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Obama's Blitz; Powell Endorsement; Romney Hits Ohio; Hurricane Sandy Getting Stronger; Battleground Virginia; Battleground Ohio; Breaking Down Battleground Ohio; "Until Hell Freezes Over"; Hillary Clinton On Pregnancy, Work; Lincoln And The 2012 Election; Finding A Cure For Cancer; Pentagon Officials Talk Benghazi

Aired October 25, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Brooke Baldwin. Huge show for you on this Thursday.

We're watching Hurricane Sandy. It is barreling north right now. The mid Atlantic really in the bull's-eye zone for a little later this week. So, in just a moment, we'll give you the news update. Also, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, along with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, set to address reporters at the Pentagon. We're there. We're listening. We'll see if the new developments on the Benghazi attack at all come up.

But first, we talk politics. And the very first thing I want to tell you this hour is that Mitt Romney is raising a boatload of cash. A boatload of cash for his sprint to November 6th. $112 million just in the first half of October alone. $112 million. At least this is what his campaign said this morning. Just to compare this number for you, the Romney effort collected $170 million for the entire month of September when the president beat him by $11 million there.

Want to listen quickly to Mitt Romney. He was speaking this morning in Cincinnati.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know something's wrong about the direction we're headed right now. You know that we don't want to keep going in this same path we've been on for the last four years. You know we can't afford four more years like the last four years. You want -- I mean, do you want real big change in this country? Well, you're going to get it on November 6th. You're going to make it happen. We're going to get America on track again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Romney is blitzing Ohio today. We will hear from him a little later this hour live when he speaks in a town just outside Columbus.

Meantime, President Obama, day two of his peripatetic eight-state tour. Here he is arriving in Richmond, Virginia. This is just a little earlier this afternoon. Speaking of Richmond, Virginia, this is where we find Jessica Yellin. She's hopped on the phone with us from the bus.

So, Jessica, here, four more states for the president today, after four states yesterday. Let's talk about this pace the president's keeping. Is he keeping it up for the next 12 days until November 6th?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): No. Not continuously. I don't think any of us could do that. He's moving so quickly that we got cleared early. I was supposed to be on camera for you and then they said, we're going. So we are on our way now to -- where are we headed? Ohio. I'm having a little bit of Yellinesia.

BALDWIN: Ah.

YELLIN: And he's going to cast a ballot himself in Chicago. And then, Brooke, the president will head back to the White House and have a bit of a rest. And then he hits the trail again.

Now, he did have a bit of a bounce today, a bit of news for himself when he got an unexpected endorsement, with no forewarning, from General Colin Powell. He learned about it when the rest of the world did with this announcement. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was proud and humbled to learn that we have Colin Powell's support in this campaign. I'm grateful to him for his lifetime of service to his country, both as a soldier and as a diplomat. And every brave American who wears this uniform of this country should know that as long as I'm your commander in chief, we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: So, now let's be honest. His strategists have always said, endorsements don't move votes, though that won't apply here either. But the reason this could be helpful to the president, Brooke, is because the way Powell endorsed the president was an echo of the very same things the president has been saying about Mitt Romney, which is that he's been changing his positions. So that could be a helpful thing for the president to reiterate on the trail, Brooke.

BALDWIN: So, now that he has Colin Powell's endorsement locked up, let's just show some of our viewers here that the latest numbers, this is our CNN poll of polls, and we look at this, 47 percent, 47 percent. This is dead even. Just yesterday we had just a one-point spread in favor of Romney. Is there any worry, Jessica, just within the campaign that all the travel, the speaking, it sounded like the president was even losing his voice just a bit. You know, that running for re-election could perhaps create an impression that the president is running from behind? YELLIN: Well, they -- you know, know that that's a narrative that's developing within the media to some extent, so they do talk to us about, look, there's a little bit of bluff to all this momentum, they think, the Romney momentum. But they point out that they think, if you look at the states, they think that the math adds up for the president. And those polls, our national polls, when you -- when you look at the states, there still is a dog fight in the states.

And the president is on the trail right now. It's very clear, because he's getting out the early vote. And it's interesting, you hear him at every stop telling people to go vote now. We're visiting states where voting is happening largely. There even -- there was a bus at the last -- one of the stops we were in at another state saying, people, you can get in the van and we'll drive you to cast your early vote. So that's what this is really about because they feel like their organization can move and measure the early voters. So it's a whole different ballgame this year where you can really measure that kind of movement, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Jessica Yellin on the bus somewhere between Richmond, Virginia, and Ohio. Jessica, we appreciate that.

And, you know, as she just mentioned, this endorsement from Collin Powell, the president didn't ask for that endorsement, but certainly no doubt he's glad he got it. Here's a little more of what Colin Powell told CBS this morning on why he will not be supporting Mitt Romney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Not only am I not comfortable with what Governor Romney is proposing for his economic plan, I have concerns about his views on foreign policy. The governor, who was speaking on Monday night at the debate, was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier. So I'm not quite sure which Governor Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I want to go to CNN political contributor John Avlon, who is also on a bus. He's on CNN "Battleground Bus Tour," which made a stop in Orland.

And, John, we know that this endorsement is significant. Tell me why this is so significant for Team Obama.

JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Brooke, not all endorsements are created equal, but Colin Powell's is one that matters. This famous Republican worked for presidents Reagan, secretary of states to George W. Bush, endorsed Barack Obama in 2008. And it was an important signifier. A sign to persuadable Republicans and, more importantly, independent voters that Barack Obama could be trusted on national security.

And Colin Powell has really played that role in a lot of elections. He's been sort of a barometer of independent support. A way for independents to gage, who's the most responsible and reasonable candidate in the race? He was not shy about criticizing President Obama during the course of his term and some folks thought he might return home to the Republican Party and endorse Mitt Romney this time around, particularly with Romney attempt to re-center his campaign.

But the fact that this morning Colin Powell endorsed President Obama again, specifically sighting his strength in foreign policy and keeping America safe in counter-terrorism, is enormously valuable for President Obama in this very tight, tough race. This is one endorsement that matters big time because when a Republican endorses you, that's a sign that President Obama still has the potential, the capacity to build cross aisle coalitions. Something he's going to need to do not only to win the election, but also to govern effectively in a second term.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: John Avlon, thank you.

And as we promised, we will hear this hour from Mitt Romney as he cruises across Ohio promising big change to voters. CNN's Jim Acosta with the Romney campaign.

Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, with the polls showing President Obama leading Mitt Romney by a slim margin here in Ohio, the GOP nominee will be traveling across the state by bus in the hopes of closing that gap. Romney knows, and his campaign knows, that if he can beat Obama in Ohio, as well as several other battleground states, he could deliver a knockout punch to the president on Election Day.

Here in Cincinnati, and in several other campaign stops over the last 24 hours, Romney has been repackaging his stump speech as a choice for American families. And here at his first stop on this bus tour in Cincinnati, he debuted a new catch phrase for what his campaign would bring to the country -- big change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Obama campaign doesn't have a plan. The Obama campaign is slipping because he's talking about smaller and smaller things. Despite the fact that America has such huge challenges and that this is such an opportunity for America. And that's why on November 6th I'm counting on Ohio to vote for big change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But there is one distraction for the Romney campaign here in Ohio. It is the subject of Richard Mourdock, the Republican Senate candidate who, a couple of days ago, made some controversial comments on the subject of rape and abortion. Romney taped a TV ad for Mourdock and his campaign says they are not asking the Mourdock campaign to pull that ad. And the GOP nominee is not withdrawing his support of Mourdock. Earlier this morning at a campaign stop at a breakfast stop in Cincinnati, reporters tried to ask Romney about this matter but he did not answer those questions.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Jim Acosta, thank you.

Coming up, we're going to break down Ohio and really go in depth on which counties here both campaigns are zeroing in on. So, do not miss that. Obama (ph) key, key here in this election.

But up next, bracing for Hurricane Sandy. The storm expected to move up the Atlantic and threaten major parts of the East Coast. We'll have a brand new update for you. That's coming up.

Also, the girl shot by the Taliban is about to get some very special visitors.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just one week before next week's big job report, some optimistic news to tell you about. The number of people filing for unemployment last week dropped. Dropped by 23,000. That number now at late 2007 levels. The October jobs report, of course, you know when that comes, that is next Friday. That final, final one before the November 6th election.

And now let's just take a quick sneak peak here at the board, just up a smidge at one point, 13,000. Quite a bit better than what we've seen in the last couple of days here looking at the Dow. And as investors, they are waiting on earnings reports from Amazon and Apple. Those numbers exceed after today's closing bell.

And now to the schoolgirl who scares the Taliban so much they shot her in her head. She's about to get some special visitors here. Malala Yousafzai's parents, they flew in from Pakistan to Birmingham, England, today, just to see their little girl. Fifteen-year-old Malala asked her father to bring her school books. School books. So far, six people have been arrested in connection with Malala's shooting and Pakistani police are looking for this man. This is the main suspect. Listen to what they've learned about him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, a police official tells me that the main suspect is a young man named Atta Ullah. He's just 23 years old and studied for a bachelor of science in physics at this college, Jahanzeb College, in Swat. He then went on to study for a master's of science in chemistry, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Twenty-three years old, she says. Police are holding that man's mother, brother and fiancee for questioning.

And we are closely watching Hurricane Sandy. She is a category two right now but growing stronger and faster than expected. Still has a ways to go here before it reaches the U.S. coast. But take a look at this boat. This is Miami. You can already see just a little bit, those waves picking up, churning a little bit here.

But look at this. Pictures from Jamaica. Sandy is being blamed for one death there and another in Haiti. This could develop into a very dangerous storm all along the U.S. storm.

Chad Myers, you've been watching this. I've been reading about it this morning. Some people describing it as possibly historic. So I want to get into that in a moment. But for now, where is she?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is to the south of the Nassau, Freeport, Bahamas area.

BALDWIN: OK.

MYERS: If you ever take a cruise ship over there, you know where the Bahamas are. It's in the southern part of the Bahamas, not that far from Long Island. Long Island in the Bahamas. Not Long Island, New York.

BALDWIN: Got it.

MYERS: But it is churning, getting stronger and in warm water. And last night, when it was in the warm water, it went from about an 85 mile-per-hour storm when it left Jamaica and it hit Cuba with wind gusts of right there officially on land, proven, at 118 miles per hour.

We lost the eye a little bit ago. That's good news. That means it's not strengthening at this point, even though the Hurricane Center still hanging with 105. The biggest numbers I could find so far from the hurricane hunter aircraft were 97. Whose splitting hairs between 97 and 105. But, just so you know, that's what the hurricane hunters are finding now.

We're seeing rain in south Florida. That rain will continue for much of the day and into tomorrow. And that rain will get heavier and the winds will get stronger as the center of this, there's the Bahamas, there's where you would go on a cruise ship. So in the southern part of the Bahamas. Not that far from Turks and Caicos.

The big story for tomorrow on the Florida coast will be the huge waves. These waves could be 25 feet. I don't need you to go look at this on the beach. You need to be way back if you want to wash this. I mean maybe 10 miles back. That would be the safest place. But I know people are going to want to go out there and see these waves anyway. There will be dangerous rip currents taking people out to the ocean. You have to know what to do. Please, no surfing until this goes away. The waves will still be there. No surfing until it goes away.

And then somewhere on Tuesday, or maybe Monday, depends on where you are, somewhere here between the Carolinas and, believe it or not, all the way up even into Canada is the width of the cone. And that's because the computers still don't have this figured out. They don't have any idea where it's going just yet, Brooke. Look at all these lines going every which direction. Anywhere from Halifax to Washington, D.C.

BALDWIN: Can we just jump ahead for two seconds and just ask -- I was reading -- it was "The Wall Street Journal" this morning dubbed it the snore-easter-cane (ph), potentially.

MYERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: So this could potentially be the perfect storm of snow and hurricane.

MYERS: Yes. The perfect storm with the movie was a little bit different because it started with a big cold front. A big low pressure that was north --

BALDWIN: Yes.

MYERS: And it sucked in a hurricane. This is the hurricane sucking in the cold air. Just opposite a way, but it could still sit here as a big low and spin for days as it brings down cold air and eventually will turn into snow and it would be a major event with all the leaves still on the trees. The leaves would want to come down, the branches would come down, and the power could come down. This has the potential to be a devastating storm, even way more significant than Irene of last year.

BALDWIN: OK. We'll keep talking about it, I know, for a little while, Chad.

MYERS: Yes.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: Now back to politics. Forget Ohio and Florida just for a second here. The campaigns are turning to Virginia, which President Obama turned blue last go around. But this time there are cracks in his support. John King talks with voters on the ground amid a dead heat in the polls.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Virginia will be inundated with presidential campaign stops really between now and Sunday. You have President Obama and Paul Ryan today, Joe Biden on Saturday, Mitt Romney on Sunday. Virginia, it is truly up for grabs. And our chief national correspondent, John King, takes us on a tour of this key battleground state.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As you know, in 10 straight presidential elections, Virginia had been reliably red. And then 2008 came along. You see it blue for President Obama. Let's pop it up and make it a little closer because I want to show you something. See what I just drew in? The northern Virginia suburbs. Everywhere else in the state, John McCain and Barack Obama ran even. The president's big margin, there's 234,000 votes state wide. All of it came from right here.

KING (voice-over): Urgency in a place once reliably red.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. This is Bob calling from the Republican Party in Virginia.

KING: Mitt Romney's path to the White House runs through Virginia. And to win it, he must run strong in the fast-changing suburbs within an hour's drive of Washington.

WHIT AYERS, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: It's all about northern Virginia. There have been so many people who have moved into northern Virginia, particularly from northeast, from Democratic areas, that they have turned a solid red state into a purple state.

KING: Recent polls show a dead heat, but Republican pollster Whit Ayers likes the trend line.

AYERS: If you look at the dozen polls in Virginia taken before the first presidential debate on October 3rd, Obama was ahead in all 12. If you look at the eight polls taken after the first presidential debate, Romney was ahead in six out of the eight. And it's now a dead even tie.

KING: To prove its 2008 win here was no fluke, Team Obama knows it needs to run up a margin of 200,000 votes or more in the northern Virginia suburbs. If it delivers, it can ruin Governor Romney's night before the polls even close in the Midwest.

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D), VIRGINIA: And the epicenter of this outcome is going to be right here in Virginia.

KING: Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly knows Romney's more moderate tone of late is aimed at the suburbs. He's betting it won't work.

CONNOLLY: I think there's a trust factor with that. My constituents remember the Republican primaries. They don't suffer from amnesia. And I think that's a tough sell for Mitt Romney.

KING: A lunchtime visit to Harold and Kathy's (ph) proves the president has deep suburban support, but there are some cracks. Mona Phillips is a registered Democrat but says she will vote Republican for president, as she did last time.

MONA PHILLIPS, ROMNEY SUPPORTER: From the get go, Mr. Obama promised so many things that I didn't believe he could do it and he has proven that he couldn't do it.

KING: Robert Stevens is an independent and Obama 2008 supporter. ROBERT STEVENS, UNDECIDED VOTER: And it was something different for the country. Something that hadn't happened before, electing a black president. So I got caught up in that a little bit. But I think he's a disappointment.

KING (on camera): You don't like what you got, but you're not sold on the alternative?

STEVENS: Absolutely not. At this point, I don't know who I'm going to vote for.

KING (voice-over): In a place long known for its historic battlefields, but a newcomer to the world of presidential battlegrounds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: John King, thank you for that.

Let's talk about another state. Can you guess? No Republican has ever won a presidential election without winning Ohio. We're about to break down specific areas these campaigns are now targeting and what it is that could really make the difference.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We expect to hear very shortly from Mitt Romney. Just a heads up. He is bussing across Ohio right now, so we should be catching him in Worthington, just outside of Columbus, fairly shortly. Hopefully within the next two minutes or so. So we'll bringing some of that for you live.

But I do want to talk here really about Ohio. The mother of all battleground states. And check this out. This is this new poll that's out today. "Time" magazine is showing this five point spread in favor of the president, 49 percent to Mitt Romney's 44 percent. And with me now from Washington is Jack Torry. He is the Washington bureau chief for "The Columbus Dispatch."

So, Jack, welcome to you.

You know, I've been wanting to do an entire segment on Ohio because it's so important, especially in this election again. And I want to just go back to -- all the way back to 1972. Ohio voted red in some presidential elections here. We can look at the graphic and see which ones were red, which, of course, in other words, means Republican, which ones went blue. The common denominator, though, being that this state has always picked the winner. Why is that?

JACK TORRY, "COLUMBUS DISPATCH": Well, it's a marvelous swing state. You have seven media markets there. You have agriculture. You have just about every kind of business. So in many ways, it's a microcosm for the rest of the country.

Secondly, though, the -- because of the Republican Party has become so conservative and the Democratic Party has become more progressive, there's 30 to 45 states -- 40 states that are no longer in play anymore. We already knew -- we knew at the beginning of this year that Barack Obama would win California and New York. Ohio, on the other hand, has sort of stayed the way it has been for past -- since the post-war period. It's a jump ball state. It marginally leans Republican, but either side can win it.

BALDWIN: The word you use I think is perfect, which is microcosm. And also keep in mind, you know this, but just to remind our viewers, those 18 electoral votes up for grabs.

So what we've done is we've pulled the state of Ohio and we've highlighted different, you know, counties. We've broken it down by cities. And we've broken it down also between -- we have white and we have green. So that's for urban and rural. And my question to you is, do we know which of these areas, the cities, the counties, the regions here across Ohio, which ones are being targeted most heavily by these campaigns, both of which clearly are desperate to win this state?

TORRY: Well, one of the great ironies is that the Democrats will work very hard to come out of Cuyahoga County, which is where Cleveland is, by about 200,000 to 250,000 votes. If they can do that, they have a good chance to win the state. Meanwhile, there's a huge chunk of Republicans in that greater Cleveland -- great market and so the campaigns are also targeting that. Mr. Ryan was in Cleveland yesterday. And so you have to focus on those two areas.

But the other point is, Mitt Romney is going up that western section of the state where Ronald Reagan in 1984 and Richard Nixon in 1968 took the train trip. And that is solid, rural Republican areas and they need those people to vote. Neither candidate's coming into Ohio to try and persuade voters at this point. They are trying to make certain they get their own people fired up to go out and vote.

BALDWIN: But, you know, Jack, it is not just the candidates here that your state is inundated by but the surrogates, radio, TV ads. I want to play this.

I want our viewers to listen to -- this is one ad being run by President Obama. We also pulled an ad being run by Mitt Romney speaking today. This is actually him speaking in Cincinnati. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The Washington Post" is just revealed that Romney's companies pioneers of shipping U.S. jobs overseas. Investing in firms that specialized in relocating jobs done by American workers to new facilities in low wage countries --

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I know that you think, our wages are high but we're also very productive and we have technology that allows us to compete globally. If our government is more effective, and gets off the back of our enterprises we'll be able to sell goods around the world and so I want to open up -- I want to open up markets for us, particularly in Latin America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Clearly, both of these candidates going after workers so far, just talking to people. I know you are there in Washington, but talking to people in Ohio, how effective has it been thus far? Can you tell?

TORRY: Well, you just saw the dichotomy in Ohio there, one side is appealing directly to the union base, which is saying, this guy has shipped jobs overseas. That's a powerful issue in Ohio.

But at the same time, Ohio is one of the largest exporting states in the country and so you have a -- you know, you have farmers and you have new industries there, which are trying to sell products abroad.

They're not interested in hearing that semi-protectionist type talk you are hearing from the Obama people. So it's because the state has so many different features to it you are able to talk in those two ways in the same state.

BALDWIN: Ohio, Ohio. Jack Torry, thank you so much, the Washington bureau chief of "The Columbus Dispatch." We appreciate it.

TORRY: Glad to be with you.

BALDWIN: Fifty years ago, today the world feared a nuclear holocaust until one moment changed everything. And CNN takes you behind the scenes of the Cuban missile crisis. You have to see this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: On this day, 50 years ago, a few moments inside a New York City building prevented really what could have been a nuclear holocaust. Richard Roth with this fascinating behind the scenes look at how the Cuban missile crisis unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Hello. This is where it all went down, 50 years ago. October 25th, 1962, the most dramatic day in United Nations history and it all occurred here in the Security Council chamber right here where the table once stood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You, the Soviet Union, has sent these weapons to Cuba.

ROTH: The Cuban missile crisis. I'm wearing a helmet because of all the renovation conducted here in this historic Security Council chamber. If diplomacy didn't succeed on that day, this helmet wouldn't protect me from the rubble that would have ensued from a nuclear holocaust.

(voice-over): The soviets denied placing missiles in Cuba aimed at American cities. President Kennedy was ready to publicly confront the soviets at the U.N. as seen in the movie "Thirteen Days."

(on camera): On that day, U.S. Ambassador Adley Stevenson sat there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you one simple question. Do you, Ambassador, deny that the USSR has placed and is placing medium and intermediate range missiles and sites in Cuba? Yes or no? Don't wait for the translation, yes or no?

ROTH: Soviet Ambassador Zoren sat there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Mr. Stevenson, would you continue your statement, please? You will receive the answer in due course. Do not worry.

ROTH: So do you agree with those analysts who said that he overreached and don't wait for the translator, I want your answer now?

(voice-over): At the time, Stevenson faced critics that feared he was not tough enough at the U.N. instead, Stevenson made undiplomatic history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm prepared to wait until hell freezes over if that's your decision.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did a terrific job that day and certainly President Kennedy never had thought of removing him.

ROTH (on camera): Has any ambassador during your term here used the phrase I'm prepared to wait until hell freezes over?

VITALY CHURKIN, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: No, no. This is one time I think phrase, which should not be repeated under lighter circumstances and I hope the circumstances of 1962 are not going to be repeated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm also prepared to present the evidence in this room.

ROTH (voice-over): Stevenson showed photos of the missiles.

CHURKIN: It was a part of the propaganda build-up.

ROTH: But eventually diplomacy between Washington and Moscow prevented things from hitting the fan.

(on camera): Are there any Russian missiles in Cuba now that we should know about?

CHURKIN: No.

ROTH (voice-over): Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Just a short time ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a story about the pregnancy and how the men at her law firm reacted to her news. This is pretty interesting stuff. We're going to play the sound for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remembers when she was pregnant and the day that she got some weird looks from her co- workers. They were all men. This is back in 1980. A pregnant Hillary Clinton was the only woman working at an otherwise all-guy law firm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: They never had a female partner and certainly not a pregnant female partner. And they literally just were not sure what to do with me.

I would walk down the corridor getting more and more pregnant and the men in the firm would, like, look away. Never say a word. And I just kind of thought, I'm just going to wait to see if anybody says anything to me.

About, you know, the fact that I'm going to have a baby. So, nobody ever did. I gave birth to my daughter. And I was in the hospital when one of my partners called to say congratulations and then in the course of it asked, well, when are you coming back to work?

And I said, I don't know, maybe in four months. And that's how I created the firm's first-ever maternity leave policy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: How about that? That was 1980. The secretary of state told the story at this kick-off event for the National Work Life Family Month. She gave birth to daughter, Chelsea, in 1980.

Question for you, what can these two candidates both President Obama and Mitt Romney learn from a president who served way back in the 1800s? The latest issue of "Time" magazine says quite a lot.

Coming up next, we'll discuss this "Time" cover story and how Abraham Lincoln, our nation's 15th president is shaping the 2012 election.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Early on November 7th, the nation should, should know who will be the future president. But just two days later the focus will also be on a president of the past, Abraham Lincoln.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stepped upon the world stage now with a fate of human dignity in our hands. Blood's been spilled to afford us this moment. Now, now, now!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I bet you have seen the previews. This is the Steven Spielberg "Lincoln" film. It debuts November 9th and the epic film is all about Lincoln's struggles while trying to unite the north and the south.

And of course, we know about the emancipation proclamation to end slavery. We all know how that ends, but the presidential candidates right now 2012 should take note on how Abraham Lincoln got there because it will help whoever is succeeding here, whoever becomes the next president.

So says the latest issue of "Time" magazine. This is actor Daniel Day Lewis on the cover and I want to bring in Michael Scherer. He is the "Time" magazine White House correspondent. Michael, welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Our nation's 16th president to quote the man that penned this piece calls it the philosophical soul mate to politicians up and down the spectrum. Both Obama and Romney have repeatedly referred to him. Here's just one example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And that is why in the shadow of the old state capitol where Lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together where common hopes and common dreams still live I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America!

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: As a young man, Lincoln described what he called America's political religion, the commitment to defend the rule of law and the constitution. When I place my hand on the bible and take the oath of office that oath becomes my highest promise to God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Michael, in just a couple of words, why do they do that?

MICHAEL SCHERER, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "TIME": You can't go wrong talking about Abraham Lincoln. He is the one unifying president. He is a Republican. Republicans liked him. He ended slavery, which no one disagrees with now.

He kept the country together, which everybody wants to do now. Even though we're at a very divisive moment in our history of very divided political space.

And so he's become a symbol for both men of how they want to reunite the country. Something voters very much want to have happen, but something which both candidates haven't really shown a clear path to be able to do.

BALDWIN: Let's pick up there. You mentioned the divisiveness and let's apply Lincoln as this article does to this current race for president. How can Romney and Obama learn from Lincoln's political dexterity?

SCHERER: Well, dexterity is actually a really good word. Lincoln as president didn't govern as a sort of moral crusader who is trying to pit one side of the country against the other.

He really tried to govern from the middle and he was famous for actually working incredibly hard on the politics of the job spending hours and hours going over patronage appointments, for instance, to try and win various constituencies in Congress.

Whoever the next president is, is going to have a divided government. The chances right now of Romney winning and that the Senate going Republican in a way that would give them a filibuster- proof majority is just not there.

Both candidates if they win are going to have a divided government. They are going to have to appeal to the center and lead the country towards something and they haven't been able to do in the last few years which is compromise.

BALDWIN: In terms of moving toward center and the article there. There are a couple of Lincoln lessons that I took note of. Let's run through one. It's not about them.

Two, be patient. Three, I loved the point about gaffes are nothing new here in 2012 so in light of being aware of that, keep your speeches short but powerful.

Four, this is what I want to ask you about, moderate, moderate center is the path to presidential success. And on that last point, Michael, you know, both Romney and Obama and especially Romney as of late criticized.

We heard this moderate Mitt, right, moving toward the middle, alienating the base. How did this work in Lincoln's favor?

SCHERER: Well, because he had to keep the country together. I mean, he was fighting a war and had to keep the Congress and the union together. He had to get a bill that would end slavery in the country.

He had to do all of this at a divisive time and he didn't do it by railing against those who disagreed with him. He did it by trying to win over those who disagreed with him.

There's another story of him appointing as his war secretary one of his real personal enemies from his law career, someone that mocked him in court, you know, before he became president.

BALDWIN: What is it? The enemy of your enemy is your friend, right? SCHERER: You said there at the beginning, wasn't about him. For Lincoln it was about keeping the country together and moving forward and a lot of ways that's really what the American people are looking for right now.

BALDWIN: Lessons from Lincoln. Michael Scherer, thank you and thanks for writing the piece, "Lincoln to the Rescue." Thank you. We appreciate it, "Time" magazine.

Hurricane Sandy, packing strong winds as it turns toward the east coast. A live report on its threat.

Also ahead, a real-life James Bond thriller, a CIA operative infiltrates al Qaeda to take out a top terror suspect.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name's Mr. Huntsman.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If the name sounds familiar, it's no coincidence. This is Jon Huntsman Sr., father of former Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Jr.

While the elder Huntsman may not be quite as familiar as his son, the billionaire businessman philanthropist and multiple cancer survivor has made his mark.

Huntsman says he was born with nothing and describes his upbringing as tough, but 42 years ago, he started a small plastics company in Southern California.

JON HUNTSMAN SR., BUSINESSMAN AND PHILANTHROPIST: In 1973, a small team that worked with me, we invented the Big Mac hamburger container.

GUPTA: Over the years, that little company has grown in to the Huntsman Corporation, one of the largest petrochemical plastics and industrial firms in the world. Huntsman describes himself as a deal junkie who's also developed an addiction for giving.

HUNTSMAN: I'm pleased to say that right from the beginning we started giving money away to charity over 40 years ago even when I had to borrow money from the bank.

GUPTA: He's donated more than $1.2 billion to thousands of charities and individuals in the United States and abroad. Huntsman's main charitable focus of two decades is building the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

HUNTSMAN: I just wanted to have the best in the world and I believe that we're -- that that's where we are today.

GUPTA: That's because cancer has hit his family hard. His mother who taught him about the importance of giving died from cancer. As did his father and stepmother.

And Huntsman wasn't spared. He's survived prostate cancer, mouth cancer and two types of skin cancer. So he built a state of the art cancer center that uses cutting edge technology to treat patients and has top scientists searching for cures.

And he uses his own experience as a patient to create an environment that eases patient's fears and gives them hope.

HUNTSMAN: I have learned a great deal about hospital, about service, about food and about cleanliness, about how patients need hope and inspiration in their lives.

GUPTA: Which is why many parts of the hospital look more like a hotel than a cancer treatment center.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the Disneyland of cancer because everyone is so happy and so kind.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

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BALDWIN: Sanjay, thank you.

I want to take you straight to the Pentagon where we're getting some news here. There's been a daily briefing, of course, involving DOD Secretary Leon Panetta, but also Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey.

Let's go to Chris Lawrence to see what exactly was discussed. I know that the Benghazi investigation was brought up. What did they say?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brooke. We just got out of that briefing with both men and they did face questions on whether there was enough security in that mission in Benghazi and whether U.S. officials deployed additional forces quickly enough after the attack.

Chairman Dempsey said that the U.S. forces response was alert and responsive. Secretary Panetta accused some of those outside the Pentagon of engaging in, quote, "Monday morning quarterbacking."

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LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We quickly responded as General Dempsey said in terms of deploying forces to the region. We had fast platoons in the region. We had ships that we had deployed off of Libya and we were prepared to respond to any contingency.

And certainly had forces in place to do that, but there's a basic principle here that you don't deploy forces in to harm's way without knowing what's going on, without having some realtime information about what's taking place.

And as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who's on the ground or in that area, General Hamm, General Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation.

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LAWRENCE: Secretary Panetta said despite drones in the air and intelligence personnel on the ground, they did not have that information. He said all of this happened within a couple of hours and by the time they knew what was happening it was over.

But Secretary Panetta did say that forces were on heightened alert because of the 9/11 anniversary, but Chairman Dempsey added, he said in context, it was 9/11 everywhere in the world. Meaning security had to be alert at many different places around the world that day. Not just in Libya.

BALDWIN: Chris Lawrence, thank you, Chris.