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McCain & Obama Prepare for Final Debate; Palin Effect: How Has the VP Changed McCain's Image?; Interview with Co-Founder of Twitter
Aired October 15, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Coming at you now: What happened in this actual footage from a battle in Iraq?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, don't you die on me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't die, buddy. Come on.
SANCHEZ: What happened to Private Mark Nelson.
Do new poll numbers suggest McCain is in a must-win tonight.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I was astonished to hear him say that he was surprised for me to have the guts to do that.
SANCHEZ: Will he have the guts?
The Palin effect -- conservatives pile on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He knows in his gut that he put somebody unqualified on the ballot. He knows that in his gut. And I think, when this race is over, that is something he is going to have to live with.
SANCHEZ: Is it fair? Hasn't she done what she was supposed to do?
What you want to know, what you are talking about on Twitter, Facebook and more. Like nowhere else, your newscast begins now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez.
El Jefe, I can't believe she said that.
Here we are in the World Headquarters of CNN.
Big topic to talk about tonight is the upcoming debate. Before we do anything else, Roger, if we could, let's take a look at the Dow. A lot of people are interested in what the market is doing. It was flat yesterday. It was way up the day before that. And, today, as you can see, it is now not just down, but down considerably. For the next hour, before the market closes, we will be taking you back and tapping into some of our resources to see what is going on with this and what the effect could be on you.
Now back to the debate, two ways of setting this up, first of all, what is being said and what is actually happening in the polls. Let's us begin with the polls. Roger, we will begin with I do believe the CNN poll of polls, right? There it is, yes.
This is the newest CNN poll of polls. It shows Barack Obama at 50 and John McCain at 42.
Now, let's switch that and wipe in "The L.A. Times" poll. This is the "L.A. Times" poll, also brand-new, and it shows Barack Obama at 50 and John McCain at 41.
This means McCain is down four from what he was a week ago, by the way, in this very same poll. One more, Roger. Let's do "The New York Times" now. All right. There is the "New York Times"' poll, a 14-point differential, Obama 53, McCain 39, McCain down four from what he was a week ago in this one as well.
What does this mean? Well, it certainly means that tonight's debate is going to be as important as anything else. What will be the subject, though?
Well, there is one subject that continues to come up in this conversation and it is about Bill Ayers. And then there is McCain just the other day -- in fact, it was last week. He was on ABC and he is talking about Bill Ayers. I misspoke, by the way. I said McCain. What you are about to see is Barack Obama talking about Bill Ayers. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, ABC)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm surprised that we have been seeing some pretty over-the-top attacks coming out of the McCain campaign over the last several days, that he wasn't willing to say it to my face.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: "Wasn't willing to say it to my face."
So, is McCain ready to take up the challenge? This is McCain now yesterday sounding like, like he is almost ready to accept a dare in this case, sounding like a gunslinger. Listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I was astonished to hear him say that he was surprised for me to have the guts to do that, because the fact is that the question did not come up in that fashion. So, you know -- and I think he's probably ensured that it will come up this time. (END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Ensured that it will come up, talking about Bill Ayers, the unrepentant "terrorist" -- quote, unquote.
Ed Henry joining us now. He is our White House correspondent. He has been following this.
And, you know, Ed, s man, I will tell you what. It has the makings of the old shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. What is the expectation for tonight?
ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, the fists can start flying. John McCain has to do something obviously to shake up the dynamics of this race.
But Barack Obama really doesn't need to get into a fistfight. Instead, as the front-runner, he wants to sort of stay away from that. He wants to defend himself, of course, but he doesn't want to be drawn into that, for a number of reasons, mostly because he wants to emerge from the third and final debate unscathed, and then he could be in a strong position for the final three weeks.
What is going on here is, the McCain camp feels that this is not about Bill Ayers. It's about Barack Obama. Number one, they feel that it gets to Barack Obama's judgment in terms of his ties to Bill Ayers. And, secondly, they believe he has not been truthful. They have made that allegation, that he has given sort of shifting accounts of exactly how close he has been to Bill Ayers. That is why McCain has been going after this.
Two problems, though. Number one, it doesn't really seem to resonating. This story has sort of not gotten legs, if you will, as we say in the news business. And, secondly, that "New York Times" poll you were mentioning a moment ago, it also shows that the negatives for John McCain have gone up as he has been on the attack about Bill Ayers and other matters.
And so the problem for John McCain is that while he might score some points, in the end, it might hurt him with independent voters if he goes too negative -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: That is interesting you would say that, because then the obvious question that anyone would ask is, why would Barack Obama taunt him, if it is fair to use the word taunt, and then why would John McCain respond as if he was taking a dare or duel in this case?
And let me say something to you. You mentioned what "The New York Times" is reporting, Ed Henry. They're saying that it was the negative ads. I read the "L.A. Times" story and they're saying it wasn't the negative ads; it was the economy that has created this situation. Somewhere in the middle?
HENRY: Well, pick your poison for John McCain. Obviously, the financial crisis has obviously also had a very negative impact on his campaign, because of the fact that President Bush has been in power for almost eight years now. We have seen that as well in the polling data, that people are blaming Republicans more than Democrats, at least for now, over the economy, over the financial crisis.
In terms of Bill Ayers, look, of course, why would Barack Obama say he couldn't say it to my face? Maybe partly because the Democrats want to draw John McCain into this very sort of a fight.
SANCHEZ: Aha.
HENRY: It enables them to say, A, that he is erratic, as you have been hearing over and over. And, secondly, then they can say, oh, gosh, we hate these negative attacks. We really want to talk about the issues, Rick. We don't want to talk about negative attacks. That is John McCain, because he is down, he is desperate.
I mean, look this is politics, and both sides are trying to frame it to their benefit -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: Yes. It reminds me of a boyhood story my parents always told me about a little guy named Pepito who would throw the rock and then hide his hand after he throws it, so nobody could see where the rock came from.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: Ed Henry, good stuff. Always appreciate it.
HENRY: Thanks, Rick.
Say hello to our friends there at Hofstra University.
SANCHEZ: By the way, let's pick up on that subject. Is Barack Obama setting a trap? Is he baiting John McCain in this case and is he taking the bait? We are going to be discussing that with one of our own analysts in just a little bit.
Also, we want to talk about this. I want to show you something that is extremely sobering now. I want to show you a piece of it, and then we will show you more later. This is a look at what it is like to be in a real battle. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I'm good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This is an amazing piece of video. It is coming up in just a little bit.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: There we go. We try to answer the questions and talk about the things that you want to talk about. And we thank you for the kind words.
Want to start off with Sarah Palin now. Sarah Palin today, she is campaigning in New Hampshire. We have some what we call fresh sound. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: There is a lot of anger. There is frustration and anger about the insider dealing of lobbyists and anger at the greed and the corruption on Wall Street, and anger about the arrogance of the Washington elite and anger about the unconscionable voter that is fraud going on.
(APPLAUSE)
(AUDIENCE BOOING)
PALIN: And with serious reforms to change Washington and Wall Street, John McCain is going to turn that anger into action.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And Joe Biden, who was the butt of a joke by Jay Leno last night, which you will see a little bit later on in this newscast, also talking today. He is in Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: John has not offered a single thing, not a single consequential change in the policies of the last eight years that he would change.
What he is offering you, he is doubling down on the failed economic policy of the last eight years. He still thinks -- the tax breaks he is talking about, they don't go to you. He stills buys in -- because he is being intellectually honest with himself, he buys into the notion that, if you help the very wealthy, if you help the powerful, they will know what to do. They will take care of us. This will trickle down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Once again, let's get back into the conversation we were having just moments ago with Ed Henry. And it is about whether or not Barack Obama is actually baiting John McCain to go -- quote -- "negative," a term that has been thrown around there an awful lot, to get him to actually talk about Bill Ayers tonight in the debate.
It is an interesting question, is it not?
Let's discuss that now with Patricia Murphy. She is with CitizenJanePolitics.com, nonpartisan, by the way.
Patricia, what do you make of that? Is there is a trap being set here for John McCain?
PATRICIA MURPHY, EDITOR, CITIZENJANEPOLITICS.COM: Well, I would not be at all surprised if there was a trap being set here for John McCain, because in some previous debates, we certainly heard that the Obama campaign was trying to goad McCain into losing his temper. He is certainly well-known for having a temper.
Some of the weaknesses in the polls is that he may not have the temperament to be president. If they can bring him into this kind of a fight, the Obama campaign thinks that not only does that keep McCain off of the economy. It also puts him off of his game and it kind of puts him in his very worst light. So, I would not be surprised if they were doing it.
SANCHEZ: Well, isn't that what some red-meat Republicans would like to see, though: "Look, it's time you started punching this guy; stop jabbing and throw some right hooks"?
MURPHY: Yes.
Well, McCain is certainly being urged by members of his own party to go negative on Obama, to hit him where it hurts. They believe that they can hit him on these issues of personality, of who he has been associated with.
The problem is that John McCain is not a very good attack dog. He certainly has not proven to be so in this race. The best attack dog so far has been Sarah Palin. But when John McCain has gone after Barack Obama, it has actually sent Obama's negatives lower and it has sent McCain's higher. That is the worst direction for it to be going. And he is just not landing these punches very well.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you an interesting question. And let's look at this from -- I like to always do this -- from a contrarian standpoint. What about if Obama establishes the Bush doctrine here and goes preemptive and just has a preemptive strike and says, look, let me tell you about my association with Bill Ayers; it is not what you have been saying about it?
Smart, not smart, good strategy, what?
MURPHY: Well, probably not smart. It might be as successful as the Bush doctrine has been so far.
(LAUGHTER)
MURPHY: Barack Obama doesn't need to go there. He is winning. He is winning by huge margins. Voters are telling him that they trust him on the economy. They trust him as a leader of this country.
And I heard this said earlier and I really agree with it. I think, right now, because of this crisis, people are not looking for a president. They're looking for a leader. They're looking for somebody who's going to rise above this very, very ugly political process and take this country to where it needs to be, and Obama doesn't need to go negative to achieve that. SANCHEZ: How important is this debate tonight to this campaign? And how does tonight's format, which I understand is very different from the format they used in their last debate, improve the situation for either one of the candidates?
MURPHY: Well, I think that tonight's debate is -- it is enormous, particularly for John McCain. This is really his last chance when the entire country is still watching this. It's his last chance to change the game, to turn the momentum around in his favor.
And I think that this format will be good for him, because, if you remember back to the debate that he did really well in was the Saddleback debate, where he was sitting down. He was looking face to face with the person who was asking the questions.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MURPHY: I think this could work well for him, but he has got to turn this around. And this is really his last chance.
Now, Bob Schieffer has said that if either of these candidates don't answer his questions, he's going to ask the question again. That is his day job. That's what he does every Sunday. And I think that he will do that. I think he will push these candidates a little bit harder than they have pushed lately.
SANCHEZ: Patricia Murphy, you are good. You are good.
MURPHY: Oh, thanks.
(LAUGHTER)
SANCHEZ: I appreciate it. This was really a fun conversation. I really enjoyed it. Thanks so much for being with us.
There is another topic, by the way, that I'm going to be picking up with you, not Patricia Murphy, when we come back, Rog. This one has to do with blaming Sarah Palin. There is now a long list of conservatives who are saying they are defecting from John McCain's side and many of them are putting the blame on Sarah Palin. Is that fair? Or hasn't she done exactly what she was supposed to do? That is the argument.
Send us what you think. We will be looking on MySpace, Facebook and Twitter and any other way you want to reach us. And we will have the discussion when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back.
This is the story that we have been talking about that we wanted to share with you. Once in a while, we get a story that really transcends anything but the video that you are about to see. And that is what this one does. It is about war, what war is really like, not what you see in the movies, not what you see on television shows. And this one, though, is even more interesting, because it is about what a war story does when it collides with a mother's need to know about the death of her son. Two soldiers died in this battle that you are about to see. And here is a clip -- the rest of that story when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We're reading a lot of your responses and your comments, but we want to go interrupted in this one before reading those, because we think it is important that we do that, in deference to this report that you are about to see now.
It is about the fog of war, what really happens in a battle. This is a scene that was captured two years ago. And it raises some questions, serious questions, at least for one mother, about how two soldiers died.
The reporter is Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get in here!
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The raw video from the helmet camera worn by an American Army private captures a confusing battle nearly two years ago in Ramadi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see the tank right there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.
MCINTYRE: But one thing is clear from the 52-minute video record. The U.S. soldiers are convinced they have just been hit from friendly-fire from an American tank.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes, I'm good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming from that tank.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jesus (EXPLETIVE DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) was that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, that was a tank.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was he shooting at us?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so.
MCINTYRE: The unedited video has been posted on the Web site Salon.com, along with a full account of the battle and its aftermath. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That tank is shooting at us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, cease fire!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cease fire! Cease fire! Cease fire!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, I am almost positive that was that tank, because I saw him flash.
MCINTYRE: Despite the soldiers' certainty, the Army says a thorough investigation after the fact determined that .120-millimeter mortar rounds from the enemy, not a U.S. tank, killed American soldiers that day.
BRIGADIER GENERAL SEAN MACFARLAND, INVESTIGATING OFFICER: All of the tank rounds which were fired that day were accounted for in the targeted building, not the building occupied by friendly forces, every single one of them. We also found clear evidence of an enemy mortar strike on the roof of the building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't you die on me. Don't die, buddy. Come on, buddy, stay breathing. Keep breathing.
MCINTYRE: Among the fatalities, Private First Class Albert Mark Nelson, who eventually bled to death after his leg was blown off, but only after a heroic, but futile effort to save him.
JEAN FIGGINS, MOTHER OF MARK NELSON: That is my baby. I need to know everything. I am not going to have any closure until I know exactly -- I don't care how gruesome it is -- what happened to him.
MCINTYRE: A Salon.com reporter showed this video to Nelson's mother, who says it directly contradicted the official version told her by an Army officer.
FIGGINS: He said to me -- quote and unquote -- he said, "I know, as a mother, you are concerned about whether or not your son suffered." He said, "But I am here to tell you that your son didn't suffer." He said, "He was killed instantly." He said, "He was killed so fast that he didn't have time to feel pain and he never knew what hit him."
MCINTYRE: On the video, Nelson, whose face was blurred by Salon.com, can be heard moaning as soldiers try to get him to a field hospital.
(on camera): The Army could not explain why Private Nelson's mother did not get the accurate details of her son's death, but officials say, particularly in the wake of the recent Pat Tillman scandal, they have redoubled their efforts to make sure that information given to the families is as precise as possible.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: When we come back: There is now a growing list of detectors of the McCain campaign, but why are they blaming Sarah Palin? Is that fair? It is an important conversation that we're going to having with you in a just a minute. Yes, we have been reading much of what you have to say about it.
And we have been watching the Dow. As we go to the break, Roger, let's do this. Let's take it full, if we possibly can. We showed it to you at the beginning of the newscast. It was around 500. Then it went down into the threes. And now it's back in mid-40s. We are watching it. So are our crews in New York.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back.
A lot of you have been responding to many of the things that we have been talking about on this newscast.
Let me first direct your attention, if we may, to our Twitter board. Let's go to it, if we can.
"Kind of funny that Obama has a slick explanation for all his shady relationships, and many of you fall for it." Our thanks to that one.
By the way, here is another one coming in. This one over here, let's go over my shoulder, if we can, Robert. This is from Roland Martin, one of our analysts. And he is watching our show as well.
And he says: "At no time during the Democratic primary has Obama tried pick a fight. So, when he told ABC last week that, when it came to bringing up the 1960s radical Bill Ayers on the campaign trail, McCain was not willing to say it to my face, I instantly saw it as Obama throwing down the gauntlet. Knowing full well that the senior senator from Arizona has a hot temper, he could not resist the bait."
That is what we're going to be talking about. And that is what is going to be developing tonight.
And, by the way, let's talk now about what many are doing in the conservative camp, those who are -- quote -- "defecting," so to speak, from John McCain's campaign.
In fact, I have got a list for you. I will take you through them. First, Andrew Sullivan -- put it up -- he says -- obviously, he is from "Atlantic" magazine, conservative. he says: "Palin has helped McCain among Republicans, left Democrats unfazed, but moved the undecideds against him quite sharply."
Remember, that is Andrew Sullivan, conservative.
Let's go to Mike Murphy, conservative, former McCain strategist: "Bad strategic choice," referring to Palin." David Frum, "Nation Review," he says: "A bold pick, probably a shrewd one. It is not nearly so clear that she is a responsible pick or a wise one" -- David Frum, conservative.
David Brooks, "New York Times" columnist -- quote -- "Represents a fatal cancer to the Republican Party."
Let's go to Christopher Buckley, formerly of "National Review," actually left over this. "What on earth can he, McCain, have been thinking?"
By the way, I believe that is the wrong picture. That is his dad in that picture, if I am not mistaken.
And Peggy Noonan overheard -- she was a Reagan speechwriter, as you know -- overheard during an MSNBC broadcast saying, "It is over."
Let's bring into this conversation now Ramesh Ponnuru. He's a senior editor of "The National Review."
You are, fair to say, a conservative, right?
RAMESH PONNURU, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE NATIONAL REVIEW": Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: Is it fair to blame Sarah Palin, as so many of these people are doing?
PONNURU: Well, I am a little unclear about the concept behind the segment, because, in fact, a lot of those people who are critical of Palin are not defecting from McCain. They are just critical of the selection -- David Frum, for example, still supporting the McCain ticket.
SANCHEZ: That is a fair point. All right. I will tell you what. I will take it back.
I -- let's -- let's take out the word defection, and just say Republicans who have been critical of John McCain. Is that more fair?
PONNURU: Sure. There are -- it is certainly true that a lot of conservatives have had concerns about the selection of Palin. It's also true that some people who were already against McCain have seized on Palin. Andrew Sullivan, for example, has been on a pro-Obama tear for about three years now.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask me about your own comment. You say she has been governor about two minutes. This is what you wrote right after she was selected. And you told our producers that you're sticking with that.
Look, a lot of folks would say to you, Ramesh, that's why we like her, because she's a -- she's not inside of the Beltway, man. She is outside and that's what we like about her.
That's what McCain told us in the beginning, was it not? PONNURU: Well, that's right. I mean think that the peculiarity of the McCain campaign is that they often make these gestures and then they don't follow through on them. The Palin pick, to the extent it made sense, made sense of a way of portraying McCain and Palin as reformers willing take on their own party, because Palin, of course, does have a record of doing that.
But then they put her into this traditional attack dog role, where she's basically going around tearing down Obama, which is a perfectly fine traditional role for a vice president candidate to take, but does not help McCain or her McCain present themselves as reformers and makes it harder for her to close the sale on her readiness for vice president.
SANCHEZ: Let's just do numbers here, if we can.
PONNURU: Sure.
SANCHEZ: You ready?
Forty percent of the American people are conservative Republicans who like McCain. Let's just take that guess. Forty percent of the American people are Democrats and liberals who are going to vote for Obama no matter what. Then you've got the 20 percent in the middle are "undecideds" or "moderates" or whatever the term is being used today to describe those people.
Her job was to solidify that 40 percent at the top. She has done her job. And you could argue she's done it well.
Isn't it up to John McCain to get that other 20 percent?
He's the guy who's supposed to be a moderate.
He's supposed to be the maverick, right?
PONNURU: Well, sure. Look, if Governor -- I mean, if Senator McCain loses, it's not going to be because of Governor Palin. It's going to be because he himself did not come up with a compelling rationale for his candidacy and wasn't able to overcome the strong headwinds against any Republicans this year.
SANCHEZ: It's interesting you would say that, because it does fall contrary to at least some of what she's -- what some people are saying. You believe that she's done her job, then, that she's gotten the 40 percent she was supposed to solidify.
PONNURU: She's done that. She has also, with -- among that other 20 percent, been trying to raise doubts about Senator Obama.
SANCHEZ: But it hasn't worked?
PONNURU: I think that it has not been as successful as it would be under normal circumstances because of the financial crisis.
SANCHEZ: Ramesh Ponnoru, thanks so much for joining us. PONNURU: You're welcome.
SANCHEZ: We appreciate it. Good job.
Here's what else we're going to be talking about. We just talked about the Palin effect. Well, let's talk about the Joe Biden effect, as well.
Is there a reason for not seeing him in the news as much as you see Sarah Palin?
Is that part of the Joe Biden effect?
Oh, and by the way, have you seen Anderson Cooper dancing these days? Do you want to see Anderson Cooper dance?
We've got it. We'll be right back. Call me, Anderson. If you want, we won't show it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: I'd like to say this is the only newscast where as we talk to you, you talk to us. You send us your actual responses to what we're talking about. We've got a few of them now. Let's look at them, if we possibly can.
Bud Porter wrote to us on MySpace just a little while ago. He says about Sarah Palin -- this is Facebook, by the way: "Her job was to bring in the far right base, which she has done. Unfortunately, she has also alienated far more centrist, undecided votes."
Voters, I think she means to say.
All right, let's go to J spot over here. Let's go to our Twitter board, if we can: "Listen, I'm not a Palin fan," she says, "but I think McCain's troubles are of his own making. He is all over the place and he has no solutions."
That's the responses that we're getting from you.
Let's bring in Bill Press now.
He's joining us to talk about the other side the Palin effect, and that's the Biden effect -- what has it been.
Bill, good to see you. Thanks for being with us again.
BILL PRESS, "THE BILL PRESS RADIO SHOW": Hey, Rick. Congratulations on the news show. Glad to join you.
SANCHEZ: Yes, thank you.
It's doing well thanks to people like you.
PRESS: Great. I know
SANCHEZ: Hey, listen, Palin's job was to solidify the base. It seems like she's done it.
What's Joe Biden's job and has he fulfilled that mission?
PRESS: Well, first of all, I've got to say, that list of critics that you had -- of people who jumping ship and may be critical of McCain because of Palin, you could not come up with a list like that about Joe Biden, which I think speaks to a very wise choice.
Rick, we've known each other a long time. I'll be honest with you. You know, Hillary was my first choice. But I think Biden has done a superb job. And what I think Obama was looking for was he needed someone who really had a lot of experience in Washington and someone who was knowledgeable and someone who would be a good partner and someone that nobody would doubt was ready to step in as vice president, or president, if necessary. I think Joe Biden fills the bill very well.
SANCHEZ: Well, as the guy from Scranton, PA...
PRESS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: ...is he the guy who's there to pick up those disenfranchised white voters? And could Obama have reached those folks without him?
PRESS: Well, you know, Obama -- that was a problem for Obama in the primary. That's why Hillary came on so strong toward the end.
You know, Rick, I think if Joe Biden has one assignment today -- and I don't know this from the Obama campaign, I just -- from what I've been watching and you've been watching -- his assignment today is to deliver Pennsylvania and Ohio. And he was in Pennsylvania the last couple of days, Ohio today -- and then bring Delaware along as icing on the cake. You know, he's got those working class roots, those middle class roots. He speaks to those people where, in many ways, Obama doesn't do as well.
SANCHEZ: You know, it's interesting, we've got some new polls out. We're going to be showing them to our viewers in just a little bit.
PRESS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: A new CNN poll on the swing states and where they stand. And that's coming up in about -- probably about 10 minutes.
But let me ask you about the media effect. I mean, Joe Biden -- I was talking to some of my producers about this Bill, you've probably seen it yourself -- he has been a blip on the radar -- a blip on the radar compared to Sarah Palin.
PRESS: Yes. Right.
SANCHEZ: Is that good, is it bad, why?
PRESS: Well, you know, I think, actually, I'd say he's been below the radar.
(LAUGHTER)
PRESS: But, well, first of all Barack Obama does not need Joe Biden to get a crowd, right?
John McCain clearly needs Sarah Palin to get a big crowd. And I think the last thing you want is a vice presidential nominee who's going to overshadow the president, Rick. So again, you know, I think that what Biden is doing, he's carrying that message wherever he goes that John McCain is just four more years of George Bush. That's his job. I think he does well. And I think that it's by design, you know, that he's not getting the headlines.
SANCHEZ: But in the end, in fairness, right...
PRESS: Yes...
SANCHEZ: ...if it weren't for this economic debacle that you are talking about on your show -- on "The Bill Press Show" and what we have been talking about. And as we look at the Dow again now, what is it, 546, as we speak...
PRESS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Would it not have been much more difficult for -- to sell Biden and to sell Obama to the American people?
PRESS: I think -- let me put it this way. I would answer this. As long as the economy is the issue, right, that's bad news, disaster for John McCain, because fairly or unfairly, people blame the party in power when the economy goes sour and when we have a financial crisis.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
PRESS: And John McCain is part of the gang that broke it. And I don't think people trust him to fix it.
SANCHEZ: All right. Bill Press, thanks so much for being with us. We always appreciate it.
PRESS: Hey, Rick, great to be with you.
SANCHEZ: Likewise.
PRESS: All right.
SANCHEZ: We'll see you again.
By the way, I just told Bill about these new polls that we have. They're swing state polls. I'm going to be taking you through, ready?
Colorado, new poll; Florida, new poll; Georgia, new poll; Missouri, new poll; and Virginia, new poll on how the battleground states stand and what the effect is on the big map of the entire United States. That's next. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: There are so many of you reacting to what we've been talking about.
Let's start on our Twitter board, if we possibly can, the conversation about Joe Biden. It says: "Biden hasn't helped Obama so much, but he hasn't hurt him, either. The election would be over already if Clinton was the vice president."
I'm going to move it down just a little bit, Johnny. Look at this one here: "Hell, no, Rick. It's McCain himself. He's being too polite and nice. He needs to get down and dirty."
This is about the question as to of whether it's Palin's fault, as some in the media have suggested."
And then: "Biden is doing an excellent job in the Rust Belt. I truly think Biden is delivering these toss-up rural states for Obama."
On, and, by the way, let's go over here to the -- this is MySpace?
Yes. I mentioned a little while ago that we've got some great video we're going to show you in just a little bit about Anderson Cooper and a dance routine, all right. Now, people are asking me whether I would show my dance routine. Yes. I will. As a matter of fact, I've got my producers working on that right now. You're going to see that before this newscast ends.
Another good dancer is Bill Schneider. You want to see him?
Well, no. Well, he -- we'll leave his dancing for now, but we will ask him about some of the numbers that we're checking on.
And we talked about five new states. These are battleground states. These are extremely important. We begin with Colorado, the State of Colorado -- take it away, Bill.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Colorado -- well, that's a very hotly contested state this time. It usually votes Republican -- or has in the past. It voted for Bush by 5 points last time. Now, Obama is ahead by 4 -- still very close, but clearly trending Obama.
Florida, a state that's near and dear to your heart, Rick. Well, it voted for Bush by 5 points in 2004. In fact, it made Bush president in a disputed result in 2000. Now it's trending slightly to Obama. He's leading in Florida by 5. That would be sweet revenge for Democrats.
Georgia is not really a battleground state. No one -- the Democrats did entertain ideas that it might go Democratic. But I don't think they do anymore. It's a heavily Republican state. It voted for Bush by 17 points last time. McCain is ahead in Georgia, but he's ahead only by 8 points, which means the Republican margin has been cut in half -- also a Democratic trend there.
Missouri is a bellwether state. It's voted for the winner in every presidential election for the last 100 years save one. And Missouri this time is a squeaker. It's only 1 point for John McCain. So if it's a bellwether state, it's not pointing clearly in any direction.
And finally, Virginia. Virginia hasn't voted for a Democrat for president in 44 years. They voted for Bush last time by 8 points. But it's a rapidly changing state -- lots of people moving into the Northern Virginia suburbs outside of Washington. And right now this is the headline -- we're showing Obama ahead in Virginia by a solid 10 points. That's statistically significant. And what it suggests to us is we don't call Virginia a battleground anymore. We say it's leaning to Barack Obama -- Rick.
SANCHEZ: That's interesting. And we're going to be looking forward to it, because tonight at 4:00, you and Wolf Blitzer are going to be going through some of the battleground states and really what it means -- I mean the big picture...
SCHNEIDER: Right.
SANCHEZ: ...what happens to the entire country as a result of this.
Thanks so much, Bill Schneider.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
SANCHEZ: And let me know if you've some good dance moves and we'll get you back on, OK?
SCHNEIDER: I do, indeed.
SANCHEZ: By the way, there's something else I want to show you now. We've got some pictures in of Vice President Cheney, released from the hospital just moments ago. He was at Washington University Hospital Wednesday after doctors discovered a reoccurrence of an abnormal heart rhythm. His spokesperson said -- Megan Mitchell said doctors called Cheney at the White House office Wednesday morning, found it. He was experiencing a little bit of an occurrence of arterial fibrillation. It's an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart. And he's undergoing some outpatient procedures.
So this is him -- this is him leaving the hospital after that outpatient procedure for that condition aforementioned.
All right, what Jay Leno is saying about Joe Biden -- the joke's on Joe Biden. And what Jay Leno is saying about John McCain -- in that case, the joke is on John McCain, as well. Oh, and Anderson Cooper and dancing -- can he dance?
Would he dance? Do I dance? It's all coming your way.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. Many of you sometimes are a little confused when we do our newscast and start talking about something called Twitter. Go ahead, show them what it is. I mean they've seen it before. But Robert or Johnny B. Goode, I mean this is it. I'll go real fast. But you see those right there that I'm scrolling through right now?
You see those?
No, the other one. Right there. All right, look at those. Look at those. You see those all going, bang, bang, bang. I know, I don't want to give folks at home a headache. But those are all messages that are coming up on a board.
And here's how it happened. One day we decided that we would have a newscast and we would check and see what people were saying on the Internet. We discovered Twitter when Jon Klein, the president of CNN, told me about it.
Chris Hall, the producer of this show, knew all about it. So we decided we would start it.
Joining us now is Biz Stone. He's actually one of the founders of Twitter. This thing has really taken off. It's amazing what's happened on our newscast.
In fact, let me show you. Johnny, give that shot of how many people we've got now, but don't block my way. Get over there -- I can't see that end over there.
All right, ready?
I'm going to go over here. See that number right there -- 24,754. That's how many people every day are following this newscast, my name and what we're talking about.
That's a pretty big number isn't it, Biz?
BIZ STONE, CO-FOUNDER, WWW.TWITTER.COM: Oh, yes. That is. That's an exceptional number, actually. Fifty percent of all Twitter users use -- actually only follow about 10 people. So to follow -- for you to have that many followers, that's exceptional.
SANCHEZ: Now, they're following me so much. They're following this newscast. They're following CNN. They want to know what people are talking about around the country. Explain to people who don't know -- maybe somebody who doesn't even have the Internet, doesn't go on computers, why this is relevant and what it is.
STONE: Well, Twitter essentially is a short messaging service. And what's different from Twitter and a lot of other communication networks is that it works in multiple ways. It works over a mobile texting or SMS. It also works over the Web or it works on thousands of independent programs created by other developers on top of our platform.
So, really, what we have is a short messaging service that then becomes the pulse -- becomes like a real time zeitgeist of, really, anything you care about.
SANCHEZ: When people ask me about it -- and people are stopping me everywhere and asking me, even when I travel -- you're the guy who Twitters or I Twitter with you. What they seem to be interested in is what do you say, what do you do?
And what I say is, it's just a constant conversation that you can check in and check out of at any time you want, right?
I woke up. I'm having an argument with my wife about Barack Obama and John McCain, etc.
STONE: That's -- the checking in and checking out is another great -- is actually a great point that you make. And especially in today's world, where people are really overwhelmed with information. Twitter allows you to be hyper connected during a shared event like your newscast or even an earthquake or even a debate. They can be hyper connected. But then they can walk away from this hyper connection anytime they want. You can't walk away from e-mail. You have to answer all that e-mail. You can't, you know, not address an instant message as it comes in, because it's rude.
But Twitter gives you that ability, that flexibility to be either hyper connected or, you know, take a break for a few days.
SANCHEZ: Were you surprised when we started -- I was, by the way -- when we started doing this and it took off the way it did?
Because I've never met you. I've never met anyone from Twitter. This is the first time that I've had a conversation with you. We just started using the tool.
And what kind of reaction have you gotten about, you know, the Rick Sanchez show?
STONE: Well, we've gotten a lot of great reaction. And we're not surprised that people are picking up the tool and using it, because it is very simple and it's sort of very welcoming and people get started with it.
What we were surprised about is just how quickly you and other, you know, media companies -- and, frankly, other companies in general, like Whole Foods, Comcast, JetBlue, some of these other commercial entities -- what we were surprised about was sort of how quickly and how smartly they were able to adopt this technology to get value out of it and really to turn it to their advantage. That took us by surprise, pleasantly. SANCHEZ: Yes. I'll tell you what I've been impressed with is the people on there are really smart. I mean you get a lot of great information as a result. In fact, we've got them -- they're talking right now about our conversation. There it is.
"If it weren't for your show, Rick, I would never have tried this Twitter thing. I love it."
Let's go down, too: "I beg to differ, Rick. We're following you as well CNN. You need Tweet Grid. Set it up with your Twitter name. It automatically scrolls your messages."
Yes, I've seen all of this stuff. It's an amazing conversation. It's a pretty good system. We've adapted to it and we thank you for making it available to us.
STONE: Well, we...
SANCHEZ: Biz stone thanks for being with us.
STONE: We thank you guys for using it so creatively. It's been awesome.
SANCHEZ: You're one of those smart, nerdy guys, you know, different from me, but it's a good thing.
The Dow -- what it's doing, we'll talk about it, as well as Anderson Cooper's dancing or sans dancing -- and mine.
We'll be right back.
Oh, no -- 649.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: I commented he was nerdy at the end of that interview and look what somebody just wrote. Renee is watching us and she says: "Rick, nerdy is sexy. Laugh out loud."
And then this one says: "Rick, now is your time to shine. You've saved the Dow before, you can do it again because it's going down."
Well, we'll try. Maybe this will do it. Let's try this -- and we'll watch it, all right?
It's at, what, 687 right now. Watch Jay Leno and then Anderson Cooper being strong in the face of adversity and a dance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Governor Sarah Palin brought up an important point.
PALIN: It's really important for Americans to start knowing who the real Barack Obama is.
COLBERT: She's right. Who is Barack Obama?
I mean we don't even know his favorite flavor of ice cream to share with Bill Ayers. But I'm guessing death by chocolate by association.
(LAUGHTER)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Have you heard these rumors that Senator Biden may have had botox treatment?
Here he was last week. Now, look at his eyes. OK. Now take a look a year ago. Look very carefully. Take a look a year ago.
Do you see what I'm saying?
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: Now there is -- do you see what I'm saying?
Yesterday, at a rally in Virginia they played theme to "Rocky" as John McCain walked out on stage.
I don't know, does John McCain seem like Rocky to you?
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: Why would McCain want to be like Rocky? Did you see the movie, huh? Didn't Rocky get the hell kicked out of him by the black guy? Hello.
(LAUGHTER)
LENO: What are you doing? OK you're Rocky.
What are you doing?
KELLY RIPA, HOST, "LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY": I want you to (INAUDIBLE).
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: No, I really...
RIPA: No, I want you to...
COOPER: I cannot dance. I -- it's...
RIPA: Give me (INAUDIBLE).
COOPER: I simply cannot. I'm sorry.
RIPA: Give me (INAUDIBLE).
(DANCING)
COOPER: Wow!
RIPA: So you ladies... COOPER: Wow!
RIPA: Ladies, call me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Anderson Cooper -- the guy is the salt of the Earth, let me tell you. By the way, Anderson, Mr. Tough Guy, when I'm told I need to dance, look at me. That's right. That was back when I was doing the 8:00 show. Now, they told me I was going to have to do it for five seconds and then they left me on camera for an awful long time.
That's embarrassing. See, that's why you've got the top job, Anderson, and I'm here at 3:00.
Susan Lisovicz watching things for us now.
You know, it's funny, we thought by putting that on and adding a little levity, the market would improve. And instead it went down from 687 to 700 and what?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, 731.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
SANCHEZ: We'll watch it.
We can't dance our way around this one.
Susan Lisovicz, thanks so much.
Wolf Blitzer is standing by with "THE SITUATION ROOM."
