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Candidates Make Final Push; Candidates Blitz the Buckeye State; Romney's Sprint for the Finish; Obama Making Final Push; Paul Ryan Gives Speech in Mansfield, Ohio; Concerns About Voting Machine Software; Partisan Business of Poll Watching; Down to the Wire; 30,000 Plus Could Need Housing in NYC; 10K Sandwiches Given to Sandy Survivors; Where the Presidents Slept

Aired November 04, 2012 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney are making their final push for the White House in these last two days before Election Day.

The president campaigned with former President Bill Clinton in New Hampshire this morning. Obama also has Florida, Ohio and Colorado on his schedule.

This morning Mitt Romney was in Des Moines, and later today he'll rally in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Stay with CNN. We'll have live coverage of all the action from the campaign trail.

We have a team of reporters in the battleground states covering all the angles. So no Republican candidate has ever won the White House without winning Ohio, and Mitt Romney is there right now campaigning in the Democratic stronghold of Cleveland.

CNN's Jim Acosta is traveling with Romney and joins us from there now, full house. Jim, this is the second of four events today for Romney. Is Romney crafting his message to Democrats, by chance, in that Democratic stronghold city to kind of help change their minds at all?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He has been doing that, Fredricka, over the last 48 hours as he has been delivering his closing argument. He has been making overt appeals to Democratic voters out there saying that if he is elected president, he will work across party lines to get the country back on track.

And Fredricka, what we're seeing today is Mitt Romney sort of bringing some closure to his long run for the presidency. He wrapped up his final western stop in Colorado last night, and then earlier this morning, as you mentioned, he was in Des Moines, Iowa. That was his last stop in the Central Time zone.

We're now in the Eastern Time zone for Mitt Romney for the duration of this campaign. He has going to be out here at this location we are at near the Cleveland airport in just a few moments from now. But he has been delivering that closing message to voters. Part of that has been really aimed at the economy, saying the president will only bring four more years of the last four years as he likes it put that out on the campaign trail.

And he is asking questions to voters saying, would you rather have what he calls real change. And then the other thing that he is doing, Fredricka, later on this afternoon you mentioned he's got two more stops. He's heading to the battleground state of Pennsylvania next.

The Obama campaign has called that an act of desperation noting that that state has mainly gone for Democratic presidential candidates in recent elections, but the Romney campaign points to the polls that have been closing between these two candidates in Pennsylvania.

And they're noting the fact that President Obama is sending perhaps his top surrogate, Bill Clinton, there tomorrow as evidence that maybe it isn't such a crazy idea. So it's going to be interesting to watch what Mitt Romney has to say in a few moments from now here in Ohio.

His campaign in the state has run into some controversy lately with respect to an ad he has been running in the north eastern Ohio area, talking about how Chrysler is starting to build jeeps out in China.

The Obama campaign has gone after that ad calling it misleading, not mentioning in the ad that Chrysler is still building cars in Ohio, and in fact, expanding production in Toledo, and the Romney campaign has had some of its top surrogates out on the Sunday talk shows this morning defending that ad.

So it will be interesting to see if Mitt Romney touches on that subject here. And one last thing, Fredricka, I have to tell you. We are hearing some signs of confidence from the Romney campaign even though they are slightly behind the president in a slew of recent battleground polls.

They're saying that they're going to win on Tuesday, and you're hearing some talk inside the Romney campaign that they feel they're going to win big, perhaps more than 300 electoral votes. Of course, there is only way to find out. We have to watch and see what happens on Tuesday -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, and those ads hitting a particular soft spot given one in eight their work in the auto industry in some capacity. All right, Jim Acosta, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

Meantime, President Barack Obama is making his final push for votes today. He was in the battleground state of New Hampshire earlier today. In the next hour, he will be in Hollywood, Florida.

White House correspondent, Brianna Keilar is already there, also a huge crowd in position. So Brianna, what's the message that the president will be focusing on in a state that he won in 2008, but it's not so clear this time around?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's not so clear, Fredricka. The polls are very close here between President Obama and Mitt Romney, and when you look at the Obama campaign strategy, clearly Ohio is playing a bigger role than Florida is, although obviously the hope is to keep Florida is President Obama's column.

The message is his closing message that he will be saying to these people here, you may be frustrated with the pace of change, but stick with me, you know we're going to the right direction. My economic policies are working, and you know what you're going to get with me, not so much with Mitt Romney.

I can tell you this is a very enthusiastic crowd. We've been traveling where the president has been going for the last few days, and I can tell just that this is a crowd that already is very excited.

And also I'm sure it doesn't help -- it's beautiful here, 82 degrees and sunny. We've seen people, and there's some people behind the camera that you can't see, they've been doing the wave, they've been yelling four more years, and it's still hours before President Obama will be here -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, and is there any indication there that the crowd is made up of any real undecided or even some Republicans? Because if the president is feeling like, you know, this is indeed a swing state and he's got to appeal to the other side, if he's preaching to the choir, then what good is that going to do?

KEILAR: Well, I think pretty much when you go to a campaign event, he is definitely preaching to the choir, and I would say the same is the case for Mitt Romney. These are not undecided voters. I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say that.

But the message to come here to Florida, it isn't just about reaching the thousands of people who will see him here, it's about the press coverage, it's about making Florida a priority, and that's very key this time around, especially when you're talking about early voting.

There is a controversy here in Florida. Early voting wrapped up last night, that was the last day, and there were long, long lines, Fredricka. People who stood in line for hours, and so because of that, the Democratic Party of Florida actually filed suit early this morning trying to get early voting extended.

In 2008, early voting went for 14 days. This go-around is just eight days. Florida's legislature, which is Republican controlled, limited it, and it's also because early voting does tend to benefit Democrats.

The other interesting thing is it's Sunday right now. In 2008, this would have been a day for early voting, and the Obama campaign organized with a lot of African-American supporters to go straight from church on Sunday and go out to vote. That's not the case this year.

So what you're seeing today is obviously this suit that is in place, but there are also some elected officials who have found a loophole in this law. And what they're doing is absentee ballots. You can go in to Florida today in person, request your absentee ballot, turn around and turn it in, in person. So it's kind of like early voting although the ballot is processed a little differently.

But obviously, the Obama campaign very concerned about early voting. Democrats really want to make that sure anyone who wants to vote, can, because Democrats, there are a number of voters who support them.

But they are not necessarily reliable Election Day voters, African- American voters, Latino voters, young voters and Democrats want them squarely in their corner -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brianna Keilar, thanks so much from Hollywood, Florida. All right, let's go back to Ohio now, the battleground state, vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, there now in Mansfield. Let's listen in.

REPRESENTATIVE PAUL RYAN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: -- I went to Miami, Ohio. My buddy, Hatch Blackstone, from Miami is here with his family. My buddy, Jeff Beers, a guy who grew up here and a very intelligent young woman who works with me on my staff, Nicole Stoltz, is here with her family as well. I've been hearing about Mansfield since I was about 18 years old. Nice to meet you all.

In our communities, we're taught that the American dream is there right for us, that we can make of our lives what we want to in this country. That's what we do. We go to schools like Miami, Ohio. We think about what we want our lives to be.

And then we graduate and we want an economy that has those opportunities for us. Look, these are serious times. We need serious solutions. That's not what we're getting from President Obama, that's the problem.

The president came in with so much promise, with such great rhetoric. You know what he said four years ago? He said, if you don't have any fresh ideas then he used stale tactics to scare voters. You paint your opponent as someone people should run from if you don't have a record to run on.

You make a big election of small things. That's what he said four years ago when he ran for president, and that's exactly what he has become now that he is president. And the reason is really pretty simple. He has a terrible record to run on.

He can't run on his record, 23 million people are struggling for work. People like we grew up with in our hometowns who lost that great job they had that paid them great wages with good benefits are in between jobs.

We have 15 percent of our fellow citizens who are living in poverty today. This is the highest poverty rate in a generation. We're 9 million jobs shy of where President Obama said we would be if only he could borrow all this money and spend it on his stimulus program.

Look, it didn't work out the way it was promised. He said he would bring people together to solve the country's biggest problems. He said he would cut the deficit in half. He said he would create all these jobs. The deficits doubled.

It's the most partisan atmosphere, it's the most divisive climate in Washington I've ever seen and the jobs are nowhere near where they can be. This maybe the best job President Obama can do, but it's not the best we can do.

And I have to tell you, when the president said the other day that people should vote out of revenge, this is not who we are. Mitt Romney and I are asking you to vote out of love of country, because that's how we get this country back on the right track. That's the big vision.

Look, if borrowing and taxing and spending and regulating and money printing works, we would have known by now. The Obama economic agenda failed not because it was stopped, it failed because it was passed.

Let's remember he came in with his party in total control and thus came the war on coal, thus came the war on our energy jobs, then came the big new tax increase coming in January and all these new regulations and all this borrowing.

Look, when we look our children in the eyes, you saw ours, they're 7, 9 and 10 years old. When I was growing up, my dad used to tell me a couple of things. He used to say, son, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution.

He usually said that to me when I was being part of the problem, but he also would say, in this country, each generation of Americans makes things better for the next generation. That's the American legacy.

We, for the first time ever in this nation, we know without a shred of doubt we are con signing our children to a lower standard of living, to a burden of debt they can't handle. We can't do that. We have a moral obligation to deal with this now so that we can preserve the American dream and the American legacy for our children and our grandchildren and that is exactly what Mitt Romney and I are going to do. We are not going to run away from these problems.

WHITFIELD: All right, you're watching vice presidential nominee, Paul Ryan, there in Mansfield, Ohio. The Romney-Ryan camp will stay in Ohio. We're still waiting for presidential candidate Mitt Romney who will be joining the crowd in Cleveland, Ohio. When that happens, we'll take you there live.

Meantime, this programming note, be sure to join our Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer as they take a close look at the candidates' final push before the election in "America's Choice 2012, Countdown to Election Day." That's tonight 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

With a slew of new voting rules in many states, home monitors are being immobilized by both parties for this election. We'll tell you why.

And in New Jersey, Sandy is taking its toll on voting. I'll tell you how they're getting creative to get the ballots in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In New Jersey, people who were displaced by the storm will be able to vote electronically. Governor Chris Christie says voters can e-mail or fax their votes.

And we all know that Ohio is one of the key states President Obama and Mitt Romney are battling to win, and voting rights advocates there are already raising some concerns.

The worry started after a report in the "Columbus Free Press" that Ohio's Secretary of State Jon Husted had, quote, "experimental software patches installed in voting machines in 39 counties."

Voting rights activists say the software could potentially impact more than 4 million votes. The free press also says the software was never independently certified or tested.

CNN's Don Lemon spoke to the secretary of state last night and gave him a chance to respond to those allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON HUSTED (R), OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE: We have a new election night reporting system. All we have is an ability for them to load the data into that election reporting system, and actually, it's so -- the reporting system and the actual accounting system are not connected in any way.

And the results that anybody can get in their home on the computer, they're going to get them the same time I do on election night. So we have a very transparent system that's brand new and will help people across this country, across the world, frankly, look right at our web site and find what is going on.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So nothing fishy going on?

HUSTED: Nothing fishy going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Husted also said that 1.6 million early votes have already been cast in Ohio and that tops the 1.4 million who voted early in 2008. Early voting in Ohio continues through Monday.

To keep voting fair, each side in the election, Republicans and Democrats, are sending out monitors to watch polling across the country. CNN's crime and justice correspondent, Joe Johns, explains what role they're trying to play.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Long lines in South Florida and in Cincinnati, Ohio, as early voting comes to a close. And those aren't the only crowds this hotly contested election is attractive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten thousand grassroots and legal volunteers across the country on Election Day.

CHRISTIAN ADAMS, TRUE THE VOTE: Everywhere, they're going to be everywhere. They've trained people in 50 states to legally poll watch.

JOHNS: Lawyers and poll watchers of all political stripes descending on Ohio and across the country in search of any issues that needs to be challenged.

ERIC MARSHALL, ELECTION PROTECTION: We're looking for long lines that might be a result of machines breaking down, poll workers that might be asking the wrong questions, asking for I.D. when they shouldn't be.

JOHNS: Groups like the left-leaning "Election Protection" have been training for weeks so they're ready to respond to any problems at the polls in realtime.

ANDREW SCHLICHTER, ELECTION PROTECTION VOLUNTEER: With all the changes nationally in the voting laws, I think we're prepared for there to be a significant amount of confusion on Election Day.

JOHNS: But controversy over how some of the organizations do their job, poll watching has become a partisan business.

(on camera): What do you think of the "Election Protection" people?

ADAMS: Look, they have problems.

JOHNS: Former Justice Department lawyer Christian Adams now represents "True The Vote," a Tea Party-affiliated group with a simple goal.

ADAMS: Free and fair elections, "True The Vote" stands for election integrity. Follow the law, period.

JOHNS: But "True The Vote" has real critics of their own from the left.

REPRESENTATIVE ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: "True The Vote" has been consistently challenging the voting rights of legitimate voters. We must address anybody who tries to deny anybody that right to vote. I consider it criminal. I consider it unpatriotic, and highly offensive.

JOHNS: A claim Adams does not take lightly.

ADAMS: They're liars. They're bearing false witness against law- abiding citizens who are doing no more than observing the process, and they should be ashamed of themselves.

JOHNS: Whatever the election watchers find, it may ultimately be up to superlawyers like Ted Olson to determine whether to go to court. Olson, a Romney advisor, led Republicans to victory in the Supreme Court battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore in 2000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm clearing my calendar just in case I need to be ready for the next five weeks.

JOHNS: He says if election officials want to avoid litigation, they shouldn't change direction in the middle of the game.

THEODORE OLSON, 2000 BUSH CAMPAIGN LAWYER: If you follow the rules that were in place on Election Day with respect to counting the ballots, then the presumptive outcome will be respected when the Electoral College votes are counted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, Joe Johns joining us live now. So what is happening with the extension of early voting in Florida?

JOHNS: Well, live fire litigation. This is over the right to vote in this election already in the state of Florida, Fred. The Florida Democratic Party has filed a request for a temporary restraining order against the Florida secretary of state and three county election supervisors.

They want an order saying it's OK to allow absentee voting to continue today because the lines in South Florida were so incredibly long yesterday, which was supposed to be the last day of early voting. But here's the thing. Democratic sources tell us that several counties, we don't know how many, including Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange, Leon along with Miami-Dade and Broward, already saying they're allowing absentee voting right now.

So it looks like they're basically trying to get the court to go along with them in what looks like a work-around. The problem is the state legislature also revealed a number of early voting days and the secretary of state has already refused to extend them. So it could be a fight.

WHITFIELD: My goodness, this is two days before Election Day so it's already getting kind of hairy. All right, thanks so much, Joe Johns.

All right, meantime, we're expecting Mitt Romney to speak in Cleveland any minute now. I'll bring that to you live as it happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, it's the final push. It's two days before Election Day and Mitt Romney is there in what is traditionally a Democratic stronghold city of Cleveland, Ohio. They're hoping to change the minds. Let's listen in to Ann Romney.

ANN ROMNEY, WIFE OF MITT ROMNEY: -- I'm very happy and excited to introduce to you the next president of the United States.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She's quite a woman. She's quite a woman, I got to tell you! Thank you. Boy, what a welcome. Thank you so very much. You guys are fabulous, your voices, by the way, are being heard all over the nation and they're being heard loud and clear.

Ann and I hear them in our hearts as well. Thank you very much for your support and help. I want to thank many of you in this room who are doing the hard work of the campaign, making calls from our victory centers and putting up signs in your yard or perhaps in your neighbor's yard.

And perhaps convincing a co-worker to vote for Paul Ryan and me and now let's make sure that we get everyone to the polls either now or on Tuesday. We've got to win this for America!

What makes this rally and all of your work so inspiring is that you're here because you care about America. This campaign is about America and about the future we're going to leave to our children. We thank you and we ask you to stay at it all the way, all the way to victory on Tuesday night!

Perhaps there are a few members of your family and friends who haven't made up their mind as to who to vote for. I would ask them to put aside all the speeches and all the ads and all the attacks and look at the record. Because, you see, talk is cheap. But a record, it's real, and it's earned with real effort. Change not measured in words and speeches. Change is measured in achievements. So let's look at that record.

Let's see, four years ago, let's look at the promises the president made. He promised to do so very much, but frankly, he fell so very short. He promised to be a post-partisan president, but he's been most partisan, blaming, attacking, and dividing.

It's not only Republicans he refused to listen to, he also refused to listen to independent voices. He was going to focus on creating jobs instead he focused on Obamacare which killed jobs.

He said he was going to cut the deficit in half, but then he doubled it. He said unemployment would now be at 5.2 percent, and today, well, actually, on Friday we learned it was 7.9 percent, almost 9 million jobs short of what he promised.

I mean, you think about this. Unemployment today is higher than when Barack Obama took office. He promised that he would put in place a plan to save Medicare and Social Security from insolvency. He didn't.

In fact, he took $716 billion out of Medicare to pay for his bond to Obamacare. He said it would lower premiums on your health insurance plan. By 2005, it should be for a family by now. Anybody seen this reduction?

No, in fact, for an average family, it's gone up $3,000 a year. A gallon of gasoline is up 3.5 percent. He said he would work across the aisle on issues that matter most to the American people. Do you know he has not met on the economy or on the budget or on jobs with either Republican leader of the House or the Senate since July?

Instead of bridging the divide, he's made it wider. Now, so many of you look at the big debates in this country and you don't look at them as a Republican or as a Democrat, but first as an American.

You've watched what's happened in this country over the last four years with an independent voice. You hoped that president Obama would live up to his promise to bring people together, to solve big problems, but he hasn't. And I will.

Let me tell you why he fell so short of what he promised because he cared more about a liberal agenda than he did about repairing the economy. Did Obamacare create new jobs? Did his war on coal and oil and gas create new jobs?

Did his Dodd/Frank regulations make it easier for banks to make more loans? Does raising taxes put people to work? Does his avalanche of new regulations help small business?

Well, you got it right. Almost every measure he took hurt the economy. And it hurt our fellow Americans, 23 million Americans are struggling to find a good job. One in six are poor in America today, and the middle class, even those that have a job.

The middle class is being squeezed with lower take-home pay and higher costs for insurance and gasoline and for food and clothes. I spoke yesterday with a wife of a 60-year-old man in the prime of his life, of course. You and I agree, don't we, yes.

He said that he has been working as a welder at a company for 40 years, but he just got laid off. He asked what I could he asked what I could do to help. He made one thing very clear. He doesn't want a government check, he wants a job. The government is not the answer. More good jobs, that's the answer!

WHITFIELD: All right, you've been listening to Mitt Romney there in Cleveland, Ohio stumping for votes there. We're going to get the strategy of both campaigns this weekend. Just two days now right before Election Day.

The president will be visiting Florida, another swing state, later on this afternoon, but it's Ohio, Ohio, Ohio that both candidates seem to be spending an awful lot of time in today. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Two days to go and the race for the White House is down to the wire. Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are burning up a lot of jet fuel campaigning across key battleground states.

A.B. Stoddard is associate editor of "The Hill" newspaper and joins us now from Washington. Good to see you, A.B.

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "THE HILL": Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: So these candidates are putting a lot of stock into Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida in these last few days of campaigning. Is there a feeling that this is at all influential?

STODDARD: Ohio is still a goal for Mitt Romney. His campaign is confident that they are gaining ground there and that despite the polls showing the president having a slight edge there, they can win it.

You've seen really good rallies for him there this weekend, good turnout, but he's still going to Virginia where he really feels he needs to shore up support and hold off President Obama.

They're feeling better about Florida, but remember, there are a whole other handful of states, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado and New Hampshire that they need to worry about as well. So with a 48-48 tied race, even though both campaigns are confident, they are both nervous.

WHITFIELD: But it would seem there was an argument made by both camps that there were an awful lot of undecided two days now before Election Day. Is that the case?

STODDARD: That's not what the polls show, but of course, there is a big argument that we're going to be having a real debate about the integrity of these polls. A lot of the Republicans think the samples are heavily Democratic.

That they're not using correct population models, and we're going to see who's right and who's wrong in a few days. But I think there are very few undecided at this point.

What these final days are about are getting your own supporters into the car. That's more of a challenge, I think, for President Obama than it is for Mitt Romney who has intensity on his side.

WHITFIELD: So what is the consensus as to whether many Americans will vote this season versus what we saw in 2008 where it was just record turnout across the board?

STODDARD: Well, as I said, I do think Republicans really, really are energized to fire Barack Obama. Think they'll turn out more to do that than with John McCain, and I think that Mitt Romney really has an edge with voter excitement and energy, if you will.

WHITFIELD: But the problem is Democrats are not as galvanized.

STODDARD: The Democrats are not as galvanized, but President Obama and his team will tell you that they're going to make up that ground with their superior ground game that they think is going to turn out the election for them. Because they are going to identify their voters after four years of trying with great resources and energy gets them to the polls.

WHITFIELD: Let's change gears a little bit because let's talk about what's taking place in the northeast and the concern about voters getting out in New Jersey and New Hampshire, and you know, looking -- kind of as we were anticipating that storm, we were kind of looking into the crystal ball, you and I, when we talked last Sunday.

And you said it wouldn't likely influence voters. But then you had scenes of President Obama along with Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and that kind of showed a bipartisanship. You had Chris Christie praising the president.

And one now has to wonder, of those voters who will be going to the polls in the New Jersey and New York area hit by the storm, if what took place early in this week, is a giant influencing factor to get them to, you know, certainly support President Obama?

STODDARD: Well, President Obama is going to win New York and New Jersey. He doesn't have to worry about that. He has to worry though across the country --

WHITFIELD: Will that resonate across the country, in your view?

STODDARD: I think the fact he's not made a mistake in his handling of the response to the storm and he's done a good job and eight out of ten Americans feel he's done a great, excellent job that might get his supporters really uplifted and inspired to go vote for him and maybe knock on doors this final weekend.

I don't know -- at the same time, I do think that there are people who are really down. They either have relatives in that area. They live in an influential swing state or battleground state.

And they're feeling that this coverage of people fighting in gas lines, not able to get on buses to get to work, bridges closing, really struggling for food in some areas, that this is really sad, it's really heartbreaking, and that's not the kind of thing that usually makes you go for the status quo.

WHITFIELD: They seem to be turning their anger at the city mayor, Mayor Bloomberg in particular at that, not necessarily at the presidential level.

STODDARD: I think Barack Obama did not make a mistake. I think he did a good job in his response. It's important Mitt Romney not make a mistake. I think it put a pause on Romney's momentum and that perhaps helped the president.

I don't think it makes him an undecided voter who doesn't like either of the candidates who a week ago change their mind for President Obama.

WHITFIELD: All right, A.B. Stoddard, thanks so much, of "The Hill." Great to see you.

STODDARD: Thank you. Great to be with you.

WHITFIELD: And of course, we're going to get the latest on how much power has been restored to the superstorm Sandy victims, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: One week after superstorm Sandy and here's what we know. The storm is blamed for 111 deaths in the U.S. Meantime, some survivors of the storm are in desperate need of a place to live. In New York City alone, Governor Andrew Cuomo estimates between 30,000 to 40,000 people could need housing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: People are in homes that are uninhabitable. It's going to be increasingly clear that they're uninhabitable when the temperature goes down and the heat doesn't go on.

That's when they're going to know they are uninhabitable. People don't like to leave their homes, but the reality is going to be in the temperature and then we're going to have tens of thousands of people who need housing solutions right away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: As for power, Con Edison has restored service to more than 75 percent of the customers in New York, but the millions who remain without power now have to deal with the cold front.

Forecasters say temperatures are expected to drop below freezing tonight and tomorrow evening. The American Red Cross is moving 80,000 blankets into the region ahead of colder weather.

All right, let's head to Belmar, New Jersey now. That's where Jim Clancy is. Jim, that part of the Jersey Shore was hit pretty hard. What kind of progress are you able to see at this juncture?

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're looking down Ocean Avenue here behind me. This was the beating heart, really, of the shoreline in Belmar, no doubt about that, their boardwalk completely ripped up.

They have a couple of lakes inland in this town. They filled up with water. The town center flooded. Hundreds and hundreds of people were forced out of their homes, had to be rescued, and they've had to pump that water out.

Let me show you what the situation was like at the beginning of the week when we were here earlier. You can see that the waters were high, that there were problems. They were putting the pumps in place. They've been pumping 60,000 gallons a minute out of there.

Let me show you what it looked like today when we took a look. You can see the water has dropped by about 3 feet or more. They're going to continue pumping. Meantime, here on the ground they're continuing to haul away sand, continuing to haul away debris.

Let me show you. They're putting some debris now. They're scooping this up throughout the town. As the water recedes and goes back to those lakes, they're able to scoop up the debris on the streets.

They're coming back slowly but surely. It's a lot of hard work and they know it, they expect it, and they're ready to do it -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jim Clancy, thanks so much. A tough road ahead, indeed.

All right, we're headed to the weather-battered streets of Long Island next where hands are helping others get back on their feet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: While survivors of Sandy deal with the cold and seek shelter, they're also in need of another necessity, food. Joining me on the phone is Randi Shubin Dresner, the president and CEO of Island Harvest, the food bank that serves Long Island, New York.

So Randi, I understand you've put yourself in action in a very different way, to what extent?

RANDI SHUBIN DRESNER, CEO, FOOD BANK (via telephone): We're in emergency mode now. My staff has been working seven days a week bringing food out into the communities all across Long Island.

WHITFIELD: Ordinarily people come to you. In this case you're going to them. I understand you've made something like 10,000 sandwiches. How are you able to distribute them? How do you find the need?

DRESNER: Well, the sandwiches and the food are coming from the community, from distributors and wholesalers and also the community. We are literally driving into the communities, going to the fire stations.

We're at the mayor's offices right now, and they showed us the devastated areas, and we took our trucks there and distributed food right to the people.

WHITFIELD: What's happening when you interact with people who are receiving the food, these sandwiches, what are they saying to you?

DRESNER: My goodness, it's unbelievable. Yesterday, I met three people who told me that they were contributors of Island Harvest. They never expected that they'd be on the other side of the truck taking food. It's devastating.

WHITFIELD: Randi Shubin Dresner, I know people really appreciate all that you're doing. Thanks so much and all the best in your continued efforts.

DRESNER: Thank you. Appreciate it.

WHITFIELD: All right, and this straight ahead. We can't promise Secret Service protection, but we can guarantee that you'll live like the leader of the free world. Yes, the president actually stays there, and you could, too.

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WHITFIELD: Houston, Waikiki, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. they all sound like great vacation destinations and all these places have received the presidential treatment. That's because former U.S. presidents have stayed in hotels in all of those cities, and you can, too.

Earlier I spoke with Kate Maxwell, the editor-in-chief of "Jet Setter" and we started with a hotel in the epicenter of all things political, The Madison in Washington, D.C.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE MAXWELL, EDITOR IN CHIEF, JETSETTER.COM: The Madison is named for James Madison, the fourth president of the U.S. It hosted some presidents. Bush stayed there, George Bush when in transition to the White House.

So, you know, it's got lots and lots of history going on there. It's also prime position in D.C. It's only five blocks from the White House. JFK attended the opening in 1963. It cost $179 a night.

WHITFIELD: Let's go west coast now. San Francisco. What presidents have stayed at the Fairmont Hotel?

MAXWELL: The Fairmont is the first Fairmont, actually. It opened in 1906. It's on Knob Bill. It's a prime, prime position. It's where the U.N. charter was drafted in 1945 so also all sorts of history there too.

So while you're in San Francisco, make sure you take the tram and go to Alcatraz. You know how much I love Napa. It's a two hour drive away.

WHITFIELD: And what's the price point?

MAXWELL: That's $279 a night.

WHITFIELD: Let's go to Houston, Texas, a hotel called the Husetonian. And I'm sure this is a favorite of the Bush family as if they need a place to stay in Texas.

MAXWELL: Of course, it is. It's a Bush home from home, if you like. It's like a country club in the city of you might bump into George Bush Sr. at the Manner Restaurant or Barbara Bush in the spa. There is also an enormous activity center, 25,000 square foot.

They have a rock climbing wall. They have lots of personal trainers. It's a really, really fun place to hang out. And that costs from $179. It is also very near the city's great art district and lots of great shopping.

WHITFIELD: All right, that, too, fairly reasonable. All right, let's go to Hawaii. You've always got to carve out a lot of time to make that trip. Tell us about the hotel that is now one to visit.

MAXWELL: So every president since Lyndon Johnson has stopped by here including Barack Obama in his 2008 presidential campaign. It's a peaceful hotel on 800 foot white sand beach.

Also it's a water sports, of course, the paddling. I believe Obama likes to do. There is fishing. There's snorkling and scuba diving and had a costs -- that's a bit more expensive. That's from $661 a night at the moment.

WHITFIELD: Wow! It's a gorgeous view no matter where you are in Hawaii. Who is going to complain?

MAXWELL: Exactly. This is just 10 minutes from Waikiki. It feels completely isolated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That's Kate Maxwell from "Jet Setter." For more travel tips from Jet Setter, visit jetsetter.com/getaway.

All right, President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak in Florida. This next hour, we'll bring that to you live.

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