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Drill Reaches Trapped Chilean Miners; Financial Planner Addresses Issues That Worry Women More Than Men; Economy Still Foremost in Many Voters Minds; New CNN Show Examines Past Weeks Top News Stories

Aired October 09, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to financial fears, men and women are like day and night. This hour we will explore women's worst money nightmares.

Next hour, no more taxpayer funded soda pop? It may be outlawed for food stamp users in New York if the governor and mayor get their way.

And at 4:00 p.m. eastern, big names on the big screen this weekend. We'll check out the good, bad, and the ugly in our movie reviews.

You're in the "CNN NEWSROOM" where the news unfolds live on this Saturday October 9th. I'm Randi Kaye in for Fredricka Whitfield.

Tears, hugs and cheers in Chile. These are the families of some of the 33 trapped miners celebrating after drilling teams broke through to where the miners have been huddled together for more than two months. An executive at the company operating the drill called it a " team effort."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAUL LYON, VICE PRESIDENT GEOTEC: There's a good team of engineers and drillers from many different companies that came together. And the job is done. The hole is down there, and I think that now is the time for the rescuers to come in and do their job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And the big question now, of course, when will those rescues happen? CNN Karl Penhaul is at the mine, and Karl, what are you hearing in terms of timing? What can you tell us?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Today there was a breakthrough. That is when the final countdown starts ticking. What the engineers have got to do now is lower a camera down to the rescue slot that they managed to drill and check how solid it is, check that it's not going to a problem with rock falls. And if there is a likelihood of rock falls, what they're going to do is put steel casing down the whole shaft of that.

But what they're saying so far is possibly they'll only have to put steel casing on the first 100 yards, and that means that the miners could be starting to be extracted, brought to the surface from Monday or possibly Tuesday. And that really is great news here for the families at Camp Hope. This is a tent village where families of the 33 miners have been camped out ever since that mine caved in on August 5th.

And you should have seen the scenes this morning. There were cars here, sirens up on the drill rig that started to blare. A bell started to chime assess well. The time, 8:05 -- that was the moment that the drill bit broke through to the tunnel where the miners were.

And you can see some of the scenes from the family members. They broke into hugs, first of all, and then they started to cheer. And then a few moments later, the realization that the final countdown had begun, and that was the moment they began to sob with joy.

There was a young boy there, an eight-year-old. He said to me, he said, you know, when this cave-in happened, he said, "I didn't think my granddad was going to get out." He said "I didn't think was any hope. I've been a good boy in my eight years and I don't know what I had done to deserve this."

But he said when he heard the bell ring, the siren go signal that the breakthrough happened, he said, "Now I know there is hope, and he said when my granddad comes home, I'm just going to tell him that I love him." Randi?

KAYE: These miners aren't supposed to be rescued or reached until Christmas. Christmas came early for so many of these families. In addition to these celebrations do they realize how risky this rescue is?

PENHAUL: All along there have weren't technical difficulties. To be honest, the hardest part of all was the first 17 days actually finding those miners. What happened with a series of test probes sent down into the rock, and that's what took 17 days to find them.

The mine owners had not drawn up current plans for the mines and so the rescuers had no idea. It certainly was looking for that needle in the proverbial haystack. But after 17 days they found it. And, of course, technical challenges, drilling in here.

But they have now had the help of the nation's finest, the rescuers, the drill operators. They've also had the help the world's finest. Even NASA space agents called in. It's been a multi-national effort up there. The drill bit was supplied by a U.S. company. The owners of the rig, Chilean, were getting advice from all over the world.

What they hope now is that they can minimize that last fall which will bring the miners in a rescue capsule back to the surface, Randi.

KAYE: All right, Karl Penhaul for us watching it all unfold at the mine live for us. Thank you.

CNN's Chad Myers is also with us now. Chad, you've been all over this story from the beginning. Karl was talking about the challenges early on. There's still plenty of work to be done now. CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, this mine, it's so far down. We think about our coal mines, essentially my family from the coal mines of Pennsylvania. They were not this deep. They did not go down 2,000 for the hard coal. This mine went down for copper and gold, so it went down very far.

And so when the bits were being used to drill this 26-inch hole, following the only 7.5 centimeter hole that went down and found these guys in the first place, that's why this big bit had such an easy job, so to speak, of finding it, because it followed the original hole.

So now they have the hole all the way down there, but they had to use five bits. Typically, they said, should have only used one bit in America. This ground is so incredibly hard it chewed up four of our bits. We were on our fifth one on the way down.

This -- this is the side of the tube that these men are going to get in. The size -- yes, shoulder pads in my suit I understand, but I'm very -- I'm not a very big guy. I'm not a coal miner for sure. They're going to get into this thing and head on their way up.

Here's how it went -- a, b, and c, plan a, plan b, plan c. Following the line down, b got down first through the cracks and crevices and the sandstone and limestone and granite, went down there and cracked through.

The saw the bit yesterday. They knew it was close. They came through. The hammer came through. Then the little disc that came through, and then the men were helping, because as this drill came through, following the smaller hole, it was picking up -- they were picking up the debris that was coming down the mineshaft itself, the small shaft.

Now they're going to get in this tube, the rescue, the Phoenix, and take them up. It might take 60 minutes per person to get up there, and that's six inches per second. I think that's pretty fast.

And the reason why they're going to put this metal part in here is because it would be wonderful if you think of this as a nice straight up elevator and they would go straight up. Guess what? It's not straight up. They're going to banging off the side of this hole all the up and down.

And it's rock. You break a piece of rock off, it could jam in there and all of a sudden you got one guy in there with a thing that won't go up or down. They want to make sure it's safe first.

KAYE: All right, Chad, very interesting. Thank you.

Also, of great concern, the miners' mental and emotional well-being. Next hour, we'll talk to an expert on the psychological impact of life and death situations.

Now, a mass overdose being reported in a small town that's home to Central Washington University. Police say a party last night left more than a dozen university students and teenagers suffering drug and alcohol overdoses. Police say they were initially called to help an assault victim and one possible overdose victim.

Friends of those victims directed police to another house where police say they interrupted a possible sexual assault and found several people overdosing on an unknown substance. A dozen people were taken to the hospital. This is about 90 miles east of Seattle.

Three month weeks left in the critical midterms. Coming up we'll see how issue number one, the economy, is swaying voters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: There are now just 24 days until the midterm elections. The economy is still issue number one with voters, especially in states with heated races like Nevada, California, and Pennsylvania.

CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser has hit the road. He's taken the election express to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania today. A lot to watch there in terms of politics, Paul.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No doubt. We came to Harrisburg and brought the bus here because there are so many crucial races in this November's midterm elections right here in Pennsylvania from the governor's office to a Senate seat to a bunch of House races.

Randi, you're absolutely right. Here in Pennsylvania like anywhere else across the country, the economy the number one issue by far on the minds of Americans. Our cameraman and producer, they spoke to a couple people right here, natives of the Harrisburg area, some of whom looking for full-time work. Listen to what they will to say about the most important issue on their minds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JILL ULER, LIKELY VOTER: I'm concerned about jobs and the economy and as opposed to breaks for big business and tax breaks for big business and the corporate -- I'm more concerned about the little guy. Yes, me. I'm unemployed myself, and I am temping but looking for full-time work.

SHARI UBANK, LIKELY VOTER: The economy, really, the economy and the job losses, and it doesn't -- even though we're out of the recession, it doesn't seem to be turning around. So I'd say the economy is the number one topic for everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEINHAUSER: You know, the experts say the recession is over, but you can hear in their voices they don't feel that way. Here in Pennsylvania, unemployment is 9.2 percent. That's actually lower than the national average at 9.6 percent. But I don't think that make anybody feel better. That's a high number, close to double digits, Randi.

KAYE: And Paul, what about the battle for Congress? Where does that stand? STEINHAUSER: Brand new poll numbers. CNN, the Opinion Research Corporation, we asked, it's called a generic ballot. Other polling organizations do it as well. If you had a choice would you go for the generic Democrat or Republican? And 52 percent saying Republican, 45 percent saying the Democrat. That's troubling numbers for the Democrats as they try to hold on to both majorities in the House and Senate. As you said, 24 days to go, Randi.

KAYE: We are counting, and so are you. Thanks, Paul. Good to see you.

Fear and finances seem to go together these days, but women's worries are a whole lot different actually than men's. We'll see what scares women the most, just ahead.

But first, you can tell one Texas couple their house is trashy, they'll say, thank you. They design and build homes from things you normally cross out. Ed Lavandera takes us to the "Edge of Discovery."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: License plate roofs, picture frame ceilings, wine cork floors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels really good. It's really cushy.

LAVANDERA: Those are a few of the quirky in-home treasures Dan Phillips is designing from trash.

DAN PHILLIPS, HOME BUILDER: I'd always suspected one could build a house out of whatever went into the landfill.

LAVANDERA: Now Phillips is turning that hunch into a business.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's definitely worth trying.

LAVANDERA: His wife Marsha, a retired art teacher, lends a creative hand. But clients don't have much say. Designs grow primarily from the building materials.

It's a creative equation that keeps costs way down. Phillips, who has to have al projects approved by state inspectors build exclusively for artists, low-income families, and single moms and he encourages many of his tenants to-be to help construct their future homes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You protect it because you know how many times you hit your thumb and how dirty and sweaty you got.

LAVANDERA: Kristy Stevens and her two sons helped remodel this 900 square foot home. Now they're living in it, paying $368 a month.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very, very proud of this work. It's probably the hardest work I've ever done.

LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Checking our top stories now. Excitement and fist pumps at the site of a collapsed mine in Chile today. Rescue workers and families of the trapped miners cheered when the drill finally broke through the final section ever earth to that mine. It's expected to take days before they can start actually bringing the miners up to the surface.

The family of a British aid worker is dealing with devastating news. Linda Norgrove was killed during a rescue attempt in Afghanistan. The 36-year-old Norgrove was taken hostage by the Taliban last month. She was killed by her captors during in a rescue attempt yesterday by U.S. forces. Her captors died as well during that raid.

More evacuations in Hungary today. Another weak spot has not been found in the aluminum plant reservoir that released toxic sludge this week. Emergency officials fear the wall could collapse sending another wave of toxic fluid through that village. Seven people were killed in the original spill, 100 others injured.

Analysts say the latest unemployment numbers shows the economy on shaky ground. The unemployment rate remains unchanged at 9.6 percent. The economy lost 95,000 jobs in September. But the private sector gained 64,000. That means a lot of government workers lost their jobs, more departing census workers and employees, states and local governments are drowning in red ink.

When it comes to worrying about money, men and women are like night and day. Forbes is out with a list of financial anxieties that keep women up at night, not the guys. Here to tell us about the biggest fears and how to conquer them, financial planner Karen Lee. Good to see you, Karen.

KAREN LEE, FINANCIAL PLANNER: Good to be here.

Let's talk first about these fears. Let's start with number one on our list is bag lady, old maid syndrome. This is an anxiety about one day you'll be destitute? Tell us more.

LEE: I find it fascinating as far as we've come as women in this country and our road to independence and equality, I still hear regularly I just don't want to end up a bag lady, or I always thought I'd marry someone and have someone else to fall back on.

But the solution is simple. Put together your own financial plan. When you can see it in print, if you save a certain amount, month by month, year by year, you'll build a nest egg and put some of those anxieties behind.

KAYE: How about this one. Our next fear, some women say they're not a savvy investor or negotiator. Maybe don't go in and negotiate a raise.

LEE: Right.

KAYE: Or they don't feel they're smart enough to learn about finances?

LEE: Again, I think it's ingrained behavior from the old days when men handled most of the financial decisions and earned most of the money. So I will tell you out of the couples I work with, probably 50 percent or more of the women pay all the bills, handle the finances, and make investing decisions.

So be that as it may, get educated. Get a magazine on money that comes every month. Perhaps buy books. Start a female investing club, whatever you need to do to feel a little stronger about your own abilities. And when it comes to negotiation, any woman who's a wife and mother knows, we do a lot of negotiating with our husbands and kids.

KAYE: Certainly the kids.

LEE: Yes.

KAYE: When it comes to meals or toys whatever it might be.

LEE: You got it.

KAYE: Fear number three, the swindle syndrome.

LEE: Right, that's a fear we all should have legitimately. That's a tough one, because there are some bad people out there.

The first thing can you do is stay mainstream with your investing. Offered something that sounds a little too good to be true, it probably is. And feel free to, on this one, get some financial advice. You're often going to -- if you check with somebody else you might find something is a little out of reach.

Also, if you decide to go forward with an investment that seems iffy, don't put more than 10 percent of your net worth into something like that.

KAYE: OK, that's a good guideline.

What about this one. So many women worry about becoming a financial burden to their family. So fear of being a burden. Where does that come from?

LEE: It's a true fear and a good fear to have. Certainly we raise our children up. The last thing we want to be, become a burden.

Number one thing you can do on this is check your insurance coverage for health, disability, and long-term care. Now, in disability insurance, that's the type of insurance that will pay you your income if you're sick or injured and can't work.

Most people think their company will cover that and actually less than 50 percent of companies have that kind of coverage. So check with your company. Make sure it's adequate. Buy extra, if you need to. If you're self-employed, by all means get your own coverage and long- term care insurance. And long term care insurance, potentially the greatest gift you can give an adult child. It would provide the money to pay for in-home care and nursing care if you need it. Don't wait too long to look for it. In your 60s and later, it's very expensive. Consider it in your 40s and 50s.

KAYE: We hear about the on and off ramps. Some women worry about being out of the work force.

LEE: That's a legitimate fear and, of course, if you decide to stay home and raise your kids, al power to you.

KAYE: It's hard to get back in, though.

LEE: It is. I think the best advice on this stay connected. If you've worked, you have a network of people you worked with. Meet with them once a month for lunch. So carve out time for yourself, stay connected, and get some extra skills, if you can find the time to do that.

KAYE: A lot of women are also worried about not having enough cash. So what does that make women do? Not spend? Or hoard it or --

LEE: Correct. It makes them hoard it. This is a fear I wish men had a little more of, I don't have enough emergency money cash. So women tend to have too much in cash.

What you want to do with this is evaluate your actual cash needs. Now, the textbooks will tell you that you need three to six months of what it takes to pay your bill. But after this recession, you've got a lot more financial planners and advisers saying six to 12 months.

But anything more than that you're keeping in cash, you are missing opportunity to possibly grow that money more. So --

KAYE: It's an understandable fear. Women, they live, what, seven years longer? We want to hold on to that money.

LEE: That's right.

KAYE: Karen lee, very useful information.

LEE: Thank you, Randi. You, too.

KAYE: After 65 days trapped underground, the rescue of 33 Chilean miners is so close. Our cameras are there so you'll see what it takes to life them to freedom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Let's get caught up on our top stories. The Chileans miners' long ordeal is almost over. Work is now being done to get the tunnel ready for the rescue capsule that will carry the men one by one out of that mine. It could be several days before any of the miners do make it to the surface. A mass overdose is being reported in central Washington. It happened at a party attended by Central Washington University students and other teenagers. Police in Salem, Washington say about a dozen people treated for apparent drug overdoses and one remains in critical but stable condition. Police also report a possible sexual assault.

A teenager convicted of killing his family when he was just 14 years old is free today, the reason Cody Posy was sentenced as juvenile offender and today is his 21st birthday. Posy claims years of physical and emotional abuse led to the murders of his stepmother, father, and stepsister.

No shortage of big stories this week. Here's standup comedian and radio talk show host Pete Dominick with "What the Week?"

DOMINICK: It's been six days since the U.S. told Americans to think twice before traveling in Europe, five days since Elena Kagan heard her first case as a Supreme Court justice, and four days since Christine O'Donnell told vote "I'm not a witch. I'm you," and one week since I became a squatter in this time slot on CNN.

So buckle up kids, we're about to tear through all of it. Welcome to "What the Week?"

There's a fine line between news and noise. I'm Pete Dominick and on this show I'm not interested in celebrity gossip or manufactured conflict. I'm interested in stories and issues that hit home. So I'm taking the camera to the streets to see what Americans really think of the news of the week. Time now to catch up on the week that was. Hit it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Formal travel advisory for all Americans traveling to Europe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The state department says avoid places where incidents may occur.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Militants torched 20 fuel trucks headed to Afghanistan. The U.S. sent missiles fired by a drone aircraft into Waziristan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Steven Hayes is guilty of murder, kidnapping, and rape in the break in and the fire that led to the death of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two young daughters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A toxic tsunami.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Philly's pitcher Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter.

ROBERTS: Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he has launched a peace council to negotiate with the Taliban and find a way to end the war.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jim Jones the national security adviser is stepping down. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the replacement, significance, Tom Donilon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The unemployment rate, 9.6 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINICK: That's what's swimming up mainstream this week. But what was under cover?

A couple things come to mind. Number one, the honeybee kill hear been found. Since 2006, 20 percent to 40 percent of honeybee colonies collapsed. But the U.S. army and bee experts discovered a fungus and virus killing off the bees.

You may be thinking association what? Here's why, so what. Honeybees don't just make honey. They pollinate the crops making honeybees critical to about one-third of the food we eat.

Undercover number two -- a French court ruled the law banning the burqa in public places is legal. It's going to take effect this spring.

But our undercover story of the week, the war in Afghanistan. You may be thinking, what? I heard about it all week, about the anniversary. Well, it's still not enough. If you give the average American a pop quiz on the war, the vast majority of us would fail miserably. Where is the country? What language do they speak? What's the mission?

I went lunch crashes on the ninth anniversary this week to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOMINICK: This is a globe. Can you find Afghanistan? I'll give you ten seconds.

Find Afghanistan. Go ahead.

Can you just try to find Afghanistan on the globe for me? No?

You've got ten seconds to find Afghanistan.

What are you laughing at? Find it. Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right there.

DOMINICK: How did you do that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know it's this way.

DOMINICK: You want to phone a friend.

Put your iPad down. I got an iPad. I'll look it up.

DOMINICK: Can you find Afghanistan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course I can. DOMINICK: Cool. Wipe do you say of course, you been there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. But I watch lots of CNN, and you guys are really, really informative.

DOMINICK: Iran. Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I wasn't even looking in the right --

DOMINICK: That's all right. No, you were in Canada.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm switching to FOX News, then.

DOMINICK: You have ten seconds to find Afghanistan.

So close.

You nailed it.

Do you guys know how long the U.S. military has been in Afghanistan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About ten years, I believe.

DOMINICK: That's right. Do you think we should have gone to Afghanistan in the first place after 9/11 with such a large military contingent?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish we had focused on Afghanistan, and Iraq was, I don't know what that was.

DOMINICK: You guys are former military. How do you define the mission in Afghanistan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: World peace.

DOMINICK: World peace?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stupidity.

DOMINICK: Why do you say that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think we should be over there.

DOMINICK: Why not?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to worry about our country instead of somebody else's.

DOMINICK: Do you think you can define why we're there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess they're still looking for --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have to say probably still looking for usama bin Laden.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. DOMINICK: Over $300 billion, ten years, 1,3070 lives to find one guy. Is it worth it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One guy killed over 3,000 people.

DOMINICK: Can you define the mission in Afghanistan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Originally to catch Usama bin Laden. Am I correct?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOMINICK: A Democrat, Republican, we call all stand another history lesson on a war that's now entering its tenth year.

This is my friend Joey. Joey's nine years old and he lives in Columbus, Ohio. We've been fighting this war his whole life. The president promises to begin drawing down troop levels in July 2011 if conditions permit.

But whether we begin withdrawal by next summer or not, for most of us, like me, like Joey, we don't directly feel it. The weight of this war will still be carried by our military families and the communities they live in. They're the ones sacrificing everything for this mission.

Give me 60 seconds to remind you what this mission is about. Fact -- 1,307 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan since the war started on October 7, 2001. That was just four weeks after the Twin Towers fell.

The Taliban collapsed two months after U.S. boots hit the ground and it felt like victory. But as attention to the war shifted with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Taliban began to rebuild. And by 2006, the situation in Afghanistan had deteriorated. The news since has felt like a near constant stream of suicide bombings and deadly attacks.

After three months of deliberation, president Obama heed the advice of top military advisers and went all-in. He ramped up troop levels, sending thousands more into the war zone in an effort to stabilize the fragile afghan government and prepare their security forces for self- reliance.

But this year is already the bloodiest for NATO troops since the war began, and public support is slipping. According to the most recent CNN polling, 58 percent of Americans now oppose the war.

That's where we are today, nine years later. You want to learn more, stay engaged. Pay attention. Read this book, Steve Cole's "Gulf Wars," unbelievable. Read Ahmed Rashid's "Descent into Chaos." And support Gold Star military families at familiesunitedusa.org.

And keep watching this show, because I'm not going to stop talking about this war until it's over.

Well, from the war in Afghanistan to the war on drugs, is California about to call for a seize fire in the battle over marijuana? We'll hash it out, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOMINICK: In California a vote comes up in November on prop 19. That would legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana under California law. Not federal law, have you.

A poll out this week suggests most voters in that state are cool with legalizing pot but support is slipping a little. So who would be hardest hit by prop 19 being shot down? Those who truly need it for medicinal purposes, and of course the makers of snack foods. Those for it see this as a way to drum up tax revenue. Others see pot as a gateway to harder drugs.

I hit the drugs to see what the buzz was on the plant with many a name.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Reefer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Buddha.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ganja.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Herb.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mary Jane.

DOMINICK: Mary Jane, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My dad calls it once a month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pot.

DOMINICK: I'm hearing an unnamed city in an unnamed store where they have a section that sells products solely for smoking tobacco.

Show of hands -- who knows what prop 19 is? Does that ring a bell? Would you vote to legalize marijuana?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would vote, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would probably be against it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A study says it will save $8.7 billion in law enforcement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's silly how many people we have in prison because of that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody does it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Might as well legalize everything. Let these people do what they want to do. They're going to do it anyway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tax. People are going to do what they want to do anyways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's just crazy. Because people are smoking it, that's not excuse to continue to do wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marijuana messes up your brain for two or three days. I worked for the railroad --

DOMINICK: Please don't smoke marijuana, ever, sir, if you're driving the choo-choo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's nothing wrong with it. It doesn't kill you, like cigarettes that give you cancer. It's a leaf has that grows out the ground. It's a plant.

DOMINICK: All right, what does America look like if the whole country had legalized, regulated, taxed marijuana?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Again, I think it would be better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think we need to legalize any intoxicant. Our bodies are so marvelously made by the creator that we don't need to create anything else into our bodies anyway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God says that he gives every green bearing seed to mankind, which means every green-bearing seed, every seed.

DOMINICK: What else does god say? Can you give me anything that god says that doesn't have to do with green-bearing seeds?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't like it.

DOMINICK: What's the Spanish word for marijuana?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Marijuana, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOMINICK: Forbes calls here one of the most powerful women in the world. She's the cofounder of the "Huffington Post," Arianna Huffington joins us. And Todd Zoellick, a man with almost no power whatsoever, but one of the wonkiest wonks I've ever met. He's a Washington correspondent for the public radio international.

Guys, thanks for joining us. Arianna, you're familiar with California. It is cash strapped. Let's look at the economic reasons alone for regulating and taxes marijuana. What do you think?

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, "THE HUFFINGTON POST": The economic reasons, absolutely it's not just the over $8 billion saving in law enforcement. It's also $8 billion making by taxes marijuana. But beyond that, it's what someone else, one of the other people you asked about it told you, which is that we are feeling our jails with predominantly young, African-Americans, that's another big reasons.

And the third one is it's a great left and right issue. It has support across the political spectrum and also the support of the majority of the American people.

DOMINICK: Todd, you're a great political analyst. You look at numbers. What do you think happens? Will it pass? A lot of people, this is the Democrats' ballot initiative. Gay marriage and social issues got Republicans to the ballot back in, what, 2004?

TODD ZOELLICK, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.

DOMINICK: Will this get Democrats to vote this issue in California?

ZOELLICK: I think this election, Pete, is still going to be about jobs in the economy. It makes sense Democrats looking for ways to get people out to the polls that aren't necessarily about jobs and the economy because if they're in power and the economy's in the tank it's not looking good for them from the Washington perspective.

Look, I don't know if this is necessarily a Democratic or Republican issue. Those polls you mentioned tightened in recent weeks and I think you've got 56 percent of Californians now saying they're for this.

You know, the savings, the $8.2 billion savings stipulated, the actual numbers if marijuana were legalized in California would probably be, well, somewhat less than that. Look, the actual percentage of people incarcerated in California for marijuana charges is really only one percent.

Now, you could argue that's one percent too many if you think marijuana is a relatively benign substance compared to alcohol or heroin or cocaine or harder substances. But it's not like half the people in jail in California are there for marijuana charges.

And the police in California, from what I've been reading and gathering from the press there, say that most of the marijuana charges come up pursuant to other charges, driving charges, weapons charges. They're not really going after people primarily for marijuana. I'm not sure about that $8 billion figure.

DOMINICK: That's a national study the Cato institute, not just California.

Guys, let me switch gears and talk about our political plague of the week. This week we're examining a disorder of intestinal fortitude. It's when candidates stop taking question. They don't debate opponents, and instead of running to the cameras, which we're used to, they're actually running from them.

We're calling it "irritable broadcast system" IBS. It's our political plague of the week. Will this trend continue? Will politicians with IBS pull of victories in 2010 and then 2012 without taking questions, doing interviews, and debating? Guys, it's a time-honored condition that if you're the frontrunner other not to make a mistake. Arianna, is this different this year?

HUFFINGTON: It is different, because this year the frontrunners are those running against the incumbent, because there's such anger at all establishments that provided you are not the person who is now in charge, you have a good chance of winning.

So that means that as long as Sharron Angle or Christine O'Donnell does not actually step on a land mine of her own making by saying something which will basically haunt her until the election, and there are plenty of those things, but many more.

And Sharron Angle has much more than Christine O'Donnell, just because in Sharron Angle's case, she's not Harry Reid. That's all people are voting for. Clearly not for her position, since she's not even clear what her positions are.

In Christine O'Donnell case, she's made the additional problem of doing too much already with these ads which are being satirized everywhere, especially the one about, "I'm not a witch."

DOMINICK: Are you a witch, by the way, Arianna? I should ask. I ask all my guests.

HUFFINGTON: I'm a white witch.

DOMINICK: Todd, I know this is maybe a stupid question, but doesn't it really -- not a stupid question. Doesn't it hurt the democratic process if we're not having them answer questions and debate? Is there anything we can do to force them to do debates, interviews?

ZOELLICK: Of course it hurts the democratic process. Hearing politicians' positions on issues that matter to us as voters, our pocketbooks, towns, our streets, our two wars going on, those are of supreme importance.

Look, we don't demand from our politicians they debate. This election, every district is different, Pete. We all know that. But this election is about anger. If you're running on anger at the incumbent or emotion and anger at the other guy, why would you debate? All you can do is step on a land mine.

DOMINICK: Take a knee.

Arianna Huffington and Todd Zoellick, I love having you guys on. Thanks for joining me today. We've got to wrap up. Thanks, guys, for coming on.

ZOELLICK: Always a pleasure, Pete.

HUFFINGTON: Thank you.

DOMINICK: He was quiet. He kept to himself. How often have you heard that after a criminal was busted? How a father of two living in suburban Connecticut plots to blow up Times Square, right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOMINICK: A little bit of an interview from this week from my Sirius XM radio show with the author of "Bailout Nation" Barry Reynolds. We're talking about TARP which also ended this week.

And speaking of this week, another piece of big news -- Faisal Shahzad, Pakistani-American. We know this guy, right? He was sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole. Why? Because he tried to blow up his SUV in Times Square. That will actually do it.

This is Faisal Shahzad's nice home here in Shelton, Connecticut where he lived with his wife and two kids. April, 2009, Faisal Shahzad gets naturalized as an American citizen, and then authorities tell us he went 20 Pakistan where he got training from the Pakistani Taliban to learn how to make a bomb, make weapons.

Luckily, they weren't very good, or he wasn't a very good student, because there's his bomb that didn't go off. Thanks to a couple of good Samaritans who saw that car smoking, they saw something and they said something. It worked. That's great.

And about two days later, Faisal Shahzad was trying to get out of the country but he was nabbed by the feds and police who did great work, and they should be applauded for their great work. They brought him in. He waives his rights apparently and sings like a bird, gave actual intelligence to the authorities.

About a month and a half later, Faisal Shahzad finds himself -- not here. This is it. Finds himself -- I get confused with the beautiful paintings. Faisal finds himself pleading guilty to all ten counts against him in a federal court. The system worked. He is in prison for the rest of his life without a chance for parole. Good-bye, Faisal Shahzad.

Well, next, politicians, well, they need your attention. Don't they? I do, too. If they want your vote, politicians need your attention. What happens when they get the attention, though, of late-night comedians? Coming up, the subject of our "Roasted" segment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DOMINICK: Each week people do great things. Sometimes it makes news, sometimes it doesn't. Either way, here's a look at five people who this week are much better than me.

This guy, his name Alfredo Quinosa (ph). We'll call him Dr. Q. It's easier for me. He was an illegal immigrant picking beans in California, then went to community college and learned English. Then he earned a scholarship to Harvard medical school. At age 39, he's the director of brain tumor surgery at John Hopkins hospital in Baltimore.

When I was in college I just wanted to be the best resident assistant in my dorm. Dr. Q., you are way better than me.

This handsome young man, Alex Darrow. He's 16 and start a Web site this week to raise money to fight diseases in children. When I was 16 I just wanted to get my license, and two days after I did I drove into a ditch. Alex, you're much better than I was when I was 16.

This guy, I don't know. He's not very good. He's eating a doughnut. Victor Perez is our next contestants. He is the unemployed California man who rescued an eight-year-old girl abducted outside her home. He's a total real-life hero actually, actually honored by Governor Schwarzenegger. Victor Perez, you're much better than me. I've never rescued anybody or anything.

And lastly, these last two guys, they're professors from England who this week they won the Nobel prize for physics by creating the thinnest, strongest material known positive mankind. These guys are way better than me.

This week I actually created this right here, a jack-o'-lantern with my daughters, but then I burnt my hand putting the candle in. All of these guys are way better than me.

You think comedy is just fun and games? Not if you're a politician. Each week we highlight the harshest political commentary from the world of late-night television. One well delivered punch line and a candidate's best laid talking points totally knocked out by laughter. We call it "Roasted."

And nobody seems to have been roasted this week harder than candidate Christine O'Donnell. Did you catch her newest political ad?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE O'DONNELL, (R) DELAWARE SENATE CANDIDATE: I'm not a witch. I'm nothing you've heard. I'm you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINICK: "I'm you." That's the message she was trying to get out to Delaware voters. But here's what happened when the comedians got a hold of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": This Christine O'Donnell, you've probably heard about her. She has a new campaign ad where she says she not a witch.

(LAUGHTER)

JIMMY FALLON, LATE NIGHT TV HOST: That's not as effective at her opponents slogan, "I'm not Christine O'Donnell." That's more effective.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINICK: Well, good luck, Christine O'Donnell.

And thank you for watching today. Remember, stay engaged, think for yourself. And have a great weekend. I'm Pete Dominick. We'll see you next week.