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More Resources Brought into Search for Aviator; Senator Craig to Challenge Conviction; Terror Suspects Arrested in Germany

Aired September 05, 2007 - 13:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CO-HOST: Lighter winds mean higher hopes in the aerial search for Steve Fossett. We expect to hear the latest from search teams in Nevada momentarily.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CO-HOST: And on Capitol Hill, still taking center stage, Larry Craig. Aides suggest his Senate resignation may not be a done deal, but the Senate may feel otherwise. We expect to hear from Craig's colleagues throughout the day.

Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in today for Kyra Phillips at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

But, first, we start this hour with some developing news happening right now. We have just been told of the death of Congressman Paul Gillmor from Ohio. He was found dead in his Washington apartment this morning.

Now, according to his aides and sources on Capitol Hill, the congressman did not show up for work this morning. No one had heard from him. So, they sent aides over to his apartment and, apparently, aides found him dead in his apartment. No cause of death in all of this right now.

John Boehner, who is the Senate minority leader -- the House minority leader, I should say -- said that they're waiting for the Ohio delegation and the condolences go out to Gillmor's family.

We're going to go now to some other developing news. Steve Fossett, who has been missing since Monday. A news conference is getting under way right now in Nevada. Let's take you to it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We hope to have a successful day as far as Mother Nature is concerned. And for more about the search as far as civil air patrol is concerned, I'd like to turn that over now to Major Cynthia Ryan with the civil air patrol.

MAJ. CYNTHIA RYAN, CIVIL AIR PATROL: Thank you, Chuck. What I'd like to tell all of you today is that we have received some additional assets. Thank you to the California wing of the civil air patrol, as well as the Utah wing civil air patrol.

Particularly today, we have a new aircraft in the civil air patrol fleet that has come in this morning from Utah. It is an air van aircraft, and on board it has what we call ARCHER technology, A-R- C-H-E-R, ARCHER.

ARCHER is essentially something used by the geosciences. It's pretty sophisticated stuff. It's involving hyper spectral imaging technology and using the visual light spectrum. That's far beyond what the human eye can generally see. It is not thermal imaging. Thermal imaging is what the C-130 uses in its FLIR system, or rather, the infrared.

The ARCHER technology takes input from us into a computer. The size, the shape, the color of the target, takes those parameters and, through a sophisticated set of algorithms, compares that to what it sees on the ground. And it might see boulders, it might see trees, it might see mountains, sagebrush, whatever, but it goes "not that, not that, yes, that." Matches the parameters.

And the amazing part of this is that it can see as little as 10 percent of the target, and extrapolate from there and come up with a potential solution. At which time, if we felt that this was significant, we would go in with a helicopter, get even closer for a look, even send a ground crew in, if we felt that it was warranted. So, we're really excited to put this aircraft through its paces today.

Additionally, we have our fixed-wing Cessna 182s out there with, again, crews from California and Nevada in addition to the C-130. And other rotor aircraft from the air guard and the California Highway Patrol.

And that about describes the -- the airborne portion of today's search.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Major, any new signs, any new signs, any pings off the emergency locater? Any radio contact?

RYAN: There were a couple of ELT hits reported yesterday. They both turned out to be bogus hits. We tracked them down, and they weren't anything related.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) How many do you have? One or several?

RYAN: We have six fixed wing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But how many have to do with the new technology?

RYAN: Just the one, sitting out on the ramp there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you have a total now of 20, is that correct?

RYAN: No. Today we've got the six fixed wing here, which include the ARCHER, and then the helos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many helos do you have?

RYAN: I think we've got three today? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three.

LEMON: All right, listening to a press conference. They're updating us on the situation regarding Steve Fossett. That was Major Cynthia Ryan talking about the equipment, the technology they're using.

They said they have at least six fixed-wing aircraft out looking for Steve Fossett. And also, they're using what they call ARCHER technology which is what geoscientists use. It a visual light spectrum, according to her, and not thermal imaging.

They said they had some false hits yesterday but still no sign of adventurer Steve Fossett. We're going to continue to follow this story, and we'll update you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM throughout the day.

WHITFIELD: And let's talk about what's happening on Capital Hill. Larry Craig said he intended to resign from the Senate, and other many senators thought it couldn't happen quick enough.

But now, Craig seems to be having second thoughts. He has hired a high-powered legal team to try to undo some of the damage wrought by his men's room arrest and guilty plea in June.

Our Dana Bash joins us now with more on how this news is going over on Capitol Hill.

I imagine not good, except for the fact that probably Craig is saying he was encouraged in part by some members on the Hill. Wasn't he?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fredricka. One member on the Hill, to be sure.

And, you know, as we speak, Fredricka, the Senate Republicans are meeting. They're having their weekly lunch. And we are told to expect the Senate Republican leadership to approach the cameras, probably in the next hour, and make abundantly clear that they still believe that their Republican colleague, Senator Larry Craig, is doing the right thing and would do the right thing if he decides to go ahead and resign.

That is the message that they have been sending to Senator Craig loud and clear, both in public and in private since this whole scandal broke and became a political nightmare for them about one week ago.

Now, in addition to that, in other developments today, Fredricka, is that one of the -- the investigations, if you will, into Senator Craig is here on the Hill. It's one of the ways that the Republican leadership tried to punish this Senator Craig, if you will, is by asking for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation into the whole incident in the Minneapolis men's room airport.

Now, Senator Craig's attorney, Stan Brand, he sent a letter to the ethics committee just this afternoon, and he made clear he does not think the ethics committee has jurisdiction. They shouldn't even be investigating this at all, because, he said, this is a personal matter that did not have anything to do with his -- with his duties here in the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STANLEY BRAND, ATTORNEY FOR SENATOR CRAIG: What the Senate has disciplined people for is treason, bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors, financial, you know, skullduggery, not private, misdemeanor conduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, there you have his attorney saying that he think that this is unprecedented, an investigation in the Senate Ethics Committee.

But the much bigger problem for Senator Craig is what he is trying to undo in a court of law in the state of Minnesota. He's trying to overturn a guilty plea that he signed, admitting to misconduct in that Minneapolis bathroom.

And what Senator Craig has stunned the political world by saying, or at least through his spokesman over the past 24 hours, is that he may not actually resign if he succeeds in that legal battle, even though it is a big hurdle for him to clear in doing that.

Now, in part, we now know that the reason Senator Craig is pulling back a little bit, a little bit, is because he got a phone call of support from Senator Arlen Specter, the one Republican who had come out in support of -- of senator Craig.

And we have, because of "Roll Call", the Capitol Hill newspaper here, they obtained a voice mail message from Senator Craig. Apparently, he thought he was leaving it for his attorney about Senator Specter and his support. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R), IDAHO: Yes, Billy, this is Larry Craig calling. You can reach me on my cell. Arlen Specter is now willing to come out in my defense, arguing that it appears by all that he knows I've been railroaded and all of that. Having all of that, I might reshape my statement a little bit to say it is my intent to resign on September 30.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, what Senator Craig's aides are saying is that he still does intend to resign unless he can get those charges overturned. That is going to be very difficult for him to do. You talk to any legal expert, they say, not withstanding what Senator Arlen Specter is saying to Craig and saying in public -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and difficult to do in that kind of timeline to actually reverse that kind of plea within 30 days. Not possible, right?

BASH: Very difficult. Twenty-five days between now and September 30, you're exactly right. The self-imposed deadline that Senator Craig put on this to get that done, it will be very difficult.

We are told that there actually hasn't been anything filed yet to officially challenge this in the Minnesota's courts. So time is ticking and time does not seem to be on his side, or much more importantly, the legal precedent for overturning something like this doesn't seem to be on his side either, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. Thanks so much -- Don.

LEMON: Three Islamic militants driven by their hatred of Americans possibly just days away from carrying out massive attacks against U.S. targets. That's the word this hour from authorities in Germany, where the suspects are under arrest.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in Frankfurt with more on this developing story for us -- Frederik.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, it's good to see you.

You're absolutely right. Three suspects were taken into custody by German police late last night. Two of them were German citizens who converted to Islam. One of them was a Turkish citizen. And all of them, German authorities say, were trained in al Qaeda terrorist training camps in Pakistan.

Here's what happened today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): This is one of the three suspects arrested in the alleged terror plot. A federal prosecutor says two of the three suspects are Germans who had converted to Islam, and one is Turkish. All are in their 20s and were detained in a raid in central Germany Tuesday.

The officials say they believe the suspects received training in camps in Pakistan run by the group called the Islamic Jihad Union and that the attacks were ordered directly by al Qaeda leadership.

JURG ZIERCKE, GERMAN FEDERAL CRIMINAL POLICE (through translator: This organization was in close contact with al Qaeda. Its main motive was hatred of American citizens. Its main targets, were U.S. bases. Possible scenarios included multiple car bombs, also known as simultaneous terrorism.

PLEITGEN: Officials would not name those installations and said other targets could have been included discos, pubs and airports frequented by Americans.

The prosecutors say the three men had stored 1,500 pounds of hydrogen peroxide which, if mixed with other ingredients, could have been produced massive explosive power.

German police have been monitoring the group since the end of last year after police noticed them scouting out American installations in Germany.

WOLFGANG SCHAUBLE, GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER (through translator): they did not get to a very dangerous stage, because happily, they -- in the early stage they attracted the attention of our officials in our country.

PLEITGEN: German officials say that as the plot moved ahead, investigators were able to substitute the hydrogen peroxide stored by the suspects.

The interior minister says the conspiracy is a stark reminder to Germans of the threat of terrorism.

SCHAUBLE (through translator): We're not just abstractly, in not just an abstract way a part of this worldwide area, and therefore we are concretely threatened by international terrorism.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And, Don, one of the things that the German federal prosecutor was also saying is that, had these arrests -- had these attacks been carried out successfully, they would have been more massive possibly than the ones in London and in Madrid.

Now, just one thing that German authorities and American authorities are saying to U.S. citizens possibly traveling in Germany these days. The U.S. Embassy is calling on Americans to be especially aware traveling in Germany these days. However, they don't say that Germany is a country that is unsafe for Americans -- Don.

LEMON: CNN's Frederik Pleitgen, we appreciate your report. Joining us from Frankfurt.

The German arrests come one day after a similar bust in Denmark. Eight men allegedly planning bomb attacks were arrested by Danish police in Copenhagen. Authorities say all have links to senior al Qaeda terrorists.

The six Danish terrorists and two foreigners have been under surveillance for some time. Government officials say there is no evidence of a direct link between the alleged plots -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Well, he took plenty of hits in the ring. Did brain injuries contribute to Chris Benoit's bizarre final acts? Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more on what might have happened inside the pro wrestler's brain.

LEMON: Plus, another recall of toys made in China. The feds warn this one won't be the last.

WHITFIELD: And Washington reviews the disaster in Utah. Senators demand answers from the man who was supposed to make sure that mines were safer.

All ahead on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: 1:17 here in the east. Three of the stories we're working on for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Still no sign of Steve Fossett. The adventurer disappeared after taking off from a Nevada airfield on Monday. We heard just minutes ago from searchers who are using state-of-the-art technology to try to find him.

Veteran U.S. Representative Paul Gillmor is dead at the age of 68. The Ohio Republican was found in his Washington apartment this morning. No word yet on how he died.

A multimillion dollar settlement in a lawsuit linked to a tragic Rhode Island nightclub fire. One hundred people died and 200 more were hurt in the fire at The Station nightclub in 2003. A lawyer says defendants have agreed to settle for $13.5 million.

WHITFIELD: And it has been so hot in four southern California counties that now the coroner's offices there are blaming some 25 deaths on the heat out there.

Chad Myers is in the severe weather center.

And, Chad, I don't think I or a whole lot of folks realized incredibly how hot it has been in southern California in particular.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Twentynine Palms, Palm Springs, it gets hot. And that's the inland empire, and when you move there, you know it's going to get hot. But not this hot.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MYERS: Yesterday, 102 in Beaumont, 101 in Riverside. Now today about six degrees cooler on average.

And look at L.A. All you have to do get near the water. L.A. 74, yesterday over 90 at the civic center. The heat is all the way through the inland empire, all the way down through Yuma and even into Phoenix today.

Now, L.A., like I was saying, if you get anywhere near the water, you're back in the 60s and 70s, right where you should be. But if you're inland, I don't know, 10, 15 miles, maybe not even that far, you are over 100 degrees probably today, although Beaumont 96. Riverside I'm going 95.

Vegas, 102. Now you expect to it be hot in Vegas. You expect it to be hot this time of year.

This is hurricane season. This is the hot time of year. This is Felix now, Tropical Depression Felix just about done. Still making some rainfall, but this is the last advisory since 5 a.m. this morning. They're not going to talk about it anymore. It is over.

Not so much -- not so fast here about Henriette. This storm moves through Cabo, especially San Jalcedo (ph) Cabo, east of what you know as Cabo San Lucas where all the -- the resorts are. Not too much damage in the resort areas. But still some flooding east of there.

And then on up into New Mexico and southern Arizona for the weekend with possible flooding.

And then we'll watch this. This very well may be our next storm. Gabriel. This is a computer model that we use. We also talk about these models. Well, this is actually one that's actually working and showing you what's going on, Fred. It's developing, nothing, nothing, nothing. Then all of a sudden maybe for the weekend, the Carolinas could see a hurricane this week.

WHITFIELD: Oh, no!

MYERS: We'll see. We'll see.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, let's hope it goes the other way. All right. Thanks a lot, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

LEMON: How does the Air Force mistakenly load nuclear warheads on a bomber like this and then fly it across country? A live report from the Pentagon. Straight ahead, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, you talk about all these heat-related deaths. Well, now CNN has confirmed about 23 heat-related deaths in Southern California.

We just explained, or at least Chad did, explained that that part of the country has experienced some eight days of excruciating heat. In some cases the temperatures surpassing 110 degrees. And we expect these numbers could go higher because certain counties have yet to even report some of the numbers.

We'll, of course, keep you posted as we get the information.

LEMON: Absolutely, Fredricka.

Let's turn now to business. For the third time in just over a month, Mattel has issued a toy recall.

Susan Lisovicz is standing by for us at the New York Stock Exchange with all the details on this.

Susan, you know, I don't have a child, but I was speaking this morning in a meeting about people who do. How do you know what your child can play with nowadays?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have to do your homework. It's not quite as easy as child's play. I mean, it's as simple as that.

You know, and I think that there's a disconnect, apparently, between what -- what is good in the U.S. and what is apparently OK, acceptable, in other parts of the world.

Mattel is apologizing, Don, to its customers and trying to do damage control to its reputation. The latest recall involves another 800,000-plus toys, including 500,000 here in the U.S. due to high levels of lead paint. Once again, the toys were manufactured in China.

Most of the toys in today's recall are accessories associated with Mattel's core brand, Barbie. Mattel's Fisher-Price unit, also recalling several toys. If you need to return a recalled toy, you can go to Mattel's website. The company also has a hotline set up. The number there is 888-496-8330.

Mattel also took out a full-page ad in "The Wall Street Journal" today, one day after the paper cited its -- let me wrestle this. One day after the piper -- the paper cited ongoing conflicts between Mattel and federal regulators over Mattel's cooperation in reporting problems.

You know, Don, I can always fold that paper when I'm in the subway. Not, apparently, when I'm talking to you.

LEMON: It's Murphy's Law, and it's live TV. Come on.

You know, it's a big problem for China. It is a big problem for Mattel, as well. And this is -- you showed that "Wall Street Journal" thing. This is going to be more than about good P.R. or trying to fix their P.R., at least.

LISOVICZ: Well, you know, one of the reasons that China has had such amazing growth in its economy, Don, is because so many things that we consume here are made there. Eighty percent of the toys, in fact, that are told worldwide, that's the estimate, made in China.

China working to mend reputation battered not just by the toy recall, but by products ranging from toothpaste to pet food to condoms. China taking unusual steps to show American reporters that it is vigorously testing toys and that only about one in 1,000 toys had high lead paint levels.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission says to expect more toy recalls, because there's a lot more vigilance now.

Mattel's competitor, Hasbro, says it has been testing its toys and has not turned up high lead levels.

(STOCK REPORT)

LISOVICZ: Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, is making a big announcement in San Francisco right now. We'll have all the details about the new iPod in the next hour of NEWSROOM. Don Lemon, be there.

LEMON: Yes.

LISOVICZ: And I know Fredricka will be listening, as well.

WHITFIELD: I will be listening. I'm not a gadget gal. But I'm interested.

LISOVICZ: But your co-anchor is.

WHITFIELD: I know. Totally, constantly.

LEMON: I'm just going to say, I mean, I always say, "Oh, to be Steve jobs." And he doesn't know it yet, but he's my new best bud.

LISOVICZ: He's a lot of people's.

LEMON: Yes. All right, Susan, we'll check back. Thank you.

LISOVICZ: You got it.

WHITFIELD: And we'll talk more about the possible health risks for children exposed to lead paint in toys. We're not done with that topic. That's straight ahead, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Hello, everyone, I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Kyra Phillips.

A banner day for political junkies, especially if you're keeping an eye on the GOP presidential campaign.

LEMON: That's right, Fred Thompson's finally jumping in, but he's waiting 'til tonight's debate is over. We'll ask our very own Bill Schneider to weigh in on this.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

WHITFIELD: And this just in, we're updating these numbers because they're changing now that we're hearing from more counties in southern California. Now, the number is 27, 27 people, who have died from heat-related deaths in California. A string of very hot, intense temperatures, over 100 degrees in some parts, namely in four particular southern California counties. We're continuing to monitor the numbers here as more counties confirm their numbers of heat- related deaths.

LEMON: And the rescue effort has ended at the Crandall Canyon coal mine in Utah. But questions surrounding last month's deadly collapse are front and center today on Capitol Hill. A Senate subcommittee is looking into the disaster that entombed six miners and later killed three rescuers.

Richard Stickler of the Mine Safety and Health Administration had this to say about the mountain buckling. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD STICKLER, MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMIN.: No one has the ability to go into a coal mine and predict whether or not there will or not -- will not be a mountain bump. So, our inspectors underground traveled through the areas of the mine. They did not see any condition that would warn them that a mountain bump was -- was pending.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: CNN's Brianna Keilar is covering today's hearing and she joins us now live from Washington. Hello, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Don.

You know, it's interesting as one of the top independent experts on mine safety was at this hearing as well, and he disagreed with that assessment by Robert Stickler that no one can predict a mountain bump. He cited press accounts of miners saying in the days before this accident, that they could see the mine floor heaving, which is an indication of a pressure build-up that could lead to the so-called "mountain bump" or structural failure of the mine that happened on August 6th.

Some of the toughest questions that we heard today at this hearing centered around Bob Murray, the owner of the Crandall Canyon Mine. You probably recognize him. He played a very prominent role at press conferences, and some victims' family members criticized him for how he communicated with them.

Here's an exchange between Senator Arlen Specter and Robert Stickler, that top mine safety official for the federal government.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER, (R) PENNSYLVANIA: How could you permit Mr. Murray to take over with the press and to stand by and allow him to be on the scene? You have to take action with the sheriff to keep him out of advising the families because he gives them misinformation. And he makes the preposterous statement about an earthquake to try to make it an act of God.

STICKLER: I tried, I advised, I coached, I lectured. But -- and we met before the -- the press conference to make sure that we were on script as far as the facts, make sure the facts the company had and MSHA had were the same, but I could not control the -- the ad-libbing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Bob Murray declined an invite to testify at this hearing. And Senator Specter said that issuing a subpoena for Murray to appear is a serious possibility.

Now, we've reached out to Murray, but so far, Don, he has not responded. LEMON: CNN's Brianna Keilar, thank you for your report, Brianna.

WHITFIELD: And startling news from the military, a B-52 bomber, like the one you're about to see, right there, was flown across the United States, carrying a half dozen nuclear warheads by mistake. It happened last Thursday. The mistake was not discovered, however, until after the flight.

Here's a look at the flight path. The bomber flying from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, and during the flight, the nuclear warheads mounted on advanced cruise missiles were unaccounted for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: This is a major gaffe, and it's going to cause some heads to roll down the line. Here's the laydown of this. We agreed back in the late 1960s between President Kennedy and I believe it was -- it was Khrushchev at that time, that we would no longer fly nuclear weapons airborne.

At that time, we were flying 24-hour nuclear alert with weapons on board B-52s, and we dropped some in the water off Spain. And as a result of that, we agreed not to do it anymore, and we don't do it at all. And so, it appears that what happened was this treaty agreement if you will, was violated and nuclear weapons were on board the cruise missiles being flown from Minot to Barksdale in Louisiana.

Now, the good news is, there isn't any way they could detonate because they do have redundant devices, one of them being a permissive action link, a PAL, a code that has to be typed in and that code has to be released by the president.

So, there's no danger of them going off or a crew being able to release them and bomb something. But this is a major, major mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A munitions squad commander is relieved of duty while Air Force higher-ups investigate how this happened.

We'll check in with CNN's Barbara Starr at the Pentagon in the next hour of the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And some sad news to report here on CNN. An Ohio Congressman Paul Gillmor found dead today in his Washington apartment, found by aides after he did not show up for work this morning. They went to his apartment and checked on him and found him dead. He was 68-years-old and was serving his tenth term in Congress. Republican leaders say they are waiting to hear word on his funeral plans and also saying that their hearts are with his family.

Another Republican presidential debate takes place tonight in New Hampshire, and everyone will be there. Well, almost everyone. Fred Thompson will sit out the debate, then announce his candidacy afterwards. CNN's Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider joins us now from Washington. Bill, is it a smart strategy, you think, for Thompson not to attend the debate and instead go on Jay Leno? It's a little late to the party, don't you think?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, well, Jay Leno, that's the reminiscent of the Schwarzenegger strategy. Remember, Arnold Schwarzenegger declared he was going to run for governor of California back in '03 on the Jay Leno show. Well, that's fine if you're running for governor of California.

But tonight, there is a debate sponsored by the Republican Party New Hampshire, and they care about their debate, they don't really care about the Jay Leno show very much. I think a lot of Republicans of New Hampshire may take it as an insult that he chose to be in Burbank, California, rather than Durham, New Hampshire.

LEMON: Yes, and my first question is kind of a double question, this is the follow (ph) again, I'll ask. I said it may be a little bit late to the party. Is it -- is it too late, you think, for him to jump in?

SCHNEIDER: I don't think it's too late. It's getting there ...

LEMON: Right.

SCHNEIDER: ...because this race has started so incredibly early, but he's very fortunate that a lot of voters see a vacuum in the Republican race. They're not particularly happy with the candidates. About half the Republicans say, to pollsters, that they wish there were more choices.

Well, my gosh, they've got eight candidates already but they don't see a candidate who looks like a conservative who can win. They see some conservatives, but they wonder if they can win. And they see some winners but they wonder if they're reliably conservative. So, they're hoping, maybe, Fred Thompson will fill that vacuum. We don't know yet.

LEMON: OK, Bill, you want to crunch some numbers for us? Let's talk about the numbers in all of this. Where does the Republican race stand right now at this point?

SCHNEIDER: Well (ph), in our poll of polls where we average the polls that have been taken by all the organizations, Rudy Giuliani is still the front-runner as you can see there for August. In the Republican race, he's been right at about the same numbers since the spring.

Fred Thompson is running second, and he's not even in the race yet when any of these polls were taken. But there he is, in second place. He's got a lot of name recognition because, of course, his fame as an actor, he's a celebrity. He's been picking up a little bit of support. We'll see what happens after he declares.

John McCain is running third. He's been dropping a bit. Mitt Romney is running fourth. But I'll tell you something, in Iowa and New Hampshire, the two early states, those were national polls. In Iowa or New Hampshire, Mitt Romney in most polls, is running first.

LEMON: All right, do you know what, I don't want to throw a curveball. What do you think that celebrity status? Do you think that'll help? I mean, you know, Ronald Reagan, movie star, that kind of thing, you think it'll help Fred Thompson?

SCHNEIDER: Well, it certainly gives him name recognition which is a very important thing. Politicians, candidates ...

LEMON: Yes, yes.

SCHNEIDER: ...spend a lot of money to get name recognition. If people know your name, that's a step in the door. Then, they want to listen to what you have to say.

LEMON: Absolutely.

OK, let's talk about the Democrats right now. We talked about the Republican numbers. Where do the Democrats stand?

SCHNIEDER: Well, they've got a stronger front-runner, that's Hillary Clinton, who's ahead of the field right now in our poll of polls, 42 percent, stronger than Giuliani in the Republican race. And that's been stable really for most of this year. Second place, again stable. Barack Obama at about a quarter of the vote. Third place, John Edwards at 13 percent. They're the only Democratic candidates in double digits.

But once again, it looks very different in the first contest in Iowa, where the three top front-runners, that you just saw, in the Iowa caucuses, the polls there show they're nearly tied.

LEMON: OK. It might be easier, Bill, you think, to name the shows that Bill and Hillary Clinton have not been on lately, rather this week, rather than the ones they have been on?

SCHNEIDER: Right.

LEMON: Let's look at Oprah Winfrey. He's sort of making fun at his own expense. Let's take a look at that and then we'll talk about it. It was yesterday.

SCHNEIDER: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Are you prepared to be first gentleman? And then what are you called?

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FMR. PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know. But my Scottish friends say I should be called first laddy, because it's the closest thing to first lady.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: I don't know, first man, first dude, first bro, I don't know, something like that. Is he helping or hurting his wife? I'm sure I know the answer to this question.

SCHNEIDER: I think he's helping his wife. She's running for the Democratic nomination, and he is very, very highly regarded by Democrats, who look back at the Clinton era as the golden age. Of course that was before 9/11 and the war on terror. But they do look back at Bill Clinton as a president whose policies they liked, for the most part. Some of them were, of course, were very controversial.

But among Democrats, believe me, if Bill Clinton is out there for you, it's a plus. Also, as Bush has lost support as his image has deteriorated, Bill Clinton's name has gained in the larger electorate, not just among Democrats. So right now he's a very much a plus for her campaign.

LEMON: Yes, but everyone likes him, and he has to be careful on what he says. Even he admitted that on, I think it was "David Letterman." He says, I have 10 things -- don't make news, don't make news, don't make news. But if he makes a misstep, that could potentially hurt her, and hurt her deeply.

SCHNEIDER: Of course it could. It's an unusual situation. And we don't know yet know -- and he said this himself on Oprah's show, exactly what role he's going to play in her administration if she becomes president. She's answered it by saying, well, he'll be an ambassador to the world. He'll be there if I need him, which is to some voters very reassuring. She wants to say, he'll be there, but he won't always be there. He won't be running things behind the scenes. So she's got to make it clear exactly what role he's going to play.

LEMON: We shall see see. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider, always a pleasure. Thank you, sir.

CNN and YouTube recently sponsored a Democratic debate. Now we're getting ready are for the Republicans' turn. The GOP presidential presidential hopefuls will square off Wednesday, November 28th. And you can submit a question at youtube.com/Republicandebate. And of course You can watch it right here on CNN.

WHITFIELD: Of course.

And, once again, wanted, Democratic fund-raiser Norman Hsu. Well, you know he was in court last Friday because of a 16-year-old case, grand theft charge, that authorities were looking for him on. Well, he did show up. But then apparently he was supposed to show up this morning for a bond-reduction hearing, and he didn't there in San Mateo County in California. So now a no-bail bench warrant is out for his arrest, for Norman Hsu, right there, a man known to raise a whole lot of political money for a whole lot of campaigners out there, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, many of whom have given back the money after learning a little bit more about his history.

But meantime, a bench warrant, a new one, is out for his arrest. So he better show up or in San Mateo County or somewhere, right. LEMON: All right, yes, Fred. We'll follow that. And of course we're following this as well.

What caused pro wrestler Chris Benoit to kill his family and himself? A possible new clue from his brain. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us straight ahead right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: New light into the dark mystery surrounding pro wrestler Chris Benoit. A couple of months ago Benoit killed his wife, his young son and then himself. There was speculation that his rage might be linked to steroids. Well, today we're hearing something different. Doctors say Benoit suffered brain damage from all his years in the ring.

Here's CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot more that we know about Chris Benoit's brain this morning than we did just a few days ago. We are hearing there that were several areas of his brain that contain dead cells in every part of his brain, including his brain stem. These findings do not appear to be something associated with steroids, but rather associated with multiple head concussions, multiple butts to the head and concussions.

Dr. Julian Bales is a neurosurgeon. He actually examined the brain, and he showed us some of these images here. You can take a look -- first of all, a normal brain. This is what it should look like. These are normal cells. Compare that to this image over here. You see these brown clumps? Those clumps are actually deposits of protein, which are typically seen in someone with advanced dementia of a more advanced age. Again, this is a 40-year-old man that we're talking about here. Dr. Bales has also examined football players in the past who have had depression, who have had suicide, and had said he had similar sorts findings. Again, multiple concussions leading to these abnormalities in the brain, and, he speculates anyway, leading to this behavior.

Whether or not we'll be able to figure out what happened to Chris Benoit, or ever establish a cause-and-effect relationship is unlikely, if not impossible, but certainly give some more evidence that he did have some trouble going on in his brain, and it may be due to those concussions.

We're going to follow the story and bring you many more details as they come forward. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Sanjay, thank you.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES) WHITFIELD: Toys still big, bad toys out there, 844,000 toys worldwide. Time to check the toy box one more time, people. Mattel has issued another recall, that you know, and once again, the focus on toys made in china.

CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with some information every parent needs to hear. This is getting so frustrating, I'm sorry.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is. As a parent, you think, how many times can I go through the toy box and weed things out. Can't they get it right?

WHITFIELD: Once a week.

COHEN: Once a week, yes, that's exactly it seems like. This is actually the third batch of toys that are being recalled, and I'll read you to exactly what you should be looking for when you go through that toy box. You want to look for one of 675,000 Barbie pet and kitchen furniture playsets. They do look like fun, but apparently, at least some of them, have lead paint in them. Fido is about five inches tall. I don't know why that's important. But there you go. It tells you that it's small.

Also being recalled, 90,000 Fisher-Price locomotive toys. You see those right there. And also 8,900 Bongo band Drums. So these are things you need to look for.

We know this is a lot to take in, especially given everything else parents have had to take in. If you go to CNN.com, look up at "hot topics," and you will see toy recall and you can find out more information. Bottom line, if you have them, get rid of them.

WHITFIELD: Yes, how can a parent not be worried, though?

COHEN: Of course.

WHITFIELD: Because it is difficult to keep up with so many toys, you know, not remembering who made what and not all of the toys actually have manufacturers' numbers on them at the bottom.

COHEN: That's true. So you really need to look. Go to CNN.com and look at those pictures. And that makes it pretty easy. You can match things up. You can find out what was already recalled.

And what you want to remember is not to panic. There's an excellent chance one of these toys is going to be in your toy room. There have been so many at this point.

However, if your child only puts them in their mouth occasionally, maybe your child's just not a big toy-to-mouth kind of kid, chances are things are going to be OK.

Now, if your child puts toys in her mouth a lot, and you're worried, and maybe even you see some paint chipped off, what you want to do, again, is not panic. Just go to your pediatrician and ask for a lead test. It's very easy. You don't have to sit here thinking, how long was it in their mouth? How many times? Should I worry? Just go to the pediatrician, get a lead test.

WHITFIELD: And you don't need to sit and wait and wonder whether there are going to be some kind of symptoms that your child should be demonstrating to you.

COHEN: Right, do not look for symptoms, because chances are you are not going to find any, or at least you hope you won't. In the early stages, there are no symptoms.

WHITFIELD: That's what makes it so scary.

COHEN: Right, that's true. So just get that lead test. So easy.

WHITFIELD: All right, very good. Thanks so much, Elizabeth Cohen.

A very large haystack and a very small needle. That's how one rescuer describes the search for missing adventurer pilot Steve Fossett. The rugged Nevada wilderness won't make it easy. Coming up, the latest on that search.

First, though, a news quiz for you, how many world records, or world's first have been set by Steve Fossett? The answer, after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I recognize that balloon, that silver balloon. Before the break we asked you, how many world records, or world firsts, have been set by Steve Fossett? The answer? Before I even said it, 115 in 5 different sports.

WHITFIELD: Wow!

LEMON: We certainly hope they find him, too.

WHITFIELD: yes.

LEMON: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Well, that search is on for him.

LEMON: yes.

WHITFIELD: They're intensifying that search looking for Steve Fossett still.

Meantime intensified efforts in the Southern California area, too, to make sure that people are safe in this very dangerous heat, because now the numbers are 27 people who have died from heat-related illnesses there in Los Angeles, for particular Southern California counties seemed to have the greatest numbers. But we're talking about temperatures over the past eight days that have exceeded 110 in some circles. So we're going to check in with Chad Myers a little bit later to give us an idea of whether and when folks in Southern California might be getting a break.

LEMON: Yes, more on that and the search for Steve Fossett at the top of the hour. We're back in a moment.

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