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Huge Storm Slams Southeast; Why Voting Matters; Man Accused of D.C. Terror Plot

Aired October 27, 2010 - 13:59   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Here's what I've got on the "Rundown" for this hour.

Tornadoes, massive power outages, flight cancelations, a severe storm systems raging for a second day and not letting up yet. We'll show you some of the damage left behind.

Six days to go and politicians trying hard to get their message out. But if you're thinking about skipping the polls and staying home, you might be surprised to learn how many midterm elections shaped many the rights you enjoy today.

The mastermind behind the 3D phenomenon we rush out to see. Jeffrey Katzenberg will join me in the studio to talk about the future of 3D.

Back to that storm. Huge and dangerous, potentially deadly. It does not look like that's in the southeast of the United States. It looks like it's up above the great lakes but it's slowly moving east. And what you see now are pictures at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International airport. Look at that. It looks like the end of the world.

This nasty weather is causing some arriving flights to be delayed an average of half an hour, which is not bad for a busy airport like that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: We're going to go to Carroll County, Georgia, part of metro Atlanta. The town of Whitesburg was hit hard by a storm a little while ago.

Adam Murphy is with our affiliate WGCL. He took cover earlier in City Hall as that storm hit.

Adam, that was quite dramatic what happened there.

ADAM MURPHY, REPORTER, WGCL: Unbelievable. I mean, we're seeing another round of these heavy storms coming through Whitesburg right now. And like I said, I want to put this in perspective.

We're about an hour southwest of Atlanta in a very small town. And they have seen some very heavy rain. They've seen certainly high winds as well. And inside City Hall, the rain was so heavy, that it caused about an inch of flooding. And they're dealing with that right now, trying to clean everything up. But really causing havoc here at City Hall in Whitesburg, Georgia.

And residents around town have seen some minimal damage, some roof damage with shingles being blown off, and mailboxes have toppled as well. But as you all were talking about, we just keep seeing one band after another of heavy storms that blow through. And just when you think it's going to go away and clear up, we see another one of these storms come through.

Now, I want to point out one other thing that has people really concerned in this town. There is a tornado siren that did not sound when the warning was issued. So a lot of people are really upset about that.

We're certainly looking into that matter as well. And they're trying to figure out why that siren didn't sound, but it could have been a real problem had there been some sort of tornado that touched down.

VELSHI: Right, absolutely. And as we've seen, the damage that can come from tornadoes is much stronger than what we're even used to usually with hurricanes.

Adam, thank for you that.

Adam Murphy is a reporter with WGCL.

Let me go right back to Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: All right. Let's talk about voting. We're less than a week from midterm elections. Are you one of those people who feels like your vote doesn't matter, that nothing ever changes? Well, as we're counting down to Election Day, see how midterm elections of the past helped shape some of the biggest rights that we enjoy today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Midterms next Tuesday. Are you voting?

Here, "CNN Equals Politics," but a lot of people feel politics doesn't equal change, particularly at times like this when people feel like they want change. It can, and here's why.

There are a lot of issues out there -- the economy, health care, taxes. Chances are you have got an opinion about them. But this year your opinion doesn't mean change unless you vote in the midterm elections.

Let's talk about women for instance.

A midterm Congress that citizens voted for is responsible for the 19th Amendment that gave women a voice. It was we, the people, that voted for the midterm Congress that passed the 1963 Equal Pay Act prohibiting different wages based on gender. And that same Congress historically outlawed major forms of discrimination and segregation in passing the famous Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Today, America has been battered by war, jobs, lost homes, political gridlock over a spectrum of issues. Your chance to have a voice to actually effect change is in the ballot box next Tuesday.

Let's bring in our two friends, Mark Skoda, founder of the Memphis Tea Party, and CNN political contributor Donna Brazile.

Good to see you both.

Donna, good to see you on the show. We haven't had you here for a while.

As I talked to Mark about last hour, we're not talking about partisan stuff. We're not talking about going out to vote because you want to throw these bums out or you wan to get these bums in. Why is it important to realize that you really need to go out and vote in these midterm elections?

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Because your vote is your voice. It's your power in a democracy. It's the opportunity to put qualified men and women into office who will not just fight for the issues that you are concerned about, but also look at the larger picture about fighting for the middle class, fighting for the United States of America, to retain its competitive age.

This is a very important election for many reasons. One is -- and I think Mark will agree with this -- is that the American people are concerned about the size of government. What is the proper role of government?

This election will determine so many big issues that we face as Americans. And I would hope that most people who are listening to us at this hour will go out and cast their ballot early so that they're not worried about if they can get to the polls on time before it closes on election night.

VELSHI: And lineups and weather and all those kinds of things.

Mark, what of the fact that the people more motivated to vote in this election are those who have been on the outside, Republicans, to some degree, those who seem to want to agitate for change more? I mean, is it a problem that the turnout might be lopsided?

MARK SKODA, FOUNDER, MEMPHIS TEA PARTY: Well, you know, here in our state, we're seeing a very large turnout by Republicans. We are seeing the press turn on the Democrats. There's not a lot of excitement. I think there is some concerns and consternation. And I've been encouraging of both sides.

You know, frankly, I want to win on the balance of ideas. And I think at the end of the day, as Donna said, I fully endorse that everyone must take an informed decision and everyone should vote.

What's interesting, however, you know, we tend to get stuck on the national issues. And states are really where a lot of the hard work is going on this year.

VELSHI: OK. That's a good point, Mark.

This whole election, there are a whole lot of people who are going out there because they're mad about something that has been motivated by a national discussion. In fact, finish that thought for me about why you need to look at your local -- your discussions and issues.

SKODA: You know, here in Tennessee, we have about a billion- dollar shortfall in the budget, as I like to say, and (INAUDIBLE) left us a billion dollars with the stimulus fund. It's not coming back.

Major decisions will have to be made as it relates to the budget here in Tennessee, the kinds of programs that will be cut, the kinds of spending that will be applied. Your governor makes that decision. Your state legislatures make that decision.

In addition, we think even in Tennessee, another issue where we had an issue with respect to attacking questions of state sovereignty, with respect to the health care legislation, the attorney general was appointed by a Democratic governor, a Republican governor is likely to change that. So these are very fundamental issues that have an impact not only on the state, but also in Washington.

And I'm excited about, frankly, people recognizing that. You see, the Tea Party movement has not only been about Washington, D.C. It's really been about states and local elections where much of the hard work gets done.

VELSHI: Now, Donna --

BRAZILE: I think that's crucial.

VELSHI: Go ahead, Donna.

BRAZILE: I think that's very crucial because, as you know, state governors face a budget shortfall of almost about $200 billion over the next fiscal year. Many states will have to balance their budget because of their constitutional amendments. So I think it's important that voters go out there knowing that governors will have to make some tough decisions.

Do you cut teachers' salaries? Do you stop the construction of roads and bridges? All important functions of government. And I think this is another reason why Democrats are turning out in record numbers during this early voting.

You know, Mark, one of the -- another one of those election myths is that Democrats are not excited. Democrats are like those people who come to the dance late. We know the Republicans get there early, drink up all the punch, eat up all the potato chips. But, you know, by the time we get there, we normally get the crumbs, and we'll stay and dance until the last song is played.

So Democrats are excited. They know what's at stake, and they know this election, they can really make some big decisions across the country.

VELSHI: Wow. You both come from different parts of the political spectrum, but I think you are both agreed on this point -- whoever you are supporting, go out there and cast that ballot.

We all think things need to evolve in society and we can all have a say in it. So thank you for engaging in this discussion with us, to both of you.

Donna, it is always a pleasure to have you on the show. And we wish we could do it more often.

BRAZILE: Ali, call me more. I don't know why you don't call me. I like --

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: I will call you.

BRAZILE: And by the way, Mark, I lived in Tennessee 10 years ago as Al Gore's campaign manager, and you all can fry pickles better than any of us in Louisiana. So I like Tennessee as well.

SKODA: Amen. And come to Memphis. And Donna, I'd love to meet you in Memphis with some barbecue. Thanks so very much.

BRAZILE: Shelton (ph) County, I love you, too. Bye-bye.

SKODA: And Ali, at the end of the day, just everyone get out there and vote. And we appreciate it.

VELSHI: Yes. That's a great message. We appreciate that, too.

Thanks to both of you, Mark and Donna. Great talking to you.

Hey, losing communication with a nuclear warhead. That is what happened over the weekend. And this isn't the first time the government has had a nuclear missile mishap. I'm going to tell you more about that in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: I now want to go to Dan Lothian on another piece of breaking news we've got. Let me just bring you up to speed on this.

We've been telling you that there has been a man arrested, a Virginia man arrested in connection to a plot to attack D.C. area metro stations. His name is Farooque Ahmed, 34 years old. I believe he's a Pakistani-born American.

Let's go to Dan Lothian, who has just come out of a briefing to find out what the president knows and what he's been saying about it and where this stands -- Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We don't have a whole lot more details to what you have just mentioned, but I should point out that I was at a background briefing with some senior administration officials, including White House spokesman Roberts Gibbs. This was about the president's upcoming trip to India, but at the end of that briefing was when Robert Gibbs stepped up to the podium and then gave a little bit of a reaction to that arrest, pointing out that this was another example of what law enforcement is doing to keep Americans safe.

He said that at no point was the public in any danger. And then he was asked when the president found out about this. He said that the president was aware of the investigation prior to the arrest.

Now, one bit of confusion there is that he mentioned "arrests, "the pleural, making it seem as if more than one person was arrested. He then clarified that at this point, only one person was arrested. So, the president knowing about this investigation prior to the arrest. And again, the White House believing that no one was in any danger.

VELSHI: OK. And the arrest was this morning. Yesterday, a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Ahmed, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan.

Dan, thanks very much. If you get any more information, let us know.

I'm going to tell you a little more about this situation.

He's charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility, and attempting to provide material support to help carry out multiple bombings to cause mass casualties at a D.C. area metro rail station -- or stations.

Let me just tell you a little bit about what they're saying.

According to the indictment, between April of this year and October 25th of this year, which was Monday, Ahmed attempted to assist others whom he believed to be members of al Qaeda in planning multiple bombings to cause mass casualties at metro rail stations. Apparently, on April 18th, he drove to a hotel in Dulles, met with a courier who he believed to be affiliated with a terrorist organization. This person provided a document that provided potential locations at which future meetings could be arranged.

On or about May 15th, at a hotel in Virginia, he allegedly to watch and photograph another hotel in Washington, D.C., and a metro rail station in Arlington to obtain information about their security and their busiest periods.

We're staying on top of this story. We'll bring you more information as it becomes available. But the FBI saying at no point were transit commuters, users, in danger while this investigation was under way.

We'll have more on this in a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Continuing with our breaking news about the arrest of a Virginia resident in the attempted plot to attack D.C. metro rail stations.

I want to talk to Tom Fuentes, former assistant director at the FBI. He's joining us now.

Tom, I don't know how much you have heard about this. It's all developing as we speak right now, but this man was arrested, from what I understand, because he attempted to assist people who he believed to be members of al Qaeda.

I can't make sense of this because I don't really understand this world as well as do you. But it seems that this might have been a setup. In other words, he wasn't really working with al Qaeda.

TOM FUENTES, FMR. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI: Well, that's correct. He thought he was working with al Qaeda, and mistakenly ended up trying to help law enforcement authorities. The FBI furthered this plot to blow up metro stations in Washington, D.C.

VELSHI: So tell me how that works. If he wasn't working with al Qaeda -- this is why the FBI is saying that no one was ever in danger -- what's the point here? They were trying to draw somebody out who otherwise would be helping al Qaeda?

FUENTES: Well, in this situation, and similar cases, they draw themselves out, make themselves known that they're trying to further a plot to do damage. And in this case, where the FBI learns of it, they try to get into the system, get into a relationship with the individual so that they will trust them.

And the idea here is you want to find out who else he's working with, who put him up to this. Has he received training somewhere overseas? Is he part of a network? Are other metro stations throughout the United States or throughout the world going to be attacked? So, the purpose of the investigation isn't just to get him, but to see if it stops with him.

VELSHI: And that piece of information we don't have at this point. So reading what we have from the FBI, we don't know that they got anywhere with figuring out whether this was anything more than a guy who thought it might be neat to associate himself with a terrorist organization and bomb rail stations.

FUENTES: Right. Over a several-month period, they would be assessing that. They would be monitoring his phone calls and his Internet/e-mail traffic, and physically surveilling him to see who he's associating with. And if they came to the conclusion that he's not working with others, or they've completely identified everyone that they think may be involved, then they could go forward and actually arrest him and begin the prosecution, go public with the case, bring it out.

VELSHI: Clearly, according to this report, they were tracking him until Monday, until October 25th. That they have -- they returned an indictment, that he's been arrested now, does that indicate to you that there aren't other players in this, that this guy they figured was working on his own? Or does that not tell us that?

FUENTES: Really, it does tell you that, because his arrest being put out in the media would tell any associates of his to flee the country or try to escape because they've been had, they've been identified through him. So, obviously, they would not bring the arrest of him to the public if they were worried that others might be involved and might escape.

VELSHI: Tom, the difficulty with this kind of program -- I mean, on one level you want to think, wow, this is great work on the part of the FBI, that they were able to sort of smoke this guy out and finds out. It seems to be a lot of work involved with finding a bunch of guys who don't even have the sophistication to know that they're not dealing with terrorists.

FUENTES: Well, at the time of these investigations you don't know that, and you don't know that they're not going to come across somebody who does have the capability to finalize the act. So that's the difficulty of these cases.

They can't just walk away from it and say, well, we don't think he has a lot of people in his network that can carry this out, so we're not going to bother. They really just have to do it. They have to eliminate all possibility that there are others involved or that the attack could involve other cities, other countries.

VELSHI: Right.

And Fran Townsend is with us as well.

Fran, are you on the phone?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: I sure am, Ali.

VELSHI: Fran, so, if you're going through -- so it turns out, look, this is what we're gleaning at the moment, this is may evolve into something else. But at the moment, what we're gleaning is that that this guy thought he had hooked up with some terrorists, thought he was helping them out in the attacks on rail stations in the D.C. area. He was never working with terrorists, and it seems that he doesn't seem to have a deep bench of associates. In other words, he may have been a lone wolf. And Tom Fuentes was just saying this is what the FBI has to do. They've got to smoke these guys out, because until you get to the end of the investigation, you don't know whether he's got deeper ties, deeper roots and greater capability than he has.

This must be an exhausting drain on the resources of investigation and law enforcement if we're going out sniffing out lone wolves.

TOWNSEND: That's right, Ali, but what is the alternative? I mean, to Tom's point, what you care about, the message here that the public will get, is that the FBI is on the lookout to identify potential threats before they manifest themselves and will follow them to the end.

As we've seen in other lone wolf cases, you don't know when a guy is a lone nut or when he's associated with other individuals, and it does require a lot of -- in a post-9/11 world, a lot of work and a lot of resources. But that's the good news, that the FBI can actually do this now before -- they no longer wait until after something is blown up to put the case together. They're looking to thwart these before it becomes a real threat.

VELSHI: Now, Fran, we never know, because every time we thwart these before they become a threat, you never know how it would have played out. If we have a bunch of people in this country who are these lone wolves -- they don't have deep ties, they somehow think this is an interesting thing to do -- what happens to these people who are not caught?

Let me put it this way -- could this guy have ended up doing real damage?

TOWNSEND: Absolutely. We know that al Qaeda, particularly when you're talking about a potential threat through a transportation system like the subway, which is the economic lifeblood in Washington and New York City and major urban areas, and so one individual -- look at Faisal Shahzad. He had not a deep bench, as far as we know.

He was the Times Square bomber. Not a deep bench, as far as we know, here inside the United States. It did turn out he had ties overseas, but one individual, if he had correctly put that bomb together -- and he was very close -- could have killed dozens of people and caused mayhem all over Manhattan. And so you really do have to carry about the lone wolf.

VELSHI: Yes, and we do. And thank you for that, Fran. I appreciate the perspective that you bring to it, as well as Tom Fuentes, former assistant director at the FBI.

We'll continue to follow this story. And if anything new develops on this, we will bring it to you.

Stay with us. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: OK. More breaking news on the severe weather side. Chad is tracking severe weather in the Atlanta area. It is just not ending, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is not. The tornado warning has been canceled for the storm south of the city there. Some storms are still rotating to the west of Atlanta. That still could move into the same area. This is just one of those days where the storm will travel right on top of the track that the previous storm took.

Here's another example right there. This would be Winston-Salem, North Carolina. That storm is rotating. The pink boxes here indicate tornado warnings. There may be a tornado on the ground there. Then down just west on I-40 down towards Statesville in North Carolina, another tornado warning with spin to that storm there. It's going to continue all day long.

We're just -- Ali, just getting to the warmer now parts of the day. When you warm the atmosphere up, it's just like heating up a hot air balloon. You put in the gas of the hot air balloon, the hot air balloon goes up. When you add sunshine to the atmosphere, the bubbles want to go up, and that bubbling atmosphere makes more storms and more scattered showers and thunderstorms that could be severe. There's the storm that did have the warning on it. It's since fizzled out.

Back out here, though, another storm. We look at this little area back there. We call that the hook and that could be more rotation, and that will be Palmetto right there in Georgia. It continues for a massive part of the country.

Remember I told you I thought we'd probably get a tornado watch to fill in where we had a gap in it? We had one for D.C. and for Richmond. Now we have another one for the Raleigh-Durham all the way to the upstate of South Carolina. And the one to the west of Atlanta was almost all the way back to Louisiana. But certainly goes through Mississippi right to the edge there.

So, watches all the way up. Watches mean storms could happen. Warnings means storms are happening. You don't have to hear the siren. Make sure you get one of those NOAA weather radios. Didn't expect to use it in October and November, did you?

VELSHI: Wow. All right. Chad, thanks very much. Stay on top of it. We'll get back to you the minute you have anything else that our viewers need to know about.

Hey, President Obama prepares to make TV history tonight. Our man at the White House, Ed Henry, will tell us about it when he comes up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Time for "The Stakeout" with Ed Henry. Every time -- a little later than normal we talk to him. He's our senior White House correspondent. Big night tonight for the president and -- you tell us about it, Ed. ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's going to be on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." First president to do that. As you know, he's been on a few times before as a senator, as a presidential candidate. Jon Stewart in town all this week, taping his show in here D.C. because he has the big rally on Saturday - Rally, I should say, To Restore Sanity, as Jon Stewart puts it. He's trying to maybe change the dialogue a little bit in this country.

Interesting because there's this men's magazine getting a lot of publicity. Putting out this survey. AskMen.com that has Jon Stewart as the most influential man in America right. Sad for the president because in 2008 he was the most influential. Then last year slipped to number three. Now he's down to number 21. He's plunged along with his approval ratings, I guess.

I was interested to see though, Ali, that you were number four, and Don Lemon and T.J. Holmes were two and three because I guess they fill in for you all the time. You could have been second or third, but you're not always around. I made that last part up, I guess.

VELSHI: That was good. That - what's the implication --

HENRY: But you're in the "Wall Street" movie, so that's good.

VELSHI: You know, one movie doesn't make you have famous.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: Ed, what impact -- the president will obviously talk about this Rally to Restore Sanity. Is the president -- has the White House come out thinking that this is a good idea, they like it? Or are they not associating themselves with it at all?

HENRY: What's interesting is you have to separate it out. It's a good question because White House aides say that the president agreed to do the Jon Stewart show months ago, long before they knew this rally was going to be timed -- they knew that Jon Stewart would be here ahead of the midterm election, but didn't know that the rally would be going on. So, it wasn't necessarily connected to that.

On the other hand, they're not unhappy that there's going to be this rally. Maybe there will be a lot of people that will be a counter to Glenn Beck and some of the other folks who have had rallies previously that haven't been as friendly to the administration, to say the least.

But I think the broader theme here is this is an opportunity for the president to reach out to younger voters. I've been with him on the road a lot lately, as you know. And he's been hitting a lot of college campuses, a lot of those big rallies. Ohio State, about 35,000. USC last week about 37,500, I believe.

And so, he's been hitting these college campuses. Jon Stewart is somebody who gets -- reaches out to young people, a lot of younger viewers. But it's funny. Robert Gibbs was kidding about it the other day and said it's not just younger people who watch the show. There are some 39, 40-year-olds, like Robert Gibbs who try to watch but sometimes fall asleep or forget to watch because we're getting older. And I can sort of relate to that, I think.

VELSHI: Ed, you're on a little earlier than you normally are. Do you know why?

HENRY: I hear you have a big guest. I guess bigger than me.

VELSHI: Yes. You know, I don't move you for anything. You are as regular as it gets. If your segment is moved, you know the guest is going to be really big. And it's Jeffrey Katzenberg.

HENRY: Oh, Jeffrey Katzenburg -- he is big. I thought maybe it was the Rubik's cube guy again.

VELSHI: That was yesterday.

HENRY: Katzenberg is big. I saw you trying to do the Rubik's cube yesterday. I meant to comment on that. And you got a signed one to take home. That's pretty cool.

VELSHI: I got a signed Rubik's cube. You know I can't do the Rubik's cube. I've never been able to.

More importantly, I was bringing up the Jeffrey Katzenberg thing because that would allow you to discuss my future in movies.

HENRY: Yes, so, is he going to put you in another film? I hope you'll put it to him. I mean, if you're afraid to do it, I'll join the interview. I mean, I know it's a tough question. But will you be groveling essentially? Will you be --

VELSHI: No. You and the rest of America will have to watch the interview. I unlike -- because mine will now be the only cable show that Barack Obama has not come on after he does Jon Stewart's, but I got Jeffrey Katzenberg and you know, I'm happy with that.

HENRY: Well, you know, Joe Torre is going to be at stakeout in two hours. He's here for the president's domestic violence awareness. And as you know, he has a foundation, Safe at Home, because of violence in his own family when he was young. Joe Torre.

So, former Yankees manager. I know you're a fan. Now former Dodgers manager. He's going to be here at "The Stakeout," apparently in a couple of hours.

VELSHI: All right. And Ed, in the next couple of days, we'll talk about the president's trip to India. He's going there right after the election. But we'll chat about that tomorrow. Good to see you, my friend.

HENRY: That's right. Tell Katzenberg if he wants to do lunch, I'm available.

VELSHI: OK, I will let him know.

Ed, good to see you, my friend. Ed Henry at "The Stakeout." Our senior White House correspondent.

Listen, the nation is going to determine the country's balance of power six days from now on election day. What is topping political news right now? Let's finds out from two of the best members from The Best Political Team on TV. CNN's deputy political director Paul Steinhauser and senior political editor Mark Preston. Boys, take it away.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Ali. As we just reported just a short time ago here on your show, Michael Steele is taking steps to run for a second term as the Republican National Committee Chairman. In fact, he held a conference call with confidantes last week to lay out his plan and also to name two staffers who will help guide his reelection bid. The names of those two staffers are Chris Carroll and Neil Alpert. So, Michael Steel, that controversial chairman of the RNC who has found big electoral success but has also had criticism of how he has run the national committee, is taking steps to run for another term. We'll tell you more as this story continues to develop, and of course, you can check it out on CNNpolitics.com.

Back to you, Paul.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That's going to be a great race next year for the Republican National chair. That's going to be interesting. I think we'll have a fun time covering that.

Ali, let's talk about the wave. We've been talking about this possible Republican wave in the battle for Congress coming this November. But one place where that wave may not hit, New York state. Brand new poll out there this morning. Quinnipiac University saying pretty much what other polls have said, that the candidates on the Democratic side for governor and the two Senate seats that are up this year are way ahead of the Republican challengers.

Andrew Cuomo, the attorney general of New York state, up 20 points over Carl Paladino in the battle for governor. And Senator Charles Schumer up 2-1 over his Republican challenger and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the other Democratic senator, up by about 23 points.

Hey, one other thing, Ali. Got a brand-new CNN/"Time"/Opinion Research Corporation poll about to come up. I'm crunching those final numbers with our polling director, Keating Holland. He's looking at the final numbers. We'll get them out real soon. Mark, what do you go?

PRESTON: Ali, let's quickly close with this. America's mayor, let's stay on the New York theme. Rudy Giuliani, he ran for president in 2008. Been very active on the campaign trail in these midterm elections. Well, our friends at Politico talked to him last night about 2012. Are you going to run, Mr. Mayor? His response, the door is not closed. Add another one to your list, Ali, of Republicans, including Donald Trump, New York Republicans who might run for president. Ali. VELSHI: Boys, good to see you. Thank you so much, Mark and Paul. We'll check in with you as the election gets closer. Mark Preston and Paul Steinhauser.

OK. What do these three movies have in common? "How to Train Your Dragon," "Shrek Forever After" and "Kung Fu Panda"? We'll have the answer and show you what it means for the future of movies right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Before the break, we asked you what these three movies have in common - "How to Train Your Dragon," "Shrek Forever," and "Kung Fu Panda." I mean, I suppose you could guess that they're animated. But what they really have in common is that they were made by in 3d by Dreamworks Animation.

Here to talk about the 3-D revolution is the CEO of Dreamworks Animation, Jeffrey Katzenberg. A name and face that will be familiar to so many of us for really being a pioneer in films that have revolutionitzed the way we think about films. First of all, welcome.

JEFFREY KATZENBERG, CEO, DREAMWORKS ANIMATION: Thank you. Great to be here with you.

VELSHI: Let me ask you about 3-D revolution. This is a revolution I thought was happening earlier.

KATZENBERG: In the 1950s.

VELSHI: Right. It seemed to have false starts and never seemed like it would be something widely accepted. It seemed to have sort of novelty bumps in the road. Then all of a sudden, it's become something that everybody is talking about.

KATZENBERG: Well, quality. So, there are two things. One is a technological innovation that occurred, which is digital projection and digital creation tools, authoring tools for our filmmakers. And when those tools were put in the hands of really, really talented people -- Jim Cameron being the prime example --

VELSHI: Of "Avatar."

KATZENBERG: And then I think our filmmakers with "How To Train Your Dragon," suddenly the possibilities became very real, and the audience responded incredibly well to it because it was such a visceral and exciting and new way --

VELSHI: A little like Tivo. If you haven't seen it and your memories are of 3-D from a long time ago, you may say I don't think I'll get I'm going to get much more out of it by seeing it in 3-D. Why spend more to buy 3-D TV, don't want to wear silly glasses -- what has changed to make this much more mainstream, other than the fact that you're involved in it?

KATZENBERG: I think it is the fact that today these amazing new digital tools allow us to do it in a way that has such a high quality to it. Experience all the things that we identified with it in the past. So, you know, motion blur and headaches and maybe making some people a little nauseous. All of those things have gone away, and now we can actually create beautiful, beautiful three-dimensional images. More importantly, it allows the storyteller to take the audience into that story-telling, into the film experience and amplifies the feelings.

VELSHI: Right. We're doing some 3-D stuff just next week -- we're starting now -- for the elections. We're going to use the technology.

KATZENBERG: The graphics and stuff.

VELSHI: Yes. It's fun and exciting for guys like me and CNN. We really love this kind of stuff.

Where does this evolve other than the neat images that we saw like in "Avatar" or in "How to Train Your Dragon"? What does it get to?

KATZENBERG: Everywhere. In fact, what will happen is actually going to become a part of our everyday life. And whether it is on a television or a handheld device or computer screen, we see in 3-D. It's not unlike 70 years ago, the world was black and white. And then the technology came along to be able to deliver beautiful color images in photography and video, through television and movie theaters and actually became ubiquitous. And today, color is virtually everywhere. Now even in news print.

Think of this as the next revolution. So, we see three- dimensionally. It is the natural thing for us in it. And it is a stronger image and a more emotional image --

VELSHI: But to be a revolution there's got to be a commonality, right? I'll go to the movie theater and see this fantastic movie in 3-D. Does it depend on me having -- is this revolution going to continue because I buy a TV set or I buy a handheld device?

KATZENBERG: Well, it will because the next place that it moves I think will be into the home, and the people that will be most excited about that already are is sports. Sports is amazing. When you watch whether it's the Super Bowl or -- I happen to see the finals of the World Cup in a movie theater in Moscow, believe it or not. And it was -- it's not being there. But, boy, it's sure a lot closer than it's ever been before.

So, watching sports, video games, all of these things actually become, I think, a greater and more fun and more interesting experience when you can experience it in 3-D.

VELSHI: And that revolution is going to be great for those people, by the way, who are coming out of school and want to be animators and want to be designers. This is a whole new world for them -- whole new future between now and when it becomes ubiquitous. KATZENBERG: Well, it's getting close. Six of the top ten movies so far this year are 3-D, six of ten. Two years ago, it was zero of ten. By the end of this year, it will probably be seven, meybe eight of 12 movies.

So this is -- it's gone sort of past the fad part of it. It's now a mainstream part of moviemaking and movie-going and it's only going to grow from here.

Now, listen, always it's about a great story. If you don't have a great story, you can put all the bells and whistles on it -- it has to be a great story.

VELSHI: That part of it doesn't change. Jeffrey Katzenberg, great to see you.

KATZENBERG: Nice to see you. And I will tell you, you do know what you inspired in us?

VELSHI: What's that?

KATZENBERG: A little Shrek action going on here, buddy.

VELSHI: Oh, you see? You see, Ed Henry is never going to let me live that one down.

KATZENBERG: All we have to do is put little ears. Go like this. Go like this. C'mon, put those hands up like that. I think Shrek.

VELSHI: I can't believe he made me do this. I'm glad this show is taped and not live so that nobody is actually watching me do this in America.

Hey, Megamind coming out November 5th. Good. Looking forward to seeing that.

KATZENBERG: Thank you, sir.

VELSHI: All right. Good seeing you.

KATZENBERG: Good seeing you

VELSHI: All right. For millions of Americans, debt piling up. We know that no shortage of companies out there who say they can help you settle debts for less money than you owe. This is one of the most common questions that we get. Now, some big changes are in store for those companies and how they can charge for their services. I'm going to tell you about debt settlement companies and some new rules right after the break.

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VELSHI: OK. It's become an all-too familiar scenario for millions of Americans. You find yourself deep in debt and maybe you lose your job and you have to take a pay cut. Something makes it impossible or difficult for you to pay off what you owe on your bills. It's a situation that can leave you feeling like you've got nowhere to turn, and there are companies out there who say they can help you settle your debts for less than you owe.

Typically what happens is you pay them a fee, and they go to your creditors and work out a plan with them so that you can pay back some but not all of the money that you owe. These are people who are trying to do the right thing by finding a way to pay down their debts.

But now, the Federal Trade Commission has stepped in and said, hang on a second. Starting today the FTC says these companies can no longer charge you an up-front fee. They have to wait until they actually deliver on their promise before they get money from you. The concern is some consumers are charged for these services and getting nothing out of it.

Now, there's a bit of a loophole here. This rule was made under the telemarketing sales rule. That means if a representative of the company visits you in person, all bets are off. This only applies to phone customers, people solicited on the phone. Of course, anybody deep in debt can go to creditors themselves. They don't need a third party to do it for them.

That's today's "Taking the Lead."

And -- Kelly, tell me what I'm doing now.

I'm taking a quick break and then when we come back, CNN NEWSROOM is going to continue with Brooke Baldwin after the break. Have yourselves a good afternoon.

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