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Ballot Bowl 2008

Campaigns Prepare for Next Debate; Candidates Speak at Campaign Events

Aired October 05, 2008 - 16:00   ET

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

MARY SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN's "Ballot Bowl." I'm Mary Snow. Coming live to you from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, the site of the next presidential debate. We're in the home stretch, 30 days to go to election day and this is your chance to hear directly from the candidates, sometimes live, sometimes on tape but always unfiltered and joining me is my co-anchor Jim Acosta who is in Ashville, North Carolina. Hi, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Mary. That's right. Just one letter, the letter n separating us, Mary. We are in Ashville, North Carolina, where Barack Obama held an event just a few minutes ago and it's over now. But we'll have some excerpts from that event coming up shortly. But we want to run you through our game plan for the next hour and there's one highlight that we want to bring to you and that is Bruce Springsteen. He was campaigning for Barack Obama on behalf of the campaign in Philadelphia yesterday and today he's going to be on the campus of Ohio State University and, so, we'll have some of that for you coming up during this coming hour and Mary, even though Barack Obama is running for president of the United States, the campaign still comfortable referring to Bruce Springsteen as the boss. I just want to make sure that was out there at the open.

SNOW: No formality there, Jim. We're going to be back with you in just a little bit, but despite the fact that John McCain is not on the campaign trail, there has been a lot of back and forth between the McCain camp and the Obama camp and this is coming from Sarah Palin. The vice presidential candidate and she hit a nerve yesterday or really set off a lot of back and forth when she said that Barack Obama is palling around with terrorists. This is something Jim is going to tell you about in a minute when he talks about Obama's response.

But this is about Bill Ayers, the 1960s radical. A "New York Times" story about him yesterday. Sarah Palin picked up on it and this is an attempt from the McCain campaign to try and paint Obama as someone who's liberal, saying they're trying to really underscore his judgment and put his judgment in the focus. Let's take a listen to what she had to say last night in California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My grandpa, his specialty was photographing boxers of that era. And I learned a few pointers about fighting from him, including one that applies to this election. And that there is a time when it's necessary to take the gloves off and that time is right now. Evidently, there's been a lot of interest in what I read, lately. Well, I was reading today a copy of "The New York Times." And I was really interested to read in there about Barack Obama's friends from Chicago. Turns out one of his earliest supporters is a man who, according to the "New York Times" was a domestic terrorist and part of the group, part of the group that "launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the U.S. capital."

Our opponent is someone who see America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: And that has touched off a firestorm. That was Sarah Palin in Carson, California, today sticking by those comments. Jim Acosta, certainly, that's something the Obama campaign is responding to today.

ACOSTA: That's right, Mary. It's interesting to note that the McCain campaign has just recently referred to the "New York Times" as an instrument of the Obama campaign. Now, if you hear what Sarah Palin is saying, they almost sound like bff, best friends forever, based on Sarah Palin's referencing of "The New York Times" yesterday. But you're right, Barack Obama is talking about this.

In fact, they have a new ad out on the airwaves taking issue on the personal attacks coming from the McCain campaign and according to the Obama campaign, just to set a little bit of context out there for our viewers, I talked to David Axelrod with the Obama campaign and he is stating categorically that Barack Obama had very few limited contacts with William Ayers and that when William Ayers had that coffee for Barack Obama back in 1995, the senator from Illinois had no idea, according to David Axelrod about Mr. Ayers violent past. So, that coming from the Obama campaign and, of course, they're saying that they completely condemn Mr. Ayers' acts from his past.

Now, having said all of that and putting that aside, Senator Obama did talk about that today here in Ashville, North Carolina, and he accused the McCain campaign of swift boat style tactics saying that the McCain campaign in Obama's words are trying to pull an okie doke, is how Barack Obama put it. Here's Barack Obama earlier today in Ashville, North Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator McCain and his operatives are gambling that they can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance. They'd rather tear our campaign down than lift this country up. That's what you do when you're out of touch, out of ideas and running out of time. So I want all of you to be clear, I'm going to keep on talking about the issues that matter. I'm going to, I'm going to keep on talking about the economy. I'm going to talk about health care and I'm going to talk about education and I'm going to talk about energy and I'm going to keep on standing up for hardworking families who aren't getting a fair shake in this economy. We're not going to let John McCain distract us. We're not going to let him hoodwink you. Or bamboozle you. We're not going to let them run the okie doke on you. You all know about the okie doke here in Ashville, North Carolina? The American people are too smart for that because they want to move this country forward and that's why I'm running for president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: So, there you have it. Barack Obama talking about the okie doke there that he accuses the McCain campaign of running. And we should note that one part of this ticket that you're not seeing out on the campaign trail this weekend is Joe Biden. We should report. As we reported yesterday that Senator Biden has canceled his events this weekend to get to the side of his mother-in-law who has taken ill. So we won't be seeing Joe Biden out on the campaign trail at least the next 24 hours we're told from the Obama campaign. And with that, I will toss it back to my colleague Mary with more on how things are shaping up with the McCain campaign. Mary.

SNOW: And Jim, as the McCain campaign did respond to Barack Obama saying this was kind of a swift boat attack saying this was a truthful and precise terms of Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers. We can expect to hear a lot more about this in the next couple of days. But Senator McCain is not on the campaign trail today. He is in Sedona, Arizona, and he is prepping for Tuesday night's debate. He was off the campaign trail yesterday, as well.

Earlier or late last week, I should say in Denver, Colorado, he was asked a bit about Tuesday night upcoming presidential debate and take a listen to what one of the people in the audience asked him about how heated this campaign may actually get.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When are you going to take the gloves off and just go at him?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How about - how about Tuesday night?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Tuesday night, a reference to the next debate, the second in a series of three here in Nashville, Tennessee, will be the next debate at Belmont University. It's going to be kind of a town hall-style debate where we do have a moderator, Tom Brokaw, but also people in the audience will be asking questions. These are uncommitted voters and that happens on Tuesday night and, of course, you can see it here on CNN. Jim.

ACOSTA: And, Mary, you heard McCain there talking about wait until Tuesday. How about wait until this weekend, it's already started. The gloves came off this weekend it seems and we're going to be hearing more of that over the coming hour on "Ballot Bowl." Also coming up after the break here on "Ballot Bowl" on CNN, Sarah Palin talks about why she doesn't want to give up on Michigan. What is she talking about? We'll get to that coming up. And also early voting, they're starting that here in North Carolina on October 16th. We'll check in with our CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider about the pitfalls of early voting for both candidates. That's coming up after a break. This is "Ballot Bowl" on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SNOW: Welcome back to CNN's "Ballot Bowl." I'm Mary Snow in Nashville, Tennessee, the site of the next presidential debate on Tuesday. This weekend on the Republican team, it is Governor Sarah Palin, the only part of the ticket out on the campaign trail. Senator McCain is prepping for Tuesday night's debate. Sarah Palin was in Colorado yesterday. She met with blue star moms, moms who have children who are fighting in Iraq. And she also talked to reporters about the overall game plan. The McCain campaign this week announced it was pulling out of Michigan and sending its resources to Maine and Sarah Palin was asked about that change. Here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: ... Michigan and make sure that Michigan knows that we haven't given up there and we care much about Michigan and every other state and I wish there were more hours in the day so that we could travel all over this great country and speak to more Americans. I'm not worried about it, but just desiring more time and more emphasis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: That was Sarah Palin yesterday in Colorado talking about Michigan. We want to talk more about that with Bill Schneider, our CNN political analyst and, Bill, in terms of Michigan, the McCain campaign to make this decision at this point, give us a low down on what this is like.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it's a very big surprise because he had spent resource in Michigan. He had expected to have a chance, a serious chance in Michigan, which does usually vote democratic, but it has a bad economy, which has made the Democratic governor pretty unpopular, the Democratic mayor of Michigan's largest city, Detroit, had to step down and leave office. He pleaded guilty in a corruption scandal. Barack Obama did not run in the Michigan primary, which was an illegal primary under the rules so he had no real infrastructure there in Michigan. So there are all these hopeful signs for Republicans.

Plus one other thing, Michigan is the homeland of Reagan democrats. That is Macomb county outside of Detroit. So they always pinned a lot of hopes the Republicans have on winning Michigan. But McCain pulled out of Michigan because the economy is so devastated and probably has the worst economy of all the 50 states that they just saw they didn't have a chance.

SNOW: And we heard from the automakers earlier this week too about the steep decline in car sales -

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

SNOW: - among the automakers that is going to add to the problems out there.

SCHNEIDER: Of course.

SNOW: Now, in terms of early voting, we know Ohio is such a closely watched state. I'm going to be heading out there tomorrow, but in terms of voter registration, the deadline is tomorrow. And how is it looking in terms of signing up new voters?

SCHNEDIER: Well, they have signed up a lot of new voters, but there are a lot of people who are already voting in Ohio. How about that? Even before the registrations deadline. Ohio is one of the states that now allows people to vote before election day without real reason or explanation. You don't have to be infirmed, you don't have to be traveling and then Michigan, I mean, sorry, Ohio is a state that allows people to vote early and it's a state that has always been the real battleground of this campaign, but the latest Quinipiac poll of Ohio voters shows Obama eight points ahead of McCain, Obama 50 and McCain 42, which is the same margin Obama has in our poll of polls in Michigan.

So in both of those states, Obama has a healthy lead and in Michigan people are voting early. Let me tell you something about early voters, if something happens in the next month of this campaign, you can't get your ballot back. It's been cast. It's over.

SNOW: And the plot thickens. Bill Schneider, thank you very much. We're going we'll check in with you a little bit later on. All right. And Jim Acosta, we're going to throw it over to you.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Mary. And one of the issues out there and Bill has seen this in his polling is health care and Barack Obama talked about that yesterday in Newport News, Virginia. And as we were talking about yesterday and today, if Democrats campaigning at this stage of the campaign, Democrats doing pretty well right now. Barack Obama was talking about the issue of health care and he went after John McCain in accusing the Arizona senator of having a radical approach to health care. Here is Barack Obama yesterday in the tide water area of Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Senator McCain has been eager to share some of the details of this plan, but not all of the details. He tells you that he'll give you a tax credit of $2,500 per person, $5,000 per family to help you pay for your insurance and health care costs. Sounds good, right? But like those ads for prescription drugs, you've got to read the fine print to learn the rest of the story to find out the side effects.

You see, Senator McCain would pay for his plan in part by taxing your health care benefits for the first time in history. I want everybody to be clear about this, this tax would come out of your pay check. So, if you make $40,000 a year and you've got a health care plan that costs your employer $10,000, now, instead of being taxed on $40,000, you're going to be taxed on $50,000. Your taxes go up under his plan. What about the new tax credit he's proposing? That wouldn't go to you. It would go directly to your insurance company, not your bank account.

So, when you read the fine print, it's clear that John McCain is pulling an old Washington bait and switch. It's a shell game. He gives you a tax credit with one hand but he raises your taxes with the other. And recently after some forceful questioning on TV he finally admitted for some Americans, those with the best plans, his tax increase would be higher than his tax credit. So they'll come out behind.

John McCain calls these plans Cadillac plans. N some cases it may be that a corporate CEO is getting too good a deal. What if you're a line worker making a good American car like the Cadillac? What if you're one of the steel workers who are working right here in Newport News? And you've given up wage increases in exchange for better health care. Well, Senator McCain believes you should pay higher taxes, too. The bottom line, the better your health care plan, the harder you fought for your good benefits, the higher the taxes you'll pay under John McCain's plan.

And here's something else, Senator McCain won't tell you. When he taxes people benefits, many younger, healthier workers will decide it's better for them to just outside of getting insurance at the places where they work. Instead, they'll go out to the individual market because they're healthy, they can buy a cheaper plan. What that means is many employers will be left with an older, sicker pool of workers who they can't afford to cover. So, as a result, many employers will drop their health care plans altogether. Study after study has shown that under the McCain plan at least 20 million Americans will lose the insurance they rely on from their workplace.

It's the same approach George W. Bush floated a few years ago. It was dead on arrival in Congress and for good reason. But as Senator McCain were to succeed where George Bush failed, it very well could be the beginning of the end of our employer-based health care system. In fact, some experts have said that's exactly the point of John McCain's plan to drive you out the insurance that you had through your employer and out into the marketplace where your family will be given that $5,000 tax credit and told to buy insurance on your own. $5,000 tax credit sounds good, but what Senator McCain doesn't tell you is the average cost of a family health care plan these days is more than twice that much. It's $12,680. So, where would that leave you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And there you have it, Barack Obama on the issue of health care yesterday in Newsport News, Virginia. If you want any indication that the campaigns are watching "Ballot Bowl," I can tell you yesterday as that clip was played on "Ballot Bowl" yesterday, I got an e-mail from the McCain campaign Tucker Bounds writing to us to say, "Barack Obama is lying" about John McCain's health care plan. An indication yet again that the gloves are off. The brass knuckles are on in this last month of the campaign.

We'll coming up next here after the break here on "Ballot Bowl" on CNN, we're going to look back at last week's vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin and we will look ahead to what is coming up, hopefully on our show and that is some Bruce Springsteen. He is campaigning for Barack Obama at Ohio State. We're going to look back at Bruce Springsteen's appearance in Philadelphia yesterday in behalf of Barack Obama. That's coming up after a break. This is "Ballot Bowl" on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The past is prologue, Gwen. The issue is how different is John McCain's policy going to be from George Bush's? I haven't heard anything yet. I haven't heard how his policies are going to be different on Iran than George Bush's. I haven't heard how his policy is going to be different with Israel than George Bush's. I haven't heard how his policy in Afghanistan is going to be different than George Bush's. I haven't heard how his policy in Pakistan is going to be different than George Bush's. It may be, but so far it is the same as George Bush's and you know where that policy has taken us. We will make significant change, so, once again, we're the most respected nation in the world.

GOV. SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, in fact, when we talk about the Bush administration, there's a time, too, when Americans are going to say enough is enough with your ticket on constantly looking backwards and pointing fingers and doing the blame game. There had been huge blunders in the war. There had been huge blunders throughout this administration as there are with every administration. But for a ticket that wants to talk about change and looking into the future, there's just too much finger pointing backwards to ever make us believe that's where you're going. Positive change is coming. Reform of government is coming. We'll learn from the past mistakes in this administration and other administrations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: And there you have it. The one and only vice presidential debate was Thursday night. An estimated 69.9 million viewers, the most watched vice presidential debate in U.S. history. So, who won? It depends on which presidential candidate you're talking to.

Senator John McCain and Barack Obama were out on the campaign trail Friday sizing up how they thought it went. Here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I was so proud of Joe, yes. America, I think, saw it clearly on why I felt he would be such a great vice president, especially during these difficult, challenging times. So, we're very, very proud of Joe. He's going to be outstanding. You know, there are a lot of noteworthy moments in that debate last night, but there's one that sticks out this morning. It's when Senator Palin said to Joe Biden or Governor Palin said to Joe Biden that our plan to get our economy out of the ditch was somehow a job-killing plan. It's what she said. I wonder if she turned on the news this morning. Because it was just reported that America has experienced its ninth straight month of job loss.

MCCAIN: How about Sarah Palin last night, huh? How about her, huh? How about the job she did, huh? Come here. Look at this. Viva la barracuda. Thank you. You know, I almost felt a little sorry last night for my old friend Joe Biden. She did a magnificent job and she's the news for the big spending, smooth talking, me first, country second crowd in Washington and Wall Street that we've got a message. We've got a message, Sarah Palin and I and that's change is coming. Change is coming to Washington and to Wall Street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Now, if you missed any parts of the vice presidential debate Thursday night, you can see the best parts, and of course, the best analysis here on CNN tonight at 9:00 Eastern with CNN's John King and the best political team on television. That's at 9:00 tonight eastern on CNN. And, Jim, I'm sure a lot of people tuning in to watch that one more time and, of course, that analysis. But I hear you have some music for us first.

ACOSTA: That's right. You heard John McCain there say viva la barracuda. Sarah Palin at times has been almost a celebrity out there if you pardon the expression for the Republican party. But Barack Obama had a celebrity of his own out on the campaign trail this weekend and that is Bruce Springsteen.

Yes, the boss is back. He was campaigning on behalf of John Kerry back in 2004 and he's back this time around to campaign for Barack Obama. Interestingly, not campaigning with Senator Obama, at least not at this point, but holding separate events which speaks to how much money Barack Obama has in the campaign war chest but yesterday on the streets of Philadelphia, Bruce Springsteen was warming up the crowd with a lot of his old favorites. One of them being "The Rising" which is one that you hear at the Obama campaign events all the time. And he also worked in a few minutes to talk to the crowd there about what's at stake in this campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, OBAMA SUPPORTER I spent 35 years writing about America, its people and the meaning of the American promise. That's the promise that was handed down to us right here in this city. From our founding fathers with one instruction, that was, Do your best to make these things real. Because opportunity, equality, social economic justice, fair shake for all of our citizens -- the American ideal as a positive influence around the world for a more just and peaceful existence.

These are the things that give our lives hope and they give our lives shape and meaning. And these are the times that bind us together and give us faith in our contract with one another. I've spent most of my creative life measuring, measuring the distance between that American promise and American reality and for many Americans who are today losing their jobs and their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear who have no health care, who have been abandoned in our inner cities, the distance between that promise and that reality has never been greater or more painful for people.

I believe that Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and in his work and I think he understands in his heart the cost of that distance in blood and in suffering and the lives of everyday Americans. And I believe that as president I think you would work to restore that promise to so many of our fellow citizens who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: There you have it. Bruce Springsteen in Philadelphia yesterday. We want to show you live pictures in Ohio right now. The battleground state of Ohio. Bruce Springsteen getting ready to fire up the crowd there at Ohio State University in Columbus. I can tell you from my experience covering the Kerry campaign Bruce Springsteen went to that exact same campus four years ago and it was a huge, huge crowd.

I can only imagine how big that crowd is today for Bruce Springsteen. Barack Obama can command a live large audience, so can Bruce Springsteen. But we want to get to a quick break, but coming up after the break here on BALLOT BOWL on CNN; we'll get to the candidates back on the big issue in this campaign, the economy. The candidates squaring off on the bailout plan. That's coming up after a break. This is BALLOT BOWL on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Hello, I'm Fredericka Whitfield at the CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. Now in the news the Wachovia bank merger with Wells Fargo is on hold. The judge has stopped the sale temporarily according to Citigroup which is trying to buy Wachovia. Citigroup already had a deal with Wachovia. CNNMONEY.com has obtained a copy of that agreement and in it Wachovia agrees to not seek another bidder.

The national death toll from hurricane Ike has climbed to 70 after a search team found two bodies on a Texas island close to where the storm made landfall last month. Officials have not released any information on the identity of those victims.

And recovery efforts around the wreckage of Steve Fossett's downed plane may not resume until summertime. Snow ended the search in the Sierra Nevada on Friday and officials don't expect conditions will improve enough for crews to return this year.

Much more straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: More news now I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. In a bid to stem the expanding global financial crises, Germany says it will guarantee all private checking and savings accounts regardless of the amount. The move follows an emergency financial meeting yesterday of the fifteen nation European Union.

And Chinese officials today said no traces of the industrial chemical melamine were found in new tests of milk powder sold domestically. But Hong Kong officials say they found high levels of melamine in samples of two chocolate products made by British candy maker Cadbury at its Beijing factory. Melamine has been blamed for killing four babies and sickening more than 54,000 infants.

He gave his time to help feed the hungry. When his own health suffered. Neighbors pitched in. Dave Delozier of affiliate KUSA has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): It's really a beautiful place to work.

DAVE DELOZIER, KUSA: Out here --

TONY MADONE, FARMER: I just love taking care of the crop.

DELOZIER: When you give something a chance --

MADONE: All you're doing is giving it a chance to grow.

DELOZIER: You just never know what you might get. On 15 acres -- Tony Madone has been growing vegetables.

MADONE: This is the 13th season. My wife and I started this 12 years ago.

DELOZIER: In that time everything he's grown on this land he's given away.

MADONE: Every harvest has its own satisfaction.

DELOZIER: Giving to food banks and the changing faces they serve.

MADONE: We're being told that those people now are going to food banks and food pantries and when they receive the fresh produce some of them are in tears because they've never done it before in their life.

DELOZIER: A chance. You know, through this food Tony has given countless people across the state a chance for thirteen years. But this spring Tony got some news and he realized this time around he was going to need a chance.

MADONE: I was diagnosed in early January with prostate cancer.

DELOZIER: It meant surgery in spring and it meant there would be no crops.

MADONE: You only get one chance to plant the seed in the spring of the year; you get one chance to harvest the fruit in the fall of the year.

MARY HARRIS, VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR: I'm carrying one just in case.

DELOZIER: A chance, though, for 250 neighbors to help.

HARRIS: They just show up.

DELOZIER: A chance to grow crops and so much more.

HARRIS: All of our volunteers answered the call. They all knew and they all wanted to see the success this year, as well.

DELOZIER: They've harvested enough corn, cabbage, broccoli and squash to supply more than 45 food banks and the chance for Tony to see something more than crops come out of these fields.

MADONE: Watch what happened with the community, I mean, farming cable is stronger now than it was a year ago simply because of the hardship of the cancer.

DELOZIER: He's learned that out here life is measured in the chances you give.

MADONE: Thank you for all your help.

DELOZIER: And in the chances you get.

MADINE: To me, the harvests we received this year is special.

DELOZIER: Dave Delozier, 9 News.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And here now is your chance to help. Go to CNN.com/impact and you'll find links to food banks, which are already helping out.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield, more stories coming up in the CNN newsroom at 6:00 Eastern. Right now let's get back to BALLOT BOWL.

ACOSTA: Welcome back to BALLOT BOWL '08. I'm Jim Acosta in Ashville, North Carolina, where Barack Obama held an event earlier today. We want to turn now to unfortunate news that we have come upon here at CNN and we just learned that Joe Biden's mother-in-law has passed away. We reported just a few minutes ago Joe Biden has suspended his campaign activities for the weekend canceling his appearances to go to his mother-in-law's side because she had taken ill. She was in hospice back in Delaware and we learned that his mother-in-law did pass away and our thoughts go out to the Biden family at this time as this is a very difficult time for Joe and Jill Biden.

Our thoughts and prayers are with them and I want to bring in my colleague Mary Snow. Mary, obviously, these are events that happen during the course of the campaign. Family matters do come up and that has happened today for Joe Biden. So, it's, of course, you know, no surprise that Joe Biden will be needing some time away from the campaign trail to be with his family during all of this. Mary, we also have some new information from the McCain campaign in terms of something that they're taking the Obama campaign to task on over campaign financing, isn't that right?

SNOW: Yeah, Jim. This is a development we're learning about. The Republican National Committee is saying that it is going to file a complaint tomorrow to the Federal Election Committee and it wants to look, do an audit of about $450 million of contributions to Barack Obama's campaign. Of course, this is the federal agency that oversees campaign finance laws and the RNC is saying that it wants to look into two things.

One is to see whether or not the Obama campaign received money from foreign nationals which is prohibited and it mentions the "Newsweek" article on this topic but also it says the other point is it wants to ask the Federal Elections Committee to look into any excessive contributions to the Obama campaign and, Jim, I believe the Obama campaign is responding to this, right?

ACOSTA: That's right. And that is not uncharacteristic of the Obama campaign to get a response so quickly from Bill Burton, the campaign spokesperson for Barack Obama. He released a statement and we have it. It says because of campaign finance issues John McCain has had to return over $1.2 million to donors who potentially violated the law with their own contributions. We look forward to a thorough investigation into whether John McCain's campaign has returned all of the money it raised from foreign nationals. That is a quote from the Obama campaign basically making the charge that John McCain has also raised money from foreign nationals and it's no surprise that both of these campaigns would like to see federal election authorities to take a look at all of this and find out exactly who did what and who's in the wrong here, Mary.

But, obviously, this campaign over the next 30 days is going to be determined in some part, not in all part, but in some part by just how much money is out there for Barack Obama. He has a tremendous organization out there. He's campaigning in states like North Carolina and Virginia at this stage of the campaign. So, it's no surprise that the McCain campaign is going right after Barack Obama on this issue of fund-raising, Mary.

SNOW: And, Jim, you know, the economy has overshadowed everything else and this week a historic bailout. A lot of focus on where the candidates stood. On Wednesday before Senator John McCain went back to the senate, of course, Barack Obama did, as well. He was speaking in Independence, Missouri, about the economy. What he plans to do going forward and here is a little bit of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our government is on the wrong track. Our economy is struggling and I expect we will receive more bad news with Friday's unemployment report. It is now a time for leadership and a plan to create jobs and get our country on the right track. I know how to do that. I believe in low taxes. Spending discipline and open markets. I believe in rewarding hard work and letting people keep the fruits of their labor. We will keep the current low tax rates. We will simplify the tax code. We will double the child exemption from $3,500 to $7,000. We will give every family in America a $5,000 tax credit. To buy their own health insurance or keep their current plan. And we will open up the national health care market to expand choices and improve quality. My administration will reduce the price of food by eliminating the subsidies for ethanol and agricultural goods.

We will eliminate them. These subsidies inflate the price of food. Not only for Americans, but for people in poverty across the world. I propose to abolish them. I believe in a government that unleashes the initiative of Americans so they can create more jobs and keep our economy going so we will cut business taxes. Cut them from 35 percent to 25 percent. To give American businesses a new edge in competition. Spur new investment through RND tax credits and expensing of equipment and we'll protect the rights of workers to decide for themselves by Democratic vote whether to unionize. That's a sacred right of every American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: That was Senator John McCain on the campaign trail in Independence, Missouri, that was Wednesday before he headed back to Washington to vote on the historic bailout and, of course, the economy dominating the conversations around the country and, of course, in the campaign in the final 30 days before November 4th.

A lot more coming up including the first dude hits the campaign trail and, if you missed "Saturday Night Live" Tina Fey was back. We'll have it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SNOW: Welcome back to CNN's BALLOT BOWL. He sometimes refer to as the first dude, Todd Palin the husband of Sarah Palin return home to Anchorage, Alaska, yesterday and hit the campaign trail for his wife and Senator John McCain. Let's take a little bit of a listen to what Todd Palin has to say.

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TODD PALIN, SARAH PALIN'S HUSBAND: Greatest experience down at the debate and I think that Sarah did awesome. And we had a great turnout after the debate at a stadium, 10,000 people I think it was. She's doing good and the more I spend time with the McCains the more I just feel this ticket is definitely the ticket for the next president and vice president of the United States. It's been a crazy month. We just appreciate all you guys support and Sarah's doing good. She has good staff around her and I know that she maintains contact with her staff up here and supporters and family and it just goes a long ways.

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SNOW: Todd Palin flying solo on the campaign trail yesterday in Anchorage, Alaska. The spoof of the vice presidential debate that's getting a lot of attention this weekend. ACOSTA: Yeah, that's right. We just heard that Sarah Palin was departing for Nebraska for a campaign event in Nebraska and she said to some supporters out there that her lousy interview, as she put it, with Katie Couric provided plenty of material for Tina Fey and I don't think Tina Fey would disagree with that. In fact last night on "Saturday Night Live" Tina Fey was back again bringing back her role as Sarah Palin and this time it was in the vice presidential debate with Joe Biden played by Jason. Lets here this.

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TINA FEY: Can I tell, Joe.

JASON: Sure.

FEY: I practiced a couple zingers where I call you Joe.

JASON: OK.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Look, I love John McCain. He's one of my dearest friends. But at the same time, he's also dangerously unbalanced. I mean, let's be frank. John McCain, again, this is a man I would take a bullet for. Mentally unstable.

FEY: You see while Senator Biden has been in Washington all these years, I have been with regular people hockey moms and Joe six packs and I'd also like to give a shout out to the third graders who were so helpful to me in my debate prep.

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ACOSTA: Mary I don't think "Saturday Night Live" has been this good in a long time. That little bit there between Tina Fey and Jason was terrific and even what he was saying playing the role of Joe Biden there was just fantastic and I don't know, Tina Fey may be known these days for her role on "30 Rock" but if she keeps this up, she'll be the ultra eagle Sarah Palin for some time now.

SNOW: Yeah, and Jim I was at an airport this morning and people were actually huddled around the TV when they saw the replay of some of those skits. Definitely getting so much attention for that role. A lot more coming up in BALLOT BOWL and the gloves are off. Sarah Palin goes on the attack against Barack Obama and Barack Obama counterpunches.

Also, Bruce Springsteen is taking the stage right now in Columbus, Ohio. We'll hear more from him as BALLOT BOWL continues.