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Detils in Las Vegas Kidnapping Case; More Speeches as Candidates Seek Votes; Combatting Voter Fraud
Aired October 18, 2008 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM where the news is unfolding live on this Saturday, the 18th day of October. Hello everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello there I'm T.J. Holmes. Campaign time, who is going to be the man, the candidate? They've got two weeks, three days to make their cases to the American voters. We'll see about the cases they're making today. A couple of rallies going on around the country, we'll take you to some of them live.
NGUYEN: Also, a kidnapped child, armed men, questions about drugs and money and a grandfather who is in custody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: We are getting there, 17 days now until Election Day and many of you are getting out and voting early, actually. No days off for the candidates right now. They'll be on the campaign trail through November 4th. Today they're making stops in key battleground states. You see them Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia as well. Barack Obama he's hitting the Midwest, Kansas City, St. Louis. He was in Virginia yesterday, a state that was and has been reliably a red state, but now it looks like the latest polls, he's up by double digits in some of those. John McCain meanwhile in NASCAR country in Concord near Charlotte, North Carolina. There he is. He just stepped up to the podium. Let's listen in.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How do you reduce -- how do you reduce -- how do you reduce the number zero? Well, that's the key to Barack Obama's whole plan. Since you can't reduce taxes on those who pay zero, the government will write them all checks called a tax credit, and the treasury will have to cover those checks by taxing other people including a lot of folks just like Joe. In other words, Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on some in order to give checks to others, it isn't a tax cut, it's just another government giveaway. The Obama tax increase would come at the worst possible time for America and especially for small businesses like the one that Joe dreams of owning. The small businesses Senator Obama would provide a tax that he would tax, those small businesses provide 16 million jobs in America and a sudden tax increase will kill some of those jobs at a time when we need to be creating more jobs. I'm not going to let that happen my friends and you're not going to let that happen. America has an alternative to the phony tax cut my opponent started talking about only months ago. The McCain/Palin tax cut is the real thing. We're going to double the child deduction for every family. We'll cut the capital gains tax, and we'll -- and we'll cut business taxes to help create jobs and keep American businesses in America.
As Joe -- as Joe has now reminded us all and small business persons all over America has reminded us, America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by giving our money to the government to spread the wealth around. In this country, in this country, we believe in spreading opportunity for those who need jobs, for those who create them and that's exactly what I intend to do as president of the United States. So this is the choice that we face. I'd like to give you -- I'd like to give you a little straight talk. These are hard times. I don't have to tell you here in North Carolina. Our economy is in crisis. Americans are fighting in two wars. By the way, we face many enemies in this dangerous world and many challenges here at home. The next president won't have time to get used to the office. He'll have to act immediately. We can't -- we can't spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight waiting for our luck to change. We have to act immediately. I said it at the last debate. I'm not George Bush. If Senator Obama wants to run against George Bush, he should have run for president four years ago.
We need a new direction now. We have to fight for it, and I'll fight for it, and I've been fighting for this country since I was 17 years old. And I have -- my friend, I have the scars to prove it. If I'm elected president -- if I'm elected president I'll fight to take America in a new direction from my first day in office until my last. I'm not afraid of the fight. I'm ready for it. My friends, I'm not going to spend 700 -- I'm not going to spend $700 billion of your money just bailing out the Wall Street bankers and brokers who got us into this mess. I'm going to make sure we take care of the people who are devastated by the excesses of Wall Street and Washington. I'm going to spend a lot of that money bringing relief to you, and I'm not going to wait 60 days to start doing it. Now, my friends -- now, my friends, we know what started this crisis. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the subprime lending crisis, and it's not going to change until we stabilize home prices and my friends, I have a plan to protect the value of your home and get it rising again by buying up bad mortgages and refinancing them so if your neighbor defaults he doesn't bring down the value of your home with him. My friends -- the administration is not doing it. The secretary of the treasury is not doing it. We need to buy up these home loan mortgages.
HOLMES: Listening in here, John McCain there in Concord, North Carolina, firing up that crowd talking about what sounds like, if you didn't know any better, his new running mate, Joe the plumber. However, Governor Palin is still the running mate, but you see that sign back there fight for Joe the plumber. Joe the plumber has become a symbol or a mascot, if you will, for the McCain campaign here as of late and certainly being talked about again there about the fight for that plumber who, of course, got that sound bite out of Obama that everybody is now talking about. Spreading the wealth around, you hear him talking about spreading the opportunity around instead. Tax policy is still on the minds and the economy is still on the minds a lot. We're also expecting to hear from Governor Palin, a rally of hers. We might be able to dib into her live as well, but we're keeping an eye on everything the candidates are doing today.
NGUYEN: And the candidates' strategy it's clear, keep the pressure on the opponent while reaching out to key voters in those swing states. More now from senior political correspondent Candy Crowley, part of the best political team on television.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can see it in the size of the crowds and hear it in the urgent voices of the candidates.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I need you to stand up!
CROWLEY: Looking to turn a reliably republican state into a newly democratic one, Barack Obama campaigned in Roanoke, a conservative patch of Virginia where he courted the only age group favoring John McCain, seniors. Obama charged that McCain pays for his health care plan with a 20 percent cut in Medicare.
OBAMA: It would mean fewer places to get care and less freedom to choose your own doctors. You will pay more for your drugs. You will receive fewer services. You will get lower quality care.
CROWLEY: Obama's figures come from an analysis by a liberal group and there's no evidence McCain would cut Medicare benefits. In a statement the McCain campaign said Obama is simply lying.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to fight for Joe.
CROWLEY: In Miami with the sizeable Cuban-American population, John McCain promised not to talk to Castro while he continued to talk about Joe the plumber, who has began to catch on with republicans.
MCCAIN: Senator Obama said that he wanted to spread your wealth around. All he had to do to say to Joe the plumber and millions of small business people around this country, I won't raise your taxes, but he couldn't do that because he's going to raise your taxes.
CROWLEY: Obama says he will only raise taxes on people making over $250,000 a year. That includes some, but not most small businesses. Off the campaign trail, democrats are crying foul over McCain robo calls ringing into at least six states.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.
CROWLEY: Even some republicans worry this is not the best way to win friends and influence voters. Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins up for re-election asked McCain to stop. The campaign via Sarah Palin is also continuing to press the issue of A.C.O.R.N., a group under investigation in several swing states for alleged voter registration fraud.
GOV. SARAH PALIN, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John and I are calling on the Obama campaign to release communications it has had with this group and to do so immediately.
CROWLEY: The Obama campaign which did pay an affiliate of A.C.O.R.N. to help get out their primary vote is pushing back. Chief Counsel Bob Bauer suspects republicans are behind the allegations suggesting, quote, "An unholy alliance of law enforcement and the ugliest form of partisan politics." He wants an investigation. McCain aides call the charge outrageous. All in a day's campaign. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: On Election Day, what could really go wrong? CNN's Brian Todd takes a look at some of the states where your vote could be in question.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's November 4th, you're anxious to cast your ballot, maybe in a state where it's supposed to be close. You're in line, the voting machine breaks down and they're not prepared to deal with it. A new report card from three vote monitoring groups says that could be the situation in 10 states.
LAWRENCE NORDEN, BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: In a worst-case scenario there is that people are forced to wait in line for four or five hours and they can't do it and they give up on voting.
TODD: Out of the 10 states given the worst ratings for preparedness, three could be battlegrounds. Our map has Louisiana leaning toward John McCain, Virginia leaning toward Barack Obama and Colorado a toss-up. The most common problems cited? The states either have no paper system in place for auditing vote totals like handing out receipts. They don't have enough safeguards to make sure memory cards and other vote-counting tools aren't lost or they don't have good enough requirements in place for emergency paper ballots to be distributed if voting machines fail.
NORDEN: The machines aren't perfect, the people that are putting them in place aren't perfect and sometimes things go wrong and what we're saying is we have to have some really good contingency plans in place.
TODD: South Carolina is one of those bottom 10 states criticized for a rule that no paper ballots are given out at a polling place unless all of the machines break down there.
NORDEN: I don't think that's a good idea frankly. If you have five electronic voting machines in a polling place and four of them breakdown, you're going to start getting long lines.
TODD: We called election officials in all 10 states rated as poorly prepared. Got responses from nine of them. They all rejected the findings and said their states are very prepared if machines break down with either back-up machines, technicians to fix them or enough paper ballots. Some state officials said two of the three groups conducting this study have an agenda to push for paper ballots and the study is skewed toward that. Those groups they criticized are the Common Cause Education Fund and the Verified Voting Foundation.
(On camera): We called both groups. The Verified Voting Foundation disputed the criticism, saying they only act in the interest of voters, but the Common Cause Education Fund said they do have that agenda. They say the best records are kept with paper ballots and electronic machines are simply not reliable enough. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. We will certainly be trying to keep track of all the voter problems and we'd like your help in doing so. We've set up a hotline for anyone having trouble at the polls on Election Day. That number is for you on your screen there, 1-877-462-6608, if you can't remember that, remember this it's 1-877-go-cnn-08.
NGUYEN: Here's another thing you want to remember, we are just 17 days away from the big election. Hear about the candidates' plans from the contenders themselves. Join us, the best political team on television today, 2 eastern on CNN's Ballot Bowl. And if you missed the final presidential debate, watch the best parts and get the best analysis with John King, again, with the best political team on television, "The Next President, Battlegrounds." That is tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern only on CNN. Your home for politics.
HOLMES: Turn back to a disturbing story out of Las Vegas. A break in that case now of a 6-year-old boy who was kidnapped from his home by drug dealers, suspected drug dealers, at least. The grandfather, wanted for questioning is in custody. The boy still nowhere to be found. CNN's Kara Finnstrom live in Las Vegas with the details. Kara, still a lot of concern out there. They got the grandfather, but still everybody is worried. Where is this young man?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Everyone is worried. T.J., we are waiting here at the Las Vegas Police Department to see whether this latest development might help lead authorities to 6-year-old Cole Puffinburger. Overnight authorities in Riverside, California, saying they arrested the grandfather, 51-year-old Clemens Tinnemeyer. Riverside, California, a little less than a four-hour drive away from here in Las Vegas which is where Cole Puffinburger was kidnapped on Wednesday. Authorities here have been saying that they want to talk with Tinnemeyer because they believe he stole millions of dollars from Mexican national drug traffickers, then disappeared and they think that Cole's kidnapping was in direct retaliation with those kidnappers possibly hoping to receive some ransom money. Overnight we also spoke with Cole's father. He tells us authorities have asked him not to talk about the specifics of the kidnapping, but he did tell us he's having difficulty just accepting that this has happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT PUFFINBURGER, MISSING BOY'S FATHER: I can't comprehend why somebody would do something like this to somebody and to take a kid like that, to take my son and do something like that. Just bring him home, if you've got him, bring him home. Drop him off somewhere, I don't care, just -- just let him go.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
FINNSTROM: And you've been seeing those pictures of Cole broadcast. Cole is about 48 pounds, a little less than 4 feet tall. Authorities are asking anyone who may have any tips for them to please call in. Back to you.
HOLMES: Kara Finnstrom for us from Las Vegas on this really tragic story we're seeing right now but the search is on for Cole. Thank you so much Kara.
NGUYEN: We are also following the situation with the economy today. President Bush reaching out to Europe as world leaders search for solutions to the global financial crisis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: I want you to take a look at a huge anti-American march today in Baghdad. Tens of thousands took to the streets in what is seen as a show of support for Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Al Sadr is calling on the Iraqi parliament to reject a deal with the U.S. that would extend the presence of American forces in Iraq. That agreement must be reached by the end of December. Today's rally also marks the fifth anniversary of what some Iraqis see as the U.S. occupation of their country.
HOLMES: Well, we know we have a crisis here going on in the financial world in the U.S., but it is actually a global financial crisis. President Bush today trying to do a little something about it. He's meeting with two European leaders this afternoon at Camp David. CNN's Elaine Quijano looks at the expectations going into those talks.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Camp David, President Bush will sit down with the presidents of France and the European Commission, tackling not only the immediate financial crisis, but looking at how to prevent another one.
BUSH: As we work to resolve the current crisis, we must also work to ensure that this situation never happens again.
QUIJANO: Aides say top Bush administration officials will be on hand for the talks including treasury secretary Henry Paulson, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, chief of staff Josh Bolton and national security adviser Stephen Hadley.
BUSH: Our European partners are taking bold steps. They show the world that we are determined to overcome this challenge together.
QUIJANO: Some European leaders, including French President Nicholas Sarkozy have signaled they want major reforms of the global financial system, points Sarkozy will likely raise at the Camp David meeting. DANA PERINO, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What we'll do is accept for consideration all recommendations and all good ideas that come to us and then it won't just be the United States and it won't just be Europe.
QUIJANO: Even as his administration carries out unprecedented government intervention, President Bush insists any reforms must preserve the free market system.
BUSH: Despite corrections in the market place and instances of abuse, democratic capitalism remains the greatest system ever devised.
QUIJANO (on camera): The Camp David meeting comes just days after leaders from the group of eight industrialized nations agreed to meet in the near future to discuss the financial crisis. So far, no date has been set. Elaine Quijano, CNN, the White House.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: John McCain has been attacking Barack Obama on the issue of free trade. Well, our truth squad has been checking to see what the facts say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A New York congressman may be facing jail time after being found guilty of drunken driving. Representative Vito Fossella is who we're talking about. Police say he ran a red light in Virginia while under the influence. There were questions about the accuracy of the breathalyzer test, but the judge said the issue would be argued at the sentencing hearing. The incident turned out to be a sex scandal however because the woman who bailed him out of jail the night he was arrested for drunken driving turned out to be a longtime lover and the mother of his child. Fossella said he will not seek re-election.
NGUYEN: The case against long time Senator Ted Stephens of Alaska could go to the jury by Tuesday. Stephens is accused of not reporting free work done to his Alaskan chalet by an oil industry contractor and making false statements on financial disclosure forms. Yesterday Stevens took the stand testifying that he and his wife did pay for the renovations and despite requests for a full accounting of the work. He says they were not told about some of the additions including a front deck.
HOLMES: The candidates are running out of time to say bad things about each other.
NGUYEN: 17 days left, right?
HOLMES: 17 days ahead and the two keep on attacking each other. We've seen this every single day pretty much.
NGUYEN: Yeah, they are trying really all that they can do to slow each other down by unleashing some really interesting and tough attack ads every single day, but are they telling you the truth, are you getting the full story? CNN's Josh Levs is here to show us -- why are you laughing? You're the truth squad.
JOSH LEVS: Running out of time to say bad things about each other. That was classic. I really like that.
NGUYEN: That's what those attack ads are all about.
LEVS: Yeah, no kidding. Oh, man. That's why we have to keep so busy here at the truth squad 24/7 these days. We can still barely keep up with what we're getting. Let's go to this first thing, I want you to take a look at something that John McCain said about Barack Obama and free trade.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I'm elected president I won't make it harder to sell our goods overseas and kill more jobs as Senator Obama proposes. I will open new markets to goods made in America and make sure our trade is free and fair.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: You can see the CNN truth squad status right there, true, but incomplete. Here's the deal. Both Obama and McCain say they support free trade, but Obama is also a big critic of some free trade deals. We have a graphic to show you a few of them. He voted for a pact with Peru, but against CAFTA which is the Central America Free Trade Agreement. He also opposes a deal with Columbia, McCain supports those. I'm sure you remember during the democratic primary there was so much talk about NAFTA which is the North American free trade agreement. Key democratic voting blocs oppose it and Obama called it a big mistake. But check this out. I want to show you something here. This is a story we had on CNN Money over the summer from Fortune magazine. Obama, NAFTA not so bad after all. Let's scroll down a little bit, I want you to see this quote here that I highlighted. Him saying, "Sometimes during campaigns, the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified." Now on his website over here he actually says he supports free trade. He says he will fight for free trade. He also argues that under some trade deals it's still too hard for some businesses to export their products.
So, we put all this together and that's how you get that truth squad verdict. Let's do it one more time. True but incomplete. And the reasoning Obama's opposition to certain free trade agreements would make it harder for some U.S. exporters to sell their products, but only in some countries covered by those deals. Hence, the incomplete part of our decision, guys and I'll tell you now coming up this hour we're going to be looking at Obama's attack on McCain over Medicare.
HOLMES: Ok. You know what we've got to say. We need true and false.
NGUYEN: It's the truth squad.
HOLMES: The truth squad.
NGUYEN: This incomplete, misleading, can't we just get to the facts of it?
LEVS: Hey, if I could wipe shades of gray out of the world maybe I would.
NGUYEN: I know, unfortunately that's the way they operate in a lot of these ads. So, all right, thank you, Josh.
HOLMES: The candidates are still battling in those key swing states this weekend. We are following them out there on the campaign trail. We're going to give you more of what they're saying out there and see if it's true, false, misleading, incomplete, whatever it may be. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is 31 past the hour. Happening right now across the world, the grandfather of a 6-year-old boy abducted from his Las Vegas home is now in custody. Police say Clemens Tinnemeyer was involved in significant drug dealing and the boy was kidnapped. You see him right there, the boy, the 6-year-old, by drug dealers trying to recover lost money and property. Now despite a nationwide amber alert for the boy, there is still no sign of him.
Meantime, tens of thousands took to the streets of Baghdad today. The rally is seen as a show of support for Shiite Cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Al Sadr is calling on the Iraqi parliament to reject a deal with the U.S. that would extend the presence of American forces in Iraq.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, what's the point in being ahead in the polls if you can't get your people to the polls on Election Day? Getting out the vote that's key right now for both campaigns and as Mary Snow now reports from Montgomery, Ohio, both sides have ground forces hard at work and the battle is on in the battleground states.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good evening, my name is Sofia and I'm a volunteer calling on behalf of the Ohio Republican Party.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are the foot soldiers on the John McCain side.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On behalf of John McCain and the entire republican team, we are asking for your vote.
SNOW: And on the Barack Obama side -- the Obama team is hitting the ground with a novel approach. It's enlisted help from barbershop owners like Larry Joiner.
LARRY JOINER, OBAMA SUPPORTER: Any information that you want to get across to people abundantly and in masses, the barbershop and the beauty salons in the black community is an excellent place.
SNOW: Obama supporter Eric Kearney says the emphasis is on broad reach.
ERIC KEARNEY, (D) OHIO STATE SENATE: Targeting them where voters are again, places like grocery stores, car washes, anywhere where people are you've got to go out and reach them.
SNOW: Republicans have a different approach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's called micro targeting.
SNOW: McCain supporter Greg Hartmann told college republicans, the focus is to zero in on specific issues with targeted voters.
GREG HARTMANN, HAMILTON CTY. MCCAIN CAMPAIGN CHMN.: We can have somebody deliver a message to one person in one household and move on to the next household and talk to them about different issues.
SNOW: What happens on this particular battlefield could be very telling.
PROF. ERIC RADEMACHER, UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNNATI: Hamilton County is a real important county to watch on Election Day simply because it's an urban area in the middle of what John McCain would consider his home territory here in southwest Ohio.
SNOW: Hamilton County includes Cincinnati, an urban area where Obama is expected to do very well. It's surrounded by suburban areas that have deep republican pockets, but the GOP says that's no guarantee.
HARTMANN: We've had a rough two weeks, for sure, the numbers have slid since then, but I will tell you that Ohio is very winnable. Hamilton County is very winnable.
SNOW: The Obama team is trying to chip away at the republican margin's targeting independents, senior citizens and seize African- American voters in Cincinnati and young voters as its key to victory.
KEARNEY: It's very pragmatic, it's very focused and it's the strategy, it's like follow the playbook, get it done and reach as many people as you can.
SNOW (on camera): The Obama team is hoping high turnout will turn this county blue. That's something that's happened only once in a presidential election since 1940. Republicans, meantime are counting on their street and their money. This county is an ATM for republican candidates, the center for responsive politics say this is the highest producer in the state and McCain has out-raised Obama here. Mary Snow, CNN, Montgomery, Ohio.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: There is no greater messenger than the candidates themselves. 17 days until Election Day, each have multiple events for maximum coverage, of course. Earlier this hour we heard from John McCain live in North Carolina. Well, here's Barack Obama speaking about the economy in Roanoke, Virginia. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We meet at a great moment of uncertainty for America. The economic crisis we face is the worst since the great depression. As the stock market's plummeted millions of Americans have opened up their 401(k) statements to see that so much of their hard-earned savings has disappeared. A lot of people, they just haven't been able to save at all. The credit crisis has left businesses, large and small, unable to get loans which means they can't buy new equipment or hire new workers or even make payroll for the workers that they've got, and the households across the country it's getting harder and harder to get a loan for that new car or that start-up business or that college that you've dreamed of attending. Wages are lower than they've been in nearly a decade, you're paying more for everything from gas to groceries, but your paychecks have flat lined. So, Roanoke, I know these are difficult times. I know folks are worried, but I am convinced that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis because I believe in this country. Because this is the United States of America. This is the nation that's faced down war and depression, great challenges and great threats and the American story has never been about things coming easy. It's been about rising to the moment when the moment is hard. Young lady, you're going fall right there. You get down. Get down. Get down there. I don't want you falling. How America can meet this moment, we have the most talented, most productive workers of any country on earth. We're home to innovation and technology and colleges and universities. I know Virginia Tech is in the house. Colleges and universities that are the envy of the world, some of the biggest, brightest ideas in history have come from our small businesses, and our research facilities so it won't be easy, but there's no reason we can't make this century another American century, but, Virginia, I also know this, it will take a new direction. It will take new leadership in Washington. It will take a real change in the policies and politics of the last eight years and that is why I am running for president of the United States of America.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. Barack Obama making his case there and telling a young lady not to hurt herself there in the crowd. A young lady up on the chair apparently, he's telling her to get down. The clock is certainly ticking. The day is drawing near. 17 days watch history unfold with the best political team on television. Watch it on CNN worldwide networks, that's November 4th, Election Day.
NGUYEN: You know Barack Obama has been saying that John McCain wants to cut funding for Medicare. Our truth squad is checking the facts on this attack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Barack Obama launched a new attack yesterday saying John McCain would take hundreds of billions of dollars away from Medicare.
HOLMES: All right. With so many of these things, we need to take them with a grain of salt sometimes. We'll see if it's not just true or false, Josh, we're learning with the truth squad. There are shades of gray as we say.
JOSH LEVS: Yeah, but you know sometimes you do need that grain of salt and sometimes you need a truckload of salt. Let's take a look at exactly what Obama said yesterday when he was talking about John McCain's health care plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Wall Street Journal recently reported it was actually worse than we thought. It turns out Senator McCain would pay for part of his plan by making drastic cuts in Medicare. $882 billion worth. It would mean a cut of more than 20 percent in Medicare benefits next year.
LEVS: And you can see what we said about that full sound bite there. When you look at it, CNN's truth squad is telling you right there the status is misleading. Let me show you why. This right here is "The Wall Street Journal" article that he was referring to, it does not mention $882 billion. This figure actually comes from this liberal group, the Center for American Progress action fund. Now to explain what happened here, I need to give you a few numbers. Let's go to this graphic. The non-partisan tax policy center estimates that McCain's health care plan would cost $1.3 trillion over 10 years. Basically adding to the deficit and then Obama's would cost $1.6 trillion over 10 years, a little bit more. Both campaigns reject that. They say they have found ways to cover the costs, but here's what happened that led to yesterday. "The Wall Street Journal" in their article, they said that McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid. So this private group I'm talking about is saying, o, if he had to save $1.3 trillion overall and was pulling that from Medicare and Medicaid, then he would pull $882 billion from Medicare and as you can imagine the McCain campaign is very unhappy with this. Let mow show you quickly what they put out about this. Just words. Barack Obama's Medicare malpractice ad and lies. They're saying that this is what they want to do, they're saying both campaigns have talked about saving some money in Medicare. They're saying, for example, one thing they would do is cut Medicare fraud to save billions of dollars that way, not cut benefits for the people who rely on them.
In the end, we have our verdict here, let me show you. I made it in pretty big type like the other ones. CNN truth squad, the verdict, misleading. The figure Obama cites came from an analysis by a liberal group not the Wall Street Journal. The McCain campaign says the changes it is calling for would reduce costs and not cut benefits. There you go, you have the verdict and the way that we got there. Let me encourage everybody, we have dozens and dozens of these online. I'd love for you all to check them out. We're getting great traffic online keep it coming, especially undecided voters.
NGUYEN: People want fact from fiction right about now, especially as we're what, 17 days from the election.
LEVS: 17 days.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Josh. Two veterans with different views on fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are taking those differences into a battle for a house seat. Here's CNN's Chris Lawrence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A marine artillery officer and a navy seal, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan now fighting for a seat in congress and a say in how to wage those wars.
Do you support a timetable for withdrawing?
DUNCAN D. HUNTER, (R) CALIFORNIA CONG. CANDIDATE: Not at all. No. I don't support any time line whatsoever.
LAWRENCE: Republican Duncan Hunter is a marine running to succeed his father.
MIKE LUMPKIN, (D) CALIFORNIA CONG. CANDIDATE: Ii think you can have a blending of a tame table with conditions.
LAWRENCE: Democrat Mike Lumpkin manned 2,000 Special Forces troops and advised Obama's foreign policy team.
HUNTER: Do you think the surge has worked? I don't think history will prove that it's (INAUDIBLE). We're paying off the tribal sheikhs to not conduct acts of violence.
LAWRENCE: And when the money's cut off.
LUMPKIN: I think what you're going to see is you're going to see a spike in violence.
HUNTER: No, that isn't true.
LAWRENCE: Hunter says U.S. troops are giving tribal leaders the ability to fight al Qaeda.
HUNTER: And they're going to keep working with us because they want to be free, not because America's paying them off.
LAWRENCE: Like Obama and McCain, they disagree on how long and how many troops to keep in Iraq.
LUMPKIN: I'd bring 50 percent of the troops home and then I would move the remainder of the troops out of the urban centers to station them along the borders to prevent the surrounding nations from entering the conflict. We are just so close to finishing, that if we don't stop our fire departments when the fire is 70 percent contained we don't say, all right, stop fighting that fire now.
LAWRENCE: Republicans outnumber democrats in this suburban San Diego district, but like Obama, Lumpkin is counting on voters' need for change.
LUMPKIN: We have the incumbent who has been there for 28 years, who's trying to will his seat to his son as if it were a birth right.
LAWRENCE: On the other hand, Hunter is distancing himself from the top of the ticket.
HUNTER: When you look at issues like illegal immigration for instance, John McCain and I don't see eye to eye at all.
LAWRENCE (on camera): One thing both candidates agree on the winner should have a bigger role in overseeing defense spending and strategy than your average congressional newcomer. Chris Lawrence, CNN, San Diego.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: You can check out our political ticker for all of the latest campaign news. Logon to cnnpolitics.com. That is your source for all things political.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: You definitely do not want to go anywhere because NEWSROOM continues at the top of the hour with Fredricka Whitfield.
HOLMES: This young lady here.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: This young lady, thank you. How are you guys doing?
HOLMES: We're doing well, how are you on this Saturday?
WHITFIELD: We have a lot straight ahead in the noon hour. Our election express is in Virginia. Some interesting things about what people are saying, red or blue? Might this year be the year that Virginia breaks with tradition? Our Bill Schneider is on the road. And then we're going to talk about women and celebrity status, particularly Madonna and her millions and Christi in her custody battle or is it still a custody battle now that her husband has come out with some tape, a scurrilous tape, you guys have heard about that. Our legal beagles are going to be delving into the situation. Even though Madonna, does she not look fabulous there? I've been talking about her all morning. She looks incredible and she's on tour right now.
HOLMES: Does she have a prenup, did she have one?
WHITFIELD: Well apparently no. Our legal guys are going to delve into without a prenup.
NGUYEN: How do you split it up, yes.
WHITFIELD: We are talking about -- she married, is it England, the home where they lived, outside of London or is it going to be American or some state law that will be involved in their divorce.
NGUYEN: And does A-Rod play into any of it? I had to ask.
HOLMES: Why did she ask that.
NGUYEN: See if the legal guys can sort that one out.
WHITFIELD: I think they're going to be hands-off on the A-Rod but instead about her many millions and what's at stake. All that good stuff.
HOLMES: We will see you in a couple of minutes.
NGUYEN: Describing the financial crisis. Some reporters are just sharp as a tack.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Anxiety and the world money crisis.
HOLMES: Minute by minute spikes and downturns in the markets have many of us hooked on financial news these days and Miles O'Brien now looks into the words chosen by some of these financial reporters and what they can do to our collective psyche.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These days it's hard to stay afloat. Most of us are lucky if we are --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Treading water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Enduring --
CHRISTINE ROMANS: Body blow after body blow.
O'BRIEN: From those reporters that deliver metaphors by the ton.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is the equivalent of a Mack truck.
O'BRIEN: The colorful play-by-play is harmless, right? Well that dead cat won't bounce.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes the way they spin that story might be sending messages that they don't intend to send.
O'BRIEN: Michael Morris is a psychologist at Columbia University's business school. A few years ago he studied the metaphors used by business reporters as they try to explain the markets, and he found words matter in ways we might not have imagined.
MICHAEL MORRIS, BUSINESS PROFESSOR: In their effort to be entertaining are unwittingly conveying some meanings to people that could lead those people to make unadvised investment decisions.
O'BRIEN: Here's how. Reporters and analysts love colorful metaphors that personify the market.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The stock market took off like a rocket. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Made a sharp u-turn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then soared again later in the day.
O'BRIEN: They make it sound like it is a living being with a purpose and a plan.
MORRIS: A lot of people will draw the inference that the market has a propensity to go upwards and that's going to continue in the future.
O'BRIEN: But of course experts know the market isn't planning for tomorrow. It is random, more like the weather. So do reporters stir up a financial hurricane when they say things like this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It really did just sort of go off a cliff.
O'BRIEN: Truth is this time the metaphor may not be hyperbole.
ROMANS: It happens to be, you know, going off a cliff. These are the kinds of crazy things -- it's not meant to scare anybody, it's just the best way of describing it in some cases.
O'BRIEN: What about this?
ALI VELSHI: This fire is engulfing the whole financial system. It is sometimes better to use the longhand. It's just challenging on TV to do so.
O'BRIEN: We all learned in school what goes up, must come down, but if you think you or anyone you know can predict the stock market, you're apt to get sidetracked. So listen to the market metaphors if you must.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: If the train left the station, there is no point in getting off now.
O'BRIEN: Just remember to buckle in tight and take the wild ride with a grain of salt if you'll excuse the mixed metaphor. Miles O'Brien, CNN, New York.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: How do you think he sold that -- hey, I'm going to do a story on the economy, I'll go ride a roller coaster.
HOLMES: I need to ride a roller coaster.
WHITFIELD: Go for that wild ride. That's a lot of fun, isn't it?
NGUYEN: Good idea, yes.
WHITFIELD: Miles knows how to make any assignment fun and fun to watch.
HOLMES: He does.
WHITFIELD: He's a real pro.
HOLMES: We'll be watching you for the next hour or so for the rest of the afternoon, Fredricka Whitfield.
WHITFIELD: And hopefully it will be smooth sailing, right?
NGUYEN: Without a doubt.
HOLMES: For your sake.
WHITFIELD: For my sake. All right, T.J., Betty, thanks so much. You all have a great day.
All right, smooth sailing right into presidential politics, heading into the home stretch now. There are 17 days left until Election Day. No time off for the candidates right now. They'll be on the trail straight through November 4th. And today, key stops in battleground states North Carolina and Virginia and Missouri. We'll bring you Barack Obama live from St. Louis next hour. Meantime, last hour we saw John McCain live in Concord, North Carolina, and this afternoon he's heading to Virginia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've got to tell you the facts and I'm going to give you some hard facts in my comments today and one of them is we have to win the state of North Carolina, and I'm counting on you to do it on November 4th. This is a tough fight. This is a tough fight, my friends, and I've been around politics a long time, but the enthusiasm that we're seeing here recently has been overwhelming and gives me the confidence that we're on a roll and we're going to win.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. The candidates have little time to sway those last undecided voters. So how are they doing? CNN political editor Mark Preston joins us live from Woodbridge, Virginia, the site of John McCain's afternoon rally. Good to see you in Virginia, a very important state and it's not going to be so predictable this go around.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: No, it absolutely is not, Fred. In a couple of hours John McCain will arrive here from North Carolina to give a rally. This is a very important state right now, one that he's fighting to hold onto.
