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American Morning
Obama on the Road; Tornado Close Encounter; Tax Cuts Dominate Florida Senate Debate; Deadly Shark Attack; In the Eye of the Tornado; Small Business Embrace Social Media; Does Your Vote Count; Campaign Crunch Time
Aired October 25, 2010 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, thanks -- and good morning, thanks so much for being with us on this Monday, October 25th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. So good to have you with us this morning. Thanks so much for joining us. We're going to have more on that amazing tornado video in just a moment, but first, let's get you caught up with this morning's top stories. Here's what happened overnight.
President Obama on the road again. He's going to be campaigning in Rhode Island today with midterm elections (INAUDIBLE) one more critical road trip remains for the president. What happens in the next eight days could very well impact your future. And CNN has the best political team on television covering it like no one else can.
CHETRY: Anger after the sudden death of a top American swimmer. He died on the final leg of a competition in the United Arab Emirates. The winner of the race is now complaining that the water and air temperatures were too high. So, did the water temperature play a part in Fran Crippen's death?
ROBERTS: And a deadly shark attack off the coast of California. A teenager was boogie boarding on Friday when a shark out of nowhere rose up and bit down on his leg. Three beaches now shut down. Will they reopen today?
CHETRY: Up first, though, extreme weather, an incredibly close encounter with a tornado.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in a tornado! We are in a tornado! We're in the tornado! We are in the tornado! We are in the tornado!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: This was just outside of Dallas. You can hear and see the raw power. This twister coming from the highway as it ripped apart a school, tore a seven-mile-long path through Navarro County destroying homes along the way. Thankfully, no one was killed.
ROBERTS: Wow, all that stuff is coming downright in front of his vehicle too. Talk about the opposing forces of nature. Watch this. A rainbow off in the distance. A funnel cloud coming right at you.
This report came in from Joey Romero. A funnel cloud, part of a larger storm system that swept through Texas in the weekend. He's a second-year med student who took shelter in the freezer in the back of a gas station intended to some injured people, people who were hurt in a nearby sonic fast food restaurant.
CHETRY: These severe storms are heading east. Here's a look at live look radar right now. Tornado watches are up from Alabama into Georgia.
ROBERTS: Reynolds Wolf is in the Extreme Weather Center for us this morning. Aptly named today and this no doubt is going to have a big effect on travel in and out of Atlanta this morning, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely and one advantage that you have in parts of Texas and the southern plains that you don't have in the southeast is things are relatively quiet in that area in Texas.
Here in the southeast, you've got the southern end of the Appalachian mountains, a lot of hills, that same clear field of vision. It's going to be very tough to see potential tornadoes.
Right now, there is certainly that potential. We've got some tornado watches in effect. Let's go right to the maps. As we do so, we're going to zoom in, especially in the states of Alabama back into Georgia, even into Tennessee.
You see the areas that are surrounded by red? That's your tornado watch that will be in effect until 10:00 Eastern time. Anyone making that drive from Atlanta to Birmingham along I-20, you're going to run into a wall of very, very heavy rain, some driving winds, possibly some hail.
You could even see some flash flooding and poor drainage areas or spots with low-lying areas. Especially creeks, bridges are going to have some issues this morning no question. All the way into Chattanooga, even into Knoxville before the day is out.
But keep in mind, that's not the only area where we might be dealing with some rough weather. There's the potential of that forming back across parts of the Midwest, western half of the great lakes in the Chicago, Milwaukee, perhaps even St. Louis and into Des Moines before the day is out.
That looks like more of an afternoon event, but this morning, it's all the southeast, it's all in parts of the part of the Panhandle, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. It's certainly going to be a rough time.
And guys, as you know very well, when you have the rough storms in a big hub like Atlanta, you're going to see widespread delays in the add-on effect of connection. People trying to get to and from this area, it's going to really stack up along the northeast corridor. Back to you guys in New York.
CHETRY: It sounds good. Reynolds Wolf for us this morning. Keeping an eye on a lot of severe weather today. Thanks.
Coming up in about 10 minutes, we're actually going to be talking to Eric Myers. He's the emergency management coordinator for Navarro County. He's the one that shot that incredible tornado video at Texas.
ROBERTS: We are in the tornado. That's going to be his most famous words.
We're in the home stretch now. Just over a week to go before the big midterm elections and everything is on the line on the eight days remaining before America votes and the president on the road again. The big push going to five states at the end of the week.
CHETRY: CNN has the story covered like no one else. Chief political correspondent Candy Crowley as well as chief national correspond John King, our senior political editor Mark Preston, and political contributor Hilary Rosen and CNN's senior political analyst Ed Rollins, they'll all be joining us throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: We begin this morning in Florida where tax cuts and the economy were two themes that dominated yesterday's Senate debate.
Front-running Republican Marco Rubio is holding a comfortable 14-point lead in the polls over independent Charlie Crist. Democrat Kendrick Meek is 26 points back of Rubio.
Yesterday's debate featuring a lot of bickering with the Bush- Era tax cuts and how to extend them is a key point of contention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have five senate Democrats saying we've got to vote on this thing and extend -- so the taxes are extended for everybody. It's not just me saying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Adam, will the me just say this. Let me just say this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not agreeing back and forth, not figuring out what to do, ideological arguments without common sense compromising to do what's right for the people. You're seeing it right here, right now. That's why I'm running as an independent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, joining us live from Washington this morning, the host of "STATE OF THE UNION" and moderator of yesterday's Florida Senate debate, CNN chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley.
It's always interesting when there's three. You know, I mean, there's even more back and forth and talking over each other as everyone's trying to get their point across.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And everyone jockeying for position. I mean, as you saw, there was a lot of tension in that room I have to tell you. I'm pretty sure they didn't go out and have a beer together afterwards.
It was - it was very sort of heightened, and why? Precisely because we are eight days out. I mean, they are getting down to the last chances to being seen and compared to each other in person.
And that always heightens whatever's going on. And, in fact, when you are 26 points down as Meek is or about 14 points down as Charlie Crist is, you got to take your shots when you can.
And so we saw a lot of that, no matter what the subject matter was. But the target was always Marco Rubio. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My tax returns are public. I've gone well beyond the point of disclosure. The bottom line, if people want to focus on these issues because they're wrong on the important issues. This country has a $13.5 trillion debt.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He doesn't believe in transparency. I created the office of open government in the governor's office for the first time in the history of our state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I'd like --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: So -- and so it went. We covered a lot of topics, but very tense up there. And again, the target is always the front runner. In this case, it's Republican Marco Rubio.
CHETRY: Interesting, the polling showing him so far ahead right now. It's a lot closer in many of these other Senate races that, you know, they're within the margin of error tie.
But we're going to be talking tonight again about Florida because it's the governors' debate. What do we expect tonight with that?
CROWLEY: Alex Sink, the Democrat, Rick Scott, the Republican, you have basically a new comer. Rick Scott is a health industry executive who came out of nowhere.
He's one of those Republicans that the mainstream republicans didn't, you know, didn't pick. He wasn't the candidate they backed. And yet here he is now, he's the Republican nominee.
Alex Sink is the top financial executive in the state. So she's a government worker. I think you will hear certainly a lot of bickering tonight, a lot of differences on the issues because they have been at each other from the very beginning ad partly that's because it is so close.
But this has been a bitter race and you talk about two people that definitely don't see each other after hours, it's these two candidates. It seems a little personal when you watch them.
They clearly don't like each other, but they also clearly have huge, huge differences in policy and how they want to go forward in the state of Florida. And one of the reasons, I think people forget why we watch these governor debates.
Why would you care about the governorship in Florida or Maryland or wherever you are if you're not in that state. Well, what happens this year, as you remember, is we had the census.
So all of these states are getting ready to redistrict. The population has changed and when you redistrict, you change the make-up of Congress. So Florida is gaining more seats, and the governor always has something to do with that.
He or she does not have the final say, but certainly they can be quite influential in that. So these positions, governorships take on national implications.
CHETRY: All right. Candy Crowley for us this morning and have a long day again with the governors' debate tonight. Thanks, Candy.
ROBERTS: So here we are eight days away from the election. And latest polls, Politico, George Washington University battleground polls shows the Republicans are leading Democrats 14 points among independents. That could be a big factor in next Tuesday's election.
We're going to kick that around with CNN political contributor Hilary Rosen and our senior political analyst Ed Rollins.
We'll also talk about what will happen if the first time since 1930 we have one party occupying the White House, same party occupying the Senate, and a different party occupying the House, which at the moment looks like the way it could go.
CHETRY: Yes, it will be interesting to see what happens.
Meanwhile, there's another story we've been following closely this morning. The world of competitive swimming is in mourning this morning because of a death of a top American swimmer.
It happened over the weekend, 26-year-old Fran Crippen died Saturday during the last leg of a 10-K open-water race in the United Arab Emirates. A lot of swimmers were complaining the water temperatures were too high.
Crippen's former coach said he had a conversation with the swimmer 12 hours before the race and was told the water temperature was 87 degrees, triple digit heat outside, as well. Authorities say that severe fatigue was cause of death.
ROBERTS: Well, those are high temperatures. Authorities in California could reopen three beaches north of Santa Barbara this morning after a deadly shark attack there leading into the weekend.
The 19-year-old Lucas Ransom was boogie boarding on Friday when a shark swam up and bit down on his leg. Ransom died shortly after being brought back to the beach.
You can see the shark also took a big chunk out of his boogie board. Shark sightings at the beach have been fairly frequent, but since the attack, there have been not been any reports of shark sightings and believed that might have been a great white that attack.
CHETRY: They're trying to figure that out. Because just based from some of the witnesses they say it was possibly 14 to 20 feet long.
ROBERTS: Yes, you take a look at the bite radius on that boogie board. That's a pretty large mouth.
CHETRY: Well, could a hacker steal the election? Today, we're taking a closer look at electronic voting machines. They're now in all 50 states, but there are no guarantees. A new A.M. series "Does Your Vote Count?" just ahead.
ROBERTS: And we are in the tornado. The man who drove into a twister in Texas and lived to tell about it joins us live coming up next. It's 11 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are in a tornado! We are in a tornado! We're in the tornado! We are in the tornado!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Certainly are in that tornado. It's one of the most incredible, up close encounters with a tornado we ever seen captured on a cell phone camera. It happened during the outbreak of a severe weather that hit northeast Texas yesterday.
ROBERTS: Joining us now is the man who shot that video, Eric Meyers. He is the emergency management coordinator for Navarro County, Texas and an amateur videographer.
It's great to talk to you this morning, Eric. I mean, that looks like a scene out of that movie "Twister," what was it like to be there?
ERIC MEYERS, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COORDINATOR, NAVARRO COUNTY, TEXAS (via telephone): That was absolutely amazing. As many of these events as we've been through, this was definitely a very close call and just the power was just amazing.
CHETRY: And just talk us through some of it. How close were you? Where were you? And what is unfolding that we're seeing right now?
MEYERS: We were actually called out early by the National Weather Service there in Dallas and Fort Worth to activate our spotter network to bring people in line to begin watching these storms for possible tornadoes. We traveled northbound on I-45, which is near Dallas to watch the storms evolve. The tornado touched down, moved across just to our west. The storm then took a quick right turn. The tornado, as you can see in the video, then moved across a railroad, derailed 11 cars --
CHETRY: Wow.
MEYERS: -- hit the school, demolished the school, went across the interstate in front of me. Roughly 100 yards in front of me, overturned an 18-wheeler on top of a car, took another vehicle, threw it into a ditch and another car into a pasture. So it was a very scary feeling.
ROBERTS: It's just unbelievable to see the roof come off of that elementary school right there in front of you. And when you take the shot out the front window of the car which we're seeing now, we're seeing that debris coming down all around you. I mean, talk about being -- you were screaming over and over again, we're in the tornado, we're in the tornado. There's no question you were. Why were you just sitting there? Why didn't you try to get out?
MEYERS: Well, you know, that's a good question. And we always try and teach safe practices to our spotters and myself included. We were northbound like I'd mentioned and trying to stay on the southeast side of the storm or the south side. The storm made a quick right turn, and we were actually on the radio trying to broadcast positions to our dispatch to let them know what was going on. And as that happened, the storm turned on us and came into us. And unfortunately, that's what you saw.
CHETRY: Yes, it is amazing. You also said that you guys had a pretty close brush with possibly death. A cement truck was it that came down on your SUV or almost hit?
MEYERS: On the vehicles in front of us, an 18-wheeler had overturned on to an SUV, and then also took cars immediately in front of us. And actually took those off the road.
ROBERTS: That's pretty --
MEYERS: So, luckily no serious injuries. We did have four confirmed injuries. We did have five houses that were demolished.
ROBERTS: You know, Eric, we see the video jumps around an awful lot. Was that just the adrenaline? Was that just sort of -- I guess what you might almost call the semi-panic state that you were in? Or were you being buffeted around a lot in that vehicle?
MEYERS: A lot. It was actually a little of both. The winds were incredible, trying to just maintain composure in the vehicle while the windows were open being pelted with debris. You know, it was really awesome. At the same time, I was really nervous and just worrying for my own safety at that point.
ROBERTS: Was there a point where you thought, uh-oh, this is it? Got too close?
MEYERS: Yes. It really was. It came down to the final point of, when I saw it turn directly to the right and come in, I thought this is just not going to be good.
CHETRY: Yes.
MEYERS: So, you know, luckily everything turned out all right. I've got some good video, but I definitely won't do it again.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, you learned your lesson, but you have some amazing video. Luckily, also, it happened on a weekend because as you said that elementary school, which would have possibly been filled with kids and teachers on a weekday was empty. That school was demolished.
MEYERS: Absolutely, absolutely. We're going to continue this morning and do our damage assessments with the National Weather Service on our state offices, so we should know more shortly.
ROBERTS: Well, you've got have something to tell your grand kids, no question about that. Eric Meyers, good to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much. Good luck this morning.
MEYERS: Thank you.
CHETRY: Thanks, Eric. About 100 miles an hour, as you said, they're going to be doing more official testing today with the National Weather Service.
ROBERTS: You figure you're 100 yards away and you see the roof come off like that then it's swirling around, you --
CHETRY: And he said other cars right in front of him ripped off the road.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: What prevented him from being the same?
ROBERTS: And you saw one car coming southbound on I-45 too. That person just narrowly avoided something terrible. Wow. Amazing video this morning.
Well, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, it may not be a waste of time if you're a small business owner. Our Christine Romans will tell you why, coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-two minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, of course, people are, you know, using this all the time to reconnect with old friends. But now it's turned into a business tool. A lot of people are using it to help grow their business.
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, it is kind of ruining productivity in some places, but in her book "Smart is the New Rich," our Christine Romans tells you how you can actually make it pay for you. Purple's a great color on you, by the way.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, thank you very much. Purple for prosperity, I guess.
CHETRY: It's a laugh. Every time you plug the book, you have to wear the same.
ROMANS: I know. This is the first time I've noticed this was what I was wearing on the cover of the book.
Look, a lot of people have been telling me they're in small business. They're trying to figure out how do we make this work for us? This is just a waste of time. We don't get it. We don't understand how to make this work, and we don't want have an employee sitting around tweeting all day long. And so I set out to try to find out what should you do as a small business to make social media work and pay for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): It doesn't get more local than this. A 30- minute photo shop in Irvine, California, same store front since 1990. But this is an international enterprise now.
MITCH GOLDSTONE, CEO, SCANMYPHOTOS.COM: When I started, customer base was about three to five miles. Today, it's worldwide. People find us online through searches, through search engine, through Twitter searches as well as Facebook.
ROMANS: Mitch Goldstone has tweeted some 32,000 messages. He has 10,600 followers on Twitter where he broadcasts promotions and is constantly trying to make a name for his company, Scan My Photos. He doesn't just self-promote. He shares links and product reviews and blends into a running conversation online about all things photo.
GOLDSTONE: If you're not into social media, social networking, you will be out of business. I'm going to repeat that. You will be out of business if you don't tweet, use Facebook and social media today.
ROMANS: Smart small business owners are embracing and profiting from this free tool. Just ask Ido Leffler, co-founder of beauty brand Yes To.
IDO LEFFLER, CEO, YES TO: Today, you don't need to spend any money at all to set up a Facebook fan page. You don't need a huge marketing fund to set up a Twitter account. You need zero.
ROMANS: When an expensive print ad campaign fell flat, Leffler launched an online contest to find the face of the brand. It attracted 150,000 fans on Facebook. Sales doubled in six months. The social media social butterflies learned to use these free tools to grow their business. But it's not easy. Experts say the trick is figuring out how to turn posts and tweets into dollars and cents.
MIKE HOFMAN, DEPUTY EDITOR, INC. MAGAZINE: It's great if you have, you know, 10,000 followers on Twitter, but how many of them are paying customers? The strategic, this will allow small businesses overlook and the smart ones really focus on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: We're still trying to figure it out. In fact, they know they have to be involved but they can't quite figure out how to make it work for them. So how do you turn it into business? How do you monetize these free tools? Here's what not to do.
Don't be boring. Don't overshare. Don't bombard your customers with useless posts. And don't just promote yourself. Instead, experts say you've got to become a resource for your customers.
Mitch Goldstone, he tests photo products and he posts helpful links to photography stories and blogs. Customers respond to free tips and the occasional coupon. And try to cultivate a consistent online persona. Think of your business as a voice in a running conversation about whatever it is that you're in business doing. Respond very quickly. You always have to ask your customers what they want. Don't just tell them. Bottom line, you can't afford not to embrace it. It's as essential, these business owners tell us, as having a phone number was a generation or even a century ago. Consider a tweet as a tap on the shoulder and you must use these tools, not simply to talk, talk, talk, but to listen to what your customers have to say and to follow them in the conversation.
ROBERTS: There's so many different ways now to get your message out there. It used to be you had to buy an ad in the newspaper or radio or, you know, whatever, and now you can just do it all yourself.
ROMANS: And now, you know, this is like an international yellow pages, basically. And people are coming to you because they know your product or they're interested and want to hear what you have to say. It has an incredible, incredible potential to get you to an audience you've never seen before.
CHETRY: I also imagine there is a huge market out there for people who have these skills to contract with these businesses.
ROMANS: Oh, yes.
CHETRY: If you're tech savvy and you understand this, capitalize on it because there's not a lot of new opportunities out there.
ROMANS: I talked to some kids who are high school kids who are doing this for a local business pizza places and stuff because they couldn't get a job for the summer. Smart idea.
ROBERTS: Well, you know what they say? "Smart is the New Rich."
ROMANS: That's what they say.
ROBERTS: All right. And purple looks good on you.
ROMANS: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Thanks. It's your right. Some people say it's your responsibility, but how can you be sure that your vote will be counted on Election Day? Today, we're taking a look at the potential problems with electronic voting machines. That's coming right up.
Twenty-seven minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-nine minutes after the hour. Your top stories just a couple of minutes away. First, though, an "A.M. Original," something you'll see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
When you cast your vote in eight days, how can you be sure it will count? Our Carol Costello live with us this morning with part one of our series, "Does Your Vote Count?".
Good morning, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. It is crazy to think in a world where great minds are able to dream up things like laptops and iPhones, but they can't dream up an electronic voting machine that doesn't confuse voters, protects us from fraud, and make sure our vote counts if the voting machine malfunctions. Can that really be so hard? Sadly it can be, even in 2010.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): In New York City, one of the most sophisticated cities in the world, primary election day was certainly not sophisticated. In Mayor Michael Bloomberg's words --
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: That is a royal screw-up and it's completely unacceptable.
COSTELLO (on camera): Would you agree with the mayor's assessment at the time that it was a royal screw-up? Was it a royal screw-up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I would leave that to the mayor.
COSTELLO (voice-over): And to voters who are confused by something they've never seen before, an electronic voting machine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for voting,
COSTELLO: Not only that, they complained ballots were confusing or tough to read. Saw broken down machines or none at all.
The gothamist web site captured that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry. You come to vote? You come to vote?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The machines are not here yet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not here yet?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, they'll be here about 11:00.
COSTELLO: Keep in mind other states are electronically challenged too. Illinois is having problems now. Gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney's name was spelled Rich Whitey on some machines, and poll workers are working feverishly to correct the mistake before the November 2nd. Ohio, Florida and California had had persistent problems too with things like improperly filled out ballots and machine malfunctions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Open up the screen.
COSTELLO: The New York Board of Elections is now retraining 36,000 poll workers to better serve voters on November 2nd. It's also offering voters a pre-election day demonstration. But sit back, we'll show you now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A voter will get one paper ballot.
COSTELLO (on camera): Got you.
(Voice-over): A poll worker will hand you a ballot. You take it over to a sort of cubicle. You use a pen to color in the circle next to your candidate's name. You put your completed ballot in a folder, and then you head to the machine.
(on camera): If I come over here to scan my ballot, the poll worker should be nowhere around me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nowhere near you.
COSTELLO: They should not handle my privacy for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not.
COSTELLO (voice-over): The voter puts the ballot into the machine, it's scanned, and then it drops into a locked bin. Simple, right? So why the royal screw-up in New York?
Lawrence Norden who studies election problems says New York should've had a trial run before the primary. And he says New York may have avoided some problems if states actually shared information.
LAWRENCE NORDEN, BRENNAN CENTER, NYU: There's no central place where voting problems are reported. And somebody can screen them and then report to election officials, here's a common problem with your machine. Be aware of it.
COSTELLO: And that says Norden is one of the biggest reasons voters in every state experienced problems with electronic voting machines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Oh, but John, the number one reason, human error, which certainly was the case in New York City. Poll workers weren't properly trained. And at times the machines experienced a paper jam and no one knew how to fix the paper jam problem. New York election officials say that will not happen again. They've hired 36,000 poll workers, they've retrained them all, and are hoping November 2nd is glitch-free. We'll see.
ROBERTS: Well, thank goodness this year's election day is not a surprise, like all the other ones were, which is probably why they were caught flat-footed. You know, there are some other concerns across the country, as well, like too much information being crammed on to one page. It's really small, hard to read. Why can't they put the info on more than one page?
COSTELLO: That's a great question. When you look at the ballot, all of the information is crammed on one page and the font is really small. Oddly enough it's up to state legislatures to determine what information goes on how many pages and what the font size is. And to change that, in some states you would have to go back to the state legislature and they would have to vote on it.
ROBERTS: All right. We all know that could take time and create more surprises, as well. Carol, thanks so much for that.
COSTELLO: Sure.
ROBERTS: Tomorrow on our special series "It is Your Right," should it be required? One expert says the U.S. should force people to show up on election day or pay. Part two of our series "Does your Vote Count?" tomorrow on the most news in the morning.
CHETRY: They do it with a lot of success in other countries.
ROBERTS: Yes.
CHETRY: Ireland, or Australia.
ROBERTS: I like the purple finger thing. If you're not walking around with a purple finger, you're in trouble.
CHETRY: There you go.
ROBERTS: Top stories this morning, we are in the tornado. A driver getting incredible footages as a twister roared across Texas yesterday. Emergency management says at least five homes were leveled, but no one was killed.
CHETRY: Well, after four years and almost $1 billion, Homeland Security could scrap the virtual fence along the Mexican border. The high-tech surveillance system was sold to us as a way to stop potential terrorists and drug smugglers. Secretary Janet Napolitano says it's turning out to be a high-tech lemon. There have been reported number of problems with the virtual fence from the beginning. The cameras giving blurry images and the radar performed poorly in bad weather.
ROBERTS: All right. Now here is a really strange story. Remember the hiccup girl? That Florida teen once known for having the case of the hiccups that lasted for weeks? Well, police say she was one of three people arrested for shooting and killing a man during an armed robbery attempt. Jennifer (INAUDIBLE) is just 19 years old now and she is facing in addition to her problem with the hiccups, first- degree murder charges.
CHETRY: Very strange.
Well, a new crisis for Haiti in the wake of a devastating earthquake. Right now they're fighting to contain an outbreak of cholera, which is a highly infectious water-borne disease. More than 250 people have died and there are more than 3,000 confirmed cases now. This outbreak has also spread to the capital Port-au-Prince where thousands of people are still living in tent cities.
Our international security correspondent Paula Newton is live in St. Marc, Haiti. You know, this is something that they feared, Paula, I mean, from the very beginning that if they didn't get clean water sources, potable water to people, this would happen.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (on the phone): Absolutely, Kiran. And what's so puzzling is it happened in 10 months after the earthquake in January and then the region that wasn't even hit by the earthquake. What happened here though is this country, all over the country, the water resources are under such strain that health experts say that they've been warning for months that cholera was still a risk and here we are.
Kiran, I'm at the hospital here this morning in St. Marc. I'm happy to report that things are much calmer. When we left yesterday, they were still carrying bodies to the morgue. There was still a line outside the hospital, the triage was in real chaos. We've come this morning now and things seemed to be calmed down and that seems to be the anecdotal evidence I can give you from what health experts said were fewer cases and perhaps a lower death rate, which is key here.
Because people need to know how to prevent cholera. And if they get it, they need to know to get care urgently. What's going on here though, Kiran, is that people say, "look, once the bug is here, you know, cholera is here to stay." And this will be something that Haiti will deal with. They haven't had to deal with this in a half century. It's going to add yet another burden to a country, Kiran, I can tell you that is still struggling. Many parts of the country still looked as exactly as they did in January.
CHETRY: That's the part that's so upsetting to so many people that they have not been able to get resources to the people that need it the most nearly a year after this earthquake. Paula Newton, thanks so much.
ROBERTS: Midterm elections now just eight days away. It's coming down to the wire. The president hitting the campaign trail again. He'll be in Rhode Island today. Of course we'll have full coverage.
Ahead, CNN political contributor Hilary Rosen and Republican strategist Ed Rollins breaking down a theory that Democratic losses next week could mean big gains for the party in 2012. 37 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Well, just over a week now remaining before the midterm elections, the polls looking bleak for the White House. One of the biggest challenges facing Democrats next year is they will be winning over independent voters, and right now that's just not happening.
Want to take a few minutes for a little bit of R & R, Rollins and Rosen. Political contributor Hilary Rosen and Republican strategist Ed Rollins here with us now this morning. Great to see you.
ED ROLLINS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you.
HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.
ROBERTS: So just sort of blue sky this for me. What do you think is going to happen for me next Tuesday?
ROLLINS: I think Republicans are going to win the House. I think it'll be very close in the Senate. I think we'll probably pick up six or seven Senate seats.
ROBERTS: Hilary?
ROSEN: I actually don't think the Republicans are going to win the House. I don't think they have closed this out.
ROBERTS: What do you base that on?
ROSEN: Well-
ROBERTS: Because every political analyst out there, Rothenberg Report, Cook Political Report, all those folks are saying -
(CROSSTALK)
ROSEN: Well, people have been predicting this for six, seven, eight months. But the problem is that the numbers haven't shifted. The Republicans have not closed this deal. And so many races, there's more tossup races than there ever have been. And a lot of these races what people aren't focusing on are the third-party candidates, whose numbers traditionally in many of these ballots have three, four, and five third party candidates. We always call them, you know, political professionals call them the none of the above candidates. Those numbers are pretty high, and they could - they could hold on for - help Democrats significantly.
ROBERTS: Well, certainly things aren't looking good for the Democrats at the moment. Let's put some numbers up on the screen so folks at home can follow along. This is the latest "Politico"-George Washington University battleground poll preference. Republicans 51 percent, the Democrats, 39 percent, among independent voters. This is incredibly important slice of the electorate. 62 percent of independent voters say they have an unfavorable opinion of health care legislation, 66 percent say the recovery legislation's not working for them, 69 percent have less faith in government. So -
ROLLINS: I don't -
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) those numbers, Ed.
ROLLINS: I don't believe that people are going to throw a vote away. I think people want change. And I think they see the Republican party in this election as the party of change. We'll see that a week from tomorrow. I think in this particular case, independents have decided the election in 2006 gave you a majority, in 2008 gave the president a 53 percent margin. I think in this particular case, it give us the House of Representatives.
ROBERTS: However, recent and early voting shows that the Democrats have less of an enthusiasm gap than was first thought. How do you think that will play out?
ROSEN: Well, first of all, independents have never historically had very big turnouts in midterm elections. They do make the case almost every time in a presidential election. I think that what we're seeing on early voting is that Democrats are coming out, that the base is home. So we'll see.
You know, I think some of these independents voted for change, a lot of their dissatisfaction is that they haven't seen enough of it. That doesn't mean that they're aligned with where the tea party wants to take the Republicans in the House. I think this is much fuzzier than -
(CROSSTALK)
ROLLINS: If you're describing - you're describing three words that are the factors in this race. The president, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Pelosi, and Obamacare. I think those three issues are driving a vote to our side significantly. And I think the president who has been out there with a very shrill tone has had an impact on, he didn't change what Washington's about. If anything, he made it worse.
ROBERTS: There's another narrative that's entering now the political discussion, Hilary. And that is while the president would like to keep control of Congress, both Houses, not just the Senate, he might benefit from losing one or both of them. Make that calculation for me. How does he benefit?
ROSEN: I actually don't think he does. You know, some of my Democratic colleagues think it would be better not to be responsible for everything. That if the Republicans took the House, they would have to step up and show leadership. Look, the president said a few things two years ago when he got elected. He said that jobs of the future are in energy, they're in health care, they're in education. That requires investment. It requires a lot of the status quo being offended. The empire is striking back. Big business is putting millions and millions of dollars into this to try and prevent that from happening. The status quo does not want this change. I don't believe the people have changed that much in two years. I do think that people still think that they need a future that is a little bit different than the past 10 years have been.
(CROSSTALK)
ROLLINS: I would argue that any time you lose an election, it's never beneficial to the incumbent. This is not Bill Clinton who's going to shift directions and this is not Newt Gingrich, who basically is going to alienate the American public. I think if we win, we're going to have learned from our past and I think we're going to move the ball --
ROBERTS: Let's look at what this means for the American people. If this plays out the way you think it will, Ed, that the president loses the House, Democrats lose the house, hang on to the Senate, what's that going to mean for the next two years?
ROLLINS: Well, there has to be bipartisan support. It has to be led by the president. It has to deal with leadership. He can't deal with the fringes. He has to sit down with the Republican leadership on both the House and the Senate, even if we don't have the Senate, and say, this is what I need. This is what I want from you. And they get to say what they want.
ROBERTS: Hillary, do you have any hope that will happen?
ROSEN: I think it has happened over the last two years and we've seen very little to come of it. The Republicans decided that they were not going to cooperate with anything. They voted on bank, against every single thing that came up, whether it was -- things that they had proposed for years they voted against.
ROBERTS: So can we --
ROSEN: This is going to be a two-man game here.
ROBERTS: So could you see that maybe Republicans in the House just dig in their heels, they don't let anything happen and throw all the money toward 2012?
ROLLINS: No, I think they're going to try to basically undo some of these things they think are not constructive. And I think they're going to try to modify the health care bill.
ROSEN: What are they going to do? They're going to take health care back away from 40 million people? They're going to let insurance companies take back over whether you get preexisting conditions? Are they going to take people off the rolls that now have to be on the rolls because of health care?
ROLLINS: Let me have a chance to answer.
ROSEN: You have to decide what it is you want undone.
ROBERTS: Just quickly, because we've got to run.
ROLLINS: Right. There's a lot of bad things in that. Everybody's insurance is going up. Health care costs are not coming down. There are some modification that clearly can be done. I don't think they can repeal it but they can certainly make it better.
ROBERTS: We've got seven more days to chew this over.
Thanks, folks, for coming in. Great to see you.
ROSEN: OK.
ROLLINS: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Hilary Rosen and Ed Rollins, of course.
For the latest information on the races and the issues that impact you, head to CNNPolitics.com. We've got it all for you there in our election center coverage.
Forty-seven minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Coming up next. An admission from Brett Favre and a denial, as well. What the Vikings' quarterback told the NFL about those alleged pictures he sent to a female Jets employee. We've got that coming up for you. It's nine minutes to the top of the hour.
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ROBERTS: It's coming up now to five minutes to the top of the hour and here are some stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. Tongues were waging.
First up, an admission and a denial from Brett Favre. The Vikings' quarterback reportedly telling the NFL that, yes, he did leave voicemails for former Jets employee Jenn Sterger, but did not send her any lewd photos when he was a member of the team. The NFL, of course, investigating all of this.
CHETRY: Yes, it's been blowing up the blogosphere, so to speak.
I wonder if LeBron James has this shot in his repertoire. Check this out. Hoop stars from Perth, Australia, so high up yet they made it. Not once but many times. There they go again. Swish. Talk about hitting from way downtown. Is it real or is it fake? This should answer that question. Backwards, one hand. It's amazing, though. The kids are sinking these from the top tier of the stadium shooting backwards. Sign them up.
ROBERTS: We have seen a lot of things similar to that, that are, in fact fake. But perhaps if you were to do it enough times. If you were there all day doing that maybe you might get a few that would go in.
CHETRY: Exactly.
And just like all day if you were working on that Slip and Slide, you would be able to leap up and land perfectly in a small pool.
ROBERTS: Four hundred feet away.
Win or lose, Texas catcher Bengie Molina is guaranteed a World Series ring. That's because he played for the San Francisco Giants earlier this year before he was traded to the Rangers back in July. Molina is the oldest of three brother who is grew up in Puerto Rico and went on to become major league catchers.
CHETRY: So technically he could celebrate already.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: "Paranormal Activity 2," a smash hit. The independent film raked in over $41 million this weekend. the highest weekend total ever for a horror flick. The success comes of Paranormal 2, unfortunately comes at the expense of the new Clint Eastwood drama "Hereafter," which took in $12 million during the first weekend.
ROBERTS: It got 24 bucks of my money. I thought it was good film. I really did.
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ROBERTS: Say sayonara to the Walkman. They're not making them anymore in Japan. Sony launched the Walkman in 1979. They've sold 220 million of them. But with MP3s and iPods all the rage now, it becomes a footnote in history. But, just at the same time when they've decided to reintroduce the cassette.
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CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break. Your top stories coming up after the break.
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