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Early Voters Face 'No-Match' Rejections; Hitting Registration Snags and Red Flags; Consumer Confidence Still Lacking

Aired October 28, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Imagine waiting forever in line to vote, and you are all stoked because you are new at this election thing, only to be told, sorry, you are no match for the law.

Fear of an Obama presidency has got some folks buying their assault weapons now. They are afraid they will be banned later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She just picked up another one. She just picked up another one. She is replacing it. Yes, I am videoing it right now. She is taking it. She already picked up three and she has another one in her hands.

A political sign thief. It happens all the time. But this sign stealing scene stealer is victim's opponent. He does not approve this message.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, and you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

One week left until November 4th, and you notice I didn't say Election Day, because millions of us have already voted. Depending on your state election day may have started weeks, ago with gridlock and glitches and grievances. Here in Georgia, red flags over citizenship led to federal court and a speedy verdict in a voter's favor. In Florida a policy called "no match, no vote" is causing no end of problems. And in Virginia the NAACP is accusing the state of skimping of voter machines and resources in minority precincts.

We begin in Florida where the state's attempt to match voters against government records is challenged at best and being challenged by voting rights advocates. CNN's Sean Callebs has more now from Miami.

Hi, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

We are nearing the apex of the election season. Talking about voting controversy we have to be in Florida, right? Well, it is the no-match law and the critics say the one here is perhaps the most burdensome in the state. The ACLU and others are raising objections may eventually raise challenges. The concern, your voter registration card must exactly match, the name must exactly match the name on your driver's license, the information in the data base for Social Security card. Also your address must exactly match as well. If it doesn't and if you registered to vote after September 8th, your vote can kicked back to you. We have had calls coming into the CNN voter hotline.

Here is what one voter, in Tallahassee, has a concern about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The main thing I had happen at the voter booth was that my ballot was listed as provisional. It was listed this way, I guess, because I recently moved and my driver's license says one address and my voter registration says another address. And so I think that - I just want to make sure my vote counts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: We had a chance to speak with him and he is confident that is his vote will count. He was able to go back, talked with election officials and worked things out. So his is going to have a happy ending. However, the ACLU says this no-match law really unfairly targets minorities. And here is why. They say a lot of minorities in the state may have nontraditional spellings for names, also, a lot of Latino voters may have hyphenated names, or may have an accent mark or a tilde over their name as well. And the computer may not read those. So the ACLU is convinced that this law unfairly targets minorities. Here is what the ACLU has to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUSLIMA LEWIS, ACLU: Black voters and Latino voters make up in each group approximately 12 to 14 percent of the registered voters in Florida. However, they make up a full 50 percent of voters caught up in the no-match limbo. And that is just simply unfair that certain groups are disproportionately impacted by the implementation of this law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: About 9,000 people have been snared in this no-match law so far. They can still vote, but it has to be a provisional ballot and they must got back and square things with their election officials within 48 hours, or the vote is kicked out. I am not talking about a lot of votes here, but think back to the year 2000 when the presidential election in the state was resolved by about 550 or so votes.

So, a lot of people are watching this. And, boy, if in early voter turnout it has been heavy, if that is an indication, we could see a lot of problems here on November 4th.

PHILLIPS: Sean Callebs we will be tracking it for sure.

The state of Georgia has to tell some 4,500 voters whose immigration status, well it had to be challenged that they can vote after all. Civil rights groups had sued on behalf of a college student who claimed the so-called purge violated the Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act. Yesterday a federal court sided by the voters, more or less, and they will be allowed to cast paper ballots which the state will be allowed to challenge if it chooses to, after the election.

Now, if all this makes your head spin, imagine trying to cast an absentee ballot from Afghanistan. Far too often U.S. troops overseas are out of sight, and out of mind, and out of luck when the votes get counted back home.

Here is CNN's Carol Costello.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They risk their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and yet their vote for America's president often does not count.

ROSEMARY RODRIGUEZ, U.S. ELECTIONS ASSISTANCE COMM.: It is dismal, OK? These are the voters that are, in some cases, preserving our liberties and out there with their lives on the line.

COSTELLO: Rodriguez works for the U.S. Elections Assistant Commission, a non-partisan group. In the last general election as best she can determine, only about 30 percent of the overseas military ballots were actually returned and counted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is disenfranchising our military. And, frankly, I think it is very unpatriotic.

COSTELLO: One reason so many military votes are not counted, every state has its own rules for absentee voting. And they can change in the middle of an election cycle. For example, in Virginia, a federal write-in ballot required a witness's signature and address. But for soldiers overseas, that proved confusing, because there is no box supplied for a witness' address.

ROKEY SULEMAN, REGISTRAR, FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA.: This is the form.

COSTELLO: Rokey Suleman, the Fairfax County, Virginia registrar initially said he would have to discard 63 votes, because the voters neglected to list a witness address.

SULEMAN: These ballots they aren't being met, I cannot accept as valid ballots at this point. If the law changes, I welcome a review of the law. I think this law is horrible.

COSTELLO: Late Monday Virginia's attorney general agreed saying all county registrars can now ignore that part of the law. A bigger problem, the U.S. mail. It may be able to deliver your mail through rain, sleet and snow, but not a battlefield.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R) CALIFORNIA: This is something that we --

COSTELLO: Congressman Kevin McCarthy says that absentee ballots mailed from war zones are not getting to county registrars fast enough to be legally counted.

MCCARTHY: With all of the modernization that we have, we should be able to move these ballots, track them at the same time, and bring the modernization and the technology we have today to make sure our heroes across this world get treated fairly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And Carol Costello joins us now live.

Carol, is anyone doing anything to make sure those military votes count?

COSTELLO: It drives you crazy, doesn't it? Because it seems so simple, the solutions, that is. Congressman McCarthy does have a bill out there floating through Congress, but it, of course, won't be passed in time for election 2008. And he believes that 52 percent of people stationed overseas won't have their votes counted.

PHILLIPS: Now, Virginia, just decided, right, to allow improperly filled out ballots to be counted, so isn't that a good thing for soldiers?

COSTELLO: You would think it would be a good thing, but think of the challenges down the line, like maybe Democrats might challenge the attorney general's decision to suddenly it change the way you fill out the ballot in the middle of an election cycle. So it will opens up all kinds of doors that you don't want opened, especially in this particular election.

PHILLIPS: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

PHILLIPS: We want to hear from you if you run into problems at the polls. Call the CNN voter hotline. Help us track the problems and we will report the trouble in real time. Here is the number. 1-877- 462-6608. We are keeping them honest all the way through the election, and beyond.

One week left until the long and winding campaign trail finally ends. Obama and McCain and Palin all spending time in Pennsylvania today. The state is leaning Obama's way now, the GOP hoping to tilt it the other way in the days that they have left. Palin stays in Pennsylvania for another rally later today.

And while McCain heads to the toss up state of North Carolina for a rally near Fort Bragg, Obama's number two man, Joe Biden, solo today in the toss up state of Florida. Well, look for Florida to get a lot more attention from both tickets and not just for the warmer weather. Let's get straight to John Roberts and the magic wall.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, we have a new poll to tell you about this afternoon, which suggests that the race does seem to be tightening up a little bit, with only seven days left.

Here in the state of Florida, where Barack Obama was ahead by 3 points, a new Poll of Polls now has Obama with 47 percent of the vote and John McCain with 46 percent. It has turned into a 1-point race, and 7 percent of voters are undecided. So it is a fairly large pool of undecided voters at this point, from which they both have to draw from. So watch for a lot of travel to Florida here in the coming days.

Meantime, today, both of the candidates were here in Pennsylvania. The latest Poll of Polls in Pennsylvania shows Barack Obama 10 points ahead, 52 percent to 48 percent. So you are saying to yourself, so why is John McCain wasting any time, wasting any money here on the Keystone State?

Here is the reason why -- a new Survey/USA poll shows while Barack Obama continues to have incredibly strong support in the southeastern part of the state here, doubling John McCain, 64 to 32 percent. Up here in these traditionally Democratic areas, around Scranton and down in the southwest, in Pittsburgh, the margin is actually within the margin of error, only 3 points.

So John McCain heavily going after some of the areas here, and Pittsburgh and Scranton area, trying to tell some of these Democrats that their future is better in his hands. See if he can convert some of those Democrats over to Republican side, take away the state of Pennsylvania, and its 21 electoral votes. And here is the reason why that is so important.

Here is the electoral map as it stands right now; 277 for Barack Obama, compared to 174 for John McCain.

But say, just for instance, that John McCain turns the Keystone state red. That starts to get him there a little bit. Also here in the eastern part of the United States give him a win in the toss-up states that were traditionally Republican. That would be Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida. Look at that, he is at 268 electoral votes now. If he were to turn the state of Virginia red, that would take him over the line. And if he were to turn Colorado red, that would take him over the line. Even if he were to turn Nevada red, that would take him over the line.

So his path to the White House, right now, without the state of Pennsylvania, very difficult, but if he were to put that one in the win column, it would make the path to the White House oh, so much easier.

Here is one other scenario, Kyra, I just want to float for you here. Let's say that John McCain wins all of these traditionally Republican states; and turns back the state of Virginia, and makes it red as well. That gets him to 260. Let's give him, for instance, Colorado here, takes him to 269. And if Barack Obama were to put Nevada in the win column the final outcome would be 269 to 269. In the seven days that we have left in this election campaign, Kyra, that would be just the beginning.

PHILLIPS: CNN has all of the bases covered for election night one week from now November 4th, and John Roberts will be stomping his feet from the first vote to last, from Capitol Hill to the White House, the best political team on television brings you all the results.

Are times so hard that people cant' even a decent night's rest? Well the financial crisis is scaring people sleepless. And people are doing more than losing sleep, they are buying some high-powered guns, too. We will explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Consumer confidence? There wasn't much of it in October. The consumer confidence index, this month, dropped to 38, the lowest since the group that measures it started keeping score in 1967. A year ago that score was 95. The financial crisis clearly making people protective of their money, as well. The Fed has kicked off a two-day meeting to address the crisis. And they might cut another half point from their key interest rate.

Now, people aren't just losing confidence they are losing sleep, too. And 92 percent of those polled in a Comsite Corporation (ph) survey say that fears over their finances are keeping them up at night. And if you break that down a little bit more, they are most worried about the cost of living and the balance on their plastic. Mortgage payments and retirement accounts are also sleep killers.

Another company gets hit by the economic slowdown. Whirlpool says it is cutting jobs and raising prices. Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with the all the details.

Hey, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Maytag man, we all know him. Well, he may soon be looking for a job. Whirlpool owns the Maytag as well as the Kitchen Aide brands and says it will cut 5,000 positions by the end of next year, or nearly 7 percent of Whirlpool's workforce. The nation's largest home appliance maker is also raising prices. The problem for Whirlpool, as well as many other companies is that they are still battling high energy costs. So starting in January, Whirlpool prices will jump 8 percent to 10 percent, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, can Whirlpool, or anyone else, really get ahead in this economy?

LISOVICZ: Well, it is pretty difficult, when you think about, Kyra, Whirlpool, what it sells, because it relies so heavily on homebuilders and people who have money to upgrade and we know there are fewer of them right now, as well as a growing number of people who are simply putting off projects. And you can see that in today's consumer confidence report, which you just talked about falling to an all-time low.

Whirlpool shares are certainly in a downward spiral. Right now, they are down 15 percent. But a jump in Boeing is helping to boost the Dow. The aerospace giant reached a tentative deal with its machinist union, with wage increases totaling 15 percent over four years Boeing shares are aloft, up more than 8 percent. The Dow industrials also high up 245 points or 3 percent . Nasdaq is up 2 percent. We had a nice overseas rally. It translated into a nice open, and with less than two hours to go, we are still seeing a lot of green arrows, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, that is good news. Thank you, Susan.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome. Time to trade in that designer suit for a jail jumpsuit? Look at these live pictures. He is one cocky ex- mayor. Let me tell you what, an hour or so away from starting his sentence. Remember the whole sex-text thing he had going with an aide. Yes, he's bored. He is going to be really board when he is sitting in that jail cell.

Ted Stevens' future not so clear cut. More calls for the Alaskan senator to step down after his conviction for corruption.

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PHILLIPS: Well, it may say fall on the calendar, but it definitely looks like winter is paying an early visit to central New Jersey and parts of New York. Check out the snow. State officials say that salt trucks already treating bridges and decks along the major roads. There is also a wind advisory for parts of that area. The wet stuff and wind are a double whammy for flights, causing delays already at Newark's Liberty National Airport.

(WEATHER FORECAST)

PHILLIPS: Time to turn in that designer suit for a jail jumpsuit. Detroit's ex-mayor an hour or so away from starting his sentence. You may remember, he admitted lying on the stand, rather, in that trial tied to the sex and text message scandal involving his former top aid. I don't know why the wife is laughing. Maybe because he might be going to jail for awhile for what he did. Who knows? We will figure it all out as soon as we get the sentencing.

Is Virginia ready to handle the crowds on Election Day? The NAACP says the state is short staffed and that will short-change voters. We will talk to both sides.

A local candidate learning what the big guys already know, cameras are everywhere. Caught on tape. It is a cautionary tale.

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PHILLIPS: It's 2:28 Eastern time and here are some of the stories we are working on in the CNN NEWSROOM. Moving up instead of down for a change on Wall Street. Right now they are up 306 points.

Syria reacting to a U.S. attack on the soil has closed an American school and U.S. cultural center in Damascus. U.S. sources say a top operative of Al Qaeda in Iraq was killed in the border strike. Syria says eight civilians died.

With one week until Election Day, it is a full court press on the campaign trail today. Barack Obama in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Virginia. John McCain is also making a stop in Pennsylvania before moving on to North Carolina and Florida.

Well, everybody agrees in a democracy, there is really no such thing as too many voters, right?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't think you matter? What you do doesn't make a difference?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know you are looking at four to eight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to tell you, I am a little scared. Who is in control? Keep sitting there, and we all lose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You didn't ask for this, but we inherited this mess. So what are you going to do to about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, ads like that have Rocked the Vote for years now, but this year, thousands of people who downloaded, filled out, and sent in voter registration forms still are not on voter rolls. It is an issue in several states now, and especially New York, where the group Rock the Vote blames the state for the logjam. And the state blames some misdirected forms. Well, I am joined by Rock the Vote's executive director Heather Smith.

Heather, tell me what happened. How did you find out there was a problem?

HEATHER SMITH, EXECUTIVE DIR., ROCK THE VOTE: Yes, we started receiving phone calls and e-mails in our office at Rock the Vote with people saying I turned in my form on time and I just checked to find out my status, because they didn't get a registration card in the mail, and it says I am not registered so what should we do? So we obviously went to work.

We have had over 2.54 million people download forms from our Web site and mail them in. That is a lot of registration forms. We want to ensure now that all of those registration forms get processed by the states and by the counties and in a timely manner so that all of these young voters and new voters can cast a ballot.

PHILLIPS: So what -- what does the problem or have you even gotten an answer to what the problem is? Did they fill out the form, send them in and they are just, there were so many that they didn't get processed in time or did those forms not make it to right spot? Or were they not completed correctly?

SMITH: Yes, it could be any of the above. We just sent a whole bunch of teams to the volunteers and lawyers and everyone to look into it. What we are suspecting is that a lot of forms went to the state office which then according to state board of elections were turned around within 24 hours and sent to the county elections offices. In those counties, they were inundated with voter registration forms, and we heard in New York City for example, there was a backlog of processing as many of 40,000 forms as of last week.

Now all of the counties claim at this point that they have been caught up and everything is data entered and everyone should go to the polls on Election Day, but we are not going the take their word for it. We are going to actually be going into the offices and manually doing checks to make sure that all of the voters who at least who signed up through Rock the Vote are on those rolls and can cast a ballot.

PHILLIPS: And just to be fair here we tried to get someone from the state and of course the city to come on and we got statements. So what we did first was we went to the state. OK? And there we got the statement coming back to us, "Many groups sent their forms to the New York State Board of Elections. There is nothing wrong with that but only the local boards," in parentheses, counties for New York City Board of Elections, "can process the forms, so any forms we received in the central office, we sent overnight to counties and the forms leave the same day. There are no delayed forms here."

OK. Good.

Then we called the city, Heather. Then we got this statement. All right. Coming from the city. I mean, this was -- I am glad I was not involved with this mess, because it took a long time. They said, "We had 211,000 registrations come in, in the last week, went on to say a lot of them were missing critical information such as signature or full address and unfortunately we cannot process them without full information."

Now we went to Rock the Vote Web site and filled everything in and if you are missing something, it totally bounces back and says you are missing this and if you fill it out correctly, in big bold letters it says to sign your name and mail it and here are the addresses and it's very detailed.

So if you were to do the process of elimination it sounds possible that there are just too many to deal with right now.

SMITH: Yes, that is what we are afraid of is actually happening all around the country. So if New York State which is not a really, you know it is not a swing state per se in the election and not super high profile, and if they are getting 211,000 forms in New York City alone, imagine what is happening in a Virginia and in an Ohio and in a Pennsylvania or a Colorado.

So we are right now just asking, we're asking the clerks and the county officials and the state boards, do you have a backlog? Can we help? We will send in volunteers and do what we have to do, because we want to make sure that every one of these young people who turned a form on will be on the rolls so when they show up Election Day, they can vote.

PHILLIPS: I will tell you, Heather, it happened to me as well. I had to spend hours on the phone and I said, look, I'm with CNN and you better help me out here. So I finally got to the right person.

SMITH: It's really frustrating.

PHILLIPS: It is frustrating. It's fantastic but what we are seeing historically is so many people turning out, but there is a message that still we are not prepared. So we have to keep the fingers cross and hope that everybody gets to vote, the vote counts and we'll follow up with what you are able to achieve and let us know what happens, OK?

SMITH: I will, absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Heather, thanks.

SMITH: Thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: When millions of people try to do anything at the same time, there is bound to be problems. And in Virginia the prospects for 90 percent voter turnout coupled with the seismic shift in the state's landscape are straining the commonwealth's resources, and prompting a lawsuit now from the NAACP. The civil rights group claims the state is shortchanging minority precincts on voting machines and personnel. Well, last hour I had a chance to speak with the group's Virginia director and the chairwoman of the State Board of Elections and this is what they told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING SALIM KHALFANI, EXEC. DIR., VIRGINIA NAACP: Well, if they were prepared they would have been willing to sit down and talk. They have been on notice for some time, refused to take 30 minutes out to talk to the Advancement Project or the NAACP. And that's unconscionable. We have no other agenda other than to have the people fully participate in the democracy and to not talk until the last minute, leads us to believe there is something to hide. So we don't necessarily believe their figures.

JEAN CUNNINGHAM, CHAIRMAN, VA STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS: One of things I did was I characterized this election as the tsunami of all elections and we have been diligently working to make sure that we are prepared on all fronts from the event of a power failure and knowing where all the power companies are for every precinct throughout Virginia to having the backup, paper ballots to ensuring that the local boards in fact purchased new equipment.

We put in some $25 million from the state board alone for new equipment throughout the state. We have some 30,000 folks who will be officers of election and more voting equipment than is required by the law in lots of jurisdictions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Virginia's governor said today on his radio call-in show that the state has thousands more machines and poll workers than it had in 2004 and can handle whatever comes next Tuesday. We want to hear from you if you run into problems at the polls. Call the CNN voter hotline and we will track the problems and we'll report the trouble in real time. Call 1-877-462-6608. We are keeping them honest all the way through the election and beyond.

Well, today is the first day of the rest of Ted Stevens' post conviction life. The senator was found guilty yesterday of corruption.

And as Joe Johns reports, it was the little things that proved most costly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An epic career in the Senate reduced to this, guilty on seven counts of lying about gifts from friends back home, including one friend, an oilfield services company executive who specialized in bribing politicians and getting political favors.

But the fall of Ted Stevens was not about a Wall Street-sized payoff, this was mostly about small things which he claimed were either loaned property or unwanted contraband like a decorative metal fish, a fancy outdoor barbecue drill, a massage chair from Brookstone, the one big ticket in the $250,000 controversy, home renovations. Workers for their oilfield services company jacked up Stevens' single- story A-frame home in Alaska and transformed it into a multistory chalet, though Stevens insisted he paid for the work.

SEN. TED STEVENS, (R) ALASKA: I will tell you that we paid every bill that was given to us. Every bill that was presented to us has been paid.

JOHNS: You cannot say Stevens didn't see trouble was coming. Audio tape played during the trial said that he knew what could happen if he were ever discovered.

STEVENS: We might lose, we might have to pay a fine, might have to serve a little time in jail.

JOHNS: Stevens was always unapologetic if not proud of his legendary success of pumping federal money to Alaska. The last four years alone he pushed for $3.2 billion in earmarks for the state. His success came from the seniority, 40 years in the Senate and more than six as chairman of the Appropriations Committee and from his legendary bullying tactics.

STEVENS: I am going to go to every one of your states, and I am going to tell them what you have done.

JOHNS: And yet, despite the considerable successes this wily veteran of the Senate seemed to throw it all away on a huge gamble. He asked for a speedy jury trial right before an election and then he testified in his own defense which allowed the prosecutor a chance to chew through the explanations, excuses and alibis. The jury did not buy it and did not give him a break. (END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, that was Joe Johns reporting. Senator Stevens still claims he is innocent and vows to fight the conviction. He is up for re-election next week in Alaska.

In Detroit this hour formal sentencing and sendoff for Kwame Kilpatrick. The ex-mayor heading to jail this afternoon. He will spend 120 days behind bars and less if he behaves. Kilpatrick took a plea deal in his obstruction of justice case. He admitted lying on the stand in a trial linked to that sex and text scandal involving his top aide.

Jennifer Hudson's slain nephew described as sweet and gentle and loved. Today the body of Julian King is at the medical examiner's office in Chicago for an autopsy to figure out when he died. Police say he was fatally shot. The seven-year-old's body was found yesterday in an abandoned SUV, three days after Hudson's mother and brother were found shot to death in their Chicago home. Julian's estranged stepfather remains in police custody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUPT. JODY WEIS, CHICAGO POLICE: William Balfour in the custody of Illinois Department of Corrections for violating conditions of parole remains a person of interest in this investigation. We don't know what the motive really was at this time, but clearly, you have people who know each other, so it was not a case of a stranger-type homicide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Chicago police say that surveillance cameras throughout the city are providing surveillance for the investigation.

And gas prices going down, hard to imagine why that could be a bad thing, right? Poppy Harlow is going to break it to us gently in today's "Energy Fix."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, as the gas prices fall, refineries may end up losing money on gasoline. Why should you care? Because it could lead to higher prices down the road. CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" from New York.

Hey, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey there, Kyra.

You know, gas is down but we have to bring you a little bit of bad news. We've got to tell you how it is here. We are seeing 41 straight days of gas prices down. The national average today is $2.63 a gallon. It's actually below where we saw gas a year ago. That is great news for drivers and bad news for refineries and where profit margins are pretty shrinking quickly. One oil analyst told us -- here is how it works, if what is going in, crude oil is costing as much as what is going out, gasoline, you have got a big problem. Last week, and here is another indication. We saw gasoline production decline for first time in weeks and one refiner Sunoco tells us that it is shutting a unit in the Philadelphia refinery though it won't say why or for how long.

Also, earlier today, we want to let you know that we said it is shutting that entire refinery and that is not accurate, it is just shutting a unit in the refinery. But some other news today, Valero, that energy company delaying or canceling big projects, so they are making less money, Kyra, and they are making some changes as well.

PHILLIPS: Well, this is a reason for concern?

HARLOW: It is a reason to be aware of what is going on. The worry is if those refiners cut back demand which is down could eventually be greater than the supply and that would mean your gas prices go back up, and we all know that low gas prices are just a little bit of good news that we have with all of the doom and gloom in the economy right now.

Now, refinery slowdowns could also affect jobs and that is something you want to focus on but one analyst we spoke to say he does not expect layoffs due immediately. Most of the refineries, he says, will just produce will less and not shut down altogether and that is the story, as it is, but for right now your gas prices are certainly down again today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Good news. Thanks, Poppy.

Protecting the gentle giants of the earth, the sheer size of elephants makes them magnificent creatures but poachers and human conflict are decreasing their numbers in an alarming rate in Central Africa.

Special correspondent Lisa Ling explains in today's "Planet in Peril."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA LING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Lisa Ling in Central Africa in Chad and we are inside the Zakouma National Park. And this is one of only two places in the region where you can still see wild elephants roaming the land, and we are with Mike Fay from the Wildlife Conservation Society and he said at one time there were tens of thousands of elephants in the park, and now recently that number has dwindled he thinks to fewer that 1,000, and that's because poachers and rebels from Sudan have been coming here and attacking the elephants and taking their tusks and leaving the bodies just to rot. And it is fueling the global market for ivory.

I have been here for about a week, and the experience for me has been both exciting and moving, but also so devastating, because I have gotten a chance to see the massive creatures in the wild and it is one of the most awesome sights I have ever seen, but I have also seen the elephants killed just for their tusks. We will take you directly inside of the battle to try to save these elephants from total extinction on "Planet in Peril" in December.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, you can watch the worldwide investigation "Planet in Peril: Battle Lines" coming December 11th, and you can also go to CNN.com/planetinperil for a behind the scenes look at the making of the show and read dispatches from the field.

Well, the economy is in a tight spot, but there is one big ticket item some people cannot seem to get enough of, guns. So why are sales soaring?

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PHILLIPS: Desperate times, you know the rest. Well, one homeowner is taking desperate measures. She has chained herself to the front of her San Diego home and ignoring the eviction orders. Today is the deadline for June Reyno to get out.

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JUNE REYNO, FACING FORECLOSURE: We are not going to turn our keys over, not without a fight, and we are not -- I am not going to walk away from this home quietly.

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PHILLIPS: Well, Reyno knows a little something about troubles in the housing market, because she runs a business to help others avoid foreclosure.

A sluggish economy has many people tightening their belts and holding off on purchases, but guns may be the exception. People are lining up to get them, especially assault weapons.

Jason Whitely, with our Dallas affiliate WFAA, explains why sales have soared ahead of the election.

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JASON WHITELY, WFAA REPORTER: Paranoia has peaked. Texas gun owners worry what will happen if Barack Obama is elected president.

JOHN MANNEWITZ, MANAGER, TARGET MASTER: Not that people are fear buying, but if there is something cooler you want to get, people are saying sooner is better than later.

WHITELY: Target Master in Garland used to sell a couple of assault weapons a week, but now sales have tripled. Buyers fear that Obama if elected will reinstate the ban on assault weapons.

MANNEWITZ: I had a customer this morning that came in and bought an AR-15 and the exact wording was the reason came out and bought it was he always wanted one and he was afraid if Obama got elected, there wouldn't be anymore.

WHITELY: Barack Obama says he feels that President Bush made a mistake by letting the ban on the assault weapons expire, still, he says he supports the Second Amendment.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just because you have an individual right doesn't mean that the state or local government cannot constraint the exercise of that right.

SIMON SAFIR, CUSTOMER: If Barack Obama were to be elected as the next president, everyone knows that gun prices are going to go up, they are going to skyrocket.

WHITELY: Simon Safir is looking for an AR-15, the biggest seller here. The cost is about $1,000. Target Master tells us that two types of people buying weapons, those just like Safir who really want one and others who are investing, thinking that if they are banned, the rifles will likely rise in value and could fetch quite a profit.

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PHILLIPS: Industry experts also credit higher sales to basic security issues. Some people believe that when the economy is bad, crime and civil disorder spike and many people want the satisfaction of being able to protect themselves.

Well, straight ahead, smile, you are on candidate camera. Yes, that's a candidate stealing an opponent's sign or maybe he is just rearranging them. Anyway, he gets our vote, our vote to be the next story after the break.

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PHILLIPS: Well on the national level campaigns have cash to burn. Local candidates not so much. So a Kansas man running for county commissioner was ticked when more than 100 campaign signs disappeared. His wife decided to set a trap and waited by the window with a camera. Well, who do you think showed up to swipe some signs? Yes, the other candidate.

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CALVIN HAYDEN, COUNTY COMMISSIONER CANDIDATE: We saw him drive down to our signs, and it was a long ways away, and I had to watch him through binoculars but he tore up the signs and put them on the ground. At that point I was just in shock.

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PHILLIPS: Well, now his opponent John Topakar (ph) is in big trouble. Police hit him with a theft citation and he has got a court date next month. No comment so far from his camp. Way to go there, John.

Well, last hour they rocked the house here at CNN, so you are getting another chance to see the fabulous sixth and seventh graders from Atlanta's Ron Clark Academy and singing the rap song that is burning up the YouTube hits. Let me tell you, they may have been too young to vote, but oh, boy, they know their stuff. Enjoy.

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PHILLIPS: I cannot get enough of those kids. Rick Sanchez, nothing, nothing is better than that.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I am a fan. We had the volume turned up in the office back there while we were putting the show together watching them.

PHILLIPS: Can you rap like that? Can you dance like that?

SANCHEZ: No. I would not be able to pull it off.

PHILLIPS: We love the Ron Clark kids. They are amazing and hopefully they will run for office some day.

Take it away, Rick.

SANCHEZ: You got it.