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The Obama Factor; Hopes of Economic Recovery; Karzai's Concession; BPA Safety Debate; Investors Look to Europe

Aired November 03, 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: Thanks, Kiran, and John. That's right. We've got a whole lot that we're working on this morning. Want to get straight to it today.

Your thoughts on the president's work. A new CNN poll shows a disconnect between approval ratings and policy decisions.

The housing crisis still keeping many areas down. We'll show you which states are most stressed out.

And pantry safety alert. A new report says most canned foods contain high levels of a controversial chemical.

I'm Heidi Collins, it is Tuesday, November 3rd, and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

America votes 2009. As you know, it is an off-year election, but boy, the pressure is certainly still on the president. Now let's look at the map. There are two states that are electing governors, as you know. There is also congressional seat that has been hotly contested, up for grabs in upstate New York.

In fact, our Mary Snow is in New Jersey this morning. We're going to be talking with her.

Will President Obama's influence there help or hurt standing Governor Jon Corzine's actually re-election bid? We'll get to that.

Then, also, our Jim Acosta is in Virginia. And that is where the polls show the Democratic candidate actually trailing behind the Republican.

The only other governor's race in this off-year election is taking place in Virginia, where the GOP is going strong.

Let's go to a polling place now in Alexandria and check in with CNN's Jim Acosta.

Good morning to you, Jim. How do things look?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. You know, the turnout is not exactly where we saw things last year. Polling officials here in Alexandria, Virginia told us that the line outside this elementary school was actually going around the building last year when Barack Obama and John McCain were on the ballot. This year, it's Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell running for governor in Virginia, so the turnout, not so much. But this is boiling down to be a pretty interesting race between these two candidates.

Creigh Deeds, the Democrat, he has not campaigned with the president very much, even though he's just right across the Potomac River here in Virginia. And then very late in the campaign, he is starting to run ads that prominently show the president.

On the other side of this equation, Bob McDonnell, the Republican in this race, he is very much trying to nationalize this election. He's up-front about it. He says he wants voters to go to the polls and decide whether or not they like the direction of the country, they like what's happening in Washington right now. And he's hoping that voters cast their ballots accordingly.

And we talked to a couple of voters after they came out of the voting booths earlier this morning about whether or not this is a referendum on the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would tend to agree. I think it's very much a local election. And as a woman, a lot of the things that were said about McDonnell concerns me. I think he's...

ACOSTA: Because he's conservative or...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because he is conservative and, you know, I think he spent a lot of time running a campaign as a nice guy, but I think some of the things that he's done historically prove that, you know, perhaps he's not on women's side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we've heard for many years that all of the elections are about change and I think that's what we're seeing here in Virginia. That the change that's been taking place on a national basis is change that people on the local and regional basis aren't happy with.

So we're starting to see a rebound. At least that's what the polls are saying in advance of this election and I think a lot of people are going to come out on both sides and vote against the current policies that we're seeing in the presidential administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And one other interesting aspect about this race down here in Virginia, unlike this family feud that we're hearing about that's going on inside the Republican Party, that is not the case here in Virginia.

Here in Virginia, the GOP has lined up solidly behind a candidate, Bob McDonnell, who is very conservative on social and economic issues, but he is poised to win by a very wide margin down here, Heidi, if the polls are correct. Now Democrats say Creigh Deeds is a closer, but judging by these polls, he better be -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. And it's interesting, too, Jim, when you actually go out and talk with some of the voters how they are very aware of the national impact of their particular states. And when you're talking about Virginia, that is certainly the issue.

ACOSTA: That's right, you know. And they're just across the Potomac River from here and it's interesting the way this race has shaped up, the Republican in this race, Bob McDonnell, has tried to make this about a referendum on the president.

The Democrat in this race, Creigh Deeds, has tried to shy away from that. And he's even shied away from some of the president's policies. During this campaign here in Virginia, you know, Creigh Deeds was asked about the public option and health care reform and would his state opt out of the public option, as the proposal is currently being drafted in the Senate right now.

And Creigh Deeds has said that he is not so hot on the public option. So even in this race in Virginia, governor's race, national issues have been thrust into the spotlight from time to time. It's something that Bob McDonnell hopes will work out in his favor, but at the same time, Democrats on the national level will say that this campaign was not run that effectively and that they wish the Democratic candidate down here, Creigh Deeds, had brought in President Obama sooner instead of very late in the campaign in these campaign ads that prominently featured the president.

You watch one of the Creigh Deeds ads that's running right now. It takes 17 seconds into the ad to even see Creigh Deeds' face. Before all of that, all you see is President Obama. So a very interesting race that is definitely being affected by national issues at this point -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. Maybe trying to make up for some of that lost time of getting the president involved. All right, Jim Acosta, we'll see how things shake out in Virginia. Thank you.

In fact, one of the nation's other most closely watched contests is the governor's race in New Jersey where an incumbent Democrat is in danger of losing his job.

Let's go to a polling place in the northern New Jersey town of Parsippany and CNN's Mary Snow is there joining us by telephone this morning.

So, Mary, tell us exactly what's at stake here in New Jersey?

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Good morning, Heidi. Well, this is the state where Democrats has the best chances of winning. This is a Democratic state. President Obama won here in last year's election by 16 points, but it has been a very close race, a toss-up leading into Election Day, and the Democrat incumbent, Jon Corzine, has been struggling in this race against Republican challenger Chris Christie.

Also, a third-party candidate, Chris Daggett, is in this race.

Now, unlike what Jim was just talking about a few minutes ago in terms of the national implications, this race is largely seen as a referendum on some of the local issues here in New Jersey. But President Obama has invested political capital here, campaigning three times for Jon Corzine, the most latest visit came on Sunday.

And what's really being looked at now is whether his supporters who turned out last year will turn out again for Governor Corzine and that is one of the big focus points in the past couple of days. The Corzine campaign has been targeting those voters, some of them first- time voters who came out last year, hoping that they'll translate into a vote for him. But this has really been such a close race leading up to Election Day.

COLLINS: Yes. No question. And obviously, Mary, one of the interesting things about this particular race is the idea of the spoiler, that being the independent in Chris Daggett, because a while before he got into the race, it looked like Chris Christie was really going to be able to pull this out easily. But now with the independent candidate, the race has been completely changed.

SNOW: Absolutely. And he really has tapped into the dissatisfaction with the candidates. There's been a lot of grumbling here in New Jersey about this governor's race. And Chris Daggett's popularity has been on the rise. That has benefited Jon Corzine. He shaved off the lead that Chris Christie had.

The big question now is those people, the voters who were supporting Chris Daggett, will they cast a ballot for him today, or will they decide in the end to vote for either the Republican or Democrat in this race?

COLLINS: All right. Well, we will be watching things closely alongside you there in New Jersey, certainly as the day continues here. Mary Snow, thanks so much.

Here's some of the local elections now that are going to be drawing some national attention today. In Atlanta, these are the front-runners. Among the six candidates seeking the mayor's office, city councilwoman Mary Norwood could become the city's first white mayor in a generation.

Then to Houston, Texas, four major candidates hoping to become mayor of America's fourth largest city. Just like Atlanta, this race would be decided by a runoff election unless one candidate manages to win more than 50 percent of the vote.

And here's a look at some of the hot ballot measures now voters across the country will be deciding on today. Same-sex marriage is on the ballot in two states. Maine votes on whether to repeal a law that legalized gay marriage and Washington state votes on a law that would give domestic partnerships the same rights as married couples.

Medical marijuana, already legal in Maine, but passage of question 5 would greatly expand its use.

In Ohio, voters have turned down gambling casinos four times and the subject is back again. Issue three would allow four casinos to be built with the state raking in one-third of the receipts in taxes.

So make sure that you join us tonight for our special prime-time coverage beginning at 8:00 with the best political team on television. One year since the era of President Barack Obama began, what mark has he made on the nation? Socially, politically, historically.

Prime-time election coverage beginning tonight at 8:00, only on CNN.

So how is President Obama handling his job? We do have some new poll numbers to share with you this morning. In the CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll, we asked you that first question. How is the president handling his job? Fifty-four percent of you say you prove, 45 percent disapprove.

We also asked you how you thought the president was handling the health care issue. Forty-two percent of you approve, 57 percent disapprove.

That's not the only issue where the president is losing the majority. Right now we're seeing cautious hope of economic recovery. But it's not rubbing off on the president's poll numbers, at least yet.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Severe Weather Center. Not a whole lot of severe today. The radar map from the west coast to the east coast, virtually quiet. Just a few showers across parts of the Great Lakes, but really that is about it. Seasonal temperatures. So no huge storms in sight, with the exception of this.

It is still hurricane season, my friends, and the National Hurricane Center has put out an alert for this little disturbance here, it's near Panama, just south of Honduras. Nicaragua, about a 50/50 shot at it becoming a tropical storm and we'll let you know how that pans out.

More news straight ahead and a detailed Election Day weather forecast coming up in about 20 minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: More signs the economy is on the road to recovery, but we're not seeing the jobs to go along with it just yet and it's hurting the president's poll numbers.

Christine Romans is joining us now live from New York. So, Christine, the latest economic reports are showing that we are on this path to recovery, but there's still this disconnect that we've been talking about for a while now, because people at home are still losing their jobs and are still having a hard time finding work. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right, Heidi. And when you look at the economic numbers from yesterday, for example, I mean, they showed that manufacturing was at the best level in three and a half years.

In fact, globally, manufacturing is recovering. It showed a construction spending showing signs of life in the beginning of the fourth quarter. It showed that home contracts, home sales contracts had risen for the eighth month in a row.

We know that the third quarter, that growth, people were saying, oh, it's Cash for Clunkers, it's government spending. But the fourth quarter, October, at least, is starting to show us that it is spilling into the next quarter and that's good news.

But it's not translating into jobs and that's something that is a problem for the White House and the president has acknowledged that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is my administration's overriding focus. Having brought the economy back from the brink, the question is, how are we going to make sure that people are getting back to work and able to support their families.

It's not going to happen overnight, but we will not rest until we are succeeding and generating the jobs that this economy needs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So while signs of life and global manufacturing output might be good for the, you know, economic minds out there who are watching what's happening on the very kitchen table level, people are still looking to the president, trying to figure out when the jobs are going to come back.

COLLINS: Yes. It seems like we're seeing the administration more and more on the defensive now, too.

ROMANS: You're right. And in fact, when you look at the most recent polls, the Opinion Research Corporation Poll that just came out this morning, they're showing, Heidi, that how the -- how the president is handling the economy, 46 percent approve, 54 percent disapprove, and, you know, interestingly enough, just in -- back in September when this was taken, those numbers were basically flipped around.

Now how the president's handling unemployment, 47 percent approve and 52 percent disapprove. So you have folks who are saying, look, we get it that this is the number one priority of this administration. Now we're ready to start seeing some results.

Unfortunately, the way the business cycle works, sometimes results come later. You start to see the signs of life in the economy, but the results in terms of jobs are things -- are lagging and sometimes they can take months. COLLINS: Yes, absolutely. Well, we are all watching and waiting, certainly. Christine Romans, thanks so much.

ROMANS: Sure.

COLLINS: Live from New York this morning.

Want to check your headlines now, certainly from Capitol Hill this morning. German chancellor Angela Merkel is in Washington right now. She's meeting with President Obama. And next how she's addressing a Joint Meeting of Congress. She is just the second German leader to ever to do that.

One of the last steps before the health care debate hits the House floor, Democrats could finalize their bill's language today. The wording has been holding them up in two controversial areas.

They're deciding how to address funding for abortions and how their proposal would deal with illegal immigrants.

A new study finds a controversial chemical in even more of the food in your pantry. What's the FDA doing to protect you?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Checking our top stories this morning now.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai is sounding a conciliatory tone now that he's avoided a runoff election. He's offering to welcome opponents to work with him in a new government.

CNN's Sara Sidner is joining us now from the capital city of Kabul in Afghanistan.

Sara, good morning to you.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. Karzai, as you mentioned, his speech was not a grand victorious speech congratulating himself on the presidency. In fact, he did make a bit of a conciliatory kind of speech, where he listed all of the problems here in Afghanistan, and how he might change -- and began with what he called the mass corruption Afghanistan has accused him and said he would clean that up.

Also saying that he would create peace across the entire country and that he needed to work closer with the international community and make those ties better. But then he backed up and talked about how difficult it would be to get all of this done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan has its difficulties. Afghanistan is emerging from 30 years of war and stepping forward towards a more institutional, legal order, while it's still struggling against terrorism and the menaces that affect us all. We are aware of the difficulties of our governance and the environment in which we live. We'll keep trying our best to address the questions that we have facing Afghanistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: CNN's Sara Sidner joining us there from Kabul, Afghanistan. And we, of course, will stay on top of that story, an important one, too, out of the country.

Meanwhile, President Obama is still deliberating the new strategy for Afghanistan. The president is looking at several options that could include sending as many as 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. We'll get much more on those options coming up in about 20 minutes.

In a new CNN Opinion Research Corporation Poll released just this morning, we asked how you thought the president was handling the Afghanistan issue. Forty-two percent of you approve, 56 percent disapprove.

New fuel for the debate over BPA safety. A new consumer reports study says high levels of the chemical known as BPA can be found in almost all canned foods, foods you probable have in your kitchen right now.

CNN's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joining us now to talk a little bit more about this.

First, Elizabeth, remind us what BPA is.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: BPA is a chemical that's used in all sorts of food containers, in cans of vegetables, for example, or cans of tuna fish or water bottles often have BPA. And now studies have shown, basically, over the past couple of years, that having this chemical in your body at high levels can be linked to everything from heart disease to fertility issues, even to aggression in toddlers.

COLLINS: All right. So is that why the FDA is looking at this again?

COHEN: That's right. They're looking at it again, really for the first time in 20-something years. Back in the '80s, they set sort of safe levels of BPA and now everyone is saying, wow, those levels are way too high and they're outdated. So the FDA promises by the end of the month, we'll the start the process. We're redoing those numbers.

Now it's interesting, in Japan, they did this more than 10 years ago.

COLLINS: Yes.

COHEN: They got rid of BPA in can liners, and when they checked people's levels of BPA in their bodies, the levels plummeted.

COLLINS: Yes.

COHEN: Just by getting rid of it in can liners.

COLLINS: So what's the average consumer supposed to do here?

COHEN: It's really hard to avoid BPA entirely. Take a look at this. It is in tuna containers, it's in vegetable containers, it's in -- this is a soup container, the container, the top actually has BPA in it.

It is really hard to get rid of it. But if you really want to, here's the things that you can try to do. You can try to use glass containers, for example, or porcelain or stainless steel. You can eat fresh or frozen food, also look for BPA free.

You see that a lot now on baby bottles and on sippy cups. That industry was very quick to get rid of BPA. You don't have to have BPA in plastic, there are other materials you can use besides BPA.

COLLINS: Yes. And then while all this is going on, while the studying is going on and the debate, if you will, if you don't want to take chances, are there particular ways you can completely avoid BPA? I mean just look at the labels, don't you?

COHEN: No. Because, for example, a can like this, this can. We took the company name off, but this can has BPA in it. It doesn't say it has BPA, but it has BPA in it. So you can't avoid it. It's going to be very difficult to avoid it entirely. It is used in thousands upon thousands of products. But...

COLLINS: Is it some of the sippy cups then that we talked about that actually say...

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: You don't.

COLLINS: ... BPA on it? OK.

COHEN: You can avoid it for your kids. You can buy baby bottles without BPA, you can buy sippies without BPA.

COLLINS: OK.

COHEN: But getting food products that are in containers that have no BPA, it's tough. But again, if you follow those rules go for stainless steel, go for glass, go for porcelain, go for fresh or frozen, that will help you.

COLLINS: OK. That means more cooking, doesn't it?

COHEN: It does. It probably does. That's right.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: All right. Well, let us know what happens with all that, Elizabeth. Truly appreciate it. Thanks.

Election day in America. Are Americans really casting votes on the Obama administration? We'll look at the big races, big and small that may reverberate to the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins.

COLLINS: Volatility has returned to Wall Street. The Dow has gained or lost at least 100 points in six of the past eight sessions.

For a look at where that rollercoaster ride will take us today, Susan Lisovicz in New York this morning.

Good morning, Susan. What's the deal?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

COLLINS: Are we up or down?

LISOVICZ: I'm strapped in and, yes, we're going to take a dive at the open. But when you think about what happened yesterday, the first trading day of November, what a rollercoaster ride that was.

COLLINS: Yes.

LISOVICZ: We had triple-digit gains and we lost it all then we came back. In any case, we are expecting a loss at the open. Investors taking their cue, Heidi, from Europe where concerns about the banking sector have resurfaced.

Swiss banking giant UBS reporting a much worse than expected quarterly loss. And Lloyd's Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland are getting a second bailout from the UK treasury of more than $50 billion.

Later in the day, we'll see how the U.S. economy is doing when we get factory orders and auto sales.

Holding the market losses in check, though, a pair of multi- billion dollar mergers. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is buying the railroad giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe in a deal valued at $44 billion. The investment is Berkshire Hathaway's ever -- biggest ever, I should say, and Buffett says it's an all-in wager on the economic future of the U.S. He says that it makes sense environmentally and economically.

Burlington Northern shares were soaring 30 percent in the premarket.

Two tool makers also building something together. Stanley Works is buying Black & Decker. That deal is valued at $4.5 billion. And Black & Decker is jumping 22 percent. Stanley shares are up 4 percent. Finally, more job cuts, quickly, Johnson & Johnson is cutting its global workforce by up to 7 percent. That could eliminate as many as 8,300 jobs, all part of a cost cutting plan that J&J hopes will save it more than $1.5 billion a year. Now that we have the open, the Dow is down 57 points, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are lower as well - Heidi.

COLLINS: All right, Susan, thanks so much. We will be continuing to follow those numbers and the wild ride today, certainly. And while I was talking to you, I am hearing that we need to quickly get to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who had been meeting earlier with President Obama. This is tape to us now that came in just a few moments ago.

Let's go ahead and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are thankful, Chancellor, for your leadership not just in Europe but around the world. And I'm looking forward to many more years in which the American people and the German people are working together to expand the boundaries of freedom and to create prosperity for ordinary men and women on both sides of the Atlantic.

So thank you so much for coming.

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: All right. We would love to stay with this, but unfortunately the translation is not available as the German chancellor speaks in her native tongue, if you will. German, of course. So we'll continue to follow that, get that translation for you and let you know how that meeting resulted.

Meanwhile, is your state stressed out? Our Josh Levs is following that story for us.

What do you mean, Josh? Stressed out? Money?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Money, exactly. Yes, I bet a lot of people are saying, yes. But here's the thing. You know, we're hearing from economists that the economy may be growing now, but still parts of the country are a lot worse off than others, according to a new study. I'm going to show you how you can click on your county and see how it compares in terms of economic stress - Heidi.

COLLINS: Interesting. I love it. All right. We'll check back later. Josh, thanks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB MCDONNELL (R), VIRGINIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: I think some of the independent voters in particular who might have voted for the president last time, we're seeing a fair number of them coming back to vote Republican this time.

CREIGH DEEDS (D), VIRGNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: He's tried to nationalize the election, because he didn't want to talk about what's going on in Virginia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The Virginia governor's race. It's one of several contests that could have national implications. Will Virginians choose to keep the top elected office in the hands of a Democrat or will President Obama's sliding popularity push them to elect a Republican?

The other gubernatorial election in this off year election is in New Jersey, getting a lot of attention there. President Obama visited the state five times, in fact, to campaign for democratic incumbent Jon Corzine. He faces a strong challenge from Republican Chris Christie, and also the independent there really changing the face of that election, Chris Daggett.

And in New York's 23rd congressional district, partisan loyalties are put to the test. Prominent Republicans, including Sarah Palin, are backing conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman. Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava has dropped out of the race and has endorsed Democrat Bill Owens. Interesting races, indeed.

Here are some of the local elections now that are going to be drawing some national attention today, too. In Houston, Texas, four major candidates are hoping to become mayor of America's fourth largest city. Roy Morales hopes to become the city's first Hispanic mayor. Annise Parker would be Houston's first openly gay mayor.

And history could be in the making in the election of Atlanta's mayor. City Councilwoman Mary Norwood could become the city's first white mayor in a generation.

But as CNN's Don Lemon shows us, race is not the only divisive issue in this election.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shirley Franklin made history in 2001 when she became the first black woman elected mayor of Atlanta. Tuesday, she plans to vote against the candidate who if elected would become the first white woman to assume that office.

Have you endorsed anyone? Are you going to?

MAYOR, SHIRLEY FRANKLIN, ATLANTA: I have not endorsed anyone, but I am going to vote tomorrow. And I'm going to vote for Kasim Reed.

LEMON: Reed, the leading African-American candidate helped Franklin win two terms in office as her campaign manager. The front- runner is city Councilwoman Mary Norwood, a fiscal conservative from an affluent neighborhood known for its shopping malls and night life. She could become Atlanta's first white mayor in 35 years.

FRANKLIN: Atlanta is full of firsts. And we may, indeed, have a white woman mayor. What I'm interested in is, who are you? What do you stand for? And do you have the courage of my predecessors? If you have that, and you're white and female, fine. If I can't find that in your history, I'm not going to vote for you.

LEMON: Just hours before the election, candidate Norwood tended to her council duties, choosing not to speak to the media. But in a campaign ad, she fends off accusations that she's a closet Republican.

MARY NORWOOD, ATLANTA MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I voted for Barack Obama, John Kerry, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot, the independent.

LEMON: The mayor's race is non-partisan, and that ad didn't seem to matter on Sunday at the last debate before the election.

NORWOOD: I'm not a Republican. We know that that is a way to just divide the city, and that is very saddening to me.

LEMON: Norwood set herself apart from her opponents by running as the clear alternative to the current mayor, Shirley Franklin, whose approval rating has remained strong despite the collapse of the city's real estate market and a rising crime rate. But that strategy might not be as effective if she doesn't win by a majority, Tuesday, and faces a runoff against one of her African-American rivals.

Don Lemon, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And make sure you join us tonight for special primetime election coverage with the Best Political Team on Television, one year since the era of President Obama began. What mark has he made on the nation? Socially, politically, historically? Prime-time election coverage, tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

And Rob Marciano standing by now in the severe weather center. Do we have to call it the severe weather center today?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not today. I mean, it is...

COLLINS: It's quite nice, right?

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Yes, very good. All right. We'll talk more Yankees later.

MARCIANO: Yes, yes. They're playing again tomorrow night. Game six. Good game last night.

COLLINS: Yes. Really? It was a good game last night?

MARCIANO: Well, you know, whatever. Honestly, last week after they lost game one, I took this Thursday off in anticipation of a game six or seven, so I'll be able to actually watch the whole game in its entirety tomorrow night, and I'll see you on Friday.

COLLINS: Excellent. All right. Very good.

MARCIANO: All right? So how's that for a strategy?

COLLINS: That's good.

MARCIANO: What kind of video? I saw something in the rundown that might be interesting that you might be showing. You, guys, showing the vodka...

COLLINS: It's surprise. It's coming up right now. Stand by. Listen to this.

Driver under the influence of hundreds of bottles of booze. That's right. This is what Rob was talking about. Check out this video.

A forklift driver in a Moscow warehouse lost control of his machine -- oh! And slammed into shelves of vodka and cognac. The driver only suffered a minor leg injury. The warehouse was out $150,000 worth of alcohol.

MARCIANO: So was he under the influence, or are we just saying that figuratively?

COLLINS: No. My understanding is he was a bit under the influence.

MARCIANO: He was under everything after that.

COLLINS: Yes. But we'll talk more about this later, and continue to show that tragic video. We'll be back in a moment right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Checking our top stories now. President Obama welcomes Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the White House this afternoon. The president still considering plans to deploy as many as 40,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan as part of a new strategy there.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is joining us now live with more on that.

It's a story we've been covering for quite some time, Barbara. What are military officials saying now about this wait for a decision?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, what you're beginning to hear around the hallways of the Pentagon, Heidi, is privately, no one's talking publicly, but privately, military officials are getting anxious to see a decision from the White House, any decision. They want to get on with it. If there's going to be more troops, they want to begin to make plans, begin to get things ready.

You know, I think everybody understands there's been a two-edged sword here on this situation. Of course, the White House had been waiting, if you will, until there was a resolution to the Afghan election. They wanted to put as much pressure as they could on Hamid Karzai. They clean up corruption in this government, make sure he understand more troops were not a free deal, not a given for him. That he had to go long ways towards trying to make the situation in Afghanistan work. Now that the election is resolved, there's a lot of talk about let's get on with it.

But what are the problems out there? Even if the president decided today on sending more troops, winter is coming. They still need to deal with the weather. They still need to deal with building more bases, more runways, more infrastructure to deal with the troops they are sending. And all of that, even if you started today, is going to take an awful long time - Heidi.

COLLINS: Absolutely. And if the president decides to send more troops, which ones are most ready to go, at this point?

STARR: Well, there are, in fact, three army brigades that could be next in line to go. Basically, here's how it looks. There are two army brigades at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and a third brigade at Ft. Drum, New York. They are next in line, next up, if you will, in any potential deployment schedule. They're beginning to finish their year at home, or one at Fort Drum was going to go to Iraq but now isn't.

But still, they need train-up time. Even though they could be next in line to go, again, not until probably early next year at this point will you see boots on the ground. And remember, Admiral Mullen, General McChrystal, both men have been saying time is of the essence -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Absolutely. All right, Barbara. We'll be continuing to follow it. Appreciate it. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr this morning.

In fact, today on our blog, we are asking you the same question about what you think of the president's military strategy in Afghanistan. What should that strategy be and how much longer do we have to wait for a decision to be made?

As you know, there have been many meetings on this and the president is trying to come up with a final decision.

Go ahead and go to our blog. It is Heidi -- excuse me. I'm just trying to show you where we go. First of all, you can see a little bit more of the synopsis of the story right here. CNN.com/Heidi, of course, is the address. Go ahead and weigh in, and we'll share some of those opinions for you a little bit later on in the show.

Meanwhile, an Iraqi woman whose father allegedly hit her with his car because she had become "too westernized" has died. Twenty-year- old Noor Almaleki had been in a coma in an Arizona hospital for nearly two weeks. Police say her father ran her down and her boyfriend's mother in his jeep as the women were walking across a parking lot.

The other woman is expected to survive. Faleh Almaleki left town after the attack. He was arrested last week in Atlanta and returned to Arizona. He had faced charges of aggravated assault, but police say those charges will be upgraded now due to his daughter's death.

Behind the scenes of the Obama campaign, a new documentary has pictures you haven't seen before and extraordinary access to the first family. We'll take a peek.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: The next time Californians open up their paychecks, they'll notice a little less. The state will withhold 10 percent more in taxes to help ease budget problems. Lawmakers say this is not a tax increase, it's just an advance to help balance the budget in the current fiscal year and it is expected to generate an additional $1 billion.

The economy growing again, but parts of the country are lagging behind others. A new study looks at which areas under the most economic stress.

Josh Levs has been looking at this for us.

LEVS: Yes.

COLLINS: So Josh, where are the trouble spots? I think, probably, California, yes?

LEVS: Yes, actually, you're right on. It's really interesting.

You know, we talk often in broad terms about the whole country, right, but what this is doing is really making us stop and look at how some parts of the country are really struggling more than others.

Let's zoom in here. I want you to see this interactive map the Associated Press has put out. And basically what it allows you to do is click on any area in the country.

For example, you were talking about California; I'll click on a county over there. And when you click, it zooms you way in and then it gives you stats about what that county is going through and other counties around it.

Let me talk to you about how they came up with this. Here's what the AP did. They looked at the biggest U.S. counties in America; 3,100 of them across the whole country. And they followed the rates of unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies.

Now, we have a map for you here of the states they found to be under the most economic stress. So Nevada is highest, Michigan, California, just like you were saying Heidi, also Florida and Arizona. According to this study, 11 means stressed. So you can see how much higher some of the states are getting there particularly badly hit by the economic crisis; the housing crisis. Now, here are the least stressed states according to the study and this is as of September. You got the Dakotas, Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming. And what the AP says is that Midwestern and Plains states avoided the worst of the housing crisis and as a result avoided some of the worst of the financial crises.

We have something at CNN.com I want to show you here before I go. Let's zoom back in here, what we do here, I really like this. You can find it at CNN.com/jobs. We trace you through unemployment levels all over the country. Just click on any state. You can see how that state is doing. Or you can look at jobs by any specific industry.

So if you want to see jobs, let's say, retail and trade it shows you what's going on; any state in the country, also foreclosures. And when you look at these maps on CNN.com, you're able to see individual stories. That's why you see a pop-up face there.

You can get a sense of why some states are struggling more than others, Heidi. And we certainly are hearing that from our viewers as well.

We encourage them to keep sending in stories about what you're going through in terms of your economic stress; CNN.com/Josh and also Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN.

Heidi, this is a really great opportunity to stop and look at how some parts of the country really are struggling. So we may hear great economic growth, it doesn't mean it's not applying to them, to all Americans at the same time.

COLLINS: Yes, and no question and still that big gap between Wall Street and Main Street.

LEVS: Big gap, so there you go.

COLLINS: All right, Josh thank you.

LEVS: Thanks Heidi.

COLLINS: We have a lot going on this morning. CNN crews in place to bring you all the details. We want to check in with our correspondents now beginning with Mary Snow in Parsippany, New Jersey. Mary, good morning.

SNOW: Good morning, Heidi. Voters are going to the polls deciding whether or not to keep a Democratic incumbent governor who has been struggling to get re-elected. Heidi, we'll have that for you at the top of the hour.

MARCIANO: And many voters will go to the polls in relatively dry weather. We're going to run down the Election Day forecast plus, there's something else percolating in the western Caribbean. That's at the top of the hour.

COHEN: I'm Elizabeth Cohen in Atlanta. A new study shows that some antibiotics may be linked to birth defects. We'll tell you which ones and why some doctors are still using them on their pregnant patients.

COLLINS: All right. Very good. Thanks so much, guys.

Also ahead, the latest casualty of airline cutbacks: the so- called compassion fares for grieving loved ones.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: They got in on the ground floor; filmmakers, who knew the president as just Barack, captured his campaign from the early stages. Well, now, one year after the election, the documentary "By the People" premiers on HBO at 9:00 Eastern tonight.

CNN's Alina Cho takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the HBO documentary "By the People: The election of Barack Obama," this young campaign caller demonstrates a time when few had heard of the man who now is president.

Watch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a candidate running for president of the United States of America.

CHO: The film follows the first family beginning a full year before then Senator Obama announced his candidacy. When that happened, senior campaign strategist, David Axelrod had his doubts about the film. That's when actor Edward Norton, one of the film's producers pleaded his case.

EDWARD NORTON, CO-PRODUCER, "BY THE PEOPLE": The first time we actually interviewed Axelrod, he said, "How did this happen?"

He said, I don't want to be here. I don't think this is a good idea.

CHO (on camera): So what did you say to him?

NORTON: Basically I said to him, listen, you know, we will put everything that we're doing here in a box in a vault until this election is over. Nothing that we are doing will be exploited, and I think slowly we won him over.

CHO (voice-over): What you see here is extraordinary access. You hear Malia and Sasha's voices.

Michelle Obama's struggle with whether her husband should run.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: How is this going to work? What would be the schedule? How often would Barack be on the road?

CHO: And there are moments the filmmakers admit they never thought they would never get.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I was practicing the speech for the first time and I came to the end where I talked about King speaking in the Lincoln Memorial and I choked up and had to stop.

CHO: Amy Rice and Alicia Sams directed and filmed much of the documentary on the trail with the man they called Barack. So when Barack started to succeed...

ALICIA SAMS, DIRECTOR/PRODUCER, "BY THE PEOPLE": Full-time job all of a sudden.

CHO: They started to get nervous.

AMY RICE, DIRECTOR/PRODUCER, "BY THE PEOPLE": I think my stomach immediately started to hurt because I felt like this is a huge opportunity. I don't want to mess this up.

CHO: A documentary the filmmakers hope will be part of the historical record.

(on camera): If you knew then what you know now, would you have approached things differently?

NORTON: No. I mean, I think we only succeeded because we didn't know enough to do it wrong. I think it's a real love letter to the democratic process.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: "By the People: The election of Barack Obama" debuts on HBO tonight at 9:00. When I asked the filmmakers what surprised them about the current president, they told me that he really does live up to the name "no drama Obama."

Heidi, they said, when they would be with him on primary nights and he'd win by big margins or lose by big margins, he would always be the same just like this. Great when you're a politician but a bit of a challenge when you're trying to make a dramatic film -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Thank you for that.