning, though, today, to beware of phony websites that are offering bulk shipments of the PS3. In other words, sign up, give us your credit card number, wink, wink, wink, and we'll send you four of them. We promise. Except, it's not true. Stick with the websites you know like Gamestop and EB Games and Best Buy and Wal- Mart. That's for real. That's what the company is saying.
Moving on to the markets. A little bit of slippage yesterday on Wall Street. The Dow was down especially. You can see here, six. It's interestingly we've seen kind of split sessions lately. The Nasdaq continues to gain a little bit of ground.
We ended the month of October, though, in fine form. The Dow was up 401 points or 3.4 percent. The volatile Nasdaq up even more than that. And a lot of times October can be a scary month for investors, as they say. It's certainly not this time around. Interest rates stable and lower gasoline prices. That's what it's all about.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes. I mean, on the anniversary of the '87 crash, there was a huge rally going on.
SERWER: Right.
M. O'BRIEN: You got some personal news you're going to share with us later. We'll leave it at that.
SERWER: Yes, we're going to talk to . . .
M. O'BRIEN: He's in the paper this morning.
SERWER: Right. We'll just leave it at that.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, you made news today leaving that out of your morning report. We'll get to that in your next business story (ph) straight ahead.
SERWER: I did. That's coming up. We'll talk about that.
S. O'BRIEN: But, congratulations, Andy. SERWER: OK. Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: So here's a story for you about food. Texans do it the most. New Yorkers pay the most. Italian is the most popular. We're talking about dining out this morning. You can all relax.
SERWER: Well, yes, competition.
S. O'BRIEN: The new Zagat survey of America's top restaurants is now out. It turns out folks in Houston eat out the most. An average of 4.2 times a week.
M. O'BRIEN: Houston? Really?
S. O'BRIEN: Houston, Texas, 4.2 times a week. Austin and Dallas at four times a week. That's a lot of eating out.
M. O'BRIEN: So the 0.2 times they just go have a salad? Is that what it is and come home and eat . . .
S. O'BRIEN: Averaged out over time.
SERWER: In Texas? Sometimes.
S. O'BRIEN: People in Boston go out to eat 2.7 times a week. New Yorkers pay on average $39.43 per meal. I believe it. We get ripped off in this city. Palm Beach is at $38.56. And the national average is $32.86.
Favorite food? Viva Italiano. Twenty-seven percent of diners, almost a third, say they want Italian food. American food, 16 percent and French food 12 percent.
M. O'BRIEN: Excellent. All right. Kind of hungry now for something.
SERWER: Some Mexican.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: Try something different.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
The stories we're following for you right now.
Senator John Kerry says people who don't study hard risk getting stuck in Iraq. But he claims he was talking about President Bush, not U.S. troops.
And voter confusion in Ohio. We'll look at why some folks think the state is headed for an Election Day train wreck.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Senator John Kerry accused of insulting American troops in Iraq. He calls it a misunderstanding. But with six days until elections, Democrats are already distancing themselves from Kerry.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Who really has the power in Iraq? More and more people say it's Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical cleric who doesn't like America. We'll show you just how much his influence is growing.
M. O'BRIEN: And the country's top docs say an outbreak of salmonella appears to be over. But, is it safe to eat your favorite produce?
That and more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. It's Wednesday, November 1st.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm miles O'Brien.
S. O'BRIEN: Let's begin in our top story this morning, which is that comment made by the former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Was it offensive or was it a joke?
CNN's Sumi Das live in Washington for us.
Hey, Sumi. Good morning.
SUMI DAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.
Well, it's a flood that's caused a huge political flap. John Kerry's camp says it was intended to be a jab at the president, but the White House is portraying the senator's remarks as a dig at the troops.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAS (voice over): Flashback 2004: President Bush and Senator Kerry trading barbs in the final days before November elections. Fast forward two years: Neither man is on the ballot, but the two are sparring once again, over this...
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: If you make the most of it and you study hard, and you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you -- you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.
DAS: Was it an affront to men and women in the military? Kerry said it was nothing more than a slip of the tongue.
KERRY: My statement yesterday -- and the White House knows this full well -- was a botched joke about the president and the president's people. Not about the troops. DAS: President Bush seized the chance to lash out at Kerry.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The senator's suggestion that the men and women of our military are somehow uneducated is insulting and it is shameful. The members of the United States military are plenty smart, and they are plenty brave, and the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology.
DAS: The White House, Kerry says, is trying to create an issue to shift attention away from its failed Iraq policy.
KERRY: And for them to suggest that somebody who served their country as I did, and has a record like I have in the United States Congress of standing up and fighting for the troops, would ever, ever insult the troops is an insult in and of itself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAS: With elections only six days away, no one is taking any chances. CNN has learned that Democratic candidate senator -- Democratic bob -- Democratic candidate Bob Casey, who is seeking the Pennsylvania Senate seat, has canceled a campaign event with Kerry scheduled for this evening in Philadelphia -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Sumi Das for us this morning.
Thanks, Sumi -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Six days out, and the Justice Department ready to deploy an army of federal observers to watch the voting on Election Day. Eight hundred people heading to 65 cities and counties in 20 states to protect our voting rights. The exact locations not being made public until Monday.
It was only two short years ago that Ohio was the scene of an election train wreck, long lines, furious voters, many with complaints about how their ballots were being handled. It made for a serious controversy.
So, is it about to happen again? Our justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's only a week to go before the election. And here in Ohio, people are confused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
ARENA: A Cleveland TV station is hosting election officials who are taking voters questions and the switchboard is lighting up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whether they need to have a driver's license, whether driver's license has to have their current address on it. ARENA: Ohio has a new law that says voters have to bring I.D. to the polls. The critics say it's too complex and it's being applied differently from county to county.
NORMAN ROBBINS, GREATER CLEVELAND VOTER COALITION: It's not equal who gets affected by these laws and by this confusion. It will be people who move a lot, so their registration has to be updated. There will be problems with the updating. Who moves a lot? Census data tells us youth, low-income people and minorities.
ARENA: The young, the poor, minorities, they all tend to vote Democratic and that makes the new law politically controversial. Inevitably lawyers are involved challenging the I.D. law in court. A ruling won't come before Wednesday. That's just six days before the polls open and time is running out.
CANDICE HOKE, CENTER FOR ELECTION INTEGRITY: The poll workers have to have possibly retraining, new materials. We don't know what the standards are for Election Day right now. But certainly the law that we have is confused, so something has to happen.
ARENA: And that from the woman appointed by Cuyahoga County, Ohio's most populous, to monitor the elections. What about those electronic voting machines we've heard so much about? Well all of Ohio's counties now have them. And poll workers in some places couldn't get them to work during the primaries in May.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I've seen you done this...
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... the last election.
ARENA: There's a lot more training this time around.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, like I said, there's many different ways.
ARENA: Poll workers are more confident.
BARBARA SIMMONS, POLL WORKER: We'll get through it. We'll make it.
ARENA: Michael Vu, who runs Cuyahoga County's Board of Elections, insists that he's optimistic.
MICHAEL VU, DIR., CUYAHOGA CO. ELECTION BOARD: We have a plan in place to making sure that things go -- run smoothly.
ARENA: Whatever happens, a lot of people will be watching, state officials, independent observers, even citizens.
SHARON LETTMAN, PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY: We're not going to leave it up just to the government to do their part. We're citizen advocates. We're advocating for democracy.
ARENA (on camera): And of course both political parties have lawyers ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Cleveland, Ohio.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Then there was a pretty heated moment on the campaign trail in Virginia, where a liberal blogger and law student heckled Republican Senator George Allen. He yelled, "Why did you spit on your first wife, George?"
Well, aides immediately grabbed the heckler. You can see it right there. He's had some previous confrontations with Allen, and they wrestled him to the ground, as this tape shows right there. In a statement, the Allen campaign says that the heckler aggressively went after Senator Allen.
Barbra Streisand's comeback concert angered some members of the audience. The latest incident is in Sunrise, Florida, where somebody threw a drink on the stage while Streisand was doing the skit that she does in the middle of the concert with the George Bush look-alike. Streisand, who is an outspoken liberal, wasn't hit by the drink.
That's the part of the concert that actually has been heckled by some fans of the president in Philadelphia and New York -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: She's still doing the skit, huh?
Happening this morning in Gaza, six Palestinians dead, and at least 30 injured after clashes with Israeli forces. The Israelis say they were conducting an operation in the Palestinian-controlled area where militants had been launching daily rocket attacks.
New developments from that arson fire in southern California. A fifth firefighter has now died. Firefighter Pablo Cerda had suffered burns over 90 percent of his body while trying to protect a home. A person of interest being questioned by authorities. He faces charges of arson from two different fires this past June.
And it looks like that salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 170 in 18 states has been contained. Massachusetts the hardest struck, with 51 cases reported there. People usually get salmonella by eating contaminated foods or undercooked meat and poultry.
Schools reopened today in South Hadley, Massachusetts. That's north of Springfield. There was a sulfuric acid gas leak. Nearby businesses and homes evacuated Monday night. And a team from the Environmental Protection Agency is on the site this morning.
S. O'BRIEN: Some stories we're following for you this morning.
Six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program could begin in just a few weeks.
And a royal visit to Pakistan. A first for Charles and Camilla.
We'll update you on all those stories straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back. Let's take a look at the news grid and see some of the stories we're following for you this morning.
Take a look at that feed there that is labeled "Reuters". That's WABC's helicopter. They're making their way over to Newark International Airport.
We've been telling you this morning about that Continental Airlines, an airliner that landed on a taxiway. Federal investigators are trying to figure out how that happened with a planeload of 150-odd people.
Down here, incoming 16, that's a replay yesterday. That's the crew that will go up to the Hubble Space Telescope for the fifth and final repair mission.
They were talking about the risks and rewards of going and fixes Hubble one more time. That announcement came yesterday shortly after we went off the air.
Take a look up at APTN. That's tape being fed in to us from Gaza. Israelis with a rocket strike on Gaza. Six supposed Palestinian militants were killed.
There were reports on the Palestinian side that an Israeli soldier was killed. The Israelis not confirming that one. We're working on that as well.
Over here on incoming 16, that's where we're going to hear from Allan Chernoff. That's Newark International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, where that investigation is under way this morning. Trying to figure out how an airliner could have possibly landed on a taxiway instead of a runway.
Watching all that for you this morning -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Here's a look now at stories that CNN correspondents around the world are covering today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. I'm Hugh Riminton in Beijing.
Christopher Hill, the man with the difficult task of having to negotiate with North Korea, is now on a plane back to Washington. He's going to be making preparations now for the six-party talks.
North Korea agreeing to return to the negotiating table over its nuclear weapons program. Christopher Hill believing that it was the weight of international pressure through sanctions and the six-party progress that has convinced North Korea it simply has no future as a nuclear weapons state. Those talks expected to get under way in the next few weeks, although some analysts here in Beijing say maybe all this is just another tactic to buy time by North Korea. One warning, saying they're just looking to raise the price at the very least for ultimately getting rid of their nuclear weapons.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Matthew Chance in Moscow.
Thousands of Russians are falling victim to a severe outbreak of alcohol poisoning. The authorities say at least 141 people are now confirmed dead as resulting from what was probably vodka laced with a disinfectant. Moonshine alcohol commonly sold across this country.
Russians are the biggest consumers of vodka in the world. And even though you can buy a bottle here for less than $3, many impoverished alcoholics in this country look for cheaper alternatives. There is a thriving market in moonshine, and the authorities say that every year -- and this is a staggering statistic -- more than 42,000 people die from drinking poor, bad, illegal alcohol.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Max Foster in London, where there's some concern for the heir to the British throne and his wife during their official tour to Pakistan. Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were due to visit the volatile Peshawar province, but royal aides decided to pull out at the last minute.
It followed an air strike on an alleged militant camp in the region and anti-Western protests. British diplomats hastily rearranged a tour to a woman-only university and an ancient Buddhist temple in a safer area.
Today the couple have moved on to Patika (ph) in Pakistan- controlled Kashmir to witness the reconstruction of the area after the devastating earthquake last year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: For more on these or any of our top stories, log on to our Web site at CNN.com.
M. O'BRIEN: It is quarter of the hour. If you're heading out the door, Chad Myers has a look at what lies ahead for you this morning.
Hello, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles. (WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: All right, Chad. Thank you.
MYERS: Sure.
S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, the number one issue on voters' minds in this election year, the war's impact on the midterm campaigning.
And one is the elected leader of Iraq, the other is a religious leader. But guess who's calling the shots?
We'll take a look at what's really happening there straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Some of the top stories we're looking at this morning.
Senator John Kerry denying accusations he insulted U.S. troops. Kerry says he was taking a jab at President Bush when he told a crowd you can get stuck in Iraq if you don't study hard.
And Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is supporting a billion- dollar plan to train more Iraqi troops -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: The two million residents in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City are free to come and go as they please. U.S. roadblocks around the area are down after an order by the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. But al-Maliki is not getting the credit. Instead, it's the Shiite leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, who is increasingly flexing his muscle over the fight for Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN (voice over): They're shouting, "No one can conquer the son of al-Sayyid!" It's a reference to the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
These residents of Sadr City, a giant Shiite slum in Baghdad, say al-Sadr is the reason Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, ended a week-long U.S. roadblock around their homes. The Americans continue to look for a missing U.S. soldier.
RAJIV CHANDRASEKARAN, FMR. BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF, "WASHINGTON POST": Certainly there's a perception on the streets of Sadr City that this was a victory. Clearly, the perception there is that Muqtada won.
S. O'BRIEN: The former Baghdad bureau chief for "The Washington Post," Rajiv Chandrasekaran, believes al-Maliki ordered the Americans to open the checkpoints after al-Sadr called for a general strike and threatened possible violence. CHANDRASEKARAN: He was getting a lot of pressure from Muqtada al-Sadr. And Sadr's -- Sadr's political party is an important part of the governing coalition in Iraq. And Sadr himself is a -- is a potent political force in the country.
S. O'BRIEN: Prime Minister al-Maliki cannot afford to make al- Sadr an enemy. Al-Sadr's political party holds at least 30 seats in the 275-seat government. One of the largest voting blocs in parliament. It also controls several ministries, including transportation and health.
CHANDRASEKARAN: He realizes that going up against Muqtada al- Sadr right now would be incredibly detrimental to his own interests and that of his government.
S. O'BRIEN: Perhaps, most importantly, al-Sadr controls the Mehdi militia, which is well armed and could number in the thousands. So al-Maliki chose instead to avoid conflict with his fellow Shiite leader while thumbing his nose at the Americans.
CHANDRASEKARAN: Clearly trying to show that he's not a pawn, that he's not going to do the White House's bidding. He's trying to show that -- that he's his own man.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: And just days ago, al-Maliki said that he wasn't America's man in Baghdad. This latest incident allowed him to make some much-needed concessions inside his country while he's sending some important messages outside, as well -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: Some stories we're working on this morning.
Three runway incidents, including one just last night at the nation's airports. How concerned should you be about your next flight?
And one insurance company is ordered to pay up for discriminating against pregnant women. Andy with more on that, "Minding Your Business".
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: A look at the day's top stories now.
Arson investigators have a person of interest in that California wildfire. Overnight news that a fifth firefighter died from the injuries that he suffered in that fire.
And the latest outbreak of salmonella appears to be contained now in those 18 states. It was likely caused by bad produce, but there are no recalls planned. At least now -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: An insurer and a real estate Web site both accused of discrimination.
Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business".
Good morning, Andy.
ANDY SERWER, MANAGING EDITOR, "FORTUNE": Good morning, Miles.
How about this one for a corporate no-no, discriminating against pregnant women? Wow, that is a world of trouble.
S. O'BRIEN: That's not a good group to anger.
SERWER: No, that is a world of trouble.
M. O'BRIEN: Not going to win on that deal. Not going to win.
SERWER: A jury in Illinois yesterday found that insurance company AMERIGROUP had discriminated against pregnant women and found them liable for $48 million and a total of $144 million in damages.
AMERIGROUP insures low-income women and provides health care to low-income people -- men and women, I should say. And what this jury discovered was that the insurance company discriminated against pregnant women, saying that -- that they should -- employees were encouraged to find the "healthies" -- that was the word they used, "healthies" -- and pregnant women not considered "healthies".
M. O'BRIEN: Ooh. Wow.
SERWER: And it said here that, "We should reduce the number of third trimester women who signed up to ensure a continuity of care."
You see, even though the government encouraged and, in fact, subsidized this company to do that, this company was in the business of doing this, and the government is ticked off, because the government now is -- says that they've been cheated because they were subsidizing this business. And then the company didn't go ahead and do its job and pocketed the difference, is what it sort of amounts to.
So a little bit of a mess there.
Now want to talk about Zillow. You remember Zillow? That is the online Web site that allows you to find out how much your house is worth and your neighbor's house is worth.
It came out a couple of months ago. I guess last year. Really cool stuff. You can just put in an address...
M. O'BRIEN: Put in the address.
S. O'BRIEN: Really? I haven't tried that.
M. O'BRIEN: There you go.
SERWER: Oh, it's really neat.
M. O'BRIEN: It's cool.
SERWER: But there is a group right now called the -- I've got it right here, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition that is accusing Zillow of undervaluing homes in poor, black and Latino neighborhoods. And the way they did this is they went and studied and tried to find out how accurate the assessments were of homes in these neighborhoods, versus higher-income neighborhoods, and they found that there were more inaccuracies in poor neighborhoods.
Now, Zillow says this is groundless, and this group would not release its data. So that one is definitely still to be decided.
M. O'BRIEN: And the data on Zillow is just for your personal interest. It's not used to refinance or purchase homes, right?
SERWER: Right. That's absolutely correct.
They call them zestimates.
M. O'BRIEN: Zestimates.
SERWER: But this group suggests that this data is ultimately used when people go into a bank because it sort of sets the market. And it could be a bit of a stretch there, but, you know, this group needs to release the data if they want to make some headway.
M. O'BRIEN: Andy your picture is in the paper this morning.
SERWER: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: And usually that could be bad or good.
SERWER: It's not the post office wall, is it?
S. O'BRIEN: Corporate scandal. No.
M. O'BRIEN: And it's -- wait a minute. Oh, a dot-dot drawing from "The Wall Street Journal".
You have arrived.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow. That's a very handsome picture.
SERWER: Jake Gyllenhaal, right? That's what (INAUDIBLE) said. It looked more like him than me.
S. O'BRIEN: You look good.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
SERWER: Yes, that is a dot drawing in "The Wall Street Journal," and I'm very flattered. And...
M. O'BRIEN: No allegations of corporate malfeasance, right?
SERWER: It's because I have just been given a new job, and that is the managing editor of "Fortune Magazine," which is the editor in charge of the magazine.
M. O'BRIEN: The boss. The boss.
S. O'BRIEN: Woo!
(APPLAUSE)
SERWER: Thank you very much.
And so I am thrilled and somewhat daunted, because it's going to be a whole lot of work. But it's going to be a whole lot of fun, too. So I look forward to that.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow.
S. O'BRIEN: You're the editor. Just read people's stuff, a couple of red marks.
SERWER: Delegate? Delegate.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: Martinis. What's not to love?
SERWER: Lunches, right.
M. O'BRIEN: So you can still come here in the mornings, right?
SERWER: Well, a little bit. We'll have to see how that works out.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, we're going to miss you. Congratulations.
SERWER: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: And there'll be more on this as the weeks come. A couple of weeks.
S. O'BRIEN: We love you, man.
SERWER: Oh, all right. We'll talk about it.
M. O'BRIEN: See you in a bit.
SERWER: Thank you, guys.
M. O'BRIEN: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING begins right now.
S. O'BRIEN: Now just six days until the midterm elections, and kind of a gift for Republicans from John Kerry. The senator is accused of insulting American troops in Iraq. He says it's a misunderstanding. But today Democrats are doing damage control.
M. O'BRIEN: North Korea will soon resume talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons program. We'll tell you why Kim Jong-il's returning to the bargaining table. S. O'BRIEN: And big overnight developments in that California wildfire. Arson investigators identify a person of interest. And the fifth injured fireman is dead.
Those stories and much more ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Welcome back, everybody. It's Wednesday, November 1st.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.
M. O'BRIEN: And I'm Miles O'Brien.
Thanks for being with us.
Senator John Kerry trying to explain himself out of a rhetorical hole this morning. On Monday, he was at a campaign rally for the Democratic candidate for governor in California at Pasadena City College.
Listen to his attempt at humor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KERRY: If you make the most of it, and you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you -- you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Now, Republicans quickly blasted Kerry for insulting Americans serving in Iraq. The president calling on Kerry to apologize.
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