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Bhutto Assassination Fallout; New bin Laden Video; More Severe Weather in the U.S.

Aired December 29, 2007 - 16:00   ET

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

ISHA SESAY, CNN, ANCHOR: Ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM, Osama Bin Laden and a possible new message for his followers. In Pakistan, chaos, conspiracy and accusations of a cover-up.
Up next, the death of Benazir Bhutto. Is the government story about how she died the real story?

From CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Isha Sesay in for Fredricka Whitfield. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, here's the latest on the crisis in Pakistan. Islamabad said at least 38 people have died in political violence since the killing of Benazir Bhutto. Other accounts put that number much higher. In major cities today, risers set fire to factories, buildings and vehicles and battled government troops. Bhutto's supporters rejected the government's version of the cause of her death from a suicide attack on Thursday. The top aide who witnessed the killing said she clearly saw a bullet wound at the back of the Bhutto's head. The Al Qaeda linked militant accused by Pakistan for orchestrating the killing is denying involvement. Amidst calls of international probe of the matter, Islamabad says it can handle the investigation itself. The White House called on Pakistan today to investigate the killing thoroughly.

Well, two days after her death, Benazir Bhutto supporters are accusing the Pakistani government of mounting a massive cover-up. Our first report comes from Matthew Chance at the scene of Bhutto's killing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Bullets, a suicide bombing, or an accidental blow to the head? Conflicting accounts of how Benazir Bhutto died. Witnesses spoke of a gruesome scene.

VOICE OF SHERRY REHMAN, PAKISTAN PEOPLE'S PARTY: She did fall, slumped right into the car the minute she was shot. And there was a huge amount of blood, as I said. Her blood soaked more than one vehicle and seven people's clothes. So she was bleeding by the gallon.

CHANCE: Well, this is the exact place where Benazir Bhutto's life was so suddenly snatched away. You see the people are scattered flower petals on the tarmac and have come out to pay their respects. Thousands came to this park in Rawalpindi to hear her speech. She finished addressing the crowd and was already leaving when she decided to show her face once more. It proved to be a tragic mistake. Hidden among her supporters, a gunman steps out, firing at her vehicle. And then detonating a suicide bomb. Sherry Rehman, Bhutto's close aide was one car behind and also injured in the attack.

REHMAN: She was also shot from the left. We heard three shots being fired in the air. We all ducked for cover, as we have been trained to do now after all these attacks. And as soon as we duck, we heard the blast, which completely lifted up the car and all of the doors and windows shattered.

CHANCE: Shattered, too, hopes of Benazir Bhutto rescuing Pakistan from the ethnic, religious and sectarian chaos that has engulfed it. Well, all this is now of course a crime scene where more than 20 other people were killed along with Benazir Bhutto. Pakistan government is pointing at a radical Islamist war load linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. But amongst Benazir's supporters, there's anger at the authorities that more was not done by them to protect her. There's particular fury at official suggestions Bhutto died after slamming her head against her car, and not by shrapnel or gunshot, as her supporters maintain.

REHMAN: This is an offense to a grieving nation and family and friends, because she was shot. I have seen the bullet wound at the back of her head where it went in, where it came out. To say she was concussed from the sunroof is dangerous nonsense. Because they're absolving themselves of responsibility for providing her better security when we kept asking her to do so.

CHANCE: And in a shocked Pakistan, millions are looking for someone to blame. Matthew Chance, CNN, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Also being disputed today, Pakistan's assertion that the plot to kill Bhutto was hatched in Afghanistan by an Islamic militant linked to Al Qaeda. With that part of the story, CNN's John Vause in the Pakistani city, Karachi.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Baitullah Mehsud has long been camera shy. A militant Pakistani Taliban, he's the man Pakistani authorities say was behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud is the leader of one of many tribes, the Musharraf cut controversial peace deals with in an effort to end years of fighting in the troubled mountainous regions of northwest Pakistan, where the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters operate freely.

PETER BERGEN, CNN, TERRORISM ANALYST: It goes to the very murky nature of Pakistani politics. So that on the one hand the Pakistani government is accusing Baitullah Mehsud of assassinating Benazir Bhutto and yet on the other hand has identified the Mehsuds, the tribe that this guy is from as somebody that they're willing to work some kind of deal.

VAUSE: Pakistan's Interior Ministry said Mehsud was also behind the failed assassination attempt on Benazir Bhutto last October. But through a spokesman, he denied ever trying to kill her saying, "we don't strike women." And in the neighborhoods of Karachi where Benazir Bhutto's supporters rioted in anger, many believed it was the Musharraf government, not the Taliban or Al Qaeda, who is responsible for her death.

"The government is involved in this, and that's it," says this man. They are saying Al Qaeda has done it. Al Qaeda has done it. Al Qaeda has done nothing. But to bolster their case, Interior Ministry officials here released a transcript, but no audio, of what they said was an intercepted telephone call between Mehsud and another militant.

"...were they our men?" he asked. When the answer is yes, he allegedly replies, "it was a tremendous effort. They were really brave boys who killed her."

BERGEN: It is quite convenient for the Pakistani government to pin the blame on Mehsud for this assassination. He's a very plausible candidate, no doubt but they can very quickly point to him and say case closed. And so, until they release the audiotape, I think there will still be continued questions about is this really the real deal?

VAUSE: Senior U.S. intelligence sources say they have information independent of the Pakistanis that Mehsud is a prime suspect, saying he has strong ties to Osama Bin Laden and was fiercely anti-Bhutto. But adding, he's not the only suspect. Regardless, that's unlikely to convince many Pakistanis for their Washington's word has even less credibility than their own beleaguered government. John Vause, CNN, Karachi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Right now, we want to show you some new photographs showing what could be the actual gunman at the scene of Benazir Bhutto's assassination. These still photographs that you're about to see here released just moments ago, airing right now on Pakistani television. Look closely. Look very closely. You can see a man wearing sunglasses, possibly holding a gun. It is very important for us to stress that CNN has not independently confirmed the authenticity of these photographs. But as we said, they are airing on Pakistani television and we anticipate many photos like these will surface in the coming days.

OK. Let's dig a little deeper now into questions surrounding Bhutto's death and the potential terrorist connection there. We return to Karachi, Pakistan, where CNN analyst Peter Bergen is standing by live. And Peter, first of all, what do you make of the Pakistani government's recasting of the details surrounding what caused Bhutto's death?

BERGEN: Well, clearly, if the Pakistani government is correct, it has the tendency to make Benazir Bhutto's death sort of much less heroic and takes way the onus from them without proof of providing sufficient protection. However, the fact is, that no one knows how Benazir Bhutto was killed, as yet, that remained. If the Bhutto family would allow an autopsy, which seems unlikely at this moment, that might settle the question. As you indicated, Isay more pictures, more videotape are likely to surface of this event and those may help determine what the actual cause of death is. But at the end of the day, in my mind, it doesn't really matter. The point is a suicide bomber was dispatched, an assassin with a gun was dispatched. Either one or both of them succeeded. The attack bears the full marks of an Al Qaeda-Taliban like attack. There may have been held from lower level members of the military involved, given the fact that it happened in Rawalpindi, the center of Pakistan's military.

General Musharraf, you may recall, was also the subject of an assassination attempt in December 2003 in the same city. When the investigation was completed, it became clear that low-level members of the military cooperated and helped out in that attack. So, it seemed possible to me that attack directed by Taliban or Al Qaeda with perhaps some low level help from the military. And when I say that I'm not suggesting for a second that it was sanctioned by the military but the point is lower members of the military in Pakistan had been penetrated by Islamic militants sympathetic to Taliban and Al Qaeda.

SESAY: And Peter, the Taliban leader that currently is being pointed at by the Pakistani government is this guy Baitullah Mehsud. How big a player is he in terrorism circles? Because certainly the Pakistani government is certainly painting the picture of, you know, a big-time war lord here.

BERGEN: Well, I think there have been a lot of them. Some of them have been captured or killed. Suddenly, he's described himself as the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban who's been very active in the last two years, attracting not only it appears Benazir Bhutto as the Pakistani government alleges but also attacking the Interservice Intelligence Agency, members of that group attacking Pakistani police, attacking frontier corps called the Pakistani Constabulary on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They may have been involved in attempts against the Interior Minister. So, his group has been pretty active in the last, since the beginning of the year we have seen a rash of suicide attacks in Pakistan which are attributed to militants in the tribal areas. So this group is very strong, quite strong, increasingly strong in Pakistan. Baitullah Mehsud is one of the leaders of that movement. So, he is a big player.

SESAY: Peter, in John Vause's report previously, we got a little snippet of you saying, you know, Baitullah Mehsud, here he is, the Pakistani government pointing a finger at him, and in terms of the Bhutto assassination but at the same time has you know, tried to negotiate deals with him in the past. What does it tell us about the Pakistani government's approach, its strategies in terms of dealing with terrorism and extremism?

BERGEN: Well, Pakistani government had essentially (inaudible) of the militants in the tribal areas. Between 2003 and 2005, it was basically a military approach that turned out to be a disaster politically. And also a disaster militarily, something like 700 Pakistani soldiers were killed during that campaign. It did not work. Then, the Pakistani government tend to a period of appeasement, signing peace agreements not only with the Mehsuds but also other tribal groups in the Warizistan area. In 2005-2006, those peace agreements were a failure. Attacks from that area doubled, tripled inside Afghanistan and you know Al Qaeda managed to regroup right in this period, in that area.

So, now the Pakistani government has to make some hard decisions about what it is planning to do. Presumably, if indeed the Pakistani Taliban are responsible for this, it would put a lot of pressure on the Pakistani government to end the acquiescence of the fact that the Taliban remains headquartered in the Pakistani border regions of Afghanistan. That according to multiple U.S. and NATO officials I've spoken to in the past.

SESAY: And Peter, just quickly, we are hearing of a new videotape message or audiotape message reportedly from Osama Bin Laden. Your thoughts on what we are hearing preliminarily at least in terms of its content.

BERGEN: Well, they are trying to intervene in the Iraqi situation. As you know, Al Qaeda in Iraq has been taking hits in the last year or so. They used to control Anbar province in the west and now they are trying to get around Iraq and Bin Laden is basically saying, don't cooperate with these attempts to go after Al Qaeda in Iraq. A number of people involved against Al Qaeda in Iraq, seeming tribal groups and certain groups who were once sympathetic to Al Qaeda, he's trying to persuade them not to be part of the U.S.-led and Iraqi government effort to go against Al Qaeda in Iraq. That I think that's probably going to be a losing battle because Al Qaeda in Iraq is really an alienated population by its Taliban style tactics and by killing so many Iraqi civilians. Isha.

SESAY: Peter Bergen there in Karachi. We must leave it. Many thanks for your perspective.

So what does the uncertainty insurgency in Pakistan mean for the search for the 9/11 mastermind? An update on the "Hunt for Osama Bin Laden." That's in about 20 minutes from you now.

Now, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez freedom fighter? For three hostages held deep in the South American jungle for years, he may just prove to be. Chavez brokered a deal with leftist Columbia rebels to free the group. The handoff was expected today but there's word it may have been held up. CNN's Karl Penhaul joins us now from Villavicencio, Columbia with the very latest. And Karl, bring us up to date with what's happening there where you are.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Very much, Isha. The wait does go on. Behind me here is one of the Venezuelan anti-rescue helicopters that was flown to Venezuela, from Venezuela to Villavicencio. This is one of the helicopters where the pilots are waiting, waiting for communications from the FARC communist guerrillas. Once they get a communication, they are expected to receive the coordinates where the hostages are being held and where they will be released.

At that point, these helicopters will lift off and will fly deep into the Colombian jungle and pick them up. But so far today, there's been no word from the guerrillas. The airport here closes in about an hour from now. It looks like that operation isn't going off today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

Venezuelan air sea rescue helicopters lift off. Their mission - to slice deep into the Colombian jungle and ferry three rebel-held hostages to freedom. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is overseeing the operation. FARC guerrillas, known formally as the revolutionary armed forces of Columbia said they would hand over their prisoners to him as goodwill gesture.

Last month the Columbia government terminated Chavez's efforts to mediate a broader deal to hand over more hostages, accusing him of political meddling. But Chavez said Friday he was ready to meet top rebel leader Manuel Marulanda to get the deal back on track.

PRES. HUGO CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA: If the president authorizes me, I will go and see Marulanda. I will forget what happened in order to take up my peace effort again, Chavez said.

PENHAUL: If all goes to plan, the kidnapped nightmare may soon be over for former presidential candidate Clara Roxas, held for almost six years. Her 3-year-old son, Emanuel, is also slated for release. He was born in captivity. His father one of the guerrilla fighters. The third hostage is former congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez. She was kidnapped by FARC guerrillas more than six years ago. Their families are standing by in Caracas for the long-awaited reunion.

This is a sign that the FARC is sending. It's important because it will open the doors for the rest of the hostages to return home, too, she says. According to the Colombian government, the FARC are holding about 750 other hostages. The rebels want to swap a group of about 50 for 500 rebel fighters jailed in Colombia and U.S. prisons. That group includes police, soldiers, three U.S. contractors and a former presidential candidate Ingrid Bettencourt. In a typically tough message, Columbia president Alvaro Uribe said he wanted all of the rebels freed.

"We keep waiting and hoping for all of the hostages to be released. We are thinking about those who the FARC has miserably named the exchangeable ones. We are thinking about those whom the FARC murdered," he said.

By late afternoon, the rescue helicopters touched down in the central Colombian town of Villavicencio. The pilots will wait for contact with the rebels. They are expected to receive coordinates where they can pick up the hostages. As night begins to fall, those Venezuelan anti-rescue helicopters are refueling. Sometimes after first light tomorrow, they will lift off and fly deep into the Colombian jungle and bring three hostages home to freedom. The rescue team is now just hoping to have good flying weather on its side.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: Now, what we know right now is that an international delegation made up of international Latin American diplomats, as well as the former Argentina President (inaudible), are in the air flying from Caracas to Villavicencio. Now, that is the delegation that will also fly in one of these Venezuelan helicopters to the handover point to receive the three hostages. That doesn't mean that the event will go, the operation will go ahead tonight. But what it could mean is once that delegation is here on the ground in Villavicencio, it could go ahead from first light tomorrow, Isha.

SESAY: And Karl, just quickly, I want to get a sense from you on how Hugo Chavez's involvement in these hostage situation is sitting with the Latin American street, if you will. What are people making of his involvement here?

PENHAUL: Well, certainly, this involvement of President Hugo Chavez here is a much needed political oxygen for him. Of course, the United States administration has tried to isolate Chavez as a leftist radical and what this real event does is really that he can portray himself in a more political, more diplomatic light. If he's seen as a man of peace, then that plays for him. Of course, importantly, too, it gives much needed political oxygen to the FARC guerrillas. They are on the international terrorism list of the United States and also the European Union. But if they are making this unilateral so-called good will gesture handing over these hostages to Chavez, then they also can now be seen more as a party that maybe is open to negotiation, that may be this will open the door to a wider hostage release and possibly even further down the road to a wider peace deal to lay to rest Colombia's 40-year-old conflict. So, certainly both Chavez and the FARC are benefiting from this in political terms.

SESAY: All right. Karl Penhaul there in Columbia. Thanks,

So much at stake, so little time. Five days and counting before Iowa votes. The tempers, the frenzy, the mad dash to the finish line next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: You are looking at live pictures there of Senator Barack Obama on the campaign trail in Keokuk, Iowa there. As the clock counts down to those Iowa caucuses, the candidates all on the campaign trail trying to get last-minute stumping in. It's a three-way dead heat for the democrats in Iowa, between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. And Barack Obama out there, crisscrossing the state along with so many others, trying to get those voters to swing his way before they cast their ballots January 3rd.

OK. Let's move on, republican presidential candidates are jockeying for position in what looks more and more like a two-man race between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. The rest of the GOP pack, trying to make a show of it at least. CNN's Mary Snow live in Des Moines with more. And Mary, it appears the airwaves are full of those negative political ads?

MARY SNOW, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: They are, Isha. The attacks are really sharpening as the intensity grows as candidates go down to the wire and the republican field. And a change of tone for Mike Huckabee, the republican presidential hopeful who has been surging here in Iowa. He has been the target of criticism by Mitt Romney, his rival. Huckabee has said that he wanted to keep a very positive tone but today a campaign event, he named Mitt Romney several times and stopped short of calling him dishonest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he's certainly being dishonest about his own record. When he says that he had the endorsement of the NRA, he did not. When he says he didn't raise taxes, in fact there were $500 million of fees that were raised during his time. When he talks about my record or John McCain's, I mean he's making up stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: And Mike Huckabee saying that not only is he being targeted by Mitt Romney, but so is Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. His fellow republican rivals. Now, as for Mitt Romney, yesterday he launched a campaign ad really calling into question some of Mike Huckabee's policies while he was the governor of Arkansas, particularly on illegal immigration, trying to portray him as being soft and also tax increases.

In response to Mike Huckabee's targeted attacks today, the Romney camp is saying, "Mike Huckabee's record is his record and his alone. It's a troubling record but the facts about his tax heights and spending binges are true and the difference many republicans have with his positions are very real." That statement alone, and what was said today, is just showing a growing intensity in this race. Mike Huckabee is saying that he doesn't feel like he's really going negative just that he is defending his record and if he had not said anything, that perhaps people would feel that these allegations are true. But this race is a very tight one. CNN has learned that Mike Huckabee's camp will be releasing an ad this Monday that will also target Mitt Romney. It's really a change in tone for his campaign. Isha.

SESAY: Mary, all these ads, all these sniping, all these negative campaigning, how is it sitting with the voters?

SNOW: Well, you know, in this race, there are undecided voters who are going to be crucial to the outcome. And in these final days, this is when they are going to be making up their minds. Some of them are saying they are not paying attention to these negative ads and they are getting sick of them. Others are saying they are still keeping their minds open and anything can influence them. So it's very hard to say. But as one voter I talked to today said, you know sometimes these negative ads work and that is the big question. Will these kinds of things work in the end?

SESAY: Well, we shall see, Mary Snow, in Des Moines, Iowa. Many thanks.

Well, Iowa might be a field of dreams for some candidates but it also makes good political theater, musical theater, too. "Caucus: the musical" still ahead.

Plus more than 300 flights cancelled at Chicago's O'Hare yesterday. Will the winter give the Midwest a little bit of a break?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: We got some good news for you now. Wheel's up once again. Air travel in the Midwest is returning to normal after yesterday's big snowstorm that left homebound holiday travelers in the lurch. Only a couple dozen flights at Chicago's were cancelled today, compared to nearly 300 flights scrapped Friday.

Lots of snow in Wisconsin, too and there's not enough salt for those slick roads. Officials in Madison say it has seen so many storms this year, salt mines can't keep up. They are asking their road crews to sprinkle it sparingly. And it's quite the opposite problem in eastern Tennessee, ski slopes there.

And it's quite the opposite for them in eastern Tennessee. Ski slopes there want snow but rain and warm temperatures keep melting the manmade stuff into mush. Gatlinburg is closing during what should be one of the busiest times of the year.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SESAY: Will the hunt for answers in Benazir Bhutto's assassination derail the six year hunt for Osama bin Laden? Indications of the instability just ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Unrest and uncertainty in Pakistan after the death of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. First investigation, the Pakistani government insists it does not need the international community to help with the probe. It says clues to Bhutto's death are in the Pakistani region of Waziristan, a stronghold of terrorist militants. The government says quote, "Scotland Yard cannot investigate there." President Pervez Musharraf is ordering security chiefs to stop violent protests by greeting Bhutto supporters and others. Some troops have been given the ok to shoot rioters and looters. About 40 people have been killed in the unrest and hundreds of cars and buildings set on fire.

With rage over Benazir Bhutto's death threatening chaos, the Pakistani military certainly has its hands full. How might the instability affect the hunt for Osama bin Laden? The al Qaeda chief reportedly making his voice heard once again today in a new tape. Here's our own Gary Nurenberg.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six days after 9/11 President Bush said of Osama bin Laden --

BUSH: I want justice, and there's an old poster out west, as I recall, that said, "wanted, dead or alive." NURENBERG: More than six frustrating years later, bin Laden has not been captured or killed. He releases video and audio recordings at will, the most recent one reportedly today.

ROBERT GRENIER, FMR. CIA STATION CHIEF, PAKISTAN: He is an important source of inspiration and doctrinal guidance, if you will, to the movement. I think that it is important that he be removed from the battlefield.

NURENBERG: United States officials believe bin Laden is living in the mountains of western Pakistan in an area described in the July 2007 national intelligence estimate as a safe haven for al Qaeda.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Which is like saying somebody is in Virginia. It's a very big area of 40,000-something square kilometers. If you don't have really good intelligence about where he might be tomorrow, where he might be in an hour, you are unlikely to get him. The United States hasn't had that kind of information for several years now.

NURENBERG: And now the focus of the Pakistan government is elsewhere.

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: The military and the intelligence services are spread very thin, having to cope with chaos in the country now and, therefore, unable to concentrate to the degree that we desire on attacking al Qaeda in the ways we would like them to attack al Qaeda.

NURENBERG: The secretary of defense was asked about the search for bin Laden earlier this month.

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We are continuing the hunt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there any progress, Mr. Secretary?

GATES: I think that the progress will be the day that the president goes out in front and says that we have either captured or killed him.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

NURENBERG: And more than 2,300 days now after 9/11, there is no indication that the day Secretary Gates is talking about will be any day soon. Isha?

SESAY: Gary Nurenberg, many thanks.

Coming up in the next hour, amid Pakistan's political implosion, what's the state of the nuclear arsenal? And just as importantly, who is in charge of it? We will talk to Gary Seymour, an expert on the region.

Now the Hollywood writers' strike is having an impact far beyond the primetime lineup.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you watching the clock and wondering how much longer are our days numbered?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. The longer it takes, truly, the longer it's going to take.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: The people who are paying the price next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Democratic White House hopefuls making their case to Iowa voters with no time to waste. This is the final weekend before the state's first in the nation caucus Thursday. CNN's Jessica Yellin is live on the Hawkeye state campaign trail with CNN's election express. She's joining us from Clinton, Iowa. Jessica, with just five days to go before Iowa, it seems the candidates are turning the heat up on each other. How is it playing out on the democratic side?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of candidates taking jabs at one another right now, Isha. You know the message the democrats have been talking about, who is the candidates of change? Who is the candidate who has the most experience? They have been getting very specific on these issues, attacking one another on various points. In general right now, the foreign policy issue in the aftermath of the Benazir Bhutto assassination has come to the floor. And Senator Clinton has made the case that she's met endless numbers of world leaders. She has the experience. Governor Richardson made the point that this is not the time for a foreign policy novice. Both indirect jabs at Senator Barack Obama. Well I had a chance to sit down with Senator Obama yesterday on the CNN election express. I asked him if he had a disadvantage because he hasn't met with many of these world leaders. Here's what he told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This isn't about who you met with. It is about the decisions you make on behalf of the American people.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Sorry, there should have been more there. What he said was that it's not about who you meet, it's not about how many hands you have shaken. It's about your judgment. Who makes the best judgments in tense moments? He makes the argument that's him. To switching gears, another argument we've heard, is the change question. Who is going to enact the most change? Many of the democrats have picked up on this theme of special interests, who will cut out lobbyists? Who will fight for special interests and not let them give campaign donations. John Edwards has hit hard on the scene, as has Barack Obama. Today Senator Clinton picked up on it as well. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think you get change by just waiting for it to happen. You got to take it on, and that means taking on the special interest. All of this talk about special interests in this campaign, nobody in this campaign has taken on more special interests and received more incoming fire than I have, and I'm proud that, that is my record.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Now, John Edwards and Barack Obama's campaigns both take issue with that claim. If I can make one final point, another late breaking development today is that Senators Obama and Clinton have been going after each other on this electability question. Senator Obama today saying, the nation doesn't need to elect -- or the democrats shouldn't elect somebody that half the nation doesn't like. And Senator Clinton hitting back this afternoon, over and over repeating that she has fought with the republicans and she knows how to take on their attack machine and she is the most electable of all of the democrats. So a lot of back and forth on the campaign trail and no doubt, still more to come. Isha?

SESAY: Jessica, as they jab at each other and try to get each other on the ropes, what do we know in terms of stats from Iowa in terms of the number of voters or the percentage that remain undecided?

YELLIN: I think there was a recent CNN poll that showed that as many as 50 percent of those that were polled said they could still change their mind. A more recent poll by another group found that I think 25 percent of them could still change their minds. The bottom line is, I even talked to these people as they were leaving these events. Many of them seem to lean one way but say they could still be persuaded to go another. What I can tell you is this race remains incredibly fluid and it's likely it will right up to caucus night.

SESAY: That's right, Jessica Yellin in Clinton, Iowa. Many thanks. Everything to play for.

It went from a sweet story to a shocking scam. The lengths one mom allegedly went to for Hannah Montana tickets.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Winter, don't you just love it? Peak time for snow, sleet and of course, yes, sickness. We have tips for keeping those cold and flu bugs at bay in today's "health for her" segment with Judy Fortin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDY FORTIN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 'Tis the season for giving. And receiving. Germs that is, all around us those tiny battle ships of disease drifters float in land, bringing with them all sorts of aches and pains and illness. In fact those germs are the culprits behind the six to eight colds kids will generally get each year and the two to four cases adults will have to deal with. But it could be worse. DR. JULIAN MELAMED, INTERNIST: If you look at the CDC statistics, last year there was over 200,000 hospitalizations of the flu. And over 30,000 deaths secondary to the flu in individuals who usually had some co morbid condition. So this is not a trivial thing.

FORTIN: But given that germs are so common, it's not easy to fight them off. Whether they are the kind that cause colds or the flu.

MELAMED: So I think one of the key issues is learning how to cough, coughing into the sleeve and then washing their hands frequently and trying to prevent the hands/eye or hand/nose type of contact that occurs almost automatically where we just sort of touch our nose or it's a little itchy and you might touch the eye.

FORTIN: Don't give in. Start with hand-to-hand combat. Lots of hand-washing, coupled with hand sanitizer helps sometimes. Stay clear of some of those home remedies like Echinacea or high doses of vitamin c. Studies indicate they do little to cure the common cold or the flu. If the germs do hit and you do get sick, do what the experts say, get plenty of rest, drink lots of fluids and eat that chicken soup, which sounds exactly like what your mother used to tell you, doesn't it? Judy Fortin, CNN, Atlanta.

(END OF VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: A Hannah Montana ticket concert turned upside down after organizers found out that a mom made up the winning story, credited to her 6-year-old daughter. Byron Harris of affiliate WFAA explains how the scam fell apart.

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BYRON HARRIS, WFAA (voice-over): Libby Lou stores across the country sell rock star dreams. Little girls who walk in are sprinkled with fantasy dust and make a wish. To help them become more like Hannah Montana, girls can get secret celebrity makeovers. And when a 6-year-old Garland girl came in with her mom, she was presented with a surprise makeover. And then came an even bigger shock -- her essay won her four tickets and airfare to a Hannah Montana concert. Priscilla Ceballos did most of the talking for her daughter. She laid out a tragedy of a father killed in Iraq, an army sergeant named Jonathan Menjavar of Garland who died on April 17th of this year. But for those who sadly track local Iraq casualties that was an unfamiliar name. A check with department of defense records show that no one of that name was killed in Iraq on that day. In fact, no one of that name has died in Iraq. The mother would not talk about it.

There's no person that was killed in action --

PRISCILLA CEBALLOS, MOTHER OF WINNER: I don't need --

HARRIS: There was no such person --

CEBALLOS: I don't need to be --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a Hannah Montana score pack.

HARRIS: Club Libby Lou sponsored the essay contest. The company now says the statement about the father killed in Iraq is false. They say they never dreamed of having to do background checks on essays from little girls.

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SESAY: Club Libby Lou says the Hannah Montana prize is now going to another little girl. They have declined to name the new winner.

While Iowa might be a field of political dreams for some candidates but it also makes for some good political theater. Caucus: the musical, still ahead.

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SESAY: Well, with the Iowa caucuses just five days away, a critical vote with a potentially dramatic outcome. Perfect material for a big show. "Caucus: The Musical" is a big hit in Des Moines. Checking it out for us, a member of the best political team on TV, our very own CNN's Suzanne Malveaux. Suzanne, a slightly different assignment for you.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a great assignment Isha. I have to tell you, the candidates have been here for months and you talked to the Iowa voters, they have been inundated with phone calls at dinnertime. Their mailboxes are stuffed with flyers. And needless to say there's a bit of frustration, a bit of anxiety leading up to the day of the caucuses. That's how you have this musical, "Caucus: The Musical" that came about and we got a chance to check out the preview just last night.

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MALVEAUX (voice-over): Destination Iowa, for "Caucus: The Musical." The play follows the four leading candidates determined to win.

Senator Tate, the not-so-smart womanizer described by the playwright as a cross between Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush. The liberal Senator Holiday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's kind of a combination between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?

MALVEAUX: The gay congressman Benjamin Goldman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This country is run by politicians, whose average age is nearly 63. Do we really want our future decided by some old men who can't download mp3s?

MALVEAUX: And the conservative Reverend Jensen, who gets the thumb's up from the Lord. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A conservative moral majority candidate, I'm reminding myself more and more of Mike Huckabee.

MALVEAUX: The play centers around their fight to win the endorsement of Elvin Wise and his family. The personified of coveted average Iowa voters. And the lengths they go through, to capture it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember back in '84 I went to open up my door and there stood Walter Mondale in my yard. He had been there since the break of dawn that's when he mowed and raked my lawn and walked and fed my lazy St. Bernard.

MALVEAUX: Playwright Robert Ford --

ROBERT FORD, PLAYWRIGHT: I remember seeing someone kissing a pig at the state fair. That's one of the things we try to convey in the plays. The politicians, when it comes to Iowa, they will do anything to win a vote.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As they say, the family that votes together is -- one happy family!

MALVEAUX: Elden's family quickly falls apart when they discover they have all chosen different candidates for different reasons.

So the candidates decide to hold a mock caucus with the family to try to sway each member to come over to their side. It quickly turns ugly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are the bastard child of Rebecca Munson of Yuna, Arizona, who is impregnated by her senior prom date, Benjamin Thomas Ludd, or -- bin Laden for short! Ho, ho, ho! No wonder you don't want to use your real last name.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not only have you lied about your last name, you're pretending to be Jewish!

MALVEAUX: Notably, Elvin and his family abandon all the lead candidates to choose a fringe candidate with a simple message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I believe anything is possible provided that we patiently take one step at a time

MALVEAUX: And now that that's settled the family and their neighbors are eager to see the candidates go. The actors all Iowan voters, share their character sentiments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're at our doorsteps and outside our windows.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like real current, I think it really hits home to a lot of people in the audience.

MALVEAUX: In the finale, the audience is left with a simple directive.

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MALVEAUX: Isha, the playwright says they do take it seriously as well, but this is really the responsibility. But they want people to be very much involved. He also - he started writing this thing seven years ago so any kind of familiarity with the candidates you see --

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