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American Morning
Romney Care, a Role Model for Health Care Reform; Taliban Threatens Election in Afghanistan; L.A. Coroner Visits Michael Jackson's Dermatologist; Credit Card Laws to Change; Seattle at Risk for the Big Earthquake; Vets Looking for Work; Babysitting Co-op; Debt Collectors Make New Type of Threatening Calls
Aired August 20, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you on this Thursday, August 20th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks for being with us. We're following several developing stories this morning. We'll be breaking them down for you in the next 15 minutes, including an election overshadowed by fear today.
As we speak, people in Afghanistan are voting for a new president. But the Taliban is hard at work, threatening violence, even death in the hopes of throwing the election off course. We're live in Afghanistan with the latest and why this all matters for the United States.
CHETRY: And in the ongoing battle over health care reform, some are asking whether or not the president could learn a thing or two from Massachusetts governor, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's playbook. We're going to take a look at how that state could be a role model for national health care reform.
ROBERTS: And the Los Angeles coroner returns to the office of Michael Jackson's long-time dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein. The visit comes just one week after the chief investigator said his report was complete. In just a moment, we'll tell you what they're looking for now.
Overhauling health care remains a huge challenge for President Obama, but he keeps on pitching. He rallied thousands of religious leaders yesterday stressing a moral imperative for health care reform.
Today, he enters the lion's den of conservative talk radio sitting down for an interview with Michael Smerconish. The president is keeping hope for a bipartisan breakthrough on health care alive. At least that's what the White House is saying publicly. But if they're looking for a road map, they might find it in Massachusetts.
CNN's Jim Acosta is following that for us from Boston this morning. Good morning, Jim. You're taking a look today at Massachusetts health care system. And this was something that was implemented under former Governor Mitt Romney.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Of all thing, a Republican. And you know, John, earlier this week, the White House took a lot of heat from Democrats when it seemed to back away from that public option and its plans for health care reform. What do you get when you take the public option out of health care reform?
Well, according to some experts, you get Romney care.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good. Thank you. Good to see you.
ACOSTA (voice-over): If Washington wants to reform health care with bipartisan support, consider what former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney did as governor in Democratic Massachusetts.
ROMNEY: You don't have to have a public option. You don't have to have government get in the insurance business to make it work.
ACOSTA: Three years after enacting its own version of reform, Massachusetts now has near universal coverage. Taxpayer watchdogs say it's affordable.
MICHAEL WIDMER, MASSACHUSETTS TAXPAYERS FOUNDATION: And there is this widespread assumption that is now treated us back. It is breaking the bank in Massachusetts.
ACOSTA: And is it?
WIDMER: It's not breaking the bank at all. That's not even costing much at all relative to what we were spending four years ago.
ACOSTA: And health care experts say it's popular.
ROBERT LENDON, HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Seven in ten people in the state support the program. And no more than one in 10 would repeal it.
ACOSTA: Unlike Democratic proposals that would give Americans the choice of joining a government-run health care plan, Massachusetts has no public option. Instead, people in the state are mandated to buy private insurance before it gets subsidies. Analyst say Romney Care is basically Obamacare (ph) minus the public option.
(on camera): The president drops the public option, will you come out and support him?
ROMNEY: Well, it depends on what's in the rest of the bill.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Romney says Democrats only have themselves to blame for those rowdy town hall meetings.
ROMNEY: I think any time you're dealing with people's health care and their ability to choose their doctor, their ability to decide what kind of health care plan they want, you're going to find people are going to respond very emotionally.
ACOSTA: As for that other former governor's now debunk claim that reform would lead to death panels...
(on camera): What did you think when you heard Governor Palin talking about death panels?
ROMNEY: You know, I hadn't read that into the bill.
ACOSTA: You think it's OK for the governor of Alaska to be talking about death panels, pulling the plug on grandma...
ROMNEY: I'm not going to tell other people what they can and cannot talk about.
ACOSTA (voice-over): But Romney does warn the president, bipartisanship is the only road to health care reform.
ROMNEY: I think the right process for the president to pursue on health care on an issue that is so emotional and so important to all Americans is to go through the lengthy process of working out a bipartisan basis. He promised that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Now the Massachusetts model does have its problems. It does not control rising health care costs, something Romney says has to be tackled on a national level -- John.
ROBERTS: Yes. That's, you know, the centerpiece of health care reform here is controlling costs and a lot of arguments over how best to do that.
ACOSTA: Right.
ROBERTS: Jim Acosta this morning. Jim, thanks so much.
To read more about the health care debate, by the way, or to get answers to your questions, and I'm sure you've got lots of them, go to CNN.com/healthcare.
CHETRY: Well, we're following developing news and a major election underway right now in a country where the U.S. has a major stake. We're talking about Afghanistan. And as we speak, people there are heading to the polls to elect a new president. And they're doing so despite threats of violence, even death by the Taliban.
It's the same group that ran the country and cozied up with Osama bin Laden before 9/11. And it's the Taliban who would love to see today's election fail. One of the big things standing in the way of that, America's 60,000 troops on the ground. They're working overtime to keep the polls and the people safe.
We're tapping into the global resources of CNN this morning. Ivan Watson outside of Kabul joining us this morning.
And, Ivan, what is the turnout like so far today in Afghanistan?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm looking at a Bamiyan province right now. It's a central province, one of the safest provinces in the country. And I got to say, there was a line of people waiting before the polls even opened to come in and vote.
Some 2,000 people estimated in just the first two hours when this polling station opened. And they got so rowdy, so impatient to come in, they actually broke one of the gates trying to get into this compound, this high school where people are voting behind me in these tents right here.
So we've had a steady stream of voters here and people are fortunate in this province in that it has had remarkably few insurgent attacks. The same cannot be said for broad sections of southern and eastern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is much stronger. We've gotten reports from some Afghan security officials, for example, in the southern province of Helmand, reports of a rocket attack in the district capital of Lashkar Gah, where one person was killed today and another person wounded.
Another rocket attack in the eastern town of Gardash (ph). So it gives you a sense that there is insecurity particularly in those areas where the Taliban insurgency is quite strong. Here, though, election officials telling us all of the polling centers in this province are open and, of course, voting very brisk. Back to you.
CHETRY: And, you know, for people wondering why we should pay attention to this election here. What's at stake going forward?
WATSON: Well, first of all, it's the costs. This is costing some $223 million to the international community. On top of that, you have the huge U.S. commitment on the ground. More than 60,000 troops trying to secure this country eight years after the Taliban was overthrown. And the U.S. forces are taking casualties.
There were three American troops killed just yesterday in clashes. Last month was the deadliest month yet for U.S. forces on the ground. And NATO troops, European forces, are also taking casualties on a daily basis.
And this is an attempt to try to prop up the western-backed government right now which is viewing this election, also, as a test of its credibility. It's important to see whether or not these elections will be credible. And if the Taliban succeeds in convincing Afghans and scaring them from voting, particularly in the ethnic Pashtun populated areas in the south and the east where the Taliban is strongest, it will undermine the very credibility of the next government here in Afghanistan and really strike a blow to this eight- year effort to try to build a stable Afghanistan.
CHETRY: Ivan Watson for us this morning in Afghanistan. Thanks so much.
And also stay with us because coming up in about 30 minutes, we'll be talking to Andrew Exum. He's a fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He just traveled to Afghanistan and we're going to ask him what the result of today's election means for U.S.- Afghan relations. ROBERTS: Seven minutes after the hour. And also new this morning, Hurricane Bill churning through the open waters of the Atlantic and moving ever so closer to Bermuda. Bill weakening slightly overnight to a Category Three storm but is expected to restrengthen during the day today when the sun comes up.
Right now, maximum sustained winds near 125 miles an hour. Forecasters say that Bill is expected to affect the eastern U.S. coast with large swells as early as tomorrow. It looks like it may come precariously close to Cape Cod as well.
CHETRY: Also learning new details about a Bush-era program to kill Al Qaeda operatives that former Vice President Dick Cheney allegedly kept secret from Congress. According to "The New York Times" in 2004, the CIA hired private contractors from Blackwater to help with planning, training and surveillance. The price tag said to cost millions, even though the program never got past the planning stage.
ROBERTS: The Obama administration has reportedly got commitments from nearly a dozen European countries willing to accept detainees from Guantanamo Bay. "The Washington Post" says six countries, Britain, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain have agreed to take detainees. And four others have said privately they are committed to doing the same.
Some 80 Gitmo detainees have been cleared for release so far. The White House has been looking for a prison location in this country to transfer inmates to. But some members of Congress are opposed to moving terror suspects on to U.S. soil.
CHETRY: All right. Well, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is speaking publicly for the first time since he was beaten with a metal pipe. The attack happened last week as he was leaving the Wisconsin state fair with his family. He wore a cast on his fractured right hand. It had cuts on his face and head. The mayor told reporters he was just doing his civic duty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR TOM BARRETT, MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: I encountered something that I think virtually any other citizen in this city would have reacted the same way. We were walking down the street, and my two daughters and Molly too, I think at that point said -- someone is yelling, call 911, call 911. and there was a woman holding a baby. And our immediate thought was there was something wrong with the baby.
And so I quickly pulled out my phone. I think Molly did and we started calling 911. Within seconds, we realized the problem was not with the baby, it was with the man. And he came up and was very, very agitated and events took off from there very, very quickly.
I have been in situations in this community my whole life and I can't think of a situation like this where people would not have responded the way I did. When someone says call 911, you call 911. It's that straightforward. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. Well, he says he didn't elaborate more on the attack because there is a case pending, of course, after this happened to him. Police do have a suspect in custody. And in case you're wondering about the mayor's security detail, they were not with him because he calls it a spur of the moment decision to go to the fair.
ROBERTS: We've got the latest on the Michael Jackson case coming up. The coroner's office says that it's investigation is over. It's got the report on how Michael Jackson died. So why were investigators back in the offices of his dermatologist? We'll find out coming up.
It's 10 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It turns out that there were a lot more fliers with time off than JetBlue expected. The airline this morning suspending sales of its all-new jet promotion after only a week. It's kind of like the cash for clunkers program.
For just $599, customers could fly anywhere between the airlines 56 cities starting September 8th and ending October 8th. JetBlue says the promotion exceeded expectations.
CHETRY: That is just strange. Why do it in the first place? It was only $600. You don't think people would take them up on that offer?
ROBERTS: Yes. I mean, I cannot imagine you take even just a week off and go visit, you know, as many as cities as you can hit in the space of that time.
CHETRY: Yes. If you travel for business, whatever it is, it's $600.
ROBERTS: And, of course, it's going to be a popular program.
CHETRY: All right, go figure.
Well, the Ivy League rules. In the latest ranking of America's colleges, Harvard and Princeton share the top spot in a list that was compiled by "U.S. News and World Report" and Yale is in third place. And there's a four-way tie for number four between Cal Tech, MIT, Stanford, and another Ivy Leaguer, U-Temp (ph). But didn't we just say that Army (ph) ranked the top like a week ago?
ROBERTS: Why not a candlelit dinner? Romantic, yes, but also dangerous to your health? A study by the American Chemical Society found fumes from paraffin wax, the most common and cheapest form of candle wax produce toxins that can be linked to cancer and asthma.
But don't throw the candles away just yet. Researchers say you have to light them day after day for years in a poorly ventilated room to be at risk. Thought they just thought you should know anyway.
CHETRY: There you go. West Point was right. That was -- weeks ago.
Anyway, a new twist in the Michael Jackson investigation. Authorities went to visit the singer's long-time dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, again. Just last week, the coroner said a "thorough report into Jackson's death was complete." So why the second search? CNN's Randi Kaye looks into it.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Kiran. Just when you thought it was over, another twist in the Michael Jackson case. This time, another subpoena served at the office of Dr. Arnold Klein, Jackson's long-time dermatologist. His attorney says the coroner's chief investigator came to the office yesterday to confirm or negate new information he received.
This is significant because just last week, the L.A. County coroner's office announced its report was complete, calling it "thorough and comprehensive." Well, obviously, it's not as complete as they thought it was.
Yesterday's visit marks the coroner's second visit to Dr. Klein seeking information. The last one was July 14. Here's what one of his attorneys told reporters outside his office after all was done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARD GHAZARIAN, ATTORNEY FOR DR. ARNOLD KLEIN: Dr. Arnold Klein wants to maintain his utter cooperation with any and all law enforcement authority with respect to the investigation into the cause of death of Michael Jackson. He has done so. He will continue to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Dr. Klein's lawyer said he's no reason to be concerned on behalf of his client that he sees no evidence to support a charge of medical malpractice which has been floated as a possible charge against Dr. Klein. Investigators are looking at Dr. Klein because he falls into that appropriate window of time.
Police are looking at more than a dozen doctors who were in touch with Michael Jackson or treating him during what authorities see as a critical time frame in this case. My source with knowledge of the investigation told me weeks ago, Dr. Klein is on the list of doctors investigators are focusing on. They're trying to determine what drugs Jackson was taking, who prescribed them, and under what name, since we know Jackson was getting drugs under 19 different aliases including the name of his own son and personal chef.
Now Dr. Klein told CNN last month he doesn't believe he's being scrutinized and that the most dangerous drug he ever gave Michael Jackson was Demerol. In terms of their last visit, Dr. Klein has said Jackson came to see him three days before his death. Dr. Klein told CNN the pop star even danced for his patients in the office that day. But I asked his lawyer by phone if that was definitely their last visit, and his lawyer told me he wasn't sure when the last time his client saw Michael Jackson was. I asked him if he had seen him within 24 hours of his death. And he told me flat out, he did not know.
So, the investigation continues. John, Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: Randi Kaye for us this morning. Thanks so much. By the way, it was "U.S. News & World Report" that ranked Harvard and Princeton at the top spot. It was Forbes that rated West Point number one but that was also factoring the affordability issue.
ROBERTS: Everybody's got an opinion.
CHETRY: That's right.
ROBERTS: Do as much research as you can. Make an informed decision. That's the best thing to do.
New rules for credit cards coming up is supposed to be more friendly for consumers. However, the credit card companies react. Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Seventeen minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. We know that cash for clunkers, the program, is certainly no clunker. But we could learn today the administration's plan through winding down the rebate program that's had cars flying off dealers' lots.
It's estimated that the $2 billion pumped into the program earlier this month should be enough to keep it running through at least Labor Day.
And Christine Romans here this morning "Minding Your Business" with new rules for credit card holders and the issuers of those cards.
Good morning.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Look, this affects everybody. Good morning you, guys. Because if you've got a credit card in your wallet, in your pocket, and you use a credit card, you're going to see some changes. You're likely seeing them right now.
Look in your mailbox because the credit card issuers are starting to send out their notices telling you that they are raising your interest rates. They're going to be implementing an annual fee.
Citigroup is putting an annual fee on some of its cards, annual fee for people who maybe have never paid an annual fee before, who maybe they pay their credit card off in full every month. But if you're going to start to see some of these changes, you have some rights that are coming in to effect here. And they start actually today.
Here's what's going to change for you. You're going to have the right to reject a rate increase. You're going to have five years to repay your balance at the current rate. They can't raise the rate on your current balance. You've got five years to pay that off.
Forty-five day notice before there's a rate increase. They've got to give you that in writing, and your bills may be mailed 21 days before your due date.
Right now, it's a couple of weeks. So a little bit more time you're going to have before so you can see what your bill is.
Now, there are some downsides here. And, you know, the industry had told us -- they said, look out. If you pass these laws, it's going to make it harder for people to get credit cards. You're going to see, you know, interest rates go up and that's exactly what's been happening. It's going to be harder to get a card for some people.
We're already hearing this from people -- higher interest rates. We're already hearing that the lowest average, you know, advertised rate is already up to about 11.99 percent.
Riskier borrowers, forget it. I mean, you're going to be shut out of this process. And annual fees -- they warned us Citigroup is now confirming, indeed, that it is going to instate an annual fee on some of its -- some of its cards.
So, also, the rewards programs for people who are very good customers, those are already starting to change. It used to be in some of the cards you've got five percent cash back. You're a good customer, you're using it all the time. Small businesses use them a lot because they put big balances on there. Now they're rotating the categories for five percent cash back.
ROBERTS: It's not enough. I mean...
ROMANS: Exactly.
ROBERTS: Just plenty of cards out there, right?
ROMANS: However, it used to be if you were ticked off about something, you've got fear or something, you could call your credit card.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROMANS: We all would say, just call them.
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: Argue, ask to speak to the supervisor. They'll take the fee off. They're not taking the fees off.
CHETRY: What about the late payments now? Anything changing with that? ROMANS: The big -- you need -- well, first of all, you need to pay on time. You need to make your -- I can't stress this enough because some of the big changes don't go into effect until February. So the big changes, the most important things to protect you don't go in effect until February.
So, in the meantime, you're going to see there are fees that you're still going to be hit with. You're still going to be hit with higher interest rates and the like. So you really got to toe the line on this.
I mean, we all love to hate the credit card companies but we love our credit cards. If you can, you have got to pay on time as much as you can every month.
ROBERTS: Do you have a "Romans' Numeral" for us this morning?
ROMANS: I sure do.
ROBERTS: And what is it?
ROMANS: And my "Romans' Numeral" is...
ROBERTS: Could you tell?
ROMANS: I will tell you what it is. It's 1,157.
ROBERTS: Average credit card balance of people holding these days.
ROMANS: I know. You know, John is like...
ROBERTS: Tell (INAUDIBLE) Johnny...
(CROSSTALK)
ROBERTS: I know. This is what you win, Johnny, my friend. You win my undying affection.
This is the average, average balance per open credit card -- per open credit card. Let me give you a little perspective, folks, on the "Romans' Numeral."
If you pay 60 bucks a month on that credit card, you know, which is, you know, $60 a month, it will take four and a half years to pay it off. And you pay 250 bucks in interest. So think about that, you know. That's a long time. Four and a half years.
CHETRY: Yes. And the payments are 15 bucks.
ROMANS: Yes, this is per card. I mean, how many cards -- sorry, I'm speechless over this.
How many cards do you have in your pocket? You know? I have three. I pay them off. I pay them. I pay them.
ROBERTS: Good for you.
ROMANS: I practice what I preach.
ROBERTS: You're a good little consumer. Thanks, Christine.
ROMANS: Good little consumer.
ROBERTS: "Minding Your Business" this morning.
CHETRY: Still ahead. You know, we always think about earthquakes and we associate it with California. But actually Seattle could be at risk for a giant earthquake. They're making some new discoveries about the fault lines there in Seattle.
Twenty-four and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-seven minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
People in the western part of our nation bracing for the big one. But scientists saying it's not a question if a big earthquake will happen, it's just a question of when.
Well, now we're thinking maybe Los Angeles, right? San Francisco? Actually, it's Seattle. It turns out to be earthquake country. CNN's Dan Simon has our story.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John and Kiran. Well, when people think of Seattle, they probably think of the space needle and those dreary days. Certainly not earthquakes. Well, that could be changing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON (voice-over): At Seattle's famous Pike's Place fish market, workers approach earthquakes the same way as their jobs -- with humor.
CHRIS BELL, SEATTLE RESIDENT: I guess we're due for it. I mean, myself, living downtown, I'm in a high-rise if it goes. At least I'm going to go quick.
SIMON: But tremors in Seattle are no joke. In 2001, the city got hit by a 6.8 magnitude quake. Significant, but scientists at the University of Washington fear the next one will be worse.
PROF. JOHN VIDALE, SEISMOLOGIST: We know it's a matter of time. The question is really how much will the city shake when it comes?
SIMON: Professor John Vidale is the state's seismologist. He says research over the last few years shows that earthquake fault zones in the Pacific Northwest may lie closer to the city than previously thought. VIDALE: The new evidence suggests that the edge of the breakage closest to us is now halfway in from the coastline instead of near the coastline.
SIMON (on camera): Closer to Seattle.
VIDALE: Closer to Seattle.
SIMON (voice-over): What that means is a quake impact would be felt much more. How much? Researchers say it can produce a magnitude of 9.0 or greater. That's equal to the 2004 quake off of the coast of Indonesia which spawned the killer tsunami.
Scientists say that does not mean a 9.0 would necessarily cause widespread devastation here, but vital structures, including some traffic arteries would likely collapse. People would most certainly die.
(on camera): Right above me is the Alaskan way viaduct. It carries more than 100,000 cars a day. One expert told us he'd be more surprised if it stayed up following a big earthquake than if it came down.
(voice-over): The 1999 earthquake in the San Francisco Bay area destroyed a similarly designed viaduct. Forty-two people died. And county officials say at least 200,000 homes across Seattle and at suburbs are considered vulnerable. Some have heeded the warning.
Peter Lynch is having his two-story house retrofitted to withstand a powerful shake.
PETER LYNCH, SEATTLE HOMEOWNER: I'd much rather be prepared than wait for the big one to come and have to pick up the pieces.
SIMON: But many don't have or aren't willing to shell out the $5,000 to have the work done.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON: Residents of San Francisco and Los Angeles already live in constant fear that the big one could strike at any time. Now it seems you can add another city to the list.
John, Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Dan Simon for us this morning. Dan, thanks so much.
And we are coming up exactly now on the half hour. It's 6:30 Eastern. Checking our top stories. Brand new this morning.
Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy is asking state officials to change a law to make sure that the state has two Senate votes should his seat become vacant. The law was changed in 2004 requiring a special election because then-Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, could have appointed someone had Senator John Kerry won the presidential election. Aides to Kennedy insist his condition has not changed since he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 2008. But Senator Kennedy wants there to be an interim appointment before a special election just to make sure that the state is covered.
CHETRY: Well, there are some new revelations this morning about Cambridge police sergeant James Crowley whose arrest of a black Harvard professor, Henry Gates, ignited a national debate on race. Internal affairs files that were requested by two Boston newspaper show eight citizen complaints over his 11-year career and two of them were allegations of racial bias by black males.
Crowley was cleared in both cases. Again these files were released in response to a request by two Boston newspapers. And police say that the number of complaints against Crowley amounts to fewer than 1 percent of the cases in which he'd been involved.
ROBERTS: We are remembering a true pioneer of television news this morning. Don Hewitt, perhaps best known as the creator of "60 minutes" died yesterday. Hewitt joined CBS in the late 1940s. He devised the first half-hour nightly newscast and also produced the Kennedy-Nixon debate. He had pancreatic cancer. He was 86 years old and he will be missed.
This morning, history is unfolding in Afghanistan. That country's second presidential election is under way, an election that Taliban has tried to stop with violence and threats against voters. There's a lot at stake there.
And here to help us break it all down is Andrew Exum, he's a fellow at the Center for New American Security. He recently got back from Afghanistan, where he was part of a U.S. review team.
Andrew, it's great to talk to you this morning. So far, initial indications are that the turnout for this year's election is far lower than it was the last time around. I think it was about 80 percent in 2004, now we're hearing about 50 percent. What do you make of that? And how could it affect the outcome of the election?
ANDREW EXUM, FELLOW, CENTER FOR NEW AMERICAN SECURITY: I think first off, voters in some of the more urban areas may be waiting until the very end to see if there're any violent incidents; so voters in Kabul and Kandahar, especially.
The second thing is that this is certainly part of the -- this is what the (INAUDIBLE) Taliban, the Haqqani (ph) network, or any of the insurgent groups in Afghanistan want. They want to drive participation so low that these elections are perceived as illegitimate.
The problem that they have is that the areas in which the areas in which (INAUDIBLE) Taliban, the Haqqani network, the areas in which they can really affect the voter turnout are areas where Hamid Karzai has his most support so in the south and the east.
I'm not sure they want any of the chief rivals such as Abdullah Abdullah or Ashakani (ph) to defeat Karzai. So it's a tricky game that they're trying to play.
ROBERTS: So far, violence we've heard about a gun battle in the capital city of Kabul that the Taliban actually phoned in to claim responsibility for a number of explosions there, one apparently at a polling place, and a rocket attack in Kandahar. Is that more or less than you would expect?
EXUM: Well, I think when we focus on these violent activities, we're missing something that's a little more important in the south and in the east. Key population areas in the south and in the east, especially Kandahar and Kalcibul (ph), the Taliban and other insurgent groups have waged a war of fear intimidation, a kind of a silent war. This war has been taking place for quite sometime.
So they don't necessarily have to have spectacular attacks in order to deter people from voting. They can simply give letters of intimidation or threaten to do certain things. As long as those threats are perceived as being credible by the population, they can drive voter participation down just by doing that.
ROBERTS: President Hamid Karzai spoke after casting his ballot this morning. Let's listen to a little bit of what he said encouraging people to get out and vote today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN: And I ask our people to come out and vote so that through their vote Afghanistan can be a more secure, more peaceful, and a better country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT: You know, Andrew, one of the big complaints about Karzai's regime has been rampant corruption. There have also been concerns raised about some of the people that he associated himself with while he was campaigning for re-election. People like the notorious militia general Dostum. People who might want a place in the new Afghan government should Karzai win re-election.
Is he really the leader that the United States wants or is he the best person that we got?
EXUM: At this phase, I don't think the United States is necessarily picking which leader would be best for us. But we certainly need a change in regime behavior. There are wide spread allegations of corruption certainly all throughout Afghanistan, no matter where you go in Afghanistan, no matter who you speak with.
John, if you give me $5, I can go to the streets of Kabul and get you an Afghan voter registration card. There is corruption and there are allegations of illegitimacy about these elections that have nothing to do with the Taliban, nothing to do with the Haqqani network.
What the United States and the international community want are two things. First off, elections that are widely perceived as being legitimate and that doesn't matter who wins there. And the second we have to make sure that if Hamid Karzai does win, that he's not going to use the post-election period to simply staff what he perceive as being real key ministries with cronies or people that he's trying to reward because of the -- because of the election campaign.
The reality is that we're trying to build up certain key ministries, certain key institutions of the Afghan state, such as the army, such as the police. And that's going to be a lot more difficult if we're dealing with somebody like Rashid Dostum.
ROBERTS: You mentioned a couple of minutes ago, Abdullah Abdullah, the former foreign minister, the man who was a member of the alliance during the war. He's turned into a surprise candidate, surprising strength, at least, in the last few weeks.
If he were to win the presidency over Karzai, how would things change there in the relationship between Afghanistan and the United States?
EXUM: Well, it's difficult to say. I think one problem that we would have is even though Abdullah Abdullah's father was Pashtun, he's perceived Tajik. His real support is in the northeast of Afghanistan.
Right now, we've already got a problem where voters in the south and east, the Pashtuns of Afghanistan feel disenfranchised to a certain degree. That would only increase with an Abdullah Abdullah presidency. So even though we may have a more positive movement with respect to building the institutions of Afghanistan, the state is going to face a crisis of legitimacy. And I think we can still expect there to be rising violence in the provinces, especially in the south and the east.
ROBERTS: Well, we've got correspondents in Afghanistan today. We'll keep on watching this story unfold there.
Andrew Exum, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks for being with us.
EXUM: Sure thing.
CHETRY: Still ahead, we're continuing the series "The War at Home," talking about the challenges that many returning soldiers face. That's searching for a job; it's a tough job market as we know. And it's proving to be perhaps even more difficult for some who are coming back from war.
Chris Lawrence takes a look. It's 37 minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: It's 40 minutes past the hour now.
All this week in our special series "The War at Home" we're seeing just how difficult it can be to make the transition back home after months or in some cases years on the battlefield. One of the biggest problems right now for returning young veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan is finding a job.
CNN's Chris Lawrence talked to some returning soldiers about the challenges.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, you know how high the national unemployment rate is right now. The jobless rate for veterans is even worse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): every month at Ft. Hood, nearly 1,000 soldiers trade their rifles for resumes.
They're leaving the army when the unemployment rate for recent veterans is nearly 10 percent. Vets who served since 2001, 160,000 of them don't have jobs.
(on camera): How do you feel right now about getting out?
TINA BUONACORI (PH), VETERAN: Scared. It's the only word I can use for it. It's a frightening transition.
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Sergeant Tina Buonacori is about to become a civilian.
BUONACORI: It worries me. I stay up a lot. I'm stressed out over this.
LAWRENCE: This is a woman who deployed to Iraq three times, took small arms fire, and had her convoy blown up more than once. She's a vehicle mechanic who wants an office job. And more time to start a family. But it's a challenge.
BUONACORI: The words that we used aren't the words in the civilian world. And to sell myself in the way that you really don't have to sell yourself in the military.
LAWRENCE: In the corporate world, you have to make sure your boss knows what a good job you did. The military is all about team, not the individual.
LINDA CHRIST, ARMY CAREER & ALUMNI PROGRAM: It's very hard to get a soldier to turn around and write down their accomplishments because it sounds like bragging.
LAWRENCE: Linda Christ runs Fort Hood's transition office, which tracks down open jobs, teaches interview skills and offers career counseling. But its biggest challenge is making military skills relevant on a resume.
CHRIST: We teach the soldier to market themselves.
LAWRENCE: Including appearance. Tina enlisted when she was 19. Like a lot of young vets, she's worn a uniform all of her adult life.
(on camera): you have to think about business suits, your hair, all that.
(voice-over): But recent vets say military discipline and the experience of actual war make up for what they may lack in wardrobe.
BUONACORI: Hopefully with all of this work I'm putting in to it, it works out in the end.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Bottom line, they fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, but in this economy, the thing that scares some of them the most is becoming a civilian -- John, Kiran.
CHETRY: And tomorrow in the final part of the series, "War at Home," how one military family dealt with the stress of having a parent deployed overseas. What things were like when the mother, who's at home, trying to raise the two kids alone, felt like she couldn't do it anymore? We're going to talk about how hard it is to adjust to life once the families are reunited.
ROBERTS: So many difficulties for people who are overseas deployed, for their families at home and for when they get back together again. It's a great series we've got going all week.
Coming up now on 43 1/2 minutes after the hour. The very latest on hurricane bill, where it's headed, the strength -- it may be precariously close to Cape Cod. If you happen to be watching us this morning in Halifax, Nova Scotia, you might have to baton down the hatches.
Rob Marciano has got the forecast coming up next.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. A live look at Atlanta today; we're at 73 degrees. Just beautiful out there now, going up to a high of 85, which for Atlanta in August is pretty comfortable.
What else is new, though? Thunderstorms are in the forecast for this afternoon.
And at 47 minutes after the hour, Rob Marciano in the weather center in Atlanta tracking the extreme weather; we've got Hurricane Bill out there in the Atlantic and other stuff across the country to talk about. Rob, good morning.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys.
Yes we have some severe weather in the midsection -- we'll get to that in a sec, but first off, here's the latest update on Hurricane Bill. Right now winds of 125 miles per hour. It has gotten a little disorganized in the last 12 of hours. So it's dropped to a Category 3 storm but we do anticipate further strengthening.
Also, notice the last couple of frames, there's been a bit of a turn to the north. That's good. That's what we've been waiting for. It gives us a little bit more confidence as far as what our model tracks are doing. All these lines are different computers and the good news is that they're beginning to get a little bit more clustered. That indicates confidence.
Still forecast to shoot the gap that would bring Bermuda out of the equation except for some wind and some waves and also parts of the Carolinas. Although, not out of the woods completely is Cape Cod as John alluded to right before the break.
Notice how the winds stay at 120 just east of Cape Cod on Sunday morning into Sunday afternoon. If this forecast shifts to the west at all, then we're in a world of hurt and certainly Nova Scotia and Newfoundland will be getting their fair share of stormy weather here come the beginning of next week.
Severe storms expected across the nation's heartland into the Ohio River Valley. We had some rough weather yesterday. Check out what happened in Minneapolis. There were 18 reports of tornadoes yesterday.
This one did some damages -- only to businesses but about 40 homes damaged with big time trees falling down. And today we expect to see maybe some similar action, at least east of that area as that front slowly makes its way towards the northeast.
Hey, on the road tomorrow, guys? Bowling Green, Ohio, I've never been. The National Tractor Pull Championships is being held this week. And 10,000 horsepower pulling -- I'm not sure what. But we're going to check it out. Tune in tomorrow.
CHETRY: You're going to learn a lot.
MARCIANO: How to drive a tractor? That's my goal.
ROBERTS: We're going to get you on one of those nitro-burning John Deeres out there, Rob?
MARCIANO: I don't know if I'm qualified for that, but we're certainly going to ask.
ROBERTS: Ok. We're going to see you mount up tomorrow. That would be great.
CHETRY: Yes. He's going to use muscles he never knew he had. Good luck, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right, guys. Thanks.
CHETRY: We're going to decide...
ROBERTS: I thought the tractor pulled the weight, though, not him.
CHETRY: I thought Rob was going to be pulling a tractor. That's -- a little known category that they're starting this year. We'll see.
Meanwhile, we want you to decide where Rob should go next. We have some more Fridays left in the summer. He's going here because you guys wanted him to. So check out our Web site cnn.com/amfix. Send us some ideas.
ROBERTS: So we were talking over the past couple of days about co-ops for health insurance. And some people say it's a great idea. Good way to get health insurance.
What about co-ops for a different type of care, baby care? Could that be something that would fly? We'll find out.
It's 49 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
It's a simple concept really; I'll watch your kids, you watch mine. That's the idea behind babysitter co-ops.
CHETRY: Especially in the economy where people are looking for ways to save money it's turning out to be a great idea, working for a lot of people. And they're popping up all over the country.
Parents aren't just saving money with this new scenario. They're actually getting peace of mind. It's, after all, other parents helping you to watch your kids.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick takes a look.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, families are looking to save money anyway they can right now without giving up too much sanity. When it comes to kids, one group of parents has hit on the perfect solution to cut costs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: It's 7:30 on a Wednesday. And expectant mom Miciela Birmingham is taking the night off from her own family to baby sit someone else's kid.
MICIELA BIRMINGHAM, BABYSITTER: My house is a mess right now. To come over to someone else's house is a little refreshing.
FEYERICK: Miciela is not your average babysitter. First, she's doing this for free. She runs her own business, juggles the family budget. And Jake and Fiona McLean are good friends, all are part of the babysitting cooperative in Brooklyn, New York.
BIRMINGHAM: The natural network of grandmothers and aunts and uncles to babysit is not here. It's really been great for us to get on that intimate level with other families.
FEYERICK: Fifteen families trade babysitting services for points, earning four points an hour babysitting which they later swap to get their own time off.
FIONA MCLEAN, CO-OP MOM: My mom just came over from Australia. And you know I saved up points on babysitting so I could go out.
FEYERICK: With most everyone looking to save money these days, babysitting co-ops are thriving. Brooklyn mom Sharon Ng and Christine LaBeck (ph) started the co-op by word of mouth less than a year ago. There's now a waiting list to get in.
SHARON NG, CO-OP MOM: We definitely use it once a month.
IAN CELECIA, CO-OP DAD: Not enough. We'd like to use it more.
FEYERICK: Families commit to babysitting twice a month, signing up online, either to sit or cash in their points.
NG: I just submitted my request.
FEYERICK: The co-op meets regularly and makes sure everybody is on the same page when it comes to rules like child proofing and medical releases.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think something like this becomes like your extended family. You have people you can trust to watch your kids.
FEYERICK: The ability to go out for an hour or two hours like you're doing tonight, what does it do for you?
MCLEAN: Keeps us sane.
It's quite liberating to walk out the front door and remember who you were before the kids.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: To join the co-op, you must be recommended by two other neighborhood families. The savings are substantial. As much as $80, the average pay in big cities like New York where families are also expected to provide cab fare home for the babysitter -- John, Kiran.
CHETRY: It all sounds good except for one thing that I noticed.
ROBERTS: The guy drinking wine.
CHETRY: He was drinking wine in one hand and shaking a baby toy with the other. Shouldn't being sober when you're watching other people's kids be like rule number one?
ROBERTS: At least he wasn't offering the wine to the baby. Thank goodness for small miracles.
Bill Richardson, New Mexico Governor has been talking to the North Koreans for the last few hours. He's back at it again today. But before he starts day two of his little mini summit with them, he stops by to talk to us.
What could this hold in terms of negotiations between the United States and North Korea and possible opening in diplomatic relations. We'll find out from the governor.
Fifty-five minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Three minutes before the top of the hour.
They can be harsh enough on the people who have a mountain of unpaid bills. But now some debt collectors are going after people who don't even owe any money.
New York's attorney general says that many collectors are making threatening phone calls or even posing in some cases as lawyers or police officers. He's taking more than a dozen agencies to court trying to shut them down.
Mary Snow has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michelle Minton says she'll never forget the call she got the same day her daughter was diagnosed with autism -- a man posing as a lawyer claimed she owed $4,400 and said her arrest was imminent if she didn't pay up.
MICHELLE MINTON, DEBT COLLECTION VICTIM: He was getting very insistent and started, you know, I don't remember all of the words, but started talking about your kids will see you arrested. If there's nobody there, if your husband can't make it home, Child Protective Services will have to take your kids.
SNOW: Minton wasn't actually in debt. But feeling the pressure, she relented. Gave the number of her bank account and lost $900.
Dorothy Gilbert teared up listening to the voice mail left at her home over a $187 bill she had already paid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're totally ghetto. Second of all, learn English. Get an education. Not just sitting on the fat derriere all day long, making money off the rest of the free working population of the country. You might want to try to get educated enough to at least be able to say payment plan instead of payment pan, you uneducated reject.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says that call and others in which law enforcement is impersonated and some even threatening sexual assault are tied to operators of 13 companies he's now trying to shut down in New York.
ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: The tactics -- they are so disturbing, so threatening that they tend to be effective. That's why they do it.
Private attorney Joe Mauro represents debt collection abuse victims. He says there's been an increase in cases tying it in to the economic downturn.
JOE MAURO, ATTORNEY: There's no money to be pulled out of consumers these days. And as that happens, the debt collectors become more desperate.
SNOW: But the trade group for debt collectors says don't paint them all with the same brush. It estimates rogue collectors make up about 10 percent of the industry.
ROZANNE ANDERSEN, ACA INTERNATIONAL: The harassing phone calls and the aggressive behavior is absolutely unacceptable.
SNOW: Cuomo found a lawsuit against the Benning Smith Group (ph) an umbrella group for 13 companies. We called several and they were either disconnected or out of service.
Three individuals in Buffalo, New York were also named. We reached a lawyer for one who says he'll fight the charges.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Thanks, Mary.
