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American Morning
Election Day 2009 in Key States; U.S. Troops Await Decision on Troop Reinforcement; Confusion on Contractors Costing U.S Millions of Dollars; Confusion Costing U.S. Millions; Cautious Hope of Recovery; Census Workers Facing Hostilities; Ford Profits Nearly $1B; Swine Flu Shots at Gitmo; On the Eve of History
Aired November 03, 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: Welcome. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It's Tuesday, November 3rd. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us this morning. And here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
America heads to the polls today and the results in a number of key states could signal how voters feel about President Obama. His policies and whether they think Republicans might be able to do better. We're live in one of the battleground states this morning.
CHETRY: And from those battleground states to a real battleground overseas. U.S. troops in the trenches in Afghanistan and waiting for word from the president to see if reinforcements will be on the way. We'll have the view the front lines. Our Chris Lawrence is embedded with the military in Afghanistan.
ROBERTS: And we don't know how many there are, where they are or what they're doing. A new report says the United States cannot keep track of thousands of contractors on the payroll in Iraq and Afghanistan. Where is the accountability and how much could they be costing us?
CHETRY: We begin though with election day. As we speak, polls are just opening in a number of key states where the results could have a profound effect on American politics.
To the White House, no doubt, they're watching very closely. And a year after President Obama's historic win, there is now a very good chance of some blue states turning red. In New Jersey, Democratic Governor Jon Corzine is locked in a virtual tie with Republican Chris Christie. In Virginia's governor race, polls show that Bob McDonnell, a Republican, has a double-digit lead over Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds.
Our Jim Acosta is live in Alexandria, Virginia with more on that.
Good morning, Jim. You know, some say oh, is this going to be a referendum on the White House? I mean, as we know the president did very well when he was a candidate in Virginia, but races still at the end of the day are local, right? JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very much so, Kiran. And you know, when the voters go to the polls any minute now, they're going to find a dramatically different political landscape. As you were saying, a year ago President Obama and the Democrats were riding a huge wave of popular support and part of that wave swept right through here in Virginia. But this year is very different and Republicans this time around are hoping for a turning of the tide.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last year, Virginia, you helped me.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Watch this 30-second campaign ad and it takes 17 seconds to figure out who the Democrat it is the race for governor in Virginia.
OBAMA: With Creigh Deeds leading the great Commonwealth of Virginia.
ACOSTA: The fact is that Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds rarely campaigned with the president. His Republican challenger Bob McDonnell explains why.
BOB MCDONNELL (R), CANDIDATE FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNOR: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's tried to nationalize the election because he doesn't want to talk about what's going on in Virginia.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How are you?
ACOSTA: Just one year after Virginia was hailed as the ultimate red state turned blue, times have changed.
LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Was Obama a factor in Virginia? Yes, I think that's reasonable to say. There's a reason why Republicans are so energized and it isn't just that they like Bob McDonnell.
ACOSTA: Another factor, taxes. When Deeds stumbled on the question of whether he would sign a tax increase, the video went viral.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you would be willing to sign -- would you still would be willing a bill that included a tax increase?
CREIGH DEEDS (D), CANDIDATE FOR VIRGINIA GOVERNOR: I did not mean to make news with that answer. I didn't mean to change anything.
ACOSTA: Up in New Jersey where the incumbent Democratic Governor Jon Corzine is in the fight of his political life, President Obama warned voters this is no time to give the Republicans more power. OBAMA: If I've got the mop and I'm cleaning up after that mess and Jon has got the mop and he's cleaning up after somebody else's mess, at least these other folks can do is not stand there and say, you're not holding the mop the right way.
ACOSTA: Not only is Corzine fending off two opponents including a competitive independent in Chris Daggett...
NARRATOR: If you drove the wrong way down a one-way street.
ACOSTA: The governor may have turned off voters with an ad that accused his heavyset Republican rival Chris Christie of throwing his weight around. But in both New Jersey and Virginia, it's the economy that's weighing on voters' minds. Now, it's bailout weary conservatives who are fired up and ready to go.
(on camera): Why do you think the Republican is doing better this year than last year?
MINDY BRUBAKER, MCDONNELL SUPPORTER: Because he sees all the spending. My children and my grandchildren are going to be paying off our debt, and we need to stop.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And unlike that to Republican Party family feud that we're seeing in other parts of the country, that is not going on here in Virginia. Here, the party got behind a very conservative candidate in Bob McDonnell who is conservative on social issues and fiscal issues and Bob McDonnell, Kiran, is poised to win by a wide margin here in Virginia -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Wow. All right. Jim Acosta for us this morning. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Also two big elections here in New York that we're watching today. The first one, of course, is the mayor's race. Michael Bloomberg, two-time mayor going for his third term. He's able to do that because the city council last year overturned term limits. Mayors were limited to two terms. You remember Rudy Giuliani served a little bit past 9/11, but then Bloomberg was installed. He's going up against Bill Thompson, the Democrat, who has made just about his number one issue the fact that Bloomberg is running for a third term.
There's also this race here in upstate New York that we're watching very closely because this could really be a harbinger of what's to come in 2010.
Dede Scozzafava, who was the Republican candidate, has dropped out of the race after conservatives went after her. People like Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty saying she's too liberal. They threw their support behind Douglas Hoffman, so Scozzafava is out. She actually endorsed Bill Owens, the Democrat. And there's a lot of Republicans actually in the main stream including John Boehner who had thrown their support behind her who are feeling awfully embarrassed right now. So we'll see how that race turns out. Will this be a victory not so much for the Republican Party as for the conservative wing of the Republican Party and what will that mean for sort of moderate candidates next year in 2010, like Charlie Crist of Florida?
And there's another big, it's not actually a race, it's a ballot initiative that we're going to be watching here in the state of Maine. And this involves same-sex marriage.
There's a question on the ballot here in Maine. It's called question one. Let me just put this away a little bit so you can see this a little bit better.
Question number one. The main state legislature recently passed a resolution that would allow for same-sex marriages, but it has happened in California with proposition eight. They're now putting that to the test here with the voters. The question is, do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allow individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?
We should point out that in every state where same-sex marriage initiative that was passed by the legislature has gone to a popular vote. It has received I guess what you could call a popular veto when it's gone down to defeat. So that's why we'll be watching Maine very closely to see if it follows the national trend or whether or not voters in the state of Maine actually upheld the action that the legislature took.
And a reminder, by the way, stay with CNN tonight. The best political team on television will be here in prime time breaking down all the big races for you, the results and the exit polls. We'll be taking a look at what this means in terms of the Obama administration going forward. As Kiran was saying, all politics are local but is there a national bend to this. And then again, what will it portend for 2010? Could this be a preview of next November -- Kiran.
CHETRY: John, thanks. You know, also new this morning, we have a fresh look at how Americans are viewing the job President Obama is doing. In a new CNN/Opinion Research poll that was just released minutes ago, the president's overall job approval is 54 percent. But 45 percent of those polled saying they disapprove.
But Americans do take issue with his handling of one critical issue, in particular, the war in Afghanistan. Fifty-six percent disapprove of the way the president is handling Afghanistan with 42 percent saying they approve.
Meantime, speaking of Afghanistan, President Obama congratulated Hamid Karzai in a phone call Monday, telling the reelected Afghan president he expects his new government to be free of corruption.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I emphasize that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter. Based on improved governance, a much more serious effort to eradicate corruption, joined efforts to accelerate the training of Afghan security forces so that the Afghan people can provide for their own security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Karzai won a second term when his opponent dropped out of a planned runoff that was set to take place next week. The Taliban is also claiming victory saying that their efforts to derail the vote were successful. The White House says that the outcome will not affect the president's timeline for announcing whether or not to send more troops to Afghanistan.
ROBERTS: Well, all of this, as you can imagine, has troops already in the trenches wondering about the future of their mission and whether reinforcements might be on the way, and if there are when they might be on the way.
Chris Lawrence is embedded with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He's reporting for us this morning from just outside of Kandahar.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, we've been traveling in areas where the troops face an almost constant threat of either Taliban attacks or roadside bombs and some of them are starting to wonder, is any help on the way?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): No runoff election? It still means no rest for the soldiers in the small outpost well outside Kandahar. Now they're wondering when will President Obama decide whether to send more troops.
CPL. JIMMY PARKER, 1ST BATALLION, 17TH INFANTRY: We need the help down here. Even though we're handling it on our own, we need more forces down here because the area is too big for just one company to be here.
LAWRENCE: The company is Bravo. The area is the Argadav (ph) River Valley, part desert, part irrigated orchards and heavily saturated with Taliban fighters.
SPC. BRIAN SCHOENBECK, 1ST BATTALION, 17TH INFANTRY: Get another battalion or brigade out here to help us out.
LAWRENCE: Specialist Brian Schoenbeck says there's too many Afghans spread over too much ground to know them personally which is crucial for gathering intelligence.
SCHOENBECK: Well, if we have a smaller area as a result of having more troops here, it does allow us to get to know the people better.
LAWRENCE (on camera): One of the reasons for adding more troops is to add more trainers who can then beef up the number of Afghan national police in villages like this.
(voice-over): U.S. commanders say they can push the Taliban from town to town here, but that's all. MAJOR SCOTT BRANNAN, TASK FORCE FURY: Right now, it's hard to saturate and have boots on the ground because the battle space is so large. You know, Afghanistan is much larger than Iraq.
LAWRENCE: But some say there's nowhere near enough infrastructure for 20,000 to 40,000 more soldiers and Marines.
SPC. LUKE ATLER (ph): Logistically, Afghanistan is not ready for all the troops.
LAWRENCE: Specialist Luke Atler (ph) says supplies still don't flow into Afghanistan as fast as they do in Iraq. It's better now than on his first tour here, but that's not saying much.
ATLER (ph): We had nothing. Last winter, we had no saws in our trucks.
LAWRENCE: Atler (ph) has come to believe the Taliban can't be wiped out, not in their own country even with more troops.
ATLER (ph): All politicians and civilians, they just think we'll send them over there. It doesn't matter how many troops you throw, but you can't throw massive people here. It's not going to work. It's not a war, you know, it's an insurgency.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: We did see somewhat of a split. Soldiers who are training Afghan security forces were somewhat ambivalent about a troop increase while those who are in front line combat missions want to see more troops added to the fight -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence for us this morning outside of Kandahar. Chris, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Also new this morning at 10 minutes past the hour, the Senate is advancing a bill that would extend jobless benefits by another 20 weeks helping the unemployed through the holiday season. The package which cost more than $20 billion would also expand a tax credit for first-time homebuyers. New unemployment numbers will be released Friday. The Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Max Baucus, telling "Politico," quote, "We're not out of the woods yet."
ROBERTS: North Korea saying it has more material to make nuclear bombs this morning. The announcement from state media came after the North threatened to go its own way if the U.S. doesn't sit down one on one. North Korea restarted its nuclear facilities at its main complex at Yongbyon back in April.
CHETRY: And the World Series going back to the Bronx, thanks to Phillies' second baseman Chase Utley. He hit two more home runs last night in an 8-6 Phillies win over the Yankees. It keeps Philly alive. Utley now has five homers in the series and that ties him with Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, for most home runs ever in a single ball (ph) classic. Game six tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium. And for those of you who are huge baseball fans, it's going to feel a little bit like 1999 on the mound with Pedro Martinez for the Phils facing Andy Pettitte for the Yanks.
ROBERTS: Wow.
Losing track of contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Where are they? What are they doing? How much are we paying them? You'll be surprised to the answers to all of those questions.
It's 12 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Here's a surprising statistic for you.
There are more U.S. contractors in Afghanistan than there are U.S. troops. Now, Congress wants to know why the government is having trouble keeping track of them. As our Elaine Quijano found out, the confusion could be costing us millions.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOU.S.E CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, at last count the U.S. government had at least 200,000 contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan, but a new report finds agencies aren't keeping accurate figures on how many contractors they really have and how much those contractors are costing American taxpayers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): They provide critical support for American troops and diplomats in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the U.S. simply isn't keeping track of tens of thousands of contractors there, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is amazing. How can contractors be properly managed if we aren't sure how many there are, where they are and what are they doing?
QUIJANO: Those questions were put directly to Defense Department officials and others by a bipartisan panel looking at wartime contracting.
CHRIS SHAYS, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: I kind of like want to scream and I - and I'm not sure why.
QUIJANO: Former Republican Congressman Chris Shays grilled defense officials on why some contractors don't comply with requirements to report on the number of workers they employ.
SHAYS: Who specifically has the authority to direct cooperation?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one.
SHAYS: No one?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No one.
SHAYS: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we're operating under a memorandum of understanding that was directed by Congress, and it's a good faith effort. You're asking me, who is the single belly button to push to force compliance and as I've...
SHAYS: Well let me ask you this...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... testified before, there isn't one.
SHAYS: ... if a contractor doesn't provide this information, why the hell should they get paid?
QUIJANO: The GAO report also cited glaring examples of waste, including an estimated $43 million each year in free meals for contractors who also receive a per diem, and problems keeping tabs on contractors, like a 2008 tally by the army that found 26,000 contractors had never been accounted for.
Panelists warn the inaccurate counts could put U.S. personnel at greater risk from foreign nationals working with members of provincial reconstruction teams or PRTs in Afghanistan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we don't know who these guys are and they're a bunch of day laborers and they go into the PRTs, how do we know they're not going to blow up a PRT?
(END VIDEO TAPE)
QUIJANO (on camera): Now, John and Kiran, to help you understand just how complex this is, when the GAO was trying to crunch the numbers, it was given 48 separate databases which it then analyzed to identify 85,000 contracts worth $39 billion. John, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Elaine Quijano for us.
ROBERTS: Amazing stuff. I'm telling you (ph).
CHETRY: An eye-opening story.
All right. Well, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, more signs that the economy is on the path to recovery. Christine Romans is going to join us. But how is that helping the president in terms of his latest poll numbers? Does it matter? We're going to ask Christine, still ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 20 minutes past the hour.
Christine Romans has "Minding Your Business" right now. We're talking about jobs. What's a recovery without jobs (ph)? We're still seeing unemployment near double digits. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BU.S.INESS CORRESPONDENT: And that's exactly what they were talking about at the White House yesterday, big important meetings with the president's top advisers, cabinet, secretaries and also big business leaders trying to figure out what the post-bubble world is going to look like and when are these jobs are going to come back. It happens on the same day that we get more signs of cautious optimism for the beginning of the fourth quarter.
We had the manufacturing, remember (ph), the three-year high, we had construction spending number that was rising, home sales contracts up for the eighth month in a row. These are good signs for the start of the fourth quarter but they haven't translate into jobs yet and that's what the president says is issue number one for the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: 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 in generating the jobs that this economy needs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president says he will not rest and the American people are not resting because they'd like to see some results. When you look at the most recent CNN/Opinion Research Communication polls it shows that 54 percent of the American public disapproves of the president's handling of the economy and that is up nine points from the same poll in September and how Obama is handling unemployment, 47 percent approve of how he's handling the jobless situation, 52 percent disapprove of how the president is handling the jobless situation.
So he says it's issue number one, their overriding concern but it is still a political problem because the American people want to see some - want to see some action. So it's not there yet.
ROBERTS: Yes. We'll see if those numbers are reflected at all in today's off year elections. You got a Romans' Numeral for us this morning?
ROMANS: I do, and the number is 248,309, and this takes us back to...
ROBERTS: .007.
ROMANS: ... to Friday's number, when I told you the 640,000 have been saved or created because of the stimulus.
CHETRY: This is how much it costs per job created?
ROMANS: That's right. If you - if you divide 159 billion - the number of the contracts, by the number of the jobs created, it's about almost $250,000 per job so far for that part of the - for that part of the stimulus. That's right.
So, it shows you how difficult it is for a government to create jobs. It's hard.
CHETRY: But the (INAUDIBLE) what this - this is a job that will then continue and will help lead...
ROMANS: A lot of these jobs, frankly, are just temporary. This is a stopgap - this is a stopgap...
ROBERTS: So the people who have those jobs could be saying why not just give me the $248,000? Oh, my goodness.
ROMANS: Anyway, so just to let you know that that's how hard it is for a government to be the job creator. You know, it costs a lot of money when they taxpayers are trying to create the jobs. The hope is this bridges the gap, of course, and that the economy itself will start to grow and create jobs in the longer term.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning. Christine, thanks so much.
So, the 2010 census just about upon us. They're asking a lot of questions that many people don't want to answer, and some of these census workers who are going door to door are facing outright hostility by the people that they're trying to contact. Our Carol Costello reports, coming right up.
Twenty-three and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
It is census time, those once a decade questionnaires should be arriving by the millions by March.
CHETRY: That's right, and the U.S. Census Bureau was already spending $15 billion in an attempt to count every single one of us. But census workers going door to door to get people to fill out their forms in some cases are getting a hostile reception.
Carol Costello joins us now from Washington with an "AM Original." So what are the workers facing out there?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are facing some hostility. This should be simple. Every 10 years the U.S. Census, as is required by the constitution, tries to count every person in the United States. Soon, as you guys said, you'll start seeing commercials on TV and in April you'll get a 2010 Census form in the mail and you're saying, so?
Yes, you may be saying that, but not everybody is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO (voice-over): We'll call him Jay. He works for the U.S. Census, often going door to door to convince people to fill out their census forms.
JAY, U.S. CENSUS WORKER: I spend a lot of time on the road.
COSTELLO: He prefers we not show his face so he can talk more freely. Oh, he loves his job but says it's becoming more difficult because of talk like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the short form that every American will get next year. Does the federal government really need to know our phone numbers?
COSTELLO: Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann told CNN she will only list the number of people in her household on her 2010 census form because the constitution doesn't require any information beyond that. Jay says that just reinforces the fear some Americans already have about the census.
JAY: Some of them are pretty blunt. They say, "I'm not talking to you. I don't want to have anything to do with the government. Get off my property or I'll call the police."
COSTELLO: It's why he takes his German shepherd along with him in his truck and never knocks on doors after dark.
The Census Bureau is determined to calm fears and change the minds of tens of millions of Americans who wouldn't fill out their Census forms in 2010.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On April 1st, 2010, our nation will be counted.
COSTELLO: It's spending more than $300 million in advertising to convince Americans to do their civic duty, as is required by law.
ROBERT GROVES, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU DIRECTOR: It should take every household about 10 minutes to fill out this form. The questions are questions you've answered plenty of times.
COSTELLO: Groves says the constitution requires the government to count the whole number of persons in each state. It does that every ten years. But critics like Bachmann maintain the 2010 Census goes beyond that by asking questions not only about who and how many live in your house, but about race, sex, birth dates and, yes, your phone number.
The Census Bureau says all of that information is important because not only does the Census count determine how many lawmakers represent each state, but how federal tax dollars are split between local communities. It's a message Jay hopes sinks in. It would make his job a whole lot easier.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: You are required by law to fill out your censuses form, and there are penalties if you don't, but they are almost never enforced. If you don't mail in your form, you're likely to get several phone calls and visits from a U.S. Census worker like Jay.
As for confidentiality, the Census director tells me if he leaks your information, he is breaking the law and he could face five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. And John and Kiran, when I went into the U.S. Census Bureau to interview the director, it was like Fort Knox. It was more difficult to get into the U.S. Census Bureau than it was to get in to the U.S. Capitol.
ROBERTS: So it is pretty amazing too that that fellow out there, the Census worker, traveling around with a dog, doesn't knock on anybody's door after dark. My goodness!
COSTELLO: Just a small number of customers shall we say act that way, but it's that small number that you have to be careful of.
ROBERTS: Exactly.
COSTELLO: That's what he says.
ROBERTS: Carol, fascinating story this morning, thanks so much.
CHETRY: And meanwhile, we're crossing...
COSTELLO: Wait, wait, wait. We want to know...
CHETRY: Go ahead.
COSTELLO: I'm sorry, I forgot. I was supposed to push through my blog because I'd really like to know what you think.
You know, are these questions on the U.S. Census Form intrusive? Do you mind telling the government what your phone number is? How many women live in your house? What race they are? Et cetera, et cetera. CNN.com/AMFIX.
CHETRY: Yes. Good job, Carol. Yes, we look forward to hearing what others think about it.
Thanks so much, Carol.
COSTELLO: Sure.
CHETRY: Well, right now, it's half past the hour. We're checking the top stories this morning. President Obama is facing his first test at the polls. Right now, Americans are casting their ballots in several critical contests. In New Jersey and Virginia, governors will be chosen and no doubt analyst and experts will be pouring over the results, looking for signs that voters are already looking for change.
A stunning report on poverty and its impact on children. Nearly half of all American kids and teens live in households that depend on food stamps before they become adults. A new study conducted from Washington University in St. Louis found 90 percent of the nation's black children and 37 percent of white children will require food stamps to eat at some point while growing up.
Well, if former President Bill Clinton had it his way, he would have been president forever. Speaking at a conference in Istanbul. The former president said that without term limits he would have stayed in the White House, quote, "until I was carried away in a coffin or defeated in an election." Now he says he leaves politics to his wife and to President Obama.
ROBERTS: Well, turning now to the big three in Detroit, Chrysler extends its buyout offer to more than 20,000 employees while General Motors is still trying to restructure spending billions of bailout dollars. But Ford, which didn't take any cash from Uncle Sam is back in the green again posting a profit of nearly $1 billion for the third quarter. So how is Ford turning things around?
Here for the "AM Breakdown" is Rick Newnan. He is the chief business correspondent for "U.S. News and World Report."
Good morning to you.
RICK NEWMAN, CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, "U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT": Good morning, John.
ROBERTS: So how is it that Ford seems to be successful while the other two or the big three are continuing to struggle?
NEWMAN: I think Ford was partly smart and partly lucky. They did some things a couple of years ago. Refinanced their debt, which put them in a better position when the maelstrom hit last year, then General Motors and Chrysler. They also had some good products coming at just the right time this summer. They had the right products at the time to take advantage of Cash for Clunkers. They kind of got a disproportionate share of that, and they've taken market share from GM and Chrysler. Clearly, a lot of people who want to buy a domestic car, but were disgusted by the auto bailouts went over to Ford.
ROBERTS: So the Cash for Clunkers program was very helpful for them. They sold a lot of fusions, they sold a lot of escape hybrids, as well. But now that the Cash for Clunkers program is over, can they keep the good times rolling into 2010? You know, Ford's chairman said that he wants the company to be fully profitable, solidly profitable by 2011.
NEWMAN: Right. Which means 2010 is still going to be kind of a go slow year in terms of getting there. But what they've done is they cut costs a lot faster than they had, than people expected they were going to do. And now they have got pretty good momentum going into 2010. So some new cars are going to come next year, the Ford Fiesta, which is the small car a lot of people are excited about coming over from Europe. Few things after that. And they need to keep taking market share from GM and Chrysler. GM is not going to be real eager to get over that market share, and GM has got some good products coming, too. So they're going to be clawing some of that back. Chrysler is in a pretty weak position. Chrysler is not really going to have some compelling new cars coming until about a year and a half from now, and some of those fiats we've been hearing about to start to land in showrooms. And who knows if Americans are going to love those cars or are they going to sort of look at them sideways and say, interesting, but we'll take a pass.
ROBERTS: You know, we talked about all of these new cars that Ford is selling, and General Motors and Chrysler are designing. But one of the things that really helped Ford get back into profitability was sales of big, upscale F-150 pickup trucks.
NEWMAN: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: If gas prices hadn't gone down, would they have been able to sell those pickup trucks?
NEWMAN: Well, yes, Ford, that's one of the best stories for Ford. And what Ford is hoping is that a housing rebound will materialize at some point and, you know, trucks go to a lot of contractors and people like that. That's really hurt all three Detroit manufacturers because they're all in this game with the trucks kind of fun watching how they compete with each other. Who has the toughest truck and, you know, things like this. So they all stand to gain as the economy gets better. But, you know, we know we're going to have 10 percent unemployment next year. It's going to be a really tough market for selling cars.
ROBERTS: So going forward and, again, looking at new cars that they're designing. As we said, the focus, Escape Hybrid were big sellers in the Cash for Clunkers.
NEWMAN: Yes.
ROBERTS: They've got the Fusion Hybrid coming out next year. Here's what "Motor Trend" magazine...
NEWMAN: Fusion Hybrid is out now.
ROBERTS: It is.
NEWMAN: Getting tons of reviews.
ROBERTS: Sorry, it's the 2010 Fusion. The 2010 model year. Here's what "Motor Trend" said about it, quote, "Listen up, Washington, these failures at Ford -- I guess, you know, a lot of people said that the fusion is a failure had just set a new world standard for midsize fuel efficiency and user-friendly techno wonder."
Is Ford finally getting it right after so many years.
NEWMAN: Yes, they do. They've got some more technology coming, in which they call this Eco Boost engine. So this gives you more power from a smaller engine. So instead of a V-8 you can get a 6 cylinder, instead of a 6, you can get a 4. And there's more that's coming out. Now that cost a little bit more so the challenges really on Ford to make that more appealing. But when you hear the so-called buff books motor trend like you mentioned, you know, citing these guys with excitement and enthusiasm, that's new. Because one of the things that happened is these all three of these brands just got weak over time. You know, the quality fell, reliability fell and when you hear enthusiasm coming from car lovers about one of these companies, that's a great sign for the company.
ROBERTS: We would be remiss, though, if we didn't point out that Ford still got some big challenges.
NEWMAN: Yes.
ROBERTS: It's got a tremendous amount of debt.
NEWMAN: That's right.
ROBERTS: $26.9 billion. The union just confused contract concessions because they're saying, hey, Ford is in the money. Why should we give them?
NEWMAN: One of the ironies of the auto bailout is GM and Chrysler got better consensus from their unions than Ford has been able to get. So in a way, Ford is being penalized because it didn't have to take federal money.
ROBERTS: All right. Rick, it's great to see you this morning.
NEWMAN: OK. Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Thanks for dropping by. Really appreciate it - Kiran.
CHETRY: We see the long lines, the pictures of thousands waiting in line for swine flu vaccine for hours. Well, there's one place you don't have to wait - Gitmo.
Thirty-six minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Almost 40 minutes past the hour now.
All across the country, thousands of people have been waiting in long lines for hours for the swine flu vaccine. Some of them had to be turned away because there are not enough vaccines for everyone. They're putting people in priority groups, as we know. But prisoners at Guantanamo Bay could be headed to the front of the line.
So some are asking, should terror suspects get priority over the general public during a shortage?
Brian Todd takes a look at the heated debate.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A pandemic that's hit all but two states now spreads a political virus in Washington. The Obama team taking bipartisan fire for the fact that the swine flu vaccine could be offered to detainees at Guantanamo while American families deal with delays in production of the vaccine.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (I), CONNECTICUT: They should get way, way, way back at the end of the line, and only get the vaccine when 150 million Americans who are thought to be in vulnerable categories get that vaccine.
TODD: Senator Joe Lieberman says he's appealing to the president and the Pentagon to reverse course. A Democratic congressman calls it unacceptable and a Republican counterpart says, "The administration tells us no longer women and children first" for the vaccine.
We contacted officials at the Pentagon, the White House and a spokesman at Guantanamo who said this.
LT. CMDR. BROOK DEWALT, DIR. OR PUBLIC AFFAIRS, JOINT TASK FORCE GUANTANAMO (via telephone): People who are in institutional settings or environments such as nursing homes, detention facilities, prisons, college dorms as well as patients in hospital and people with diseases are all considered to be at a higher risk.
The detainees at Guantanamo would then fall into that general area of higher-risk individuals.
TODD: But the Centers for Disease Control does not specifically put detainees on the target list of people recommended to receive the vaccine when it becomes available. And a White House official says the administration is trying to determine if detainees should ever have any access to the vaccine.
Officials at Guantanamo and the Pentagon tell us there are no cases of H1N1 at Guantanamo yet. The vaccine has not arrived and they don't know when they'll get it. They say the base commander will make sure military personnel get the vaccine first and that it will be voluntary for detainees.
One bioethicist says this is typical of the political challenge epidemics pose to presidents.
ART CAPLAN, DIRECTOR OF BIOETHICS, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: It's a really tough line to walk. And I'm afraid, given all the other forces out there -- vaccine critics, economic issues, even a certain skepticism toward government -- it makes it even harder to get the right balance between wanting the public to take this seriously but not panicking people.
TODD (on camera): A senior Pentagon official says this is a force protection issue. He says the detainees at Guantanamo may have to get access to the vaccine in order to protect the military personnel who are guarding them.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
ROBERTS: Brian Todd for us this morning. Well, there's a new documentary coming up on then candidate Barack Obama, who was not exactly the date, but a year ago today, Tuesday, he was elected president.
Ed Norton is one of the producers of this documentary. We'll be talking to him, coming up. Fascinating stuff, ahead.
Forty-three minutes after the hour.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Here's a live look at Atlanta this morning. It's 46 minutes past the hour. It's 43 degrees in Atlanta, but it's going up to 70. It's also expected to be sunny in Atlanta today.
Right now, we fast forward through the stories we'll be following for you today. In the next few hours, we should get to see the final draft of the house health care reform bill. Democrats are promising it will be online for everyone to see for 72 hours before they vote on it later this week. It was delayed until now while language regarding abortion, and immigration was finalized.
Giving Americans heroes a home to call their own at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki is going to be talking about efforts to step up outreach to homelessness and also a plan to end homelessness among their ranks in the next five years.
In German chancellor, Angela Merkel will be meeting with President Obama this morning. She will then give a speech to a joint session of Congress. She is expected to talk about combatting global warming and also dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions. And little interesting note, this only be the second time that a German chancellor who address the Congress, so a little bit of history today.
ROBERTS: No, it will be wise to know that one pretty closely.
Rob Marciano is watching the weather closely across the country for this Tuesday morning. Rob, there's not a whole lot to talk about, isn't it?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I tell you what, really couldn't be better for an election day if it was a presidential year, nobody would have an excuse to knock it out and hit the polls. From the West coast and East coast, we're looking pretty good.
The East coast, the only negative finding really is a little flooded advisory for parts of Jersey because of the full moon high tide happening right now and that's a bit of an issue. And we're still seeing some flood warnings across parts of the lower Mississippi for the record amount of rainfall during the month of October from Northern Louisiana all the way up through St. Louis. But the radar for a change of pace, completely quiet from coast to coast.
We have to go to Vietnam to talk about what is left of Marinae which has landed to the Philippines as a typhoon and then into Vietnam dumping 10 to 15 inches of rainfall. So, a flooding certainly the main issue there, and the thing is beginning to dissipate, but another little disturbance, guess what, heading towards the Philippines, so amazingly active for the folks in manila, unfortunately, tropical wise.
Lower 90s in Phoenix, will be 63 degrees in Memphis, 59 degrees in New York today and a similar forecast for tomorrow night. Game six, nice job for the Phillies. Keeping the drama living maybe one more day. John and Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: No. Maybe all the way to game seven, you know Rob.
ROBERTS: I talked to yesterday, Rob, that the Yankees just want to win it in the new stadium.
CHETRY: They wanted to win it yesterday.
MARCIANO: It's the right thing to do.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: OK, guys.
CHETRY: Still ahead, we are going to get an inside look at the new documentary that's coming out about President Obama. It was chronicling the campaign trail's unprecedented access with the family, as well as behind the scenes of the campaign. Ed Norton producing it. He sits down with Alina Cho. It's 49 minutes past the hour.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN can now project that Barack Obama, 47 years old, will become the president-elect of the United States. We project he now has enough electoral votes, more than 270, more than enough to become the 44th president of the United States.
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Yes, it is hard to believe it was a year ago. We were sitting there watching Wolf say that from the control room and then we went on and on and on until noon the next day. But, we were all so unbelievably excited, just by the fact that we were really witnessing history first hand, America electing first Black president. Now, a group of filmmakers were there every step of the way following the future president on his historic run.
ROBERTS: They had incredible access to the man who said, yes, we can. An HBO is going to debut their documentary tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. It's called "By The People" the election of Barack Obama. Actor Ed Norton is among the producers, and our Alina Cho talked to him and joins us now with the sneak peak. Good morning to you.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. It's a two-hour documentary. Part of it is a walk down memory lane. They had to include those of iconic moments, but a lot of the footage you have never seen before, guys. It's really fascinating.
Good morning everybody. You know, when you talk to Ed Norton and some of the other filmmakers involved, they all tell you the same thing. The reason they were able to get so close to Barack Obama is because, well, they got in early. They got lucky.
They started following Mr. Barack Obama a full year before he announced his candidacy back when they were just doing a little film about a freshman senator from Illinois who had great potential. How much? At the time, they had no idea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (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 after Edward Norton, one of the film's producers pleaded his case.
EDWARD NORTON, 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 goo idea.
CHO: 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: 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, WIFE OF BARACK OBAMA: 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'd get.
B. OBAMA: When I was practicing the speech for the first time and I came to the end where I talked about 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, you know, I don't want to mess this up.
CHO: A documentary the filmmakers hope will be part of the historical record.
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. And I think it's a real love letter to the democratic process.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: "By The People, the Election of Barack Obama" debuts tonight at 9:00 p.m. on HBO. When I asked the filmmakers what surprised them about the current president, the producers told me that he really does live up to the name, no drama Obama, guys. Amy Rice and Alicia Sams said that they would be with him on big primary nights.
He'd be up by a lot, he'd be down by a lot, and Amy Rice thought he would be just like this always, you know. And they said that's great when you're a politician, but when you're trying to film a dramatic documentary, sometimes that can be a bit of a challenge. Did you ever say to him, hey, could you amp it up a little bit? And they said, you know, we tried. But, you know, we all have our methods through interviewing and they tried to do that.
ROBERTS: So, are you nervous, Senator? Are you nervous? What do you think about tonight?
CHO: Really, are you sure you're not nervous?
CHETRY: Because he had a lot of people worrying for him, right. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
CHO: The other thing that surprised him which I thought was really, really interesting is they said, you know, when he gave that electrifying speech in 2004 at the Democratic convention, you know, they thought that he would be that expert campaigner from the get go. And he said, you know, -- they said he wasn't like that, you know. They saw him evolve over time as a campaigner get better, more confident, improved his stump speech, that type of thing, and they said that was fascinating, as well.
ROBERTS: Everybody gets better with time.
CHO: That's right.
ROBERTS: Alina Cho for us this morning. Thanks so much.
Stay with us, Americans are heading to the polls in some states right now, and the results could say a lot about whether the tide is turning for Democrats across the country or whether Republicans will flourish. We're live with all the big stories ahead on the Most News in the Morning. Just 90 seconds from now. Stay with us.
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