Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Mail Bombs on Planes; Countdown to Election Day; Cargo Security
Aired November 01, 2010 - 05:00 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's a special early edition of AMERICAN MORNING. 5:00 a.m. here in New York this morning on this Monday, the 1st of November, by the way. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us.
Just a day away now until the midterm elections and of course Americans are getting reading to head to the polls. The power on Capitol Hill up for grabs.
CHETRY: Yes, politics, a big story for us this morning. And we've got it covered for you just ahead.
ROBERTS: First of all, let's get you caught up on what happened over night. New information this morning on the man who allegedly built the bombs found on planes headed for the United States.
He could be the same person who crafted the so-called underwear bomb that was found last Christmas on a flight to the United States. Yemen is promising to make some changes to make sure that we don't come close to this disaster again.
Nic Robertson has all the latest information for us this morning.
CHETRY: And just a day to go before America votes. And it's looking grim for Democrats. President Obama hoping to rekindle some of the magic of 2008, pleading with Americans to get out and vote.
This morning we've got the best political team on television breaking down the issues and the races that will matter to you most.
ROBERTS: Talk about an October surprise. Ohio's Democratic congressman John Boccieri makes a dramatic exit during the stump speech by former President Bill Clinton. But he had a very good excuse for running off stage. Wait until you hear what it was.
CHETRY: We start with the "Security Watch" this morning and we're finding out just how close we came to another terror attack. There's new information on the mail bombs that slipped past airline security in Yemen late last week.
Overnight, security officials in Yemen announced every piece of cargo and luggage will go through extensive searching from now on.
ROBERTS: We're also finding out that there could a link between the explosive packages and the so-called underwear bomb from last Christmas. Investigators think the same al Qaeda bomb maker built the devices that were used in both failed attacks.
Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is tracking this all from London and joins us live.
So, Nic, it would appear that we got very lucky on this one.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's how it would look, John. We're standing outside Chatham House, a think tank in London. The former Yemeni prime minister is attending a conference here today, all about improving governance in Yemen.
Undoubtedly al Qaeda will feature as part of that discussion. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. But all the indications are that al Qaeda is getting more and more sophisticated in its bomb making.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Working around, the bombs were made to look ordinary. Printers and boxes, package with some random clothes. But inside the toner cartridge, more than enough of the powerful explosive PETN to down an airliner.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We believe that the device was designed to go off on the airplane. We cannot be sure about the timing when that was meant to take place.
JANET NAPOLITANO, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: It has the hall marks of al Qaeda or AQAP. You know, they are constantly trying things to test our system.
ROBERTSON: And the man, U.S. officials say may have built it, Ibrahim Hasan al-Asiri, a 28-year-old Saudi, though to have made the underpants bomb for failed Christmas day airline attacker Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
According to experts the printer bombs are more sophisticated. Using cell phone circuitry as part of the detonator.
JOHN BRENNAN, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: They were self- contained. They were able to be detonated at a time of the terrorist choosing.
ROBERTSON: But there is still much that is unclear. British and U.S. officials seem uncertain about exactly what the bomb maker planned. With conflicting information about how they might have been detonated.
TERESA MAY, BRITISH HOME SECRETARY: We do not believe that the perpetrators of the attack would have known the location of the device when it was planned to explode.
BRENNAN: They could have been detonated in the location where they were on the plane or they could have been detonated when they reached their destination.
ROBERTSON: That the devices didn't reach their destination is thanks to a Saudi tipoff. Detailing airway bill numbers on the packages.
NAPOLITANO: Here what happened is you had great information sharing from the Saudis. We were immediately able to work across the globe, as you said, to get these packages segregated.
ROBERTSON: But not before at least one of the bombs apparently made it on to a passenger flight. Qatar Airways said its planes carried one of the devices from Yemen to the Gulf but later retracted the statement.
Still it remains very probable that a passenger plane carried one or both deadly printers from Yemen. All of this has put Yemen firmly in the terror spotlight. A team from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration is going to Yemen to investigate further.
BRENNAN: I would say that the al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula is the most active operational franchise right now of al Qaeda and this is one that deserves a lot of our attention.
ROBERTSON: And right now it's getting it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: And just one other note on that bomber, al-Asiri, to get into his mindset, this is a guy is who's believed to have given a suicide underpants bomb to his brother to try and kill a top Saudi minister. His brother died in that attack -- John.
ROBERTS: All right. Nic Robertson for us in London this morning.
Nic, thanks so much.
And coming up at 5:40 Eastern, we're going to speak with former CIA counterterrorism analyst Michael Scheuer looking at whether Yemen is the next front in the war on terror.
CHETRY: Six minutes past the hour now. In just 24 hours the negative ads, the angry ads and all of that, finally ends and America votes. Just one more day before the midterm elections. And we have the best political team on television to help you make an informed choice.
ROBERTS: The top issue for most Americans right now is the economy. And according to a new CNN poll out just this hour an overwhelming 52 percent of you think it's the most critical problem facing the nation. And that has the president pleading for more time to try to fix it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If everyone who fought for change in 2008 shows up to vote in 2010, we will win this election. I am confident of that. And it turns out, as I said at the time, change isn't easy.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A programming note now. We're going to be all over the midterm elections beginning at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. The most comprehensive Election Day coverage on television. You know CNN is the place to go for politics.
Then on Wednesday AMERICAN MORNING gets up bright and early, 3:00 a.m. Eastern and then takes you all the way until noon.
CHETRY: There you go.
Also new this morning a close adviser and speechwriter to the late John F. Kennedy is dead. Ted Sorensen, youngest top official in President Kennedy's White House, he helped penned some memorable speeches including the 1961 inaugural address and the phrase, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."
Sorensen died in New York from complications of a stroke he suffered last week. He was 82 years old.
ROBERTS: A group with ties to al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for an attack on a Catholic Church in Baghdad.
You're looking at surveillance video of the attack which began last night after gunmen gunned the church, taking an estimated 120 people hostage. Iraqi security forces moved quickly to end the siege. But the kidnappers set off explosives killing 37 people and injuring 57 more.
CHETRY: Jury selection begins today in Salt Lake City for the man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart. Smart was snatched from her bed in the middle of the night back in 2002 then found nine months later with Brian David Mitchell and his wife.
Mitchell is charged with kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines. His wife Wanda Barzee pleaded guilty to those charges last year and is now serving a 15-year sentence.
ROBERTS: Well, talk about getting punked. The University of Iowa reportedly allowed two basketball recruits to meet two of the school's celebrity fans. Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. Such a meeting would be a violation of NCAA rules.
The "Des Moines Register" says the movie star couple met the recruits at a home football game in September. Iowa's athletic director says he hopes the NCAA will determine that they were unintentional secondary violations.
CHETRY: A unique story to tell either way.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Well, it's eight minutes after the hour right now. Let's get a check of this morning's weather headlines. Rob Marciano in the Extreme Weather Center. Well, we had no rain but a chilly Halloween in the northeast.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I was -- you know, just really what you want for Halloween. You know some of the kids may have had to wear, you know, an extra layer under the costume. But other than that a lot of folks enjoyed some dry stuff.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Yes. All the troubles they had in Haiti I can't imagine what it would be like if a big hurricane blew through there.
MARCIANO: It would not be good, that's for sure. We're hoping for the best at this point. And the trend has been to weaken this thing. We certainly hope that continues.
ROBERTS: That would be good. We'll keep our fingers cross.
Thanks, Rob. We'll see you back in just a little while for the travel forecast.
CHETRY: Meantime tomorrow's midterm elections could be a day of reckoning for the Democrats. We're going to break down the latest CNN poll numbers just ahead.
It's 10 1/2 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Thirteen minutes past the hour. We're up early for you this Monday morning here on AMERICAN MORNING.
In its last call for Democrats, the latest CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll suggesting that it could get ugly for Democrats tomorrow.
ROBERTS: So today some of the party's heavyweights are going to make a final attempt to rally the faithful and head off what's expected to be a Republican wave.
CNN's Jim Acosta is live for us in Washington this morning.
And what are the latest polls showing, Jim, in terms of what might happen tomorrow?
Well, it's interesting. I could hear him, Jim, and apparently you couldn't hear Jim so --
CHETRY: All right. Well, we'll work out that bug for you. Are we going to try him again? You guys want to go and try? Can we hear Jim?
ROBERTS: No. They're not ready yet. We'll just go on to some other things. We'll try to get the situation with Jim and his audio ironed out. Because obviously we could hear him. He's somewhere in the system. But we're not quite sure where. It's just leftover gremlins from Halloween.
CHETRY: I'm sure it is.
Well, also new this morning the debate beginning over free birth control for women. There's a panel of experts advising the White House and it's now set to meet in just two weeks.
We're going to be hearing arguments about whether contraception and family planning are preventive medicine under the president's new health care reform. Many public school officials and doctors believe that the birth control does qualify as that. The Catholic Church and other conservative groups disagree.
ROBERTS: A reminder to everybody out there. It is open enrollment season.
Alcohol is the world's most harmful drug. British researchers rank 20 drugs based on the harm they can do to the user as well as to others. Alcohol was number one by far followed by heroin and then crack.
CHETRY: Well, another powerful eruption from Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano. Sending thousands of people living in relief camp for cover from clouds of hot ash. Many had returned to check on their homes and their farm animals. At least 31 people have been killed by the volcano in the past week.
ROBERTS: All right. We knew it was just some post-Halloween gremlins. We've got Jim Acosta on the line now.
Everybody can hear you this morning, Jim. What are those latest polls showing?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mike check, mike check. Yes.
ROBERTS: There you go. One, two, three, four.
ACOSTA: Well, it's early so we do the best we can.
You know, John and Kiran, we don't have a crystal ball here in Washington, but we do have a pretty darn good polling unit.
And speaking of audio problems, I'm hearing myself in my ear so we can iron that out possibly while I'm talking. That would be great. And there it goes. Now I can talk to you.
You know the big question for Democrats is whether or not they can somehow pull off some huge surprise victory here in the next couple of days. If they're going to do that it is not reflected in these polling numbers this morning.
They basically are not going to have enough lifeboats if these poll numbers are right. This is a Titanic style disaster that is brewing for the Democratic Party. And the generic ballot among likely -- excuse me among -- yes, among likely voters, this is how it's breaking down right now. A really huge advantage for the Republicans right now. There it is on your screen, 52 percent of likely voters surveyed in our latest CNN Opinion Research Poll favor the Republican candidate. This is the generic ballot question, 42 percent for Democrats.
That is a huge, huge advantage for the Republicans right now. Democrats were saying that they thought that these polling numbers were working in their direction heading into the midterms. That is not reflected in this latest polling number.
Among registered voters slightly smaller advantage for the Republicans right now, 49 percent to 43 percent. The difference, to remind our viewers of the difference between registered and registered voters. Likely voters are those registered voters who are fired up and ready to head to the polls. They're the one who are most likely to vote.
The registered voters, they may or may not show up and at this point they -- the Democrats need those registered voters to show up if they're going to have a chance to hang on to the Senate here. The House seriously in doubt, guys.
CHETRY: And also, you know, it's interesting because it seems to be clear cut at least from the polling that the Republicans are going to at least possibly gain the House.
ACOSTA: Right.
CHETRY: But it doesn't mean that people are any more happy with the Republican Party right now.
ACOSTA: No. That's right. And I mean look at the favorability numbers. We ran a whole slew of favorability numbers on the president, the speaker, potentially the incoming speaker, and on the parties themselves.
And let's start with President Obama right now because he is -- he is basically somebody who is polarizing the American people right now. He came into office with big favorability numbers. Right now 48 percent to 48 percent.
His job approval numbers are even worse than this. So the public very deeply divided on President Obama right now. And for the most part not too sure about the job he's doing in office right now.
But I think this might -- this next number might be the headline of the morning. This is an unbelievable number to me. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi favorable, unfavorable. Look at this, 26 percent of the American people have a favorable view of Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, 53 percent unfavorable view.
And just to put this into context, just a few years ago pollsters were scratching their heads and saying why are the Republicans talking so much about Nancy Pelosi? By in large people don't know who she is.
Well, they know who she is now. And just about everywhere Michael Steele goes, the chairman of the RNC, he's got a "Fire Pelosi" t-shirt on. He's riding around on a bus that says "Fire Pelosi."
The Republicans have made this 2010 midterm elections very personal about Nancy Pelosi. And they are seeing that strategy pay off for them.
Now what about John Boehner? The potential new speaker of the House if everything goes well for the Republicans as it's expected to go Tuesday. Twenty-five percent favorable, 26 percent unfavorable. Look at that. This is basically where Nancy Pelosi was a few years back when she became speaker of the House.
Never heard of 30 percent. And that basically tells you right now that John Boehner, if he becomes speaker of the House, people don't know who he is, but they're going to know who he is as he's expected to try to push through a lot of big changes here in Washington that a lot of Democrats aren't going to like, John and Kiran.
CHETRY: Historically, though, the House speaker is not necessarily a very popular person.
ACOSTA: Well, I mean, not necessarily so. That's true. I mean, honestly what I would like to see, and perhaps our polling unit can answer this question, I did a little research and really didn't find it.
I'm not sure we've ever seen a speaker of the House this unpopular heading into a midterm elections. And I think that does speak volumes because if you have -- if you're in Democrat running in a district and they're running campaign ads saying that you're a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi you're running scared right now because that strategy may be working if you look at those numbers this morning.
ROBERTS: What does it say, too, that only 30 percent -- 30 percent of people don't know who the minority leader in the House is? Got to pay more attention.
ACOSTA: Yes.
ROBERTS: Sorry about the technical issues this morning.
ACOSTA: Hey. We do what we can.
ROBERTS: It could have been worse. With all the technology we have here we might have beamed you to the center of the Horsehead Nebula so --
ACOSTA: That's exactly right.
ROBERTS: Thankful it was just audio.
ACOSTA: I'll take what I can get.
CHETRY: It's just, you know, I mean it's only 5:00 in the morning the day after Halloween. Some people still think it's Halloween.
ACOSTA: That's right. CHETRY: Thank, Jim.
ACOSTA: You bet.
ROBERTS: Oh, baby. Democratic congressman bolts from a rally with former President Clinton. We'll tell you why. It's 20 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-three minutes after the hour now. A look at some of the stories that got us talking in the newsroom this morning.
The highlight for the Texas Rangers game last night came before they took the field for game four of the World Series.
Former presidents George W. Bush, his father George H.W. Bush rode on to the field in a golf cart to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
CHETRY: That was a good pitch.
ROBERTS: Yes. Not bad. He's got a pretty good arm. Remember he threw a pitch not too long after 9/11.
The two former presidents were feeling the love from their fellow Texans then the proud father watched his son throw that strike to Nolan Ryan. Unfortunately, though, for the Rangers, that was the highlight of the evening. It was the downhill from there. They were shut out 4-0 by the Giants who now lead the series three games to one.
And could wrap it up tonight. The Giants haven't won a World Series in 56 years. They've never won since moving to San Francisco.
CHETRY: All right. We'll see what happens. But still have some time. It would be amazing if the Rangers could turn it around at this point.
Well, an October surprise. Ohio Congressman John Boccieri was at a rally with former President Clinton when he got the call to put his campaign on hold and get to the hospital. Here's why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: His wife's having a baby. He has to leave. The baby is now being born. And tell him goodbye.
You know what? We have both sets of parents were here, the grandparents. You'd be amazed how many times I take a picture with a very pregnant woman and she immediately gives birth like that. I would like some credit for your fifth grandchild being born into the world.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There she is. Former President Clinton is hilarious. It's about him. It was the magic touch. That's why the baby was born. Emma Nancy born a few hours later. She is the couple's fifth child and everyone's doing fine.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: It's always about him.
CHETRY: It was about him. It was all the instinct.
ROBERTS: It's always about him.
Coming up, one of the cargo bombs intercepted overseas spent part of its journey onboard a passenger jet. What's being done to ensure the safety of cargo on U.S. bound passenger flights.
Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is tracking that. We've got her live report just ahead. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 27 minutes past the hour on CNN "Security Watch.'
Now the package bombs that got through undetected in Yemen reveal some potentially deadly gaps in the screening of air cargo.
ROBERTS: And the near catastrophe is raising serious questions about the security of cargo on U.S. bound passenger flights.
Our homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is working that part of the story. She's live in Washington.
You know, Jeanne, we hear so much about luggage being screened matched with passengers. How is it that cargo can get on board a passenger jet unmatched, unscreened?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, trust me, this is -- an issue they've been aware of for years. It has been discussed but it's a hard nut to crack.
And they're concerned not just about the cargo on passenger planes but on cargo planes as well because as we've seen with these bombs things move from aircraft to aircraft.
Immediate steps have been taken to crack down on shipping from Yemen. The TSA has sent some inspectors there to improve regimes. In addition they've stopped shipping of many packages there. But this is a worldwide problem and that's part of the issue here.
You've got an international cargo system that's extraordinarily complex. You need to get buy-in from a number of different countries here. You have things moving from country to country and plane to plane. So even if they're screened at one location something could be tampered with at other locations.
Sometimes they're in big containers, sometimes they're in pallets. It's hard for technology to take a look at them. And technology has its limitations. X-rays, for instance, would not have detected these bombs that were hidden in these printers. So a very, very tough one.
The Transportation Security Administration, the administrator did put out a statement last night saying that 100 percent of high-risk cargo on inbound passenger planes was being screened but of course it has to be identified as high risk.
In addition he says all cargo flying to the U.S. on passenger or cargo planes is held to TSA security standards that includes specific requirements covering how facilities and cargo is accessed. The vetting of personnel with access to cargo, employee training and cargo screening procedures.
But any security expert will tell you that that is a long way from screening the cargo. There's a long way to go. Even the administration is acknowledging this. Obviously they're going it be trying to tighten things up and tighten them up quickly. Back to you.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks so much, Jeanne.
Well, we're crossing the half hour right now. A look at our other top stories this morning just 24 hours until America votes. The president making a passionate plea to get people to the polls hoping to catch lightning in a bottle despite all of the grim predictions for Democrats. It's the final countdown to Election Day and CNN has it covered like no other network can.
ROBERTS: ABC News taking heat for allowing conservative blogger, Andrew Breitbart, to be a contributor tomorrow night during its online election coverage, Breitbart misrepresented a video clip of former agricultural official, Shirley Sherrod, last July, you'll remember, to make her appear like she was a racist. Sherrod's attorney says ABC's decision to use Breitbart is sort of like rewarding a Klan member for burning a cross.
CHETRY: After 84 years it's the end of the road for Pontiac, the brand that, for many of you was out there, was the beginning of the muscle car. GM's agreement with Pontiac dealers ended yesterday. The brand's days have been numbered ever since GM's restructuring last year.
ROBERTS: To the most politics in the morning and right now down to the wire, the critical mid-term elections just one day away, it's tomorrow. All House seats and 37 Senate seats are at stake as well as the direction of the nation.
CHETRY: Senior political editor, Mark Preston, joins us live this morning. Good to have you here in New York with us. So, what else is at stake?
MARK PRESTON, SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, you know, let's -- we'll look down at three bullet points right now. Control of Congress is at stake. President Obama's policy agenda over the next two years and, of course, his re-election. So, if you break it down, if you look at his policy agenda he's done pretty well so far. He's done what he's needed to do. Over the next two years can he get anything else done. If there's a Republican Congress, arguably no. And, then, his re-election, does he move more to the Senate?
Does he do that to try to reach out to these independent voters that we expect who are going to vote for Republicans on Election Day or does the left push him farther -- farther to the left? So, he's kind of in a tough quandary.
ROBERTS: So, lay it out for us here because people are obviously going to be watching this to see what happens and whether or not Republicans can take control of one or both houses. Where do things stand now, how many seats do they need in each house to take control.
PRESTON: Sure, John. If you just break it down, 39 seats. A net gain of 39 seats gives control of the House to Republicans. Ten seats, they take back the Senate. That's a little bit of a harder road for them to get down there. What's really troubling I think, though, is that if you head into 2012, Democrats have to defend 20 Senate Democratic seats. And why is this important?
It's important because if Republicans are able to pick up eight or nine seats, right, that's going to get it closer to 51. At that point, you are going to have Democrats who are very conservative who are up in 2012 that might not be with the President and Joe Biden might have to come up and actually start playing a role.
ROBERTS: You're looking ahead to 2012 already?
PRESTON: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: It's -- I mean, you can't read an article that doesn't say that Democrats are going to certainly be hurting after tomorrow in the House. If they do lose control of the house, which it appears more and more likely from the polling, who is going to catch most of the heat?
PRESTON: Well, you know, I think Nancy Pelosi, as we saw from these numbers, is really going to take the brunt of it but I don't know if that's necessarily fair. And the fact is, she was charged with trying to push through President Obama's agenda. But, she has become the face of Congress and right now, whether it is Republicans or Democrats people are very upset at Congress and she is the one who is going to take the brunt but it really, this is President Obama's election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looking ahead to the 2014 mid-terms ...
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on in Alaska, for Pete's sake, in that Senate race? We hear that the NRSC might be abandoning Joe Miller and throwing its support behind Lisa Murkowski, if not overtly at least kind of behind the scenes.
PRESTON: You know, I was on the phone late last night actually with someone from the NRC who was apoplectic that this story came out and said it's absolutely not true. They already have an ad running. They have already put all their money into the Get Out To Vote operation. They said it just wouldn't make any sense to pull out of Alaska. You know, from a public ..
ROBERTS: What's going on there? What's happened.
PRESTON: I mean, the fact is, we're seeing the polls shift back from Lisa Murkowski. Joe Miller has had some fumbles, so to speak, if we put it in sports metaphor. And, the fact is, Republicans need to win. I don't necessarily know that Republicans here in Washington, John, are saying -- or here in New York, but I -- I -- I just don't think that they're saying let's pull out of Alaska because that would be terrible. The Tea Party would kill them if that was the case.
ROBERTS: Do we know if a write-in candidate has ever won an election in recent times?
PRESTON: I just -- you know, not at the top of my mind and I've got to tell you what, it's still tough for Lisa Murkowski. I mean, you have to go in, write her name on the ballot. That's just going to be very difficult.
CHETRY: There -- there -- she had a couple of things working in her favor. I believe they did vote to allow for a piece of paper to be there so people can see the list of write-in candidates and that's going to help her at the polls and I believe they also said that even if the name is spelled not exactly correct, that they'll -- if it's close enough they'll let it slide. I mean, that's going to be -- those polls don't even close until 1 o'clock in the morning on Tuesday, into Wednesday morning, so that is going to be a nail biter.
ROBERTS: I'm also being told that Strom Thurmond was the last person to win a write-in.
PRESTON: 1963 maybe?
ROBERTS: That's a long time ago.
PRESTON: That is a long time ago. It will be very interesting. Look, the problem with Murkowski is that if she is tied with Miller at this point at whatever the number is, 47, the fact is she has to increase that lead and then you got to figure out how many errors are going to be on the -- on these write-ins, which actually could be 3 percent.
ROBERTS: 1954 was the year for Strom.
PRESTON: I was close.
ROBERTS: Yes. You were.
PRESTON: We have them in even years, so.
CHETRY: You weren't even born yet, how can you be expected ...
ROBERTS: Mark, great to see you this morning. CHETRY: Thanks Mark.
PRESTON: Thanks.
CHETRY: Well, we're going to check in with Mark the next hour and all the latest political news can also be found on our website of course, CNNpolitics.com.
ROBERTS: Also ahead, the latest on who sent those mail bombs from Yemen to the United States. Former CIA counter-terrorism Michael Scheuer joins with the latest on the investigation coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: 38 minutes past the hour right now. Authorities in Yemen say that they're going to be searching every single piece of luggage and cargo at every one of their airports following last week's plot to send mail bombs to the U.S.
ROBERTS: Well, based on early intelligence, those devices appear to bear the mark of this man, Ibrahim Hasan Al-Asiri. He is believed to be operating out of Yemen. He was the guy who was suspected of making the underpants bomb that arrived in this country last Christmas. Joining us live from Washington now is former CIA counter- terrorism analyst, Michael Scheuer. Michael, it's great to be with you. Is this another indication of the level of threat that Yemen now represents to the United States and is it the biggest terrorist threat that we face now?
MICHAEL SCHEUER, FORMER CIA COUNTER-TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, I think it is clearly an indication that Yemen is of growing importance to al-Qaeda's operation but I think it's just one of several, you know, in 9/11, at 9/11, we had basically the enemy coming at us out of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Now we have that theater, we have Yemen, we have Somalia, we have Iraq, and we have North Africa.
And, so, the geographical dispersion of the enemy has increased very significantly in the last 10 years.
CHETRY: What sticks out to you the most about this attempt because there still seems to be a little bit unclear as to where these bombs were meant to be detonated and exactly how? I mean, if they were in mid air and there is a cell phone taped, you know, to the bomb, how would that be detonated?
SCHEUER: You know, I have no idea, ma'am. I frankly don't know the mechanics of it but the important thing about it to me, at least, is that they beat not only the cargo security system but they beat the passenger control security system for explosives which, if it -- if that turns out to be true, there is billions of dollars that have been spent and now have to be spent again because they -- they're more sophisticated than we thought they were.
ROBERTS: You know, this -- this really seems to eliminate two things, Michael, and that is, al-Qaeda seems to still be fascinated with airplanes and they also learn from their mistakes pretty quickly. SCHEUER: They're very much a learning organization, sir. They always have been. They're not ten feet tall. They make lots of mistakes but they do learn from them. They are fascinated with the hard target, the airliner, but it also is a diversionary thing. There are lots of other ways to get into the United States, whether it's through ports or over our borders and, when we're focused on the aircraft we're not focused on anything else.
CHETRY: Right.
SCHEUER: And I think -- I think one more thing that's very important here, they're always trying to lure us into places with our military. Clearly, stirring up the hornet's nest out of Yemen is one way of trying to induce us to put ground troops there and spend additional money and lives in what has been so far a very difficult war.
CHETRY: I mean, in the end, it comes down to targeted intelligence and we got this intelligence from the Saudis. What does that say to you?
SCHEUER: To me, that says the Saudis are pretty panicky about what's going on. The Saudis are not great sharers of information. They were afraid of this one and I think they have a situation in their country that is deteriorating in terms of security. The fact that there was apparently a woman involved in this really goes to the heart of the matter that we should pay very close attention to is that more and more women are joining al-Qaeda, if you will, or at least facilitating their operation.
ROBERTS: Do we have any idea, Michael, how the Saudis got wind of this?
SCHEUER: You know, they're all over Yemen, they're all over Saudi Arabia. They have a lot of people working for them. I -- I really don't know how they found out but, clearly, if they shared it with us and with the British they were very concerned that there was something going on. You know, after 9/11 they don't want to be blamed, again, for not being secure enough. So, they're going to share information when it's in their interest to do so.
CHETRY: You talked about the billions of dollars being spent and how billions more will have to be redirected. To where? I mean, where would we be most vulnerable in your opinion?
SCHEUER: Well, you know, I -- I think we're going to go after the aircraft. It's high target. Rather, it's high visibility. It's also another one of those invitations, when we captured Ramzi Yousef, the bomber of the first Trade Center, back in '95, he had on his computer and in his papers plans to A, fly a 747 into CIA headquarters and to use cargo aircraft for transporting bombs and destroying aircraft. So, this is another one of those things that the intelligence community collected, now 15 years ago, which has never been really acted on with any efficiency.
ROBERTS: You know, that last point that you made here, and this is something that Jean (INAUDIBLE) brought up, is that it's long been suspected and believed that cargo planes eventually would be used so why does this come as any kind of surprise and why weren't the measures to stop it in place before now? It always seems that we're preparing for the last terrorist attack.
SCHEUER: Well, sir, it's -- it's -- it -- it is difficult to do the aircraft company, whether it's passengers or cargo, have tremendous political influence. Their -- their interest for profit is moving as many passengers and as much cargo as quickly as they can and for 15 years now the threat has been there and we've done very little about it and I think that speaks the political influence.
CHETRY: Hmm. Interesting to hear your take this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.
SCHEUER: It's a pleasure , ma'am. Thank you.
CHETRY: Alright, well, we're coming up on 44 minutes past the hour. Rob Marciano is going to be along with the travel forecast for us right after the break.
ROBERTS: And in ten minutes' time an a.m. gut check. Our Carol Costello has a look at the politics of fear and tactics to scare seniors out to the polls. What's that all about?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 47 minutes after the hour now. Let's get a check of this morning's weather headlines. We have Rob Marciano in the Extreme Weather Center for us. What are we looking at today Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I want to start things off John and Kiran with what's going on in the tropics. I know it's November 1st, hard to believe that we're still not only talking about the tropics but talking about a hurricane, or at least what was a hurricane. It's already done damage to some of the islands in the Caribbean and that will threaten more as the week goes on.
Here it is. Tropical storm Tomas right now. It was a hurricane. It had winds about 90 miles an hour at one point and a little stronger than that. It battered around the Barbados, Martinique, St. Lucia. There has been damage in those three islands and now it's about 150 miles north-northeast of (INAUDIBLE) heading to the west at about 14 or 15 miles an hour.
A lot of warm open ocean here or open sea so we're looking at this thing probably to strengthen but this time of year things get complicated with the strengthening winds at the mid and upper level of the atmosphere and that is certainly complicating the forecast for Tomas. We do think for the National Hurricane Center thinks it's going to continue to go west and then something that's driving south from Canada into the U.S. will turn it more towards the north and, of course, western Hispanola including Haiti would be in the crosshairs of this thing later in the week and over the weekend. So, a scary proposition, of course, as that nation continues to recover from the earthquake. A little bit closer to home, we're looking at a quiet condition across the northeast with a beautiful Halloween evening, a chilly start to this November 1st. A couple of showers rolling across the mid section. This is one of the systems that is going to be driving down to the south and it will kind of anchor itself across Texas for the next couple of days and this will start to bring in some rain, heavy at times, eastern Texas across the lower Mississippi river valley and, actually, that's not necessarily bad news because parts of the deep south have really seen some dry weather this fall and they could use the rain.
79 in Dallas for a high temperature today, 64 degrees in St. Louis, 51 in New York. That's certainly on the chilly side. 79 in Dallas would translate to a temperature reading at game time tonight of about, I don't know, maybe 68 degrees, partly cloudy skies for game five, north winds about 10 miles an hour. Could wrap it up tonight or maybe go to game six, who knows. John? Kiran?
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE) to step up, this could be it. Thanks Rob.
MARCIANO: Well, thanks Rob.
CHETRY: Well, our top stories just a few minutes away including just a day to go until America votes. Polls showing the Democrats could be in trouble, especially in the House races. Can they do anything to hang onto the House in the final 24 hours? We're going to talk with the best political team on television.
ROBERTS: And, having trouble finding a job? You may want to ask yourself where are your manners? Especially you college students? Why proper etiquette could mean everything in your job search. Those stories and more coming your way beginning at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
