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Hurricane Sandy Heads for U.S.; Storm Affects Political Campaigns; Romney Campaigns in Iowa; Jobs Will Grow; Children Slain by Nanny; Will Virginia be Red or Blue?; Interview with Gary Johnson; Silvio Burlusconi Guilty
Aired October 26, 2012 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much Carol.
Hi everybody. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It's 11:00 on the East Coast, it's 8:00 a.m. on the West Coast.
And here is where we start: 11 days and counting until Election Day 2012 and the race is as tight as they come. The last stretch of this campaign could get ugly as the candidates grasp for any small advantage, especially in states like Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire, Ohio.
But if you want to talk ugly, let's talk Sandy, because she may be coming to a campaign event near you and she is deadly. Sandy is a massive and growing Cat 1 hurricane that has already killed at least 21 people and is barreling towards our East Coast and some battleground states where she could not be more unwelcome.
I said Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire and Ohio and that's why I said them. The storm could affect campaigns in those states. More importantly, it could even threaten lives, damage everything that these kinds of storms actually can do.
At least one prediction says this storm could cause a billion dollars in damage and some are calling it the new "perfect storm," even worse than the one back in '91. It's dark clouds as massive as the distance from Memphis all the way to Los Angeles.
Our meteorologist Chad Myers is here and, Chad, there are tens of thousands of people, as we speak, who are planning to head out to these massive outdoor campaign rallies.
All of these people who are organizing them, how bad is this storm looking for all of this?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, I don't think anybody teaches you in college what this could do. This is a storm that is going to have a very deep low-pressure center.
I know it's going to be a Category 1 and I've heard all of these tweets about how can a Category 1 be bad? It's because there's going to be a big high pressure on it behind on this side. If you have a big high here and a big low here, the wind between those two systems will be tremendous. Winds could gust 80-miles-per-hour from Michigan through Ohio into Pennsylvania, not even really attached to the center or the core or the eye of the hurricane.
Here's the latest. I just got it in, 26.7/76.9, if you're keeping track at home. Still an 80-mile-per-hour storm. Although, I'll tell you what. Last night at 11:00 this was a tremendous storm moving through the Bahamas and it got torn up overnight. It doesn't look nearly as bad as it did last night.
That is great news. Dry air was pulled in. It was sheered apart. It just doesn't right now have the power that it once did.
It is still forecast to be in warm water. This is the Gulf Stream. This is all the warm water that runs up the East Coast current and still staying as a Category 1 and then turning left and making landfall across the U.S., somewhere.
I know the middle of the line says Delmarva Peninsula somewhere, but let me tell you. It could be all the way from Long Island all the way down into North Carolina.
We're still ...
BANFIELD: So, these are swing states. These are swing states in there.
MYERS: Yes.
BANFIELD: These are massive in this last week-long push to the elections. Chad, when we have big concerts planned ...
MYERS: Yeah?
BANFIELD: They shut those down. They cancel them. We have the equivalent of dozens of massive concerts in these big campaign rallies along the East Coast, so if they're calling you, what are you telling them to do?
MYERS: You cannot have anything set up with a wind of 50-, 60-, 70- miles-per-hour. You don't want people outside at all. You want them inside.
These campaigns are going to have to find some place to hunker down and get inside to not have the things outside with tents and billboards and band shells like we saw in Indiana, what happens when the wind blows 60- or 70-miles-per-hour.
That would be dangerous to be outside when this thing with low pressure here, high pressure here, the wind just howling through the East Coast for the next four days.
BANFIELD: Oh, all those campaign workers trying to plan for this critical, critical stretch. Chad Myers, thank you. I want to move onto that political side of the storm, in fact, because we talked about the campaigns needing to reach out to the voters really heading into this final stretch. The strategy, the cities to hit, all of it was already choreographed, especially these last few days.
But now, those sides are going to have to start doing some rethinking with this massive storm approaching. The airports could be closed or just really, really dangerous to be flying through those air spaces. The open-air rallies, you just heard what Chad said about that and then there's the obvious.
If the unthinkable happens and this horrible, national emergency could occur, that would be pretty stuff to start talking about campaigning and what the campaigns normally do. You've got something much bigger on your hands at that point.
That's why I want to go to Paul Steinhauser who joins me now. You cover elections. You've done this for a long time.
Have you ever seen the election plans shaken up this close to the end of a race before this and what do you foresee happening?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yeah, not in the last couple cycles since I've been covering it.
And, remember, weather has already played a role in this cycle. Do you remember? Let's go back to the conventions and how weather really threw a wrench into the Republican convention in Tampa, the first day being suspended because of bad weather.
So, we've seen this happen in the past with conventions, maybe not so much with election day.
Ashleigh, you were talking about this just a second ago. Here's the problem. This -- yeah, the weather could throw a wrench into the plans of the campaigns. Take, for instance, Virginia on Monday. You've got the president and former President Bill Clinton campaigning in Virginia on Monday.
Now, of course, that could be possibly in jeopardy if the storm gets too close, both sides monitoring. I've been speaking to both campaigns this morning, both presidential campaigns. They're monitoring the situation. They say they have contingency plans.
Both campaigns, of course, say, listen, safety comes first, politics comes second and that is the clear message from both of these campaigns.
One other thing, Ashleigh, and this will be interesting as well. If it is a tough storm, I think people will be very much scrutinizing the administration's response and that could be a factor. Could be a factor, come November 6th.
Ashleigh? BANFIELD: Without question. And, not only that, but the administration is going to have to be the administration and not in campaign mode necessarily if this happens.
Let me just ask you one other big issue and that's early voting. Early voting isn't always from your kitchen table and mailing it in. Sometimes you actually have to go to these polling places, as we saw the president do yesterday.
But that could be terribly affected by inclement weather and dangerous weather, too.
STEINHAUSER: It could. I could, but here's the flip side to that. In the three battleground states or states that are in play that could be affected that are right along the East Coast, Virginia and New Hampshire and, to a lesser degree, Pennsylvania, none of those states have early voting, so none of those states have the early voting or absentee voting that some of the other states are currently doing, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Pennsylvania, as well. I mean this is ...
STEINHAUSER: It's actually Pennsylvania where it's full election day. Yeah.
BANFIELD: All right and then one last question for you and that is the contingency plans.
Are you hearing from any of the campaign staff about contingency plans? Are they getting hit with a lot of this bad news all at the same time and starting to wonder about making the contingency plans?
STEINHAUSER: They have plans in place. They're not, you know, publicizing what they are, but they say, yes, they're monitoring the situation and, you know, if need be, they would, of course, put their plans into effect.
BANFIELD: All right, Paul Steinhauser, thank you for that. We'll continue to watch this, obviously, throughout the weekend, too.
And another big poll is coming out, as well, this afternoon and it's a poll where it really matters, Ohio. All eyes are going to be on that. It comes out about 4:00 Eastern. We'll have it for you and we're back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Not a day goes by that you do not hear about this in political ads, on the campaign trail, at the presidential debates, the number-one issue for voters, the economy and jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We have to strengthen our economy here at home. You can't have 23 million people struggling to get a job. The median income in America has dropped by $4,300 over the last four years.
This is a president who's approach to creating jobs is another stimulus. How did the first one work out?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You say that you're going to pay for it by closing loopholes and deductions without naming what those loopholes and deductions are and then somehow you're also going to deal with the deficit that we've already got. The math simply doesn't work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, in just a couple of hours, the governor in this race is going to get a chance to lay out some of that math that the president was talking about. And he'll do it in Ames, Iowa, where he's expected to deliver a major speech on the economy just 11 days out from the election.
The economy, a cornerstone of Governor Romney's campaign and, based on the latest numbers, it just might be paying off, too and here might be the proof.
The newest poll on the economy from ABC News and "The Washington Post" says that 50 percent of voters believe Governor Mitt Romney would better handle the economy, a five-point lead over the president, which is why Governor Romney's big economic speech today will be critical as he tries to capitalize off of some of this momentum.
Here's national correspondent -- our national political correspondent, Jim Acosta, who has been busy and traveling day to day with Governor Romney's campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Mitt Romney is on his way to Iowa to give a speech on the economy. A top Romney adviser says the GOP nominee will lay out a choice for voters that basically boils down to one question, do voters want real change or not?
It's part of a theme Romney debuted here in Ohio yesterday. He has been traveling across the state talking to voters and vowing to bring what he called "big change" to Washington.
At an event late last night with the rock music star, Meat Loaf, Romney pledged to work across the aisle with Democrats to get the country back on track. Here's what he had to say.
ROMNEY: I will do something that's not been done in Washington in a long time. I'll reach across the aisle. There are good Democrats who love this country. There are good Americans who love this -- good Republicans who love this country.
I'm going to work with both. I'm going to meet regularly with Democrats and Republicans, work together to solve our problems. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Defiance, Ohio. I'd like to live there, Defiance. That was Jim Acosta, reporting for us from the Romney campaign, our national political correspondent.
And I'm now joined by CNN's chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, because you're the guy that needs to answer this question for me. The claim that the governor makes about creating 12 million jobs in the first four years, we have heard it over and over again, but he gets beaten up a lot on the evidence -- the evidence.
That is a lot of jobs. Where are you coming up with them?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it is.
BANFIELD: So, what has he said to you?
VELSHI: Well, first -- well, I've asked his people over and over again and they tell me it's possible and it's doable.
Here's the thing. Projections for job creation over the next four years, irrespective of who is president, is about 8 million jobs, so this is a 50 percent increase.
Here's the other part. President Obama's people matched that claim. They said, oh, yeah, that's a low bar. We can do it. So, they both think that they can create 12 million jobs over five years. Where's the math?
Ashleigh, it's happened three times in American history. Once was during World War II, so take that out of the mix. It's just -- it's too hard to compare. The two more recent times have been under President Reagan and President Clinton where 12 million jobs were created over a four-year period. Economic growth, GDP growth, at the time, was above 4.3 in both cases.
You heard GDP this morning for the third quarter? It's two percent.
BANFIELD: Two.
VELSHI: If we're lucky it will be 3 percent next year. How do you get to these jobs?
So, what you've got is presidential candidates going out there and saying the future is going to be brighter under me, but when you push them for details as to how it gets brighter, we don't get the response. We don't get the satisfaction.
Most people have decided who they're voting for, but those undecideds want answers, so, hopefully, we'll get it.
But I have to tell you, Ashleigh. You tell me what you think. He's gotten this far without giving those kinds of specifics. I'm not sure why he's going to change that today.
BANFIELD: Well and you know what? The numbers sound awesome and we all want to be optimistic ...
VELSHI: Yeah.
BANFIELD: ... and maybe rose-colored glasses when you don't have the specifics, but you do have the faith. I don't know.
And that leads to this other question, as well. Because when he talks about cutting taxes and cutting the deficit, all at the same time, and the Obama campaign comes back and says, you've got $5 trillion. That's magic.
People have wanted to know how are you going to do it? What kind of tax loopholes? How will I suffer? Where will I suffer before I sign onto that plan?
VELSHI: So, these are the two biggest issues, right? One is I'm going to get you more jobs and the other one is I'm going to put more money in your pocket.
The tax one is complicated because the argument -- and many conservatives make this argument, sometimes it's worked and sometimes it hasn't been proved right -- is that, if you tax people less and you put more money in their pocket, the money that they didn't use to pay the government in taxes they will use to do things that stimulate the economy and create jobs.
That's not always true. Sometimes that money goes into investments or goes to buy things that were not made or produced in the United States.
So, the argument is, if you lower taxes, people will spend more. The economy will grow faster and then you'll have more money because everybody will be earning more money and they'll be paying a smaller percentage of tax to the government, but the actual dollar value will be greater.
It's going from A to B, including about 13 letters in the alphabet on the way there, so a little more specificity on that would be very helpful.
And, you know, I have to tell you. If either of these candidates does come out with the specificity, what I've been hearing on the CNN Election Express is that they might get some of these undecided votes.
But what a lot of our experts tell us is, why would you do it now? If you've avoided being specific this far into the campaign and it's this tight, do something else to win.
BANFIELD: And it's working. All right, next week, I want to ask you. You can think about it all through the weekend. Those other numbers that you were showing, you know, during the Reagan year, during the Clinton years, we were wickedly consuming, consuming like mad. We are not ...
VELSHI: That's right. That's right.
BANFIELD: ... consuming like that. We've got different habits now.
Yeah, yeah, we've all learned how to do things on a dime, so I want to ask you about that and how that might affect the models.
Have a great weekend, Ali. Thank you.
VELSHI: I'll be with you all week, next week.
BANFIELD: And you know what? He'll be on the CNN Election Express, too. Poor guy has to work all the way through until the election day, but so does everybody, so make sure you stay tuned with us because, also, CNN is covering the Mitt Romney speech live at 1:00 Eastern. We're going to have it for you and you'll get maybe some of the answers that Ali was talking about.
Meantime, President Obama may be coming off that two-day, cross- country campaign blitz, but he's got no signs that he's slowing down or taking a rest from the all-nighter he said he was going to have.
The president is moving on to a media blitz. Here's how it's going to go. He's going to do 10 interviews today that will air in seven battleground states and today the big push seems to be towards the younger voters who were so key to his campaign back in 2008.
The president is going to be on MTV tonight in a special Q&A that's called "Ask Obama Live."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: There are crimes that leave you stunned and there are crimes that stop you cold. In New York City this morning, an example of the latter.
In a wealthy neighborhood teeming with children and nannies and two income households where there's very little crime, a mother of three returned home to find two of her three children dead in a pool of blood not far from their bleeding nanny who police said was their killer.
The children were two- and six-years old, stabbed to death and left in the bathtub, their nanny lying nearby had self-inflicted knife wounds, according to the police.
All of this as the children's father, a CNBC executive, was flying home only to be met in the airport by members of the NYPD who had to deliver to him this horrifying news.
Deborah Feyerick is here and she's been following these developments. Look, it just defies -- it defies any kind of summing up. This is so hard to understand.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is so hard to understand and, whenever any parent leaves their children with somebody else, whether it's a babysitter, a caretaker, a nanny, it is a colossal leap of faith and it is simply impossible to reconcile the pictures of these beautiful, happy, smiling children with the tragedy that occurred yesterday.
The 38-year-old mom, Marina Krim, took her middle daughter to swim class, leaving her two other children home with the nanny. When she returned home around dinnertime, the apartment on Central Park West was curiously dark and quiet.
So, checking the bathroom, she came upon the horrifying scene. Her six-year-old daughter, Lulu, her two-year-old son, Leo, in the bathtub, bleeding. The nanny on the floor, a kitchen knife nearby.
Now, the police say the nanny had repeatedly stabbed herself in the neck, slashing her throat. Detectives cannot even question her until after she is off sedation and her condition no longer critical.
But imagine this scene. Neighbors calling 911 after hearing the mother's desperate cries for help.
The father, CNBC executive Kevin Krim, returning from San Francisco, had to be met at the airport by police so they could break the news as to what happened.
CNBC did release a statement, saying, quote, "The sadness that we all feel for Kevin, Marina and their family is without measure." That is the feeling of many New Yorkers today.
The parents, so clearly devoted to these three children. The mom kept a blog called "Life With the Little Krim Kids" and the last posting about her son just hours before the tragedy and she had written a couple of days previously.
She said, "I am very proud that the three kids absolutely love to play together and never seem to get bored at home. They're constantly thinking of fun things to do in the house."
That house now the scene of a terrible crime and, you know, anybody who is a parent ...
BANFIELD: We do. You know, I have a nanny. We all have nannies. We all depend on nannies. And it bears reporting that this family did not just pick a nanny randomly. They did more due diligence than most of us moms normally do.
FEYERICK: Well, you know, and that's what's so fascinating. They even went to the Dominican Republican where this nanny is from. They visited her family, met her sister, stayed with them.
So, it's so troubling, but even the most thorough background check, it cannot predict whether somebody is going to snap. And police don't know why she did but, that's the assumption. That's what they're working on right now.
BANFIELD: Just quickly, I don't know if you know this. The three- year-old was with that mother coming back from the swim class and that scene was in the bathroom, unbeknownst to them.
Do we know if that three-year-old saw anything? FEYERICK: It's not clear. And it's not just a tragedy for the two parents. It's a tragedy for this little girl because, again, all you see is the three children together.
BANFIELD: Oh, Deb, I'm so sorry to report it, but thank you. Appreciate it.
Back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THULANI MADONDO, FOUNDER OF KLIPTOWN YOUTH PROGRAM: Since the (INAUDIBLE) Kliptown has not changed. There is no electricity. People are living in shacks.
Growing up in Kliptown makes you feel like you don't have control of your life. Many children drop out of school because they don't have school uniforms and textbooks. I realized that the only way that Kliptown could change was through education.
I'm Thulani Madondo. I'm helping educate the children so that we can change Kliptown together.
We help the children by paying for the school books, school uniforms.
Our main focus is our tutoring program that we run four days a week.
As young people who are born and raised here, we know the challenges of this community.
We also do a number of activities. We've got to come together for fun while we also come together for academics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The program gave me a chance to go to the university. They helped me pay for my fees, but that's why I also come back and help out here.
A little can go a long way.
MADONDO: What subjects do you like? Math and science. And English. Exactly. Yes.
I did not go to university, but being able to help them, I feel excited.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am going to be an accountant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am going to be a lawyer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I am going to be a nurse.
MADONDO: The work that you are doing here is bringing change.
(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Got a trivia question for you: who won the Tour de France from 1999 through 2005? The International Cycling Union has just given us the answer: no one. That's because the body has decided that those titles won by Lance Armstrong but stripped away are not going to be reassigned to anybody else in that race.
And, moreover, they are repeating they want the earnings, the winnings, the money that Armstrong got for those wins back. They have not said yet how they intend to get that money back, whether it's by asking or suing.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BANFIELD: A man hired to conduct voter registration drives in Virginia is in some big trouble. Collin Small, who lives in Pennsylvania, is facing allegations that he just tossed in the trash eight completed voter registration forms. He's been charged by the local county prosecutor.
And now three Virginia congressmen, Bobby Scott, Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran, who you all see here, well, they have asked the Justice Department to go a little further and get involved and look into this case as well.
Now all three of the people I mentioned are Democrats. Virginia's Republican attorney general says he's also expanding this probe. The state Republican Party hired Small's employer, a firm called Pinpoint, to run registration drives. Now CNN has not been able to contact that company to get its take on this.
But Jim Moran's name might ring a bell, because we were talking just yesterday about his son -- and there he is. You might recall that Patrick Moran resigned from his dad's campaign after he was caught on this videotape offering advice about how to commit voter fraud, and that's never good.
Police and prosecutors now in Arlington County, Virginia, have opened a criminal investigation into this, into the, quote, "election offense allegations". Patrick Moran said he was only humoring a, quote, "unstable person" when he suggested forging the utility bills and bank statements of inactive voters in order to co-opt their ballots.
The recording of this tape was released Wednesday by conservative activist Jim O'Keefe's nonprofit group.
And you know why. Look, every single last vote is going to matter in that state of Virginia. That race is an absolute dead heat. It is such a tossup it's even a tossup what to call it.
President Obama and Mitt Romney are fighting to win a historically red state that Obama flipped in '08. But can he keep that state blue or will Mr. Romney take it back? As CNN's John King reports, the answer is likely to lie in the suburbs in Washington's backyard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: 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 was 234,000 votes statewide. All of it came from right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1,2,6,1, 5.
KING (voice-over): Urgency in a place once was reliably red.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, this is Bob, calling from the Republican Party in Virginia.
KING (voice-over): 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.
WITT AYERS, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: It's all about northern Virginia. There have been so many people who have moved into northern Virginia, particularly from the northeast, from Democratic areas, that they have turned a solid red state into a purple state.
KING (voice-over): Recent polls show a dead heat. But Republican pollster Witt 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 (voice-over): 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.
GERRY CONNOLLY, (D), VIRGINIA: The epicenter of this outcome is going to be right here in Virginia.
KING (voice-over): Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly knows Romney's more moderate tone of late is aimed at the suburbs. He is 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 tossup for Mitt Romney.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then a Reuben.
KING (voice-over): A lunchtime visit to Harold and Cathy's 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 (voice-over): Robert Stevens is an Independent and Obama 2008 supporter.
ROBERT STEVENS, OBAMA SUPPORTER: And it was something different for the country, something that hadn't happened before, electing a black president. So I might have caught up in that a little bit. But I think he is a disappointment.
KING: You don't like what you got, but you're not sold on the alternative?
STEVENS: Absolutely not. I don't know. At this point, I don't know who I'm going to vote for.
KING (voice-over): Living in a battleground means there's no escaping the ads or the get-out-the-vote effort.
STEVENS: I kind of hang up the phone, go and I want to make my -- I don't want to -- I want to make my own independent decision. I don't want anybody shoving stuff down my throat. It's kind of scary. I thought it would have been -- I thought I would have been there by now. But I'm not.
But I will be by Election Day.
KING (voice-over): Tense final days in a place long known for its historic battlefields but a newcomer to the world of presidential battlegrounds.
KING: And the key, of course, in these final days is turnout. And both campaigns, knowing it's a tossup state, say they have what it takes to win on Election Day.
Here's why the Republicans say they're confident in their ground game. They say they have more than 1 million door knocks this cycle, more than 5 million voter contacts. That includes calling people over the phone -- and they say they have improved early voting numbers from the 2008 campaign, when they lost in the state of Virginia.
The Democrats, though, say no way, that the Obama campaign can, again, keep this state blue. Here's why they say their ground game is superior: 60-plus offices statewide, Latino registration up nearly 20 percent from four years ago. They think most of those voters will go the president's way.
And in the last two months, nearly 60 percent of newly registered voters under the age of 30, again, the constituency the Democrats say should break decidedly the president's way. Virginia is a tossup. With a few days left, the emphasis now on that ground game. (END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROCKY ANDERSON, JUSTICE PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Imagine if there had been a candidate included in the Obama-Romney debates to challenge our plutocracy, our government that is run by and for the benefit of monstrous corporations rather than in the interest of the people of this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So that was Rocky Anderson running for the president of the Justice Party. He's with the Justice Party and he wants to be the leader of this country. And he is a one of a handful of candidates you may not have heard about in this election.
There are some others: Gary Johnson, Virgil Goode, Jill Stein and on that list, the candidate with the most support nationwide is Gary Johnson, the nominee for the Libertarian Party. He's a former Republican who served two terms as governor of New Mexico. And he joins me now live.
Thank you so much, Governor, for taking the time to speak with us today. I want to lay out a bit of your platform first before we go any further.
You're a fiscal conservative. You want to balance the budget by next year cutting military spending by a third, getting rid of the IRS and then on the platform also legalizing marijuana. They're fascinating platforms. I think a lot of people would be interested in them.
But my big question for you, sir, is do you think that you could beat Governor Romney or President Obama and become President of the United States?
GARY JOHNSON (L), N.M.,LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think there was the opportunity to win. And most importantly, look, I think there needs to be a truth candidate in all of this.
And I would just like to correct you on wanting to cut the military by a third. I think we need to cut military spending by 43 percent. I think we need to cut all of government by 43 percent or we're going to find ourselves in a monetary collapse, the result of borrowing and printing money to the tune of 43 cents out of every dollar that we're spending.
If we don't fix it, we're going to find ourselves without a country. So, big, big issues that both parties, I think, both of the old parties have their heads in the sand over.
BANFIELD: Thank you for the correction. A third to a half is a lot different in terms of military spending. So let me ask you this. I was perusing your website and looking for some of your positions and also for your polling. And I was very fascinated to see your list of polling in states like -- in states like New Mexico and Arizona and Colorado, New Hampshire and Montana.
In New Mexico you're polling at 13 percent, in Arizona 9 percent, Colorado 7 percent, 7 percent also in New Hampshire, 8 percent in Montana, and where you are today, campaigning in Nevada, 3 percent. Those are significant percentages in states that are razor thin.
So my question for you is that are you this campaign's spoiler, meaning you could cost these states going to Mitt Romney?
JOHNSON: Well, actually, in New Mexico, in Colorado, in Nevada I take more votes away from Obama. North Carolina, Michigan, I take more votes away from Romney.
What's most important is that I am a voice representative of fiscal responsibility and social acceptance.
The notion that most of us really do care about civil liberties, the notion that we really do understand that our military interventions have, as a result, the United States being vilified by the rest of the world and that if we don't get our fiscal house in order we're going to collapse. I mean, it's just that simple.
We've lived our entire lives hearing the notion that, at some point, there will be a day of reckoning when it comes to borrowing all the money that we spend beyond what it is that we collect. Well, we're here. This day of reckoning is now, so most important of all, I'm that voice that is actually speaking the truth here.
BANFIELD: So, Governor Johnson, and when you say that there are several states that lean heavily towards you in terms of being a spoiler for Obama, I see in your platform that there are these varying lengths that you swing from. Yes, you're the fiscal conservative but legalizing marijuana is clearly not a conservative campaign platform.
Does that mean that you're more of an equal opportunity spoiler and, thus, you won't have the effect on this election that, say, a Ross Perot may have had or a Ralph Nader may have had, meaning you will get your message out, but you won't necessarily make or break this for either of these candidates?
JOHNSON: Well, we'll end up seeing in the final analysis but, like I say, I think the majority of Americans are fiscally responsible. I think the majority of Americans are socially accepting. Democrats don't do so good on civil liberties. They're supposed to do good on civil liberties. Republicans, they don't do so good on dollars and cents but they're supposed to do good on dollars and cents.
Where are the majority of Americans being represented by either of these two? And I'll just tell you, from my viewpoint, what I'm representing is the fastest growing segment of American politics today, the whole libertarian movement, those that would describe themselves as libertarian that historically don't end up voting libertarian.
We'll see what happens on Election Day, but most important, representing -- providing a voice here that isn't being heard right now.
BANFIELD: So, Governor, the Romney campaign is reporting that they went to quite a length to get you off the ballot in several states; particularly I'm just looking at Pennsylvania. And it just made me wonder, look, I do as much research as I can, but I can't read every single issue that's come out with each party with regard to you.
And I'm wondering if you have been contacted by either the Romney campaign or the Obama campaign or there have been any efforts by the Obama campaign to get you off the ballot or just get you to step aside and walk away quietly?
JOHNSON: Well, the Republican Party has taken a really active role in about 10 states to prevent us from getting on the ballot. You started out by talking about other third party candidates. I'm on the ballot in 49 states, one of those states being Michigan, where I'm officially a write-in. I believe the Green Party is going to be on the ballot in 30 states.
So when you put this into perspective, really, it is Obama, Romney and Johnson that are effectively going to be on the ballot in all 50 states. Oklahoma, for me, where is the onus of shame as far as I'm concerned -- I realize it's not the citizens of Oklahoma but it's the legislature there, legislatures that have passed the most restrictive ballot access laws in the country.
Why is anybody afraid of giving people a choice? And in this case, look, I'm not supposed to be a factor in this race. This is according to the Republicans. For not being a factor, boy, they've sure spent a whole lot of time and resources trying to keep me off the ballot, like I say, in about 10 states.
BANFIELD: And here you are, on the TV, talking to me on CNN.
I have one last question. I'm running out of time, but I have to get you on this one. I heard you say you wouldn't be running if you didn't think there was a chance to win. But many people say polling, where you're polling, your website says 5.3 percent nationwide. There are other polls that put you at about 3 percent. It's a pretty long shot. So if you don't win, do you have a preference between either Mr. Obama or Mr. Romney?
JOHNSON: Well, no, and the opportunity remains that I continue to be a spokesperson here for a movement that ultimately will win the presidency. So there is that out there. Look, my name familiarity right now sits at about 30 percent nationwide.
So given the amount of money that we've spent and given the amount of votes that I get on Election Day, do an analysis. Do the mathematics and I'll bet I'm a 50:1 money better spent on me when it comes to votes actually garnered.
BANFIELD: You are a good politician, sir. I'm going to write that down as neither. Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.
JOHNSON: Neither. Neither.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Thank you so much for talking to me.
(LAUGHTER)
BANFIELD: Libertarian presidential candidate speaking to me live today, Gary Johnson. Look forward to seeing more from you.
JOHNSON: Thanks. Thanks.
BANFIELD: We're going to keep an eye out as well for your name on Election Night, especially in some of those key swing states. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: The flamboyant former prime minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, is officially guilty of tax fraud. Seventy-six years old, he was sentenced today to four years in prison. However, there is still a very good chance that he will never see the inside of a cell. Let's go straight to Ben Wedeman, who is live in Rome.
There's a good reason that he may never be locked up. What is it, Ben?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, first of all, you need to go look at his history. Going back to the early 1990s, Mr. Berlusconi has been in a series of legal cases where he got off either by appealing, using the statute of limitations or, when he was prime minister, changing the laws so he had immunity.
In this case, yes, today he received this four-year sentence for tax fraud. But the Italian justice system has a two-tier appeals process, so it could be years before a final decision comes down from the court.
And you have to keep in mind that the statute of limitations on this case, which began in July 2006, will expire sometime next year. So if the appeals process is still going on some time next year -- and it probably will -- he will be off, off the hook.
BANFIELD: Wow.
WEDEMAN: Never going to spend any time behind bars.
BANFIELD: Well, Ben, there's that, but a totally separate process has yet to even play out with regard to the former prime minister, and that was that case involving a -- how do I put this -- underaged hooker. That's also a criminal case, and can he see prison time on that one alone?
WEDEMAN: Well, that case, of course, is still going on and there was a hearing today.
This is the case whereby he is accused of paying for sex with an underaged at-the-time 17-year-old Moroccan exotic dancer, popularly known as Ruby Rubacuori -- Ruby, the heart stealer. And today, in fact, George Clooney was supposed to serve as a defendant for Mr. Berlusconi in that trial, but Mr. Clooney did not show up.
And, yes, that case is still going on and he could be convicted for that as well. As a result of today's verdict, however, he is banned from holding public office for the next three years.
BANFIELD: Ben Wedeman with an assignment that just keeps giving.
Thank you, sir. Appreciate it, Mr. Wedeman.
We're going to keep up with the appellate process in all those other developments on his criminal problems, and surely Ben will be seeing us again on that. Back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Well, it is Friday. Happy Friday. It's been a long week. And by now you've been undoubtedly overloaded with so much campaign news that it's kind of hard to keep it straight, especially if you are kind of, you know, dipping into cable news here and there.
So we thought you might appreciate a snapshot, just one big picture of where these candidates stand and exactly what's at stake right now.
Take a look at those seven yellow states. If you forget everything else right now, just keep your eye on the yellow. They're the battleground states where the campaigns are going to focus mightily in this final stretch, and they are the states that could determine your next president.
So the question is who has got the edge there, and what did these two candidates need to do over this weekend and then over the next week to try to get the edge?
So our CNN contributor John Avalon is on the CNN Election Express bus right now, and you can see he is on the move. So I'm coming to him live through the magic of TV that moves along right with him.
Hey, John Avalon. Just give me that snapshot. With those yellow states that we showed, those battleground states, who has got the edge now, and what do they have to do in the next two days and then the next five after that?
JOHN AVALON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Ashleigh. I mean, it's day 11 from out from the election, and the battleground states could not be tighter.
Here's the current state of the race. Florida has been trending towards Mitt Romney. Virginia and Colorado, tight as a tick. I mean, really tied up. Couldn't be closer. Obama's firewall right now -- President Obama's firewall seems to be Ohio, the Buckeye State. As you know, no Republican has ever been elected to the White House without winning Ohio.
He is also trying to preserve leads in Nevada, very important there. It's huge Hispanic population. That has been -- he's been able to keep an edge in that state, which really becomes a must-win mathematically for Mitt Romney.
Other states to watch: Wisconsin, Paul Ryan's home state; also very crucially the home state of the RNC chairman Reince Priebus; Iowa, very high stakes in Iowa, the Hawkeye State; New Hampshire.
And really, you know, this race could not be tighter right now. Romney has had momentum the last several weeks, as you know. There's some sign that that is slowing up. Both candidates hitting the campaign trail hard, racking up those frequent flyer miles, trying to hit as many of them as possible over this crucial weekend.
BANFIELD: That's if Hurricane Sandy doesn't change all of their plans, and how they campaign. And you too, mister. I can see you on that bus. I know you are sleeping on that thing, too. I am glad they gave you a lot of space.
My next question to you has to do with the way you travel versus the way they travel. Let me just say it's like first and second class. No, it's like first and eighth class. OK? And here's why I know that.
Here's Mr. Obama's campaign plan for Monday alone. And he would not be able to do it if he were on the bus. So he is going to be flying -- let's see -- Orlando, Florida, for President Clinton rally. Then Youngstown, Ohio, with the president, former president, then Prince William County in Virginia.
He goes on throughout the week to do Colorado Springs, Colorado; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Cincinnati, Ohio; Akron, Ohio -- you need a lot of jet fuel to pull this thing off. And Mitt Romney was not able to give us his campaign schedule.
Two seconds for you. Is that it, though? They're not going to the other states?
AVALON: I mean, you know, where they go, where they're spending the money, that's what's the must-win. You see President Obama campaigning with Bill Clinton. That's key outreach he needs to do to those centrist swing voters. And also that focus on Ohio. That hopscotch around Ohio. (Inaudible) --
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: OK.
AVALON: -- in Virginia. That tells you everything about the state of the race and the campaign strategy right now, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Thanks, John Avalon. Be safe. Tell your driver thank you.
And thank you -- AVALON: Thank you.
BANFIELD: -- everybody. Happy Friday. "NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL" starts now.
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