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Midterm Elections Could Change Washington; Liberians Stigmatized over Ebola in New York; Double Murder by British Banker in Hong Kong; Dying Basketball Player Plays in the NCAA.

Aired November 03, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Just about the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Tomorrow, big day, midterm elections could change the way Washington does business and force President Obama to deal with a Capitol Hill controlled by Republicans. Perhaps. Perhaps. The president has been mostly out of sight during the midterm election cycle, which means he has spent his last campaign attending party fundraisers and visiting blue states where his popularity remains relatively high. So, to the White House we go, to our correspondent there, Michelle Kosinski, who joins me.

And so really the question now, do we know about any last-minute campaign trips, Michelle, planned by the president or will he remain out of sight?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke.

Right, we want to know the same thing. We asked that question of the White House today and they said that there are things planned but they will mainly be robo calls that have been prerecorded, possibly some radio interviews. Unclear if those are live or prerecorded as well. But the president is certainly out of sight. In fact, we saw the first lady today traveling to Maryland. She has an event this afternoon. The president is having a very quiet day tomorrow as well leading up to the election. The White House says he's continuing to help support Democrats but no public events planned -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: When you follow-up and ask them why, what is their response?

KOSINSKI: That was interesting. We asked what do you think has been most effective and we have seen the president doing? We have seen him out and about. He had a very busy weekend and he made a number of stops, Detroit, Philadelphia, Connecticut. Like you mentioned, these are not those tight nail-biter races that the nation is looking at. And why is that? A lot of those vulnerable Democrats have not wanted to campaign with the president. In fact, they've been trying to distance themselves. So the White House doesn't really want to talk about that. When these questions are asked, they say, look, it's up to each race, each state, you really have to ask them those questions. What was effective and what has the president done? They did mention the president is always effective at getting out the vote and fundraising, and he's been at a number of fundraisers. But they say when you talk about the Democratic campaign committees, the president has done everything that they asked him to do -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: OK. Michelle Kosinski, for me at the White House, thank you so much.

And coming up next, we'll talk to CNN senior political analyst, David Gergen, on 2014 midterms after the break.

Plus, I travel to a neighborhood in New York known as Little Liberia. Talk to people who are from there originally. One woman says she still feels like she's there. She says this is worse than the civil war because at least she knew where the enemy was and where she could flee. With Ebola, she doesn't know. We talk about stigma. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Let's get to the man whose voice I love on all things politics. David Gergen joins me to talk all things midterms.

Nice to have you on, sir.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hello, Brooke. How are you?

BALDWIN: I'm doing all right.

Let's begin with the news of the day. When you look at the different polls, David Gergen, where we see some solidifying, as far as how Republicans are faring, my question to you is, why are we seeing these numbers? Is it because of some really strong candidates? Is it the president's unpopularity? Is it something else?

GERGEN: Mostly Republicans have picked a better crop of candidates than in the past. They don't have tea party types on broom sticks and that makes a winnable field like in Colorado where the candidate got endorsement of the "Denver Post," which rarely endorses Republicans. He's seen as mainstream and acceptable. That makes a big difference. The president's unpopularity. There's been a shift over the last four or five days toward Republicans but I would caution this. In the last 24 to 48 hours, a couple races we thought might be going heavily Republican and tighten in some of the polls. In Iowa, a seven-point lead by Ernst. A new poll today and it's tied up. We're not sure. This could be an active and interesting night.

BALDWIN: I've got you. Caution, this is not a done deal. Certainly not. I know that you have --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: -- having served four presidents. You have been at the White House during good times and bad. It's not a done deal. Let's if Republicans take control and you are advising the president, what should President Obama's response to that be? GERGEN: Well, my hope is that he would do two things. One is that

the next day he would take a clue from what Joe Biden told Gloria Borger earlier today on CNN, and that is be willing to work with the other side and reach out and try yet again. I know he's been disappointed and frustrated in the past. He has to give it one more shot. Republicans will have a lot of pressure to show they can govern as well as oppose. If they refuse to play, he can go back to his unilateral presidency.

But the other thing he has to do in my judgment is hit a reset button on his own team. He needs to strengthen the team and iron out some of the rivalries and troubles that have occurred, especially on the foreign policy side, where there's this memo floating around from the defense secretary questioning our strategy toward Syria and ISIS. That is something the president has to get straightened out on those questions.

BALDWIN: Refresh team, meaning are you saying, David Gergen, new people?

GERGEN: Well, I think, yes. I think he's got some people he relies on who are extraordinarily important to him. He ought to keep a lot of that inner circle people he trust. He needs to enlarge the inner circle and needs fresh thinking. Presidents have done that in the past. You know, within hours after results came in, George W. Bush fired Don Rumsfeld. It shook things up.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Maybe some shakeups certainly in the cabinet.

Let's also talk a little further down the line. You wrote this opinion piece for CNN.com, and it's an opinion piece. And you write, if Republicans take the Senate tomorrow, you write about this blue wall. They'll face this blue wall in a 2016 presidential race. 18 states that have gone for the Democrat in every election for the past 20 years, Democratic blue wall states, in your words. If the wall holds firm, the presidential nominee only has to win a handful of purple states to go over the top. Given that, what are the lessons for Republicans moving forward?

GERGEN: I think for the Republicans, it puts extra pressure on them to show they can be a governing party and an opposition party. As a ramp up in 2016, the Democrats -- when George W. Bush was in office, the Democrats used that midterm election in 2006, the final midterm election as a ramp up. It gave them a Democratic Congress. Republicans want to repeat that this time. If they can take the Senate, House and Senate, and then move on and take the White House, you have everything, and you can put into place a lot of agenda they've been talking about but have been frustrated about.

However, to get there, they do -- the road ahead is not clear. Big boulders up there and they are called the blue wall. Those are the 18 states plus the District of Columbia that have voted Democratic in the last six elections and given the Democratic nominee a great head start. You need 270 electoral votes to win. The Democratic nominee starts with 242. 28 shy. You get Florida and it's over.

It's important that Republicans understand, as much as they may gloat tomorrow night, if they win the Senate, and they have reason to gloat if they win the Senate, the road ahead is not clear. They'll have to earn their way there and bring independents with them in the months ahead in order to become a governing party. That makes politics much more interesting. Hopefully, hopefully, if the Republicans get the Senate, we can break out of some of this gridlock and address some of the underlying problems in the country. That would be something that voters would love and it would be so healthy for our politics.

BALDWIN: I think, full circle back to your point about Joe Biden's comments about compromise and communication, couldn't agree more.

David Gergen, thank you so much. We'll be watching you and everyone else tomorrow night.

GERGEN: Thank you. Great to talk to you again.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Really appreciate it.

It's the election that will shape the nation for the next two years. Make sure you join CNN for election night in America tomorrow. We'll be here until the final vote is counted.

And to this, Duke University Hospital is confirming today that testing on a potential Ebola patient has come back negative. The North Carolina State Department of Public Health will do additional testing but insist the patient's fever could indicate other illnesses.

Meantime, in New York, Dr. Craig Spencer, who has been upgraded from serious, but stable, to stable condition in his fight against Ebola. And that nurse in Maine, Kaci Hickox, is apologizing for causing an uproar in her town and will stay away from public places during that 21-day incubation window for Ebola. Nina Pham was reunited with her beloved dog, Bentley, who went into quarantine when Pham contracted Ebola.

Now let's be clear, there's no Ebola on Staten Island, New York, but for three immigrants living in the community, they call Little Liberia, it might as well be knocking on the front door. They are 4,000 miles away from their native country of Liberia where the virus has wiped out villages and left children as orphans, but they are dealing with grave effects here in the United States. A community leader forced on unpaid leave because she, months ago, visited her family in Liberia. A social worker helping refugees who are cast away because of fears of Ebola, and a mother who lost her sister, her niece, her nephew to Ebola, afraid to go home to the country she left.

I wanted to meet these people and have dinner with them and talk and get this out in the open to share stories of how they've been bullied and isolated and stigmatized for a disease they do not have and, therefore, cannot spread.

Here's part of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: I wanted to come meet as many Liberians as I could in New York and have dinner with you so thank you so much for inviting us in your home.

Let me just begin with you. You have family over there. You were in Liberia as recently as July.

ORETHA BESTMAN-YATES, PRESIDENT, STATEN ISLAND LIBERIAN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATING: Right.

BALDWIN: What has it been like for you living here in New York?

BESTMAN-YATES: I feel like I'm still in Liberia with Ebola. It is tough on us in the community, us Liberians. We have been stigmatized by our neighbors, our children have been bullied in schools, and we are here worrying about our loved ones in Liberia and to be going through this is devastating. I just hope that people can see us as people. Ebola is a virus that's looking for a host and it don't see color, it don't see a boundary or borders. It just want a host.

BALDWIN: Are you afraid to go home right now?

LOVE KROMAH, LIBERIAN IMMIGRANT: Nobody wants to die. For me, I don't want to die. My sister died.

BALDWIN: Your sister died?

KROMAH: Yeah. I don't want to die.

BALDWIN: The fact that you're losing family members over there and your friends are also dealing with this, is discrimination the right word? What's the right word?

BESTMAN-YATES: Stigmatized.

KROMAH: (INAUDIBLE). It's surprising.

BALDWIN: You mean you are getting this from other Africans?

KROMAH: Yeah.

BALDWIN: Do you find that even when you're speaking -- I read reports that just hearing the accent, people turn and they sort of do, like, I don't want to stand next to that person.

SOLOMON B. REEVES, SOCIAL WORKER: People always say that. We have people that have Ebola.

BALDWIN: Last time I checked, and I'm pretty well read, there's no Ebola on Staten Island?

REEVES: There's no Ebola.

BESTMAN-YATES: We're African.

BALDWIN: Tell me about the man on the bike?

BESTMAN-YATES: Riding his bike. Screaming at me. Get your ass back to Africa. You don't belong here. Take your freaking Ebola back with you. We don't want you here. Is he for real? My fear is somebody will attack us or attack me.

BALDWIN: No one knows when it ends. No one knows when it's over.

BESTMAN-YATES: That's the worst part.

BALDWIN: That's the worst part, right?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: That was part of our conversation. Oretha, Love, they all work with the Staten Island Liberian Community Association where they have raised $11,000. Some of them aren't working but they're raising money to send back to West African countries. Medical supplies for food. So stick around. There's much more of our interview coming up.

And a wealthy British banker accused of killing two young Indonesian women in his luxury high-rise apartment in Hong Kong. What his neighbors are saying about the shocking scene, next.

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BALDWIN: A double murder in an unlikely place, Hong Kong. Just 14 homicides in the first half of this year according to the police force there. Now you have this British banker who is accused of killing these two women in a crime scene that was, quote, unquote, "covered in blood," according to the "South China Morning Post."

CNN's Anna Coren has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dressed in black looking tired and disheveled, Rurik Jutting arrived in court escorted by police. The 29-year-old British investment banker, until recently, working for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch was charged with two counts of murder following the discovery inside his apartment.

Just before 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, Jutting called police from the 31st floor of his upscale residential building telling them to come and investigate. Authorities say, when officers arrived, they found the body of a young Indonesian woman lying on the floor, her throat slashed. There were also cuts to her buttocks. Hours later, police discovered a second female body with wounds to the neck stuffed in a suitcase outside on the balcony.

Residents in the building tell CNN there was an extremely foul smell inside the luxury apartments. Many expressing complete shock after learning what caused it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's shocking. COREN (on camera): Not much is known about these two women who were

violently murdered. But it's believed that they frequented the red light district of Hong Kong. It's just two blocks from where Rurik Jutting lived.

(voice-over): Some of the women that work in the red light district tell us they knew the victims, however, were reluctant to share many details.

(CROSSTALK)

COREN: While Bank of America acknowledged that Jutting worked for them until recently, they refused to comment on the case.

It's believed the Cambridge graduate joined the investment bank in London back in 2010, moving to Hong Kong last year.

Jutting did not enter a plea but will appear in court again next week.

Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Now to the story about this young woman who is dying of brain cancer. One last wish, a chance to play basketball, a sport she loved at the college level. She got much more than that. A packed gym watching her realize her dream on the court. Her touching story is next.

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BALDWIN: College freshman, Lauren Hill, was clearly the star of the court Sunday night.

(CHEERING)

BALDWIN: I tell you, this young woman, her name was plastered on posters in the stands. Her number painted on fans' faces. Listen to the cheers. And cheers for her team echoed through the jam-packed basketball arena. Why? Because the 19 year old is playing her first and, most likely, her last college game. Hill is dying from a rare form of brain cancer. And when doctors told her she didn't have much time left, her school asked the NCAA if it could move up its season opener game by two weeks allowing Hill to play. And play she did. She scored the first two points of the game, becoming the first college player to sink a basket in the 2014-2015 season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUREN HILL, BASKETBALL PLAYER DYING OF RARE BRAIN CANCER: I don't want it to be my last game and I don't plan on it being my last game and even if I can't play, you know, if I'm in a wheelchair by then or anything that happens, I'm still going to try to be there with my team and be there to support them because they've always been here to support me. And now that more people know about this story and awareness, I'm so happy that people know about it now and that we can get some research going and hopefully find that home run cure for cancer. And even though I'm probably not going to be around to see it, but it's going to help a lot of people. And it's going to help everybody and that's why we need to keep staying with this and not just ending with this game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: My goodness. What strength she has. In fact, legendary women's basketball coach, Pat Summitt, presented her with the Most Courageous Award there on the hardwood. This is a distinction normally reserved for a woman's coach or player during the final four. All of this after weeks of national support for Hill in the form of the hash tag campaign, #LayupsforLaurenchallenge, taken up by the Cincinnati Bengals and Garth Brooks. And Hill led her team to a 66-55 victory.