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American Morning
Back Room Politics in Florida: Clinton and Meek Respond; Meek Asked to Step Aside?; Treat to Halloween Retailers; TSA Launches Enhanced Pat Downs; Restoring Sanity; Professor Goes "Gaga"; Mariah Carey Pregnant
Aired October 29, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us. It is Friday, the Friday before Halloween, October 29th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: That date stands out for me somehow. I'm Ali Velshi in today for John Roberts.
CHETRY: It's Ali Velshi's birthday.
VELSHI: Oh, you didn't have to say that on TV.
CHETRY: That's why it stands out for him. So, yes.
VELSHI: Thank you. Thank you. My pleasure to be here. This gives me a little bit of a longer birthday by being here with you today.
CHETRY: That's right.
VELSHI: Because I get to start a little bit earlier.
CHETRY: And all presents, please leave them in the bin we've provided to the side of the set. Thank you.
VELSHI: Good morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: Happy birthday.
VELSHI: Good to see you. Thank you.
CHETRY: Well, get ready this morning and tell you about a bombshell on the campaign trail. Former President Bill Clinton responding to reports that he tried to broker a deal in Florida with Democratic Senate candidate Kendrick Meek to try to keep Republicans from winning. Did the president know about this? We're going to get reaction from the White House just ahead.
VELSHI: And attention holiday travelers, airport security is about to get a lot more up close and personal as the TSA launches a more aggressive pat-down procedure. Now this is raising new questions about privacy versus safety. We'll have a look at the new rules. We'll show you what they're about and we'll talk about the controversy straight ahead.
CHETRY: And a truly monster business, the sluggish economy not spooking too many Halloween retailers this year. We're going to find out why the tricks, the treats, and the costumes are in such high demand. It was interesting they say they're estimating $1 billion spent on adult costumes.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: And 800,000 spent on kids. So the adults --
VELSHI: And we've got some fun ones for you today to show you some of the hot ones that are out this year.
CHETRY: Yes, especially if you're going to the Jersey Shore.
VELSHI: You know, I think after what's going on in the economy, it's a nice little escape.
CHETRY: I think so, too.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Because it's not super expensive.
VELSHI: Not super expensive but you get out of your problems for a little while.
CHETRY: Exactly. Well, at first, the final charge before Election Day, just four days now until America votes. And if you want to know just how high the stakes are Tuesday, then look no further than the battle for Senate in Florida. The shockwaves going all the way to the White House this morning.
VELSHI: This morning, former President Bill Clinton is responding to reports that he tried to get a Democrat who is trailing badly in the polls to drop out of the Senate race in Florida and throw his support behind the independent candidate Charlie Crist. A Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek held a conference, a news conference late last night to try to clear things up. President Clinton spoke to CNN's Susan Candiotti, and both of them are telling a slightly different story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENDRICK MEEK (D), FLA. SENATE CANDIDATE: Any rumor or any statement by anyone that says that I made a decision to get out of the race is inaccurate.
BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He talked to me about it. He wanted to talk to me about it a couple of times. He was concerned about it. And he was trying to determine what was the best thing for him to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VELSHI: Well, the most recent CNN Time Opinion Research Corporation poll now. Let me show you. Republican Tea Party-backed Marco Rubio, he is the Republican candidate. He's got a comfortable lead over Charlie Crist who was the Republican governor, but he pulled out of that primary to run as an independent. Kendrick Meek, the Democratic candidate, trailing Rubio by 26 points.
CHETRY: But you can see there that if he did drop out and hypothetically speaking, the Democrats threw their support to Crist --
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: -- he could pull out a win.
VELSHI: Crist could be competitive. And there were some talk about the fact that in these discussions Rubio -- Crist said that if he were elected, he might find himself caucusing with the Democrats. A lot of moving parts on this one.
CHETRY: And there are a lot of questions this morning about the role the Obama administration may have played, if any, in any of these discussions.
Ed Henry is live for us at the White House this morning. So what did the White House know about all of this with the Senate drama down in Florida?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, good morning. I spoke to a senior Democratic Party official who said the White House certainly was aware of what's going on. Senior officials here were familiar with the talks. But they were trying to keep it at arm's length. They did not initiate the talks. They let former President Bill Clinton, as you've been reporting, sort of lead the way here for good reason.
I mean, number one, there have been other problems in this election cycle as you remember of the White House trying to push people out of primaries and sort of blown up in their face. Probably the most prominent in Pennsylvania when they tried to get and use Bill Clinton, by the way, to try to get Joe Sestak out of the Democratic Senate primary, he refused to do that, end up beating Senator Arlen Specter, the incumbent.
It was a big mess for the White House. There was allegedly some sort of a position offered for Sestak if maybe he stepped out of the way. A whole investigation, et cetera. In this case, all sides are insisting there was no job offer for Kendrick Meek, that it was just Bill Clinton saying, look, this will enhance your standing within the party.
The other reason why the White House wanted to stay far from this is that in the end if it doesn't work out, you look really silly. And so they were hoping that this was going to work. And, in fact, this Democratic Party official told me that there were people inside the White House who believe that Kendrick Meek had suggested to Bill Clinton at least that he was going to step aside and so they were very hopeful that all of this would move forward. In the end, though, they're left with sort of the worst of both worlds. It looks like there was some sort of secret back-room deal going on and it didn't work. So you don't have any payoff here, Kiran.
CHETRY: Right. And you mentioned not wanting to look silly and now you have Kendrick Meek saying, no, no, no, none of this happened. And I wasn't going to step out of the race. I'm going to continue to be in the race. So, net gain at this point doesn't look like much.
HENRY: That's right. And I mean, the other volatile issue here that's on the table is race. And I mean, a fact of the matter is Kendrick Meek is a prominent African-American candidate. The Republican Party chairman Michael Steele put out a tough statement last night suggesting that, look, if the shoe were on the other foot and you had Republican Party leaders pushing out a prominent African- American here a week before the election, you'd have Democratic leaders howling about it and suggesting there was a racial issue here.
And I think this is particularly sensitive for this White House with the first African-American president but also the track record of you'll remember last year, another clumsy situation was when the White House tried to push African-American Governor David Paterson out of his New York primary. He resisted. It was a big mess. In the end, Paterson stepped aside. It looks like Andrew Cuomo is going to be elected the Democratic governor in New York. But the last thing they need is another messy episode here.
I think the other thing you look at is just what's going on? What kind of water are they drinking in Florida? I mean, you've got this mess here. A few days ago, the CNN debate where the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink got caught using a Droid device and apparently breaking the rules, maybe getting some help from a staffer and then, of course, there was that 2000 debacle down there in Florida, Kiran.
VELSHI: And, you know, this is our show before Halloween. So we're talking about the big business in Halloween costumes. Ed was making fun of me the last couple of days. I was interviewing Jeffrey Katzenberg who suggested on TV that I was the inspiration for Shrek.
CHETRY: Which is a huge compliment.
VELSHI: Yes, which is a huge compliment.
HENRY: Yes, really --
VELSHI: Ed and I spent so much time together that if I'm going to be Shrek, most naturally he would be Fiona.
HENRY: Fiona, oh, is that right?
Well, you know, I think this just shows your creative genius and my close personal friend, Jeffrey Katzenberg just speaks the world of you. And both Jeffrey and I wish you happy birthday, Ali.
CHETRY: I don't see Ed's hair flowing as much as Fiona. VELSHI: As Fiona? All right.
CHETRY: I don't know --
HENRY: Do you have a picture of Fiona?
VELSHI: We just put a picture of Fiona.
HENRY: Oh, there you go.
CHETRY: Right. There you go.
HENRY: I needed to take a -- I don't think there's a resemblance. And, by the way, you're much skinnier than Shrek and you're not green, as I pointed out yesterday. So I think Katzenberg is a little bit off.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, the whole "not green" thing, it depends on the lighting on a given day. But, yes.
HENRY: That is a good point.
VELSHI: Ed, good to see you.
CHETRY: Thanks, Ed.
HENRY: Happy birthday. Good to see you.
VELSHI: All right. We'll continue the conversation on this.
What did President Clinton say to Kendrick Meek? This seems to be the big question. It's not clear. So we've been hearing conflicting news on this for the last 12 hours. So Kendrick Meek will join us live in just a few minutes and he'll give us his side of the story.
CHETRY: In the meantime, a reminder, AMERICAN MORNING will be on an hour early next Tuesday -- well, Monday. And we're starting at 5:00 Eastern time, both Monday and Tuesday. Then we're going to be on at 3:00 Eastern the morning after the election. You know, in many ways, a lot of things might not be known.
VELSHI: Yes, that's right. There are some races on the West Coast. Definitely in California, in Seattle.
CHETRY: Colorado, yes.
VELSHI: You know.
CHETRY: The big ones, so we're going all the way until noon.
VELSHI: Wow. That's going to be a lot of TV.
Also new this morning, Sarah Palin setting the stage for a possible run for president in 2012. I know some of you already thought this was going on. But the former Alaskan governor appeared on "Entertainment Tonight" last night and she insists she hasn't made up her mind about a White House bid. But listen to this, Kiran, she cracked the door open just a little bit wider in as many possible ways as you can do it without saying yes. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN, FMR. ALASKA GOVERNOR: Of course, I would believe that we should do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Here's more.
VELSHI: There's more to it. That's just the tease.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we'll play the rest for you a little bit later.
Meanwhile, two convictions in the Anna Nicole Smith prescription drug trial. Smith's lawyer and boyfriend Howard K. Stern found guilty on two counts of helping supply the former Playboy playmate, a known addict, according to the court rulings, with prescription pain killers for psychiatrists. Also convicted on charges related to a Vicodin prescription, but Smith's doctor was acquitted of all charges. It took the jury three weeks to reach its verdict.
VELSHI: And remember we were talking about this story a few weeks ago. Verizon Wireless will pay a record $25 million. This is the new part to settle an FCC investigation into allegations that it charged customers for data services that they did not want. Now this payment is on top of the $2 to $6 refunds, about $60 million worth of refunds that are going to be given out to an estimated 15 million customers.
And you can now tweet and text as you make your way to the top of the world. 3G mobile phone service -- I was waiting for this -- now available at the bottom of Mt. Everest. The network provider said it has not yet tested the service from the top of Everest, but said it's theoretically possible that there is coverage there.
CHETRY: This is amazing. You can potentially get it on the highest peak in the world. However, you cannot get cell phone service on the west side highway.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: So, go figure.
VELSHI: There you go.
CHETRY: Well, the San Francisco Giants are halfway there. They shut out the Texas Rangers 9-0 last night to make it two games to none in the World Series.
Hey, this was supposed to be a big, you know -- this was a big taboo. VELSHI: Yes, yes.
CHETRY: Well, they scored seven runs in the eighth inning. They bust the game wide open. The Giants never won -- never won a World Series since they moved to San Francisco.
VELSHI: But -- the Rangers have never made it to a World Series since their team started. So these are both teams that have some milestones to overcome.
CHETRY: That's right. So, well, I mean, they still have a shot. The series resumes tomorrow, game three in Arlington, Texas.
VELSHI: All right. Time for a quick check of the time. Ten minutes after the hour.
CHETRY: As well as --
VELSHI: Weather. We should do weather now.
CHETRY: Rob Marciano is here. You planning on doing anything special for Halloween?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, it's a holiday. We can dress up and be somebody you're not. So, yes, one of my favorites. We'll do something and maybe take a few pictures. No, we won't probably take --
VELSHI: That was kind of like the Sarah Palin answer to are you running for president?
CHETRY: Right. If no one else dresses up, maybe I will.
VELSHI: Right. Dress up.
MARCIANO: No, no, I'll be dressed up. The question is do I share those photos.
Good morning, everybody, and happy birthday, Ali. Tropical storm Shary, the 18th of the season now, brewing in the Atlantic, and you know, just south of Bermuda, 250 miles south of Bermuda. And by the way, there's two other areas out in the tropics that may develop. So this season, enough's enough already. Luckily for the U.S. we haven't seen it direct from the hurricane and this thing probably will recurve. We'll detail the track a little bit later on.
Drive for the most part D.C. to Boston, but some kind of lake effect snow showers and visibilities across parts of eastern Ohio and upstate New York. The other thing is the big chill moving on the front that came through. Temperatures near freezing in St. Louis, so freeze warnings out there. Same deal in central Kentucky. Forty- three chilly degrees right now in Memphis. But this time of year, we've got the sunshine out and it does rebound fairly rapidly. Sixty- one degrees for the high temperatures in St. Louis, 57 in New York and 71 where I assume teams will be at least taking some batting practice today in Dallas or in Arlington. Ali, Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: Good baseball weather there. All right. Thanks a lot, Rob.
MARCIANO: Bye, guys.
CHETRY: Checking in with you a little later.
MARCIANO: OK.
CHETRY: Meantime, coming up, Florida Senate candidate Kendrick Meek. Did he ever consider dropping out of the race in a back-room deal brokered by former President Clinton? Or is the whole thing just a rumor run amuck? We're going to the candidate. Kendrick Meek is going to be joining us live after the break.
VELSHI: And a new pat-down procedure. Airport security lines kicks in today. It could be a lot more intrusive. We're going to tell you what it is, how it feels, and whether or not this is a personal violation. Or is it good for security?
It is 12 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: We're going to turn back now to this drama that's been unfolding in the Florida Senate race. This is new drama. The whole Florida Senate race has been full of drama since the beginning. This is our top story, though. Explosive reports of a back-room political deal that according to the main player never happened.
CHETRY: Right. We're talking about Democrat Kendrick Meek. He's insisting now that former President Bill Clinton never asked him to get out of the race and to throw his support behind independent Charlie Crist in order to try to defeat Republican front-runner and Tea Party favorite Marco Rubio. Meek held a news conference last night calling those accounts, quote, "inaccurate at best." However, Clinton and Crist are telling a different story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Clinton, what discussions did you have with Kendrick Meek? It was last week -- about the possibility of him dropping out of the Florida race?
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He talked to me about it. He wanted to talk to me about it a couple of times.
GOV. CHARLIE CRIST, INDEPENDENT SENATE CANDIDATE, FLORIDA: He did say that he was considering it. In fact, on a couple of occasions, through Mr. Band, he had already agreed to do so, but changed his mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VELSHI: The Mr. Band that he's referring to, one of President Clinton's advisers, saying it may not have been a direct conversation with President Clinton, but Charlie Crist seems to think a conversation took place with one of -- with Clinton's advisers.
CHETRY: Right. So let's hear from the candidate himself. Congressman Kendrick Meek joins us this morning from Orlando.
Thanks for joining us. Thanks for getting up early with us this morning.
REP. KENDRICK MEEK (D), FLORIDA SENATE CANDIDATE: Well, I'm up early every morning, especially running for the Senate in --
VELSHI: Yes.
MEEK: -- the fourth largest state.
CHETRY: I hear you.
Well, let's just get right to it. So the Clinton camp is affirming that the former president did urge you to drop out to back Crist after concluding that your candidacy was struggling. What did you and the former president discuss in that regard?
MEEK: Well, we discuss politics all the time, and when he was here last week to do two rallies for me on the I-4 (ph) -- I'm in Orlando today, campaigning. We talked about the fact he saw some reports the week before, of course, that the Crist campaign was pushing that I was going to get out of the race, and I said that's not the case.
And we talked about it, and I said, you know, I'm not going to sell out on the people of the state of Florida -- not that he was asking me to do so. He never asked me to get out of the race. I never told him that I was getting out of the race. But it seems to be a part of the Crist strategy, the feeling a pathway to victory is for -- for me to sell out on the people of the state of Florida.
I'm not in that business. I'm not going to do it. I haven't done it. The governor continues to phone bank me. I mean, he needs to be focused on his own campaign and not focused on me selling out on the people of the state of Florida.
VELSHI: Representative Meek, take a look at the numbers. We've seen them. They're all over the place. But the fact is it does show you at a distant third, and that the combined support of -- of Governor Crist and you would add up to more than -- than Marco Rubio.
Has -- has that conversation played out, whether it's with President Clinton's group of -- of supporters or whether it's with Governor Crist? Has that -- because you had a meeting -- well, you had a discussion. You ran into Governor Crist the other day. Has that discussion taken place? MEEK: Governor Crist talked to me about getting out of the race. I recommend to the governor that he should consider getting out of the race. This is before this week.
As far as I'm concerned, I look at Governor Crist as being a conservative Republican along with Marco Rubio. He is trying to portray himself as this now pro-choice candidate, which is mind- boggling, and also a candidate against offshore oil drilling. I stand, you know, as a pro-choice and as a candidate that's pro health care and a candidate that Democrats can embrace.
So I'm not playing politics. I'm not doing back room deals. I'm running for the United States Senate.
And my website, kendrickmeek.com, blew up when this story blew up, that it was some consideration by me and those that are in power, trying to push me out. A) President Clinton never asked me to get out. B) Charlie Crist needs to run his own campaign.
I'm running.
CHETRY: Well, let me just ask you about that.
MEEK: There are people that -- there are people now that are voting. I mean, there are people that are voting in the state of Florida. I have votes already in. People will continue to do so, and I think people are going to be outraged by this.
CHETRY: All right. I just want to ask you about the -- the whole notion of President Clinton not asking you to get out, because there are pretty detailed reports, not just from CNN, but "The New York Times", "Politico" -- who ultimately broke the story -- and said, you know, Clinton himself made clear that he did speak to you about the issue and left it up to you to make that decision.
Are you saying none of that happened?
MEEK: No, I'm not saying -- I just told you that President Clinton and I talked about it. Yes, we did. But he didn't say, hey, listen, this is my recommendation to you, because that's not -- that's not his place.
CHETRY: Right.
MEEK: The bottom line is he asked me about reports of last week and the week before.
Once I won the Democratic primary, I must have by 26 points, which I was down 10 points prior to the Election Day, the Crist campaign started their mantra of trying to lock me out of this race.
Let me just say this. The people of the state of Florida deserves a right to vote for the candidate of their choice. I'm qualified by petition, I'm the Democratic nominee. If Charlie Crist wanted to run as a Democrat, he missed the filing deadline to do so. I think it's very, very important that everyone understands that I'm in this race for the people of the state of Florida. Not for myself, not for some deal-cutting opportunity. And -- and that's the bottom line.
President Clinton and I had a discussion. No spokesman and no one was in the room. We talked head-on-head about this issue. There was no agreement --
I mean, there's reports out there saying, oh, there was some meeting in Jacksonville. I was doing a debate at that time. I don't know how I could be in Jacksonville, meeting with President Clinton.
VELSHI: Representative Meek, thank you for coming on yourself and clearing this up, because there have been a lot of rumors swirling around all night. Good to get it right from you.
MEEK: That's why I'm here.
VELSHI: I appreciate that.
Representative Kendrick Meek --
MEEK: Thank you.
VELSHI: -- the Democratic candidate, in Florida.
We'll, of course, be following that race, among many others, very, very closely over the next four days. There's going to be a lot of interesting voting in -- in Florida.
Florida's always interesting. This Senate race is no less interesting, and our -- the outcome of that will matter to a lot of people across the country.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead, morning talkers, including an entire college course is dedicated to Lady Gaga.
VELSHI: That is fascinating.
CHETRY: We're going to explain.
Why weren't these courses around when I was -- well -- I had to do Econ 101.
VELSHI: A major to that (ph).
CHETRY: They get -- yes. They get to do Lady Gaga? Put that on your job interview. I minored in Gaga.
All right. Well, we're going to take a quick break.
Twenty-one minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Come on.
CHETRY: Be corny. It's a Halloween song (ph). I'm sorry. All right?
VELSHI: I'm a pretty corny guy.
CHETRY: Well, you mean like candy corn.
VELSHI: Candy corn, oh.
CHETRY: We have a treat, though, in these spooky economic times.
That's pretty good. That's actually scary.
The current Halloween costume craze that's producing some sweet returns for retailers and for businesses. Our Christine Romans joins us live --
VELSHI: Sweet returns.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, retailers are telling us that Halloween sales are up 13 -- or 15 to 30 percent from last year.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: And here's my question for you guys, what do Lady Gaga, The Situation, Snooki, and the Founding Fathers have in common? Coming to a Halloween party near you on Saturday night and Sunday.
VELSHI: These are the popular -- these are the popular --
ROMANS: That's right.
VELSHI: -- costumes?
ROMANS: Tune in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS (voice-over): They're spooky, gory and just plain tasteless. And after a couple of scary years, the business of Halloween is back.
ROMANS (on camera): The so-called experts say the American consumer is tired of being sick and tired, and that they're going to go out and spend some discretionary income on Halloween. What do you think?
ROBERT PINZONE, OWNER, ABRACADABRA: Yes. That seems to be, you know, what's -- what's going on, because we are definitely busier than last year.
They're tired of, you know, saving pennies. Well, I guess they're here. They want to spend some money. ROMANS (voice-over): They're spending money on the usual suspects -- vampires, pirates and superheroes, but a growing number want to party like it's 1773.
ROMANS (on camera): Halloween websites and many retailers say there's a resurgence in demand for colonial costumes. They think it's because of election year, patriotism and the Tea Party.
ROMANS (voice-over): Powdered wig sales are up 70 percent. Tricorn hats, shoe buckles, and colonial socks, all up 60 percent. And Uncle Sam outperforming himself from last year by 138 percent.
DANIEL HAIGHT, BUYCOSTUMES.COM: Colonial sales are -- are up even more so than all of the other kinds of costumes that we sell. So we're seeing, probably year-over-year, sales of colonial that's about 50 to 60 percent higher than a year ago.
ROMANS: Business also expected to be brisk at the roughly 2,500 haunted houses this year. At this Pennsylvania family farm, the haunted house and hayride have become the main attractions. Halloween has saved the Araspha family farm.
RANDY BATES, ARASPHA FARM: The farm would never produce enough money to provide for a family income.
ROMANS: Now, they expect about 60,000 visitors this fall.
BATES: Our gross -- annual gross is right around $1 million.
ROMANS: Whether it's a hayride or Snooki's hair or a powdered wig, frugal appears to have given way to frightful, at least for now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Powdered wigs. I'm telling you.
VELSHI: That's -- you know, that's --
ROMANS: There you go. We brought one home for you, Ali.
VELSHI: Hear ye, hear ye.
ROMANS: But I ask this. If it's --
CHETRY: It looks really good on you.
VELSHI: No good can come of this. You realized that, right? This is -- this is all fun and games while we're doing a live show, but this will live in immortality.
CHETRY: You can -- you're excused. It was my birthday. I didn't know (INAUDIBLE).
VELSHI: It's going to show up -- it is my birthday. So I'm (INAUDIBLE).
ROMANS: It looks like a sailor cap, the way it's --
VELSHI: It does look like a sailor cap, right? It's supposed to look --
ROMANS: Anyway, look, The Situation, Snooki -- these are the -- Lady Gaga --
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: -- these are the big ones for this year. But it's amazing, the classics that are still -- Wonder Woman still flying --
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: -- off the shelves.
CHETRY: Right.
ROMANS: I mean -- I mean, that's -- since the '70s. Spiderman, all of the superheroes for the kids. Toy Story's a big one again this year. Vampires, angels, you know, the usual.
VELSHI: But, you know, we have -- we have a fellow here --
ROMANS: We do.
VELSHI: Our floor director and our old friend dressed as The Situation. We think maybe this is -- you've got to pull back a little bit. Can we get a little more of Pete in there?
CHETRY: Can you explain it? It's The Situation -- The Future Situation.
VELSHI: Right. The Situation in a few years.
ROMANS: I see. Oh, now I see.
VELSHI: It's good, huh?
CHETRY: And -- and can we just get a quick shot of Snooki? Jess -- Jess, can you give a way, please? We also have Snooki back here, as well.
VELSHI: We got -- we got --
CHETRY: Our morning researcher.
VELSHI: We can't really see her too well.
CHETRY: Jessica is -- is --
VELSHI: There we are. There we are.
ROMANS: People are -- this is a way -- average price of a costume, about $23. Easy way to, you know -- VELSHI: Shine (ph).
ROMANS: -- showing your -- throw off your frugal fatigue --
VELSHI: You've been frugal for a long time. It's like this is -- this is not terrible, and it's acceptable and it's fun.
CHETRY: There you go. Not just for the kids. That's the funny part.
Well, still ahead, getting ready for a different kind of pat down at the airport.
VELSHI: Starting today, TSA screeners are allowed to get a little more -- a lot more up close and personal. We're going to show you what they're going to do that's different, and talk about whether it's good for security or bad for your privacy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Thirty-one minutes past the hour -- time for a look at our top stories this morning.
Backroom politics just four days from Election Day. Former President Bill Clinton is responding to reports that he encouraged fellow Democrat and friend Kendrick Meek to get out of the Senate race. He tells CNN that he talked to the candidate about dropping out in Florida, but we just spoke to Kendrick Meek about 15 minutes ago, and he says he is still in it to win it.
VELSHI: Yes, he didn't sound uncertain about that at all.
A hearing today for the suspect charged to plot the bomb to the D.C. subway system. Investigators say this man, Farooque Ahmed, a Pakistani-American from Virginia, thought he was part of an al Qaeda attack to kill thousands, even videotaped several train stations as potential targets. It turns out he was working for the FBI, or at least he didn't know he was. But the people he thought were al Qaeda were the FBI. Lawyers will try to get him out of jail today.
CHETRY: Speaking of the FBI, now confirming that the same gun was used in three late night shootings at military facilities outside of D.C. The Pentagon and the Marine Corps museum are targets earlier this month. The latest shots fired incident took place at that Marine recruiting center this week. No one was injured in any of these incidents. But police, while they do say the same gun was used, still do not have a suspect or a motive.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
VELSHI: On the CNN security watch: Airport security procedures will be more hands on. The TSA is currently phasing in the new procedures, calling them enhanced pat downs, at check points.
CHETRY: Critics say it is aggressive and that it's more invasive than ever before, allowing contact with body parts that were previously off limits.
Homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve, is live at Reagan National Airport with more on this.
We know about the regional pilot who refused to this and refused to go through the machine, the X-ray machine, and he says it's a Fourth Amendment issue.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, we spoke to another traveler -- Rosemary Fitzpatrick is her name. She said she felt violated by these new procedures. She is a CNN employee. She flies frequently.
Wednesday night, she was flying out of Orlando. When she went through the metal detector, her underwire bra set off the metal detector. They didn't have advanced imaging technology at her checkpoint. So, screeners told her she would have to undergo this new pat-down procedure. It started with feeling around her chest area, but then she said it got even worse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSEMARY FITZPATRICK, FLIER: And then she goes to the lower portion where she's swiping her hand across my behind, swipes her hand across this stomach area, and she takes her hand and goes up really quick, up the inner portion of my thigh, up to the point where she touches my crotch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Yes, she said they touched her crotch. She said by the time the procedure was over, she was in tears. She has written an e-mail to the TSA, telling them she was appalled and disgusted by the new screening procedures. They have acknowledged getting her email, but no formal response as yet.
CHETRY: So, what is TSA's explanation for why they're doing these enhanced pat downs?
MESERVE: Well, the TSA's mission, of course, is to keep aviation safe. And in a statement, they said pat downs are one important tool to help TSA detect hidden and dangerous items such as explosives. Think, for instance, of the bomb that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had sewn into his underwear on Christmas Day. This sort of pat down might be more likely to detect something like that.
The TSA says not everybody is going to be getting these pat downs. They say those who will get them are those who refuse advance imaging technology, those body imaging machines. They'll be used to resolve anomalies detected by those advance imaging technologies to resolve metal detector alarms. And finally, on passengers who are selected for random screening.
TSA says only a small percentage of fliers are actually going to get these pat downs. They will always be done by same sex screeners. And if requested, they will be done in private.
None of that was enough for Rosemary Fitzpatrick. She says she's going to be flying a lot less because of this procedure.
Back to you.
VELSHI: All right. Jeanne, thanks very much for that.
These are going to be phased in. So, people are likely to encounter them at different times, different airports. And as she says, not everybody's going to get one.
CHETRY: You fly a lot. You've gotten yet (ph)?
VELSHI: I haven't gotten one yet.
CHETRY: Fingers crossed.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, you know, Jon Stewart is doing a rally to restore sanity this weekend. And they expect tens of thousands. In fact, on Facebook, 300,000-plus people claim they were going to be there.
VELSHI: Well, why do you think this is? Do you think is a fun, sort of an entertainment type of thing, or do you think this is a hardcore political rally for moderates?
CHETRY: I think that, you know, it's up in the air at this point.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: A lot of people are wondering, what exactly are they expecting when they go to the Mall?
VELSHI: Right.
We're going to talk to some people who are Jon Stewart fans and they are going to the rally. I want to see what they are planning on doing.
It is 36 minutes after the hour.
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(MUSIC PLAYING)
VELSHI: What's the "Thriller" music about? Is that because it's an election and that's going to be a thriller? Or is it because Halloween? My producer tells me it's Halloween. That's what it is.
Hey, listen, the conventional wisdom is that it all started as a joke. "The Daily Show's" rally to restore sanity set to take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. tomorrow. But what is serious here is how big or influential it could become. A crowd of anywhere from 60,000 to over 200,000 is expected according to a permit application that's been filed by the organizers.
Sheryl Crow and The Roots are expected to play. "The Daily Show" has managed to promote it and play it for laughs at the same time.
Here's the show's correspondent Samantha Bee getting advice from some old pros.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FROM COMEDY CENTER'S "THE DAILY SHOW")
SAMANTHA BEE, DAILY SHOW CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As newbie rally host, we knew it would be a challenge to present a clear and cogent message. So, we turned to some of our nation's most seasoned ralliers.
(LAUGHTER)
BEE (on camera): How do you get your message out there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Setting police cars on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do a lot of singing.
UNIDENTFIED MALE: Sabotage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Puppets.
(LAUGHTER)
BEE: Right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right. This rally, is it meant in jest? Well, it's managed to attract people from long and far away for its message.
Husband and wife Donna Perdue and Tony Comegys run a small Internet marketing and design company. They drove to D.C. all the way from Michigan City, Indiana. They are joining me now. Donna and Tony are with us.
Thanks for joining us. You're already in D.C. The two of you have already made the trip. You're ready for it. You are long time Jon Stewart fans.
Are you there because this is going to be Jon Stewart bigger than ever? It's going to be entertainment? Are you there because of a political message?
DONNA PERDUE, ATTENDING RALLY TO RESTORE SANITY AND/OR FEAR: A little bit of both -- and happy birthday to you.
VELSHI: Well, thank you very much.
Tell me what you're expecting to see and what you're expecting to feel when you're at the rally, Tony.
TONY COMEGYS, ATTENDING RALLY TO RESTORE SANITY AND/OR FEAR: Probably primarily fun.
VELSHI: Yes.
COMEGYS: And that's sort of the underlying message about I think what Jon's delivering is -- you know, let's not take it quite so seriously. But at the same time, you know, there is something that we're all sort of contending with. And that is the left versus the right in this country. And it's never been worse in my time, anyway.
And I think, you know, the weather's going to be great, people are going to be happy. They're going to be excited. And I think they're going to push for sort of the idea we should all get along.
VELSHI: Donna, where do you stand politically? And are you going to get into discussions about that when you're there?
PERDUE: Oh, as I have on my Facebook, I'm definitely a moderate, maybe a couple clicks or two to the left. I think I agree with a lot of what's going on on both sides. But, you know, most of my allegiance, I would say, is in the middle.
VELSHI: Tony, you're talking about this is the worse than you've ever seen it before. You're not necessarily talking about the economy or the way things are going. You're talking about the dialogue between sides in politics.
COMEGYS: Oh, it's terrible. In this day and age of Facebook, you know, you're more connected with people. There's more conversations you can experience. And, you know, it's like the right is saying I love this country except for 50 percent of the people who live in it. And the left is saying, I love this country, but I want to move overseas where they have better health care.
And the two just seem to not be able to meet in the middle to begin solving these problems. The election of Barack Obama actually didn't help things. The right now is more angrier than they ever have been. And the left somewhat confused.
So, I -- mine's a few clicks to the right, by the way.
VELSHI: OK, good. So, you two alone are restoring some sanity.
Donna, Jon Stewart is a comedian. He's somebody you've enjoyed for many years. I think the two of you have been watching for eight or nine years. What role does a comedian have in this attempt to restore sanity?
PERDUE: Well, I find -- I think it's a nice balance, especially after a long day of listening to your friends and family disagree, and sometimes, they get into these heated arguments. And then, you know, we flip back and forth between let's say FOX and NBC, and you hear a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. And it's really annoying and frustrating.
And then, OK, you're settled in for the evening getting ready to go to bed -- and I hear this from all of my friends on both sides of the wall or the side of the forest, and they all say the same thing. He brings a little bit of humor, the tongue-in-cheek to -- and sometimes, you know, he makes you say, yes, exactly, exactly!
VELSHI: But he does that to you.
Does he do that to you, Tony? Because you said you're a couple clicks to the right, while Jon Stewart seems to appeal to moderates from across the spectrum. A lot of people say he appeals more to liberals than conservatives.
COMEGYS: I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. I think he appeals to the thinking people, whatever side you're on. He definitely seems to be open-minded and tries to consider all points of view when he makes his statements or his humor. So, no, he does --
VELSHI: OK.
COMEGYS: -- he does speak for me.
VELSHI: Donna, let me ask you something. You're hoping -- you're going there with no real expectations, but you're hoping for some sort of an aha moment.
PERDUE: Yes. Exactly. I hope that not necessarily just the people who are going to be there because I anticipate there's going to be some of the crazies like John had on his show with Samantha last time. I'm sure there'll be some of those people there. There are people that usually show up at rallies.
VELSHI: Right.
PERDUE: But I think there's going to be a lot of people who don't go to rallies that will be there, and they're going to be -- you're going to see signs, I think, that are going to, you know, show us all that it's a tongue-in-cheek kind of thing.
VELSHI: Right.
PERDUE: But I think the biggest aha moment I want from this is for everybody no matter if it's, you know, Rachel Maddow or whomever else may be watching to see that, you know, there is a civility that's needed. And I think we could all have a reasonable discussion across the spectrum and get along and make this country work because all of us love it. You know, we love it.
VELSHI: The web page for the event says make sure your signs are courteous. Donna and Tony, thank you for being with us. We hope you have a good time. We'll check in with you at the rally. Donna Perdue and Tony Comegys.
Kiran, I think they're going to have a good time no matter what happens tomorrow.
PERDUE: We will.
CHETRY: Looks like it's going to be fun. All right. Thanks, Ali.
It's 46 minutes past the hour. Rob Marciano is going to be coming along in a moment with the morning travel forecast just in time for the weekend. How is it shaping up across the country? We'll check in with him coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: You see that? That was our own Brad Fell (ph). He's on the crew here at AMERICAN MORNING. He carved as planting (ph) himself.
VELSHI: Really?
CHETRY: Yes. That's pretty amazing, right?
VELSHI: That' quite something -- look at that.
CHETRY: It's for sale. How much you willing to pay for that? $500?
VELSHI: I'm not going to be pressured into something like that. That looks incredible. Wow.
How do you want to approach this? It's 49 minutes after the hour.
CHETRY: It's 10 minutes until the top of the hour.
VELSHI: I'm new to this. I'm trying to get this time check thing right.
CHETRY: That's a 10 minutes until the top of the hour.
VELSHI: All right. Let's get a quick check on the morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano is in the Extreme Weather Center. Have you extreme weather, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We do have some extreme weather. You know what, that pumpkin, by the way, it's serious pumpkin-carving skills.
CHETRY: I know. Can you believe Ali's going to pay $1,000 for that? I mean, he is so generous.
MARCIANO: How about $2,000, Ali? Look at this pumpkin that comes out of St. Louis. I mean, it's more traditional.
VELSHI: There are pumpkins coming from the sky? What's going on in St. Louis?
MARCIANO: Anyway, it's our obligatory animated pumpkin.
VELSHI: All right.
CHETRY: Love it.
VELSHI: It's got nothing to do with the weather in St. Louis.
MARCIANO: Fifty-eight degrees for trick-or-treat time in St. Louis, Ali, 78 in Houston. It'll be 48 degrees in New York. All in all not too shabby as far as trick-or-treating goes on Sunday night. All right. Some trops to go. One, two, three areas of tropical activity. Hurricane season goes right through the end of November. This one down here towards Venezuela could pop into something. This one up here is already tropical storm formed overnight, Tropical Storm Shary.
It's about 250 miles south of Bermuda heading northwesterly towards the U.S., but this time of year, extremely difficult to get here because the jet stream is so strong. So, we expect a re- curvature. We don't expect it to get to hurricane strength, but it may very well affect Bermuda with tropical storm force winds here over the next couple of days. All right. Boston, New York, Philly, you're in the clear right now for the most part.
Some fair-weather clouds expected. Maybe a sprinkle from this little disturbance coming across the Great Lakes, but all in all, that's more of less brought up by the Great Lakes itself. Midsection of the country, cool, dry nights, long nights. So, frost and freeze advisories and warnings tonight with these warnings (ph). Forty-two degrees in Memphis right, 32 degrees to start your day in St. Louis, 66 in Kansas City. A quick check on -- actually, I'll save this for the next hour.
VELSHI: Nice teeth. That's a way to keep us all watching.
MARCIANO: We have some fun -- we have some fun video that pertains to Halloween.
CHETRY: All right. Good. We look forward to it, Rob. Thank you so much.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
CHETRY: And your top stories just a couple of minutes away. First news from the campaign trail. Did Bill Clinton try to arrange a deal in Florida to keep Republicans from winning the Senate seat there? We've heard from the former president and a Democrat who would have been the odd man out on the deal. Kendrick Meek will share his side of the story ahead.
VELSHI: Decision point, a preview of one of the most anticipated political memoirs ever. President Bush talking about his biggest regret and his biggest accomplishment. Those stories and more at the top of the hour.
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CHETRY: Ryan always has a creative costume. VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: He's dressed up as a Chilean mine rescuer. And then Regina was inspired by "Mad men."
VELSHI: Yes. Another big set of costumes for this year.
CHETRY: Oh, yes.
VELSHI: What are we doing here? We're sitting quite far apart.
CHETRY: We're sitting far apart. That's all right. It's just for your own protection.
These are the stories that got us talking in the news room this morning. Probably the coolest class on campus next spring. This is being offered to the University of South Carolina. They call it Lady Gaga 101. Students there study the pop queen's rapid rise. They also focus on the social conditions that helped make her so famous so fast. And the sociology professor behind it says he has been to 29 Lady Gaga concerts.
VELSHI: You know the danger of becoming too famous, too fast, right? I have from the beginning maintained that this cannot sustain itself. This is a boom of some sort. I'm on the record saying in five years from about a year ago, we'll take a look back and see if Lady Gaga continues to be the phenomenon that she is. But clearly, not a whole lot of other flashes in the pan get a college course.
CHETRY: Exactly. Good for her.
VELSHI: So, perhaps, I'm wrong about that. Big holiday costume, as well.
Everyone was wondering, by the way. Did she gain weight? Is she pregnant? Mariah Carey finally confirming she is going to be a mama. She and husband, Nick Cannon are expecting their first child this spring. Carey says the road to motherhood has been stressful, and until now, she's been trying to hold on to a shred of privacy.
CHETRY: Well, congratulations to her. If she thinks it's stressful now, just wait. Congrats, Mariah.
VELSHI: The privacy is gone.
CHETRY: Fifty-seven minutes past the hour. We're going to have your top stories in just a moment.
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