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Emptier Store Shelves?; Karzai Wins Afghanistan Election by Default; Pakistan Suicide Bombing; USS New York Pays Tribute; November Rebound

Aired November 02, 2009 - 09:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, John, Hi, Kiran. Good morning to you, everybody. Thanks for joining us today.

Another big bankruptcy, another cause for concern. The economy takes center stage, all the way from the Pennsylvania Avenue to main street. And CNN's Christine Romans is going to be joining us with what exactly that means to you.

Also, to Afghanistan, the presidential election no more. It's canceled and a winner is actually declared now. Does this eliminate a key target of the Taliban? We'll be talking about that. And CNN's Sara Sidner is standing by in Kabul with reaction to today's developments.

And also this morning in New York City, what a beautiful shot. You are looking at the USS New York. Earlier this morning, a military salute at ground zero. Come aboard the USS New York, a Navy assault ship built from the steel and the memories of the World Trade Center.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Today is Monday, November 2nd, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Your money. It's issue number one at the White House today. President Obama will meet with his economic advisers. The focus, coaxing the nation out of its worst recession since the great depression. Many economists say that recovery is already under way, but the president's top money man is also urging caution.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: It's good news, and it shows that when you act with force, you can stabilize a crisis can like this and, you know, start to repair the damage and bring things back. But this is going to be different recovery than in the past, because Americans will have to save more.

A lot of damage was caused by this crisis. It's going to take some time for us to grow out of this. Could be a little choppy, could be uneven and it's going to take a while, but, again, I think this is encouraging signs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The new workweek starts with one of the biggest bankruptcies in U.S. history. Commercial lender CIT Group has filed for Chapter 11 protection.

Christine Romans is joining us now from New York with more on this.

So, Christine, good morning to you. The holiday shopping season is coming up, as everybody knows. What does this mean for retailers?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, CIT is a key lender for all kinds of different businesses, Heidi, but particularly, retail. About 60 percent of retailers rely or their customers rely on CIT in some way, shape, or form to make sure that their shelves are stocked for the holiday season.

This is a company that provides the capital that bridges the gap between the person who makes the good, the person who buys the good, the person who puts it on the shelf at the retailer, and then finally, you. It keeps the money flowing throughout that process.

It's called vendor financing or factoring. Many of you who are listening, you're in business. You know when that means. But to many of us, the rest of us, this is a company that literally touches so many things that we buy.

COLLINS: Yes.

ROMANS: It has filed for bankruptcy. The company says that it will be operating within bankruptcy and it will continue its financing operations. This has been a prepackaged kind of bankruptcy deal, but this is a big one. It has a million customers, it operates in 30 different industries.

I mentioned to you all of those retailers who rely on it. It's also the top lender to women and minorities. It also leases rail car and aircraft, very big in that business. When you look just over the past year at the landscape of these bankruptcies, this is a big one, it's about $71 billion, makes it the fifth largest.

Heidi, I've got a list of all these big bankruptcies for you. Lehman, Washington Mutual, WorldCom, General Motors, now CIT. Interesting, Heidi, the four of the five largest American bankruptcies ever have all happened within the last year.

So that just shows you, I think, what's happened here at CIT. Even though this is -- we've known this company was in trouble back since July.

COLLINS: Yes.

ROMANS: This is a prepackaged bankruptcy, but it is still a sign that it's not normal out there.

COLLINS: Yes. And also something that we've talked about a lot here. When you are a taxpayer who has bailed these companies out, you become sort of this instant investor and you want those companies to do well. So what does this mean when they don't? ROMANS: I think that that investment for American taxpayers is probably gone. $2.3 billion is what taxpayers invested in this company through the Troubled Asset Relief Plan. This company had been looking for another bailout earlier this summer and the Treasury Department and federal regulators did not give it this other bailout.

This is a company that is now going to be in the bankruptcy process, working with its creditors to try to come out the other end. The market will be handing this one, and that means that you and I and our taxpayer investment will almost certainly be gone, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. Boy. Well, there's a little bit of good news out there, right? I mean, can we talk about Ford?

ROMANS: Sure, let's talk about Ford quickly. This is a company that did not have to take a taxpayer bailout. You know, Chrysler did, GM did. Ford did not. Ford has posted a surprise $1 billion profit here. It has said its most recent quarter had a profit there, and Ford saying that cost cutting, also, it took over some North American market share, but it has managed to pull ahead better than people had been thinking.

And, again, this is a company that did not have to take the taxpayer bailout. It was in a little bit of a better position than its competitors and now is showing a profit for the quarter.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we'll try to focus on that today.

ROMANS: There, you.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: All right, Christine Romans from New York this morning. Thank you.

Election officials canceling the runoff in Afghanistan this morning. This comes while the U.N. secretary general is visiting the country. He met with President Hamid Karzai who has now won another term. He's also talking with Abdullah Abdullah, who withdrew from the race.

Our Sara Sidner is standing by live for us in Kabul with a little bit more on this.

So, Sara, how exactly did the election commission come to this decision?

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, the Independent Election Commission president cited three main reasons for the decision to declare that Mr. Hamid Karzai will preside for a second term. The first reason, he cited constitutional and election law to make this a legally legitimate decision on the commission's part not to have a runoff after Sunday's announcement by the only contender in the race that he was going to quit, and thereby leaving a ballot with only one candidate's name, Mr. Karzai's name on it. Two, he cited the difficulties for voters. The Taliban has clearly threatened with violence anyone who takes part in these elections from the voters to the people who would be working these elections. So he said there was no reason to make voters go through that.

And three, he talked about the cost. I mean, this election would cost about $20 million to put on, involve 65,000 to 70,000 people to work these elections in difficult terrain here. Heidi?

COLLINS: Yes, boy. Certainly a very, very high price tag. I wonder, too, what this really means for the White House. This can't be good news, especially with President Obama right in the middle of the decision of whether or not to send more troops and how many.

SIDNER: You know, the president clearly stated, though, before when this August 20th election happened and they said it was fraught with massive fraud and there had to be a runoff that he would not make his decision until there was clearly a winner in place, someone who was going to be at the helm for the five years going forward.

Now that it's happened, the question is, what will he do? Will he decide to send in more troops or will he decide to hold down that decision for some time? We should be able to hear something in the coming days and weeks, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, CNN's Sara Sidner keeping on top of the situation for us. Sure do appreciate that, Sara.

Across the border in Pakistan now, a bloody death toll and it is expected to rise. At least 35 people are dead, 65 others wounded after a suicide bombing outside a bank in Rawalpindi, that's 18 miles from Islamabad. Police say many civilians are among those killed.

We're going to be checking in with our reporter tracking this story for us in Pakistan in just a few minutes.

Meanwhile, you are looking at some beautiful pictures, live pictures, in fact, of the USS New York as it makes its way up the Hudson River. What's special about this ship? Well, inside the bow is seven-and-a-half tons of steel that was actually salvaged from the debris of the World Trade Center.

Earlier this morning, the USS New York stopped right across from the World Trade Center site and delivered a 21-gun salute. All of this as members of the police and fire departments of New York and 9/11 family members looked on.

One of those family members, Howard Lutnick, the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald. I had the opportunity to ask him about the significance for him of the USS New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, LOST BROTHER ON 9/11: We lost 650 employees, my brother, my best friend, all my coworkers, everyone who was at work that day was killed. And so I really like the idea of people going out and avenging what happened to us and protecting us so that it should never happen again. Because the pain that we went through, we would want no other family ever to have to go through.

I don't want anyone to call me and say, can you help? You know, I want them to really embrace the fact that it's the military who are out there trying to make sure that this doesn't happen again. So I am a great fan of that connection of them, you know, really infusing this new tremendous vessel with the steel from the trade center, so it should be a lasting memory for everyone who sees the ship, who knows the ship, that says these guys are out there protecting our freedom and defending us and this should never happen again.

And what a great honor for New York and a great honor for the sailors on board that ship to know all of us, you know, love them for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And along with Howard Lutnick, I had the opportunity to talk with other family members and members of the U.S. Navy, crew members, in fact, serving aboard the USS New York. Just ahead, you're going to be hearing from them and see some more live pictures as the ship sails up the Hudson and eventually docks at Pier 88.

We'll also going to be talking live with the captain of the ship. That's Commander Kurt Jones. So stick around for that, everybody. Going to be very, very interesting as the ship pulls in.

Also now, one house, six women, found strangled and buried inside and outside, but police fear the worst may not be over.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. November is here, October has wrapped up, and in some spots of the country, it was the wettest they've ever seen, and in other spots, the coldest.

We'll run that down plus the nation's forecast when the CNN NEWSROOM comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: In Ohio this morning, we've learned a seventh body has been discovered inside a home in Cleveland. That's according to our affiliate, WOIO. Police also now working to identify the bodies of the six women already found at the home.

Over the weekend, police arrested 50-year-old Anthony Sowell, a convicted rapist, in connection with the case. This morning, investigators will return with a cadaver dog to search the home for more bodies. A coroner tells CNN it appears the women were strangled and their decomposing bodies could have been at the home for weeks, possibly months, or even years.

Back now to Pakistan, where the number of victims from a suicide bombing this morning is expected to rise. Thirty-five people are dead, more than 65 wounded. Among the dead, civilian workers and soldiers who were lining up to pick up their paychecks.

Our Reza Sayah is joining us now live from Islamabad with more on this.

Reza, good morning to you. I imagine the mood at the scene this morning, a lot of devastation.

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Heidi. These militant attacks are designed to damage the psyche of the average Pakistani. Based on what people were saying, that's happening. People are simply frustrated, they're scared, they don't feel safe because militants are now increasingly going after soft civilian targets and it happened again today, right outside of Islamabad in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAYAH (voice-over): Police say the suicide attacker who targeted this bank in Rawalpindi knew that dozens of people lined up outside were civilians. According to investigators, the attacker approached his target on a motorcycle.

The time of the attack, no coincidence, say police. The first workday of the month, when current and retired government workers line up at the bank to withdraw monthly salaries and pensions.

Witnesses say several soldiers were among those in line. Those soldiers were the likely targets, say police, but dozens of civilians were killed in the blast. The latest in a wave of attacks that have terrorized Pakistanis who don't know when and where militants will strike next.

The attacks are killing civilians at an alarming rate. Last week, a car bomb killed at least 100 in a market in Peshawar. It was Pakistan's deadliest attack in two years. All of the victims were civilians. Days earlier, another car bomb in Peshawar blew up outside of a banquet hall. More than a dozen were injured.

Monday's suicide attack comes as the army's ground offensive targeting the Taliban in south Waziristan enters its third week. Military officials say 80 percent of Pakistan's militant attacks are plotted in south Waziristan.

The army says it's making steady progress. But on Monday, it was clear that reported progress in south Waziristan has yet to yield peace in Pakistani cities.

Reza Sayah, CNN, Islamabad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAYAH: That army offensive in south Waziristan entered its third week today. And Heidi, this is going to give you an idea of what it's like covering this insurgency and how frequent these attacks have become. Just minutes ago, CNN confirmed another suicide car bombing, this one in the eastern city of Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital. Police telling CNN the suicide car bomber came up to a police check post and during the search, he blew himself up. At least nine injured.

Again, we just confirmed the second suicide attack of the day. And when we get more information, we'll pass it along to you.

COLLINS: Yes, I'm looking at that information, too, Reza. Thank you. I guess that brings about the same question that we've been asking for a while now. Will these attacks actually end if the army ends up being successful with its military offensive?

SAYAH: Well, that's the question we put to senior military officials just last week. They took a group of journalists to south Waziristan, where they've been targeting the Taliban and its leadership.

They say 80 percent of these attacks are orchestrated and launched from there, but they said no, even if we're successful in south Waziristan ending these suicide attacks, these militant attacks are going to take a long time and they bluntly said people will have to be patient.

And that's a tall order for the Pakistani people here who have had to bear and endure these attacks that have come almost daily, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, CNN's Reza Sayah staying on top of the story for us. Thanks, Reza.

More now on the recent violence in Pakistan. The bombing today happened outside a local bank just a few miles away from Pakistan's army headquarters. It's the same heavily guarded military facility that was attacked and held under siege just three weeks ago. Eleven military personnel died as well as three civilians. Nine militants also were killed.

The USS New York sails home and delivers a tribute to the heartbreak and courage of September 11th. We've got live coverage coming up in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Time now to check this hour's top stories.

Hope has faded for survivors of last week's collision between a Marine Corps helicopter and a U.S. coast guard plane off the coast of southern California. The rescue mission for those nine people now turns to a recovery effort. An investigation is under way into the cause of the crash.

A suspect under arrest for the shooting deaths of four men outside a TV shop in North Carolina. Police in Henry County, Virginia captured Marcos Chavez Gonzalez inside a motel room earlier this morning. Investigators have not revealed a possible motive, but say the killings were not random.

In Afghanistan, the election commission has canceled Saturday's presidential runoff now. That means Hamid Karzai will lead the country for a second term. The cancellation came after the only challenger dropped out of the race. Abdullah Abdullah said the vote would be marred by fraud, just like the first round.

A floating memorial making its way this morning past the World Trade Center and into a New York port. The USS New York docks in just a few minutes and earlier I got the chance to talk with some sailors serving aboard the ship and family members whose loved ones the ship honors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS (voice-over): She's more than 25,000 tons, as long as two football fields, and will eventually carry hundreds of U.S. sailors and marines into battle across the globe. But it's the bow of this new ship that sets her apart.

ENSIGN TIMOTHY GORMAN, U.S. NAVY: Of any ship in the Navy, this is one ship where you can really be proud of your mission and remember on a daily basis of why we're here and why the ship is so special.

The steel in the bow. We're very mindful that we're representing the families of victims of 9/11 and the victims who died that day.

COLLINS: Beam by beam, they sifted through this pile of wreckage and twisted metal, the devastated debris from the tower of World Trade Center to salvage 7 1/2 tons of workable steel. More than 1,000 workers then melted, poured, and reshaped that steel into what would become the bow of the USS New York.

Now plying the waters as a mighty symbol of all that was lost on that day more than eight years ago.

LUTNICK: We lost 658 employees, my brother, my best friend, all my coworkers.

COLLINS: Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, is adamant the memories of those he lost never be forgotten and their survivors always be protected.

LUTNICK: I really like the idea of people going out and avenging what happened to us and protecting us so it should never happen again. Because the pain that we went through, we would want no other family to ever have to go through.

COLLINS: The ship already a memorial for Lee Lelpi, too. His firefighter son Jonathan bravely went into the towers on 9/11, but never made it out.

LEE LELPI, LOST SON ON 9/11: What better way for our young men and women that are going to be on the USS New York to feel that spirit of our country than to have this ship have that steel in the bow and represent not the bad, the good of our country. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The USS New York just minutes away from docking. We'll tell you about this Navy assault ship and its mission of remembrance for the September 11th, in fact, throughout the morning right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.

COLLINS: Well, stocks ended last week and the month of October with quite a sell-off. Dow plunged more than 2 percent on Friday. In fact, its biggest drop in nearly four months.

Susan Lisovicz is in the New York Stock Exchange -- New York bureau, pardon me, I see you there now, with a look at whether stocks can get back on track today, the first trading day in November.

Hey there, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Heidi, and we really need a nice rebound, because the S&P 500, the broadest of the three major averages, edged down last month, breaking a string of seven straight monthly gains.

Today, we are expecting a modestly higher open. Investors looking past the CIT bankruptcy, which wasn't a surprise, and are sending four chairs racing ahead by 10 percent in the pre-market.

The automaker surprised Wall Street, not just with a quarterly profit, but with a profit totaling nearly $1 billion. Ford also says it expects to be solidly profitable in 2011. Remember, Ford is the only one of the big three not to file for bankruptcy this year. It increased its market share last quarter, thanks to cash for clunkers, and it cut costs.

At the same time, though, pointing to the problems that certainly Detroit faces, rival Chrysler is trying to reduce its workforce. Chrysler is offering buyouts to 23,000 workers who are at plants slated to close. But investors are hoping to get some reassurance that the economy is healing.

At the top of the hour, we're expecting to learn that the manufacturing sector grew in September and pending home sales remained at the highest level in two years. And there you have the opening bell ringing. The opening bell, Heidi, the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. Perhaps there's going to be some divine intervention in the first minute of trading.

Not seeing it -- well, actually, we're seeing a little bit of plus ticks on the averages, but check out Ford. Ford shares are up 10 percent. That is less than a dollar, OK? 10 percent, less than a dollar, about 71 cents. That's how far that stock has fallen -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Well, Susan, we'll check back with you later on in the day, and see if you have any better news for us, OK?

LISOVICZ: Well, it is moving higher, and that is the good news. And it has good news and it's doing it on its own, Ford. So that's all positive.

COLLINS: Yeah, that's true. That's true. Very good. We'll talk about the Yankees later on too.

LISOVICZ: See you shortly.

COLLINS: See you later, Susan.

LISOVICZ: Great.

COLLINS: Quickly now, looking once again at some beautiful pictures that we are getting in from New York, the Hudson River. You are looking at the U.S.S. New York. This is the Navy's newest, best and brightest pride, if you will. It's also been called the nation's first memorial to the World Trade Center and to September 11th. Because, in the front of that ship, as it sails up the Hudson River this morning, and gets ready to dock at Pier 88 for the first time. It will be commissioned on Saturday. In the bow of that ship, if you look, you'll notice it's a little bit different than other vessels that you may have seen.

It is made from 7.5 tons of steel that was salvaged from the World Trade Center. We're going to tell you all about it and continue to follow this, again, as the ship comes in to port at Pier 88. Commander Kurt Jones is piloting the ship and we'll talk with him a little bit later on this morning as well. Make sure you stick around for that.

Meanwhile, here's a few more facts about the U.S.S. New York. It is the newest member of the U.S. Navy's fleet of landing platform dock warships and will hold about 720 troops. As I said, the bow includes 7.5 tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. Very, very long process to get all of that together.

And 1,200 Louisiana workers stayed to keep building the ship, even after Hurricane Katrina hit its shipyard in August 2005. Obviously, in Louisiana, they were constructing all of that.

The ship's motto is "Strength forged through sacrifice. Never forget."

Once again, I want to take you to these live pictures, as we continue to follow the U.S.S. New York into port for the very first time. She'll sit there for several days until the official commissioning takes place on Saturday. So there you see as she makes her way in.

On that ship right now, there is about 186 Marines on board, 359 Navy crew members, and then about 60 Reservists. The ship will also -- its main mission will be transporting Marines around the world into different areas of conflict.

Looking at the osprey there, also holds that, not an aircraft carrier, obviously, but is able to carry some of these aircraft in order to transport around the world. Those pictures coming in from earlier this morning, right after the 21-gun salute that took place right near the World Trade Center to honor those that were lost that day on September 11th.

Back now to these live pictures, as she makes her way in, you can see all of the sailors and Marines lined up around the perimeter of the deck there, as she comes in. I believe they're all standing at attention, getting ready to come in.

Lots of helicopter coverage as well. They passed the Statue of Liberty, as well. And made tribute there to all of those that were lost as well. So once again, some gorgeous, gorgeous pictures coming in from New York City, nearing Pier 88. If you are familiar with the area of Pier 86 is where the Intrepid sits. They'll be very involved with the Intrepid as well with the commissioning of this ship that will take place on Saturday.

The mission will then be determined later as to exactly where the ship will go, where it will deploy. So we'll follow these pictures for you. And continue to bring them to you here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, most of you won't be voting tomorrow, but the outcome of a handful of elections could reflect the political mood of the country. In New Jersey's governor race, incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine is fending off challenges from Republican Chris Christie and independent Chris Daggett.

The Democrats are also struggling in Virginia, where voters will pick a new governor. Creigh Deeds currently trails Republican Bob McDonnell in the polls. And then there is the congressional race in the New York 23rd District.

It's getting stranger by the day, in fact. Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava dropped out. That's good, because we can't say her name anyway. No, I'm kidding. She's now supporting Democrat Bill Owens. Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman could reap a bonus there. So we are watching all of those.

Dede Scozzafava couldn't muster support. She positioned herself as a GOP moderate and had the backing of the party leadership, but the pro-abortion rights and pro-stimulus Republicans came off as too liberal for the rank and file.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) MINORITY LEADER: We're in the middle, I think, of a political rebellion going on in America. And this rebellion is --are by people who really have not been actively involved in the political process, and they don't really care whether you're a Democrat or a Republican.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Scozzafava is endorsing Democrat Bill Owens and Vice President Joe Biden will hop on Owens' bandwagon at a rally later this morning.

Meanwhile, conservative Doug Hoffman is bringing in the money and the endorsements. Senator Fred Thompson, an early supporter of Hoffman, will hold a rally for him today.

That's President Obama stumping hard for New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. Democrats are pulling out all the stops in this hotly contested three-way race. Republican Chris Christie is closing in as independent Chris Daggett siphons votes.

Among the mayoral races we'll be watching: In Atlanta, Councilwoman Mary Norwood is trying to become the city's first white since 1972. Running in a heavily Democratic city, Norwood is trying to sidestep party politics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY NORWOOD, (D) ATLANTA MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I'm not a Republican. We know that this is a way to just divide the city and that is very saddening to me. I think it's really important for the voters to know that this is distracting and dividing us from the true issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Another woman hoping to make her mark, Annise Parker hopes to become Houston's first openly gay mayor. There are also mayoral races in nearly 400 other cities, covering more than a tenth of the U.S. population. Our Josh Levs is here now with that, and some of the key ballot initiatives to be decided tomorrow.

I see a smirk on your face. Are some of these ballot initiatives kind of kooky?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not so much. I mean, they're interesting.

COLLINS: Sometimes we get some really wacky ones.

LEVS: We do have wacky -- I haven't done the wacky ones yet. But I'm going to look for some, now that you said that. I'll look for wacky ones for next hour. See what we can do in the way of wacky.

This, you know, it is not a smirk so much, as I just think our political researchers are so cool. Take a look at what they put together here. You can see, they put this together, highlighting some of the key races. Some of the ones that you were just talking about.

What they do is they give us basically a briefing book here that helps us trace through some of what's happening. And one thing they point out is this: Mayoral races in 380 cities, representing a combined population of over 39 million Americans. And these are some of the biggest cities here. You can see, New York, Houston, Detroit, Boston, Seattle, these are the top 10 cities that are going to have mayoral races tomorrow.

And Heidi, I can just tell you, there are also some key ballot measures since that came up. You've got a same-sex marriage measure in Maine. Also one about domestic partnerships in Washington State. There's one about medical marijuana in Maine, as well.

Now, let me tell everyone where we'll be following all of this tomorrow night. It's right here. It's at the new CNN.com. Click on Politics, at the very top of your screen. You'll see stories throughout the day.

In fact, one of the ones that just showed up, is right here. This is interesting, Margaret Chin, poised to become the first Chinese-American on New York City Council, to represent New York's actual Chinatown. Which is one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people, anywhere in the world, outside of China.

This, right here, is called the CNN Political Ticker. And if you click on Ticker, when you get to the Main Page, or to Politics, throughout the night, what you'll see is we're going to be following every single race, all of them.

The mayoral races, the ballot initiatives, we're going to keep updating it all night, throughout the night. We certainly invite people to join us. And you don't have to write down anything I just said, because it will all be right there at CNN/politics.com and we'll keep you updated throughout the night, Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Josh Levs, thank you.

LEVS: Thank you.

COLLINS: Checking some of our top stories now. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Morocco today, the latest stop on her trip to the Middle East. This weekend Clinton was in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, to help restart peace talks between both countries. She met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, as well as with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But a Palestinian negotiator questions her ability to jump-start the process.

Relief could be on the way for millions of people trying to get vaccinated against H1N1. Administration officials say 10 million new doses of the vaccine should become available by next week. The number of states reporting widespread outbreaks has climbed to 48.

In Pakistan, at least 35 people are dead and more than 60 others wounded after a suicide bombing outside a local bank. Police say the bomber targeted soldiers who were lined up to pick up their monthly paychecks. But civilians are also among the dead. Another suicide bombing at a police checkpoint in Lahore, about an hour ago, wounded at least nine people. No word yet if anyone has been killed in that attack.

It's hard to have an election without one of the top candidates. That's what led Afghanistan to cancel its runoff election. But what does this mean for U.S. involvement in that country?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: All right, quickly, want to take you back to the Hudson River. You can see now, the U.S.S. New York, that we've been talking about all morning long. Just a few feet away from docking at Pier 88. This is the first homecoming, the maiden voyage, if you will, of the U.S.S. New York. You can see all of the Marines and the Navy sailors lined up along the perimeter of the ship there, standing at attention, as she comes into port.

Once again, this is Pier 88. If you're familiar with the area, it's just two piers, two docks , if you will, up from the Intrepid, that is at Pier 86.

The ship will be commissioned on Saturday. And then it will go on to do many things, but its main mission, really, transporting Marines around the globe into different areas of conflict.

What's cool about this, too, obviously, one of the main reasons we've been covering it, is because of the bow of the ship; 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center were salvaged and worked on and crafted for --for years --in order to form that hexagonal sort of structure in the front.

And what's really interesting about it is this is a little bit different than the bow of many of the other ships the U.S. Navy has commissioned, and in battle. It makes it quite a bit more difficult to detect by radar, makes it a little bit more stealth-like, the way that it is structured.

So once again, you are looking live at the U.S.S. New York, as it comes into port for the very first time at Pier 88, off the Hudson River there.

We'll continue to follow these great pictures and take a moment to bring in Rob Marciano, yes? You there, Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm here.

COLLINS: Beautiful, right?

MARCIANO: The way you described that is perfect. I was looking at it, what does that remind me of, the way it's kind of shaped? And I'm thinking the new F-22 fighters, and certainly the Stealth bomber, the way the sides are shaped. I'm thinking, ah, and Heidi just said. It's designed that way to kind of deflect radar, and make it a little bit more undetectable.

COLLINS: That's right. And some people actually have been saying that it reminds them, sort of, ironically, of the Twin Towers, as well, when you're looking at it, you know, live, apparently, that's the way it looks.

You see the fire boats behind, everybody celebrating. This is a big deal. MARCIANO: And a cool tribute for sure. And weather could be worse, could be better. They've got a little bit of sprinkles and some light showers, but I don't think it's going to be a enough, Heidi, to really do too much as far as the celebrations and ceremonies that are happening down there at the docks this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCANO: I think for the Phillies/Yankees game tonight, things should be OK well. Temperatures seasonably cool and relatively dry.

COLLINS: Yes, how you holding up?

MARCIANO: I'm tired, I'm tired of these games going about midnight every night, we'll see. I think that tonight is going to be a tough one...

COLLINS: Yes.

MARCIANO: ... with an A.J. Burnett going and Cliff Lee. If he pitches anything like their game one, this thing will probably go six games at least.

COLLINS: Yes, they've been great games.

All right, Rob, we'll check back later. Thank you.

MARCIANO: Thank you.

COLLINS: No runoff election for Afghanistan. It was supposed to happen this Saturday, but election officials canceled it this morning. This comes after opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah withdrew. He says he was worried about more fraud in the second round.

President Hamid Karzai had a lot of votes thrown out over fraud. It dropped his tally down low enough to force that runoff. But now that Abdullah is out, Karzai is declared the winner. And now that we know who will be in Afghanistan's presidential palace, will our own president decide whether to send more troops or not?

Ed Henry is joining us now live in front of the White House. Ed, first glance at it, it seems like this could be quite a problem for the White House. They're going to have to decide sooner or are they saying it's not going to have much bearing?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're suggesting so far, Heidi, that it will have no bearing on the timetable and they're also trying to downplay these latest developments.

But let's make no mistake about it. This is a big deal for this White House and puts more pressure on this president, because the White House had been pushing for this runoff, saying it could bring more legitimacy to the Afghan election process, which was -- let's face it -- a mess.

Now, the runoff is essentially going away and the White House is hoping that, nevertheless, there'll be legitimacy, somehow.

There's a statement that's just come out in the last few moments from the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan saying, quote, "We congratulate President Karzai on his victory in this historic election and look forward to working with him, his new administration, the Afghan people, and our partners in the international community to support Afghanistan's progress towards institutional reform, security and prosperity. We also congratulate Dr. Abdullah and all the other candidates for their efforts to strengthen Afghanistan's Democratic future."

So, clearly trying to play it very positive, but a little earlier on CNN's "American Morning," Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan back in the Bush administration said, this definitely could complicate things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZALMAY KHALILZAD, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO AFGHANISTAN: We could decide on the troop decision now, that the election issue as the result, and then move forward by pressing President Karzai, engaging him in an effective way to achieve the goal of an effective Afghan government. Because we cannot succeed there without a strong effective partner and that is a question, whether President Karzai will rise to the occasion and put such a team and such a government together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: So now the Obama White House knows who their partner will be in Afghanistan, President Karzai is somebody that this administration has raised questions about, in terms of allegations of corruptions and the likes; a lot of questions about Karzai's credibility on the international stage.

And so now the big question for President Obama is when he will decide on sending more troops to Afghanistan and when he will announce that. We had gotten indications in recent days that it could be right after the scheduled runoff of November 7th...

COLLINS: Yes.

HENRY: ... and before the president heads to Asia around November 11th, but there are also now indications, given what's happened over the last 48 hours or so that the president could even push that decision past the Asia trip and announce this later in November.

Again, putting a lot more pressure on him as Republicans continue to say they want an answer soon, Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, understood. All right, well, we are following it closely. Ed Henry out in front of the White House this morning. Thank you, Ed.

HENRY: Sure. COLLINS: The Berlin wall was nearly 100 miles long and heavily guarded at one time, you couldn't miss it. But these days, it's a different story. In search of pieces from Germany's communist past.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: An awful lot going on this morning to tell you about. Our CNN crews are in place to bring it all to you. Let's check in with our correspondents now beginning with Poppy Harlow of CNNmoney.com.

Hi, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Well Heidi, big news in the business world. CIT Group, one of the biggest lenders to small and medium- sized businesses now bankrupt; the fifth largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. And why it matters what this means and actually, Heidi, why it could be a good thing and that's coming up in the next hour.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz in New York where Ford shares are up 10 percent. This is the one automaker that didn't get a bailout and it made $1 billion last quarter. Heidi, more on that in the next hour.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Elizabeth Cohen in Atlanta. Will there be changes in your health care FSA, those nice tax-free spending accounts? I'll have that at the top of the hour.

COLLINS: All right guys, thanks so much.

Also ahead, 31 NFL stadiums, one mission: honor the memory of a fallen soldier. We'll talk to one of the friends keeping his memory alive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A pivotal blow to Communism 20 years ago this month. The world watched as the Berlin Wall came down. These days, there isn't much of the wall left to find. But our Frederik Pleitgen invites us to take a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You know, one of the things that people who come here often ask me is, where was the Berlin Wall? That's true, you really don't see much of it anymore. However, you can still find remnants in you have the right guide.

Today I have Andreas, who offers bike tours through Berlin to see where the Berlin Wall used to be. That's what we're going to do now, right?

ANDREAS, OFFERS BIKE TOURS OF BERLIN: Yes.

PLEITGEN: Let's go. (voice-over): It was nearly 100 miles long and heavily fortified. For nearly three decades the Berlin Wall divided the city and served as a symbol of a division of east and west. But now, you have to look hard to even notice what's left.

(on camera): This is something that you don't find very often in Berlin anymore; this is an original piece of the Berlin Wall hidden here right next to these railway tracks.

As you can see it's not in a very good state. You have the metal bars coming out of the concrete and plants growing all over it. Certainly it doesn't look good. But this is one of the few pieces still left.

(voice-over): After the wall came down on November 9, 1989, people began chipping away, turning the iron curtain into souvenirs.

Our bike trip is like a ride back into time. Along streets divided on August 13, 1961, when East Germany closed the borders to West Berlin where people risked their lives jumping to freedom and even border guards made a run for it.

Thousands fled communism, hundreds died trying. As the regime kept refining and perfecting the walls' fortifications.

This is one of the few places in Berlin where you can see the wall the way it used to look. This is what you would have seen if you would have looked at it from the west side of Berlin; the actual wall is only part of it. Behind it you can see further barriers; you have a sand pit and a second wall.

We have another photo here which is from the '60s or '70s. As you can see, this is where the wall used to go. And right here, this house, you can still see it, it's over there.

Andreas was one of the first East Germans to cross over when the checkpoint were own November 9, 1989. Trying to flee in Berlin, he says, was all about impossible.

"There were fences," he says, "signal fences, guard dogs, water obstacles, anything to stop people from fleeing. And the guards had shoot to kill orders" at one of the fiercest borders ever devised by man.

(on camera): In most parts of Berlin, however, all you can see is those little bricks right here, that's all you see of the Berlin wall. Really almost nothing at all, it's almost completely disappeared from the town.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)