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This Week in Politics
Reviewing the Week's Politic News
Aired October 18, 2008 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TOM FOREMAN, HOST: The race to the White House is on the last lap. The mud is flying and it's time for real answers. Will voting for the other guy cost American jobs? Is racism going to decide this election? And do any of their economic plans really add up? Hold on tight. This is a special truth squad edition of THIS WEEK IN POLITICS coming up right after a look at what's in the news right now.
(NEWSBREAK)
FOREMAN: Welcome to a special truth squad edition of THIS WEEK IN POLITICS. And we have our work cut out for us, as you might imagine. The simple truth is with the end of this race in sight, both campaigns are making promises and claims every day. And whether or not they are true far too often is lost in a cloud of campaign trail dust. So we're going to spend most of the next hour trying to separate fact from fiction, so you'll know what's true when you go to vote. Help me parse the facts and predict the future. I'm joined by two top political reporters, CNN's Congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin and Karen Tumulty, national political reporter for "TIME" magazine.
Karen, let me start with you. When I watched the latest debate, I was struck by something that's hit me in every debate, the willingness of both campaigns to throw things out there that they know are misleading or not true. Is that hitting you as well?
KAREN TUMULTY, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Well, yes. And I think that as we're coming to the finish line here, it's coming fast. And they -- and you know, in a lot of cases -- they're being called on it I think all over the place, but they keep repeating it.
FOREMAN: Do the campaigns ultimately have no shame about this, Jessica, because these are smart people running these campaigns? Do they know what they're saying on both sides of this race?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Of course, they do. Of course, they do. But what they're trying to do is target a message. A very specific message is. And they know that the media is held in enough disregard by the American public right now that they hope that if they're saying it, even if we say it's not true, it'll still penetrate to voters. And voters won't know who to believe.
FOREMAN: Well, let's take a look at some of their claims. And we're going to start off with this notion of negative campaigning because both of them, by the way, promised early on in this campaign that they would not be doing this. And yet both of them are doing plenty of it. Listen to what they said about each other.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a tough campaign. And it's a matter of fact that Senator Obama has spent more money on negative ads than any political campaign in history. And I can prove it.
BARACK Obama: And 100 percent, John, of your ads, 100 percent of them have been negative.
MCCAIN: It's not true.
OBAMA: 100 -- it absolutely is true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Well, we'll get to Senator Obama in just a minute, but let's start with Senator McCain. This notion that it's a tough campaign and that Senator Obama spent more money on negative ads than any political campaign in history. Karen, he's spending a lot of money.
TUMULTY: Well, here's the deal. I mean, it's true, but it's not the whole truth. He spent more money on all kinds of ads than any campaign in history. As a percentage of the ads that he has run, his have been - have had a lower percentage of negative ads. But if you're looking at the amount of money, yes, he's rolling in money. And he's spending it, Obama is, on all kinds of ads.
FOREMAN: So overall, if we look at this, when you look at the big box up here and check off Senator John McCain, we would say that is overall a true statement with some explanation, but -- Jessica, you want to add something.
YELLIN: Right, it's true, but misleading. I mean, he is spending more money on negative ads. He's spending more money altogether. And you can find a lot of ads Obama will put out that don't even mention John McCain.
FOREMAN: OK, let's look at what was said about Senator McCain's ads by Senator Obama. He said 100% of your ads have been negative. We know from our own research that's simply not true. McCain has run plenty of positive ads, hasn't he, Karen?
TUMULTY: And this goes back to - it was a study put out by the University of Wisconsin that looked at a very narrow time period during which 100% of John McCain's ads were negative.
FOREMAN: It's recently.
TUMULTY: Yes, quite recently. If you look at the entire sort of beginning to the end of this campaign, in fact, there were a lot of positive ads. At the beginning, there were a lot of ads that were about his own biography.
FOREMAN: And it seems to me, Jessica, one of the things that gets lost in that is that Obama is running as many negative ads as McCain right now. He's just buying three times as many above that, which he makes positive. So he can say, look, I'm running a positive campaign. He gets to be his own good cop and bad cop.
YELLIN: Exactly. Right, he's saying I'm doing both. You're focusing only on the negative. But John McCain is down, so he has to do that kind of ad. You have to do what they like to call contrast ads. I'm surprised either of them uses the word negative, because when they talk to us about their own negative ad, they say these aren't negative. They're just drawing contrasts.
FOREMAN: OK, so on that box, we look at Obama. We're going to mark his statement that they're 100% as false, but like the other one with some explanation.
Let's move on to something else they talked about. Healthcare keeps coming up, keeps coming up. Barack Obama made this claim about how much he's going save you on your health care premiums. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We estimate we can cut the average family's premium by about $2500 per year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: What's the deal with this? It sounds like from all of the experts I've talked to that that's very wishful thinking. And it may not wind up in your pocket anyway.
YELLIN: Correct. And that oh, that projects over a very long period of time, maybe ten years or more. Where are we going get savings in the health care industry? That's a big question everyone asks. So the easier thing to focus on is which candidate is going to help everybody get health care? When you're looking at who's going save money, no one really knows the answer, including Barack Obama.
FOREMAN: So if we look at that, when we're going to have to give a false on that claim because it simply looks like even if he could do, it would take a long time. Maybe 'til he was out of office the second time. And it still might not be there.
Karen, let's talk about John McCain's claim when it comes to health care. Listen to what he had to say about Obama's plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: His object is a single payer system. If you like that, you'll love Canada and England.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: So he's suggesting that Barack Obama essentially wants to turn your health care over to the government, true or false?
TUMULTY: That one is a flat-out lie. Basically, Barack Obama's plan would allow people who have benefits now get them through their employer, like the benefits they have to keep exactly the same system they have.
Now within Obama's plan for people who do not have health care coverage now, there is a range of options. And one of those options is that you could buy into a plan that is very much like Medicare which is, in fact, a single-payer plan. But to say that it is his goal to sort of shove everybody into a Canadian-style system is just simply false.
FOREMAN: And mark a big false on that for John McCain on that statement.
Jessica, I'll give you a quick wrap-up here as we head in the end here. Is this just going get worse in the big picture of this campaign as we get closer to the election?
YELLIN: We're going to see more of the same. I mean, this is what they have to do. It's our job to fact check it. I don't think this is out of norm, but I do think that it's part of what politics is today. And people have to be vigilant about getting their information and checking it before they vote.
FOREMAN: Jessica, Karen, thanks for being here. As we said many times, go to CNN.com, check out our fact check area. It'll tell you some things that might help when you when you vote.
In just a moment, we'll continue our truth squad fact check here with a look at the candidate' positions on the economy.
And later, questions of racism and what John McCain described as a threat that could be "destroying the fabric of democracy." And of course, the important stuff, the political sideshow and the best of our late-night laughs.
Speaking of which, John McCain blew off David Letterman a few weeks ago. This week, he finally showed up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID LETTERMAN: I'm doing my part to save the economy. And then later, I get to think, well, maybe I'm just not important enough.
MCCAIN: Can give you an answer?
LETTERMAN: Please.
MCCAIN: I screwed up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Here is the one thing that both candidates agree on about the economy, the other guy's plan for fixing it is risky and maybe even dangerous. The problem is all of the analysts say we have to stabilize home prices, we have to stabilize our economy or we're all going suffer. So who's telling the truth? How do we sort it out? Up in New York, the man we always turn to with questions like this when things look bad. We're joined by senior business correspondent Ali Velshi. And with me in Washington, the assistant managing editor of "The Wall Street Journal", Jerry Seib.
Let me start off with a really basic question. Ali, both of these guys at any given moment hint that the other guy is going to push us into another Depression if they get into office. Is there any truth really to that notion? Or do we still have a lot of room to go before we reach that dire level?
ALI VELSHI: For the moment, we are in a business cycle. We're at a stage in this business cycle that no, we're headed where we're going go. The issue now is going to be about housing. And it's going to be about jobs and what they both can do specifically to solve both of those problems. They've got a lot of policies about a lot of things. They don't have great policies on both of those two issues.
So I don't think they're going to tip us into a Depression. We still don't know exactly what they'll do to get us out of the recession we're in right now.
FOREMAN: So a serious issue, but there is some fear mongering here to some degree.
GERALD SEIB, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Sure.
FOREMAN: Would you agree, Jerry?
SEIB: Yes, I think so. When John McCain says if you raise taxes and impose trade barriers in the middle of an economic downturn, you cause a Depression as Herbert Hoover did, that's both true, but probably not entirely relevant for what's going on right now. And to say that John McCain would necessarily do all of the things that he says he's going to do in an environment in which everybody's going to be constrained is probably a stretch as well. So, yes, I think you have a little exaggeration on both sides. I agree with Ali, I don't think we're headed for a Depression. I think we're headed for a serious recession.
FOREMAN: In this last debate, I actually thought one of the most important moments did not come from either candidate. It came from the moderator Bob Schieffer. Listen to this question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB SCHIEFFER: Aren't you both ignoring reality? Won't some of the programs you are proposing have to be trimmed, postponed, even eliminated? Give us some specifics on what you're going cut back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: It is a fact that neither one of them would give specifics on anything...
VELSHI: Right.
FOREMAN: ...that they haven't already proposed. Is Schieffer's question right, though, when we're looking at all of the elements in the economy and all of the elements in their plans, will they both have to cut back?
VELSHI: Well, yes and no. I mean, it's always a pleasure to listen to Bob Schieffer. I think he conducted himself very well and asked the right question there.
Here's the issue. If you add up their proposals, not including the $700 or now $800 plus billion dollar bailout package, they were going to increase the debt each by more than $200 billion. And ironically, McCain's plan was going to increase it a little bit more than Obama's plan.
So either you increase the debt, and you accept that, and that causes the problems associated with an increased debt, but you continue to give your tax cuts and hope that you get more revenue from people because you stimulate business or you have to give up some of those tax cuts. And neither of them will answer what exactly they're going to do. So they both focused on what they wouldn't cut, what their priorities are. John McCain offered a few suggestions about what he would cut, none of which would have made a substantial difference to the cost of his program.
So in fact, Bob Schieffer asked a good question and didn't get an answer.
FOREMAN: Jerry, when you look at what's happening with our economy right now, in truth, do you think that either one of these guys can go through with the things they're proposing?
SEIB: I think the honest answer to the question that Bob asked is A, we're all going to agree we're not going to worry about the deficit for a while until the economy gets rolling again. We're going to try to stimulate the economy and not worry about the deficit.
And then B, when we worry about the deficit, we're not going to be able to do everything we're talking about. I'll give you a couple of examples of what they could have said.
John McCain could have said I want to eliminate the alternative minimum tax, a tax that nobody really likes, but that brings in a lot of revenue for the government. Maybe I can't do that when we're trying to pay out the cost of bailouts.
Barack Obama could have said I propose $150 billion in spending to spur alternative energy development. Maybe we can't do that. Those are the kind of specifics you didn't get. And this is two debates in a row, by the way, in which they didn't answer the questions.
FOREMAN: Let's go take a look at some other specifics here. I want to listen to what John McCain had to say when the subjects of small businesses was brought up and the impact of Obama's tax plans on those small businesses. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: If I'm elected president, I won't raise taxes on small businesses as Senator Obama proposes and forcing to cut jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Gerry, we've done a lot of research on this. And all indications seems to be that he says is suggesting there would be this across the board attack on small businesses that would make it hard for them to generate or keep jobs. All of the research I can find says that this doesn't seem to be true.
SEIB: The question really turns on what is the definition of small? Most small businesses pay taxes at the personal rate, but most of them don't have enough income to go over that $250,000 a year ceiling that would kick in, Barack Obama's higher taxes. So that's correct.
There are some small businesses that report their income that way that would be affected. That's a very small percentage. But the McCain campaign would argue they create the lion share of the jobs that small businesses create. So again, I think it turns on what is a small business really...
FOREMAN: But as a blanket statement would be somewhat misleading.
SEIB: Exactly. I think that's right.
FOREMAN: Yes. Ali, let's take a listen to what Obama had to say about when he looks at his plan and McCain's plan when it comes to jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Instead of giving tax credits and tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, what we're going to say is say to American companies for each new employee you hire in the United States over the next two years, you are going to get a tax break. That makes sense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Ali, is there a real correlation between tax breaks for businesses here or that operate overseas that we can directly translate into jobs? Or do we not know that relationship?
VELSHI: You know, Barack Obama -- half of his statement was actually kind of interesting. The part about offering tax credit and he's proposing almost $3,000 to a business that creates a job in the United States. That actually could be an incentive to start creating jobs in the United States.
The other part of it, though, is that when you're outsourcing, when we move jobs to other countries, it's a financial calculation. And that tax credit isn't going solve that problem.
The two are not entirely connected in the same discussion. You have to do things to create jobs in the United States. And as Gerry said, small businesses, they do account for a lot of the job creation. And there are things about Barack Obama's plan, including increasing minimum wage, which a lot of small businesses find hard to swallow.
But it's not exactly a one to one-correlation here that we're going to - you give a tax credit and people will keep their jobs here in the United States. It might end up creating jobs here. It may not end up preventing the outsourcing of jobs.
FOREMAN: So once again, a little bit of truth.
VELSHI: Yes.
FOREMAN: But an awful lot of details there you have to take a look. Thanks, Ali. Good to have you here. And Gerry, you too.
We've got a lot of fact checking still to come on this special truth squad edition of THIS WEEK IN POLITICS.
But first, the part of the show where facts are either dubious or simply non-existent. Our pick of the best viral videos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice-over): We've spent a lot of this show talking about McCain and Obama, but there are other candidates running for president. Take Ralph Nader who hung out with Obama girl this week, sitcom style.
Barelypolitical.com has this modern-day odd couple sharing an office. And things get -- well, weird.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's this someone. Let's just call him B.
RALPH NADER: Bea Arthur?
FOREMAN: Speaking of B's, here is another candidate and he's unbelievable. No, I mean, really unbelievable. It's big foot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He took on Washington, fighting special interests, lobbyists, and hikers.
FOREMAN: And move over Sarah Palin, here is a VP who really makes a splash, the Lochness monster.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fresh, female, flippers.
FOREMAN: It's all very bipartisan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Sasquatch, a dinosaur, together, reaching across party lines.
FOREMAN: And finally, smoosh productions brings us a candidate who really thinks outside the box, or is it inside the box? He's not all that good looking, but he definitely has some smooth steps. We're going to step away for a second. Keep dancing. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: In recent weeks, a lot has been written about two things. One that Barack Obama may lose this election because people, white people simply won't vote for a black man. And two, that McCain's rallies have become scary places filled with white rage and fear, hard as it is for even a truth squad to see inside the human heart.
Let's give it a shot. CNN contributor and Barack Obama supporter Roland Martin is in Chicago. And with me in Washington, Brian Debose, editorial writer for "The Washington Times."
And let me start off by talking with both of you about the Bradley effect. Let me define that for you. The Bradley effect is a theory that black candidates poll better among white voters than they actually perform at the ballot box. In other words, you call up somebody and say would you vote for a black man for a Senate office for president? And white voters will say yes, because they think that's politically appropriate to say. But in the privacy of the box, they won't do it.
Roland Martin, do you believe this is a real effect? I know we've had examples. It was named for L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley, who had a big lead and then didn't do as well. New York Mayor David Dinkens, same thing. Douglas Wilder, same thing. Do you believe in this day and time this is a real effect?
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, it is real. But again, it also depends upon the situation who is running. Frankly, we've never had an African-American get to this point in terms of the presidency.
The issue also, I think people have to understand it's also critical in close elections. In 2004, understand that 19 electoral college votes were decided by less than 50,000 votes. George W. Bush beat Kerry in Iowa by 10,000. He beat him in New Mexico by 6,000. Kerry beat him in New Hampshire by 9,000. And Delaware by 23,000.
And so, the question is not will whites largely vote for Obama? They've shown in the primary, they will. The question is if it is a very tight election, could 5, 10, 20, 50,000 votes make a difference? The reality is it can.
FOREMAN: Brian Debose, do you believe this is a real effect?
BRIAN DEBOSE, THE WASHINGTON TIMES: No, it's not a real effect.
FOREMAN: Why not?
DEBOSE: In 1982, Tom Bradley ran an excellent campaign. He was up by about five points in some polls. Some polls had him up six. 7.2 million voters went to the polls. Tom Bradley lost by 100,000 votes.
That is not a lot. When you're talking about executive office, statewide or national elections, it's always close. There's very few times when it's been a landslide victory. Just because some people say they're going to vote one way or they're undecided in another way, you know, we don't know what that means. We don't know what their motivations are. It's never existed . And then the other examples you give are Doug Wilder and David Denkins, or even the current mayor of Massachusetts. They won. So what difference does it make if there's some small effect? It's always very amenable.
MARTIN: Hey, Brian, I think you're leaving something out. Doug Wilder, plus, 8. 48 hours before the election won by less than a half of a percentage.
Now the point is not well, they won. The point is when you look at the question, when people say it, they confront the reality. We saw in the primaries in Pennsylvania, what, 20 plus percent of voters say race was the number one factor.
The reality is it does make a difference. And so we should be concerned about it. And so, look at, we don't know what's going on happen. We hope, we pray that people make decisions based upon issues, based upon what they're most concerned about, but race or gender or age, doesn't matter, ould make a difference.
DEBOSE: That's not what I'm arguing. I'm not arguing that it isn't a factor. What I'm arguing is...
MARTIN: You say it didn't exist.
DEBOSE: It's not make or break. The notion that it's make or break doesn't exist.
FOREMAN: I want to turn the corner here very quickly. Brian, talk to me a little bit about what's going on with the McCain rallies? As this shows with our truth squad effect, trying to get to really the truth of things, one of the fears I have for either candidate is you can pick out moments of rage from supporters from either side, and then paint the campaign that way.
DEBOSE: Right.
FOREMAN: In the McCain rally - how, in the McCain campaign, how much do you think there is any sense of racial anger or rage? Or how much do you think is being overblown?
DEBOSE: From John McCain's perspective, zero. From his staff and his campaign, we don't know. It has been very clear from the beginning of this election from the beginning of John McCain's campaign that there's very limited control. He has because he's trying to serve a base that really is not his own.
FOREMAN: Do you think there are people supporting John McCain, who are race baiting in effect, trying to say don't trust this guy because he's black?
DEBOSE: Absolutely. Absolutely, that's happening. And that's something that they're going to use. But John McCain, if he had control over his campaign, wouldn't allow it to happen. The problem is he doesn't have total control over his campaign. Also, you know, some of the things you heard in Alabama were people saying, kill him. You had a woman saying he's an Arab. You had people saying he's angry. You also had African Americans talking about take it to him. I mean, there's lots of anger about a lot of different issues. Race is one of them. Whether or not it's overblown, I think McCain sort of blew it out of proportion during the debate.
FOREMAN: Roland, you're trying to jump in here. Get a quick last word in.
MARTIN: Tom, yes, the critical issue is also when the language at the rallies change, the people change. It really -- we didn't see the reaction, Tom, until Governor Sarah Palin began to say Obama's palling around with terrorists, beginning to bring those things up. All of a sudden you saw that rage began to come out. We didn't see this two months ago. We didn't see this a month ago.
FOREMAN: Of course...
MARTIN: When the language from the podium changed.
FOREMAN: Yes, fair enough, but we're going to have to wrap it up here. But we also didn't see the two candidates both getting this dirty two months ago, and getting this close to the election. So thanks, Roland.
MARTIN: Very true, but the language at the podium.
FOREMAN: Brian, good to have you here.
DEBOSE: All right, Tom.
FOREMAN: We'll see what happens.
Straight ahead on THIS WEEK IN POLITICS. Our truth squad edition, voter fraud, can we really trust the numbers we get on Election Day?
And later, a look at what could be another fundraising record for the Obama campaign. The numbers are astonishing. And fundraising, we should note is a tricky job. Here's an example in our weekly political sideshow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, what place do you think you have in history?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: History? History we'll all be dead.
FOREMAN: Talk about your scheduling conflicts. The McCain campaign held a fundraiser this week right across the street from the premiere of "W," Oliver Stone's new flick on President George W. Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be like pulling out your toe nails.
FOREMAN: Memo to the McCain campaign, this is not how you distance your candidate from the president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who do you think you are? A Kennedy? You're a Bush.
FOREMAN: Here's a scary way to show support for your candidate. Three friends in Seattle launched the website, yeswecarve.com in order to display the finest Barack O-lanterns. The website prohibits nasty submissions or attack O'lanterns, but a quick Google reveals a lot of political pumpkins guaranteed to scare those little voters right off the front step.
And finally, what better way to remember this historic presidential race than to name your child after it? A new Tennessee father secretly named his daughter Sarah McCain Palin in order to "get the word out about the campaign." His wife's reaction?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CIPTAK, NEW FATHER: I really thought she would be gung ho and yes, let's do it. She wasn't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Forget Halloween. That's a woman who's due for some serious roses on Valentine's Day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama's relationship with Acorn, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country and maybe destroying fabric of democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: Destroying the fabric of democracy, really? CNN's Drew Griffin has been our lead investigator on Acorn and the accusations of voter fraud that have been flying around this week. And before we get to him, let's take a look at the cold, hard facts in our devil's dictionary, where voter fraud is defined as when voters begin acting like the politicians which, Drew, I'm guessing, is always a bad time.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, yes. You know, Tom, you really have to separate this -- we're not talking about voter fraud. The Republicans would say we're not talking about voter fraud yet. This is voter registration fraud. These are fake voter registration documents being handed in, where they would have to be sent voter cards back. So that is a big distinction. One does lead - or can lead to the other, but doesn't necessarily lead to the other. And our research is showing this more looks like a fraud perpetrated on Acorn, who is paying these people to go out there and get these fake names and garbage registrations. FOREMAN: Give me a true read on the scale of this first, Drew. When we talk about all of the signatures that Acorn may have gathered across the country, how many do we think are a problem? How many do you think are questionable?
GRIFFIN: You know, we've been trying to get to the bottom of this. Acorn did a tremendous job on its face of registering people. 1.3 million new voters registered across the country, right? I'll give you an example in Philadelphia, where we reported from. 78,000 registrations turned in by Acorn. Now of those, election officials, Democrat election officials in Philadelphia said maybe up to 10,000 are bad. They've already sent 1500 over to the U.S. Attorney to be investigated...
FOREMAN: When you say they're bad, Drew, what do you mean? That they just copied a name out of phone book? Or they made something up?
GRIFFIN: Any of the above. We're not talking about just a mistake. Not check box here or there. We're talking about fake names, wrong addresses, addresses that come back as empty lots.
In a few cases, you know, dead people. We've heard about the Mickey Mouse. I mean, some things where they just go down the phone book and copy out name after name after name. Acorn gives people eight bucks an hour to go out and register voters.
Now if you don't want to spend eight hours a day going knocking on door to door, what you do is you go to your house. You start copping any old name out of the phone book or just make up names.
You know, in Indiana, they made up a name, Jimmie Johns, which turned out to be Jimmie John Sub Shop. So that was directly out of a phone book, it appeared.
FOREMAN: So...
GRIFFIN: And you turn it in and you get paid.
FOREMAN: Now that's how usually the problem at the moment. Listen to what Sarah Palin had to say about how the Republicans are sort of selling this problem on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN: In this election, it's a choice between a candidate who won't disavow a group committing voter fraud and a leader who will not tolerate the voter fraud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: All right, we're looking for the truth in all of this, Drew. When she sells it that way, I can't help but think about your original point. Do you think that this at any point or does it appear that this at any point was actually aimed at getting people to vote illegally to help some candidate? GRIFFIN: What I have seen thus far, OK, now there is Acorn investigations across the country, Tom. But what I have seen in the places I've gone to is what looks like fraud committed to collect money, not fraud committed to swing any kind of election. It would be very, very difficult.
Realize what has to happen. You fill out a voter -- let's say 10,000 fake voter registration forms are sent in. And nobody catches them at the elections commission. So 10,000 voter registration cards comes back.
Then you have to find 10,000 people with a fake ID matching the fake voter registration card that somehow we're able to get that back. It would be very difficult to do on a mass scale.
Now the other part of this is Acorn's bringing this on themselves with terribly sloppy registration drive. So they are, you know, it's not unlike the rest of your show. There's a little kernel of truth. And it opens the door for whoever wants to use that on the campaign trail.
FOREMAN: At the same time, Barack Obama has been put on the defensive on this a little bit. He's tried to suggest that his relationship with Acorn is not much. What is the truth of his relationship with Acorn historically and today?
GRIFFIN: The truth is he goes way back with Acorn. He was a community organizer. He had dealings with Acorn as a community organizer, where he trained some of their workers in Chicago or held training sessions when he -- he was not working for Acorn, but Acorn brought him in to train. He was very good, right?
Then he defended them or represented them in an Illinois motor voter case, when he was a lawyer in Chicago, successfully, I might add. He had sat on that same Woods Foundation Board. The Woods Foundation sent money, 200 some thousand dollars to various Acorn causes. And in the primary cycle, the Obama campaign sent $800,000 or so to a subsidiary of Acorn to get out the vote.
And Acorn has endorsed him for president. And you know, you can find Acorn workers, Acorn for Obama T-shirts all over the place.
FOREMAN: So...
GRIFFIN: So there is connection there. There is, as far as we can tell, no connection with the sloppy registration drive that Acorn is running with anybody at the Barack Obama...
FOREMAN: We'll have to see how all these investigations play out. Thanks so much, Drew.
Straight ahead, an interview with the presidential candidate who has nothing to lose. Stick around. You're going like this one.
And we'll take a look at a woman who's keeping a close watch on vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. And she's not the only one, as you can see in our weekly tips. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN (voice-over): Keep your eye on Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, as she steps up the sharp attacks and keeps swinging hard at the Democrats. It's a good sign she's looking at a national run in the future whether John McCain wins or not. Yes, she still has over 60% approval back in Alaska, but the Republican base across the country thinks she is a rock star. So if she finishes the race still punching hard, it's a good bet she's looking to swap the governor's job in Juneau for an office on Capitol Hill somewhere in the future. That's our twip tip.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: I confess perhaps we've been worrying far too much about facts and politicians in this show, as if they ever go together. So now we're going take a break and get down and dirty with a presidential candidate who is taking none of them too seriously. Boston's own Jimmy Tingle round running on the humor for humanity platform. You think despite all these fabrications we're dealing with the other guys, that you have the answers.
JIMMY TINGLE, POLITICAL HUMORIST: I do. First of all, humor for humanity. Humor in helping, humor in healing, humor in hope. Ha, ha, ha.
FOREMAN: How are you going to make it work?
TINGLE: And that's what they chant at my rallies. Ha, ha, ha. Well, I have other ideas that the other candidates haven't been talking about. For example, global warming. It's obviously a very pressing issue. I can put into solutions right away some action.
For example, under a Tingle administration, I would have a little windmill on every traffic light in America, a little windmill to generate the power to run those lights. Red, yellow green. Red, yellow, green. Red, yellow, green.
Now the critics have already attacked me. But Candidate Tingle, what happens if one day the wind doesn't blow? You don't have to stop. Do you know how much gasoline we waste waiting for those damn lights to change?
FOREMAN: That's a good plan, especially in Boston. A lot of traffic.
TINGLE: Absolutely.
What about crime?
FOREMAN: Crime? Nobody's talking about that.
TINGLE: No one's talking about crime. And no one wants to communicate with the criminal. You need to communicate with the criminal in order to stop crime. Under a Tingle administration, I would have ex-convicts in the Tingle cabinet. And I would get them from the cabinets of previous administrations. FOREMAN: I'm not - yes, exactly. I don't think that's going to be a hard trick.
TINGLE: We got a whole pool of people right there.
FOREMAN: We're all worried about national defense.
TINGLE: Yes.
FOREMAN: It comes up time and again. Serious subject. What are you going to do about it?
TINGLE: First, I would broaden the definition of national defense, education, a form of national defense, healthcare, a former of national defense, alcohol and drug treatment, a form of national defense. There's millions of people in this country. They need alcohol and drug treatment. They can't get into the treatment centers because they're overcrowded or they don't have the insurance.
But at the same time, we're building a whole new generation of submarines, and putting nuclear warheads on them, and moving them around the oceans of the world. If we have the money, the time, the technology to put a nuclear war head on a submarine, and move it around the oceans of the world, why can't we build submarines for alcoholics and drug addicts who want help? I'm talking about underwater treatment centers. Think about this, Tom. You can't check yourself out.
FOREMAN: You know, I thought you were getting serious there for a moment.
TINGLE: I am getting serious. We could utilize them in the first line of defense and the war on drugs. They can be out there patrolling the coast as well. If a suspicious vessel's out there, it looks like (INAUDIBLE) smuggle drugs into the country, the submarine could pull the boat over if there's drugs on the boat, these guys will find it.
FOREMAN: What are you going to do?
TINGLE: Do you see why I have to run?
FOREMAN: I can see it here. Why -- what are you going to do about all the animosity of this country? Many people on the left, on the right, very, very angry. Many people in the middle feeling very trapped.
TINGLE: Yes. Well, one of the things I want to do is I want to bring people together in this country. For example, the whole pro-life, pro-choice factions. I mean, if rival corporations can merge for their own mutual benefit, why can't the pro life forces and pro-choice voices merge for their own mutual benefit? Under a Tingle administration, I would suggest that Planned Parenthood merge with the Catholic church to create the largest reproductive rights/adoption center in the world. Planned Catholics of the Hood. And focus...
FOREMAN: (INAUDIBLE) you know, right?
TINGLE: Of course. But that's what makes me different from the other candidates.
Also, immigration, a very controversial issue. I mean, the Senate recently voted to build a 700-mile fence across the border with Mexico. Now, Tom, a couple of problems with the 700 mile fence across the Mexican border. First problem, the border with Mexico is 1900 miles long. OK, I'm not an expert on immigration, but I would surmise that people fleeing abject poverty will go around the fence.
FOREMAN: I think it's a moveable fence. We're running out of time here. Let me wrap it up with one little quick question here.
TINGLE: Sure.
FOREMAN: You're saying all of this stuff. It's a big joke. You've having a good time. You're actually an Obama supporter in real life.
TINGLE: Yes.
FOREMAN: In the end...
TINGLE: Yes.
FOREMAN: ...all kidding aside, do you think an honest man can win the White House these days?
TINGLE: Absolutely. Obama is an honest man.
FOREMAN: Yes?
TINGLE: And so is McCain. Yes, I think they're both very honest, honorable people. Absolutely.
FOREMAN: We'll have to see how it works out.
TINGLE: Absolutely.
FOREMAN: Thanks for joining us, Jimmy Tingle.
TINGLE: Thank you so much for having me.
FOREMAN: Good luck with your campaign.
TINGLE: Humor for humanity.
FOREMAN: Since Candidate Tingle here in reality is supporting Obama, we thought we'd take a look inside the other team as well. We'll be back in a minute. But first, take a look at Shayla Craighead. She spends her days and a fair number of nights completely focused on Sarah Palin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHAYLA CRAIGHEAD: My name is Shayla. And I am one of two official campaign photographers. I primarily follow Governor Palin during the campaign. Wherever she goes, I go. When Governor Palin was nominated, and they needed a photographer, they had called me kind of out of the blue, totally unexpected.
It's chaotic. The media is while - and here or there and work, we're all kind of working together to not be in each other's shots. And then we're all working, but we're not really because we all want the shot, too.
I shoot both jpegs and raw, about 1500, give or take a day. I try to capture who she is. And then I take a step back, and I kind of look around to see her environment. Noticing, too, the individual people in the crowd. I have a bit of a shoe fetish. I think it's because I can't wear really fun, fancy shoes on my day to day work. So I look at other people's shoes. And she wears great shoes.
She's campaigning with her young family on board as well. Piper is a little pistol. She keeps everybody laughing. She's got a fun personality, very light and jovial.
Immediately, they are on the McCain website. Historically, they'll probably end up in the archives. And really, really a neat experience of history and just to be able to be part of it on a daily basis, to be able to document history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: It's time to jump on the fast track for everything you need to know for the next week in politics. And who better to guide us than senior political analyst Bill Schneider. There is a big money water mark coming up. What's it all about?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Federal Elections Commission will report how much each candidate raised in the month of September. Now that applies to only to Barack Obama for the general election, because he's raising money, McCain is accepting public financing, can't raise money.
The big news is, it's projected that Obama may have raised as much as $100 million in the month of September. Right now, Obama's spending $4.5 million a day nationally on his campaign. McCain is a piker. He's just spending $1.5 million.
FOREMAN: That's a lot of money for gas if you look at it that way. So how will this affect their travel plans? Where are they headed?
SCHNEIDER: Well, Barack Obama's headed to states you wouldn't think a Democrat pay much attention to. Like North Carolina, and Virginia, and Ohio, and West Virginia, states that seem very unlikely. But he thinks they have a real chance there. John McCain is heading to some of those same states, Virginia, Missouri, North Carolina, because he has to shore up his base. He's worried about holding those states in the Republican column.
FOREMAN: And finally, there is a really important contest coming up that has political overtones. What's that about?
SCHNEIDER: Well, the World Series is about to come up. And if there is a game six of the World Series, it might have to start a little bit late, because Barack Obama has bought TV time on all the major networks. He's going to give a half an hour speech or political ad a few days before the election, but it's the same night as game six.
So what did the Major Leagues decide to do? Delay the start of the game. Messing with the national pastime is a very risky proposition.
FOREMAN: A totally different kind of pitch to start things off.
SCHNEIDER: All right.
FOREMAN: Thanks so much, Bill Schneider, for being here.
One thing we know is true, no matter what they say in the election, the comedians are getting a lot of mileage out of this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO: Tonight was the very last presidential debate. Do you know what that means? Prayer does work. See that?
DAVID LETTERMAN: I watched the debate. And honestly there was no question, no question who looked more presidential. Bob Schieffer.
Did you think...
LENO: John McCain kept talking about this guy Senator Obama met on the campaign trail named Joe the plumber. You know the saddest part about the Joe the plumber story? Last month, he was an investment banker. OK, that's...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOREMAN: Welcome back. And as we always do, we're going to wrap things up this week with seven endless days of campaigning boiled down into the 60 seconds that really mattered. Our often imitated one minute WEEK IN POLITICS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCAIN: Our economy is in crisis.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The financial crisis.
OBAMA: The most serious economic crisis of our time.
MCCAIN: We've seen huge swings in the markets.
VELSHI: Up 936.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Biggest one-day point gain ever. VELSHI: A drop of 733 points.
BLITZER: Second largest daily point loss ever.
SARAH PALIN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: John has a plan.
MCCAIN: I have a positive plan.
OBAMA: My plan.
JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Some genuine ideas.
PALIN: Create over 30,000 new jobs.
OBAMA: We'll create another 2 million jobs.
MCCAIN: Create jobs.
OBAMA: Create jobs.
HILLARY CLINTON: Jobs, baby jobs.
BIDEN: What about the past eight years would he change?
PALIN: They look to the past because that's where you find blame.
MCCAIN: If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.
Joe the plumber.
OBAMA: Joe the plumber.
MCCAIN: Joe the plumber.
OBAMA: My running mate Joe Biden, he now actually likes to be called Joe the senator.
MCCAIN: Joe the plumber.
ANDERSON COOPER: Turns out Joe's not actually a licensed plumber.
OBAMA: How many plumbers you know making a quarter million a year?
MCCAIN: Hey, Joe, you're rich.
COOPER: He admits he's not making anywhere close to a quarter of a million dollars.
MCCAIN: Name is Joe.
COOPER: His name is actually not Joe.
OBAMA: That includes you, Joe.
COOPER: Joe will soon have his own cable news show. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FOREMAN: That's it. We'll keep the truth squad on their tail all the way up to the election. Stay with us. I'm Tom Foreman. Thanks for watching. Straight ahead, "LOU DOBBS THIS WEEK."
