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American Morning
Senates Debates $700 Billion Rescue Plan; Senate Holds Hearing on Bailout; Presidential Candidates Weigh in on Bailout; Americans React to Government Bailout
Aired September 23, 2008 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): No blank check. Congress haggles over Wall Street's relief and homeowners' grief.
SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D), MARYLAND: No golden parachutes.
CHETRY: They get $700 billion. But will you get burned? Plus, your money your vote.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They made the mess. They have been running the government.
CHETRY: Barack Obama strikes political gold as the GOP takes the brunt of the blame for the economy on the "Most Politics in the Morning."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And welcome. It's Tuesday, September 23rd. Good morning. I'm Kiran Chetry along with John Roberts.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you.
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE)
ROBERTS: Oh, yes, yes. The negotiations continue on Capitol Hill. Where is this all going? A big drop in the markets yesterday.
We begin this morning with the high stakes negotiations between the White House and Congressional leaders on that $700 billion plan to rescue the U.S. financial system. Lawmakers from both parties say they are not willing to give the treasury secretary a "blank check" to buy troubled assets from financial firms.
Anxiety over the bailout plan sent stocks tumbling. Asian markets were down sharply overnight. European stocks are also trading lower but at last glance, pointing to a slightly up day today on Wall Street.
President Bush addresses the United Nations General Assembly today for the final time as president. He will try to reassure world leaders that the administration is moving aggressively to avoid a worldwide financial meltdown. The president's speech also expected to focus on global cooperation to fight terrorism and promote the spread of freedom.
And North Korea is stoking fears that it may restart its nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency says Pyongyang is demanding inspectors remove seals and surveillance equipment from its Yongbyon nuclear reactor to carry out tests. North Korea began disabling the reactor last year under a now stalled disarmament for aid deal.
CHETRY: Well, the nation's financial crisis issue number one on Capitol Hill today. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chair Ben Bernanke will be testifying at a Senate hearing on the administration's proposed $700 billion bailout for Wall Street. The White House is pushing Congress to quickly approve a "clean bill," but lawmakers are pushing back. They're demanding relief for struggling homeowners and also limits on executive compensation.
So as these negotiations on the government bailout continue, so do the jitters on Wall Street. The Dow falling more than 370 points as investors sought the safety of commodities like gold and oil. In fact, crude oil had its biggest ever one day surge, up more than $16 to settle at just under $121 a barrel.
Meantime, the dollar posted its worse single day percentage drop against the euro, falling 2.5 percent. CNN's Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business." He joins me now with more on all of this. Not surprising this domino effect that's taking place as a result of the market.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And it wasn't even a week ago that we were talking about the fact that we had this new deal and markets by the end of the week were euphoric because we thought we had a deal. And now, this thing is sort of coming apart at the seams.
Lots of criticisms for valid reasons, but the issue that we are facing right now is that United States markets are in a virtual credit freeze. It's a term you'll be hearing a lot. But what does that mean?
Here's what a credit freeze really means. It means that banks stop lending money to each other. And when they stop lending to each other that means companies can't borrow money. They can't go to investment banks and say we need to borrow money. And that means home lenders, the ones that give you your mortgages, can't resell those mortgages. The result is that there's less money for mortgages and car loans and student loans and personal loans and lines of credit, and the rates for those go up.
This is a scenario if there wasn't a deal and if the credit markets don't open up. The bottom line is loans will become harder to obtain not just for Wall Street but all the way down to you and that's part of the criticism here. And that is that, is this a bailout of Wall Street or is this a bailout of the whole system? A lot of the criticism is that it is not doing things to help individuals. It's not doing things to help Main Street.
In fact, unlocking the credit situation that we're in right now would subsequently help Wall Street but that's a hard sell, because it looks like this is a bailout for Wall Street and what you're getting is opposition from both sides. You'll hear this from Brianna Keilar. You're getting it from one side where people are saying there aren't enough protections for Main Street and for average Americans, and from the other side where people say we shouldn't be bailing anybody out anyway.
CHETRY: And I want to ask as these critics grow louder in the course, I want to ask you about this. Henry Paulson, the treasury secretary, said it may not cost $700 billion.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: We're just saying that. How do they know at this point?
VELSHI: Well, we don't know what the cost of the bailout is. But remember, they are buying assets as lousy as those assets seem right now because they're bad loans. The idea is that over time those loans won't be bad loans. They'll get better and they will resell those.
So the taxpayer will recover some of that money. But again, estimates are so out there right now. We don't know how much the initial cost will be and how much people will recover.
CHETRY: All right. We'll be talking about it throughout the morning. Thank you, Ali.
ROBERTS: The financial crisis creating plenty of anxiety on Main Street as well. Released just moments ago, our latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll show 40 percent of Americans say they are very worried that the financial crisis will get worse if the government does not take action. And another 39 percent say they are somewhat worried. And when asked about the government regulation of the financial industry, 50 percent say there's too little. Just 26 percent say there's too much.
At the same time, both parties for different reasons are growing leery of the bailout. Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski from Maryland railed against the proposal insisting it needs to clamp down on the corporate executives who contributed to the mess.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D), MARYLAND: No golden parachutes. Let them feel the hard landing that my constituents face when they were laid off at Bethlehem Steel (ph). Let them feel the hard landing of knowing what it's like to have your mortgage foreclosed upon. Let them feel the hard landing that my constituents are facing right now. We do not need to subsidize bad behavior.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Senator Mikulski not the only unhappy member of Congress out there. CNN's Brianna Keilar is live in Washington for us this morning. And Brianna, it's very difficult to find anybody with anything good to say about this bailout plan. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Certainly not everyone is happy with this, John. In fact, Senator Richard Shelby was noticeably absent from a photo op yesterday afternoon between Republicans and Democrats on the banking committee. And remember, he is the ranking Republican member on that committee.
He said in a statement that he's concerned the proposal that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson sent Congress is "neither workable nor comprehensive." And he went on to say that "Congress must immediately undertake a comprehensive public examination of the problem and alternative solutions rather than swiftly pass the current plan with minimal changes or discussion." He said, "We owe the American taxpayer no less."
Meanwhile, members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, they're hunkered down, separately working on changes to the Bush administration proposal. And despite the president and Secretary Paulson urging Congress just to pass this proposal without changes, Democrats and Republicans making it clear they have no intention of rubber stamping the plan.
Democratic Congressman Barney Frank, he is heading up the rewriting of this rescue package on the House side of the Hill. Here's where he said things stood as of last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BARNEY FRANK (D), MASSACHUSETTS: We've written in a number of specifics that where we think provide both some protection to the taxpayers and in some cases striking some benefits to the average citizen, neither of which were in the original proposal and we will continue that process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: The counter proposals from the House and Senate apparently are quite similar, according to Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd. But the wheels may be spinning different speeds on the House and the Senate because while Congressman Frank works closely and quickly with the Treasury Department in the House, Senator Dodd took issue with that, calling it a risky way to proceed to basically hammer out legislation with the Bush administration before seeking consensus in Congress, John.
ROBERTS: Yes. You know, they only have four more days to go on this before they're supposed to go on recess. We'll see if they can get anything done.
Other people have other ideas, too. Senator Hillary Clinton for one. And, Brianna, we'll be talking with her next hour here on the "Most News in the Morning."
Brianna, thanks for that.
KEILAR: You're welcome. CHETRY: New this morning, former President Bill Clinton weighed in on the president's $700 billion financial rescue plan. He explained to David Letterman on "The Late Show" how bailing out Wall Street will benefit Main Street.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN")
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They should understand that they should want them saved because over half the American people have a direct or indirect stake in the stock market. And if you want the economy to grow over the long run, people have to be able to go some place and get a loan to start a business and expand it. Figure out how to rewrite the terms of the mortgages so people can pay it. And then as they pay off their mortgage, they can kick some of that money back to the government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And what about the presidential candidates and the economy? Well, there are some brand new numbers out this morning that could spell trouble for one of them as people ended voting with their pocketbooks in November. We'll break it down ahead.
ROBERTS: Left hanging.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We could have had a nice reliable computer counting vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Fear of a recount repeat in Florida. The land of the hanging chad dumps a new touch screen system and goes back to paper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no confidence that those people will be ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Ten minutes after the hour. Brand new polls out this morning from three of the key battleground states that could decide the presidential election. Starting in Wisconsin, Barack Obama leads John McCain, 48 to 45 percent. Obama is also up in Iowa. You'll remember last week there was a poll that showed them awfully close. He's now stretched out a seven-point lead, 50 to 43 percent with seven percent unsure.
And in Pennsylvania, Senator Obama leads by three points. The economic crisis apparently helping him gain ground. In the latest national poll, he has opened up a five-point lead, 49 to 44 percent. The number of undecided voters slowly shrinking, now down to seven percent.
CHETRY: Well, like their colleagues in Washington, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama are scrambling to respond to the Wall Street crisis. The candidates taking their best shots at each other as both try to convince voters that they can clean up the mess. Here's CNN's Candy Crowley.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the Wall Street mess dominates the headlines, Capitol Hill and the campaign, new polling finds that by a 2-1 margin registered voters blame Republicans. Political gold.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I guess they think that you don't have much sense because they can stand up with a straight face and say we're going to clean it all up. They made the mess. They have been running the government.
CROWLEY: It is the underpinning of the Obama campaign. A persistent attempt to tie John McCain to George Bush. Working just as persistently to break loose, McCain needs to convince voters, like those here in working class Pennsylvania, that he has the reformer credentials to fix what's wrong.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me offer a little advance warning to the big spending, greedy, do-nothing me first, country second crowd in Washington and on Wall Street, change is coming. Change is coming to a neighborhood near you.
CROWLEY: The latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll also shows while McCain holds a 12-point lead, when the question is about judgment during an international crisis, Obama is up six points when voters are asked about judgment during an economic crisis. So the issue likely to dominate the conversation between now and Election Day plays to Obama's perceived strength, and he pushes it.
OBAMA: We need a plan that helps families stay in their homes and workers keep their jobs. A plan that gives hardworking Americans relief instead of using taxpayer dollars to reward CEOs on Wall Street.
CROWLEY: The bailout brings a peculiar conundrum to the campaign. The candidates don't want to stand in the way of avoiding economic calamity. They don't want to fully embrace a plan that seems to save the elite. So the trail rings with populism as both candidates generally accept the need for $700 billion in help for the nation's top financial institutions even as they speak to the resentment that stirs among struggling taxpayers footing the bill.
MCCAIN: We can't have taxpayers footing the bill for bloated golden parachutes. We need to put our country first and focus what's best for Main Street. It's the excess and greed of Washington and Wall Street that got us in this situation to start with. CROWLEY: In the end when it comes to the bailout, Obama and McCain agree more than disagree. Both want more oversight in how the money is spent and limits on CEO payouts. Both want to see the final package before embracing it, and both are likely to be campaigning when the vote is taken.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: And thanks, Candy.
We have the Wall Street crisis covered from all angles this morning. Democratic Senator Chris Dodd of Connnecticut, he is the chairman of the Banking Committee and he is putting forth his own proposal, will be joining us at the top of the hour.
We're also going to be speaking with Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina. He opposes the bailout plan. We're going to find out just how far he's willing to go to block it.
Also, in the next hour, Senator Hillary Clinton will join us live with her take on the bailout. We're also going to find out if she thinks she would have made a better running mate for Barack Obama.
ROBERTS: Election kickoff. Early voting lets thousands cast their ballots. We're taking you to the polls where voters in some key swing states are already making their picks. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, night just finishing out there in Pittsburgh. You notice that the sun is getting up a little bit later these days. It's clear right now, 52 degrees as we look at the intersection of the three rivers there. The Allegheny, the Monongahela, and the Upper Ohio. It's going to go up to 78 degrees today and be beautifully sunny. So get out there and do something if you are in Pittsburg.
However, if you're down south, you want be keeping an eye on something that's going on in the Caribbean. And our Rob Marciano at the weather center in Atlanta to tell us more about that.
Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, John. Yes, still dark. Our first full day of fall. But as you know, fall is still prime time for hurricanes and we're in right now.
Looking at this disturbance around Hispaniola, Puerto Rico. Boy, it's been raining for the past couple of days in Puerto Rico. Twenty-four totals in some places of over two feet. So not a good situation there with certainly life threatening flash flooding.
Just this morning, obviously, a big flare up here. This thing was centered a little bit farther to the north of the islands and then our guys were going take it north. Kind of out to sea may be into New England. And now it looks like it's reforming south of the island of Hispaniola. It may change what could happen with this over the next couple of days. We'll certainly want to watch out for this.
Tropical development September, just about anywhere. I mean, this is the time of year. But we're getting towards the ends of September and that means that in October we change gears a little bit. We take out the southern Atlantic, go more Caribbean gulf and the gulf streams. So we'll watch those areas in the coming weeks and certainly watch that disturbance in the coming hours and days.
This is not associated with that thing in Puerto Rico. We have high pressure across the northern parts of the northeast. Gorgeous weather there. And then low pressure just off the Carolina coastline and the squeeze play type pressure grading high surf dangerous for currents, big waves and some wind there for sure.
Temperatures today will be quite nice once the sun comes up in places like Pittsburgh. It will be 81 degrees in Chicago. 71 in New York, not too shabby there. 83 degrees in Kansas and 80 degrees in Atlanta, Georgia. But it is tough to see that sun not come up, John, at 6:15 in the morning. Reminders of winter being on the way. Back to you.
ROBERTS: That's the thing that I hate most about fall is the fact...
MARCIANO: Yes.
ROBERTS: ... that the sun starts coming up later and going to bed earlier. 7:00, it's going down, yes. Although it does make it easier to hit sleep at 7:00.
MARCIANO: (INAUDIBLE) yourself.
ROBERTS: Yes. Rob, thanks very much. We'll see you soon.
MARCIANO: All right, John.
CHETRY: And you have to think about the good things like the beautiful leaves turning color and the nice crisp air.
ROBERTS: I like summer.
CHETRY: Well, many on Main Street America are growing more critical of the administration's bailout plan. Our Alina Cho has been monitoring reaction from the financial center of the world, New York.
Also, Hillary Clinton joins us live. Her thoughts on the bailout plan and the presidential race. She's here on the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "NETWORK")
HOWARD BEALE, PLAYED BY PETER FINCH: It's a depression. Everybody is out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth. Banks are going bust.
I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell, I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's Howard Beale from the film "Network." Not the only one upset this morning. Many of you are sharing your frustrations about this $700 billion bailout plan.
Alina Cho joins us now with more. The e-mails have been lighting up, right?
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, my goodness. More than 2,000 people have weighed in on CNNMoney.com, Kiran. And yesterday, we took to the streets of New York to get more reaction to the government's $700 billion plan to bailout the financial institutions. And certainly, there was no shortage of opinion.
A lot of anger. Some praise for the government's plan to intervene, and one point on which everyone agreed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's a lot of money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a lot of money.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's a lot of money.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Awful lot of money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More and more and more money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what else to say. It is a lot of money to spend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: That's right. Just as we saw on CNNMoney.com yesterday, a lot of people outraged over the government's bailout plan. Most of the people we talked to said taxpayers should not be footing the bill for what they called corporate irresponsibility.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it sucks. Because it affects us, the people that work all day long, seven hours, eight hours a day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're giving $300 rebate checks for IRS and then they're asking to turn around, have us pay the money right back to the government just to bail them out. It makes them no sense.
CHO: Seem ridiculous to you? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel worried that my great, great, great grandchildren are still going to be paying for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: That woman said she also worries for her young son. Now one man we talked to said clearly, Congress wasn't at the helm when all of this was happening and all of a sudden it became a terrible problem almost over a weekend. That's one man's opinion. His wife said she's not sure how she feels about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No easy answers. It's a struggle. One part of me says yes, one part of me says no. You know, one part of me says are we going to be taken for a ride. You know, another part of me says we have to fix the problem. The trust level...
CHO: Low.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... is low.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: And most felt it was unfair to put the burden on the taxpayer. But most also told me they can see the other side of the coin, too, if you will. They feel what happens on Wall Street does affect Main Street and something had to be done to fix the problem.
As one man said, Kiran, this was so dramatic, something dramatic had to happen. And as you saw there, no shortage of opinion on the streets of New York. All we have to do is go right outside of our building...
CHETRY: Yes, exactly.
CHO: And they come running towards you.
CHETRY: And the one thing they all agree on, that's a lot of money.
CHO: Yes.
CHETRY: So we'll certainly be talking about it all morning with some of the senators that could be involved in figuring out whether this thing happens or not. Alina, thank you.
CHO: You bet.
ROBERTS: Same name.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jeanne Moos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jonathan McCain. How are you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The other John McCain who happens to look a lot like the guy he's voting for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're John McCain and who are you voting for?
JOHN MCCAIN, OBAMA SUPPORTER: Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO")
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO": You know the way a bailout works? Here's the way a bailout works. A failed president and a failed Congress invest $700 billion of your money in failed businesses. Believe me, this can't fail. How can this fail?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Jay Leno last night taking a shot at the $700 billion bailout. And this morning, there is a heighten sense of urgency to finalize the proposal. But some members of Congress and the administration locked in a power struggle over exactly what the package should look like.
Joining me now is Chrystia Freeland. She is the U.S. managing editor of the "Financial Times" and she's here to talk more about this. So there was a lot of euphoria last week when news of this plan leaked.
Not so much so yesterday on the markets. Price of oil went way up. The dollar is going down. Price of gold is going up. Stocks are going way down. What's going on?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND, U.S. MANAGING EDITOR, FINANCIAL TIMES: Well, I think the main story right now is volatility. And we have to be careful not to read too much into one day's verdict by the markets because on Friday it looked like the plan was a hero and yesterday it looked like the plan was a zero, and we still don't know what is going to happen today.
Having said that, I think that what we saw yesterday was people saying this is really a lot of money and how much confidence can we have in the U.S. dollar in the future.
ROBERTS: Is the confidence to whether or not this plan would actually work? FREELAND: I think there is some of that. But I think there is a concern that even if the plan does work, you see the U.S. government committing itself to spending an awful lot of money. And so, you have a flight to safer assets like oil, gold, the traditional commodities that hold value and away from the U.S. dollar.
ROBERTS: Now if this plan were to work, if they come up with a plan, you know, that Congress is up against this deadline, too, of going out on recess, how long would it take to take effect?
FREELAND: Well, that's the -- I was going to say million dollar but maybe $700 billion question.
ROBERTS: Would it be instantaneous? Would it take a few weeks, maybe months?
FREELAND: I think that one of the concerns with the plan is people are realizing this is incredibly complicated. And one of the parallels that was drawn right away was with the savings and loan crisis. But there you had actual physical assets, you could drive by these real estate assets.
ROBERTS: Yes. These are pieces of paper that are bundled up.
FREELAND: Right. And which are described as toxic asset and they're very hard to value. That's the whole reason the government is having to come in, because the market doesn't know what the value is. So the unwind would take quite a long time.
ROBERTS: What does all of this do? Newt Gingrich said that this creates a 20-year long mess. There are other people like Jim Bunning who said he woke up the other day, thought that he was in France. Was saying that Fourth of July Independence Day will become Bastille Day because essentially you've got the government socializing a huge part of the U.S. economy.
FREELAND: You do. I mean, we have a really paradoxical situation where you have Hank Paulson, who is a Republican financier from central casting. You don't get more Republican and more free market than Mr. Paulson. And yet, he is presiding over a greater nationalization of assets than Vladimir Putin. But I think the important thing to remember is, he really felt -- and I think he's right in his judgment -- he had no choice. And the markets last week prior to Friday were really concerned this was the Great Depression. We had one financial institution after another going down like dominoes. Today they are worried about stagflation which is a little less scary.
ROBERTS: Well, we're going to keep on watching this story. We'll see what happens on Capitol Hill today. Chrystia Freeland, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks for coming in.
FREELAND: My pleasure.
CHETRY: Well, it's just about 30 minutes past the hour. We have some breaking news this morning out of Finland. Several people feared dead after a student opened fire in a college. This is in the southwestern part of the country.
A worker at the college said he saw a man with a ski mask enter a building and then moments later shots were fired. Finish media also reporting that several dozen people were hurt and that the gunman later killed himself. Now, Finland suffered its first known school shooting just a year ago when a teenager opened fire at a high school 30 miles north of Helsinki.
Wall Street desperately in need of a financial rescue and a bail out plan being worked out by Congress and the White House is slowly taking shape. A main sticking point, though, for negotiators is limiting the compensation for executives. The CEOs of these companies that get saved by taxpayer dollars.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will field questions about their proposed $700 billion bailout at a Senate hearing later today. And as investors wait for the bailout to happen, there is a lot of uncertainty on the financial market.
Ali Velshi is here "Minding Your Business." This was really the talk yesterday. We saw the Dow drop nearly 400 points.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And because of these hurdles -- we're going to illustrate that with hurdles here that could be coming up with respect to this deal, and there are a few of them. The first one is who is actually in charge of this deal. The Treasury is asked for what Nancy Pelosi has described as a blank check for Wall Street.
Basically, Treasury has said we want the control over this, and not to have to go back to Congress, not to have to go back to courts. So that's hurdle number one. Hurdle number two, as you just mentioned, is executive compensation. Will companies that get some sort of bailout or assistance from the government see executives going away with large bonuses? The Democrats are pretty clear they don't want that to happen. The third issue is what is in this for Main Street?
While we explained earlier that their credit freeze is affecting everybody from Wall Street all the way down to people getting loans, the bottom line is what's really there for people who are struggling with their mortgages or have seen their homes foreclosed upon. So, these are three of the talking points. And there are many others that the Democrats are stuck on. There's a fourth one which is interesting.
It's actually coming more from the right, from those people who say the government shouldn't be involved in bailouts like this in any way. So there's more hands off approach, let the chips fall where they may and we shouldn't be particularly involve. These are sort of four of even a larger number of hurdles that are standing in the way of this deal getting done. And that, Kiran, is why we've seen those problems in the market. There's uncertainty about how this is going to end up.
CHETRY: And you illustrated it perfectly for us this morning. Ali, thanks.
VELSHI: At least you didn't make me jump over the hurdles.
CHETRY: Exactly. We'll try that next hour.
ROBERTS: Let's hope that they don't all get knocked down until they get clear. Thanks, Ali.
VELSHI: OK.
ROBERTS: This morning, early voting underway in some states. Nearly a third of the electorate may cast their ballot before November the 4th. So what's their motivation? We head to the polls to find out.
Left hanging.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We could have had a nice reliable computers counting votes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Fear of a recount repeat in Florida. The land of the hanging chad dumps a new touch screen system and goes back to paper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no confidence that those people will be ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 36-1/2 minutes after the hour. 42 days from now we are going to be saying polls are open for the election. But in a number of states voters are already going to polling centers. In fact, 34 states allow early voting. So what is driving many to vote before the debates even happen? First one this Saturday. CNN's Kathleen Koch is live for us in Washington this morning. She was looking into all of this for us.
What did you find out?
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, I found out that really for most people it's all about convenient because after all Election Day is not a national holiday. You have to either get time off to vote or go before or after work and as you know either way there are those long, long lines to deal with. And then come November, the weather can be daunting. So for many people early voting just makes sense.
Now in the nearby Battleground State of Virginia it began yesterday. They are expecting double the turnout early voting that they had last year. We talked to voters and we talked to an election official about why it's become so popular.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIA EVANS, EARLY VOTER: I realized I was going to need to be in Alabama during that time and I wanted to make sure I voted. I almost changed my reservations when I realized that I was going to be out of town at that time.
TOM PARKINS, ALEXANDRIA REGISTRAR: The thing that changes our approach is there are so many volunteers on the streets registering voters, encouraging people to vote absentee that there's just more activity. I mean just by nature of Virginia being a battleground state, it's bringing more people out to vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: In the presidential election in 2000, just 15 percent of voters cast their ballots early. This year, it's expected that as many as one-third will. So just how can people vote so early, some of them even before the presidential debate, the first one which is this Friday. Research shows that these early voters tend to be people who are the most loyal to their party and to their candidate.
Basically, they've already made up their minds, And John, that's what we found out when we talked to voters in Virginia yesterday. They said they knew who they were going to vote for and nothing was going to change their minds.
ROBERTS: Kathleen, it just so happens that I'm a registered voter in the State of Virginia, but I work up here in New York a lot. What's my window of opportunity for absentee voting there because I actually won't be in Virginia on Election Day? Is there a fine night window or can I do it all the way up until November 4th.
KOCH: Well, you know, John, absentee and early voting are two different things. When it comes to early voting, yes, you can walk in and vote right up until Election Day. With the absentee, that's something different. You know, that's a paper ballot that you have to get in advance and then main in. I'm not sure about the rules on that one.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, I go back and forth a lot so I can do the early voting. Kathleen Koch for us this morning.
Kathleen, thanks so much for that.
KOCH: You bet.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: Could there be another recount drama in Florida. We're going to show you how one county is working hard to make sure, you remember that iconic video. It's not Deja Vu all over again.
One-on-one with Hillary Clinton. The former candidate live on the state of the race, the economy and whether she should have been Barack Obama's running mate. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
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CHETRY: Pretty shot this morning. A live picture from Palm Beach, Florida. The presidential election now just 42 days away. And officials in Palm Beach County are changing their voting equipment again. The second time that they've done it since the 2000 election. And as CNN's John King tells us it's dredging up that four letter word -- recount.
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JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some images of Palm Beach County are peaceful, relaxing. Others, not so much. With this year's presidential race so close, headlines like these stir both painful memories and present day worries.
The current recount drama involves a local judicial race, hardly a statewide or national concern. But the confusion and sometimes contradictory statements of county elections officials are raising all too familiar questions.
SID DINERSTEIN, PALM BEACH COUNTY GOP CHAIRMAN: Managerially, software-wise, procedure-wise, training-wise there is no confidence that those people will be ready in less than 50 days for the election that we're all going to have.
KING: Never again was the county's promise after the butterfly ballots in hanging chads of the 2000 presidential recount. By 2004, the county had switched to touch screen machines and there were no major controversies. But for this cycle, Palm Beach County has switched again to a system of scanned paper ballots.
County Republican chairman Sid Dinerstein says the touch screens were more reliable but local Democrats insisted on switching.
DINERSTEIN: We could have had a nice reliable computers counting votes and giving us all an honest count.
KING: County election officials insist the new system is reliable and ay they will be ready for November 4th. The drama here eight years ago, some would say debacle led to major changes. More than 40 states made adjustments in their machines or their audit trails.
TODD ROKITA, INDIANA SECRETARY OF STATE: We've had more change in our election process since 2000. And we've seen since the Voting Rites Act of 1965.
KING: Todd Rokita is Indiana's top elections official, and the past president of the Association of Secretaries of State. Indiana spent $67 million on new equipment, and Rokita challenges those who don't trust the computerized systems.
ROKITA: You know, we use technology in every one of our financial transactions and social transactions. Why are we not putting? Why until 2000 did we not put that technology to use when it comes to our votes? Sacred civic transaction, you know, the voting process.
KING: Indiana has a record number of newly registered voters, and with a possibility of heavy turn out, Rokita advises those who don't like long lines or maybe don't trust their local election system to take advantage of any opportunity to vote early whether in person or by mail.
John King, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
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CHETRY: Well, here's more on touch screen voting in an "A.M. Extra" for you now. After the hanging chads and butterfly ballots of 2000, Congress approved $3 billion to upgrade election systems. Some states bought the new touch screen devices only to run into problems. There were reports of vanishing votes, of malfunctions and concerns that the machines could be hacked. Many state threw them out or try to sell them. And in the last two years the number of voters using the technology actually dropped from 44 percent to 36 percent. In November the majority of voters, some 57 percent will be back to using paper ballots.
ROBERTS: Same name --
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Jeanne Moos.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jonathan McCain, how are you?
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ROBERTS: The other John McCain who happens to look a lot like the guy he's voting for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: You're John McCain and who are you voting for?
MCCAIN: Barack Obama.
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ROBERTS: You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
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ROBERTS: 48 minutes after the hour. And this just in to CNN. John McCain is voting for Barack Obama. Think we're kidding? CNN's Jeanne Moos introduces us to a man who resembles one candidate and shares the name of the other.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOOS (voice-over): Meet John McCain. No, not that one.
(on camera): Jeanne Moss.
JONATHAN MCCAIN, BARACK OBAMA SUPPORTER: Jonathan McCain, how are you?
MOOS: What did you say your name is?
MCCAIN: My name is John McCain.
MOOS: You're John McCain, and who are you voting for?
MCCAIN: Barack Obama.
MOOS (voice-over): John McCain even looks a tiny bit like Barack Obama. McCain is a New York City musician. Best known for having been the drummer in a band called The Toasters. Now it's being drummed into our heads as the name McCain.
MCCAIN: That John McCain.
MOOS: Hey, it could be worse.
CINDY MICHEALS, WVN ANCHOR: I'm not Sarah Palin. They know I'm not Sarah Palin.
MOOS: But that doesn't stop a few viewers from leaving mean voice mails for anchorwoman Cindy Michaels at the Fox station in Bangor, Maine.
VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hope you don't keep that hairdo. You don't want to be tied with that same brush.
MOOS: Yes. Well, the news anchor was brushing her hair in an up do long before Sarah Palin got picked. And when Michaels didn't wear her glasses on air.
VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is this K-mart version of Sarah Palin? What did you do is lose your little cheapo glasses.
MOOS: Michaels by the way considers it a compliment that folks think she looks pretty like Palin. But for Palin's most famous impersonator, Tina Fey --
TINA FEY, COMEDIAN/ACTRESS: Anyone can be president.
AMY POEHLER, COMEDIAN/ACTRESS: Anyone.
MOOS: The comparisons are wearing thin.
FEY: I want to be done playing this lady November 5th. So if anyone could help me be done playing this lady November 5th, that would be good for me.
MOOS: We thought this would be good for the guy named John McCain.
(on camera): I brought something for you.
MCCAIN: All right. I'm not putting that on.
MOOS: Yes, you are.
MCCAIN: No, I'm not putting this on.
MOOS: Yes you are.
MCCAIN: I'm not putting this on.
MOOS: Come on.
MCCAIN: I am not putting this on.
MOOS (voice-over): OK, I will.
MCCAIN: It doesn't do anything for you.
MOOS: Which brings us to the Halloween presidential index dreamed up by spirit maker of these masks.
(on camera): Every year they do who is selling more masks contest and the winner always wins the election.
MCCAIN: Oh my goodness.
MOOS (voice-over): Obama masks lead by more than 2 to 1. A bad sign for that McCain, but not this one.
MCCAIN: I'm voting for Barack Obama. My name is John McCain and I approve this message.
MOOS: Jeanne Moss, CNN, New York.
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CHETRY: On the fly.
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GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you so much.
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CHETRY: Governor Sarah Palin at the U.N., cramming for a real test in foreign policy.
Plus, Senator Hillary Clinton live. Will Sarah Palin really put women in place for John McCain? On the "Most Politics in the Morning."
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DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN: John McCain is introducing his running mate as Sarah Palin to the world leaders over at the U.N., and it was nice. It looked like bring your daughter to work day.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." You know, Sarah Palin is just one of the big names who will be here in New York for a big day at the United Nations. President Bush as well as Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are also among the speakers set to address the U.N. General Assembly today. President Bush's speech is set to begin at 10:30 Eastern this morning.
And Sarah Palin's arrival here in New York last night also signals her arrival on the world stage. She will have meetings today with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, as well as the presidents of Iraq and Colombia. Joining me now with a look at the plan for Palin is our Ed Henry.
Hi, there, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. It's interesting. Obviously, she's trying to get ready for that upcoming vice president debate with Joe Biden who is an expert on foreign affairs. And McCain camp is trying to cramp a lot in for Sarah Palin over the next two days in New York. And her allies believe that she has the poise to pass this test.
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HENRY (voice-over): It's like speed dating with world leaders. In the span of just 30 hours in New York, Sarah Palin will meet with nine major international players during the U.N.'s General Assembly meetings, from the presidents of Iraq and Afghanistan, to Henry Kissinger, and the rock star Bono -- all aimed at beefing up Palin's thin foreign policy chops.
JAMES HOGE, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: And I think they want to show, just as Obama did when he went to Germany and gave a speech in Berlin and so on, that she is comfortable on the international scene, that she can hold her own in conversations with foreign leaders.
HENRY: But Democrats warn that carefully scripted photo-ops -- some of which will include John McCain -- may backfire by bringing more attention to the holes in Palin's resume.
HILLARY ROSEN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think the big risk they run with this strategy of having her meet with these leaders individually is that they end up with three days of stories about how she doesn't have foreign policy experience.
HENRY: But Republicans say Palin is just following in the footsteps of national candidates like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton -- one time governors who needed to bone up on international policy.
ALEX CASTELLANOS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The first thing you do is burnish their foreign policy credentials. You buy them a Rand McNally. They meet with generals. You get a lot of flags on the stage and you give a big speech on foreign policy to display you have some command of the world.
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HENRY: But Sarah Palin will not be going so far as to deliver a major address on foreign policy. Instead, this is going to be pretty low risk. Sort of quick photo op. She's not even going to be taking questions from the media, Kiran, so that makes it very, very low risk, and that's what the campaign wants obviously right now. They want to just put the image out there that she's getting up to speed on foreign policy.
CHETRY: All right. It will be very interesting if we find out later what was discussed between these world leaders.
HENRY: What was really going on behind close doors.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly. All right. Ed Henry, good to see you in person.
HENRY: Good to see you.
CHETRY: Well, coming up in just about 15 minutes, we're going to be joined live by Senator Hillary Clinton. We're going to ask her about her plan for cleaning up the economic crisis.
John?
ROBERTS: It's coming up now on three minutes before the top of the hour. And here are this morning's top stories. Congress pushing back on the biggest financial bailout in history. Lawmakers from both parties say they are not willing to give the Treasury secretary a, quote, "blank check" to buy troubled assets from financial firms.
All the uncertainty leading to deeper losses on Wall Street. Asian markets were down overnight after Blue chips dropped 373 points yesterday. And oil skyrocketing more than $16. The biggest one-day jump ever. Close to eight million homeowners are struggling to stay homeowners. A Census Bureau study based on last year's number say those people are spending half of their income on housing. Usually, a person spends just a third of their paycheck on housing. And they are said to have a financial burden.
And breaking this morning. At least seven people killed and dozens wounded after a gunman opens fire on a college campus in Finland. Officials say the death toll could rise. Local reports say the shooter was a 22-year-old student who may have later killed himself. 200 students were in the building at the time.
CHETRY: Well, back to our top story, and that's the $700 billion financial rescue plan. It's drawing fire from both the left and the right this morning, but for very different reasons. Senior business correspondent Ali Velshi joins us now with a look at how the market also is reacting to the ongoing discussions that are taking place in Washington about whether this things even going to pass.
VELSHI: Well, Kiran, as John just mentioned, the Dow was down yesterday more than 3 percent. A big loss on the market. Some of that was because the U.S. dollar is sinking. As you mentioned, the oil spike. But overnight, we had a tough time on Asian markets.
Hong Kong in particular was down more than 4 percent. The other is not so much. European markets are down right now. And Dow futures are treading water, bouncing back and forth between the even lines. So, we're unsure what's going on. That's the key word. We're unsure because we don't know what this deal is going to hold. There's nothing worse than the uncertainty for Wall Street. But the pressure from the left is to have more assurances in this deal for the average American.
Some assurances that CEOs won't make away like bandits under a government assured plan. And to find out who's actually going to be in control of this. Congress wants control over any money that is spent. The Treasury says it wants absolute control over how the money is spent. From the right, we've got concerns about the fact that the government shouldn't be bailing companies out at all and that this deal is a bad idea.
So, what's happening with each passing hour that this deal isn't done. It sort of gaining momentum on both sides of the opposition to not get a deal done, and that is what markets are most worried about.
Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Ali Velshi for us following this all morning long. Thank you.
ROBERTS: And when it comes to placing blame for the economic free fall, Republicans apparently are taking the brunt of it, big time. A new CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll shows that voters say the GOP is more responsible for the financial crisis by a 2-1 margin. CNN's Jim Acosta joins us now.
When you take a look at those numbers, Jim, it does not bode well for the people in power. John McCain, obviously, has got some work to do to try to narrow that gap.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: John, my old political science professor would have covered this in the first semester, so goes the economy. As the economy goes south, so does the party in power. And Barack Obama is benefiting from what seems to be a bailout bump.
If you look at our latest CNN polling that has come out in the last 24 hours, who would better handle the economy. Barack Obama 53 percent to John McCain 43 percent. And it's interesting what we've seen from Barack Obama over the last week or so. He has declined to come forward with his own specific plan as to how he would address this huge mess on Wall Street. Instead, he is allowing the Bush administration and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson to move forward with this bailout plan.
He did talk about how he would bring about some $40 billion dollars in budget cuts to go along in helping to pay for this huge bailout that is apparently in the works. But for now, he is focusing more of his attention on attacking John McCain as a champion of deregulation.
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SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When it comes to regulatory reform, Senator McCain has fought time and time again against the common sense rules of the road that could have prevented this crisis. His economic plan was written by Phil Gramm, the architect in the United States Senate of the deregulatory steps that helped cause this mess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We won't solve a problem caused by poor oversight with a plan that has no oversight. And part of the reason we're facing this crisis is an antiquated regulatory system of uncoordinated agencies that just haven't been doing their job. I believe we need a high level oversight board to impose accountability and establish concrete criteria for who gets help and who doesn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And unlike Barack Obama, what we've seen from John McCain is that he has come out with a specific plan. And he is starting to make the case and we'll be seeing this over the next few days heading in to this debate which is supposed to be on national security. The McCain campaign, John, is starting to make the case that economic security equals national security. John McCain is ready to lead, Barack Obama is not.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. That's the case that the administration has been making for years that these things are all tied together. We'll see how well it can make that case.
Jim, thanks very much.
ACOSTA: You bet.
