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Presidential Candidates Zero in on Swing State Voters; Volatile Markets: Dow Drastically Drops; Black Radio Show Receives Hate Mail After Revealing Support of McCain
Aired October 15, 2008 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Next hour of NEWSROOM starts right now.
Go mean or go home. Pondering John McCain's strategy for his last-chance debate with Barack Obama. It all goes down tonight. Where we are going and where we are. Fed Chair Ben Bernanke predicts our economic future and this hour, the latest beige book report on how different parts of this country are doing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even though they are street children and have no money, they should know how to read and write.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Her charity began at home in Cambodia, helping desperately poor kids with necessities like food and luxuries like education. That's why she's one of our heroes. Hello everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, and you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Your vote and your money both in play today. Seven hours to go before Barack Obama and John McCain hold their third and final presidential debate. We're going to check their battle plans. And the debate follows a rough ride on Wall Street. Stocks are sinking and the R word -- yes, the R word -- is surfacing. You didn't hear Fed Chief Ben Bernanke say recession today, but you're not going to like what he did say.
John McCain and Barack Obama have two very different goals in tonight's debate. McCain, the experts say, has to change the momentum while Obama has to avoid major missteps and both of them have to make their case for fixing the financial crisis. Here is our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Trying to get on top of an issue that has crushed his campaign, John McCain rolled out a $52.5 billion economic plan.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I am elected president, I will help to create jobs for Americans in the most effective way a president can do this with tax cuts that are directed specifically to create jobs. To create jobs and to protect your life savings.
CROWLEY: McCain's new initiatives would eliminate taxes for workers drawing unemployment, allow individual investors to write off up to $15,000 in stock losses. And cut the capital gains' tax on stock profits. There was as well tax relief for one of McCain's most loyal voting blocks, the over-60 crowd.
MCCAIN: Under the emergency measure I propose, we will also cut the tax rate for withdrawals from tax preferred retirement accounts to 10 percent. Retirees have suffered enough and need relief, and their surest relief is to let them keep more of their own savings.
CROWLEY: The democratic ticket spent the day double-teaming Ohio and McCain. Obama camped out in that critical state for debate prep said he doesn't know much about McCain's latest proposals, but hasn't liked what he has seen so far.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are some ideas that Senator McCain has put forward in the last couple of weeks that are very bad ideas.
CROWLEY: It is the kind of cooling critical analysis Obama has made into an art form in presidential debates. His main goals Wednesday night remain look presidential, don't rock the boat. Joe Biden does the rocking.
SEN. JOE BIDEN, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The distinction could not be clearer, one guy is fighting for you and the other guy is fighting mad and attacking.
CROWLEY: For John McCain, the third and final debate is his last best shot at a huge audience of voters, many of whom have not been impressed with McCain raising the issue of Obama's relationship with 60s radical William Ayers who founded a group linked to several bombings in the Vietnam era. McCain did not mention Ayers in his last debate, some conservatives are urging him to bring it to Obama this time. It's risky. It might hearten those who think McCain hasn't gone hard enough, it may likely turn off independents who increasingly seem to be turning to Obama.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Candy Crowley joining us live from New York. McCain's strategy, Candy, looking at all the advice that he's been getting and where it stands in the polls, what stance should he take at tonight's debate?
CROWLEY: Well, repeat the last part of it to me, Kyra, because I can barely hear you here.
PHILLIPS: That is ok. I'm going to keep it simple. McCain, he's down, Obama is up, and what does McCain have to do, what's his strategy going to be?
CROWLEY: Well, his strategy has to be somehow create doubt that Obama is actually the person that people believe him to be but he has to do it in a way that doesn't turn off those swing voters. So the fact of the matter is he probably will do what you have seen him do in the past couple of days, which is say, listen, he says he's going to cut your taxes, but look at his record. He says he is going to do this, but look back to what he's actually done. So that way, he keeps it on policy without sort of straying off of the line that most voters don't seem to like, having said that, he did say McCain in an interview with (INAUDIBLE) in St. Louis yesterday that he expected and he sort of seemed to indicate that perhaps the moderator would bring up William Ayers which of course would then take that onus off McCain.
PHILLIPS: Well, that will be interesting to have to see too, how that plays out and affects voters. Now, Obama, Candy, what does he need to do to maintain his lead?
CROWLEY: Steady as she goes. Listen, this is a pretty considerable lead, not just in the national polls, but in those battleground polls as we're seeing sort of battleground state after battleground state really sort of moving firmly in Obama's direction. He needs not to trip up, look his strategists say in the past two debates he has met the test. And they believe that in those two debates Obama has shown to the vast audience that he is frankly presidential timber, and they have begun to get comfortable his strategists believe with the idea that Barack Obama can be president of the United States. So, he needs to sort of keep doing that, and that's exactly what they want to do. Also, when, if and when William Ayers or other things should come up, they think they have a ready- made answer which is listen, talk about what you want to John McCain, but I'm talking about the issues that are important to Americans, so they feel like they can really run through that particular obstacle course without a problem, it's what he has been doing on the trail.
PHILLIPS: All right, the last debate, it was -- there weren't really any surprises. It was kind of, you know, flatlined here and there, do you expect any surprises tonight, could we see something that we haven't seen so far?
CROWLEY: There's always the potential that a debate could do something surprising, but I will tell you part of the problem has been that these two campaigns demand so much trying to give the advantage to their candidate that you end up with a debate with parameters that are so tight, it tends to discourage any back and forth or frankly any mistakes. So what we have tonight is pretty much a debate similar to the one that we saw the first time around, and that is that they will both be given two minutes to answer a question, and then there will be five minutes for back and forth or for moderator follow-up. So certainly, there could be some exchanges that will be interesting, but again, it is so tightly structured at the behest of the candidates that it really gives them an opportunity to kind of stay on message and stay on their talking points out on the trail. So it's kind of very tough to get them out of their lanes, if you will. But, hope springs eternal, you know. We are always looking for something that will be surprising and maybe some new policy, something along those lines. So we will watch and we'll see, but again, boy, the structure of these debates has made it tough.
PHILLIPS: Candy, we never stay in our lane. CROWLEY: No, we don't. What is the fun of that?
PHILLIPS: Exactly. We love to drive fast.
CROWLEY: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: All right Candy, great to see you. We will all be watching tonight of course. McCain, Obama and the best political team on television. It's the third and final presidential debate and you can watch it live on CNN and cnn.com at 9:00 eastern. Debate night in America.
Well two developing stories today involving the health of a former first lady and the current vice president. Nancy Reagan in a Los Angeles hospital right now with a broken pelvis. Her spokeswoman tells CNN the former first lady fell at her home last week and later decided to get checked out at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She says that Mrs. Reagan is in some pain and in physical therapy, but otherwise she's in good spirits. And apparently no surgery is required, but she will be in the hospital at least a few more days. We will keep monitoring her condition.
An unscheduled trip to the hospital this afternoon for Vice President Dick Cheney, his office says that he is suffering from an abnormal heart rhythm. Something that he's dealt with before and he's going to have an outpatient procedure at George Washington University hospital. Now the last time this happened last November, actually, doctors used an electrical impulse to restore Cheney's normal heart rhythm. We'll follow that as well.
OK, its issue number one, the economy and it might take a long time to get back on track, we know that. We have heard from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last hour and in his words to say the least, well it was a bit sobering. He said them at the economic club of New York, that's where Ali Velshi is there. Probably going to update us on the goat cheese salad lunch and how he tried to get an answer out of Ben Bernanke, but he wouldn't say the R word.
ALI VELSHI: Twice I tried.
PHILLIPS: For the salad or for the quote?
VELSHI: I got the salad, I got the chicken and I got the dessert, but I did not get a confirmation from Ben Bernanke as to whether he thinks we are in a recession. Here is how it all goes. There are several Federal Reserve banks across the country and the president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve said that she thinks we are in a recession and that that's not really a controversial point. And there are many people here, this thing, there are more than 1,000 people here, economists, academics, they all think so too, or many of them do. Ben Bernanke offered some other stuff. He wanted to talk about a little bit of the history of how we got into this situation and what it will take to get us out. But I did ask him twice, I asked him the first time what he thought of those comments, Janet Yellin's comments and he sort of totally ignored that. I didn't think I was that ignorable, and then I asked him a second time, and he said he's not going to comment on it and he totally ignored it. Then I thought he might tackle it in his speech, but he didn't. What he did offer is the vision of when this situation that we are in, ends. Listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: As in all past crises, at the root of the problem is the loss of confidence by investors and the public and the strength of key financial institutions and markets. The crisis will end when comprehensive responses by political and financial leaders restore that trust, bringing investors back into the market and allowing the normal business of extending credit to households and businesses to resume.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now Kyra, we have seen a little bit of that credit loosening up, today the measures of credit and the rates at which the banks lend to each other, we've seen that start to thaw a little bit, but look at the Dow, I mean clearly we're not seeing the investor confidence. And one of the reasons why that R word, the recession word is important is that folks want to know that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government are taking this matter seriously enough. Events over the last few weeks indicate that they probably are taking this seriously enough, but there was a lot of time in the last year where there were a lot of economists telling us we thought there was a recession and there needed to be some serious actions and Ben Bernanke was saying that wasn't the case. And it wasn't as serious as it looked even though we had data to show otherwise. And that's why it becomes important to know whether the fed chief is prepared to acknowledge the remarks from one of the Federal Reserve presidents about a recession. Bottom line and you talked to Susan Lisovicz about this earlier, you'll probably talk to her about it again, the Fed doesn't make a decision as to whether or not there's a recession, it's another body altogether and you usually don't know that you had one until well after it started. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll keep track of it all. Ali Velshi, thanks so much, appreciate it.
Meanwhile, Colorado is getting a lot of attention in this year's race for the White House. Come Election Day, will John McCain or Barack Obama feel a rocky mountain high? We have some new poll numbers to tell you about.
Can you be black and support John McCain? One African-American radio host says yes and does, and that has earned him an inbox full of hate mail.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All over the country, foreclosed homes are selling at a loss, so why aren't more mortgage companies renegotiating the terms instead? We're going to take a look at the problems in the eyes of a Michigan couple.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Recession is the hot topic on Wall Street today. A fed official says we're in one, and just a few minutes ago we got the newest snapshot of economic growth. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with the very latest. The feds just released the beige book Susan, even Ali Velshi tried to chase down Ben Bernanke, ask him the question are we in a recession, he wouldn't answer him.
SUSAN LISOVICZ: No, he's not going to go there. But in the meantime, lots of other people are, and there is a lot of data that would support their view that the U.S. economy is in one. No official declaration of course, but one of the latest pieces of the puzzle we got just minutes ago, the beige book, it does come in a beige book, it's a snapshot of 12 regions in the country from the various Federal Reserves and it shows that economic activity weakened in every single area. Manufacturing slowed, consumer spending declined. Of course we saw what happened with retail sales for the last month and then it also showed even tighter credit conditions and this was in September. That's when that whole credit crisis really reared its ugly head. There were some standouts. Agriculture, mining and energy related businesses did well, but overall a dismal picture and a dismal picture on Wall Street as well. The Dow at session lows right now down 6 percent. The NASDAQ and the broader S&P 500 are down even more.
One trader I was talking to earlier today said every family in America had a conversation last week about spending, because, you know, the news we are getting was so grim and dire not only in the U.S., but around the world about credit, and, you know, the obsession with credit has subsided a lot, but in meantime, there is the focus on the fundamentals which is the broader economy, and what we are hearing from the fundamentals is not that good. So, you are seeing it play out in a big selloff on Wall Street. Something unfortunately we have become all too accustomed to. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: The Dow industrials down 563 points now. Susan Lisovicz, we'll keep checking in with you there from the New York Stock Exchange. Thank you so much.
LISOVICZ: You're welcome.
PHILLIPS: Homeowners all over the country didn't need to wait for the beige book, because they know how things are going in their neighborhoods, and it isn't pretty. Our Carol Costello was just in Michigan and a lot of people there, well the math just doesn't make sense.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kyra, it's really heartbreaking so many families in Michigan are losing their homes to foreclosure, and who is the federal government helping out first, the banks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): In Macomb County, Michigan ---
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $150,049. COSTELLO: There is a fire sale going on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $75,600.
COSTELLO: Hundreds of homes seized by banks are being auctioned off ---
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: $49,000.
COSTELLO: At bargain basement prices.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That just breaks my heart. You know, seeing it like it is.
COSTELLO: The Wards lost their home to foreclosure in 2007 after refinancing. They say they thought the interest rate was fixed, it was not. Today, their lost family home sits empty, bought at auction by a bank for $20,000. It's not only devastating for the Wards but to their former neighbors who are seeing the value of their own homes plummet, it irks real estate agent Donna Caumartin.
DONNA CAUMARTIN, SCHULTES REAL ESTATE: This home went up on the market and it was listed for $109,900, now it's listed for $45,000. It's the same house. It's a tremendous loss to the bank. Why wouldn't they try to do a loan modification or something or refinance it at different terms?
COSTELLO: Why do you think the banks won't renegotiate with people?
CAUMARTIN: I don't know. I really don't know.
COSTELLO: Groups that help troubled homeowners say it's because many banks don't own the mortgages, they simply handle the paperwork for investors.
BRUCE MARKS, NEIGHBORHOOD ASSISTANCE CORP.: The servicers who the homeowners make their mortgage payments to, they're overwhelmed. They're not willing to staff up, and frankly they have no skin in the game. So if someone goes to foreclosure, they don't lose anything.
COSTELLO: The Wards did try to renegotiate with their lender Washington Mutual, a bank seized by the federal government last month, because it handed out so many bad loans.
KEITH WARD, BANK FORECLOSED ON HOME: I spent hours, days on the phone with our finance company, our bank, asking them what I can do. And the only thing they told me was, they needed -- if I remember correctly -- an amount of close to $20,000 up front, and then they wanted to double our house payment also. On New Year's Eve at 4:00 in the afternoon, a gentleman came and put a notice on my door that there was a sheriff sale on my home.
COSTELLO: Both presidential candidates want to help people like the Wards. John McCain wants to use taxpayer money to buy and refinance troubled mortgages. Barack Obama wants a 90-day payment break for struggling homeowners. But it's too late for the Wards. Their house has already been auctioned off. They rent now, nine blocks from their old home. And yes, they found a way to cope.
WARD: A lot of patience and a lot of love. It's the only way we can do it.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And Kyra, I will be watching the presidential debate tonight with the Wards and their two children to see if they hear anything from John McCain or Barack Obama that would help them out now.
PHILLIPS: Carol Costello, thank you so much.
Well, they didn't mention Bill Ayers in the last debate, but John McCain says that tonight we can expect to hear about the '60s radical and his ties to Barack Obama. It could mean fireworks, but is it a smart strategy? Getting a big break in Southern California, firefighters are grateful for lighter winds today as they battle some fast-moving wildfires. We'll get the latest from the front lines.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Did you see the black conservative begging John McCain to take it to Obama? Was that guy for real or was it for show? We're going to ask him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: In southern California a big break for firefighters. The Santa Ana winds that have helped spread some big wildfires have died down. Evacuation orders in parts of the region are being lifted. Three major blazes have been burning in southern California this week including this big one near Los Angeles. Right now it's about 20 percent contained. Despite today's progress, three counties are now under a state of emergency, Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino. Now at least two deaths are blamed on the fires.
California wildfires and a hurricane in the Caribbean, a lot to talk about on the weather front today. Our severe weather expert Chad Myers joining us now. Chad, you have been busy.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I have, although the winds coming down in California, the best news that these firefighters can get. They don't even need the marine layer, all they need for the winds to stop, and it really does look like they are coming down. I want to take you back to what we had on Monday that was that plume of smoke that was coming off, right across Malibu right there into the Pacific Ocean. Now what we had yesterday, look, the plume is gone. The difference between 5 percent containment and 75 percent containment, an awful lot of smoke going away which means where there is no smoke, there is no fire. Obviously, there are still some showers out there and still some winds out there, Fremont Canyon yesterday, at 74-miles per hour, but the winds now are like 20, 25 miles per hour and they can handle that. Now back to Omar, this is a big storm. This is going to affect a lot of places in the Caribbean from Charlotte back to St. Croix, the British Virgin Islands and maybe even a little bit farther to the east of there. And it's going to be a category 2. 105-miles-per-hour storm, as it roles right over this area, east of Puerto Rico. Although Puerto Rico, you have seen quite a bit of rainfall today. And in fact, El Junge(ph) picking up a lot of rainfall, that's the rain forest right through there and now up toward old San Juan and even up to the west side. But there is the eye, you can now begin to see the eye of the hurricane from the San Juan and La Paz radar and then on up here, this is where it's going right through here, through the island. So baton down the hatches and tie up the boats a couple more times. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: All right, we will keep tracking it with you. Thanks Chad.
MYERS: You bet.
PHILLIPS: Battleground Colorado, it's one of the most competitive states on the electoral map and democrats are hoping it will break with tradition. We'll take you there.
She saw kids digging through the trash to survive and decided to change their lives. We'll introduce you to a real champion for children.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: So can you be black and support John McCain? One African-American radio host says yes and does. And he is getting slammed for it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: 2:30 Eastern time. Here are some of the stories we are working for you on the CNN NEWSROOM.
Rough trading right now on Wall Street. After a morning slump, the Dow dropped even more this hour, Dow Industrials down 484 points. Once the Fed released its Beige Book on economic conditions around the country, we saw that drop.
Missing for months, a little Florida girl is now presumed dead. Caylee Anthony's mother charged with first-degree murder even without a body. A Florida grand jury returned an indictment. Casey Anthony made her first court appearance this morning and was denied bond.
Vice President Dick Cheney in the hospital this afternoon for an outpatient procedure. Doctors will try to restore his normal heart rhythm. Cheney had a similar problem last year.
Each day until Election Day, we're going to zero in on all of those all-important battleground states. They could go for either McCain or Obama, and they will determine who wins the White House. Today's focus -- Colorado. It has tilted Republican in the last three White House races, but Democrats say they sense a real opportunity this time around. So what are the latest polls saying? We've gotten some new numbers from Colorado and three other tossup states within the last couple of hours. Here they go. According to the new surveys by CNN/"TIME" Magazine and the Opinion Research Corporation, Barack Obama leads John McCain by four points in Colorado.
And he's leading McCain by five points in Florida.
Perhaps most troubling for McCain are the results from Virginia. Our poll gives Obama a 10-point lead in a state that has traditionally been a safe bet for Republicans.
Now McCain is leading Obama in Missouri, but not by much. He is up one point, 49 percent to 48 percent.
More now from Colorado, one of the most competitive battlegrounds. Our Dan Simon has been talking with voters in Denver.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
The latest CNN poll shows Obama leading McCain here in Colorado by four points. That same poll also has a margin of error of 3.5 points, so obviously, it's very close here in Colorado. It is clear why they call this a battleground state. Here in Denver and the inner suburbs, Obama seems to be doing very well, those areas trend Democratic.
McCain has to make those areas somewhat competitive if this state is going to remain red. He also has to own the rural areas, areas that typically favor the Republicans. He's got to get his base to come out in a big way. The Hispanic vote also considered crucial here, about one-fifth of the population here in Colorado is Hispanic. Remember the name of the county, Pueblo County, and a lot of Hispanics there. McCain is going to be spending a lot of time to try to get at some of that vote.
He feels like if he can get a fair percentage of Hispanics to come his way, that there is a good chance that he'll win this state.
Kyra, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: All right, Dan Simon, thanks so much.
And tonight's debate will cover the usual domestic issues. It might also include talk of a man named Bill Ayers. Who is he you might ask. Well, he is a one-time '60s radical with ties to Barack Obama. Would it help John McCain to highlight those ties? Or, is this the wrong time for John McCain to go negative? Those are questions that we discussed in our morning meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BHASKAR, WRITER: McCain said in a radio interview that he plans to bring up Bill Ayers tonight.
ROB, WRITER: As far as looking forward, tonight's debate and the whole idea of -- the negative stuff is not working, and if he does bring up Bill Ayers, he gets -- he falls into the, he's an angry old man trap that the Obama people have been portraying him.
VALERIE, PRODUCER: (INAUDIBLE) be coming with it. You keep hearing all the buzz about him coming with it.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a tough position.
VALERIE: I mean, yes, he is coming pretty strong.
ROB: If you accept the idea that he is way behind, that is almost what you have to do. But normally, there is no stock market crash going on and all of this other stuff.
TENISHA, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: In this instance, would that be safe for him when you have 6 out of 10 people saying that the negative ads have kind of -- makes them turn their stomachs? That is the question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, we're going to have some answers to those questions in just a matter of hours. Let's bring in our Suzanne Malveaux, live from New York.
Suzanne, with the economy tanking, people losing retirement, jobs, seeing their futures in jeopardy, if McCain brings up Bill Ayers, how will that play with undecided voters?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far the polls have shown that it really hasn't resonated that much with undecided voters as we see those margins basically spreading there between Barack Obama and John McCain.
What the Obama folks say is simply, bring it on, that Barack Obama is going to be talking about the education -- about the economy rather, that it has been a winning issue for him over the last several weeks. So they are clearly taking advantage of this. They are laying out the details (INAUDIBLE) economic plans. But they also say that they are perfectly willing, if McCain brings it up, to talk about William Ayers, or Reverend Wright, or anybody else -- that he will go ahead and address, that he'll explain those relationships.
But one of the things that we've seen, over the course of the last couple of weeks or so, is Barack Obama has been very hard on John McCain when it comes to economy, talking about him as being erratic and even somewhat dishonest in his approach when he uses the words like -- don't be bamboozled, or fall for the old okee doke, this is not real change. He is going after John McCain not only on his abilities, but also his character. So expect to hear some of the same kind of language -- that John McCain is erratic when it comes to this -- his approach in the economy.
That is something that has been really working for them. They're going to stick with it -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well what about Obama? What does he need to bring to tonight's debate?
MALVEAUX: Well, essentially, they say he needs to bring kind of a sense of the calm, the confidence that he has exhibited in the last two debates, that you should look at the body language, the tone between these two, that he has kept eye contact with John McCain, that his demeanor has been confident, that he has been watching him. They describe McCain as somewhat pacing back and forth.
McCain folks say that they believe that he has been very strong, but that he needs to hone in on his message, he needs to basically talk about his vision to the American people. And he also needs to be himself, that he doesn't want to come across as the caricature of the kind of the angry man out there, but he wants to come across as the fighter, somebody who essentially is drawing the American people in, saying fight with me, I am going to create some real change here, I am the one who has the experience and the leadership to do it.
So both of the candidates and their campaigns really looking forward to the night. This is really going to be a very important debate for both.
PHILLIPS: Yes, we'll all be watching that's for sure.
Suzanne, thanks.
Well, it's their last time sharing the stage. CNN tonight, McCain, Obama and the best political team on television, that includes Suzanne. It is the third and final presidential debate, and you can watch it live on CNN and CNN.com at 9:00 Eastern -- debate night in America.
Well some call him a sellout, an Uncle Tom, or worse, but a black radio show host who has been very public in his support for John McCain says he is just a conservative who is voting his beliefs. We're going to hear from him straight ahead.
And what would inspire you to change the world? For one woman, the answer was simple -- seeing kids in need.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, a star is torn. Ringo rewinds a bit on his fan mail embargo. What is he saying now to explain it all?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Live to Joe Biden speaking in Lancaster, Ohio. Let's take a listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... and I'll tell you what, that is the ultimate currency in American politics. And ladies and gentlemen, I heard -- I heard Sherrod say that you have the best governor in the United States of America. That ain't something I am going to argue with. I will tell you what.
(APPLAUSE)
Ted Strickland is a -- I have always respected him, known him, but in this campaign he has become a real friend. He has been there every single solitary time Barack and I have asked for any help and he's been there and his advice has been absolutely without peer.
And Ted, I guess you got that stopwatch working on election night, I guess you got it down to -- 11:47. Well, I'll tell you what, that may be the second time I watch O'Reilly.
And I want to thank Dean Furlow here at the university. What a magnificent campus. What a beautiful, beautiful spot.
(APPLAUSE)
I -- the dean was kind enough to greet me, and when he came in -- God, you all live in God's country out here. This is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. I was talking to the Secret Service guys, who I have the pleasure of having traveling with me, and we literally while -- we were waiting to come on, we were talking about what a beautiful part of the world you all live in. It is absolutely gorgeous.
(APPLAUSE)
And -- folks, look, I -- I travel around this country, and I have been to almost every state in this campaign, and as vice president to fewer of them because there has been less time, it's just been since September, but -- late August, but, folks, everywhere I go in this land, the land, the topography may be different, the industries that in fact the communities are involved in, the agriculture may be different, the food people prefer may be slightly different, the teams they root for are different. But the truth of the matter is there is one uniform thing that I find whether I am in Montana or I'm in Ohio or I'm in Florida, whether I'm in California or Maine, and that is the concerns of the American people in this election are the exact same.
And I am not being -- I am not being general in this. I am being specific. They are the exact same no matter where I go.
Of all -- I have been a senator in since I was 29 years old. I was too young to actually be sworn in when I was elected. And I have been through seven presidential -- I've served with seven presidents.
And every single one of them -- PHILLIPS: Joe Biden speaking live there in Lancaster, Ohio. Little mellow right now, my guess is tonight, when he is watching the debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, it will be a little bit more fiery. But we're going to monitor that. If you want to watch it live you can go to CNN.com/live.
Meanwhile, call it black on black backlash. Say that six times. An African-American radio show host who supports John McCain for president and isn't afraid to show it is getting bombarded with hate mail from black listeners.
Shelley Walcott from our affiliate WTMJ in Milwaukee reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES T. HARRIS, RADIO SHOW HOST, WTMJ: Hey, Sambo, maybe Massa McCain will let you shine his shoes since you did such a good job licking his boots, boy.
SHELLEY WALCOTT, WTMJ REPORTER: The hate mail started pouring in almost immediately after WTMJ radio show host, James T. Harris, addressed Senator John McCain at this Republican rally in Waukesha.
HARRIS: I believe that in the next coming debate it is absolutely vital that you take it to Obama, that you hit him where it hurts. I am begging you sir, I'm begging you, take it to him.
WALCOTT: The national media pounced.
HARRIS: I knew something was up when the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" started asking me questions, and then CNN and then Fox. I'm like, oh, lord.
WALCOTT: The clip made heavy rotation on national talk shows, and Harris says he has heard African-Americans across the country calling him an Uncle Tom, a sell out.
HARRIS: Most of the stuff that I got in -- in the e-mail I got -- how can a black man stand up, and say, well you know what? I happen to be an American of African decent, but I am a conservative.
WALCOTT: And he says he has no regrets.
HARRIS: I realize that I am speaking for millions of people, it just so happens in this racially-emotionally charged election that the people who look like me happen to be on the other side of the aisle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk to James T. Harris about this. He joins us live from Milwaukee. We've also got Shelley Wynter with us here in Atlanta.
Great to have you both.
James, I want to start with you. It's been almost a week now, are you still getting hammered by the black community and getting all this hate mail?
HARRIS: Absolutely. How are you doing, Kyra?
I -- listen, this has been six days and I've lost like about 12 pounds, I feel great. This is like -- I'm going to kill you, Sambo diet.
PHILLIPS: But on a serious note, you've been getting some pretty vile e-mails and it's even stuff that has made your daughter cry.
HARRIS: Yes -- actually hundreds of e-mails a day. At first it was hot and heavy, but the good news is that the cavalry has arrived ever since the -- my appearance with CNN before, and that -- we won't talk about that. But people have been coming to my defense so now it is kind of like even with the hate mail, maybe a little bit more positive mail than hate mail.
So it is -- it's just sort of a crazy period of time, but obviously I struck a chord.
PHILLIPS: Well, Shelley, do you think it is unfair the way that James has been treated? And the fact that he has been getting such -- I mean, it is pretty cruel some of the e-mails. I have seen them.
SHELLEY WYNTER, TALK RADIO HOST, USTALKNETWORK.COM: Let me say this, Kyra, I am an African-American conservative as well. I just happen to support Barack Obama. I repudiate anybody that would call James out of his name because of his political views.
Where I think James has sold out -- I think James has sold out on his principles as a conservative. Actually, you know, James calls himself a conservative, but he supports the least conservative candidate that the Republican Party can put up for the presidency. That is first thing.
The second thing, he is supporting a candidate in John McCain who has voted for the least Republican and conservative administration that has ever walked the face of the earth, which is the Bush administration. We have had grown -- increase in spending, which is non-conservative, we've had an increase in government --
HARRIS: Stop, stop, stop.
(CROSSTALK)
WYNTER: -- which is non-conservative.
Can I finish talking, sir?
HARRIS: No you can't --
(CROSSTALK)
WYNTER: So we've had non -- we've had non --
HARRIS: Stop -- (CROSSTALK)
WYNTER: -- non-conservative administration, and here is a guy that has sold out his conservatism, not his race. I have no parts with that, because the fact of the matter is if your -- the same people that are calling him Uncle Tom and all of these names, are the same black people who say they don't vote for Barack Obama because he is black. So that is neither here nor there. But the fact is, this guy has sold out his conservatism.
PHILLIPS: I've got to give James a chance.
James, he's saying you sold out your conservatism. Please, lay it out, how you believe you have not done that. James, go ahead.
HARRIS: I am sick to death of the word sellout. And the guest just on used it about seven or eight times.
Listen, let me make this perfectly clear. I am not saying that Senator John McCain is a conservative. I am a conservative. Senator John McCain happens to be my candidate. And I have a better chance of pulling him over to my position, as a moderate Republican, than I do a liberal socialist. It's as simple as that. I would really appreciate it if people would just back up off of the name calling, because it gets nowhere in the dialogue.
WYNTER: What name calling?
OK. Let me say this --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Shelley, hold on -- Shelley --
WYNTER: Right now.
PHILLIPS: Shelley, Shelley, hold on --
WYNTER: OK, I'm sorry, Kyra. Go ahead.
PHILLIPS: Listen -- that is OK, just let James --
HARRIS: Kyra, Kyra --
PHILLIPS: Go ahead and make your point, James.
HARRIS: Listen, here is what I am telling you -- I am tired of coming on this station and getting this type of treatment. I told you before I came on, I am all for back and forth, I'm all for dialogue, but I'm not for name calling. You have never -- outside of calling someone a liberal, a socialist, what they are -- I don't call people who vote for Barack Obama names. That is their choice.
I am making my choice, as a free American, and I am sick to death of liberals coming on, bashing me because of my choice as a man.
WYNTER: First of all, sir --
HARRIS: -- I am a man that can make a choice and I am sick of tired and people bleeding all over me because of their insecurities. You are insecure, man. Don't tell me what I am.
WYNTER: First of all, sir --
HARRIS: No, well nothing -- I'm done.
WYNTER: Oh wow, he's leaving.
HARRIS: I'm done.
WYNTER: Well Kyra, let me say this --
HARRIS: (OFF-MIKE)
WYNTER: Well, let me say this. The fact of the matter is that the insult is leveled at me when you call me a liberal first of all. But second of all, let me say this to Mr. Harris, the fact of the matter is he is supporting the worst leader. That's -- we're looking for a leader now, the American people are looking for a leader. They're looking for a leader. We're looking for FDR, we're looking for Abraham Lincoln, we're looking for Ronald Reagan, we're looking for John F. Kennedy. We don't care about party right now. This ship is not right.
And right now the only person that seems able to correct this ship is a leader like Barack Obama. Right now, government has failed us, Republicans and Democrats have failed us. So right now, I don't care what party affiliation you have, I don't care whether you're a liberal, a Democrat, a Republican, a conservative, right now I'm looking for a leader. And the campaign that John McCain has run to date has not been leadership quality.
So that is all I was trying to say to James Harris. If he wants to run away, he can.
PHILLIPS: Yes, I wish he would come back because I really wanted to talk about two things, and I wanted him to be able to respond and for us to have a smart, mature conversation about that issue of conservatism.
And now I do want to ask you a question about race, and I wish I could get James to weigh in on this, and I don't know if our folks there in Milwaukee can bring him back. I told him I wanted to talk about this issue as well as talk about it with you. Gerry McEntee, the union leader, older white male, came forward, gave this powerful speech to white union families, matter of fact we had to add in a number of bleeps.
I want you to listen to this speech he made to voters who were coming to him saying, we can't vote for a black man. So he came forward and said, this is crazy, let me tell you why. Lets' take a listen.
WYNTER: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERALD MCENTEE, PRESIDENT, AFSCME: This doesn't even come out in code, it comes out like this -- I can't vote for him because he is a black man. He is not one of us. Well, sisters and brothers, when you hear that, you know what you ought to say? This is what I say, that is (EXPLETIVE DELETED). That is total, absolute (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: What do you make of that, Shelley?
WYNTER: Well, the fact of the matter is if we look historically, those union workers have not really historically ever voted for a Democratic candidate. So to now say that it is because he is black -- those union voters voted in 1980 voted for Ronald Reagan. So it wasn't because -- obviously it wasn't because Jimmy Carter was black. So I hesitate -- and one of the things that I have a problem with during this election -- I hesitate to point to race as the end all, be all for reasons why certain people won't vote for a certain candidate, particularly if historically union voters, the blue-collar voters, particularly white males, have not turned to the Democratic candidate historically.
We look at Ohio, we look at Pennsylvania, John Kerry didn't get a lot of these voters. Al Gore didn't get a lot of these voters. So, to say now that these voters are not supporting Barack Obama and this guy -- I am not saying that Mr. McEntee is lying, I'm just that historically, the Democratic candidate did not get these voters. So I am a little less quick to say that it is because he is black.
PHILLIPS: Shelley Wynter, I appreciate your time. I wish James Harris would have stayed with us.
WYNTER: Well you know --
PHILLIPS: Might be able to --
WYNTER: Those insecure men with two earrings, they'll always run --
PHILLIPS: Oh, Shelley, Shelley, Shelley, shame on you.
All right. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the 1981 film "Mommy Dearest," Faye Dunaway reveals one of Joan Crawford's major hangups.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No more hangers!
MARCIANO: Bob Kantor sort of feels that way, but for different reasons.
BOB KANTOR, CEO, HANGER NETWORK: There are over 3.5 billion wire hangers that end up in U.S. landfills every year and they are made from nonsustainable resources, they're shipped half way around the world.
MARCIANO: Kantor heads up a company that makes eco-hangers. They are made from 100 percent recycled paper board, and replace plastic and wire hangers in dry cleaners and our closets.
KANTOR: We've created a product that is replacing something that is bad for environment, but at the same time it is over 50 percent stronger.
MARCIANO: And unlike wire hangers that bend over time, Kantor says eco-hangers keep their shape. He also says they withstand humidity and can be reused for as long as the consumer wants.
KANTOR: When it ultimately is at the end of its life, it is simply dropped in the recycling bin, just like your newspapers.
MARCIANO: Dry cleaners can get eco-hangers for free, customized printed ads help offset the manufacturing costs. A good business model that is also good for the environment.
Rob Marciano, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, let's help Ringo get by with a little clarification from his friends here at CNN. Yesterday, we told you how the man who put the beat in the Beatles issued a hard day's deadline. He said if you've got stuff you want him to sign, well, send it by October 20th, or forever hold your Beatle mania. It sounded a little harsh, didn't it? Well, now he has followed up with this. He says, this is the message. It wasn't meant for his real fans. And he's also wanting folks to reduce their carbon footprint and not waste so much paper. So there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, that does it for me. I'm Kyra Phillips.
El jefe, Rick Sanchez, is up next with the 3:00 hour.
