Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Obama's 2-Year Plan; Astronaut "Guinea Pigs"; Monkey Business at Commonwealth Games

Aired October 05, 2010 - 06:00   ET

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


JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and thanks so much for being with us on this Tuesday, the 5th of October. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We want to get you caught up on what happened overnight.

There's some new developments this morning on the deadly drone attack in Pakistan. We now know the target. It may have a direct link to the terror alert we heard about uncovered yesterday in Europe. We're live in Pakistan with the very latest.

ROBERTS: They have been trapped underground for 61 days now. Now, there's word that 33 Chilean miners could be rescued as early as next week, nearly a month ahead of schedule. The latest on the rescue plan just ahead.

CHETRY: Also, operation rail safe. U.S. authorities reportedly stepping up security along Amtrak routes this week. Homeland security officials say they've been planning the security exercise for some time and say it is not connected to the terror threat in Europe.

ROBERTS: Up first this Tuesday morning, new developments in a deadly drone attack in Pakistan. Possible links to the new terror threat in Europe. Pakistani intelligence now confirming that five Germans were among the eight suspected militants who were killed in the strike. It happened in the North Waziristan section of Pakistan yesterday. The other three were also foreigners and it all may be the result of Al Qaeda's efforts to train terrorists who already have western passports to go home and launch attacks.

Frederik Pleitgen is live for us in Islamabad this morning. And this, Fred, would seem to be at least some sort of example of the worst-case scenario that homeland security experts are telling us about. Nationals from a country, going to Pakistan, being trained in these camps and then being sent back home.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it possibly would be. I mean, if these were indeed five Germans who were killed in that drone strike, that certainly would be something that European and American authorities would be very, very concerned about. We're still looking into that information. As you said, two Pakistani officials have confirmed that it was, indeed, five Germans. But I mean, you've been in warzones so many times, John, you know that when a missile hits a building, it's pretty hard to determine who was inside without any DNA evidence. So we're still waiting to get further information. But as you said, if, indeed, these were five Germans, then it could be related to that plot in Europe, which apparently also originated in Germany. And one thing that we do know from U.S. officials is that one of the reasons why the drone strikes were stepped up last month was in relation to that terror plot in Europe. So this could be the case. We're not sure yet, but we are looking into it, John.

ROBERTS: And do we know how many foreign nationals may be in Pakistan being trained?

PLEITGEN: Well, some believe that it could be up to 200 foreign nationals in that North Waziristan area. One of the countries that is of great concern right now is, in fact, Germany. And the talks that we've been having with German authorities is that they say they're very worried. They say up to 70 of their nationals in recent times went to that area to try and get terror training. Of course, people from other places could very well be doing the same thing.

It all really comes down to that North Waziristan area where apparently a lot of that is going on. It is something that Pakistani officials are very worried about. They say they're trying to curb the influx of foreigners into that area. And, of course, something that America is very, very worried about for exactly the reasons that you mentioned because the biggest worry is people with so-called clean passports, western passports try to propagate attacks in western countries like America and, of course, also European countries, John.

ROBERTS: Troubling new developments. Fred Pleitgen for us this morning in Islamabad. Fred, thanks.

CHETRY: Coming up on three minutes past the hour to politics now. We're entering the home stretch. In just 28 days, Americans will go to the polls to decide who ultimately controls Congress.

There's a new poll out this morning offering a snapshot of where the voters stand right now. According to a new "Washington Post"/ABC News poll that came out overnight, 49 percent of likely voters plan to back a Republican. That's compared to 43 percent who will vote for a Democrat.

Senior political editor Mark Preston is live at the CNNPolitics.com desk. So that's the generic breakdown, which often during elections we see track pretty much in line with how things shake out in the congressional elections. But let's start in Delaware where we're talking about Christine O'Donnell, the Senate Republican nominee.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, we are, Kiran. Look, this election was supposed to be about a referendum on the economy and it's a referendum on the Democratic control of Washington. But it's also gotten a little bizarre.

You know, we're talking about witches and we're talking about secret recordings. In Delaware, Christine O'Donnell has embraced this idea that she is not a witch. Now, as our viewers will remember, she was caught on tape from about 10 years ago saying that she dabbled in witchcraft. Well, she is the Tea Party favorite, the Republican nominee. She's also a social conservative. And this morning, she has an ad running in Delaware right now saying that, in fact, she is not a witch. So she's embracing it, trying to make a little bit of fun -- poke a little bit of fun at it, saying she's not a witch. She goes on in this 30-second ad to say that she can go to Washington and fix things.

But speaking of these secret recordings out in Nevada, another very bizarre story. We have Sharron Angle who is another Tea Party favorite, another Republican nominee for Senate out there who was caught on tape trying to get one of her rivals to get out of the race. This other rival says he is a Tea Party candidate. He is not the Republican nominee. And in fact, Sharron Angle offered Scott Ashjian access, so to speak, here to Washington, D.C. She says she's got the juice with some very big names here in Washington, D.C. She also had some very unflattering things to about the GOP establishment as well as the Republican Party. A very embarrassing episode for Sharron Angle caught on this tape -- Kiran.

CHETRY: You know, that's the interesting thing. I was wondering, how embarrassing is it for her, Mark? And that, you know, she's sort of saying, listen, I need you to back out for me to be able to win it because the margin of error is so slim between Harry Reid and myself. I understand that it's hard because she sort of talked against the backroom dealing and it sounds like that's what was happening. But are those conversations that typically take place, you know, in races across the country?

PRESTON: You know, they are conversations that take place. In fact, let's take a quick listen to what she said on that tape and we'll come out of it and talk a little bit more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF: SHARRON ANGLE (R-NV), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: That's really all I can offer to you is whatever juice I have, you have, as well. You want to see DeMint, I have juice with DeMint. I go to Washington, D.C. and I say I want to see Jim DeMint, he's right there for me. I say I want to see Tom Coburn, he's right there for me. I say I want to see Mitch McConnell, he's there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: Now, that recording was recorded secretly by Scott Ashjian, and that's what's embarrassing. Not the fact that she attacked the Republican Party, but she said that she has juice here in Washington, D.C. and can get Scott Ashjian access to Jim DeMint who has turned out to be a very powerful player in these mid-term elections, a very powerful player in the Republican Party.

CHETRY: And this has been a very interesting race in Nevada because you don't really have a lot of popularity for Harry Reid or for Sharron Angle. This guy jumps in and sort of is gleaning a small percentage, single digits. But it's interesting because there's an ad out against him from the Tea Party Express that says he's a fraud. I don't know why he's running under the Tea Party because he has nothing to do with us. PRESTON: Yes, and of course, Scott Ashjian says, in fact, that he is a Tea Party candidate and that he feels like he can win. Polls show that he has no chance of winning, but you know what? Sharron Angle is absolutely correct. He could throw the election in Harry Reid's direction if he stays in the race and that's what Sharron Angle was trying to do in this secret meeting last week trying to get him out of the race -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Well, we're going to hear from him later on in our show in the 8:00 hour. So it will be interesting to see what he says to that. You want -- you know, if you stay in and you elect Harry Reid, or Harry Reid gets elected, is that what you wanted, you know, in the end? So we'll see what he says to that.

Mark, thanks so much.

PRESTON: Thanks, Kiran.

CHETRY: And stay with us. Coming up at 6:40 Eastern, we're going to break down some of the other close races with Tom Bevan, co-founder and executive editor of RealClearPolitics.com.

ROBERTS: Also new this morning, Times Square bombing suspect Faisal Shahzad scheduled to be sentenced in New York federal court just a few hours time. Shahzad, a Pakistani-American, is accused of trying to set off a car bomb in Times Square. That was back in May. The bomb failed to detonate and he was arrested days later while trying to flee the country. Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence.

CHETRY: The port of Houston still closed this morning because of an electrical tower leaning over the ship channel. The country's second largest port has been closed since Sunday when a vessel pushing barges crashed into 300-foot-tall tower. Coast Guard officials say that power lines are hanging too low to safely allow for ships to pass underneath. At least 30 ships are waiting for the channel to be cleared.

ROBERTS: Well, maybe you're better off just closing your eyes. The folks at "Travel and Leisure" magazine are out with the list of scariest bridges in the world. And the infamous Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland made the cut. If you've ever driven over it and hit a storm, you'll know why. It's five miles long, almost 200 feet high, very narrow and sometimes when the clouds rolling, you can't see land behind you or in front of you. You just feel like you're driving in a concrete rail out in the middle of nowhere.

CHETRY: That's right. And if you live in Maryland or Virginia, you have to cross it to get to some of the popular resort beaches, and it's not fun, I'll say. Freaks me out a little.

Well, anyway, it's eight minutes after the hour. We got a check of this morning's weather headlines. Our Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center for us this morning. Hey, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning, guys. Yes, I think that would freak just about anybody out, especially in a storm if there's fog rolling in. Yes, it's a scary proposition. There's some west coast bridges that do the same sort of thing.

Now, we do have some wind that will be rotating in again today across the east coast. Here it is.

The storm kind of stubborn, just kind of keeping things rather unsettled all the way from the mid-Atlantic back through the Ohio River Valley. And as where most of the rain is right now, but we'll see showers on and off throughout the day, I think from Philly up to New York and Boston. Right now, not a whole lot going on.

Coastal flood advisory because these onshore winds are pushing some of that water in. So during the high tide, you might see things couple of feet above average. But that should be about it. Then we'll see this unsettled weather, I think, for another day and a half and then that low will move out.

Behind it is cold air. We have more in the way of frost and freeze advisories from St. Louis to Chicago, all the way back through the Tennessee Valley and that means, well, fall is in the air.

Breaking news from Minnesota. Check out this video. Out of Minneapolis, oh, yes. Break out that beautiful fall foliage video. The sugar maples and the fluorescent red and orange and ash and golden yellow, it's peaking, baby in many best places. Lake Minnetonka, St. Croix River, head out there while taking a football game while you're out there.

Love this time of year, guys. And we should see things start to peak across the northeast, as well. Get out there and enjoy.

CHETRY: Nice. What says fall more than football and some beautiful leaves changing color?

MARCIANO: Oh, yes. Well, a little apple cider and a trip across the bridge.

CHETRY: You're right.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: Back to you.

CHETRY: Well, an a.m. follow-up now. We showed this video yesterday. This safety dance of sorts that has become viral on the web. It shows the crew of Cebu Pacific Airlines. It's from the Philippines jazzing up their normal routine with music from Lady Gaga and Katy Perry as they show you, of course, how to follow the safety procedures.

Well, the airline took a little heat for the video. Now it says this was not the actual safety demo on the flight. There was a serious one that was performed the traditional way before takeoff in keeping with regulations.

ROBERTS: Especially if they're going to do the serious one to do something not so serious afterwards because Lord knows flying on an aircraft is miserable enough. And anything the crew can do to show you that they're having a good time I think is a good thing.

CHETRY: Yes. And plus, which one are you going to listen to more? You might learn something actually from watching the second one.

ROBERTS: You might learn how to dance at the very least.

Coming up, a circus performance in Ukraine goes horribly wrong as a trainer is mauled by two lions. The attack is captured on video by a CNN iReporter. He'll tell us what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Also, LeBron James ready to put on a Miami Heat uniform for the first time. And our Soledad O'Brien sits down with King James to find out why he still has Cleveland on his mind. It's 11 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Fourteen minutes now after the hour. Some shocking moments during a Ukrainian circus performance all captured on camera by a CNN iReporter. A lion tamer in the ring is reportedly (INAUDIBLE) when suddenly he's mauled by two lions. Circus workers quickly tried to hose down the cats. Doug Shepherd was there with his family. He says there wasn't much to protect the crowd from the attacking animals either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG SHEPHERD, FILMED LION ATTACK: A one-ring circus with about, you know, a thousand people, 1,500 people around. And then the gate that goes in and out of the ring is held up by aluminum with some netting. And throughout the video you see it open and closed for people to come in and out. And there's nothing between that with the lions and all the kids and moms. It's mainly moms and kids in the audience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: The lion trainer underwent emergency surgery. He is said to be this morning in stable condition.

CHETRY: Wow. Some amazing video, though, disturbing to see.

A nighttime explosion and fire at a magnesium plant in Venice, Illinois. Here are the pictures. People in the surrounding communities were asked to leave their homes for a couple of hours. There were no reports of any injuries. They're still looking into what caused that blast.

ROBERTS: Well, they could be close to a breakthrough with the effort to raise the 33 trapped Chilean miners -- a rescue drill is within 160 meters of the miners now. Officials believe they may be able to bring the miners up as early as next week. The men have been trapped more than 2,000 feet beneath the surface for 61 days now.

We're live in Chile with a report on the very latest coming up in our next hour this morning.

CHETRY: Well, on the CNN security watch, federal officials launching a security surge on Amtrak routes this week. It's part of an exercise and they do it each year at different times called Operation Railsafe. Homeland security officials say that they've been planning the exercise for some time. They say it is not connected to the terror threat in Europe.

Joining us on the phone this morning is Fran Townsend, CNN national contributor and former homeland security adviser under President Bush.

Fran, thanks for being with us this morning. The reason we wanted to bring you on about it is that, of course, we heard about these threats at potential soft targets in Europe, some of the warnings going out from our State Department as well as British officials. And then, of course, the timing of this Operation Railsafe.

What's your take?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (via telephone): You know, Kiran, you're right. It does happen every year. But it takes on a new meaning given the current threats.

This is -- it really is -- what happens is this threat that we're watching now unfold in western Europe, we hear that it's related to open transportation systems. Systems where unlike the airport where you go through screenings, an open system -- buses, trains -- are ones that don't -- you don't go through that, which makes them more vulnerable. And that's exactly why they plan these things, these exercises, each year.

This one is just particularly well-timed. One, it will raise the level of awareness because on open systems, you need the public to help you protect them by telling you if they see suspicious packages and that sort or people. And two, it gives them a sense of confidence when they see a uniform presence and bomb-sniffing dogs and that sort of thing, that there is security related to their presence on those open systems. So, it's well-timed if it wasn't planned this way.

ROBERTS: Fran, we've seen the results of terrorist attacks on rail systems in the past, the bombings in Madrid, the 2005 bombings of the London subway system. Is there any way to secure the rail system in such a way that still allows people to have easy access? The fact that we haven't been attacked here in the United States -- is that just really a matter of luck more than anything?

TOWNSEND: Well, if you take an open system -- because people, going back when I was in the White House and prior administrations, have looked at whether or not you can close these open systems and you can't and not have them still be both an attractive means of transportation and an effective means of transportation. The best thing you can do, the bomb-sniffing dogs are the least expensive, most effective way to look for explosives. And two, Commissioner Ray Kelly here in New York has used these random surges where you'll come into a subway station one morning and, all of a sudden, they're randomly screening people and you don't know where that's going to be or who they're going to choose. Both of those things tend to be more effective ways than trying to close the system.

CHETRY: Got you. Fran Townsend for us this morning -- thanks so much.

TOWNSEND: You're welcome.

CHETRY: Well, Verizon's blaming a software glitch now for millions of dollars in bogus fees that it charged to customers. We first told you about this yesterday. They're promising to give the money back. But now, the FCC is asking, why did it take so long for Verizon to notice and make good on the refunds.

It's 18 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.

By the way, Christine, I guess the prediction from the drunk guy at the deli yesterday turned out to be so.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't -- it wasn't true. Glad I didn't have money bet on it.

CHETRY: We're joking that, you know, sometimes, people like to give you their stock picks in the middle of the night in Manhattan when we're the only ones up at 3:00 in the morning except for people living in the clubs.

Well, "Minding Your Business" now: the FCC is investigating Verizon and those mystery fees they've been charging customers for data they didn't use. Well, Verizon now blames a software glitch and says rebates will show up on bills in October and November. The FCC wants to know, though, why it took the communication giant two years to disclose the bogus fees and begin the reimbursements.

ROBERTS: The federal government is suing Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. The suit claims that the credit card giants engaging in anti-competitive practices, using swipe fees to stop merchants from offering discounted prices to customers. Visa and MasterCard have agreed to settle the charges. American Express, though, denies any wrongdoing and says it's going to fight those charges.

CHETRY: Well, for an unprecedented fourth year in a row, Utah's Deer Valley is the top ski resort in North America. 20,000 readers of "Ski" magazine vote. They voted the Park City Resort number one for grooming, for mountain service, and for dining. Deer Valley beat out 60 ski resorts across the U.S. as well as Canada.

Have you been there?

ROBERTS: Never been there, no. I've been to Snow Bird and Alta, but never gone to Deer Valley.

CHETRY: But wouldn't you go for the skiing? I mean, they said it's for those mountain service and for the food, I mean --

ROBERTS: Which is why -- which is why I like Snow Bird. It gets so much powder coming off the Salt Lake there and it's got beautiful terrain, a big tram that takes you up to the top, view of the Wasatch Mountains from the top of the mountain. It's nice. It's also my first western ski experience. It's kind of like always remember your first time.

Frito Lay, by the way, bagging those biodegradable noisy SunChip bags. How noisy are they? Oh, my gosh.

The (INAUDIBLE) green compostable sacks are getting the sack 18 months after they were introduced. It seems customers have been complaining. Some 44,000 people joined the Facebook group called Sorry, But I can't Hear You over the SunChips bag.

CHETRY: Literally, this is just touching them. I mean, this is not even trying to be loud like --

ROBERTS: Let's actually dig in -

(INAUDIBLE)

CHETRY: Which flavor should I open?

ROBERTS: It's like it's like hail on a tin roof.

CHETRY: It really is.

ROMANS: That's a good analogy.

CHETRY: They tried to do the right thing, but back to the drawing board.

ROBERTS: But by doing the right thing, they did it the wrong way.

ROMANS: How noisy is it when you chew your SunChips while I'm doing my next --

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: It's likely you do it. Come on, Christine.

Well, listen, I'm talking to you about a new way watching television actually. Watching television with chips in your, you know -- watching television at home, interactive television, a la carte television, Google TV, coming out probably later this month or next month with its first set top box, the box that will go to the new Google TV.

What is Google TV? We don't know how much they're going to charge for it. But you'll be able to watch TV, surf the Web, play online games, connect with friends. It would be more seamlessly, moving between television, web content, Facebook, your phone, online games.

Look, this is all changing. We have some applications on our phone, some on our laptops and our computer, some on our television. The idea here is this is all merging together. What isn't clear is the TV content providers, the traditional network TV content providers, how they're going to feel about this and whether they're going to sign up to allow all of their shows to be on a Google TV.

Now, there's also Apple TV. This is $99 to buy the hardware for it. You rent shows, anything that's on iTunes, for 99 cents. You can access your movies and your favorite Internet content.

ROBERTS: That could add up.

ROMANS: Yes, that could add up. That could add up. But look, we -- this -- obviously not popular with, for example, the satellite TV people and the cable TV people who they present you --

CHETRY: They sell packages.

ROMANS: -- seasonal packages, right. This is the idea of unbundling all that stuff and letting people pay for what they use and deliver this technology. So, some interesting things starting to happen and we're going to see more of these new programs. What they're going to look like, we're going to know more in the next few weeks.

CHETRY: I think people in the older generation are going, wait a minute, why do I need this? Why would I want to do this? One of the things that they talked about is say watching, let's say, a game, a football game, with your buddies. And everyone is on Facebook sort of weighing in real time. And everybody can see each other interactively and they're watching the game.

ROMANS: You could also bookmark things.

CHETRY: Or you could invite people over to your house.

ROMANS: Right.

ROBERTS: Yes -- you don't want to do that. Why invite them over to your house when you can put them on your computer screen and have --

ROMANS: Or you invite them to your house, you all sit there with your iPhones and you Facebook each other while watching the game together, and no one can actually talk over the sound of the SunChips bag.

(LAUGHTER) (INAUDIBLE)

ROMANS: Anyway, so we're going to be watching for some exciting -- you know, this is technology, and traditional television and technology kind of colliding and we're going to see how it's going to really change our viewing experience. Good stuff.

ROBERTS: Well, at least you won't have to clean up your house after a football game.

ROMANS: There you go.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Christine.

ROMANS: Sure.

CHETRY: Well, President Obama is hosting the first ever White House community college summit. It's taking place today. He says the two-year schools are key to fixing the economy. What you may be able to learn for a new generation of jobs.

We're live at the White House next. It's 27 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Coming up on the half hour now -- time to check our top stories this Tuesday morning.

Homeland security officials reportedly stepping up patrols along Amtrak routes this week. It's part of an exercise called Operation Railsafe.

ABC News is reporting the heads of the country's biggest mass transit systems have been briefed about it and Amtrak counterparts.

And Britain and Europe are holding similar security exercises. The senior homeland security official says the exercise was planned and is not connected to the new terror threat in Europe.

CHETRY: Attorney General Eric Holder is denying charges that a victim's race is a factor in deciding whether to pursue civil rights cases. A veteran Justice Department attorney made that accusation last month, saying that key officials openly refuse to prosecute cases against white victims. Holder says the idea that race plays a role in the decision is, quote, "simply false."

ROBERTS: And one loss weighs. Here's an easy step: get more sleep. A University of Chicago study found a lack of sleep increases a certain hormone that makes you hungrier. Where are those chips? Chips around?

Researchers say dieters who slept for 8 1/2 hours lost 55 percent more body fat than dieters who slept just 5 1/2 hours.

Do you find that? CHETRY: Well, I think that sleep is restorative, you know? And if you can get the right amount, you can get the right amount.

ROBERTS: Who's is this?

CHETRY: That's mine. What? Everybody needs a little eggs in the morning.

ROBERTS: And how much did you sleep last night, five minutes?

CHETRY: Not much. I'm also not on a diet. But they also said it increases, you know, your insulin levels, cortisol levels -- everything that makes you stressed and makes you hang on to that fat.

ROBERTS: And your metabolism slows down at the same time. And, you know, working the sort of hours we work, exercising is the only way to stay sane, isn't it?

CHETRY: That's right. That's right.

ROBERTS: Because you are hungry all the time.

CHETRY: You're certainly not sleeping. You're hungry all the time and you're not sleeping.

Well, preparing millions of people for a new generation of jobs. President Obama says that community colleges are the key to fixing the economy. Today, he'll be hosting the first ever White House summit focusing on the two-year schools.

And Ed Henry is live for us at the White House this morning.

A lot of this seems to be about retraining, you know, getting skills in the areas that are now hiring.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kiran. And you know, the summit could not be more timely for so many of our viewers. You pick up the front page of "The Washington Post" just this morning, they're revealing details of a new survey saying that because of the recession, a lot of families are scaling back what they can sort of save in terms of money for their kids' college educations -- many of them turning to two-year colleges as an alternative.

And as you noted, the president is basically saying all of this comes amid the backdrop of a lot of companies in the private sector saying they want to hire people who are more highly trained and they'll take two-year college grads if they can't get four-year college grads.

And so, that's why the president and Dr. Jill Biden, the vice president's wife who works at a community college in the D.C. area, are holding this summit. Basically, what they're now calling Skills for America's Future.

Here's what they want to basically do. They're talking about making sure every state has at least one high-impact partnership between the industry and community colleges, just to sort of link them up -- also, talking about promoting training programs, offering incentives, as well, to get people to go to community colleges.

The president saying all of this is aimed at his goal of getting 5 million more graduates of community colleges between now and 2020.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The idea here is simple. We want to make it easier to connect students looking for jobs with businesses looking to hire. We want to help community colleges and employers create programs that match curricula in the classroom with the needs of the board rooms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, the president says for some people, this will just be about getting some short-term training -- like you were talking about, Kiran -- and then moving on to the workforce. Others will use this as a gateway, these two-year community colleges as a gateway to a four-year education.

But the bottom line, if you take a step back from all of this, is the president promoting this as an economic issue. And a lot of this is about long-term growth, not really short-term job growth. Just a few weeks ago, the president gave that speech in Cleveland, was talking about a whole slew of initiatives, tax cuts, infrastructure spending, and trying to stimulate the economy in the short-term.

As you know, Congress has now gone home to campaign. You know, they're not going to get any of that stuff done -- any of the president's agenda between now and the election. That's why his focus really now is on the long term instead of the many those short-term initiatives, Kiran. It's really a political reality.

CHETRY: Exactly.

All right. Ed Henry for us this morning at the White House -- thanks so much.

ROBERTS: To an A.M. original now. And all this year, we've been counting down Cady -- following wife, mom, and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, ahead of her mission to the International Space Station.

Today, some of the stuff that they didn't show you in space camp.

Our John Zarrella live in Miami for us this morning.

John, I'm intrigued, can't hardly wait here. What do you got?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boy, John, that is absolutely the truth. You know, critics of the $100 billion, with the B, space station say it simply hasn't led to the promised scientific breakthroughs -- that could be changing. You know somebody with osteoporosis or high blood pressure or somebody who's wheelchair- bound? The science that Cady and the other astronauts onboard the station are starting to conduct could change their lives forever.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Several times a day, astronaut Cady Coleman has to stop what she's doing and spit. You heard me right, spit on a little tab of paper.

CADY COLEMAN, ASTRONAUT: That's it. A little spit on there and they can actually see -- they can measure basically how your immune system is doing before flight, during flight.

ZARRELLA (on camera): Is there a spit doctor?

COLEMAN: There is a spit doctor.

ZARRELLA: Some of the potentially groundbreaking medical science astronauts do here on earth and then once they get to the space station goes largely unnoticed. They are, in essence, guinea pigs, lab rats, and what they do may someday change our lives.

COLEMAN: And you have one big enough for my massive biceps.

ZARRELLA: At Houston's Johnson Space Center, Cady is fitted with a blood pressure collar. She'll wear it for 24 hours so researchers can get baseline measurements. In space, she'll repeat the experiment. Up there, blood pressure is lower. These researchers believe gravity on earth may contribute to high blood pressure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: High blood pressure is one of the most dangerous conditions presently. It kills about 8 million people a year. So, we really want to know what is the cause for high blood pressure in so many people.

ZARRELLA: And the heart muscle, well, it may actually shrink in weightlessness because it doesn't work as hard.

COLEMAN: We know it gets weaker and smaller, but does that happen all at once or is it something that happens gradually over time.

ZARRELLA: What doctors and researchers learned from astronaut ultrasounds may help develop better exercise routines for people who are bedridden or wheelchair-bound.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Are you ready?

COLEMAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready and push.

ZARRELLA: Her ankles and legs, lower back, abdominal area. When she gets back from six months in space, they'll measure the changes. They image her legs too for bone density.

COLEMAN: Arm high, bar at 22. So the arm is high. ZARRELLA: This is a duplicate of an exercise machine on the station. With her trainer, Cady works on how to use it in proper settings. Much of what they learn from exercise and bone density tests could have major implications for people with osteoporosis.

COLEMAN: So your typical person with osteoporosis would lose bone mass at 1 percent a year. And without these kind of countermeasures, we can lose that same bone mass in a month.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): In a month?

COLEMAN: In a month.

ZARRELLA: At the end of a grueling day, Cady and fellow astronaut Scott Kelly take off. I mean that literally, they take off in a T-38.

It's an opportunity to get in those required flying hours and leave all that poking and prodding behind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: Now, Cady is actually in Germany. She just got there today at the European Space Agency to spend a couple of weeks there, then back here to the United States. And then when she leaves in November, she'll be going to Russia.

And you know, John, Kiran, 2 1/2 months, less than 2 1/2 months now, she'll be flying. It's hard to believe we've been following Cady now coming up on a year. It's amazing -- John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: I couldn't hardly wait to talk to her when she's aboard the space station.

ZARRELLA: Yes.

ROBERTS: So the theory is, John, just for clarification, the process happens so much quickly in the weightlessness of space, that they can sort of compress what might be a study that would take years into a number of weeks?

ZARRELLA: Yes, that's absolutely -- that is absolutely part of the equation. And they're able to do these experiments on not just one astronaut, but numbers of astronauts. So, they've got within there, they've got the ability to see how each individual astronaut reacts to these experiments. If it's one in the same for all of them or if one is different than the other, so, yes, absolutely.

And all of these experiments will also be pivotal if we ever do decide that we're going to go to asteroid or on to Mars. You need to know about bone density and high blood pressure and whether the heart muscle gets smaller. And so, all of those will help here on Earth and for long duration space flights.

CHETRY: John Zarrella for us, cool stuff -- thanks so much.

ZARRELLA: Thanks.

CHETRY: We're taking a quick break. When we come back, we're talking about Election Day now just 28 days away. And Democrats are scrambling to hold on to their majority in Congress. Can they pull it off at the polls? We're going to break down some of the biggest races -- up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Forty-two and a half minutes after the hour -- the Most Politics in the Morning now.

In just 28 days, voters will be heading to the polls in the 2010 midterm elections, casting ballots in 37 Senate races and 435 House races. So, what can we expect next month?

Joining me now with his predictions is Tom Bevan. He's the co- founder and executive editor of RealClearPolitics.com.

Tom, great to see you this morning.

TOM BEVAN, REALCLEARPOLITICS.COM: Hey, John, great to be here.

ROBERTS: Let's get a look at the lay of the land currently and what the RealClearPolitics.com predictions are. Currently in the Senate, we've got the Democrats holding 59 seats, the Republicans holding 41 seats. It's actually 47 for the Democrats, but two independents caucus with them.

You are predicting that for the Democrats, 49 seats will be safe, likely, or not up for election. The GOP, 47 seats, leaving four toss- up races, Illinois, Nevada, Washington, and West Virginia as the deciders.

And who are they going to go to?

BEVAN: Well, right now, if you look at those four races that are considered toss-ups, the GOP is leading slightly in two of them, in Illinois and in West Virginia. And the Democrats are leading slightly in the two others -- Harry Reid has a small lead in Nevada and Patty Murray has a small lead out in Washington.

ROBERTS: So, if the election were to be held today, then, it would be status quo, Democrats would have a narrow majority in the Senate.

BEVAN: That's right. If the elections were held today and the four seats were to split two and two, the way we just talked about, the GOP would end up with a net gain of eight seats, which would leave them still in the minority, 51 to 49.

ROBERTS: So, the question is, what happens over the next four weeks? And can Republicans make good on their promise to take control of the Senate? When we look at a bellwether state, let's say, like Wisconsin, where Russ Feingold is locked in a real tough battle against Ron Johnson, what is that telling us? BEVAN: Well, it's telling us that the ground has really shifted. I mean, we all know this is a bad year to be running as a Democrat. You know, you look at a place like Wisconsin, where this is a state that voted heavily for Barack Obama in '08, both in the primary and the general election, and you've got a candidate, even just a few months ago, no one considered Russ Feingold to really be as vulnerable, that vulnerable. And now, you look where he's at and he's down 10 points in a poll to a guy Ron Johnson, who's basically a no- name in the state.

So, that sort of gives you an idea of how dramatically the ground has shifted here. And you're now looking at Democrats fighting to hold on to places like California, Washington, and Nevada. And those are going to be the deciders, you know, whether they can keep the majority.

ROBERTS: Let's take a look at what's going on in the House.

And first of all, here's the lay of the land: 256 seats currently held by the Democrats, 179 held by Republicans. It takes 218 to get a majority in the House. You're predicting that for the democrats, 190 seats are safe, likely, or leaning their way, the GOP, 207, so you've got them in the lead, and then there's 38 toss-ups, 37 of those held by Democrats. What do you think is going to happen four weeks from now?

BEVAN: Well, look -- it's going to be close, whether the Republicans can take the majority. I think most prognosticators think that it's sort of right on the edge there. We predict sort of an average gain of about 47 seats, which would give Republicans control of the chamber. Although, there's a band there, whether, you know, it's either in the 30s or all the way up to, you know, 60 plus.

The Gallup just came out last night with a generic ballot. That something that you look at which gives you the lay of the land overall of the landscape, political landscape. Among likely voters in a high turnout model, they predict the GOP is up 13 points and low turnout models have 18 points. Those are historic numbers.

And that's sort of the dynamic that the Democrats are fighting now. They want to make these races local, use the money that they have to spend on that, to try and hold these losses down as far as they can.

ROBERTS: You know, enthusiasm (INAUDIBLE) of course is the key in any election, particularly in these midterms. We had Tim Kaine from the DNC on last week. He predicted that the Democrats are going to hold on to the House and the senate, and he pointed to the enthusiasm gap which was in favor of the Republicans now narrowing. If we continue to see it narrow, could that affect the calculation four weeks from now?

BEVAN: Absolutely. And there is some evidence, and Democrats are, you know, they see some green shoots here and there in these polls both locally and nationally, and they're pointing to them and making the argument that hey, our voters are coming home. They're finally getting energized. And we have seen that happen especially in bluer states like California, for example.

There's a Washington Post Poll out this morning that still shows Republicans, though, within, you know, Republican voters are still more energized.

ROBERTS: Yes.

BEVAN: And so the question is, can Democrats narrow that over the next four weeks? And we'll just have to wait and see.

ROBERTS: All right. It's going to be interesting to watch. No question about that. Things just getting exciting. Tom Bevan from RealClearPolitics.com, great to see you this morning. Thanks for stopping by.

BEVAN: You bet.

CHETRY: I don't know if this happened at your house yet, but we had actually turned the heat on last night. I didn't know it'd happen so quickly in the season.

ROBERTS: The house is in Atlanta, and it's still fairly warm there. So, not yet.

CHETRY: You're lucky --

ROBERTS: We're still running the air-conditioner.

CHETRY: You're saving it on the heating bells. We're already up there running them, but a very chilly start to the day in the Ohio Valley this morning. They actually had their temperatures dip into the 40s overnight, and it's still early October. Rob's going to have this morning's travel forecast right after the break. Forty-seven minutes past the hour.

Also in ten minutes, the start of the commonwealth games in India. It's a big deal, the biggest security concern for spectators and athletes, monkey attacks. So, how are they fighting back? Sara Sidner tells us, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning again. I'm Rob Marciano at the CNN Severe Weather Center. We got rain on the east coast in between, some rain on the west coast and some mountain snow. It's some nice weather and some warm temperatures and also some cold temperatures. Check out some of these numbers. Gaylord, Michigan, 23 degrees yesterday. Record low. Tulsa, Oklahoma, Texarkana, Arkansas 40, even Longview, Texas getting it to a 41, and we'll probably see a few more records fall this morning.

We have frost and freeze advisories up as far south as Arkansas, once again in the Ozarks and the parts of the Tennessee Valley. (INAUDIBLE) close at the freezing mark in some of this possible frost the pumpkin a little bit mild across the east coast where moisture is spinning in off the Atlantic Ocean and some of that is getting back towards parts of Ohio. That's where the heaviest rain is right now.

Throughout the day today, we'll see on and off showers from D.C. up through Boston, kind unsettled today and through about half of tomorrow, and then we'll see things begin to clear out just a little bit. 61 for the high in New York. We'll look at the warmth across parts of the plains. We saw all-time record highs in parts of the inner mountain west and Montana and Wyoming yesterday and a little bit cooler out in parts of California.

Do want to touch on one thing, that's this guy. Higher chance of this becoming something more tropical here around Puerto Rico. We do not think that it'll get close to the U.S., probably be steered out to sea, but nonetheless, it could become our next tropical depression. You're up to date weather wise. AMERICAN MORNING is coming right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. The commonwealth games, because they're known as, are underway in India. And security's very tight as many of the world's greatest athletes compete for gold.

ROBERTS: At some of the venues, there are more security officers than there are spectators, and they're dealing with a lot of monkey business, literally. Our Sarah Sidner live in New Delhi this morning here to explain that monkey business. Good morning, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes. It is literally monkey business. We're talking about some of the wild monkeys that tend to roam the streets and the buildings and every now and then have a run-in with us humans. And when that happens, sometimes there's a problem. So, they've got this special security force out on the streets to help take care of that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice-over): These are some of the 100,000 security forces on patrol in Delhi for the commonwealth games. It's not just the guys in khaki, but the guys in fur too. Chotu (ph), Mongu (ph), and Pinky (ph) are three of the ten ruffians dedicated to cracking down on any monkey business around the stadiums. Their job, to keep the tirelessly, mischievous, wild racist macaque monkeys away from people.

The guys are just doing what wild monkeys do, searching for food and a bit of fun, but in a big, busy city, they can't help but have run-ins with people. They snatch their food, chase them, and sometimes, they bite.

PROMOD KUMAR, LANGUR TRAINEE: In order for our foreign visitors not to have problems so the monkeys don't bite them, we have langurs, he says. So, the monkeys stay away from stadiums and don't bother any of the foreigners.

SIDNER: Langur trainer, Promod Kumar, says it takes two years to train his workers to jump on the transportation provided. He says one of his large primates can scare off dozens of macaques.

SIDNER (on-camera): These monkeys aren't just used for the commonwealth games, but the government hires these guys every day to make sure there's no trouble at government offices.

SIDNER (voice-over): They're also being used in government buildings because monkeys go in and rip apart files, he says. Private home and building owners hire them too. Even when there are no games, there are 28 langurs on duty in this city. One of India's leading primatologist says using the langurs to scare away the macaques is not a long-term solution to a real problem, because the wild monkeys just move elsewhere for a while.

Animal rights groups question using langurs for labor. Handlers, though, say they treat the langurs like family, and in turn, these fur security guards leave into action when duty calls.

SIDNER (on-camera): I've lost IF-B. Can you reconnect IF-B?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: We're going to get one of those langurs on that right away. What do you think?

CHETRY: Yes. As long as their long tails don't try (INAUDIBLE). They seem to be enjoying the rides on the back of those bikes.

ROBERTS: You know, here in the United States, we've got our seagulls and our crows which are annoyances.

CHETRY: That's right. We got the Canada geese.

ROBERTS: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Don't be talking about the Canada geese here, OK?

CHETRY: They're bullies. They're bullies of the duck world.

ROBERTS: Just don't get near them with an airplane.

Top stories coming your way right after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)